Ariels Grotto or Goofy's Kitchen?

[PrincessYessenia]

I would really like to eat at either Ariel's Grotto or Goofy's Kitchen but I'm not sure. I love Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary Resort in WDW, but I'm wondering if it and Goofy's Kitchen are anything alike...Anyone have any suggestions? I also would like to go to Ariel's Grotto, but I'm not 100% sure on that. I would just like to know a little more about each from people have actually dined at both and can compare them. My trip begins June 13th. Do I still have enough time to decide and make reservations, or do these restaurants fill up rather fast?

Thank you in advance!

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

You can get the same type of character interaction as Chef Mickey's at either Goofy's Kitchen or at Minnie and Friends in the park.

Minnie is the only one I haven't eaten at yet, but there have been several reviews that people loved the character interaction there - and it's inside Disneyland!!!

I also have to mention that Ariel's constantly gets mixed reviews on the boards. Food quality is the issue - not the quality of character interaction. I didn't care for them (foodwise) before, but they have changed their menu since my last visit. With Ariel's, you want to make sure you get an indoor dining (pay the extra money for this) as there is construction that affects the outside dining.

 

[charmama4]

I have been to AG and loved it. I wasn't all that impressed with the food but I was there more for watching my DD interact with the princesses more than the food. It was two years ago and I know the menu has changed.

The princesses were awesome!! Aurora had my DD engaged in a 5 minute conversation, talking about her dress, the prince and what shoes my DD likes to wear ( my DD has a shoe fetish) It was pricesless to say the least.

We are going again this year and if you have a DD that adores the princesses, I have to say this is something you can't miss!!

I agree with PP to go inside, the price difference is less than 5 bucks, I think.

I have never been to GK (YET!! Thanks to DizNee Luver and SherryE, I won't be missing it!!) I have done Minnies in the DL park and the kids had a great time, lots of characters that came over and played around with ALL of us.

 

[Sherry E]

I guess it depends on if you and your group want all 'face characters' or a mixture of face characters and fuzzy characters. As Nancy said above, the most comparable to Chef Mickey's in WDW would be Minnie and Friends or Goofy's Kitchen - both of which have some face characters and some fuzzy ones (Minnie and Friends appears to have TONS of characters)! Ariel's only has princesses, and I have not eaten at Ariel's yet, but some folks on DIS say that the food used to be awful and now has improved 100% to be wonderful. Also, with Ariel's or Goofy's you can have a character breakfast or dinner (whereas Minnie's, Lilo and Stitch and Storytellers are all breakfast-only character meals) , BUT Ariel's has a character lunch, too, if I am not mistaken. I think Ariel's is character dining all day long, whereas Goofy's takes a break in between the brunch and dinner shifts to prepare food. So having more options at Ariel's for dining times may be of interest to you as well.

 

[pixiewings71]

We have done both. We prefer AG over GK. We had very poor character interaction at GK but we love the Princesses at AG. We also really enjoy the food at AG and you can eat there with characters for more than just breakfast. Of course you can do that GK too, they do dinner as well.

 

[Pinkstarblm]

Ariel's is okay food was sub par but my biggest issue is... You have a good chance that the lagoon is going to be drained and contruction going on so why would you want to look out and see that?? I would totally do goofy's and save ariel's for another time.

 

[pixiewings71]

If you sit inside you really don't have much of a lagoon view. If you sit outside they have green netting around the patio so you can't see the lagoon either. Not very pretty but it works to keep your view from being ruined. We sat outside in March, it was fine. Not pretty but fine and the food was good!!!! It was very good, much better then what they had previously on the menu.

 

[Lavender Mom]

We did lunch at Ariel's and brunch at Goofy's on our trip a couple of weeks ago. I liked Ariel's Grotto better. I thought the food was very good. The characters were great at both meals, but I thought the food was better at AG and I also liked the fact that it was table service rather than a buffet. At GK, it seemed like every time I got up to help a kid get more food a character would show up at our table and we'd have to rush back. Part of what made Ariel's so great was the fact that DD was just entranced by the princesses. If you don't have a princess fan in your group, I'd factor that into your decision too. We sat inside and didn't really even notice the lack of a lagoon. It was all about the princesses.

 

[ballarinamom]

Ariel's is okay food was sub par but my biggest issue is... You have a good chance that the lagoon is going to be drained and contruction going on so why would you want to look out and see that?? I would totally do goofy's and save ariel's for another time.

