WORST DISNEY DINING EXPERIENCE

[rwdavis2]

I wonder if some bad food experiences are the result of some items on the menu just being beyond the capabilities of the kitchen to prepare them? I if go into some place with a 30 page menu for lunch I'm getting simple sandwich or maybe a burger. Everything else is going to be warmed up from cold or frozen. I never order steak anywhere. I can do it just as well or better at home.

Had this happen at the Cheesecake Factory. I ordered a pasta dish that came out in a bowl. When I stuck a fork in it I was able to pick up the entire serving of spaghetti at one time. All shaped like the bowl. They must have microwaved it from being in the fridge and the pasta coagulated. Typical of chain restaurants.

 

[dbramer]

While I can't believe I read through 16 pages and over 300 reviews, many many good points. I'd have to agree with many of the opinions. For the folks that don't have the time that I guess I had… In review I think these were consistent thumbs down opinions. Feel free to add if I messed something.

The overwhelming champion of negative responses seem to be Chef Mickey's, and I think I'd have to agree. I didn't have quite the negative experience with the characters, as my niece and nephew seemed fascinated, but the food was terrible, and the noise level definitely excessive.

The runner-up seemed to be Hollywood and Vine, again I'd have to agree terrible food, probably worse than Mickey's and not clean at all. Inexcusable! I don't think I read a single positive review.

Also saw many negative reviews for Whispering Canyon And Coral Sea, I've had Some Good Meals That Whispering Canyon, but I think it has definitely slipped, as many if not all of the table service meals.

Ohana also seemed to have many negative reviews. As well as Biergarten and San Angel Inn at Epcot, and Tony's Tavern in Magic Kingdom. Also California Grill seemed to have many more negative reviews than expected.

Again… Feel free to add to my conclusions.

TBH, I have read all the posts here and I have to chalk the negativity up to the nature of the post. It is asking folks for their WORST experiences. So we are going to read the WORST experiences. If you read any review website for any restaurant, even 5 star restaurants in NYC or LA or any city anywhere, you are going to get some bad reviews. This post just puts all of them in one place. The perception becomes that these restaurants are horrible. Remember the old customer service maxim, the unhappy guest will tell eight people about their experience, the satisfied guest will tell no one of their experience.

Not excusing Disney for any of the atrocities listed on this thread, but, as every exercise commercial states, these results are not typical. They are the aberration, not the norm. I am also not dismissing anyone's experiences, but if these were the "typical" experience for the average guest, I daresay the restaurants would still be doing the business they are doing.

So to the people that have been second guessing their upcoming ADR's, remember YMMV...Your Mileage May Vary.

 

[L&Lfan]

Oh, I didn't connect that you were talking about your kid! Now I get it! Thanks for the 411, honey!

 

[awalker1015]

This last trip our worst was Boatwrights. I was hoping this would be an "under the radar" favorite. We were staying at POFQ and needed a nearby ADR for arrival day. We were seated promptly and our server was great. A member of our group has a shellfish allergy and the chef did come out to speak to her.

I had the voodoo chicken,DH the short ribs and kids had kids pizza. Kids pizza was the worst on property. Short ribs had great flavor but were ice cold. Voodoo chicken had great potential- flavors were spot on, but dish sat under heat lamp forever or at least tasted like it did.

Bottom line- we were at Disney and nothing would spoil our excitement. I would even give Boatwrights a second chance. We should have notified the server about our meals but nigh of us worked in the industry for years and rarely complain unless it's a service issue. So if this was our worst dining experience, I feel pretty lucky!

 

[disneysteve]

Kids pizza was the worst on property.

One thing that has always amazed me is that with all of their great chefs, Disney can't figure out how to make a decent pizza. It really isn't that difficult. They should be able to manage it. Hundreds of places all around NYC, NJ, and Philly do it every day.

