Anyone eaten at Garden Grill lately?

[crusoe2]

How is the food there? We did the character lunch there years ago but haven't been back. From what I remember the food was fairly bland. I think my 5yo would love the character interaction and the location, tho - Living with the Land is one of her favorite attractions.

 

[michygoomy]

We went last June for the characters and were surprised how good the food was! I didn't care for the salad, and we're not catfish plans, but everything else was really good and the dessert was to die for!! The character interaction was great, too.

 

[lsg1]

How is the food there? We did the character lunch there years ago but haven't been back. From what I remember the food was fairly bland. I think my 5yo would love the character interaction and the location, tho - Living with the Land is one of her favorite attractions.

We have gone to the Garden Grill many times, and until last week, always enjoyed it. Last week when we were there, the food was not as good, and the service was poor. We were so disappointed. The flank steak was tough, the catfish was very spicy, and the potato cassarole was very salty (we loved when they had mashed potatoes).

The service was very unattentive and the server removed plates from our table and left them above the booth precariously balanced above our heads.

As I said, we visited the Garden Grill many times before (at least 5 times) and always loved it, but after this most recent trip, I don't know if we will be returning.

 

[Dogslider]

We ate there in November and enjoyed it all. The food was good, our server was great and the characters were almost at our table too much! We are a family of DH, Me, 17 yr old son, and 2 boys that are 6 and 4. Our oldest said before the trip that if ( like that was an option) we had to do any character meals that Garden Grill would be his first choice. He enjoyed the food from the trip before.
The one big thing that I see the GG having over some of the other character meals is that they bring the food to your table. No trying to plan out numerous trips to get the little ones food in between the character visits. You get to sit down and stay there until you are ready to go.

 

[kimsuenew]

We ate there in September. We would never go back. The food was horrid! We ended up requesting (as we saw the table in front of us do, they ate it as well) the mac & cheese, fries, and chicken, as what they brought before was not edible in our opinion. The characters were cute, and the decor is pleasant (and revoloves), however, if you do go ask for the lower landing, not the higher tables, as you really cannot see the scenes from the higher tier.

 

[jue40]

We ate at the Garden Grill in July 2006 and loved it. We went back 12/31/2007 and to be honest it wasnt geat. We enjoyed the experience again but the food was not that brilliant. Mickey was great though!!!!

 

[tinkandpan]

This is one of the only restaurants I would say I would never return to. The food and the service was just horrid. It was so bland, like something they would serve in an old age home. We could never get our waiter to fill up the drinks or bring us the check. I will say the character interaction was terrific and it was a very relaxing envirnonment.

 

[praline3001]

Its been a few years since we have been, but this has always been a fav with my family. We like the fresh foods =)
It is also the quietest character meals!!!!

When checking in, request a booth as the booths are VERY high and private. You get a better view of the ecosystems revolving and take a nice relaxing quiet break from Epcot hahaha

 

[DisneyBarlans]

We went last year and we were not happy with the food. The characters were great though, chip & dale spent a lot of time playing peek-a-boo with my youngest. We will probably not go back-there are plenty of character meals where the food is much better.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

We ate there last May for lunch. The food was not very good. We had heard this prior to going, so we were not surprised. It was just all very bland. I ended up eating the kids chicken because everything else was so gross. The only good part of the meal was the dessert, some type of cream puff with chocolate and strawberries!

With all that being said, the characters were great! The atmosphere was nice. The service was good, but slow. We were chosen as the "family of the day" and our service was still slow! The character interaction evened out the experience I guess. Bad food, good characters. . .

We really went for Chip & Dale, because they seem to be hard to find anywhere else. I have since learned that they are at the character breakfast at Cape May. So we are going to try that this coming May!

We probably won't return to the Garden Grill unless they change the menu! There are too many other character meals with better food.

 

[Conan the Librarian]

Ate there in December. Food=Great. Service=Great. Character interaction=Great^2 (they come around twice!)

 

[colonialtinker]

Christmas day 07. Loved the restaurant , DD7 & DD 25 enjoyed the characters. Chip or Dale(don't know which) proposed to DD25. Got a great pic of this. Which I could figure out how to insert. Food very good, anything extra we wanted was brought to us quickly, server great!! Will go again next time we visit

 

[Mischief_Managed]

I ate there in October (for my 31st birthday) - and it is one of my favorite restaurants in Epcot.

The catfish was very spicy, and the potato cassarole was very salty (we loved when they had mashed potatoes).

Completely agree that every time I've eaten there, the catfish is too peppery. In fact, the last time I just told them to keep it, and not to bother putting on the plate. I also missed the mashed potatoes, because the potato casserole is not vegetarian. So I can't say one way or another if it was good - my mom asked for seconds, though.

The food was good, our server was great and the characters were almost at our table too much!
The one big thing that I see the GG having over some of the other character meals is that they bring the food to your table. No trying to plan out numerous trips to get the little ones food in between the character visits. You get to sit down and stay there until you are ready to go.

That's why this is one of my favorites! You just sit there, relax, eat, and watch the characters. Because of the layout of the restaurant, there is no chance to be skipped over, like at CP. And anytime I have been there, it wasn't busy at all. So the characters did come around a lot, and spend a little too much time with us (just me and my mom - no kids, unless you consider I am my mom's kid ).

