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

For us it was Homecomin'. This was the ADR I was most looking forward to on our trip and it was a huge disappointment. I did love the atmosphere, our server was good, but we waited forever for our meal (like an hour plus) . When our food did come, I had gotten the fried chicken and Mac and cheese, the chicken was so salty and dry, and my Mac and cheese had a plastic-y taste to it. My son got the kids fish sticks, and they turned out to be rubbery peices of something that tasted and smelled like swamp water.. Just not a good experience for us unfortunately.
 
For us it was Homecomin'. This was the ADR I was most looking forward to on our trip and it was a huge disappointment. I did love the atmosphere, our server was good, but we waited forever for our meal (like an hour plus) . When our food did come, I had gotten the fried chicken and Mac and cheese, the chicken was so salty and dry, and my Mac and cheese had a plastic-y taste to it. My son got the kids fish sticks, and they turned out to be rubbery peices of something that tasted and smelled like swamp water.. Just not a good experience for us unfortunately.

Same here. I was SO excited, I love fried chicken. I was so disappointed - it tasted so odd, like dishwater. And the cheese biscuit was like a flavorless hockey puck.

We also did not care for Skipper’s Canteen. Our server was disinterested and didn’t do any of the schtick. The portions weren’t very good and we left hungry. Just not our thing.
 
Everyone seemed to like the Boathouse at DS. We thought it was OK. Service was good but food was average to say the least.

We have been going to WDW for decades and 10 years ago this thread would have listed "do not miss" restaurants. Now it's the opposite. We always loved the Grand Floridian Cafe, Captain's Grill and Kona Cafe. Now they are hit or miss. The prices are too high for hit or miss (at least for us).

We rent a car now so have the option of offsite dining.
 
Everyone seemed to like the Boathouse at DS. We thought it was OK. Service was good but food was average to say the least.

We have been going to WDW for decades and 10 years ago this thread would have listed "do not miss" restaurants. Now it's the opposite. We always loved the Grand Floridian Cafe, Captain's Grill and Kona Cafe. Now they are hit or miss. The prices are too high for hit or miss (at least for us).

We rent a car now so have the option of offsite dining.

My brother and his family had breakfast there his last visit and said they waited over 30 mins to be seated and waitress disappeared on them a few times. I wanted to eat there since I love the GF, but this made my decision easier and now im not going there.
 


Be Our Guest at MK. We couldn't get a reservation so we waited for a LONG time at the check-in point. Finally we were able to take someone's spot because they didn't show up. The place was loud and crowded. A bunch of princesses had a meltdown because they were expecting/hoping to see Belle or Beast. Food was average. I lost my appetite due to the noise. I think my crepes were still partially frozen.
 
This post is so helpful! I have 2 weeks to go before I can make our ADRs. Ohana was on my list for dinner but after reading this entire post, I think I will revise it to the Cape May Seafood Buffet. :)
 
CRT. Being inside the castle was fun, and it’s a lovely use of space. The food was “fine” - kids had tiny portions (one Mickey waffle?) and adult food was tasty enough but nothing amazing, though my husband was happy to have an actual rare steak after a week of ordering rare and mostly receiving medium-well.

The real let-down was the princesses. They basically hurried through, took pictures with the kids quickly and did not interact at all otherwise. We had 4 kids ages 4-12 and they all enjoyed much more involved interactions with other characters at other times during our trip. This was our final morning and the kids all had questions they wanted to ask some of them and the princesses ignored them and basically just left as soon as we took a photo. Only Rapunzel did anything additional and that was while the 4yo was making his way over to the group she asked the older kids if they’d found Pascal near her tower in fantasyland. That was it. The others barely said hello. I tried to get some of their attention to ask a question hoping to start a conversation for the kids but they’d already moved on. My kids had more meaningful interactions with Vampirina who they don’t even know - and who wears a head and doesn’t talk. These princesses were borderline rude!
 


One place we usually get a good meal is at the Boardwalk at Big River Grill.
And that is the worst dining experience we ever had at Disney. All food was terrible. You definitely roll the dice when you eat at Disneyworld.
 
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.
Same experience. The fried plater was just nasty. Seafood did not taste fresh. Heavy batter. Room especially upstairs was very nice.
 