I've heard that Via Napoli is okay, though there's no way I would ever pay $31 for a pizza so I guess we'll never find out for ourselves. If we want pizza while at Disney, we'll head over to Flippers where the same pie is $13.

 

[Jetku]

We were lucky to have the deluxe dining plan on our honeymoon in November 2012. Way too much food, but we got to try out many new restaurants.

We won't go back to:
Tony's
Chef Mickey's (an old favorite)
Spirit of Aloha


Serivce was fine at all of them, but the food was just meh. Would much rather do a quick service at one of the resorts.

 

[Nuwanda9]

Very interesting thread! And like a few people have said, one person's poison is other's treasure. Seems like a lot of people didn't care too much for Via Napoli, we love it. Same for BOG for lunch. Loved it! I can't recall having a bad experience that would cause me not to go to a restaurant again. If I don't go back to a restaurant (Rose and Crown, for example) it is because I didn't care for the food I had. Not that it was bad. I just didn't care for it. I try to try a new restaurant every time I go but there are some places that I HAVE to do every time I am there. I have a lot of favorites!

 

[L&Lfan]

One thing that has always amazed me is that with all of their great chefs, Disney can't figure out how to make a decent pizza. It really isn't that difficult. They should be able to manage it. Hundreds of places all around NYC, NJ, and Philly do it every day.

I've heard that Via Napoli is okay, though there's no way I would ever pay $31 for a pizza so I guess we'll never find out for ourselves. If we want pizza while at Disney, we'll head over to Flippers where the same pie is $13.

You're right! There have to be many pizza makers from the Northeast looking for work in Orlando whom Disney could hire to make a "decent" pizza in the parks and resorts. I don't get it either.

 

[maxiesmom]

One thing that has always amazed me is that with all of their great chefs, Disney can't figure out how to make a decent pizza. It really isn't that difficult. They should be able to manage it. Hundreds of places all around NYC, NJ, and Philly do it every day.

I've heard that Via Napoli is okay, though there's no way I would ever pay $31 for a pizza so I guess we'll never find out for ourselves. If we want pizza while at Disney, we'll head over to Flippers where the same pie is $13.

The pizza at Via Napoli is good. And I don't think $31 is crazy expensive for theme park pizza. I pay $20 at home for the great pizza from a little mom and pop joint.

 

[leebee]

I posted back on page 8 (?) about our worst meal, which was at Kona Cafe in 2014. I just thought I would add about my two experiences with what I am pretty sure was food poisoning (appropriate time interval between eating and illness, classic symptoms, nobody else was sick). The first was back in 2003-ish, when DD was about 10. We'd had dinner at 1900 Park Fare, and the food was fine. Around midnight I was in the bathroom, sick as a dog, and it went on for about 10 hours. I suspect it was the seafood newburg, which was the only thing I'd eaten that DD had not eaten/tried (and it was definitely "on my mind" while I was ill, if you KWIM). The second time was on our 2014 trip. We'd had lunch at BOG and dinner at Kona (the miserable one posted about earlier), and 1am found me in the bathroom once again, miserably sick. BOG was the only place where we didn't share tastes and while I was being sick, all I could think of was the braised pork I'd had for lunch- GAG!!!

 

[kaetra]

Chef Mickeys. Waited over an hour past Rez time, even though Resaurant was at about 1/4 capacity. Asked for 1/2 booth, was seated at table right NEXT to several open half booths. Was told we couldn't have them but we moved anyway, completely ridiculous.

Characters were really great, but I'll never go back.

 

[CuseWazowski]

We've had four trips over the past eight years and have never had what I would call a "bad" experience, including several dinner visits to Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace. I hope that the quality hasn't tailed off THAT much since August 2013, because we've always been happy with our experiences.

 

[Tom Caselli]

"I'll never go back again!" Wow, sounds a little dramatic , doesn't it. How does having a bad experience at a restaurant or any other place of business warrant not going back ever again? Give a place a chance. Maybe the bad time at that place was unusual. Millions of people, I would dare say have probably had good experiences at those places.

