Atmosphere Trumping Food (And Being Okay With It)

[aristocatz]

I think it's interesting to hear people talk about restaurants they love to visit, not necessarily because the food is great, but because the atmosphere and themeing of the restaurant is top notch. The most popular examples are probably Cinderella's Royal Table and Chef Mickey's; sure, you can get a better breakfast almost anywhere else, but it's the fact that you're meeting the characters that outweigh the quality of the food.

For me personally, the 50's Prime Time Cafe is the perfect example; the food is okay to 'good but I can absolutely do better in Hollywood Studios', but the 50's aesthetics are everything to me. The staff is so friendly and they never break character, it's just too much fun.

So! The question and discussion I want to have is, which places do you eat at just for the atmosphere?

I'm all about theming with hotels and restaurants, especially in WDW. I've always been in awe with the theming and details in WDW, it's what led my to fall in love with WDW when I was a child. I can get a great meal anywhere, but there's nothing like an amazingly themed hotel or restaurant.

At WDW, my favorites have been:
San Angel Inn
Be Our Guest
Liberty Tree Tavern (though I miss when the Pilgrim Mickey and friends were there!!)
Sci-Fi Dine In
50's Prime Time Cafe

 

[KenHutch]

Be Our Guest for dinner. Once The place was beautiful but the food was insanely bad. I still recommend it for dinner at least once they really built that place.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

This is one of my biggest gripes about Disney dining. When we first started going to Disney, we'd only try TS spots where the food sounded appealing...and if it wasn't good, we wrote it off. I haven't been back to Marrakesh or San Angel since the 1980s because they were both so bad (same for Coral Reef in the 90s). Then I had kids of my own and meals with a hook factor became the focus. I remember leaving Chef Mickey's dinner in 2010...starving because the food was awful...yet so pleased with the experience as a whole because it was my kids' first character meal and first time meeting Mickey and the Fab 5. BOG was the other big one...I worked so hard to get that ADR right after it opened...1200+ calls (since they weren't online) and having to redo most of our schedule to make what I could get work...just to wait 50+ min to be seated for awful food in a gorgeous atmosphere (I think the wine kept me happy!). After a handful of trips with the kids where we've experienced all of the "fun" meals...I'd realized that the number we'd repeat for both food and experience was a shockingly small list. Add on a couple more years and several visits where the majority of the restaurants on that very small list have been plagued by consistency issues, and it makes me not want to eat at any Disney restaurants. Of course, that feeling passes, but it doesn't actually fix the problems. Sure, inconsistency and subjectivity plays a role, but I always find myself telling people that they have to do certain things just to experience it once...and the experience isn't usually the food!

 

[tguz]

Be Our Guest - the food was decent (that was last year before the new menu) but I made a deliberate choice when planning my ADRs and I knew I was here for the theming. I went in with expectations so low regarding food that I was actually pleasantly surprised and the theming there is amazing so no regrets here.

On the other end of the spectrum, Sunshine Seasons is a restaurant I went to knowing the theming was going to be problematic for me but I was looking forward to the food. Well it managed to disappoint me - I felt I was eating in a cafeteria and I won't go back.

I agree with you on the BOG....I went in thinking it was only for the theming but we really liked the food and we ended up there twice for lunch on last years vacation and we are going again this year. Sunshine Seasons is a bit cafeteria-ish but we give that a pass as we like the food and almost every other place we eat during the vacation is themed pretty good. That is where I get my key lime tart!

 

[Pappy Tom]

On my first visit to WDW back in 1975, I was 10 years old and didn't care about how good the food was;
we were in @#$% WDW!!!

Now on the eve of my second visit to WDW, we have an ADR at CRT. I'll be 55 years old and won't care
about how good the food is; we'll be in Cinderella's @#$% Castle!!!

I guess for me, our dining experience will be remembered for what we did and where, not what we ate.
Heck, I can eat anywhere...

Sometimes, life is about the destination.

 

[wdw&sonny]

Agree with PP. Location, location, location. All WDW restaurants are unique to me because they are at WDW. I certainly wouldn't eat at any of them just for the food given the inflated prices. I can get far better food at lower prices near home.