Chef Mickey's or Garden Grill?

[hart6066]

We are looking for a dinner buffet so the kids can see the Mickey characters. We have sort of given up on the idea of enjoying the food--mostly there to see the characters--but does anyone have an idea on which has better food? What does "platter style" mean for Garden Grill? We have had breakfast at Chef Mickey's so I sort of know what to expect, but we've only walked by Garden Grill. What is the rotating for (one of the reviews said that the restaurant rotates?)? Can you see out windows to have a view of EPCOT?

Would love to hear people's views both on the quality of food and the Disney atmosphere. Thank you!

 

[ROEDISNEY]

Chef Mickey's

 

[tessiesevin]

Personally we much perfer Garden Grill. Mostly because of the atmosphere
location and the rotating resturant. We do like them both but if I had to choose it would be the Garden Grill.

 

[tessiesevin]

Sorry didn't read your question. The platter style they serve you at your table as aN all you can eat buffet. You don't leave your table to serve yourselve. Yes the resturant does rotate. It rotates very slowly into The Land.

 

[CathieArms]

We did Chef Mickey's for breakfast several years back and it was a lot of fun. This time we've chosen Garden Grill for dinner on our first evening, mostly because it seems like it'd be a bit more laid-back.

If it were me, I'd consider where you're staying and the ease of getting to the restaurant from where you are. We'll be at the BC, so it makes sense to walk over to Epcot. If we were further from Epcot than Chef Mickey's we might go to Chef Mickey's....but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the more relaxed atmosphere (I'm told, not experienced) of Garden Grill appeals to me.

 

[hart6066]

Thank you! We are going over New Year's (have been the last 2 years so know what to expect) and were thinking that Chef Mickey's on that night would kill 2 birds with one stone--the kids could have their Mickey character meal, and we could eat outside of a park that night. Our favorite place to eat dinner is at EPCOT but I won't eat in any park on NYE, so I was thinking that Chef Mickey's would be good--we could also see fireworks and the water parade (from Contemporary or just hop over to Poly) again without being in the parks.

But a lot of the reviews have talked about it being insane at dinner (we have only been for breakfast) and some have said it was dirty and food not fresh--if it's like that at a regular time, I'm worried that it could be horrible on NYE. Not sure what to do. We ate at Raglan Rd last year on NYE and it was lovely, but then we lose another night at the EPCOT restaurants (we don't usually like buffets, so even Garden Grill would just be for the characters).

Has anyone been to Chef Mickey's on NYE? I may do another post about that as we get closer. Thanks again!

 

[CathieArms]

You'd knock out Mickey at Garden Grill, too..but you'd be at Epcot.

 

[chell]

Garden Grill is my favorite WDW restaurant. The character interaction here is fun. The restaurant isn't huge like so many of the others and you don't have to get up from the table so you don't have to worry about missing any characters.

 

[ajleone]

GG has gone way down hill. The atmosphere is nice but the food is horrible. I've always had a good experience at CM

 

[keywestbride]

I thought the food at GG was better than CM by quite a bit. It wasn't fantastic, but it was pretty decent. We didn't care for the food at CM at all.

The character interaction at GG was about a hundred times better at GG. It's so much less frantic- you have plenty of time to take pictures and interact. Mickey stayed at our table and played cars with DS- you should have seen the grin on DS's little face! We also got 2 visits from just about everyone.

CM has all of the Fab 5, which is very cool, but they come and go so quickly.

 

[Ariel on Land]

I'm a Garden Grill fan all the way. Yeah the food isn't 5 star, but it's good, we all liked it. But you just can't beat the character interaction there, so if you're mostly looking for characters, this is the place to go eat. I PROMISE. Honestly, if I were going back any time soon, I'd probably have two dinners there my boys loved it so much! As far as the rotation, you get to see scenes from the Land boat ride. It's pretty relaxing.

 

[katyjeka]

We love Garden Grille, and it is a must every trip. We've always found the food good and the character interaction is the best at Disney. They never seemed to be rushed, and visit more than once. We've only ate at Chef Mickeys once, for dinner, and found the food was just okay. Everything seemed so hectic and rushed that we hardly enjoyed our meal. Whatever you choose, have a great trip.

 

[raven69david]

We have always loved CM's. The food is great and the character interaction has been fantastic. We tried to do GG 2 weeks ago but we were out of luck with ADR's as they were booked solid. Now that DD4 is so much into Soarin' I'd do GG just to have a great character meal and then get to do Living With The Land, Soarin' and Circle of Life with Timon & Pumba.