We just finished a 14 day trip where we ate at the following restaurants:
Breakfast:
Olivia's
Chef Mickey's
Crystal Palace
Whispering Canyon
CRT
Kona Cafe
Cape May
Tusker House
Boma
Lunch:
San Angel Inn
50's Prime Time
Teppan Edo
Via Napoli
Dinner:
Boatwright's
Art Smith's Homecomin'
HDDR
Narcossee's
Monsieur Paul
Brown Derby
Artist Point
Cali Grill
'Ohana
Citricos
Yachtsman
Flying Fish
Jiko
Tiffins
New resturants for us on this trip were Boatwright's, Olivia's (breakfast), Art Smith's, San Angel Inn, Monsieur Paul, and Tiffins.
Thoughts about the order-off-the-menu breakfasts (Olivia's, Whispering Canyon, Kona): of these, we liked Kona the best, then Whispering Canyon, then Olivia's. But they were all pretty decent and not a ton of difference between the three as an overall dining experience. Overall, order-off-the menu meals are more relaxing (and less expensive for breakfast) than bufffets, particulary character buffets.
Thoughts about the character breakfast buffets (Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, Cape May, and Tusker House): of these, we liked Tusker the best, then Cape May, then a virtual tie between Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace. Tusker, we feel, just has the best overall food and selection. Cape May is more relaxed than the others. Crystal Palace has the best setting and Chef Mickey's has the Fab 5. But both have pretty mediocre food overall and, at Crystal Palace, Eeyore took forever to come to our table, even though we were the first family allowed in the restaurant (perhaps, he was just trying to be true to character).
Thoughts on CRT: here, you're totally paying for the experience of eating in the castle with the princesses and not the food (the pastries they bring out are pretty good but every breakfast entree I've ever eaten here has been meh). One advantage of this over the buffets is that you don't have to worry about missing a character while getting food because it's brought to your table. So it's overall more relaxing than buffets (even though they rush you in and out).
Thoughts on Boma: this was our only non-character buffet and, IMO, the food quality and selection is just markedly superior to any of the above character buffets (including Tusker). Plus, they have Krispy Kreme's (some of the character buffets, such as Chef Mickey's and Tusker, had Krispy Kreme holes but Boma was the only place where I saw the actual donuts).
Thoughts on non-signature, order-off-the-menu lunch and dinner restaurants (Boatwright's, Art Smith's, San Angel Inn, 50's Prime Time, Teppan Edo, Via Napoli): believe it or not, the best overall meal we may have had among these was at Boatwright's (which tends to get very mixed reviews). Just really solid overall and I actually enjoyed it more than a few of our signature meals. After that, we didn't really have a bad meal in the bunch and if I had to rank the rest of the dining experiences, I'd probably go Via Napoli, then Teppan Edo, then Art Smith's, then a virtual tie between San Angel Inn and 50's Prime Time (even though they are nothing like each other). Via Napoli and Teppan Edo are easily my favorite restaurants in Epcot (or any WDW theme park, for that matter) not named Monsieur Paul. Just love the food and overall experience of those places. I thought the food was decent at San Angel Inn, but the restaurant is very dark, the tables are close together, and the portions are relatively small. 50's Prime Time is what it is (the food, IMO, is mostly mediocre but it's a fun venue and I love the PB&J milkshakes).
Thoughts on all-you-can-eat-family style dinners (HDDR and 'Ohana): while these are nothing like each other, they remain our favorite non-signature places to go for dinner. Between these, we think the food quality is somewhat better at 'Ohana (even though, IMO, it's gone down hill over the years) but HDDR is pretty good for what it is (the cornbread, in particular, is excellent) and what I always say about HDDR is that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts (i.e., the combination of the food and show is greater than the sum of each individually). Always just a super fun dining experience.
Thoughts on signature dinners (Narcoossee's, Monsieur Paul, Brown Derby, Artist Point, Cali Grill, Citricos, Yachtsman, Flying Fish, Jiko, and Tiffins): prior to this trip, I'd have probably ranked Jiko, Flying Fish, and Artist Point as my favorite signatures but I always end up re-ranking after every trip and this trip was no exception. And my bias has always been that resort signatures are generally superior to park signatures. But that was before we tried Monsieur Paul. Even though it was the most expensive (and formal) meal of our trip, it was also the best. We were seriously blown away with how good it was (Epcot's other signature, Le Cellier, doesn't even begin to compare). After Monsieur Paul, I'd probably rank our dining experiences as follows: Cali Grill, Jiko, Citricos, Flying Fish, Yachtsman (had my best overall meal here this time), Brown Derby, Artist Point, Tiffins, and Narcoossee's. On prior trips, I'd never have ranked Brown Derby or Yachtsman ahead of Artist Point but, since our last visit, the Artist Point menu has taken a rustic turn that I didn't care for (at least they still had the portabello mushroom soup). Tiffins was good but not fantastic and the portion sizes were pretty small such that I didn't feel that the combination of quality+quantity was quite there. Narcoosse's rarely seems to have an entree that gets me excited (IMO, their lobster entrees are grossly overpriced, their other seafood entrees often disappoint somewhat, and I don't go there for steak). But I love their almond crusted cheesecake.
