The food at Chef Mickey's has a range of terrible to pretty decent. It's a buffet, and it's got a lot of stuff. If you are aware of foods that probably do OK on a buffet table, you will have a decent meal. You will NOT have a meal comprised of gourmet food commensurate to the price. The food alone at Chef Mickey's is not worth the price. If you are going to Chef Mickey's for the food alone, you've made a grave mistake. If you are going to Chef Mickey's for these reasons:
1. First and foremost - the PREMIUM character interaction and photo opportunities
2. Meal that your KIDS will probably enjoy
3. Not having to wait in lines at the park for the CM characters.
3. Break from the park.
Then, I think CM is a decent choice.
I can tell you this. I also posed a few questions on diff dis boards trying to decide about Chef Mickey's. I was prepared for the food to be horriffic. Like (some) others have already posted in this thread, the food was acceptable (it was actually better than I thought it would be.) Again, was the FOOD ALONE worth the price? Nope. Nobody would argue that point. But, if you go specifically for the food, that's your mistake. Would it be fantastic if all of the food was great, and if ppl controlled their kids? Yup! On our trip, the characters were a riot, the food was decent, the buffet was clean, and the kids around us were better behaved than some of the parents I came across.
My suggestions if you are a meatasaurus:
Baked chicken, roast beef, short ribs, mashed potatoes, and desserts. On our trip, those things were worth loading up on. The RB was carved to order, and I got as much rare as I wanted, and I absolutely ate a pound of it. The short ribs were fantastic (again - buffet table "goodness" - the stewy cuts lend themselves to low heat and sitting.)
My suggestion to avoid:
When we went, the spicy tuna rolls (don't you judge me!) were not great. I had high hopes since when we go to other parts of Florida for vacation - the coastal areas, the sushi shines. I was hoping that the general quality across the state would be elevated. The fish was actually decent, but the rice was just wrong. I didn't throw what I took away though. It was edible.
My wife and kid tried the clam chowder, and each had about two spoonfulls, and both pretty much laughed because it was so bad. They said it tasted like it was a cheese soup base. That is just plain wrong. I didn't even try it.
I absolutely think Chef Mickey's is worth trying for yourself once. If the CM characters are not the characters you want, then that would be my deciding factor.
