Dissapointing Disney Dining experiences

[fbarker]

All of them? ALll disney food is mediocre at best.

Oh i so disagree. It may be over priced but I have seldom had a bad meal at WDW. I don't know where you normally eat but I would say that overall the dining at WDW, at sit down restaurants, is very good. Now if you are commenting on the QS food then you have a point. My biggest complaint is poor service (Chef de France) and tight seating arrangements (Le Cellier(sp), Chef de France).

 

[Aliceacc]

Honestly, with the single exception I mentioned a few posts up, we've been very happy with the food at WDW.

Is it fine dining? Um, nope. It's theme park dining.

For what it is, we generally think it's pretty good. It's been a very, very rare occasion when any of us haven't enjoyed a WDW meal. But I think that part of that is that our expectations are of theme park dining, not a fine NYC bistro.

 

[Ambehnke]

Sad so many people have had bad experiences at places we love. But I do know from experience it can vary from day to day server to server. Once we ate at H&V for lunch and it was horrible as was the server and zero character interaction but we had a holiday dinner booked there hat night and we decided to keep it and we're so glad we did. It was wonderful!

We had a not great but fairly expensive meal at Yak and Yeti and would probably never eat there again. Disappointing considering it is some of our favorite kind of food.

 

[IrishNYC]

We were very disappointed in BOG lunch, especially given all the raving about it. The hot stuff was lukewarm, the cold stuff was lukewarm, the restaurant was chaotic.
T-Rex. Never again.

 

[nursejackie]

All of them? ALll disney food is mediocre at best.

I don't think there would be so many websites on Disney dining, with many avid followers, if ALL disney food was mediocre at best. If that is your honest opinion, what do you eat while at the parks?

 

[IrishNYC]

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 see how free dining has any impact on service or food quality. It's a small percentage of service.

All of them? ALll disney food is mediocre at best.

I agree that it's mediocre at best, it's, sadly, as much as I expect from theme park dining. Boma was pleasantly surprising.

 

[cruisingtwins]

I don;t think it's fair to compare Disney to other theme parks I go to other theme parks for a day I can eat crap for a day but I cannot eat crap for 7 days. I admit we do eat on the healthier side so it's a bigger shock.

 

[DizDaD7]

While I certainly don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, not every Disney experience can be 100% magical. Have any of you had any bad experiences at the Disney restaurants? I'm just curious. I've dined at many of the restaurants on property and sometimes it's a hit and sometimes it's a miss. Just curious about your least favorite dining experiences or which restaurants you believe could step it up a bit.

Just a couple of mine are as follows:

Grand Floridian Cafe
Sci Fi Dine In (sometimes it's great and sometimes it's not)
The Plaza Restaurant
The Boathouse
The Coral Reef

Don't get me wrong, I usually have great experiences, but every now and again the food is lackluster or the menu is very basic/boring. One example here is that I didn't like the food at Coral Reef at all. IMO, The whole restaurant could use a refurb in addition to the menu. Just an opinion. Feel free to share your two cents

Perfect thread 4 me to explain. & let me preface this by saying I definitely am not the one to complain. It takes a lot for me to get to that point.

We were sooo looking forward to this 1 elusive ADR that we couldn't hardly contain ourselves for the last 2 weeks prior to going.

To start off, I'd like to point out that we always have our 1st day at any park @ MK so O'hana has been mostly our go 2 place for arrival dinner. We wanted something different so 2 years ago we went with BOG, which was awesome, and this trip I was able to score CG.

