Chef Mickey vs. Garden Grill vs. Ohana

[Princess Sleepy]

I am adrift in a sea of indecision. Opinions would be very helpful. DH, DD4, DD6, and I arrive on Friday morning June 11. We will be spending the afternoon at Epcot. (We are staying at CBR.) I am trying to decide which of these restaurants to eat at that first night: Chef Mickey, Garden Grill, or Ohana. I currently have a breakfast reservation later in the week for Ohana, but do not feel strongly about it. We are doing other character meals in the form of dinner at 1900 Park and either breakfast or lunch at Crystal Palace (I would take opinions on that choice too). Should I do dinner that first night at GG and breakfast later at CM or Ohana? Should I do dinner at CM so the girls get to see Mickey and friend right away (Minnie in particular). Should we do the dinner at Ohana and see characters later at a CM breakfast? Auuugh, I can't decide. Thank you in advance for helping me out.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

I have done all 3.

I would say dinner at Ohana's is by far the best of all 3 restaurants. I'm sure bfst is fine, but I love their dinner.

I did not like the Garden Grill at all. Food was bland. Service was decent. Not great.

Chef Mickeys was ok for dinner. I have never done breakfast.

 

[Dizfan4life]

I have all three scheduled for our upcoming trip. I am VERY excited about O'hana's and I heard a lot of good about it! We do Chef Mickey's every time we go, but only go for B-fast - their morning buffet is excellent and the characters spend a lot of time with the kids!

 

[deerhart]

I *HIGHLY* doubt you will be able to get dinner ressies for Ohana's for the date you have selected.

The week we are going (June 1-9) we had 1 day at either 5:45 or 8pm for reservations there.

If you can't get the ressie that might make your decision easier.

 

[ILuvMulan]

We love O'hana for breakfast and we have only heard wonderful things about dinner there (so we have dinner ressies in April). Having said that... if I had 2DDs and was going to be at EPCOT anyway... I would probably do the Princess dinner at Norway. Garden grill was o.k. a nice way to see Chip and Dale, but not fabulous. If their favorite is Minnie, I would vote for CM the first night, the food was very good when we went there.

 

[stitch'sgirl]

I have done Chef Mickey's for breakfast (very wild and loud! )
Garden Grill (once is enough -thanks)
and Ohana too many times to count.

We try and make Ohana our dinner the first night as it is to us our "welcome back to Disney" dinner. That's usually the only sit-down dinner dining we must do.

We also do breakfast at Ohana every trip too. It is so much more relaxing, and Stitch, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch spend so much time with each child. It is relaxing, and served family style.

The pineapple bread is sooooo good. One time we went late and they ran out of the bread. We asked our server for more, but she explained they ran out and suggested we come back the next day. I told her we were leaving in the morning. Next the chef came out and apologized. And later on in the day while we were packing, two cooks from Ohana knocked on our door with a big sheet of the pineapple bread, par-baked, for us to take home, along with the recipe for the bread.

Ohana is our favorite by far and if you time it right at dinner, you can watch the MK fireworks. Whenever I tell my DH that I have booked a trip to Disney, his reply is always "Three feet of meat, baby!" in reference to the 3-foot skewers they bring the meat on to your table.

I wish I was there right now!!!

 

[grace&philipsmom]

if I had 2DDs and was going to be at EPCOT anyway... I would probably do the Princess dinner at Norway. .

I agree. If you think your girls would prefer to see Mickey and the gang then I would go with Chef Mickey's. We always start our trips with a character meal (we have younger kids as well).

 

[mac4fam]

I look forward to all of these comments too.

We will be there June 20th - 27th and we have reservations at all 3. Chef Mickey's for dinner for my son's 5th bday, Garden Grill (just because I guess) and Ohana for dinner because I have heard such fantastic things about it.

 

[pixarmom]

We have 3 boys, and we've been to all three several times. We always spend our first afternoon at EPCOT, and we always do Garden Grill our first night. We like the food - it's not great, but we think it's good. We also like that it's an uncrowded and relatively relaxed way to meet Mickey (and our boys like Chip and Dale) on the first day. The make-your-own cupcake they served for the kids' dessert last time was also a big hit! Garden Grill is our kids' favorite restaurant, even though they think the food is better at Liberty Tree.

My husband and I love Ohana, and think it's the best food we've had at Disney. (That's primarily because of the salad, appetizers and dessert - we think the meat is just OK.) It's really fun for the kids, but since we are already at EPCOT on our first afternoon, and GG has Mickey, we save Ohana for later in the trip.

