Best CS in Hollywood Studios?

[mocame]

My family was planning on going to the Backlot Express for a cs meal at DHS. It looks like they have changed their menu (now more Star Wars themed) and the menu doesn't appeal to our family anymore.

It also looks like a couple cs places are closing before we will be there. What other cs restaurants would you recommend for lunch? ABC Commissary? The sandwiches at Starring Rolls? Others?

 

[AngiTN]

None I'm sorry to say. I'd boat or walk to an Epcot area resort

 

[sharonabe]

QS at DHS gets a bum rap, but we've never had a problem with any of them. Sunset Blvd might be your best bet as there are different things along the blvd, so you can cater to everyone's wishes. Fairfax Fare's BBQ is almost as good as Flametree. The pizza and burgers as the other two are regular Disney fare.

 

[goofy4prez]

CS in my opinion (as is the majority) is absolutely terrible. The best cs among the crowd of hot dogs, chicken nuggets, hockey puck hamburgers is Starring Rolls. Starring Rolls offers pre-made cold cut sandwiches with mayonnaise already on it (yuck) and pre-packaged sushi. That's as good as it gets. A few places like ABC Commissary try to offer some different options but again in my opinion fail miserably. Sure they have tried to up their game in the last few years, but they still miss the mark big time. There is a good reason why this place is constantly considered the worst of the worst. While Disney is tearing up this park over the next couple of years and introducing the new Star Wars and Pixar areas they can bulldoze the CS's in the Studio and introduce some decent options in this park.

To the OP, what I usually do when I visit DHS is have a buffet breakfast at Cape May or Captains Grille, get a snack at Starring Rolls which has some excellent cupcakes and then get dinner at one of the Boardwalk restaurants. If you don't want to leave the parks then the Brown Derby is decent and 50's PTC is ok for a TS. Overall, I'm just not overly thrilled about the dining options whether they are CS or TS.

 

[DrivenByDisney]

CS everywhere is just that, CS. It's not going to be overly terrific. Our favourites at the Studios are; Fairfax Fare's and Backlot Express. Have never had anything awful at either location. We eat at either place at least every other trip when we don't do a sit down restaurant. They both have plenty of seating (Fairfax is all outside) and are decently priced, considering.

The pressed sandwich at the Backlot Express was pretty good. Though they no longer have it now they switched to a Star Wars themed menu. The Royal Guard Burger is not bad for park fare.

As sharonabe stated, the BBQ at Fairfax Fare is actually not bad. Since the pressed sandwich is gone at Backlot, we tend to go to Farifax now recently.

 

[SonicGuy]

Years ago we swore off the Commissary in HS as just about the worst dining in WDW. However on a trip a couple of weeks ago we stepped in out of necessity - cold and crowded outside. We decided to just "take it on the chin" to eat something somewhere we could sit down inside. We were SHOCKINGLY surprised at the food. Nice variety, fresh good food, and the cool Star Wars cupcakes as a dessert option on the DDP.

 

[mocame]

Well, maybe we'll just see how it is when we are there. If we're really hungry and don't want to wait, we may try one of the mentioned cs restaurants. If we don't see anything we like and are willing to wait, we can always go to a resort to eat. We already have a TS meal planned at 50's Prime Time for dinner.

Thank you for your help!

 

[nilla]

My family was planning on going to the Backlot Express for a cs meal at DHS. It looks like they have changed their menu (now more Star Wars themed) and the menu doesn't appeal to our family anymore.

Is the menu really different now, or did they just put "Galactic", "Dark Side", etc. in front of existing menu item names?

 

[mocame]

Is the menu really different now, or did they just put "Galactic", "Dark Side", etc. in front of existing menu item names?

Well, I don't remember all the food they had before but I remember they had a turkey sandwich that most of the family was interested in. Now it's the Royal Guard Burger, which most of the family wrinkled their nose at when they saw the picture of it, an angus burger, chili hot dog, chicken and waffles, chicken nuggets, and one salad. We can get most of those items at just about anywhere in the parks. There was no reason to specifically go to Backlot Express anymore and wondered where else we might get something good to eat. Now if someone said, that the Backlot Express made THE BEST burgers, chicken, etc. than any other cs, then we would reconsider it but it looked like just the normal food.

 

[Tiaramisu]

Is the menu really different now, or did they just put "Galactic", "Dark Side", etc. in front of existing menu item names?

They really did change it. I liked the pressed turkey sandwich & it's gone. The vegetable sandwich is also gone.

They added "chicken & waffles" but it's really just chicken nuggets with a couple of Vader waffles.