We like the fresh foods =)
It is also the quietest character meals!!!!

My two favorite things - The Land is kind of loud, but I have never noticed GG being loud. It is an oasis in Epcot. We always go on the boat trip first, to see our fresh food, before eating - I love the salad (served at dinner) and the vegetables are so fresh and crunchy!

Ate there in December. Food=Great. Service=Great. Character interaction=Great^2 (they come around twice!)

Yep! Totally agree. Never been disappointed. One of the best character dinings in Disney! Enjoy.

 

[kimsuenew]

We ate there last May for lunch. The food was not very good. We had heard this prior to going, so we were not surprised. It was just all very bland. I ended up eating the kids chicken because everything else was so gross. The only good part of the meal was the dessert, some type of cream puff with chocolate and strawberries!

With all that being said, the characters were great! The atmosphere was nice. The service was good, but slow. We were chosen as the "family of the day" and our service was still slow! The character interaction evened out the experience I guess. Bad food, good characters. . .

We really went for Chip & Dale, because they seem to be hard to find anywhere else. I have since learned that they are at the character breakfast at Cape May. So we are going to try that this coming May!

We probably won't return to the Garden Grill unless they change the menu! There are too many other character meals with better food.

Our visit was identical to yours... (except for the family of the day honor, congrats by the way), I could have written it! The steak actually made me gag! We will not return, even with free dining!

 

[MeLaNie9]

GG is one of our family's must do's. We fell in love with it in 2000 - just loved the food and the atmosphere. We went back in May 2006 and Nov 2007. In 2006, they had a dessert sampler that we didn't care for but otherwise the food was fantastic. We really love their catfish and potatoes. On our recent trip, we were a bit disappointed with the service. First of all, when we checked in for our ADR we were told that they were incredibly busy and that we would probably be waiting for a long time. Then the called us to seat us like 5 min. later??? The waiter was very rushed and not too friendly. We have a child with food allergies, and the chef was helpful. They have this new way of serving the food - this metal rack thing with white plates that sort of stack on top of each other. However, we were so crowded at our table and the rack was too short so that it was hard to get to the food once it was brought out and placed in it. We really prefer the old skillets. The food wasn't quite as good as we had remembered, but it wasn't terrible. They had yet another dessert - this time an apple crisp. I don't really care for cooked fruit but the rest of our party liked it.
The character interaction is great though - every time we have been there, the characters have each visited our table twice.

For Momof2DisneyBoys - we really enjoyed Cape May for breakfast. For us it was a huge step above the Chef Mickey breakfast which was a nightmare. Cape May was much more relaxed and the place is smaller. We got there just as it opened (our kids are early risers) and the place was virtually empty throughout our meal giving us a lot of time with the characters and a relaxed meal!

 

[ransom]

We ate there last month.

The vegetables from the garden were very good! The catfish and the flank steak were good.

As far as ambiance, it's a fun one! The characters come around, and you get to watch The Land go by.

The service was good there, as well.

 

[BadgerBruce]

We enjoyed our lunch in December. I liked the catfish & steak. DW liked the turkey & veggies. We both loved the potato casserole! The apple crisp desert was very good, but we were too full to enjoy it properly. Character interaction was great--even for us 2 adults! I would request a table on the lower level in the future for a better view of the ride.

 

[englishrose47]

Ate there last year. I enjoyed the catfish no one else likes fish, we were family of the day and were Royally spoilt. The potatoes wer great we got seconds of them DGS had mac& cheese and chicken fingers ,the dessert was wonderful for DD & I the kids all had cupcakes to decorate. DD wasn't a fan of family style prefering either buffet or ordering but tehrest of us loved it >It was much better than Liberty Tree.

 

[apostolic4life]

We were there the week of Christmas (2007) and thought it was a pretty solid meal as far as food was concerned. I liked the flank steak and catfish very much. The entire family loved the catfish which is a huge surprise since my DW is not a fan of seafood. The potato dish was very good too but I loved the baby carrots the most of all of the side dishes. The dessert was a warm apple crisp with whipped cream. We would have licked the serving dish if we thought no one was looking; the apple crisp was that good.

The server did an alright job, but it was not spectacular. He kept our drinks full, but would go missing for 10-15 minutes at a time.

Characters were great too.....we got to see most of them 2-3 times in the hour+ we were there.

We will probably go again, but I do not think it is a must do for us. It is fun and the food is good; it is one of the cheapest character meals you can go to also so that is a plus!

 

[crusoe2]

Wow, it sounds like Garden Grill might be one of those "love it or hate it" places - not a lot of middle of the road responses. I'm still thinking we may give it another try, tho. My family prefers nice, basic meat & potatoes kind of meals and it sounds like that's what GG serves. It's funny that everyone mentioned how great the character interaction was - that is what I remember most about the place. We'd had an awful experience with our ds at HISTA - he was 5 or 6 at the time and it totally freaked him out. We took him to the Land pavilion afterwards to calm down since it was quieter there and we had lunch ressies at GG. After his esperience at HISTA it took some coaxing just to get him into the restaurant but he has always loved the characters and was never afraid of them like some kids are so we thought lunch with Mickey might help him recover. We were thrilled with the amount of attention he received from all 4 of the characters - I lost count of how many times they came around to see us. I guess we were so happy to see our son smiling and happy again that we barely noticed what we ate.