Dissapointing Disney Dining experiences

[Satchmo128]

We've had a few less-than-awesome dining experiences on property...

- Via Napoli - I was so excited to try VN for my birthday dinner a few years ago. The dining room was NOISY beyond belief, kids running everywhere, and our server barely stopped by our table twice the entire meal. Pizza was just meh.
- La Hacienda de San Angel - Beautiful decor and location on the water, but not as tasty as all the rave reviews had led us to believe. We aren't big fans of San Angel Inn, either, though again the ambiance is amazing.
- Kona Cafe breakfast - I had the Tonga Toast because every review I had read made it seem like TT was the most amazing breakfast food at WDW. It was quite underwhelming and WAYYYyyyy too much sugar. I will say, though, that we had amazing service at Kona, so that was a plus.

 

[Satchmo128]

I know I am in the minority with 1900 PF. Was not a good experience.
They were the only restaurant (and we ate at a lot that trip!) that did not have my allergy noted. The waitress made it seem like it was very difficult to get the chef for me. The Chef gave me a very quick tour and was not too helpful with questions.
The waitress did not clear our plates (we had to pile them up), did not get our drinks, did not bring coffee after we ordered it.
We flagged down the other waiter, and he was very helpful.
Food was not good and it smelled in there. Like, throw up!

We had breakfast at 1900 PF and didn't enjoy it at all. I complete agree - it smelled GROSS in there.

 

[wench]

We had a not so great dinner, food & service wise, at 1900PF. But, the character interactions were amazing. Some of our favorites ever really. So, we'd be willing to give it another chance sometime.

 

[LuckiestMom]

We only ate at Ohana, Akerhus and Cape May. Service at Cape May was excellent but not so much for the other restaurants. It felt like the staffs were annoyed that we were there.

 

[undertheradar]

How many of these so/so or negative reviews were during "free dining?" This is a promotion that I wish would go away forever.

 

[5kidsmommy]

How many of these so/so or negative reviews were during "free dining?" This is a promotion that I wish would go away forever.

We have only used free dining once and that is the one trip we had negative food experiences.

Our two negatives were 1900 PF breakfast. The service was ok, not bad, our plates sat on our table way too long. Character interaction was okay. Yes, I was with my 15 year old daughter but it was her birthday trip and this was one place where the characters didn't really get into meeting her. The food was just bad. We tried several different items, hence the plates and they were just not good. My daughter ordered an omelet and asked for very little cheese but the chef put a ton of cheese on it, so much so that it was inedible. We were excited for our meal there but it was a let down.

Our other bad one was CP dinner. We have been there many times but I found the food lacking on this particular experience. It was a 4:30 dinner on a party night and honestly the food looked and tasted like it had been sitting out for hours on end. The bread was good though and we filled up on that. The service was wonderful though. One of the best servers we had on the trip. And the character were slow (we were there for almost 2 hours!) but they were great.

 

[NYCANC]

We had breakfast at 1900 PF and didn't enjoy it at all. I complete agree - it smelled GROSS in there.

Glad I am not alone!

 

[ChasingLeslie]

LTT has been the only bad one. The corn fritters were gross, and my salad was so wilted and over-dressed that I couldn't eat it. One of my kids refused to eat the pasta, so I ended up having that instead.

 

[WaltDisneyGirl84]

LTT is Liberty Tree Tavern

Ah! I was completely blanking.. granted I've only gone there one time all the way back in 1994! lol

 

[kittyab]

We had a few let downs on our last trip too. We decided next go around we will do mainly QS. Maybe one or two special table services but thats it.

 

[Ciandella915]

We weren't impressed with '50s Prime Time Cafe. The waiter didn't act the part at all, and not just for our table, but for all the tables in our room. I had heard it was a so-so restaurant food-wise, but that the experience was what made it, but it just didn't cut it that time. It's probably luck of the draw.

Also, unpopular opinion time... BOG wasn't stunning to me. We went during lunch, couldn't really find a table, finally found one and it was next to a bussing cart. So we sat next to dirty dishes while we ate. Maybe it's more impressive if you have kids and you see the Beast?

 

[L&Lfan]

Not impressed with (mostly due to poor food quality) :

Coral Reef
Big River Grille and Brewing Works
Cape May Cafe

 

[KrazeeK120]

The only Disney restaurant I've been to that I wouldn't revisit is Sci-Fi. The atmosphere is a lot of fun, but the food is terrible.

 

[tiggerluver12]

I 2nd Crystal Palace. Yuk!!

 

[nursejackie]

Recently...

Raglan Road
Be Our Guest (dinner -- loved my lunch there tho!)
Via Napoli (I looove Neapolitan style pizza, but theirs was just ok, and the service was awful)

Oh no! We love dinner at Be Our Guest (and get to meet the beast), Via Napoli is unmissable for us, and we have our first ADR for Raglan Road this year. Will be interesting to see what our experiences are in December.

 

[Megara5115]

How many of these so/so or negative reviews were during "free dining?" This is a promotion that I wish would go away forever.

I don't have an opinion either way but just curious what the impact of free dining is?

For me it was Narcoosee for dinner... It wasn't a matter of the food being gross or anything but DH and I thought that it was really mediocre. During the same trip we tried Boathouse just on a whim and it was amazing in comparison. Of course the view of Wishes and EWP can't compare so I'm glad we went for that reason.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

I don't have an opinion either way but just curious what the impact of free dining is?

For me it was Narcoosee for dinner... It wasn't a matter of the food being gross or anything but DH and I thought that it was really mediocre. During the same trip we tried Boathouse just on a whim and it was amazing in comparison. Of course the view of Wishes and EWP can't compare so I'm glad we went for that reason.

I would be surprised if the food quality changed during free dining - should be the same throughout the year. The service level MIGHT change, but even that doesn't make much sense to me. Your server is going to get a tip based on service quality and total check. If the service is good you might get 25%, if not less.

 

[Nohal]

Kona Cafe for dinner. We used to eat here every trip then they changed the menu took away my coconut crusted chicken. The last few times we have eaten here the food has been nothing special and the service has been sub-par. We don't eat there anymore.

 

[caroline1851]

Coral Reef-limited dessert choices, unfriendly wait staff
CS in Mexico-bad, bad food.
Crystal Palace Lunch-way over priced, huge wait to see characters, mediocre limited food choices
Sleepy Hollow-disappointing strawberries on waffle (tasted very canned and was def not fresh)
Pizza Planet (when it was open)-huge crust with barely any cheese/sauce on pizza. bad.

*Each of these places, I only ate once, so might not be how they are all the time.

 

[jk and ek]

tusker house lunch. we got there at 11:30 and it was still a full breakfast spread. i am not a huge fan of breakfast food, so made a point to check the hours of lunch service (which are supposed to start at 11am) before making the reservation. i figured 30 minutes past lunch starting time was enough of a buffer. when we questioned the selections, they tried to tell us it was "brunch". uhhh no. its called, 'we're going to try and get out monies worth out of this old food before switching it'. we sat around waiting and it wasn't until nearly 12:30pm when they finally started bringing out lunch stuff. they hadn't fully transitioned all of the dishes by the time we left around 1/1:15.

oh but you best believe the lunch PRICING was prompt to start at 11am on the dot.