I don't think the food at HS is all that great, but I wouldn't waste time leaving the park to avoid it.

 

[mocame]

They really did change it. I liked the pressed turkey sandwich & it's gone. The vegetable sandwich is also gone.

They added "chicken & waffles" but it's really just chicken nuggets with a couple of Vader waffles.

I don't think the food at HS is all that great, but I wouldn't waste time leaving the park to avoid it.

Tiaramisu, you're right. The change in their menu is why we decided to rethink about where we wanted to eat. I don't know why, considering they are closing a couple of cs places, that they would take away menu items that are good and different from the normal park food.

 

[nilla]

I don't think the food at HS is all that great, but I wouldn't waste time leaving the park to avoid it.

I agree. We always struggle to find CS restaurants in HS, and usually end up settling. Backlot, ABC Commissary, and Studio Catering aren't horrible, but certainly not on par with the options at the other parks.

 

[disnut8]

Well, maybe we'll just see how it is when we are there. If we're really hungry and don't want to wait, we may try one of the mentioned cs restaurants. If we don't see anything we like and are willing to wait, we can always go to a resort to eat. We already have a TS meal planned at 50's Prime Time for dinner.

Thank you for your help!

Fairfax Fair. One word of caution - stand outside the queue area and look at the trays people are carrying out (it's all open so no big deal to do this). Then decide if you each want a meal or want to share something. Since you have Prime Time for dinner, you might just want to get one meal and share. I say this because we thought we'd eat here (for the first time) about 20 minutes before our FastPass for Twilight Zone opened up. I ordered the chicken and thought it would be typical counter service chicken which I could eat in 20 minutes. After thirty minutes of eating, I had to throw half of it away. I swear that chicken was born on a Purdue farm and then put through steroids. It was that big. Next time we ate there, we allotted ourselves a full hour and then barely finished our meals.

 

[Mazz519]

Last few times we have gone to the ABC Commissary, pretty good food

 

[janiebubble]

Any thoughts on vegetarian quick service. We are heading there in April, and the options seem seriously limited. We're on the QS free dining but am seriously scared there will be nothing for my partner to eat! With 2 quick services closed and the veggie option gone from backlot what is left beyond a fried green tomato sandwich??

 

[mocame]

Fairfax Fair. One word of caution - stand outside the queue area and look at the trays people are carrying out (it's all open so no big deal to do this). Then decide if you each want a meal or want to share something. Since you have Prime Time for dinner, you might just want to get one meal and share. I say this because we thought we'd eat here (for the first time) about 20 minutes before our FastPass for Twilight Zone opened up. I ordered the chicken and thought it would be typical counter service chicken which I could eat in 20 minutes. After thirty minutes of eating, I had to throw half of it away. I swear that chicken was born on a Purdue farm and then put through steroids. It was that big. Next time we ate there, we allotted ourselves a full hour and then barely finished our meals.

Good to know. We were planning on sharing meals (and desserts/snacks) as much as possible so we're not so full all the time. During our last trip, we had the dining plan and ate way too much food. We decided not to do the dining plan this time so that: 1) We're not going to feel stuffed all the time 2) We have a little more room for trying desserts or snacks in the parks and 3) Hopefully save a little bit of money paying OOP versus the dining plan. Thank you for the tip!

 

[JohnDaleswife]

I'll just plan on just eating a TS lunch when we go.

 

[cavepig]

Any thoughts on vegetarian quick service. We are heading there in April, and the options seem seriously limited. We're on the QS free dining but am seriously scared there will be nothing for my partner to eat! With 2 quick services closed and the veggie option gone from backlot what is left beyond a fried green tomato sandwich??

I really enjoyed the fried green tomato sandwich at Rosie's as a vegetarian, it had jalapeno cheese but wasn't really spicy and the cibata bread was soft and not hard which I prefer. Sadly Backlot doesn't have anything really, but the salad without chicken which looks lame. It is limited as a vegetarian it seems. Oh, Min & Bills had a veggie sushi I think in like a to go thing, but I didn't get it.

 

[janiebubble]

I really enjoyed the fried green tomato sandwich at Rosie's as a vegetarian, it had jalapeno cheese but wasn't really spicy and the cibata bread was soft and not hard which I prefer. Sadly Backlot doesn't have anything really, but the salad without chicken which looks lame. It is limited as a vegetarian it seems. Oh, Min & Bills had a veggie sushi I think in like a to go thing, but I didn't get it.

Thank you. I've not heard much about the fried green tomatoes! Jalapeño cheese will be a plus

 

[bigbabyblues]

We like Fairfax Fair for chicken and pulled pork.