We LOVE the new lunch/ dinner menu.The old one was unbelievably aweful!!!DH now thinks it's as good if not better than BB! I think if you are doing breakfast then do GK but for lunch or dinner thenAG

 

[Sherry E]

We LOVE the new lunch/ dinner menu.The old one was unbelievably aweful!!!DH now thinks it's as good if not better than BB! I think if you are doing breakfast then do GK but for lunch or dinner thenAG

I am immensely curious about this. I have read a lot of things on the DIS about how the old Ariel's Grotto food was unspeakably bad, and how the new menu is wonderful, as of 2008. Having never been there myself (yet), what exactly was so awful about the old menu? Was it that all the food was cold and icky, or were the menu choices weird and inedible, or was the food not fresh? What was wrong with the old AG food? I am relieved I never ate it, but I still like hearing the scoop!

 

[ballarinamom]

We have been going there every trip for the last 5 years as DD LOVES the princesses. We first went when it was Cap Mickey themed. But the menu didn't change when they switched to princesses. Your appetizer was a choice of a watery wilted iceburg salad or french onion soup which was really just broth a little cheese. The entree choices were a dry burger, dried salmon sandwich, cobb salad or chicken por pie. Pot pie was always our choice but it was kust mush. Dessert was an apple crisp or cry chocolate cake.
Just not a good selection and poor quality. DD got a sand bucket filled with cold fries and 4 mickey chicken nuggets. A chocolate sundae that was always melted before she got it. And a puff of cotton candy (or sea foam) as a goodby treat.

Now you get the really cool appetizer tiered stand. Top has jello cubes and fruit. The next layer has anitpasto with meats, cheeses and pickles/ olives. A salad is on the bottom. It's served with a basket of different breads and three types of spreads.
For our entrees, I had a great chippino, DH and DD had a great tritip steak and DMIL had a yummy fish dish. Dessert was a tray with smore brownies, chocolate chip cookie strips, a chocolate molten cake, some other type of tart and a white chocalate conch shell filled with berries. If there is one dessert you like better, they will bring you more.

We really loved it!

 

[pixiewings71]

Sherry, the old menu was just kind of plain. The food was just OK, kind of similar to what you might find at a Denny's not in a prime Disney resort. I never thought it was "bad" but it wasn't great. Now it's much more in line with a good sit down Disney restaurant. It's much much better!!

 

[PrincessYessenia]

I guess it depends on if you and your group want all 'face characters' or a mixture of face characters and fuzzy characters.

Now that you mention it I'm more interested in seeing the "face characters" than Princesses. I also like the fact that Goofy's Kitchen is buffet-style like my favorite restaurant Chef Mickey's in WDW. But I have heard mixed reviews of Goofy's Kitchen regarding the number and variety of characters others got to see. I'd prefer to see as many as I can, of course, but I won't be too upset if I don't see as many as some others have seen.

 

[Sherry E]

Sherry, the old menu was just kind of plain. The food was just OK, kind of similar to what you might find at a Denny's not in a prime Disney resort. I never thought it was "bad" but it wasn't great. Now it's much more in line with a good sit down Disney restaurant. It's much much better!!

Yes, from what Ballarinamom just explained, it seems to me that the old AG menu was almost like regular stereotypical amusement park food (maybe even low-level amusement park food), and now it is 'real' food - like actual, genuine meals and entrees and various courses made with good quality ingredients - exclusive to that restaurant. That was a smart thing to do - not only do people seem to like the choices of food this time around at AG, but you don't really want to sit in sort of a formal environment while the Princesses are being introduced and chomp on dry burgers, I would think. You would like to think that are you eating a kind of 'special' meal in some way, I would assume, and it sounds as if a lot of the food there now is probably only found at Ariel's and not anywhere else in DLR, which is good because it gives people more reason to want to eat there aside from just the Princesses.

 

[Sherry E]

Now that you mention it I'm more interested in seeing the "face characters" than Princesses. I also like the fact that Goofy's Kitchen is buffet-style like my favorite restaurant Chef Mickey's in WDW. But I have heard mixed reviews of Goofy's Kitchen regarding the number and variety of characters others got to see. I'd prefer to see as many as I can, of course, but I won't be too upset if I don't see as many as some others have seen.

Yes, the number of characters seems to differ at given times. I think DizNee Luver put it best in a different thread yesterday when she said to not expect anything in terms of numbers of characters or specific characters when you go there because it differs from day to day and even from hour to hour. That seems to be true. Sometimes if Goofy's is really really busy, they will have more characters making the rounds to greet everyone. The usuals that I have always seen are Goofy, Pluto, Chip, Dale and Baloo. That has never changed when I have been there, for the most part. But there are other folks who have gone and not seen Baloo and instead saw Minnie. And there are also guest characters who pop in and out, like there is always at least one Princess making the rounds. In December, we saw Jasmine and Aurora and the Prince. In October we saw Belle, and Snow White was arriving just as we were leaving. Sometimes it is Alice and the Mad Hatter. You just never know. But I would say it is probably a safe bet that you will at least see those regulars I mentioned, and likely a couple of extras too. And the buffet has a ton of choices so everyone can be satisfied. I strongly prefer the breakfast/brunch buffet over the dinner buffet for a few reasons, but I think I am more of a breakfast person. Other folks like the dinner instead.