It is very true. We can name places offsite where we can count on a decent meal but not the ones on Disney property.
 
if i ever send food back i do NOT get anything else.. neither does anyone at my table... nope.. not gonna happen!!!
Sometimes sending something back is a good move.
When I was in college I worked as a dishwasher at Romeo’s Restaurant in Victoria BC. Our chefs were all pros. When any guest sent something back all the chefs would huddle up, each would taste it and they’d discuss what if anything was wrong with it and if the guests concerns could be addressed. Replacement dish would be prepared, usually by the head chef, and it was a huge blackeye for the crew if that came back as well.
 
I sent my main dish (scallops) back at cg on Friday. They were so salty I couldn’t taste anything else. The waitress was apologetic and offered me something else but I just wasn’t hungry at that point. She ended up comping my husband his second glass of wine (we had dxdp). I was underwhelmed by that meal for the cost. The view was lovely of course but the food wasn’t spectacular.
 
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The problem with sending food back is that everyone else at your table is done their meal before you. My wife and I went out to lunch a few months ago. Our meal came and the server had apparently not heard me correctly and what she brought was not what I ordered. I said it was fine and I'd eat that but she insisted it would only take "a few minutes" to make it right. Well it was over 20 minutes before my food came by which time my wife had long finished her meal. They didn't charge me for it, as they shouldn't, but it was still annoying.

So no, I almost never send anything back. I will, however, complain to management if something is really bad so that I don't have to pay for it.
 
IMHO, anyone looking for consistently exceptional food at most WDW restaurants has expectations that are too high.
I think you can even remove the word "exceptional" from that sentence. If you're looking for consistent food at all, forget it. Even at a basic counter service place, the same item can be dramatically different from day to day.
 
I haven't "hated" anything enough to never go back. DH however, will not go back to Yak and Yeti ( I am hoping to change this as it's one of my favorites) or Biergarten. Our experience there wasn't too positive. Our table mates were rude and we were practically ignored by the server. The traffic flow is set up all wrong for a buffet. It was just awkward.

We tried Biergarten when we were there in March - our table mates were cut off from alcohol by our server and spent the rest of the meal shoving food down their throats angrily so that they could leave. I'm just not making ADRs anywhere with shared tables from now on.
 
We tried Biergarten when we were there in March - our table mates were cut off from alcohol by our server and spent the rest of the meal shoving food down their throats angrily so that they could leave. I'm just not making ADRs anywhere with shared tables from now on.

I was disappointed with Biergarten on the food alone. I love German food, and this was not anywhere close to good. I understand localizing a menu to fit local palates, but I can't see the food there appealing to anyone as is. It's too Americanized for those who like German food, but still too German to appeal to those who don't.
 
The let down for me was akershus. for my family of 4 (kids 7 & 3) none of us ate more then a 1/3 of our food. We had maybe 2 bites of the deserts, which were dry. the princess interactions were good, but can meet them other places. Also had a huge wait, we were 30 minutes past our reservation. Only upside was as we were waiting outside, the Vikings where walking around and made us laugh.
 
So pretty much any restaurant on the Disney property has had someone not like it. I think you can say that for ANY restaurant anywhere. Someone is going to have a bad experience by their perception or not enjoy it. It happens and WDW restaurants are no different. Are there some that get worse overall reviews than others? Absolutely. But for every bad thought about a specific restaurant, there are others who do enjoy it and maybe had a better experience. I also think thoughts about them can be jaded because expectations are built up and then when someone is on a once a year or so trip they get let down or in converse they get surprised. I go a ton and have TIW and an AP so trying different places is something I enjoy and like most locals or people who go a lot have a larger sample size to work with because most places I have tried more than once even if they let me down the first time. Others, now that I have been twice, I just wont waste my time with. The old addage go where the locals go applies. Try places that for the most part of the "regular" visitors go and say its good and you generally will not be let down. As a regular visitor there is a list of always worth the stop if its convenient, always worth the stop no matter what, and Wont ever walk through the door again. The changing Chefs at the restaurants also highly effect the food. Jiko, Cali Grille, Flying Fish, Yachtsman, Monsieur Pauls are all examples of this.

The only absolutely will not do again places on our list are: Grand Floridian Cafe, Beaches and Cream, 50s, ANY counter service in Studios, ANY Sit down restaurant at MK except Skipper or Castle breakfast for a special occasion, Chinese or Japanese sit downs in World Showcase, Biergarten, Artist Point, Edison, Any Buffet other than Boma, San Angel, counter service American Pavillion World Showcase.

Our restaurants that we generally have no issues with and in order 1-10: Il Mulino, Tiffins, Cali Grille, Jiko, Flying Fish, Boathouse, Yachtsman, Narcoosees, HBD, Citricos

Others we will go to but can be hit or miss is a huge list.
 

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