Disney DDP Restaurants No Longer Worth It

[LadyDuchess]

I was rather disappointed at my last (and only) dinner at Citricos. The entrees were just okay and I thought the salads were terrible. That being said, that tiramisu was hands down THE best tiramisu I had ever eaten!

I also thought Cali Grill was just okay (I liked my halibut, but my boyfriend's meal was pretty bad), but they had THE best dessert we had ever eaten! But I just checked on AllEars... and it's no longer on the menu. I can't remember quite what it was, but there was champagne sorbet on the side and the whole thing was just fantastic. I'd pay for that whole meal again if I could just have that dessert!

 

[handinpocket]

OP, if you don't mind me asking, what did your party order at Raglan Road? We have been there several times and a few times it was disappointing, but we have had more great times than bad. I find it really makes a difference with what you order, some dishes are outstanding, some eh.

 

[disneybound31]

Garden Grill at Epcot. Not worth it by a longshot.

And whatever you do, avoid being seated in the "outer" ring. The A/C vents above you drip condensation that lands on your table and your food.

It is interesting how widely opinions can vary- Garden Grill is the ONLY ADR that my kids beg me to book every trip- we think the food is great and always ask for the outer ring in order to see the living with the land scenes better--never had anything drip on us 4 trips and counting...

 

[Laketravis]

It is interesting how widely opinions can vary- Garden Grill is the ONLY ADR that my kids beg me to book every trip- we think the food is great and always ask for the outer ring in order to see the living with the land scenes better--never had anything drip on us 4 trips and counting...

You may have been so engrossed watching the scenes that you didn't notice it - because that's exactly where it happens due to the humidity levels in those areas.

Next time, look up at the AC vents - you'll see the large gobs of condensation and then notice that it is raining down onto your food.

It doesn't do it in the areas outside of the scenes, because only the tables and floor revolve, not the AC vents.

 

[Purseval]

OP, if you don't mind me asking, what did your party order at Raglan Road? We have been there several times and a few times it was disappointing, but we have had more great times than bad. I find it really makes a difference with what you order, some dishes are outstanding, some eh.

For appetizers my wife had Kinky Crab and I had Mighty Mussels. My wife had another appetizer as her main course, Flat Mate, while I had the Mighty Mixed Grill. They served Soda Bread on the side. For dessert she had Raspberry Pavlova and I had Trifle Sinful.

My wife lived and ate most of her life in the UK while I have lived and ate most of mine in America. She didn't think it was good British food. It definitely wasn't good American food. So whatever type of cuisine it was supposed to be didn't work for us. It was edible but so was O'Charleys, the place we ate at the next night at less than half the price.

I realize you are paying a premium for the location and I don't mind shelling out if it's an overpriced meal (Fulton's Crab House is a perfect example) as long as it tastes like it's semi worth the price. Raglan Road wasn't but as originally stated that's just our opinion. My wife also said that if you could pick that restaurant up and move it to Dublin it would be out of business within a few months.

 

[Pakey]

I've found even the signatures have declined. I dine almost exclusively at those places not on the dining plan now. Not only is the food notches higher, but the service is better. The restaurants are not zoos, adults can actually talk quietly and enjoy a meal and a bottle of wine.

All you have to do is go have a dessert at one of the Swan/Dolphin restaurants and you'll know what I'm talking about. I don't even think they offer the 1000th version of a creme brulee. I would crawl on my hands and knees through hot coals to have that bluezoo special dessert they offered the night I was there in 2 months ago.

Jiko still offers great soups on their starter menu. Ca Grill's sushi is still as good as it's ever been. I love the cheese plate at Flying Fish. There are still bits and pieces at the signatures but I find it difficult to have a great meal from start to finish in an environment that is comfortable/relaxing.

Good dining is the top priority when I vacation. It's why I go to Las Vegas a lot more than WDW now.

I understand that WDW is drawing people in like crazy with their dining plans/free dining offers, etc. And I applaud them for this great marketing ploy. I read the boards; I know that the vast majority of WDW visitors are thrilled beyond words over the plans and choices they now have and being able to "prepay" for food. Those of us in this small minority just have to find alternatives now.

 

[donutz022]

I'm going to pick on you just a little Huff (only just a little, I don't like to flame people)

I'm totally different.

1) When I go on vacation any vacation, I pick places that offer me a variety of experiences. I don't go to disney for any 1 thing.
The resorts, the theme parks, the customer service, the food all are what use to make disney a knotch above all other "tourist traps". So I think of it like a spoke in a wheel and when any one of those spokes breaks down it may not ruin the vacation but it makes it a little less magical.
I mean really even if you don't expect top notch dining, who goes out to dinner with the expectation of recieving a hoo-hum meal. IMO there is nothing worse than leaving a restaurant that is supposed to be better than applebees and saying "it was eh, nothing special". and yes, I expect much better than applebees from Disney. They are the ones who market themselves as much better than six flags.