Knowing that we wanted to set it up with the nighttime Wishes, I made the ADR for 7:20 pm...( usually 1 1/2 hrs later than our usual dinner )
Not a big deal. Well that day when we arrived to MK, we saw the hours were pushed back to later & so was Wishes, which was now 10 pm instead of 9. * ( way to long for us to hang around and eat & watch Fireworks )

So we decided to exit MK earlier and see if we could get seated earlier than our original ADR. we checked in @ 6:35 pm and patiently waited in the lounger area for 20- 25 mins. before even anyone noticed that we were even there..* (9 total- 4 parents , 5 kids ) We kindly asked for some bread and stuff which the manager said he would gladly bring out, along with some GF for 2 of us. another 10 mins & nuttin....Hmmm Ok, no biggie, now we're still waiting till around our original adr , so I got up to ask, would it be anytime soon that we would get seated, to their reply, " We're working on it." I say OK, and head back to the lounge only to find that we still had no beverages & bread or apps. So needless to say, we're starting to a get a lil agitated, but what tare we gonna do.

At 7:30 they finally come to seat us, at a beautiful spot near the window ( close to the exit/Terrace ). That was some view. Both the mgr. & the server were there @ this point to ensure no more problems. They both figured that the other would get our drink orders, and neither did..(LoL) no biggie. We finally order & I get the Spicy Kazan sushi & the Wagyu Beef.... * Both were EXCELLENT !!! But the problem being everyone elses wasn't.
My wife had the GF Fish tacos , which were bland & dry, w/ scarce pieces of fish. My DS had the Fish tacos which couldn't even be picked up ( because the taco kept falling apart ) Other group/ family friends ordered stuff , and was to be Not Spicy & was ( wasn't paying much about their choices just ours ) But I know that a hair came out on 1 of their salads, and they were a lil upset ( not a big deal to me ) but whatever. also my DD sushi came out and the rice was dry and wasn't sticking... It could not even be eaten with Chop sticks...We eat sushi often and hers IMHO was below subpar.

We didn't wait around for dessert but they did manage to up our 10% AP discount to a 20%, which managed to save a lil, but for the overall experience, to me we didn't get it. * once again I loved my meal, but would'nt trade that for the lack of love for it from my family and friends...

Normally I'd give a restaurant another chance, but in this instance for the price we did pay ( even with a hefty discount )unfortunately we won't...

Whoever is thinking of going or will be returning, by all means go and try it. I don't want our experience to change/ make your decision, for I'm sure it was a 1 time thing....

Either way No biggie, There are plenty of places for us to see and do here...Especially The Wave ( which we tried for the 1st time ) And loved. That's for a whole other thread.

 

[Owlpost23]

Coral reefX2 experiences . Noting special about the food or the personalities of waitstaff. Food better at home...

Biergarden x 1 So disappointing. I'm in minority here.. but we didn't see much. Food was eh and we were seated with a family who verbally judged us for having a beer with dinner.. just a bad day I guess..

For having beer at dinner at the BIERGARTEN???? good lord.

 

[WaltDisneyGirl84]

I don;t think it's fair to compare Disney to other theme parks I go to other theme parks for a day I can eat crap for a day but I cannot eat crap for 7 days. I admit we do eat on the healthier side so it's a bigger shock.

Well, in that case, maybe something like a dining plan is not a good option for you as they usually come with way too much food. Or you'll need to be more conscious of your decisions on the menus, but regardless, the menus do have many healthy options and you can even have the chefs modify the menu items further based on dietary needs.

I simply disagree that the food is crap. It might not all be healthy, but I would imagine we all know how America works by now when it comes to the food here..

 

[sleepydog25]

Threads such as these are fun to read when they pop up, and it's always worth noting (as a few have) that every restaurant can have a bad night or two and that when certain expectations aren't met for each person or family it will affect their views. . .which might not phase the next person. Still, in keeping with the spirit of the thread, I will add that two restaurants to which we likely won't return are WCC and Monsieur Paul. After three trips over a couple of years to the former, the cost and quality of both the food and entertainment factor (which was zilch on all three trips despite attempting to join in) just aren't worthwhile. As for the latter, our meal was less than mediocre, the service matched the food, and the ambiance was simply depressing. Had MP been the cost of a regular TS experience it would have been unflinchingly poor. Being that it was/is a Signature, it was nothing less than abysmal. Other than that, it was fine.