Chef Mickey's is really fun, and it's such a classic. We haven't loved the food, and generally prefer family style instead of buffet so that we can all sit and not have to manage all the plates. But it's a really fun atmosphere, and Minnie is there! (Unfortunately, Minnie is not at Garden Grill.)

We can't help with breakfasts (we eat quickly in the mornings at the resort and get to rope drop) or princess meals (3 boys), but I hope the rest is helpful!

 

[krmlaw]

cant comment on the others, but ohana is our favorite dinner ...

 

[auralia]

we started our last vacation with a dinner at chef mickeys and it was AMAZING we got a seat at the window where we could see the castle and fireworks and the characters came around 3x's and some of them 4 and mickey brought my daughter a cupcake (it wasn't even her birthday just her first visit) and helped her blow out the candle she spent at least 20 min solid with characters it was great ... ohana breakfast was awful characterwise... absolutly awful we saw stitch and lilo for 1 minute just before leaving because we complained other wise only saw characters for all of 4 minutes the whole breakfast and they were just trying to leave the whole time because they were so backed up.

 

[Aristocath]

We've done breakfast and lunch at CP and this time my boys voted for breakfast. We all really enjoy the breakfast there.

I would go for Chef Mickey's for dinner your first night, it is a great way to start a trip. But since you are planning on being at EPCOT, the princess dinner in Norway might be a good choice as far as travel time. Not a huge fan of the Garden Grill. Love 'Ohana but that might be hard to get.

Have a great trip!

 

[OhThePain]

If you are spending the day in EPCOT your DD's might enjoy Akershus. It is a nice princess character meal in Norway.

Garden Grill would be my second suggestion. If it is your first night then I'd assume you spent a portion of the day traveling. Between CM's, 'Ohana and GG, GG is the most relaxed of them. I know after a day of traveling and theme parking, I'd rather have a quieter dinner. Plus the character interaction is usually some of the best and the ever changing backdrop (it rotates around LWTL) is a nice touch.

 

[MickeysMommy]

It's so funny how everyone has so many different opinions on restaurants...we love Garden Grill. We were there in September for my birthday and it was delicious. Character interaction was great and so was our server. I would say if you are at Epcot then stay at Epcot instead of trying to get to another park (but that's jsut me).

 

[BrerSam]

I love Ohana for dinner but was quite disappointed with the breakfast. Have done both at Chef mickeys also and preferred dinner as well though but would choose Ohana over it everytime

 

[milmore104]

We did all 3 on our recent trip.

CM is a MUST for us for breakfast. Yes it's the same as any other breakfast buffet on property but it makes us feel like we're in WDW and our vacation has finally started. BIG must for us.

GG- we used to have this on our must list because the food was good and DD loves going round. However the last time we went we actually left early and headed back to our resort to eat in the food court. The food was that bad. No we didn't say anything we just asked for the bill and quitely left. We will NOT be returning for sometime.

'Ohana's we tried for the first time this past trip. We went on our first night. The food was good but not really to my DD's and my liking. We did eat somethings. I'm not saying it was bad food just not to our liking. I don't know if it was because we had been up since 3am and really hadn't eaten much but it did a number on our tummy's. But I'm glad we tried it. However I think we'll try breakfast next time.

 

[Princess Sleepy]

Thank you for all the suggestions. I think, based on what I've read and looking over the menus again, I will do GG for dinner the first day and CM for breakfast later in the trip. I also am going to do CP for lunch because we really liked the food there last time.

It will be easiest to stay in Epcot for dinner and a relaxing atmosphere. I think DH and I would like Ohana food, but the DDs aren't quite carniverous enough yet. Hopefully we'll get to experience everything eventually. Just one more excuse to schedule another trip.

 

[lkaanda]

We are staying at the Poly and would like to try Ohana. My kids are not big meat eaters. I saw on All Ears it said "short childs menu available on request". Does anyone know what is on it? Thanks!

 

[Dizfan4life]

Thank you for all the suggestions. I think, based on what I've read and looking over the menus again, I will do GG for dinner the first day and CM for breakfast later in the trip. I also am going to do CP for lunch because we really liked the food there last time.

Well if it will help you, we have reservations at GG in a month. I can reply and let you know our thoughts on it if you'd like.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

I much prefer breakfast at Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club over Chef Mickey's in food, atmosphere, character interaction, etc.

You would need to take the bus to DHS, and then the boat to the Beach Club. You can then take a boat to Epcot or DHS.

IMHO, dinner at Ohana is the best meal at WDW!