2) Sorry but imo when you charge 50 bucks for a piece of steak whether it's at a tourist trap or not, I expect very good at the bare minimum. My pat answer is this, when you have a steak house and the best thing people like about it is either the breadsticks or the soup Houston, we have a problem.

3) My dad was an old army guy, he used to have a saying, when one person complains take it with a grain of salt- When 100 different people complain, take it to the bank. The severity and frequencies of the complaints about Disney dining is telling. When you start to have thread upon thread from a wide variety of people voicing disappoint in the food, as I said before Houston we have a problem.

i agree with you 100%. just got back from 8 day stay and i was on the dlx dp. the food at most of the restaurants was subpar. i remember when the food at disney was top notch ive been going since the 80's and they have done a 360 with there dining. i had a 9:10 adr at le cellier was seated till 9:40 and then everything was served to us at mach 4 speed which is nice when your starving but it was done cause they wanted to close up shop my steak was still on the table and desert was coming out. to be honest the steak was nothing better then i could have had at any outback. why have adrs if you still have to wait a half hour. this happend continously the whole trip a 12:20 adr at england and a half hour wait. free dining has ruined disney dining it use to be top notch.
free dining = poor service,poor food quality,major back ups with adrs.

 

[GeorgeG]

i agree with you 100%. just got back from 8 day stay and i was on the dlx dp. the food at most of the restaurants was subpar. i remember when the food at disney was top notch ive been going since the 80's and they have done a 360 with there dining. i had a 9:10 adr at le cellier was seated till 9:40 and then everything was served to us at mach 4 speed which is nice when your starving but it was done cause they wanted to close up shop my steak was still on the table and desert was coming out. to be honest the steak was nothing better then i could have had at any outback. why have adrs if you still have to wait a half hour. this happend continously the whole trip a 12:20 adr at england and a half hour wait. free dining has ruined disney dining it use to be top notch.
free dining = poor service,poor food quality,major back ups with adrs.

This has been a very common theme. I have actually stopped bragging about WDW and the dining experiences the last few years. It seems WDW has been competing with average, run-of-the-mill theme parks and the other parks have won.

 

[stitchaholic]

I find the bad review threads seem to peak at free dinning, do you think disney lowers the food quality with the free dinning offer ?

 

[SusanWasHere]

I absolutely agree with how the DDP has dumbed down the menus and ruined the food. Esp during "free dining". I had recently sent an email to Disney about change in food that completely ruined the quality of the food and even the character of it.

I actually got a call from someone in the executive offices and we had a nice 10 min conversation yesterday. Her best advice is to ask to speak to a leader at the restaurant at the time of the meal. She said we go to Disney to make memories, have traditions, etc. We shouldn't sit there, have a bad meal, waste our money, and then go home to message boards and complain about it. She said the complaint emails are sent to the people involved, but it's the face-to-face interaction of everyone that is going to make the difference. And I totally agree. Disney has soooo many repeat, frequent visitors. It's those of us that have to make the difference and finally let them know face-to-face we really don't want to settle for crappy food anymore.

I'm leaving Tuesday night for WDW and am not one to usually complain. But I can guarantee you that this time - I will be. I am determined to get the old schoolbread back... They dumbed it down and made it awful so that it is only worth a DDP snack credit. Ugh!!! So let's all get together and start complaining when we're there and see if we can get some changes made and get things back to when they were good!!!!

 

[GeorgeG]

I absolutely agree with how the DDP has dumbed down the menus and ruined the food. Esp during "free dining". I had recently sent an email to Disney about change in food that completely ruined the quality of the food and even the character of it.

I actually got a call from someone in the executive offices and we had a nice 10 min conversation yesterday. Her best advice is to ask to speak to a leader at the restaurant at the time of the meal. She said we go to Disney to make memories, have traditions, etc. We shouldn't sit there, have a bad meal, waste our money, and then go home to message boards and complain about it. She said the complaint emails are sent to the people involved, but it's the face-to-face interaction of everyone that is going to make the difference. And I totally agree. Disney has soooo many repeat, frequent visitors. It's those of us that have to make the difference and finally let them know face-to-face we really don't want to settle for crappy food anymore.

I'm leaving Tuesday night for WDW and am not one to usually complain. But I can guarantee you that this time - I will be. I am determined to get the old schoolbread back... They dumbed it down and made it awful so that it is only worth a DDP snack credit. Ugh!!! So let's all get together and start complaining when we're there and see if we can get some changes made and get things back to when they were good!!!!

