California Grill experience

[kmermaid]

We had dinner a week ago on the 6th at CG. This was our first time eating here and I have a question. There were a number of families there with just exhausted children. This was 6pm and these parents couldn't, (or wouldn't in my opinion) take control of these children. I thought I was at Chef Mickey's with how loud it was. Atleast the waiter saw we were 4 adults and seated us in the wine room next to the window. Our food was very good with starting with a sushi appetizer. I did think it odd though that my grouper was served with mashed potatoes, odd combo to me. As we left around 8pm the place was a zoo with kids running around with no supervision. I felt bad for the waiters and servers having to zig zag around these people. Is it always like that? And please don't flame me with "you know you are in Disney!" I thought this resturant was on the same level as the other higher end resturants.

 

[Soccer Princess]

Sorry you experienced that. Yes, I realize it is WDW, but at the nicer (signature) restaurants I would expect better behavior from both the children and parents as well. If the parents want to experience the nicer restaurants past their childs bedtime, there are babysitting services available. Just because it is a vacation does not mean the parents get a "break" from being a parent and should let their kids run wild, especially if interfering with other patrons of the restaurant.

I dined at California Grill last year and had no issues. I'm glad you enjoyed your food.

 

[Gixer]

We had a terrible experience at CG in January, it was like you said, an absolute zoo. However, all the kids in the restraunt were perfectly well behaved, the same couldnt be said for the 2 tables of 20 adults on a conference who were so drunk, loud and foul mouthed that our server gave us all free desserts and moved us away from them, just in time too as one lady fell over knocking all the crockery and glasswear onto the floor and another man vomited on the table.

 

[princesswendy720]

I love Cali Grill...sorry your experience was less than perfect. I'm not a parent yet, but IMHO there's no excuse, on the parent's part, for letting their children run around anywhere in public screaming and causing a disturbance, even if it's Disney. I'd feel the same way even if it were a chain restaurant where I live.

It's simple enough for a parent to take the child outside of the restaurant for a walk to calm them down. Although it may interrupt their dining experience I'd say that's the price you have to pay as a parent. There's no reason to ruin a complete strangers dinner as well.

Just MHO...

 

[stlouisdisneyguy]

When we go to Cali Grill we always eat later in the night, There doesnt seem to be that many kids there at 9:30pm. I was there once really early and had the same experience as you. All in all it is always great there!

 

[jblrn2b]

It is one of our favorites!!! We have always eaten around 7ish so I don't know if this is why but it was a very nice dining experience. As for my kids, they are a little older 8 and 13 when we went but they never ran around any restaurant. When they were at that stage in life, we didn't dine out in "nice" places.

 

[rentayenta]

We had a great experience, 6 pm dinner time, with our 3 children in tow. They were well- behaved like we expect. Disney or not, it's not fair to those wanting a more quiet and finer dining experience for guests to allow their children to misbehave. If they are exhausted, take them to the room, call a sitter, and enjoy your night out.

 

[lisadr]

We ate at the Cali Grill last year 3 times-and loved every time. This year is another story. We had 2 ADRs for Cali during our vacation. After the first one we changed it to Citricos. The noise level was so bad and there were tons of badly behaved kids we couldn't enjoy our meal. In fact my DH left with a terrible headache.

I think that because the secret is out about viewing the fireworks, a lot of people who go out to eat- as opposed to going out to dine- are booking there. Free dining doesn't help either, because they will use there credits a lot faster than pay out of pocket.

It's a real shame, it was a wonderful restaurant, but now it seems to be taken over by people who don't appreciate the food an atmosphere, but instead are using it as a way to watch Wishes.

Sorry you have a less than wonderful time.

 

[cwbagne]

The OP is right. We were there on 10/6 and had a 5:50 reservation. The CG was overloaded with out-of-control, whiny, tired children. I was there with a party of 5 (all adults) celebrating my older sister's 50th, my younger sister's 45th and my niece's 22nd. We had a fabulous meal. It was a horrible night outside with the rain, but we were determined to celebrate anyway. I just wish that parents (I am a parent of a 12 year old boy and a 9 year old girl - not with me on this trip) would not overextend their children to the point of exhaustion. I feel so sorry for them. There were many of them in the restaurant that evening. It was so loud!

 

[Pakey]

OP sorry for your experience. We always eat late to try to avoid this. We pay OOP and like to go there to share a nice bottle of wine with some great sushi. I think it's a shame what this place has become in the past 2 years.

