Cape May Cafe or Hollywood and Vine?

[excited4dis]

Which one would you recommend for dinner? I know H&V has characters, but I'm more interested in the atmosphere and food. Thanks!

 

[Hopefully]

H & V is the ONLY restaurant in all of WDW I will never return to.

 

[Aristo-cat]

Cape May dinner, hands down.
AYCE crab legs.
If you don't care for seafood- then anywhere other than H&V.

 

[excited4dis]

Cape May dinner, hands down.
AYCE crab legs.
If you don't care for seafood- then anywhere other than H&V.

I do love seafood, so that is the reason I was leaning more toward Cape May Cafe. Thanks!

 

[oktxregulators]

This is a no brainer, Cape May Cafe for crab legs then walk around Boardwalk at night and get a drink or some ice cream.

 

[PolyRob]

H & V is the ONLY restaurant in all of WDW I will never return to.

Agreed

 

[baler31]

I would strongly encourage you to look for reviews of these. I cannot recommend either of these. I value characters and unique costumes above most anything and would not return to H&V ever. I love seafood and have dined at many different levels of seafood establishments and I am not sure why the smell at Cape May is so pungent but it is off putting and the food average at best. These are just my opinions but I would research a bit further and then make your own decision.

For seafood I highly recommend Bluezoo, Boathouse, Flying Fish and Narcoossee's and if you adore Salmon Artist Point. Lunch at Boathouse can be very reasonable with more casual seafood selections available as well as delicious filet mignon sliders that at $14 with a side is a very high quality low cost choice for non seafood lovers.

 

[MSPeeler]

So what is it about H&V that people despise?

 

[igrsod]

So what is it about H&V that people despise?

When I went to H&V the food was just ok. But it was loud and dirty. Most of the buffet was unappealing because things were spilled all over and mostly empty. Won't go back.

 

[JerseyJanice]

So what is it about H&V that people despise?

The "ambiance" is cold and not what you could call upscale. The restaurant shares its rest rooms with the Tune In Lounge so I've seen it. The place is all stainless steel like a 1940's diner.

I have been reading bad reviews about it for years. Between the vast number of those and the drab atmosphere, I'm afraid to try it.

 

[PolyRob]

I would strongly encourage you to look for reviews of these. I cannot recommend either of these. I value characters and unique costumes above most anything and would not return to H&V ever. I love seafood and have dined at many different levels of seafood establishments and I am not sure why the smell at Cape May is so pungent but it is off putting and the food average at best. These are just my opinions but I would research a bit further and then make your own decision.

For seafood I highly recommend Bluezoo, Boathouse, Flying Fish and Narcoossee's and if you adore Salmon Artist Point. Lunch at Boathouse can be very reasonable with more casual seafood selections available as well as delicious filet mignon sliders that at $14 with a side is a very high quality low cost choice for non seafood lovers.

I have never dined at Cape May for the same reason. You can still smell the seafood embedded in the carpet, chairs, drapes, etc as you walk from Beach to Yacht when the restaurant is not even open. Not for me!

 

[twoplustwins]

We did not like H&V at all. We will not return. Cape is great. We loved just touring the resort and grounds as well.

 

[Cinderella94]

We love Cape May and eat two meals there each trip.

 

[Meeko5]

We went to H&V last fall for the holiday dine and enjoyed it. Was it gourmet food? Of course not. But what we did eat was better than average buffet food and all was hot and fresh. The dining room and buffet area was clean. The characters were a lot of fun and came by several times each. We have also had character dinners at Tusker House and Garden Grill and were underwhelmed by both. Garden grill made my son sick, and Tusker house was absolute chaos and food was meh. And those are more recommended around here.

So, it's all subjective. You need to experience it yourself IMO to decide. I was nervous for H&V because of all the negativity. It was just fine for us, and we booked it again this year.

I do think that booking an early meal with buffets is key. Get there before the masses can make it messy and chaotic.

 

[MamaBelle4]

So what is it about H&V that people despise?

I hated H&V. However, we will be returning because it is the restaurant my DD6 picked (I let them all choose 1).

The food was fine. Was it worth the price? Of course not. Is any character buffet worth the price? No.

The character interaction was horrendous. Minnie, Mickey and Goofy were great. Daisy and Donald spent the first 1 hour 20 minutes on the other side. We were the first ones on our side of the restaurant. It had gotten to the point where we had to go or we would miss Fantasmic!. Our waiter brought us fast passes for it because of how long we had been waiting for Daisy and Donald. Just as we were getting ready to leave, Daisy came to our side and blew right past our table.

My girls (at the time) 8, 5, & 4 (and a 1yo) called, "Daisy!" Excited to see her. They didn't yell it, just called out her name in excitement after waiting over an hour for her. She turned around and shushed them.

Then after she finished she came back (with Donald closely behind) and they posed for one picture and moved on. It was ridiculous.

 

[Disneylover99]

Tough call for me...we really enjoyed both these buffets.
I don't really think either have atmosphere though.

Which park do you plan to be at? If you're at HS, go to H&V. If you're at Epcot, go to Cape May.