 

[DizDaD7]

For having beer at dinner at the BIERGARTEN???? good lord.

Were you drinking an American Beer, & not a German brand & that's why they questioned you???---> Just sayin..LoL
32oz of this---> with the dinner any entertainment, & Umm Umm good.

 

[mickeymom22]

Absolute worst service and food that we have experienced at a Disney restaurant: Mama Melrose.

First off, I think the person who took our drink orders went home as soon as he took them...
From then on, we had to flag down a server for everything! No one seemed to know who our "real" server was supposed to be! When we finally got our drinks and order taken no one came to check on us. We were a party of eight and our food came out at different times. Some of the food was cold and some was way too hot. We were on the dining plan so we wanted our desserts...that took an extremely looong time! We had to flag down someone to settle our bill. It was hands down the worst experience at a restaurant Disney or non-Disney that my family has ever experienced.

Places that we found the food blah: Chef Mickey's and Boatwright's.

 

[RachaelA]

I usually love the ones people hate (Chef Mickey, CRT) and hate the ones people love like Ohana.

We had 3 horrible Akershus dinners 3 trips in a row and won't go back for dinner. We did do the absolute latest breakfast time this past trip and it was fine. 1900 Park Fare has way too much seafood and not enough other variety now.

 

[toolmanjan]

I usually love the ones people hate (Chef Mickey, CRT) and hate the ones people love like Ohana..

I have to agree. Expecting great food at a character meal imagine that?

Mamma Melrose was our go to restaurant at one time. Last time in 12/13 not so much.

Being a signature restaurant doesn't guarantee a good experience Artist Point is a perfect example. Just ok food and service at an inflated price

Dishonorable mention Grand Floridian Café, The Boat House uninspiring menu ok service.

Citrico's great meal and service. The down side was it was very noisy with lots of kids even with a late ADR. I thank the Dining plan for that.

 

[WaltDisneyGirl84]

Mama Melrose has always been mediocre at best. The very first time I went there, the waiter offered us free preferred seating for Fantasmic, so I have to say that was pretty cool the first time around, but the food is just meh.

 

[Auntie_Maim]

seated with a family who verbally judged us for having a beer with dinner...

LOL. This would make me skip the beer and go straight for the schnapps.

 

[Shanti]

While I certainly don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, not every Disney experience can be 100% magical. Have any of you had any bad experiences at the Disney restaurants? I'm just curious. I've dined at many of the restaurants on property and sometimes it's a hit and sometimes it's a miss. Just curious about your least favorite dining experiences or which restaurants you believe could step it up a bit.

Just a couple of mine are as follows:

Grand Floridian Cafe
Sci Fi Dine In (sometimes it's great and sometimes it's not)
The Plaza Restaurant
The Boathouse
The Coral Reef

Don't get me wrong, I usually have great experiences, but every now and again the food is lackluster or the menu is very basic/boring. One example here is that I didn't like the food at Coral Reef at all. IMO, The whole restaurant could use a refurb in addition to the menu. Just an opinion. Feel free to share your two cents

WDW food is head & shoulders above other theme park dining. The theming & character experiences add to the experience. So no, I'm not disappointed. Disney table service meals have always been pleasant parts of our trips.

 

[katt789]

CRT is the main one I can think of, of getting progressively worse it seems like each time we go. The food was less than great, and the service hasn't been that good either. Especially the one night we were there with an allergy in the party. Princesses have always been great through, but it's definitely somewhere that for the price, we won't be going
-Crystal Palace is another one, again, price factoring in. Food is okay, character interaction okay, but service is slacking

 

[SuperTink]

3 out of 4 of us are always disappointed with the food at Scf-Fi, and now we only ever get burgers. How can you mess up a burger? We love the ambiance--very unique, so we always go. Maybe one year.....