Bottom of the Barrel restaurants

[Amyrlin]

I would have to say Hollywood and Vine, it was just a poor level of choice compared to other buffets and the food was poorer quaility, (that was dinner).

 

[fla4fun]

Plaza at MK - It is really a table service sandwich and dessert shop.

Nine Dragons at Epcot - "Middle America" style Chinese Food at hghly inflated prices.

Yacht Club Galley - A couple of steps above a Denny's and no real theming.

Sorry, but I totally disagree with these choices. These are some of my favorites, and I go out of my way to make reservations for them.

The odd thing about Disney restaurant popularity is that it seems to go in cycles. The restaurant darling of this year may be replaced next year with a different one. Also, I've dined in most of the restaurants multiple times, and had excellent and not so great experiences at all of them. So someone may post that they had a horrible meal at X restaurant and will never go back, but it could have just been an off day. Last December, I had my best, and worst, meals at the same restaurant - the ever elusive Le Cellier. If I had only had the second meal, I would be on here tearing Le Cellier to shreds (it was truly bad, from the service to the food). But having had an absolutely wonderful experience a week before, I knew the restaurant was just having an off day.

I think a lot of it depends on what kind of food you like and whether you hit the restaurant on a good day or a bad one. I haven't met a Disney restaurant yet that I wouldn't give another chance to, although I'm not that partial to buffets (Disney or otherwise) more for the behavior of the patrons than the food and atmosphere.

 

[klinlin]

Hollywood and Vine has been bad for a long time.

 

[Starr_DJ]

When DH and I went last summer we LOVED Sci-Fi and did not care for 50's at all - usually people's opinions of the two places are reversed.

 

[jenjersnap]

Hollywood & Vine's dinner buffet. Ugh.

Sci Fi.

MGM is taking a beating here, eh?

 

[LindyN]

Olivia's Cafe (OKW) for dinner. beware of oily pasta!

Tempura Kiku in EPcot (Japan). Thank heaven its closed! Long John Silver's goes Japanese. Had to pay full price too as they did not accept the DDE card. (Can cross it off my list though)

Shutters at CBR. Blech.

Cap'n Jack's. Get your seafood off-property.

Planet Hollywood. The name says it all. (Go to say you've been, or save yourself the miserable meal and just buy the t-shirt).

 

[Golf4food]

Hollywood & Vine's dinner buffet. Ugh.

Sci Fi.

MGM is taking a beating here, eh?

MGM has the worst food overall of any of the Disney parks - by far.

Hollywood & Vine gets our vote.

We went in March 2005 and it was OK - not great, but not bad. We went again in December 2006 and it was bad. Pathetically so. We won't be going back any time soon.

 

[angipoo]

MGM has the worst food overall of any of the Disney parks - by far.

I agree - we are going to try Sci-Fi on our next trip, but treating it more as an attraction than place to eat.

 

[disneydaveb]

We have always enjoyed Sci-Fi. I guess it's a combination of the atmosphere and the selection. We go there because we like some of the menu items. If we were looking for steaks or filet, we would go to LeCellier. I think it's pretty good for the type of food they serve.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

One key thing to remember is that the restaurants at Downtown Disney are not Disney owned and therefore, many are not of high quality. Here's my list...

Raglan Road - Mediocre food, terrible wait to get in even though we had ADR's

Mama Melrose's - Has gone down from what it used to be...BIGTIME!

Fulton's Crabhouse - Disgusting!

Nine Dragon's - Basic mall Chinese food here!

Restaurant Marakesh (Morocco) - YUCKO! I couldn't even stay long enough for dessert; it was just *THAT* bad!

We rarely have a problem with *ANY* Disney restaurant.

 

[battricia]

I think this is a very interesting thread and as some have said, you'll probably get all KINDS of responses here. I noticed someone mentioned mama melroses which I thought was odd because my boyfriend and I dined there last sept, and we LOVED it. The food was great. And we tried to get an adr for this sept and it is BOOKED SOLID, so I'm not sure everyone would agree. But everyone's got their own I guess.

tricia.

