Chef Mickey's for breakfast, dinner or skip?

[jacobwill62009]

I have heard some mixed reviews on Chef Mickey's...is breakfast or dinner better or is there something better for us? We have two boys ages 2 1/2 and almost 5 years old...thank you!

 

[CindyIsMyFave]

We went for breakfast last year (no kids) and I think breakfast is your better bet . . . neither buffet is outstanding, but I think breakfast is more worth the money. I also like that Chef Mickey's has your "classic" characters: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy. I think it's worth it!

 

[aussietravellers]

For me it would be breakfast rather than dinner.

With only a boy in our family we sadly have not had a lot of experience with the Princess meals (looking forward to this trip with friends who have girls, finally getting to go to CRT , not that we couldn't before, but my DS was not into the princesses, ) But Chef Mickeys is not high on our list for character breakfasts, we much prefer Ohana's and Cape Mays (tied for first place), Tusker House, 1900 Park Fare, Crystal Palace (in that order) before Chef Mickeys.

 

[Shleedogg]

We've done both, and thought both were ok. My recommendation would be to do a late seating. We had an 8:20pm dinner reservation and we thought it would be bad (not new food, etc.) and it was fabulous. As the restaurant emptied out, the characters came around a 2nd time and spent a ton of time w/ my DD and niece. They were dancing with them and we got a pic w/ both Mickey and Donald at the same time. It was really a great experience. As long as you're not there during free dining, I've heard they sometimes add a lunch seating during busy times like fd, I'd say go for a late breakfast and make it a lunch. I know waiting till 8-9pm for dinner w/ little ones is hard.

Have fun! We always have a good time at CM!

 

[Tricia's mom]

I've done it MANY times and lately it has been a bad experiance and DIRTY.
SKIP IT

 

[eelkmj01]

I've done it MANY times and lately it has been a bad experiance and DIRTY.
SKIP IT

I have to strenuously disagree. Rather, I disagree with the cleanliness. I can't dispute your experience, but I've never been to any Disney establishment that was not clean. I mean, this restaurant is in one of the most expensive resorts on property. I'm not saying there can't be instances where it would not be clean, but to paint with such a broad brush may be unfair.

 

[WVParkfan]

I would recommend breakfast. We had a wonderful breakfast at Chef Mickey's for our son's 12th birthday. GREAT character interaction. And, there's the towel twirl (lotsa fun). The breakfast food was good, and we thought that the place was extremely clean. And, it was neat to eat inside the Contemporary Resort with the Monorail passing by overhead.

 

[Shleedogg]

I've done it MANY times and lately it has been a bad experiance and DIRTY.
SKIP IT

I also have to disagree. We were there 2 weeks ago, and at the end of the night and it was not dirty at all. Sorry you had a bad experience.

 

[perriwinkleblue]

We've had a bad experience at CM the last two times we went for dinner. Both times were due to rude waitstaff and iffy food quality but the characters have always done a great job. (BTW, we are "nice" non-demanding customers and we are not picky eaters.) Maybe we were just unlucky twice? Maybe breakfast is a different experience.

The first time we went to CM a few years ago we loved it but we will not go back again... so I would say skip it - at least for dinner.

FWIW, we have never had anything but good things to say about Crystal Palace (breakfast, lunch or dinner) or the Lilo and Stitch breakfast at 'Ohana - good food and friendly staff. We've always left these places with smiles on our faces

 

[2minny]

We enjoyed breakfast, have never had dinner there!

 

[JoePa4Ever]

We love Chef Mickey's for breakfast - it's a fun character meal and we've found the breakfast buffet to be pretty good. We try to avoid dinner buffets as much as possible because we've found them to be mostly subpar.

 

[eddiemcgarrigle]

I had thought about doing breakfast at Chef Mickey's during my upcoming trip but the amount of reviews I've read saying that it is frequently ruined by guests dropping food everywhere and making the place a mess have put me off and I booked elsewhere instead.

 

[KatMark]

We've done both. We will do breakfast if the mood strikes us (although we prefer Crystal Palace and Cape May), but we absolutely refuse to eat dinner -- bad food and bad service on our last two visits.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Breakfast is really good. DS's favorite place to eat and he is a picky eater.

 

[Donop26]

Originally Posted by Tricia's mom
I've done it MANY times and lately it has been a bad experiance and DIRTY.
SKIP IT

Okay, I have to agree with this statement. When we were there last Sept., now mind you, it was during FD and the restaurant was very busy, it really grossed me out. The food was not good, the broccoli tasted like it was spoiled, the ice-cream machine smelled like rotten milk, there was food spilled on the buffet lines, the bathroom was disgusting, I could go on....

Now, I'm not expecting a gourmet meal when I go to a character buffet, and you do get to see the fab 5 characters, which is wonderful. It may have something to do with the fact that this restaurant is open for all 3 meals, and during FD when it is very busy, they may have a hard time keeping up on the cleaning. However, there are certain standards that I feel need to be upheld as far as sanitation is concerned.

My 3 y/o daughter adores Minnie mouse. This is really our only convenient option to meet her, along with the rest of the crew, for a character meal. It broke my heart, but I refused to book this place again for our upcoming Sept. trip. I will wait on line in the parks to meet Minnie rather than have to eat at this meal again.

But, please, keep in mind, it was FD and very busy and many have said they found it to be perfectly acceptable, this was just OUR experience.

Hope you are happy with whatever you decide, have a magical vacation!!

 

[DLo]

I would say go for breakfast. We enjoyed our b'fast there. We haven't tried dinner there (mostly because of the horrible reviews) so can't comment on that. I think your kids would like it - just go in knowing the food will be good not great.

 

[__disneygirl]

We absolutely LOVE Chef Mickey's for breakfast. The food is great and the characters are attentive and it's so much fun in there. We've never been for dinner cause of the many bad reviews but we love love the breakfast so that gets my vote!

 

[DisneyFamily123]

I'm thinking about Chef Mickey's for dinner but the bad food reviews scare me away. I keep reading the reviews to see if my mind will change.

For us, we can see the same characters at Tusker House and Ohana breakfasts and those 2 are must dos for us, and both have great food. Our other character breakfast is 1900 Park Fare and don't have room in our plans for a 4th breakfast. We go to Crystal Palace for lunch.

Donald's Safari Breakfast - Donald, Daisy, Mickey, Goofy.
Ohana - Pluto, Mickey, Stitch, Lilo

The other character at Chef Mickey's is Minnie and we will see her in the park.