Be Our Guest Dinner - Too Rushed

[jAcKs_x0]

Just returned from a wonderful vacation where we dined at many of our favorite restaurants on property. We have been to Be Our Guest before, but this time we felt very rushed. We ordered a bottle of specialty wine to try (Enchante Rose) which was excellent, but our server came by after what it felt like every sip to top off our glasses. Now I understand this is a theme park restaurant, where reservations are highly sought after, but I felt that paying over $40 for our bottle of wine should garner us more time at our table. We felt very rushed and by the end of our meal our server brought over the check, filled our glasses almost to to the top and took off with our empty wine bottle. Mind you, we were seated for our reservation at 6:00 pm and it was only 6:50 by this point. It did not completely hinder our experience, but I don't think I would ever order a bottle of wine at Be Our Guest again. Just wanted to give my two cents and perhaps it could have just been our server, but due to the popularity of this restaurant I'm thinking this probably wasn't a one time situation.

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

Sorry you had that experience.

We ate there on our last trip and while we didn't order wine, we didn't feel rushed at all.

 

[minnie mum]

Seems like your server was perhaps a little overzealous with the topping up business, but its not as if s/he was standing over you and making you chug your wine. That's not rushing you, to me. No one was forcing you to drink it faster than you wanted to.

Asking for your order as soon as you are handed the menu, bringing your entree before you've finished your app, or bringing the bill before you are done your meal, now THAT'S rushing you. And we've had servers TRY to do that in the past. And even that is easily handled just by nicely telling them to come back later.

 

[BigMommaMouse]

If I had a half of bottle of wine in less then 50 minutes, I would feel a bit tipsy.

Sorry that you were rushed. In the future if a server comes to the table to top up your glasses, just say "No thanks".

 

[dmc6469]

I’m a little confused. You felt rushed because your waiter was GIVING you more wine?? How is that rushed? Rushed to me would be that he was taking your wine glass away when you were still having wine in it to drink? Not being mean but I must be missing something

 

[butterfly71076]

I am not a wine drinker, so I'm not sure what the service etiquette is when ordering a bottle. But, to me it doesn't really sound like you were being rushed, maybe she was just making sure your glasses were never empty. There could have been a problem in the past where someone complained about her drink refill quickness, and she was making sure that didn't happen again.

I am so sorry you felt rushed. I have felt rushed at BOG also, we had our server bring out entrees about 5 minutes after he brought out apps/soup. Then 10 minutes later brought us the check. We were in and out of there in under an hour. I do agree, since it is so popular, they are trying to do a fast turnaround. We are looking forward to trying breakfast though.

 

[helenm29]

Sorry to hear you felt rushed! I would have probably been thrilled that someone showed up at all let alone every few minutes. it's really hard to get someone to top off your glass that quickly in my experience. Maybe your server was just in a hurry to get off work? whatever the case, don't let that sway you from going there again....the food was good, the wine was good and you had a great time accept for the wine service.

 

[moonshadow]

We're going for dinner on 9/7 and absolutely can't wait. Tried to get in last February but it was completely booked.

 

[ghoulardi]

Ate there twice in June. Great experience both times. Family loved meeting the Beast!

 

[happymommy]

If I had a half of bottle of wine in less then 50 minutes, I would feel a bit tipsy.

Sorry that you were rushed. In the future if a server comes to the table to top up your glasses, just say "No thanks".

Some of us wine drinkers can handle that - at 750mL bottle of wine has approx. 4 large pours, so it's 2 glasses. Me, I'd feel pretty good!

I also think it's nice he kept topping off the glasses; we have a lovely restaurant near us that tends to have the opposite issue. We'll have our glasses empty, and wait. And wait. Okay not too long, but it's nice to have it topped off!

50 minutes for a full dinner, though, with wine seems a bit rushed to me. I'm a very slow eater, so no way I'd be done even!

 

[verleniahall]

When we were there last year, they left an ice bucket for us, and we took care of our own top-offs

 

[happymommy]

That would be so much nicer! But, I'm a control freak.

