BOG dinner disappointment

[Linda T.]

We went in July for both dinner and lunch. We liked both meals and we would go again on our next trip. For we had the shrimp and scallops, steak, and salmon. For lunch we had the toasted ham and cheese, roast beef sandwich, and the tuna.

We enjoyed the castle, the beast, and the food.

 

[patsal]

Went about a weekish ago and will not be going back for the TS again! I agree with OP and I set my standard lower. However in 33 trips with half of them being over 14 nights, I have never had a meal comped at WDW. This is the first and I hope last time that happens. I had the chicken and the sauce was scorched...just aweful, DH had the Salmon and it was black...not just blackened a good 1/4 inch had to be trimmed off for him to eat it, and the steak well about 50% was inedible gristle. The best thing I can say is the rose napkin was nice, and the waitress was a gem. Lunch was wonderful and I will do that again, but dinner for the three of us even with my meal comped was over $125 and nothing to say good about it...well that passion fruit cream puff kinda rocked, but those are the same at lunch!

 

[DisGirl819]

I loved the castle and the ambiance. I was also not over excited about the food. It was good - decent but not the best meal we had by far. Desserts were dry and not that great as well. I made up for the lack of good desserts here with Zebra domes at Boma and The Mara though

 

[Patrickprincess]

To the OP I'm sorry you had a bad time with your soup I think it was probably just an off night sometimes it happens I'm going to be our guest in September for my birthday Beauty and the Beast is my ultimate favorite movie all in all I read many of the reviews for be our guest and I find a lot of reviewers very very very picky I am NOT a foodie they're just too many people that come with high expectations what appeals to one person did not appeal to the next person I for one am NOT going to 50's Prime Time Cafe not because of the food because I don't like the so-called show I will not be dictated to on my manners I do not like certain kind of vegetables and I have with called acid reflux disease that prevents me from eating many of the dishes at 50 prime times cafe

 

[starousse]

I'm gonna agree with the OP. The setting was nice and I had wanted to have a great experience. The food was not that great but what really ruined it was the horrible server we had. Worst service in Disney ever! Very disappointed. Lunch however, was very enjoyable.

 

[North of Mouse]

Must have been an 'off' night with the french onion soup. My dh & I both had it in April and it was so delicious.

 

[Nancyg56]

I have to second the unrealistic expectations. My family had both lunch and dinner at BOG in March. I know that not every restaurant will appeal to everyone, but I think many of the negative reviews can be attributed to expectations that can't be met.

DH & I often say sometimes the idea of something is better than the reality of that thing.

The only expectations that I had was that the meal would be decent. It was okay, but not nearly as good as it should have been when considering the cost. I know when my steak is heated up prior to service and mine was. I know when a restaurant is overwhelmed and is precooking meals to compensate, and that is what I experienced. This was not standard prep, it was cooked and reheated. Yuck.

I had had lunch the day before and was very happy with that meal, it exceeded my "happy with any hot food so I could see the castle" expectations.

Honestly, I believe that this restaurant was not prepared to service the number of guests that the dining room can accommodate, and has been experimenting in order to address the issue. Guests will be treated to good nights, or they will be treated to substandard experiences and it is the luck of the draw right now.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

The only expectations that I had was that the meal would be decent. It was okay, but not nearly as good as it should have been when considering the cost. I know when my steak is heated up prior to service and mine was. I know when a restaurant is overwhelmed and is precooking meals to compensate, and that is what I experienced. This was not standard prep, it was cooked and reheated. Yuck.

I had had lunch the day before and was very happy with that meal, it exceeded my "happy with any hot food so I could see the castle" expectations.

Honestly, I believe that this restaurant was not prepared to service the number of guests that the dining room can accommodate, and has been experimenting in order to address the issue. Guests will be treated to good nights, or they will be treated to substandard experiences and it is the luck of the draw right now.

I wonder if them opening up the extra room and increasing capacity for July had anything to do with the sub-par food. Maybe they had been used to serving "X" number of guests per night and now they had to serve "X+Y" number.

In any event, I'm feeling really good about my choice to just go with lunch instead. I'm just hoping the FPs for lunch don't affect the rest of us common folk waiting in line too much!

 

[Nancyg56]

I wonder if them opening up the extra room and increasing capacity for July had anything to do with the sub-par food. Maybe they had been used to serving "X" number of guests per night and now they had to serve "X+Y" number.

In any event, I'm feeling really good about my choice to just go with lunch instead. I'm just hoping the FPs for lunch don't affect the rest of us common folk waiting in line too much!

IIRC, the extra rooms were opened when we went at the end of November/beginning of December. I cannot recall the original plan, but I think that some rooms would be opened for lunch, some for dinner. I don't think the original plan was to open that vast space for both seatings. I think that because there is seating capacity, and there certainly is interest, the management decided to use the entire space but some nights the staff cannot mange the numbers. Our waiter clearly had a sense of urgency about him, and as guests, we felt it.

I would not worry about the FP lunch thing yet.

 

[tinkgirlga]

We dinner there last week and thoroughly enjoyed the steak and pork chop. Experienced great service as well! Sorry to hear you did not have a good experience there with your meal.

 

[L&Lfan]

We did both lunch and dinner in May. Everything met our expectations which were realistic for theme park cuisine. We WERE overwhelmed by the beauty of the venue. Our dinner server was excellent.
For dinner my boyfriend and I shared the cured meat platter and he had the onion soup while I had the salad trio. We both had the sauteed shrimp and scallops. No dessert.
Two days later we decided to go for lunch. My boyfriend loved the onion soup so much, he ordered it again and I decided to join him with a bowl of my own. Then I had the croque monsieur and he had the roast beef sandwich. This time we had room for dessert, so he had the lemon meringue cupcake while I went for the triple chocolate.
However, there are so many places we enjoy better (primarily the hotel restaurants) or haven't tried yet, that we probably won't be back unless we're with a virgin or someone who really loves the place. But our overall experience was tremendously positive.
BTW, we were seated in the ballroom for dinner and chose the west wing for lunch.

 

[RHMH]

Glad we did it, but the food was not good. We did love the atmosphere and meeting the Beast! But I felt like we spent $140 for a walk thru the castle and a picture. We are foodies, but I was willing to take the chance even though I had seen other bad reviews. We had the salmon, steak, pork chop, and shrimp and scallops. WE all kind of shared to see if it was just our own meal that was bad. Only the steak was good, not great, but good. The rest was pretty tasteless. The shrimp was very fishy tasting and the pastry around it was soggy. We all decided that we could do without ever going back. OR if we do-sticking to lunch! Now we had a Kobe burger at Yak and Yeti earlier in the day that was fabulous!!!!

Sorry about your experience with the food. Here's hoping it was just a bad day for the Chef's. Of course this does not justify your disappointments and feelings of going back and trying the restaurant in the future.

We dined at BOG on July 14th for dinner and had a enjoyable time. The Girls had the New York Steak and I had French Onion Soup and Mussels. Each of us had cupcakes for dessert and had to purchase extra's for late night snack attacks.

Here's hoping you will give them another try in the future.

Thanks

Bob