 

[Soarin' Puddy]

Yak & Yeti is the only one that really sticks out to me. Food wasn't good at all, service was terrible. I'd never go back to 50's prime time but I just don't like the concept. Tune in Lounge is my favorite in park bar though.

 

[Jennasis]

"I'll never go back again!" Wow, sounds a little dramatic , doesn't it. How does having a bad experience at a restaurant or any other place of business warrant not going back ever again? Give a place a chance. Maybe the bad time at that place was unusual. Millions of people, I would dare say have probably had good experiences at those places.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. In the restaurant business, that first visit is everything. We probably won't go back to Ohana, at least not until they do a major overhaul in some way.

 

[Minerva Mouse]

Yak & Yeti is the only one that really sticks out to me. Food wasn't good at all, service was terrible. I'd never go back to 50's prime time but I just don't like the concept. Tune in Lounge is my favorite in park bar though.

Love Yak & Yeti, try the shoaxing steak with shrimp, its amazing.

I don't think I've ever had "bad" service at Disney. We've had some slow service before, which I find annoying, but I can't recall any moments where I would label the service bad. My least two favorite dinners were at Chef's de France (and a lot of people love it) and La Cantina de San Angel, but that's because we just didn't care for our meal. We're not real fond of Teppen Edo either, we love hibachi and prefer Kobe (here in Orlando) over TE, but again that's just us. Many people love Teppen Edo.

 

[disneysteve]

"I'll never go back again!" Wow, sounds a little dramatic , doesn't it. How does having a bad experience at a restaurant or any other place of business warrant not going back ever again?

Why would I go back to a place where I had a bad experience? There are plenty of other places to eat both on and off property. No reason to return to one I didn't like.

 

[jezebel73]

I can't say it was the worst experience ever, but I was quite underwhelmed with 'Ohana dinner last November. I had read so many good reviews here and knew it was a tough-to-get ressie, so I had to take the plunge. Then...MEH.
Our server started out friendly then more or less disappeared. By the time my vegetarian entree arrived, everyone else was onto a second round of meat (one of the three types everyone said was bad, but the other 2 were good), and then my food was not much different from the noodles they give you anyway, just a few extra veggies. Oh and our pager malfunctioned twice while we were waiting to be seated, sending off some weird tone and all of us trekking up to the podium, only to have to be reset and naturally we lost our waiting area seats in the process.

I won't say I will never go back, but with so many options on Disney property, it will be a very long time. That drink in the pineapple was pretty awesome.

 

[over50visits]

Other than 'Ohana with the insulting wait times that Disney could easily fix, silly high price, noise, poor service for that class restaurant, and meh food (all in a beautiful resort with a chance of a nice view during dinner), we really haven't had a bad experience at any restaurant at WDW, and I guess we've easily eaten in 90% of them over the years. Maybe many weren't spectacular, but the varied menus, settings, and experiences all add up to a wonderful dining destination.

We did give 'Ohana about 6 chances over the years, and each and every time had the same lousy overall experience. Took us a while to learn our lesson. But the other (100? 200?) eating places have been, well, FUN.

Don't expect gourmet food...there's a lot of comfort food out there. But we've talked with a number of chefs, and they care and try to really design good menus. The challenge is often the number of guests the Disney computer throws at them. I guess we expect to enjoy ourselves every time, and it seems to be a self-fulfilling prophecy!

 

[awalker1015]

I've heard that Via Napoli is okay, though there's no way I would ever pay $31 for a pizza so I guess we'll never find out for ourselves. If we want pizza while at Disney, we'll head over to Flippers where the same pie is $13.

I will say Via Napoli was one of the better meals we had all week. My husband is attempting to recreate the Quattro Frommagio for my sons birthday dinner tomorrow. The pepperoni was pretty good, too, as was the wine and calamari.