Breakfast:
Olivia's
Chef Mickey's
Crystal Palace
Whispering Canyon
CRT
Kona Cafe
Cape May
Tusker House
Boma
Lunch:
San Angel Inn
50's Prime Time
Teppan Edo
Via Napoli
Dinner:
Boatwright's
Art Smith's Homecomin'
HDDR
Narcossee's
Monsieur Paul
Brown Derby
Artist Point
Cali Grill
'Ohana
Citricos
Yachtsman
Flying Fish
Jiko
Tiffins
New resturants for us on this trip were Boatwright's, Olivia's (breakfast), Art Smith's, San Angel Inn, Monsieur Paul, and Tiffins.
Thoughts about the order-off-the-menu breakfasts (Olivia's, Whispering Canyon, Kona): of these, we liked Kona the best, then Whispering Canyon, then Olivia's. But they were all pretty decent and not a ton of difference between the three as an overall dining experience. Overall, order-off-the menu meals are more relaxing (and less expensive for breakfast) than bufffets, particulary character buffets.
Thoughts about the character breakfast buffets (Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, Cape May, and Tusker House): of these, we liked Tusker the best, then Cape May, then a virtual tie between Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace. Tusker, we feel, just has the best overall food and selection. Cape May is more relaxed than the others. Crystal Palace has the best setting and Chef Mickey's has the Fab 5. But both have pretty mediocre food overall and, at Crystal Palace, Eeyore took forever to come to our table, even though we were the first family allowed in the restaurant (perhaps, he was just trying to be true to character).
Thoughts on CRT: here, you're totally paying for the experience of eating in the castle with the princesses and not the food (the pastries they bring out are pretty good but every breakfast entree I've ever eaten here has been meh). One advantage of this over the buffets is that you don't have to worry about missing a character while getting food because it's brought to your table. So it's overall more relaxing than buffets (even though they rush you in and out).
Thoughts on Boma: this was our only non-character buffet and, IMO, the food quality and selection is just markedly superior to any of the above character buffets (including Tusker). Plus, they have Krispy Kreme's (some of the character buffets, such as Chef Mickey's and Tusker, had Krispy Kreme holes but Boma was the only place where I saw the actual donuts).
Thoughts on non-signature, order-off-the-menu lunch and dinner restaurants (Boatwright's, Art Smith's, San Angel Inn, 50's Prime Time, Teppan Edo, Via Napoli): believe it or not, the best overall meal we may have had among these was at Boatwright's (which tends to get very mixed reviews). Just really solid overall and I actually enjoyed it more than a few of our signature meals. After that, we didn't really have a bad meal in the bunch and if I had to rank the rest of the dining experiences, I'd probably go Via Napoli, then Teppan Edo, then Art Smith's, then a virtual tie between San Angel Inn and 50's Prime Time (even though they are nothing like each other). Via Napoli and Teppan Edo are easily my favorite restaurants in Epcot (or any WDW theme park, for that matter) not named Monsieur Paul. Just love the food and overall experience of those places. I thought the food was decent at San Angel Inn, but the restaurant is very dark, the tables are close together, and the portions are relatively small. 50's Prime Time is what it is (the food, IMO, is mostly mediocre but it's a fun venue and I love the PB&J milkshakes).
Thoughts on all-you-can-eat-family style dinners (HDDR and 'Ohana): while these are nothing like each other, they remain our favorite non-signature places to go for dinner. Between these, we think the food quality is somewhat better at 'Ohana (even though, IMO, it's gone down hill over the years) but HDDR is pretty good for what it is (the cornbread, in particular, is excellent) and what I always say about HDDR is that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts (i.e., the combination of the food and show is greater than the sum of each individually). Always just a super fun dining experience.
Thoughts on signature dinners (Narcoossee's, Monsieur Paul, Brown Derby, Artist Point, Cali Grill, Citricos, Yachtsman, Flying Fish, Jiko, and Tiffins): prior to this trip, I'd have probably ranked Jiko, Flying Fish, and Artist Point as my favorite signatures but I always end up re-ranking after every trip and this trip was no exception. And my bias has always been that resort signatures are generally superior to park signatures. But that was before we tried Monsieur Paul. Even though it was the most expensive (and formal) meal of our trip, it was also the best. We were seriously blown away with how good it was (Epcot's other signature, Le Cellier, doesn't even begin to compare). After Monsieur Paul, I'd probably rank our dining experiences as follows: Cali Grill, Jiko, Citricos, Flying Fish, Yachtsman (had my best overall meal here this time), Brown Derby, Artist Point, Tiffins, and Narcoossee's. On prior trips, I'd never have ranked Brown Derby or Yachtsman ahead of Artist Point but, since our last visit, the Artist Point menu has taken a rustic turn that I didn't care for (at least they still had the portabello mushroom soup). Tiffins was good but not fantastic and the portion sizes were pretty small such that I didn't feel that the combination of quality+quantity was quite there. Narcoosse's rarely seems to have an entree that gets me excited (IMO, their lobster entrees are grossly overpriced, their other seafood entrees often disappoint somewhat, and I don't go there for steak). But I love their almond crusted cheesecake.
