Does anybody else feel Disney food is just not that great?

[MikeWazowski]

Originally posted by franw
I must admit that we have never found pizza at WDW that comes close to being good. The pizza at the CBR is horrible and the little take out window on the Boardwalk is equally bad. If anyone knows of any decent pizza at WDW, please let us know! We usually end up at Pizzeria Uno if we are desperate for a pizza fix.

Originally posted by Peter Pirate
I don't honestly believe there is good pizza in the entire State of Florida (I've lived here for 22 years now) and none of it matches the pizzas I grew up on in Michigan...

If I was you I would'nt order pizza anymore in WDW or FL.

 

[erinch]

We were there last week and had 2 world class dinners at Jiko. In fact, we cancelled another PS to go back. I had the Chermoula Roasted chicken -- with preserved lemons, garlic and calamata olives, which may be the very best meal I've had anywhere. The service was absolutely outstanding. A fantastic (if pricey) wine list. The desserts were so-so, but the creme brulee was very good. I would highly recommend it.

 

[Pammy_from_WI]

Yup, gotta agree with the pizza in WDW, we have yet to find a decent place for pizza down there. I have several friends that are Italian and own pizza shops, so we're use to excellent pizza/Italian food. But dang what is the problem down there with making a good pizza? LOL We don't usually get pizza when visiting WDW, but once and a while we do need a pizza fix and all the places we've tried have the same old cardboard, thick crust, dried up pizza. BLECH!

Back in the day our local Six Flags use to have really good thin crust pizza and it was darn good for a theme park, but they too have changed to that junky stuff they try and pass off as pizza.

I also would like to know where to get a nice slice of pizza there! We are trying Mama's this trip, new one for us, but I'm guessing the pizza will be lousy there too. LOL

Pam

 

[DeeP]

I also would like to know where to get a nice slice of pizza there! We are trying Mama's this trip, new one for us, but I'm guessing the pizza will be lousy there too. LOL

Actually the flatbreads at Mama Melrose are pretty good.

As to the OP, I also disagree, we have eaten at WDW restaurants many times and we have had many excellent meals in their top end restaurants. We live in a tourist area (NJ shore) and are also close to NYC and Phila and we do not find the prices of WDW restuarants out of line at all. Matter of fact, often a comparable meal where we live is priced higher than at WDW!

 

[mitros]

C'mon over to citrus county, we don't have much else, but we have 3 great NY style pizza places here. And being from Jersey, we know what good pizza is!

 

[NancyIL]

Originally posted by MikeWazowski
If I was you I would'nt order pizza anymore in WDW or FL.

I think the pizza at Giordano's on west 192 in Kissimmee is quite good. I also like Pizzeria Uno.

 

[CamColt]

We are just back from 6 nights. We did 5 sit down meals(1 breakfast, the rest dinners), the other family with us did the same 5 plus one more. None of us could say we had a bad meal. I would say in general we all felt everything was very good.

 

[CK1]

Part of the problem might be expectations -- you read the boards and see how much some folks RAVE about a place, you get there, and -- huh-- it's good, but it wasn't the virtually orgasmic FANTASTICO! as you had prepped yourself for it to be!

That said, we have thoroughly enjoyed our meals in WDW. Yes, they're pricey, especially for us, coming in from nowhereville USA, where "fine dining" is the Outback Steakhouse. But we allot a huge chunk o' money just to soak in that Dis-dining ambiance. WHY? We don't typically dine out much -- we have 3 kids and it's just not something we do that often! However, something about the magic of Disney enables my dh and I to take our fam of five and engage them in the whole dining process such that he and I get to actually enjoy our meal! AND they have a great time! WOW!! That alone is worth the price!