 

[kmermaid]

The OP is right. We were there on 10/6 and had a 5:50 reservation. The CG was overloaded with out-of-control, whiny, tired children. I was there with a party of 5 (all adults) celebrating my older sister's 50th, my younger sister's 45th and my niece's 22nd. We had a fabulous meal. It was a horrible night outside with the rain, but we were determined to celebrate anyway. I just wish that parents (I am a parent of a 12 year old boy and a 9 year old girl - not with me on this trip) would not overextend their children to the point of exhaustion. I feel so sorry for them. There were many of them in the restaurant that evening. It was so loud!

Thanks for the validation! Glad to see we weren't the only party to witness the atmosphere.

 

[Little_Sister]

We had a terrible experience at CG in January, it was like you said, an absolute zoo. However, all the kids in the restraunt were perfectly well behaved, the same couldnt be said for the 2 tables of 20 adults on a conference who were so drunk, loud and foul mouthed that our server gave us all free desserts and moved us away from them, just in time too as one lady fell over knocking all the crockery and glasswear onto the floor and another man vomited on the table.

I am absolutely shocked! So sorry that these people ruined your dining experience...it's unbelievable!

 

[ghidorah97]

We had a terrible experience at CG in January, it was like you said, an absolute zoo. However, all the kids in the restraunt were perfectly well behaved, the same couldnt be said for the 2 tables of 20 adults on a conference who were so drunk, loud and foul mouthed that our server gave us all free desserts and moved us away from them, just in time too as one lady fell over knocking all the crockery and glasswear onto the floor and another man vomited on the table.

First, to the OP, very sorry for your experience. I was there on 9/25 and had a wonderful time -- quiet, relaxing and fun.

Now as to Gixer's post, I am FLABBERGASTED at this story. I don't care WHO you are, WHERE you are or WHAT you are there for, this kind of behavior should never be tolerated under any circumstance in a public establishment. Were it my establishment, this group would have, quite matter-of-factly, been "shown the door".

 

[Lynn5700]

Oh no!!!! sorry about that!!! I hope the kiddos will be well behaved when we go on our anniversary lol.

 

[Clotho]

Unforunately, this does happen in Disney. I am not giving you "that line"--I get frustrated, too. Even in Disney, I feel like there should be some places that are more refined and adult-appropriate, and which other adults (and their children) should recognize and comport themselves approriately.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

We ate at Cg on 10/4 and it was a very enjoyable evening. It was very quiet on that evening. I did not see many kids running around. There were alot of people waiting for tables but I think that's the case every night. We eat at CG and Jiko on every trip.

 

[Uncleromulus]

We do California Grill each trip. And anywhere near fireworks time, it's always a zoo, with plenty of uncontrolled kids (and some slightly inebriated adults along with them) wandering all over the restaurant. I also feel sorry for the servers there, having to navigate in and out of all that. Witnessed many a near collision over the years!
It's like lisadr says-California Grill has become a center for watching fireworks, with food and a nice dining atmosphere being very secondary concerns.

 

[Leanne1977]

This is my absolute favourite restaurant on property and we have dined here 3 times in the last year each and every time with my boys who are 7 and 6 right now.
They are very well behaved boys and understand how important it is to be good at whatever restaurant we are at. They have never acted up or caused any nuisance to any other diners. I am very proud of them, particularly when we are dining at the Cali Grill, as they are always so polite and well mannered. This is something I expect of them and if I knew they wouldn't be able to behave like this then I wouldn't dine at the signature restaurants.

I can't say I have ever noticed any behaviour that would bother me but to be honest I am far too busy enjoying my meal and my family to probably notice.
We will be there again on Christmas Day as my boys have picked this as our Christmas Day ADR.

So sorry you had a bad experience.

 

[kmermaid]

So sorry you had a bad experience.

I just wanted to say it wasn't a BAD experience, our waiter thankfully put us in the wine room away from the action. I also think that it might have been like that because MK had EMH that evening and it had been closing at 7 during the weekend and the following night for MNSSHP.

 

[thehails]

We are really looking forward to eating at CG during our visit in Feb.

I think it’s very sad that the bad behaviour of certain children in a restaurant can spoil the whole evening for many other diners. My children are 9 & 6 and have been used to eating with us at high end restaurants all over the world since they were tiny babies. We receive many, many compliments about how well behaved they are at restaurants. We expect them to behave well wherever we eat, just because it’s Disney is not an excuse for bad behaviour.

On many occasions it’s not the child’s fault, they need to have guidance from their parents.

Lets hope it doesn’t get so bad that they have to put an age restriction on the CG like they have at V&A.