Alfredo's closing permanently?

[abk96]

I have to say here that I am not surprised it would be closing as although it seems to be quite busy, the food is not good, service is worse, and the attitude of those in charge even worse. I will never eat there again and yet in the past, maybe like two years ago, we had a delightful meal there, service was good, and it was a wonderful night...it just was not consistent.

Not sure what happened to Alfredo's, but this last time was horrific. Hopefully, if is closing, Disney will come up with something more exciting in the way of Italian food. I can think of many Italian chefs from the Food Network channel or Iron Chef, hey maybe one of them could take over and open an Italian restaurant. Think Giada or Mario....

I agree with you 100%! Our meal there last April was not very good and the server was the worst. He sat us down and then took our order very quickly and never returned. Someone else brought out our food, nobody ever checked on us, and someone else came over to see if we were done. Didn't even bother to ask if we wanted dessert. I complained to the manager on the way out and he apologized. I am glad to hear that they are closing.

I would love to see someone from the Food Network open up an Italian restaurant there. Maybe even Michael Chiarello.

 

[Kim&Chris]

IF this is true, then both DH and I will miss Alfredo's. We always looked forward to sharing a plate of fetuccine alfredo (the best I've ever had). I hope they replace it with another Italian place.

 

[Todd&Copper]

I hope that they do close. The last time I ate there my experience was so horrible that I'd never go back. Our waiter started out really friendly, then as soon as he found out we weren't ordering alcohol we were treated like second class citzens. Our waiter was absent, our meal was rushed, and the food was only so-so considering the price. It was absolutely horrible and I would never go back. This experience happened in July of 2005 pre dining plan.

My family had this same experience - in the 80's, when we lived in FL and went to WDW 3 or 4 times a year - and we never ate there again.

 

[kathyg]

If Alfredo's is in fact closing, when will those of us who have ressies be notified. It may become harder to replace an ADR the longer we wait. Maybe we should make a duplicate just in case.

 

[bicker]

Be careful: Disney has deleted reservations in the past when they've detected duplicates.

 

[kathyg]

Yes, Bicker...I do realize that..but what do you suggest for those of us who have reservations after July? I don't want to be stuck being unable to secure a ressie at a restaurant where I would prefer to dine. If Disney has announced this, why keep us all in suspense?

 

[rhiannonwales]

Kathy,
Just make your alternate ADR under your spouses name and when they ask your resort just say offsite.Youlll only lose the 180 + 10 benefit, youll still be able to make ADR's 180 days out.

 

[SamIAm21]

Well, I guess this makes me happy that I have a ressie for Alfredo's on April 12th. At least I can try it before they change it to something else. I'm not sure if it's the Swan or the Dolphin, but I think one of those hotels is getting a quite nice, upscale, Italian eatery. That might be a good venue to try before the new restaurant opens in WS-Italy.

 

[bicker]

If you don't want to take the risk, I'd make the change now.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Well-still no official confirmation as yet, so we may all be putting the cart before the horse. I only ate there once--food good, service fair, tables way too close together. From what I read on the boards, it's usually pretty full, so hard to understand why they would close...

 

[crisi]

Well-still no official confirmation as yet, so we may all be putting the cart before the horse. I only ate there once--food good, service fair, tables way too close together. From what I read on the boards, it's usually pretty full, so hard to understand why they would close...

Profit margins shrinking with the dining plan? They are one of the "non-Disney owned" restaurants.

 

[Allison]

Yes, Bicker...I do realize that..but what do you suggest for those of us who have reservations after July? I don't want to be stuck being unable to secure a ressie at a restaurant where I would prefer to dine. If Disney has announced this, why keep us all in suspense?

The thing is Disney hasn't made this announcement. If they had, we would know about it. This has only been announced on one internet site.

 

[REL1203]

so the question is, do I book another ADR for that night that I had already booked one for Alfredos?

 

[SamIAm21]

so the question is, do I book another ADR for that night that I had already booked one for Alfredos?

I would!! You could always cancel one as the date grew a little closer and we receive confirmation one way or the other regarding Alfredos. Better to be covered than scrambling at the last minute to find a TS restaurant you like.

 

[princesskaelybear]

Although not dealing with Alfredos, here's our experience with restaurant closures and scheduled ADRs.
We had originally made ADRs for Teppanyaki at our 180 days in December. Then in January, they changed the time period that Teppanyaki would be under renovations to include the day that we had our ADR scheduled. Our travel agent went ahead and booked us a duplicate ADR at Rose & Crown for that night.
Just yesterday Disney Dining called us to let us know that Teppanyaki would be closed during our ADR time - the CM was actually surprised that I knew already and we had booked a replacement for that time (which she did verify).

 

[debbiedoo]

subsribing to this, curious to know. . .

I know a lot of ppl do not care for this place, but we have always enjoyed dining here. . .

 

[User Name]

However, they'll probably turn into another "All Princesses, All the Time" or "All Pooh, All the Time" character buffet.

Heaven forbid adults wanting to stroll World Showcase and enjoy unique meals during the evening hours without little girls in Cinderalla costumes and clunky tennis shoes running around

"Yes, I'm being sarcastic and doom & gloomy." I have no idea what they are planning

No kidding. I'm not very happy about the change to El Rio De Tiempo, either. Keep the characters and the kid stuff over at MK. Seems like, just like they're taking all the uniqueness from the restaurants, they're doing the same to the parks.

 

[bzzymom]

It all sounds fishy to me. I have an issue with intercot post saying WDW has announced, when there is no announcement anywhere to be seen. It could be that their contract is about up. I have eaten at Alfredo's at least 20 times over the years and I have never had a problem with the service or quality of the food. Our family has really enjoyed eating there. It will be sad if they close.

 

[Allison]

It all sounds fishy to me. I have an issue with intercot post saying WDW has announced, when there is no announcement anywhere to be seen. It could be that their contract is about up. I have eaten at Alfredo's at least 20 times over the years and I have never had a problem with the service or quality of the food. Our family has really enjoyed eating there. It will be sad if they close.

That is the part I don't get. Disney made an announcement? To who? The intercot person?

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

That is the part I don't get. Disney made an announcement? To who? The intercot person?

Precisely.

I might have considered the story of Alfredo closing to be a possibility if the person at Intercot had posted something along the lines of, "According to a usually reliable Disney insider..."

However, the person at Intercot wrote, "WDW has announced that Alfredo's Restaurant, a fixture at the Italy Pavilion in Epcot for over 20 years, is closing permanently at the end of July, 2007" -- when, in fact, WDW has announced no such thing.

When others at Intercot questioned the "announced" closing, the person wrote, "like any other large organization, WDW occasionally suffers from the '10% who never get the information' syndrome. And it is possible that the 'official' announcement has not yet happened, so CMs are reluctant to release any info until that happens" -- when, in fact, it seems that 100% (not just just 10%) of the Disney Dining CMs don't know anything about this supposed "announcement."

I don't read Intercot. I only found the thread with a Google search. So I have no idea about the track record of the person who started the thread there. The person might be right. But based on what the person wrote, I have serious doubts about that.

I would not immediately make other plans for any reservations at Alfredo in July 2007 or later. If it turns out to be true, there will be a real announcement.

By the way, the official website of Alfredo of Rome has nothing about closing their Epcot location -- only that they're adding a new location in Las Vegas (in addition to Rome, Epcot, and New York).