We don't go to the truly "adult" venues, so the restaurants many of you are talking about we haven't experienced yet (like AP, CG, V&A). But similarly, we don't do counter service -- just not our thing. So we have sampled the heck out of the moderates, and loved 'em all! We try to hit the ones with more Disney inspiration (PT, WhispC, character meals, SciFi, GG, HDDR, Ohana) and skip any we could get "similar" fare at home (like mexican, chinese, italian, McD's, etc.) And let's not forget some of the infamous "treats" along the way -- turkey legs, Mickey Ice Cream bars, etc. Sure I can get that Mickey Bar (or something darn close to it) at Kroger's for less, but for some reason, standing in front of the castle on a hot day, it just TASTES better at MK. Same goes for alot of their food there.

I admit I also cook alot in our villa at WDW (we are DVC), but as the saying goes -- what's the best thing I have ever made at WDW? Easy -- Reservations!!

 

[smfnj]

Originally posted by kpgclark
I can get a great meal in Philly for a lot less than anything on Disney property.

You may get a meal as good or better in Philly for less money but, when you walk out the door of that restaurant you're in "Philly" - not in the Happiest Place on Earth.

Same thing with the resorts. I can get a much nicer room for $200 0r $300 p/night than I can get at the Poly anywhere in the country, but it ain't Disney.

steve

 

[smfnj]

Originally posted by franw
I must admit that we have never found pizza at WDW that comes close to being good. The pizza at the CBR is horrible and the little take out window on the Boardwalk is equally bad. If anyone knows of any decent pizza at WDW, please let us know! We usually end up at Pizzeria Uno if we are desperate for a pizza fix.

The pizza at Evergreen's sports bar at SoG is the best I've had at WDW. Haven't tried the brick oven pizza at Palio's, we were there 3 years ago and I opted for the rack of lamb instead, lol.

steve

 

[franw]

smfnj -- You hit the nail right on the head. I find it amazing how people complain about the prices at WDW and don't realize that they are paying for the real estate, the theming, security, union wages, etc. It's like going to the Olympics and not expecting the prices to go up with a huge demand for rooms. We paid $150 once outside of Kansas City for a dumpy Best Western room that reeked of smoke because it was homecoming weekend. We were just passing through and were desperate for a room. Ten years ago we thought the prices at WDW were very high compared to the prices in Denver. But things have gone up so much here that now the price difference really isn't that great. I'd rather have a good meal at WDW than a terrific meal in my hometown or Philly any day. Since I was born there I can say that.

 

[smfnj]

Originally posted by franw
I'd rather have a good meal at WDW than a terrific meal in my hometown or Philly any day. Since I was born there I can say that.

franw,

You are correct. BTW, I was also born in Philly, billions and billions of years ago; well 44 years but it seems like billions.....

steve

 

[linda d-isney]

I'm with you. I don't think the food is that great. I travel with kids and a very fussy DH. We are so fried out at the end of our Disney trips. DH is the only one that eats fries and we waste so much food because everything in the park comes with fries even at the Epcot Lands pavillion where they have that cute little show on good eating. We mostly eat at our resort when we return from park hopping. There we find fairly better food than in the park except last year when we stayed at the Coronado Springs. This year we were at CBR and thought the food court was not too bad. But in the parks.....it's not that great. We have gotten to the point that we've been down often enough to have specific places that we return to in each park, but when you spend a couple days at each park you tend to repeat. We are not so finacially lucky to be able to eat at the fine restaurants.

 

[barbeml]

Out of all the many WDW meals we have had, I can honestly say that the only meal that wasn't great was at the ABC Commissary at Disney Studios. Also, as a Jersey girl, I am immune to "sticker shock" and WDW prices do not seem out of line to me. (The one meal we considered overpriced was lunch at Coral Reef).

Maybe we have been lucky, but we have had nothing but great meals at Bonfamilles (how I miss their awesome breakfasts!), Cindy's, Tony's, 'Ohana, Kona Cafe, California Grill, Sci-Fi, '50s Prime Time, San Angel Inn, Marrakesh, Le Cellier, Rose and Crown, Spoodles, Biergarten (just don't care for the group seating) and Tusker House. We even love the Sunshine Season Food Fair in The Land.

