Can you share a place you couldnt wait to eat but was a huge letdown

Ohana breakfast. DD15 has always been a bit Stitch fan so for our first girls only trip, it was a must. We arrived about 15 minutes before our ADR and were in line behind a family of 3 with a young boy. They didn’t have an ADR and the CM could not have been more rude in telling them they couldn’t have a table. I thought “oh boy, they’re gonna be packed”. We checked in, got a pager, and were told it would be about 30 minutes. We sat down in an empty seating area and as soon as our butts hit the cushion the pager went off. We walked into an almost empty restaurant. I was very disappointed that they would turn away guests and have so many empty tables. I know, they may have been short staffed, but they should’ve seated that family.
We were brought to our table and hadn’t even sat down when Mickey arrived. I thought he was just saying hi as he walked by, but no, this was his visit. I asked for them to wait so I could get my camera out. He just stood there, didn’t interact with DD at all. Same went for every other character except Stitch (thank goodness!). He was the best and made the trip better. The food was good, but to rush us through the characters the way they did was so disappointing.
 
Brown Derby. I have given this place three opportunities to win me over and quite frankly it failed. 2/3 times it was just horrible and 1 was eh at best. I don't see what the appeal is...
 
California Grill. The food was truly, truly excellent and I can't fault it (I had the black grouper served on herb basmati rice with cashew chutney, bok choy, baby shiitake, rock shrimp, kaffir lime-coconut nage and it was incredibly tasty) but the service was so abysmal that I cancelled my reservation for a Wave brunch that same trip and didn't go back to try all the Contempo Cafe offerings as I'd planned to.

If we are strictly talking about the food, Columbia Harbour House was a letdown. The place has a lot of seating and it's got restrooms which are surprisingly hard to find in this area of the park, which is awesome, but my research showed that lots of people considered this one of the best QS options in Magic Kingdom. When we went, they were out of salmon (the dish I'd planned on ordering) so we had to make do with a platter of fried things, which we barely touched.

That's a shame! I love the salmon!

Not a big let down, but didn't live up to hype -Satu'li Canteen - Pandora.

The way people rave about it on here, I was expecting some life changing experience.

It was fine. A healthy alternative for theme park food, but nothing that made me want to scream to the heavens with joy. :)

I think it's just refreshing to have healthy options that taste good and are not salad.

Oh yeah, and Tusker House, which was also quite disappointing. And 1900 Park Fare for the food alone.

I thought 1900 Park Fare was really loud and crowded, and the food was just okay. I liked the character interaction, but I don't think I'll go again.

Kona Cafe breakfast: I had really looked forward to the Tonga Toast. It was so sweet I couldn't eat it.

I really did not like the Tonga Toast either.
 
Not a big let down, but didn't live up to hype -Satu'li Canteen - Pandora.

The way people rave about it on here, I was expecting some life changing experience.

It was fine. A healthy alternative for theme park food, but nothing that made me want to scream to the heavens with joy. :)

Same here - couldn't wait to try it after so many raving of it - found it ok - just not anything we would go back for, so many other CS's I'd rather eat at.
 


Two come to mind for me.

First is Coral Reef. It was just the entire experience we had there. The check-in took about 30-40 minutes while but gave them a pass since it was spring break. The service and food were just not acceptable for what we paid for. The "view" felt more like people starring at us like we were inconveniencing them from seeing since we were in front. Just an overall bad experience that makes you not want to return in the future.

Second for me was Grand Floridian Café. I know this is not the most popular choice, but my mother in law talked this place up so much I just knew we were in for a good meal. Service and onion soup were fantastic. I'm talking everything else we ate was a disaster between 6 people entrees and dessert. MIL felt terrible about recommending this place and I couldn't blame her for it.
 
It can be more then one place. It also be can a cs or ts. I am looking forward to hearing some of the answers.

For me hands it was San Angel Inn. I love Mexican food. Let me start off saying that. In all my trips I had never eaten in any of the Mexican restaurant's at Disney. So I was excited to say the least. The food well was probe the worst or the nastiest food I ever ate in my life. It was dry, nasty and I couldn't even finish my meal. On top of that, the server was a creep. He rushed me threw out the whole meal. I'll never ate there again. Honorable mention goes to Flame tree BBQ. Nasty dry chicken and freakin birds all around me.

Absolutely huge let down was Ohana... seated 45 minutes after our reservation at a table we had seen empty the entire time.. poor service.. rude waiter.. and marginal food. And it was cold. Ruined our final day and will never return. I plan trips for others and this is never recommended by me.
 
Past trip: Boma dinner. Our first stay on property was at AKL 6 years ago. We booked a Boma dinner and a Boma Breakfast during the same stay. At dinner we were sat at a table that turned out to be the end of the "buffet" line(I know they are pods but people still formed one line like it was one big buffet). So the whole night we got to sit and eat while having people scope out what we were eating. Also I didn't care for the spices in the food and alot of things had dried fruit in them. Just not anyone's cup of tea in our party. Then I got the bill..... I promptly canceled our breakfast reservation, though in a subsequent trip we tried Boma out for Breakfast and loved it and it is a good value. I will not eat there for Lunch or Dinner though.

