dining at hollywood studios - hollywood & vine?

[goemanb]

Hello, we were looking at getting reserved seating at one the 2 restaurants that qualify for the fantasmic dining package = brown derby, mama melroses' Ristoarante or hollywood and vine. When I look at the menus, I am not sure my kids would eat anything except at hollywood and vine and when you check their site - for supper buffet it ranges from $36-60. has anyone ever eaten there? Is it good food? and how does a buffet have a price range?
any info would be helpful.

 

[Safari Queen]

We all love H&V but a lot of people do not.

 

[Lorilais_mommie]

Hello, we were looking at getting reserved seating at one the 2 restaurants that qualify for the fantasmic dining package = brown derby, mama melroses' Ristoarante or hollywood and vine. When I look at the menus, I am not sure my kids would eat anything except at hollywood and vine and when you check their site - for supper buffet it ranges from $36-60. has anyone ever eaten there? Is it good food? and how does a buffet have a price range?
any info would be helpful.

Don't do hollywood & vine unless you have too...
My DH and I hated the food there.. (this was 08' trip)
Kids bar looked good tho..
even got myself a few chicken fingers << about the only thing that was good there
as for "Adult" food nothing really that good.. all the food was cold or bland or very very dry...
I chewed so much my jaw hurt...
We were looking at maybe doing that same package this year.. but agreed grab a QS and then eat in line..
hope it helps!

Update: reason from the prince range is 36 is kids price & $60 normally is adult dinner price

 

[MerriH807]

went during lunch last summer.
characters good. food bad!

 

[Honeystar120608]

unfortunately we were only there during breakfast, but the whole place as a package deal was our favorite Table service with characters!! Drives me nuts that it has such a bad rep (Heard bad things for breakfast too).
Go in knowing it is more for the kids then a fine dining experience. It is buffet. But we had tons of fun, kids LOVE LOVE LOVED the characters, and we adored our server. It is the one place we'd pay out of pocket to go back to.
Again, we only did breakfast.

 

[skiingfast]

If you do the Fantasmic Dining package which I highly recommend you do. H+V I find to be great. The desserts were excellent. Being a buffet a few of the entrees were really good. On my last trip the best server I encountered was there too.


The kids choices are fairly typical and of course they can choose from the whole buffet if they would like a roll or some salad for example.

I think the price may be for normal dining and the Fantasmic package, maybe it includes a summer price increase as well. Checking this site though the price is lower, http://allears.net/menu/menu_hvd.htm

FYI if you do that Fantasmic Dining Package you will be eating dinner before 5.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

Brown Derby is your best choice. Hands-down for food and service.

 

[zuly]

We did it and we Love it! we will return...I made the choice based on Fantasmic Dinner pack too...Try it because even though it has a lot of bad reviews we dont understand why, we are used to very flavorful food w lots of condiments since we are from Puerto Rico and we did not find the food bland at all.This is the best TS for the package @ the DHS for us since we like Tutto Italia better for our italian fix ...

 

[Shmily1]

We had breakfast there in May and it was wonderful!! We're definitely doing it again!

 

[Donut23]

Brown Derby is your best choice. Hands-down for food and service.

Agreed. It is our favorite at HS.

We HAVE eaten at H&V with the dinner package. It was not nearly as bad as some have reported. We enjoyed it...but it wasn't our Brown Derby.

This year we are taking a chance and will be eating at Mama Melrose. DH has never eaten there and it's been a while for me too. Ahhhh heck, it will be an adventure.

If you CAN....grab the Derby and try the grapefuit cake!

Have fun!

 

[dseth]

ICK! on H & V ...dirty, lousy service and horrible food. That is one place we will never go back to at the Studios! I would go with Mama Melrose

 

[Moms]

W ate at H&V for the first time a couple of years ago and found it perfectly acceptable. The food was decent (not the best but it is a buffet) and the service was good. We found plenty of things to enjoy and kids seemed to like their choices as well.

 

[SweetMommy]

We ate there in December and will again in a few weeks. My very picky 9 yr old enjoyed it and as an adult I didn't mind the food either.

 

[Wendybird55]

We've only done breakfast at H&V recently and truly enjoyed it. In fact. it's one of my husbands favorite character breakfasts. Can't comment on dinner.

However, my son is a picky eater and I find myself making restaurant plans based on the foods he will eat. There are some restaurants I would love to try, but there's nothing DS will eat and it will not be a good meal if there's nothing he likes.

I've been to Mama Melrose various times(years ago) and have always enjoyed it. Brown Derby is good, but expensive if you're not on the DDP plus the atmosphere may be a little "stuffy" for kids.

If there's not much on the MM menu your kids will eat, I say try H&V. As you see there are a wide variety of opinions and the only one that matters is yours. It's a buffet and chances are there will be something there that everyone will eat.

 

[whitney37354]

We did H&V for breakfast and it was clean and food was fine. We did Mama Melrose for F! dinner package and it was good as well. I think if we do F! dinner package again, we'll do H&V because I don't see anything on Brown Derby menu that DH or DD would eat.

 

[Taja]

I'm a very picky eater and my BFF is fairly adventurous when it comes to food. So we end up at buffets quite frequently. She gets variety--even if it's not exotic!--and I get plain and simple! *LOL*

H&V was our least favourite WDW buffet. Actually, the children's table was maintained better than the adult buffet, in terms of temperature. But it may have had higher turnover.

It's our only option for the Fantasmic! Dinner Package, though. We're both underwhelmed by Brown Derby (grew up at the original one--that dates us!) and I don't eat Italian food--if I can't control the spices/seasonings/sauces, I don't eat it! So that eliminates Mama Melrose's. *sigh*

Many people do report liking H&V, so try it. You won't know until you do.

 

[twokids0204]

H&V gets a bad rap here on the DISboards, but we did it last year for the F! package, and liked it.

The Turkey and Prime Rib were both well cooked, moist and tasty. Fresh salads, and sides, and lot's of options for the kids.

I wouldn't say it's the best meal at Disney, but it is not nearly as bad as folks 'round here would lead you to believe.

 

[VIVIAN1113]

I have been to Brown Derby and it is delicious!!!!!!!!!! I was able to order my 4 year old daughter a hot dog or mac and cheese, i dont remember.

 

[twokids0204]

nevermind.

 

[Mj1st]

We just ate there during our vacation last week...we did the Fantasmic Dining Package. I thought the food was good, especially the ranch asiago chicken! My family was happy with the food and the selections.