Now, if you want truly lousy and overpriced theme park food, head to Bush Garden's at Williamsburg. How they ever got an award for "Best Theme Park Food" is beyond my comprehension. Wretched.

Note to my NJ neighbors: We are pizza and tomato pie lovers and the best we have found so far is Papa's Tomato Pies in Chambersburg (Trenton). Much better than the more famous DeLorenzo's. Papa is in his 70s and still making those pies. Awesome.

 

[eeyore0062]

I'm with you. I don't think the food is that great. I travel with kids and a very fussy DH. We are so fried out at the end of our Disney trips. DH is the only one that eats fries and we waste so much food because everything in the park comes with fries even at the Epcot Lands pavillion where they have that cute little show on good eating. We mostly eat at our resort when we return from park hopping. There we find fairly better food than in the park except last year when we stayed at the Coronado Springs. This year we were at CBR and thought the food court was not too bad. But in the parks.....it's not that great. We have gotten to the point that we've been down often enough to have specific places that we return to in each park, but when you spend a couple days at each park you tend to repeat. We are not so finacially lucky to be able to eat at the fine restaurants.

Try some of the sit down restaurants and you will find that you have other options besides fries... even on the kids meals.

The reason fast food all have fries is that is the expectation. Avoid the counter service restauarants, and you will see why we all think the the food at WDW is pretty darn good!

 

[sha_lyn]

I agree woth man yhere that say you have to take into consideration what/where WDW is. It is Theme Park is a city that makes its money off of tourism. Name one other theme park where you'd even get the chance to have fine dinning (OK other than US/IOA).
As for counter service, I can get a hot Burger with toppings and fries or carrots at Pecos Bill's for less than what I can get a cold plain burger at Six Flag over GA. A few weeks ago we paid $15 a piece at SFoGA for cafeteria style fried chicken and 2 sides.

We just returned from South Padre Island TX for a family wedding. Most of our family had sticker shock at the prices. We even ended up paying for dinner at a buffet we suggested because no one wanted to eat there after they saw the prices ($18 for adults). But after paying that much or more at WDW we expected to pay those prices in a resort town. I do have to say the food there was wonderful and much better than most of the WDW buffets. Then again, we did end up paying $8 for a chicken salad sandwich was was just OK. Give me a Peco's Bills Chicken wrap over that sandwich any day. We also paid in the 12-15 range for lunch at one place that consisted of a salad of iceberg lettuce (and choice of only ranch or thousand island dressing) crinkle cut fries and a few pieces of fried saefood or chicken teders that were fried in old grease. Give me lunch at PTC anyday over those meals.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

We have had many excellent meals at WDW. Artist Point, Cal Grill, Narcoossee's, Flying Fish, Palio, and Portobello Yacht Club all come to mind.

Pizza is another story. We usually order delivery from Giordano's. For us, this is home town food, since they are a Chicago-
area chain. I also think you can get good pizza (or flatbread) at Palio and PortobelloYC, but we tend to go for other choices in these places.

Ralph

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Well, I/we must have been very lucky with our past selections of places to eat and I hope our luck continues!
I've eaten anywhere from Garden Grill to San Angel Inn to (other places -counter service- at Epcot and can't remember them all) to Pepper Market, Peco's Bills (love the mushrooms at the topping bar!), -breakfastasaurus and Storybook Princess breakfast at Epcot- all were delicious!!! And in each case I felt the food was worth the money- even on the character breakfast meals where I THOUGHT it was too expensive and that the food wouldn't be worth it- but turned out it was. Even though I can't eat huge meals so I can't really make it worth it by eating a lot. LOL

I hope all our PS's for this trip, many of them different, are just as good. I think the only thing I can remember as not tasting all that great was the gravy with the biscuits at the ASMu resort- but hey, you get what you pay for (it was just VERY salty... and I like salt LOL).