Disney food...SEVERLY underrated?

[DisneyWorldWisher]

Ok, so most of the counter service weren't too good (Tusker House and Sunshine Seasons were excellent, though) but we thought all except for one of our table service meals were ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS.

They were so good! Some of the best meals we've ever had, anywhere.

Le Cellier, Beaches and Cream, Crystal Palace, Cape May Cafe, Whispering Canyon Cafe...all so good.

Yet, I see a lot of people hear say the food is 'just decent' or 'good but nothing special' and I also see the same in the Unofficial Guide.

We don't think it's just good for theme park food, but AMAZING food for ANYWHERE

Is it just us or is Disney food VERY underrated?

 

[jtlover]

I think the food is good too

 

[Ilovestitch]

I think the food at WDW is really good too. We went to Disneyland recently and their CS is nowhere near as good.

 

[crisi]

I think it depends on what you are used to. We don't eat at Olive Garden or TGI Fridays or Chili's or Outback very often - if that is what you are used to Disney food is pretty good. If you tend to go out for "good" food and go to "better" restaurants - Disney isn't very good at all (signature dining can still hold up). My husband and I have had the conversation several times "has Friday's gotten worse, or have we become food snobs." I think we've become food snobs.

 

[Chuck S]

WDW TS food is generally much better than any restaurant we have hee in the town where I live. But, there have been rare occasions where the quality just wasn't there.

 

[puddleduck]

We are semi food snobs. We just don't like buffet style restaurants but can't afford to eat (read those $150 +- meals) at the best places a lot either. We have found the food to be good at Disney. I think their food is worlds better than any of the zoo's and other theme park places we go. However, you take a dedicated restaurant with award winning chefs and weeeeeellllll, you know. We like it for what it is, we expect it will be good if not great but we don't expect it to take us to the next level either.

 

[Slapster]

There are so many places to eat around the World, you can find all ranges of food. We've had really great food at a few places (Le Cellier, Cali Grill), very good food (Kona Cafe), good to decent food ('Ohana, Tusker House, Flame Tree) and food that was just passable (Crystal palace, Sci-Fi). I think that if you can get some opinions going in, you'll be more prepared for the level of food and service you'll receive. I've really not had a meal that I would call unacceptable anywhere on Disney propery in 6 trips.

 

[cafetao]

For a theme park I think the food is quite good. I've had some excellent meals and some so-so meals, but in general the food is pretty good.

I don't think it's fair to compare them to upscale establishments, the constraints and expectations are very different. For example the number of people served is probably much greater.

 

[ransom]

Like others are saying, we found it to be way, way better than any other theme park food we've ever had. But it wasn't knock-me-over-with-a-feather good. Some of the signature restaurants were almost that good, though!

 

[Laura]

No, I don't think it's underrated, for the most part. It's just okay.

 

[CoolPool]

Its very good for a theme park. Exactly. I just got back from 4 days in Las Vegas - eating at resort hotels the whole time. The food in terms of freshness, uniqueness, presentation, and quality outstrips Disney by a mile and a quarter. But they cater to a different market and Disney's food is just fine for a theme park family environment.

Okay, its overpriced by about $5 per entree too. There you go.

 

[Tikicampers]

I think Disney has excellent food if you know where to go. And for the record, I know what good food is. We try not to eat at chains because we find all the food to be the same boring thing.

 

[srdipert]

The food is the only reason my dh will go to disney. We enjoy all of the places that we eat. We also often eat at very nice places when we are home so we have a lot to compare it to.

 

[BriarRosie]

I think the food at WDW is really good too. We went to Disneyland recently and their CS is nowhere near as good.

I find that interesting, because I had the opposite feeling about Disneyland's
counter service. I think that Disneyland's counter service options were
actually better quality than many counter service places at WDW. In
general, I found the food at DLR to be quite good.

There are some counter service places I will avoid like the plague, but for
the most part, I generally know by know which venues I like and which items
I like from those eateries.

For instance....you'll never find me eating Disney pizza unless I was
extremely desperate. (Flatbread pizzas at table service don't count!)

 

[Hopefully]

I guess if you are comparing food at theme parks to Disney it might be good. But I am comparing food to other resorts I have stayed at. Here the comparison pales. In my opinion the food is okay at best.
It used to be good to very good. It has gone downhill in the last few years, but that is another thread.

 

[ElizabethB]

Hopefully is right. The resort restaurants need to be compared with restaurants at other hotels and resorts around the country -- not to theme parks around the country. In that regard, the signature restaurants stand up fairly well, IMO, as well certain of the Swan and Dolphin restaurants. The rest do not.

 

[scrump]

I don't think WDW food is underrated, it has mostly been ok to good for us.

We choose our WDW restaurants for ambiance, not so much food. It probably didn't start that way when we first started visiting WDW, but we've never really had anything that isn't readily available back home (exception is maybe Marrakesh).

 

[Inkmahm]

We eat at quality restaurants at home, going out to "nice" non chain places at least once each week. It isn't abnormal to spend $120-$150 on dinner for the two of us and that is maybe with one drink or glass of wine for my DH.

Two of our favorite restaurants anywhere are Jiko's and California Grill. Their quality is wonderful when compared to any other restaurant and way above that of most hotels/resorts/parks. We travel to WDW twice each year and a big part of our trips would be the restaurants. We also love Brown Derby and Yachtsmen Steakhouse, although Jiko's and California Grill are #1 and #2 in our hearts.

 

[crisi]

We eat at quality restaurants at home, going out to "nice" non chain places at least once each week. It isn't abnormal to spend $120-$150 on dinner for the two of us and that is maybe with one drink or glass of wine for my DH.

Two of our favorite restaurants anywhere are Jiko's and California Grill. Their quality is wonderful when compared to any other restaurant and way above that of most hotels/resorts/parks. We travel to WDW twice each year and a big part of our trips would be the restaurants. We also love Brown Derby and Yachtsmen Steakhouse, although Jiko's and California Grill are #1 and #2 in our hearts.

We have a similar profile (though with little kids we don't go out that often) - and I think the signature restaurants at Disney DO hold up to most of the places we've been. We've had a disappointing meal at Narcoosee's and I didn't like Jiko - but the food was good, I just didn't like what I ordered. (Why I order key lime and pistachio flavored food, when I don't like key lime or pistachio, is MY problem, not Jiko or Narcoosee's.)

But when people say Le Cellier is the "best food they've ever had" I know that either they've never been to a better restaurant than Outback, ate at Le Cellier years ago (years ago it really was very good), or have VERY different taste than I have. All of these are fine, but you learn on the DIS who has similar taste to you and you weight their opinions higher for yourself. If you like Le Cellier and think it was great, you might like the other restaurants that other people who loved Le Cellier like.

(Brown Derby I last ate at the week it opened and it was one of the worst restaurant experiences of my life - I was actually served a Cobb Salad where the lettuce had gone bad and was slimy. But how long ago did MGM open?).

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . I don't think WDW food is underrated, it has mostly been ok to good for us . . .

1) I think this was a PERFECT way of stating it.
2) WDW does have good food, but certainly not underrated.
3) They have three-to-four very good places and one excellent place.
4) Other than that, the food is pretty average.
5) You can't compare WDW to places like Morton's or Ruth Chris'.

NOTE: We seldom eat table service on-site anymore, due to the food and service. We do make excpetions for four restaurants. We have found that although good, the eateries are not great. We aren't food snobs, but we want sound value for our food dollar.