Chef Mickey for Dinner was a real letdown

[mom2carlee]

We just returned from WDW. We had ressies at Chef Mickey for Dinner. The food was aweful. It was the worst meal we had. The Crystal Palace was much better.

 

[emmabelle]

I have that planned for our last night. ughh...maybe I should change it?

 

[MickeyEars]

Chef Mickey's used to be one of our absolute favorites but the past several years the food has really declined. It was always our first night dinner. We gave it one more try last June and we decided no more. The food was just horrible with hardly any selection.
I am very sad to see it decline and I just hope Disney will eventually realize it and do something about it.

Carla

 

[arcticdisneylovers]

When we went for supper in January the food was We will not return.

 

[itsreally4mommy]

How was it awful? The food looks to be similar to the other American casual buffets.

 

[kathie859]

I guess CM isn't different than any eating establishment---they must have their good and bad meal services

We had an early dinner ADR (5:30 ish) in November and it was much better than I anticipated I'm just a little neurotic about buffet services (you know, the cross contamination due to sloppy guests, food cooked and sitting around....see, told you I was neurotic) Anyhow, I think the trick is to have an early--rather than later-- ADR because I have seen buffets that go to pot after a few hours. I think you increase your chances of having freshly cooked food with the earlier ADR. We had a birthday girl with us (she had her birthday pin on) and the server picked up on it and they made a huge "to do" over her. The character interaction was really good, too. And on the whole, it was a good experience. The salad bar part of the buffet was very nice. The dessert selections were more than adequate and the mail courses, too. Seems I remember a slab of sightly rare roast beef which, while it may not have been prime, was good.

 

[Mom loves Disney]

We felt the same way! This was always our top pick, not anymore.

 

[kmvand1]

After making it a must-do for us three years in a row, we are DONE! Bleechh, it was horrible last year. It was a mess in there as well, the food was slopped all over the place, the atmosphere seemed to have changed as well, it has just declined in every way.

 

[pepperw23]

Awwww, it is sad to see all the negative reviews about CM. I remember back in the day....couple of years ago....it was near impossible to even get in at CM. I hope it improves. It seems to be a trend with a lot of Disney Dining. They may just be going through a rough patch.

 

[WAHMto5]

I normally always go for myself to see how a dining place is to eat, but after SOO many bad reviews I don't even want to take a chance on this one

 

[RachaelA]

We found the food, characters and the service a HUGE let down last trip which is why we don't ever plan on going back. We loved Crystal Palace though and will be eating there for dinner tomorrow night!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

To the OP I am sorry you didn't enjoy their food for dinner. My family and I have been to Chef Mickey's a few times for dinner and we thought the food was good. However what's great about WDW is that some people will like a specific location and others won't, so there is always something for everyone.

 

[pixarmom]

Garden Grill at EPCOT is a great alternative to Chef Mickey's! GG has Mickey, Chip/Dale and Pluto (but no Minnie or Goofy.) We've been to CM several times, and have not enjoyed it as much. GG has become our arrival night tradition, and its our boys' favorite character meal. (They range from pre-school to pre-teen, and from adventurous to picky eaters, and they all love it.)

On the other hand, Chef Mickey's is fun. For families with small children who have never to been to CM, it's definitely worth one try!

 

[iloveeeyore]

We have been to CMs 3 times as a 1st night dinner celebration. The last time we went (August 2006 during free dining), we were VERY disappointed in the food quality. We were disappointed enough that we skipped it last trip, but this time, DS(now 13) has requested that we dine there. I have mentioned the bad reviews, but he doesn't care if he just eats mac & cheese and pizza, he REALLY wants to go back, mostly for the atmosphere and characters. DS almost never asks for anything, so we are going. I am increasingly worried, as I am having a hard time imagining how the food quality could have slipped further since then!?

I'll go with very low expectations and hope to be pleasantly surprised. I'm thinking that with a magical star cocktail or two, maybe I won't care if the food is bad! Will surely do a complete report when we return.

 

[AuroraMeansDawn]

I'm really sad to hear this. We (myself, DH and DS16) are taking my recently widowed niece and her DS17. This will be their first, and I suspect their last trip to WDW unless we pay for it another time so we wanted to make it special and hit all the iconic experiences.

I am planning CM for dinner on our arrival night for a late dinner (8:30-9:00 range) after F! at 6:30. I thought it would be a great way to kick off the trip with the traditional characters and the appeal of it being all you can eat. (anyone who has ever watched a 16 and 17 year old manchild put away grub can appreciate what I mean) and because we're staying at WL so it would be a quick trip back to the resort so we could get in bed for the morning rope drop.

So, given that expectations tend to be higher at Disney than any other vacation spot on earth, honestly, how bad is it really? Is it just plain nasty or is nasty compared to say, a top tier dining experience at Disney?

And if I were to change our arrival night special dinner, what else has that full bodied Disney feel?

 

[Cookie Princess]

I have to agree. Our last dinner at CM was BLAH. We continue to go for the breakfast buffet each year, though.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

Awwww, it is sad to see all the negative reviews about CM. I remember back in the day....couple of years ago....it was near impossible to even get in at CM. I hope it improves. It seems to be a trend with a lot of Disney Dining. They may just be going through a rough patch.

It's still extremely difficult to get an ADR for Chef Mickey's, which I suspect is part of the issue. Because of the "experience", people seem to always want to go there for a meal, and consequently the management has no real incentive to address the underlying service and food quality issues (beyond simply improving things because it's the right thing to do, of course).

I agree that it has gone downhill dramatically in the past few years, to the point that we didn't even consider making a reservation for our upcoming trip. It's just not worth the high probability of a bad meal (in our opinion, of course) for a few fleeting minutes with the characters, especially since there are so many other better character meals available.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Sorry you had such a bad experience there OP. We ate there in November and actually really enjoyed our meal. I have to admit that my expectations were not very high after reading a lot of negative reviews. The food was not quality but we enjoyed the characters so much. They came around at least twice and spent a lot of time with us. I agree the food is better at Crystal Palace.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

Yeah I was not impressed with my meal there, kids mac and cheese was even gross, how can you screw THAT up?!?!? Atmosphere was fun but definitley not worth the price for the buffet. I felt the same about Crystal Palace, although we went there for lunch not dinner. DH said "we can come back to Disney in August as long as you promise we never have to eat at Crystal Palace again" lol

 

[JerseyJanice]

We weren't thrilled with our food there last trip. We were, however, on Free Dining, so we dealt with it for the entertainment value with the characters. Our next trip is also Free Dining, so I added it to our list of ADRs. If I actually had to pay what they charge, I would have seriously been ticked off last time we ate there and wouldn't be going again so soon.

Bad as the reviews are lately, I'm having trouble getting us a decent ADR for dinner too. Can't find anything earlier than 8:20. We'll go anyway because it's on the monorail, and it serves adult beverages. If we didn't care about having a cocktail or two with dinner, I'd be booking our ADR at Crystal Palace instead.