 

[DVCMama]

We loved Sci-Fi last time Sep. I had the BBQ chicken sandwich and it was good, the kids got standard chicken strips/fries. Can't remember what DH got but it was at least 'ok'. Going back again the fall because we enjoyed it.

However we've been able to get into San Angel, Beirgarten, and Garden Grill with last minute ADR's in late June same day. So maybe people consider them 'bottom of the barrell". The last meal we had at San Angel was pretty tasteless but the atmosphere was great. Biergarten same thing, food was ok but atmosphere awesome. We liked Garden Grill and are going back in Sep.

 

[xipetotec]

We loved Sci-Fi last time Sep. I had the BBQ chicken sandwich and it was good, the kids got standard chicken strips/fries. Can't remember what DH got but it was at least 'ok'. Going back again the fall because we enjoyed it.

However we've been able to get into San Angel, Beirgarten, and Garden Grill with last minute ADR's in late June same day. So maybe people consider them 'bottom of the barrell". The last meal we had at San Angel was pretty tasteless but the atmosphere was great. Biergarten same thing, food was ok but atmosphere awesome. We liked Garden Grill and are going back in Sep.

See you pose a very good point there. Atmosphere adds SO much to the experience. although I DID ENJOY the food at both San Angel and Biergarten. I would want to go to these places even if I thought the food was only okay because they are such neat restaurants. As it is, I've been to San Angel twice with DW on a raomantic evening. And with the whole family at Biergarten and plan on doing so again when we go in March!

 

[OKW Lover]

I'd vote for either of the RFC's and BRG.

 

[snowdrift7]

At the bottom of our barrel for TS is Rainforest Cafe-DTD (no fan of RFC at AK) either. For CS - Sunshine Seasons - tho' I must admit we tend to go to the same CS every year so I haven't tried more than 6-8 of them.

 

[Luv2Roam]

Everyone's opinions are wildly different.
For me, many bottom of the barrel places I am sure many really like -- Pecos Bill's; Plaza Restaurant; mostly any food court.
Generally only eat at any food court when a quick bite is needed. And the food courts sometimes beat the counter service park food.
For the most part, sit downs are reasonable to very good.

 

[JCornell]

I agree!!


again - I agree...I find that if I like something at one place in the MK I will like the same thing in othes...my question is: is the same true for Disneyland???


Maybe the palate has changed - the food seems the same to me. But I have only been going to WDW steadly since 2001.


Sorry to hear you were unhappy with Tangerine...I love the desserts there. I also love Marakesh (that is the name of the Moroccan main restaurant - but the spelling may be wrong!) We try to eat there once a vist during the Food & Wine event. I agree with Tony's - have been disappointed every time I have eaten there. Sci-Fi was fun, but again - the same hotdogs, hamburgers as the others... I love the movies though!

If I had to pick my least favorite it would most likely be any of the take away places for burgers...BORING!!!

My favorite: Californina Grill...but we make a point of getting to Raglan Road also!

There was an interesting point here. I think the quality probably hasn't gone down so much as it has stayed the same and meanwhile the average person probably enjoys a much wider selection of food at home with more quality choices so our expectations are now higher. This is probably why WDW has plans to update a lot of their restaurants over the next few years. I enjoy most of the restaurants currently but would love to see some updates and more interesting menu choices. Also, keep in mind that feeding the masses like they have to do every day, is no easy task and they have to take care to not do anything too wild that will only appeal to few so they won't be able to easily compete with smaller specialty restaurants, unfortunately.

 

[honey11dog]

Hollywood and Vine was horrible! We did it last year as a Fantasmic package. I know it know is a character meal, but I hear that the menu is the same.

Also Sci Fi was a once a time thing fo us too.