I think Minnie and Friends definitely seems to have cornered the market on the number of characters at the meal.

 

[charmama4]

Sherry, the old menu was just kind of plain. The food was just OK, kind of similar to what you might find at a Denny's not in a prime Disney resort. I never thought it was "bad" but it wasn't great. Now it's much more in line with a good sit down Disney restaurant. It's much much better!!

That's encouraging to hear, thanks.

 

[pixiewings71]

Yes, from what Ballarinamom just explained, it seems to me that the old AG menu was almost like regular stereotypical amusement park food (maybe even low-level amusement park food), and now it is 'real' food - like actual, genuine meals and entrees and various courses made with good quality ingredients - exclusive to that restaurant. That was a smart thing to do - not only do people seem to like the choices of food this time around at AG, but you don't really want to sit in sort of a formal environment while the Princesses are being introduced and chomp on dry burgers, I would think. You would like to think that are you eating a kind of 'special' meal in some way, I would assume, and it sounds as if a lot of the food there now is probably only found at Ariel's and not anywhere else in DLR, which is good because it gives people more reason to want to eat there aside from just the Princesses.

She and I were posting at the same time. LOL And yes, I didn't notice the food available now at AG available anywhere else in the parks. That is a good thing.

 

[mechurchlady]

This used to be a Wolfgang Puck restaurant and should have a newer kitchen so why serve pot pie. Also I am demanding a discount because they do not have gluten free desserts and bread. Notice the waste of good salmon and they do not even say tartar sauce but say tangy sauce, yuck.

http://www.themouseforless.com/tripplanning/menus/dl/arielsgrotto.shtml
That is an old menu.

Surf ‘n’ Salmon B.L.T.
Farm-raised Atlantic salmon, grilled and served on a sandwich roll, with smoked bacon, lettuce, sliced tomato, steak fries and tangy sauce

Cove’s Chicken & Biscuit Pot Pie
Tender chunk of chicken and garden vegetables in a smooth cream sauce, with a fluffy buttermilk-biscuit topper

Maliboomer Meatloaf
Traditional home-style meatloaf, glazed with a tangy caramelized tomato sauce. Served with chunky tomato relish, accompanied by white cheddar mashed potatoes.

http://allears.net/dlr/din/menu/men_ag.htm
THAT is the new menu and I have eaten there twice recently and have the menu somewhere in my house.

Mafalde Pasta with Italian Sausage
Curly ribbons of pasta tossed in a Piemonte-style ragu with spicy Italian sausage, sauteed bell peppers and sweet onions.

Herb-Crusted Chicken Breast
Served with Cheddar-herb mashed potatoes and medley of seasonal vegetables.

Santa Maria Style Tri-tip
Slow roasted over rock salt and smoked with red oakwood. Served with Cheddar-herb mashed potatoes and a medley of seasonal vegetables.

Filet of Redfish
Grilled Redfish served over wild rice pilaf, delicately topped with a sweet & spicy pineapple chutney. Served with a medley of seasonal vegetables.

Spinach and Ricotta Agnolotti
Topped with fresh spinach, sun dried tomatoes, julienne onions, and asparagus served in a light mushroom broth.

Cioppino
A fragrant bowl of the ocean's finest, including lobster claw, pink scallops, redfish, green-lip mussels and shrimp, plus Bilbao chorizo bathed in a robust fire-roasted tomato broth.

 

[Sherry E]

I am not a seafood lover but I must say that the pasta dish and the chicken breast dish look delicious from those descriptions! I think it makes sense that they serve several seafood dishes, however, given the location in DCA and given the 'under the sea' theme.

 

[PrincessYessenia]

This used to be a Wolfgang Puck restaurant and should have a newer kitchen so why serve pot pie. Also I am demanding a discount because they do not have gluten free desserts and bread. Notice the waste of good salmon and they do not even say tartar sauce but say tangy sauce, yuck.

http://www.themouseforless.com/tripplanning/menus/dl/arielsgrotto.shtml
That is an old menu.



http://allears.net/dlr/din/menu/men_ag.htm
THAT is the new menu and I have eaten there twice recently and have the menu somewhere in my house.

Wow, what a drastic difference! The choices on the new menu sound A-MAZING! That seems more like it. The old menu did not suit the theme of the restaurant AT ALL! From what I've heard, most people like the new menu. They made a good choice!