I agree with this. Unfortunately, the people who run the restaurants have no control over the dining plans and still have to keep within the budgets imposed on them by the plans. I think our biggest issue is with the people who administer the plans, not the individual restaurant managers who are given the impossible task of providing quality on a dime. Perhaps one solution would be to have a better points system for the dining plans that allows for restaurants to offer better food for more TS credits, sort of "you get what you pay for." In any case, more of us need to complain, not just at the restaurants, but to the Disney management.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Our waitress asked us that and she laughed when when I told her "No, we want the real food."

What a strange comment. Do you think the chef was going to cook something different for you because you were paying out of pocket?

In the past year, we've had FANTASTIC meals at Yachtsman, Citrico's, Jiko, CP, Grand Floridian Cafe, etc. And we are picky Manhattanites.

I think maybe people are making up their own game here. Like, if you go in to a restaurant thinking, "Oh, the food is terrible," then it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

We did have a not so good meal at Chefs de France, but every restaurant has an off day. I feel sorry for people who happen to be at every restaurant on their off day.

 

[ClareH37]

Dining is always a very subjective, and sometimes emotive, topic, what one person might find an unacceptable meal, another will rave over.

From my own experience my last meal at Yachtsman was terrible, from the service (the restaurant was full to the rafters that night), to the worst steak I have ever had at Disney, it's tarnished my opinion of Yachtsman (which was always one of my favourites). It could of course just been a very bad night, but my visit the year before had shown a sharp decrease in quality from previous years, of course that might have been a bad night too, but 2 bad nights over 2 consecutive years is enough for me and if I'm going to be paying OOP I would rather go somewhere that has never let me down (Blue Zoo). Now, if Yachtsman returned to the top notch quality of service and food I'd first experienced over 8 years previously I'd be extremely happy

Flying Fish on the other hand was wonderful and I'd be more than happy paying OOP to eat there again (3 times on my last trip) but again, although I am raving about it, someone else might come on and say it's over priced and poor quality.

I still prefer the service at the non DDP restaurants though, it's always felt more personal and polished, but again that's just my opinion and we all have different expectations and experiences.

 

[GeorgeG]

I don't think it matter so much where you're from. Anyone, from anywhere, who has been going to WDW for years isn't going to compare the current food quality to what they get back home as much as what food at WDW used to be. For many years, we could brag about the dining at WDW and say with absolute certainty that we never had a less than fantastic meal/service at any Disney-run restaurant. It was that special! I have no doubt there are some great meals still being served at WDW these days, but there is an inconsistency in both quality and service that we never would have seen, ever, up until several years ago. It's not easy, if even possible, to find a decent hot dog in the parks today. No matter how you shake it, something is very wrong.

 

[Purseval]

What a strange comment. Do you think the chef was going to cook something different for you because you were paying out of pocket?

It was a joke, something you obviously didn't get.

 

[TDC Nala]

You always see on here "It's a theme park, why do you expect really good food? It's not going to be that good in a theme park."

The point is, at WDW there used to be lots of opportunities to get really good food. I mean REALLY good. Not theme park food. Not so anymore. Just today the comparison between what I got today at Columbia Harbor House (a basic counter service) and the same dish (your basic fried fish and chicken with french fries) ordered a couple of years ago was pretty stark. Much smaller portion, both the fish and the chicken cut differently and battered differently, only a few fries. Not to mention changes made in the available condiments. I remember walking out of there and being full. That wasn't so today.

 

[Planogirl]

You always see on here "It's a theme park, why do you expect really good food? It's not going to be that good in a theme park."

The point is, at WDW there used to be lots of opportunities to get really good food. I mean REALLY good. Not theme park food. Not so anymore. Just today the comparison between what I got today at Columbia Harbor House (a basic counter service) and the same dish (your basic fried fish and chicken with french fries) ordered a couple of years ago was pretty stark. Much smaller portion, both the fish and the chicken cut differently and battered differently, only a few fries. Not to mention changes made in the available condiments. I remember walking out of there and being full. That wasn't so today.

My CHH tuna sandwich had better not change or...

There was a list of non-DDP restaurants posted on here recently. I think that's the way to go for the most part now.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Garden Grill at Epcot. Not worth it by a longshot.

And whatever you do, avoid being seated in the "outer" ring. The A/C vents above you drip condensation that lands on your table and your food.

Thanks for posting about Garden Grill, we had ADR last Wednesday and my husband said we are at Epcot with so many choices of food do we have to go here but I told him its the only character meal we have not gone too. Then my son said let daddy pick b/c he doesn't mind since he has gone to alot of characters meal already so we went to Chefs de France and we had a lovely family dinner and my husband and I enjoyed our food.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

It was a joke, something you obviously didn't get.

I did get it. I just didn't think it was funny.

 

[Rumpus]

Can somebody post a list of which restaurants are not on the dining plan?