Cape May Cafe - Dinner?

[nutsforgolf]

Has anyone attended the clam bake at Cape May Cafe? How is the quality of the seafood. Are they any characters? I'm usually not a big buffet person, but I am a big seafood person.

 

[Bob P]

No characters at the clam bake.

Food seems to get mixed reviews here, we think it's just "OK."

Do a search on this board and you'll find all sorts of opinions and feedback.

Bob

 

[missypie]

Here's the review that I posted yesterday. (We were there on May 27th):

We were staying at YC, so we just had to stroll over to the BC for the Clam Bake. We spent much of the day at AK, so we wanted a relaxing evening activity. Cape May fit the bill.

The good: The dessert bar was great. Yes, the oreo bon bons live up to the hype. The food from the "regular" side of the buffet was pretty good (beef tips, chicken wings, etc.) The clam chowder was terrific.

The not so good: The actual "clam bake" food was average to below average. The mussels tasted funny. The clams were okay but many of the shells were empty. The shrimp was WAY overcooked.

Service: average. When I gave the waiter my Disney Rewards card to pay with, he immediately asked me "Are you sure you have enough money on the card to cover this?" At that time I had over $900 on the card. I guess a lot of people have cards with just a few dollars on them, but I still thought it was a kind of rude question. We had to wait a long time for drink refills.

Bottom line: A decent buffet option if you are staying at one of the Epcot area resorts. Otherwise, it's not worth a special trip.

 

[kristielee]

Another vote for average at best.
desserts outrank the seafood by far. It's not "bad", but I wouldn't knock myself out to eat there either. Better food elsewhere by far

 

[Cinderella2004]

We must have been there on a really good day. The food was delicious. Everything was fresh, and plenty of it.

We found the dessert buffet to be on the small side, but to be honest, we had stuffed ourselves so much at the dinner end, we didn't need dessert!

 

[Erikarate]

One word YUCK!!! OK....there were SOME things that were passable, but we went there for the seafood. Big mistake, especially since we're from New England. The clams and mussels were like dried up rubber bands.

We have had breakfast there twice and enjoyed it. Chip and Dale were hysterical.

 

[Snurk71]

Dinner has always been good for us. I don't eat seafood, and the regular food has always been good (a chicken, bbq ribs, beef stroganoff, potatoes, sausage and peppers). And the chicken strips on the kid's buffet are amazing - much better than you get anywhere else on property.

And the oreo bon-bons. As a prevous poster mentioned, they do live up to the hype. I would eat at Cape May with marginal "real food" (not that I consider the food marginal) as long as I could still eat half a dozen bon-bons.

 

[DawnCt1]

In my opinion, it is as much a land lovers buffet as sea food. I think that the steamers are very small. I don't like mussels and peeling your own shrimp gets tedious rather quickly. Given that, the salad bar is very good. I like salad. The other items are fine too. Typical buffet fare. As will most buffets, at WDW and on cruise ships, the desserts always look better than they taste. I like a bite of everything but it always looks better than it is. We have gone to Cape May several times. Usually when we are caught in the rain and its convenient. I find the clam chowder very mediocre. Too much corn starch. I really make the best clam chowder so its hard to like anyone elses.

 

[Jakesmom1]

Dont even tell me this.

We have ps for Cape May for July 4th, and I was so excited.

Really looking forward to some clams and shrimp !!!

Oh well, my DH and DS will be happy to hear the regular food is good, they dont really care for seafood.

 

[DeeDeeDis]

Either we are not very picky people or have been extremely lucky every time
we've gone the Food has always been fresh and hot.

Salad items always crisp & fresh,quite a variety of salad items. Clam chowder excellent. They serve Little necks in a taragon butter, the mussels are always sweet and hot, have never had overcooked shimp (i'm not a big shrimp eater but do enjoy a few). Usually have grilled salmon (first time we got grilled tuna-that was fantastic). love the red potatoes and corn on cob is always firm and hot. The regular buffet side usually has some kind of beef like stroganof or beef burgundy, chicken, ribs, steamed veggie or adenti green beans almondine, garlic mash potatoes, some sausage with pepper dish, i cant remember any thing else, large assortment of rolls, cornbread, breads, carved beef, and ham or turkey with different sauces, horserash. Also a section for kids with pizza, chicken fingers stuff like that.

And we have always had a large selection of desserts. As for service, we've always had very good to good service, like any restuarant or buffet service depends on how busy it is.

I wouldn't worry Jakesmom, go enjoy.

 

[utahkennedys]

I grew up in Boston, so to me to food was just mediocre when we were there in April (had the worst clam chowder in my life there, truly!). It was fun to check out the Beach Club though and stroll around after dinner. I personally wouldn't go back for dinner, but may try it on our September trip for the character b'fast.

 

[NHLFAN]

Cape Mays "Clam Bake" is a MUST for us each year when we travel to WDW...Please get a PS well in advance as this place fills up

They used to have metal buckets that you could use to fill up on mussel/clams but now have bowls instead...We have always enjoyed the mussels and the salmon with the red potatoes and corn on the cob !

For meat lovers...My favorite is the pork ribs..so tender if falls off the bone!
A couple years ago they offered Prime rib but that has been replaced with sirlion...

Now the best of the best.... OREO BON-BONS!!! YUMM!!!

 

[Tarheel Tink]

We were very unimpressed several years ago but tried it again last month to the same results. Overdone seafood and very bland- I live in a coastal seafood town and we like it spicey and cooked correctly. Not somewhere we would go again, but since we stayed at BCV we thought we would give it another try.

 

[shakespeare]

DawnCT1- Would you mind sharing your clam chowder recipe? I would love to make homemade clam chowder.

 

[Christine]

The Cape May Dinner buffet is usually one of our "must do's." Typical buffet fare and we all seem to find a lot that we like. I like the food better than Chef Mickey's buffet food.

The seafood...well.....we are from the east coast and "into" seafood. There isn't much here that impresses us. I will eat the clams and they are fine, and what ever thing they might have in the serving tray, but really, the restaurant doesn't focus that much on seafood. So if you were "going for the seafood" this probably isn't the place, but I like going there anyway because it is very low-key. And I love the desserts.

 

[Erikarate]

I was inspired to go because the dinner is marketed as a "clam bake". I agree that the "land lovers" food was better, but then they should emphasize this rather than the seafood.

Coming from New England though I should realize that the best chowda is going to come from my home turf. It seems that fellow east coasters on this thread were most disappointed with the shellfish.

I do think the desserts are very good.

 

[Erikarate]

Wait...I take that back...some new englanders said they liked it. So this place like many others (i.e. whispering canyon) will get mixed reviews.