 

[jAcKs_x0]

Hi everyone, OP here! I just wanted to add a few more details. The night before we ate at Narcoossee's and our server had us taste the wine and filled our first glass. Our wine bottle was left in an ice bucket at our table and we filled our glasses at our leisure during the meal. The next night at Be Our Guest, our server filled our first glass, left the wine bottle in the ice bucket on the table, but then continued to come back to our table very often to fill our glasses. I was under the impression that if the server was walking by and the wine glass looked low, it would be courteous to fill the glass, but not after every sip especially when we could fill the glass ourselves when we felt ready. It was just my personal opinion feeling rushed, others might not feel this way, I just was trying to share our experience.

 

[happymommy]

Your gut feeling is almost always right, so thanks for sharing!

Personally, my DD and I don't find the dinner menu so much appealing, but have breakfast and lunch booked in 2 weeks.

 

[AlixaLock]

I'm so sorry you felt rushed! I think the wait staff are always a walking a slippery slope at BOG. I think a lot of people order quickly, etc ... So that they can get on to other things. However, in your case, it should have been obvious you weren't looking for a quick meal. I felt a little rushed at my last meal ... I just told the waiter we weren't ready to order the minute we sat down and he got the hint and was great the rest of the night!

 

[ErinsMommy]

Seems like your server was perhaps a little overzealous with the topping up business, but its not as if s/he was standing over you and making you chug your wine. That's not rushing you, to me. No one was forcing you to drink it faster than you wanted to.

Asking for your order as soon as you are handed the menu, bringing your entree before you've finished your app, or bringing the bill before you are done your meal, now THAT'S rushing you. And we've had servers TRY to do that in the past. And even that is easily handled just by nicely telling them to come back later.

This. Never has a bad experience or felt rushed at BOG

 

[bumbershoot]

The night before we ate at Narcoossee's and our server had us taste the wine and filled our first glass. Our wine bottle was left in an ice bucket at our table and we filled our glasses at our leisure during the meal. The next night at Be Our Guest, our server filled our first glass, left the wine bottle in the ice bucket on the table, but then continued to come back to our table very often to fill our glasses.

I never order a bottle, as I"m the only one in my immediate family who drinks, BUT if I did and if I were a normal wine-drinker I might actually think the BOG server did a better job than the Narcoossee's guy did, because coming by so often is more helpful.

But I'm a top-off-disliker. If my glass/cup is empty, then OK maybe. If not, NO. One of the very few things I learned from my stepdad, who put his coffee together exactly the way he wanted it and didn't want anyone messing with the ratio. And with wine, I have to monitor how much I'm drinking, so I cannot have it topped off. I mean, unless I'm planning on the whole bottle, and I really should not ever do that. So I would have just said "no thank you" and if he did it again I would put my glass out of his easy reach.

 

[Dug720]

I never order a bottle, as I"m the only one in my immediate family who drinks, BUT if I did and if I were a normal wine-drinker I might actually think the BOG server did a better job than the Narcoossee's guy did, because coming by so often is more helpful.

But I'm a top-off-disliker. If my glass/cup is empty, then OK maybe. If not, NO. One of the very few things I learned from my stepdad, who put his coffee together exactly the way he wanted it and didn't want anyone messing with the ratio. And with wine, I have to monitor how much I'm drinking, so I cannot have it topped off. I mean, unless I'm planning on the whole bottle, and I really should not ever do that. So I would have just said "no thank you" and if he did it again I would put my glass out of his easy reach.

I agree about topping off with wine - monitoring is important there.

Now water OTOH, keep it coming! I know on the Radiance to Alaska most nights it was like if we took a sip or two of water the assistant was right there to fill it up. On the day we'd been in Juneau we had had a half marathon or 5K plus our own touring, and we felt bad we were emptying our glasses so fast we said "Just leave a couple of pitchers!" to keep him from constantly running over.