This trip: Trattoria. This has been a staple of ours since it has opened. It used to be our last night tradition was Via Napoli followed by Illuminations, in the past 4 - 5 trips it turned into Trattoria and Illuminations. This past trip one of my sons ordered Chicken Parm(as did I and my wife). Well the food came and we were busily eating it and my son said he was done after a few bites. I asked him what was wrong as he usually goes through food like a buzz saw and he saw the chicken was all the fatty chewy pieces. I didn't believe him and took and bite and promptly lost my appetite. The chicken was barely cooked and was extremely rubbery. I typically takes a lot to ruin my appetite but this did the trick. My chicken was perfectly fine but I noticed the side of pasta was not the usual quality. It look like it had been sitting for a while before coming out as well. The server was great and she did not charge us but unfortunately on our next trip we decided we are going to mix it up and try something else.
 


My letdown was Hollywood Brown Derby. Went one year and absolutely loved it. Returned on our next trip with such positive memories but we won't ever return. I ordered the duck, the server explained it would be prepared to medium rare, which is great. What I was served was a piece of rare meat with a thick layer of raw, unrendered fat. I felt awful, but it was inedible so I kindly asked the waiter to have the kitchen put it back on the grill. Our server and then a manager both treated me like a child throwing a tantrum.

It sounds like the food quality really has gone downhill at HBD which is too bad.
 
My letdown was Hollywood Brown Derby. Went one year and absolutely loved it. Returned on our next trip with such positive memories but we won't ever return. I ordered the duck, the server explained it would be prepared to medium rare, which is great. What I was served was a piece of rare meat with a thick layer of raw, unrendered fat. I felt awful, but it was inedible so I kindly asked the waiter to have the kitchen put it back on the grill. Our server and then a manager both treated me like a child throwing a tantrum.

It sounds like the food quality really has gone downhill at HBD which is too bad.

You should have chef Ramsay'ed it and yelled "It's RAAAWWR, you donkey!". LOL
 
Sorry to hear this one. I love the tacos there and I love the topping bar so I can keep adding cheese!

I was there a couple of weeks ago and got the platter. It was fine, not horrible by any means but a bit too salty for my tastes. I have been in the past and it was better so maybe it depends on who is cooking it that day. But it is still better then the burgers you get at any other counter service throughout the resort.
 
California Grill for dinner. I was really excited to try it and watch the fireworks. The food was good, but the service was beyond terrible. We tried going a second time a few months later, it was worse than the first time and we will never go back. Brunch was great though.
I find that they just mail it in given their location. That food should be some of the best on property.
 
Terrible cut of steak.
I called the manager out on this while we were there. It was not a Filet cut...she just kind of looked at me. Yeah they need a whole new management crew and chef in this location. Keep the cheese soup and bring in someone that can cook a steak and a manager who understands meat. At that price point you shouldn't have a bad steak there.
 
Back in the Day at the old Downtown Disney Capt Jacks I had a some friends who raved about it so we thought good drinks some seafood relaxing meal-had to send all the food back it smelled and was not fresh looking, margarita was watery. We did ask that we not have to continue with our meal and not pay manager was a jerk waitress so nice left her $30.

Kae
 
50's Prime Time hands down.

I went for lunch with my husband and dad last September, and aside from the bland, subpar food, I couldn't get past how filthy the entire restaurant was. It looked as though nobody had dusted the décor since it opened!

I don't care how entertaining the servers could be - if you can't keep up the cleanliness of your establishment, ESPECIALLY in a Disney park - you've lost me.
 
Hollywood Brown Derby was one of the worst experiences we had last year. My mom had wanted to go there for years. I don’t know if it was because we only ordered apps, drinks, and desserts but the service we got from the server was essentially nonexistent. The food was fine but not amazing like we had heard. I watched him with the rest of his tables and they got excellent service. Is what it is but we won’t be back.
 
I think all of this is so tricky, because it is mainly subjective. 1) Everyone's expectations are completely different so we all start from a different place, 2) Everyone's past experiences that shape them are different, 3) everyone's tastes are different, and over time 4) the restaurants change (food, chefs, waiters, etc...). So, IMO, no one should rely only on negative OR positive reviews of a place, but rather experience them themselves to see what they like or don't like... that doesn't stop me from sharing my opinion, but I hope everyone reading reviews keeps those things in mind so as not to miss something they would actually enjoy or to set themselves up for disappointment.

Having said that, I usually expect Disney food to be Disney food. I cook all the time and enjoy my cooking and rarely do I eat out anywhere that I prefer to my own homemade meals, and that includes Disney so I don't really ever go in with high expectations. If I had to pick a place, I guess maybe one of the last times I ate at Tony's, just because it had changed so radically and they didn't offer what I liked anymore. As another example, I won't eat at Brown Derby again, but the food was ok, service was ok, atmosphere ok, it didn't let me down because I wasn't really expecting much. lol But, most places in Disney have their pros and cons.

Same can happen on the opposite side; Satu'li Canteen really surprised me in a good way; healthy good food at a decent price that I don't have to wait long for or make an ADR 180 days out. Yay!
 

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