Does anyone pay OOP for signature restaurant?

[minijeanie]

I am on dining plan for only 3 days of our 6 day stay. I was considering paying for nice dinner on our last night for our family of 6.. 5 adults 1 child. I was looking at California grill or Le Cellier or Yachtsman but I was astonished at the prices???? over $50 for steak.. that is NYC prices...
Considering that service might be great and the venue might be lovely....is it really worth it?
Curious to those who have put the $$$ out and were very happy

 

[arcticdisneylovers]

We haven't done the DP in years. We eat at mostly signatures and pay OOP. Everything is expensive at Disney but ya gotta eat! We live in the arctic and have very few restaurants (in the hotels only really) prices are comparable but the food is MUCH worse at home so we rarely eat out. We think Disney signature food is great (but we have little to compare to)

 

[mjmgsssp]

I've paid OOP once for dinner for 2 at CRT. We found it worth the price.

 

[ColonialMouse]

Honestly, I think the prices at signature restaurants are less inflated compared to equivalent restaurants elsewhere than most other Disney restaurants. Do you know how much a character buffet costs for a family of 6? And for DP the signatures take two meals.

We found the DP doesn't make sense for us. We eat mostly table service and have TiW.

Bruce

 

[SullyD13]

My mom and I did our first Disney World trip last October and our California Grill dinner was one of the best memories of our trip. Everything from the food, to our wonderful server, to watching the fireworks after dinner from the rooftop. We did it on our first night and it was a great start to our trip. We are going to Disney again back in December and it is on our must-do list again. We are going to be on the dining plan this next time so we plan on paying OOP for the meal.

We consider it well worth the extra money! We already know that Disney is going to be expensive so it kind of softens the blow of the "high prices." Although you are a family of 6 and that will make it much more expensive than just our 2, I think your family will love it! If it came down to it we would sacrifice in other areas of our trip just to make sure we could have at least one signature meal.

We are staying at Yacht Club this next trip and although going to Yachtsman is more convenient (and probably just as good) we still consider California Grill to be our #1 choice. The view is AMAZING!

I hope this helps Good luck!

 

[winterman]

Several years ago DH and I had free dining and ate at Narcoossee's. We decided to not use the dining plan, mostly because we were going to spend so much that the DP would not cover anyway (appetizers, drinks, tip). So we used the DP credits for 2 other meals. We never compared the numbers, but we were happy with our decision.

 

[TeresaWen]

We never do the dining plan and dine in a number of signatures. We almost never order streak though. I try to order things I do not normally make at home. My husband grills the best steaks I have ever had

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

I always try to get the most value for the money out of my Disney trips (study menus, compare prices, etc.), and I have found that paying OOP for the signatures is the way to go, even when you are on the Disney (regular) dining plan (unless you plan to eat primarily or only at the signatures).

We are going in a couple of weeks and are paying OOP for California Grill even though we are on the Disney dining plan. It makes financial sense to save those credits for the character meals and buffets (if you want to do any of those) and to pay OOP at the signatures, especially since many people want adult beverages and appetizers (not covered under the Disney dining plan) at the signatures.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

We never do the dining plan and dine in a number of signatures. We almost never order streak though. I try to order thinks I do not normally make at home. My husband grills the best steaks I have ever had

I am the same way! I can get excellent steaks at home for far cheaper. They are so simple to make. Some of those appetizers and entrees at Disney neither DH nor I would even bother to attempt. That is what I want to eat at Disney- things I just can't duplicate at home.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Yep. I ONLY eat at "signature" And I don't buy DDP (and no it's never really free). So all meals are cash. That means I can only eat appetizers and deserts if I want And since appetizers seem to be less affected by the menu dumbing down that's good IMHO

 

[tony67]

Personally - I think all the prices are inflated by the DDP - they can put any price they want on it because so many people have the DDP - the price is not an issue.

I eat very few TS meals in Disney theses days - the quality is no where near the price point - you are far better off going over to the Swan and Dolphin and paying OOP there - at least when you pay $50 for a steak you are getting a steak worth $50 - not a choice steak you can buy at Outback for far less.

 

[imahistorygeek]

Yep. I ONLY eat at "signature" And I don't buy DDP (and no it's never really free). So all meals are cash. That means I can only eat appetizers and deserts if I want And since appetizers seem to be less affected by the menu dumbing down that's good IMHO

We also prefer only signature and pay OOP. Like you, we like the flexibility of eating only appetizers, desserts, or from the "enhancements" menu. We don't like to feel constrained by the DDP.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Like some of the others, we always pay OOP & have dinner every night in a signature restaurant. We prefer the Swan/Dolphin restaurants over Disney's, which is the main reason we've never consider DDP. We also like the fact that we can order exactly what we want. We do eat at a few of Disney's signatures to keep from repeating restaurants on the same trip. To us, some of them are worth the price & others aren't.

 

[wilkeliza]

We pay out of pocket at all restraunts and don't do the dinning plan unless we get if for a steal (the few times we stay on CM discounts).

I just ate at Jinko a signature at AK Lodge. The prices in no way seemed overly inflated for what we received. My fiancé got the filet and I can say 100% in no way was it only "Outback" quality meat. I got the Halibut and it was great. Of course prices are high and you could probably get if for less if you made it at home or went to a mom and pop place but I don't think like that when I go out to eat. Signature dinning is in line with fine dinning anywhere else and the price comes along with that.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I've always been happy with my meals at signature restaurants. I've also paid OOP before while on the plan to save credits too.

 

[YoMickey]

We used to be huge fans of DDP when apps and gratuities were included and the kids were 9 and under. We also use to be able to use studios when the kids were younger but now use the 1 bedroom villas that have a kitchen. My wife and I did an exhaustive exercise of comparing prices OOP versus DDP. We broke down the counter service, snack, and refillable mug for our family of 5 adults (Me, mom,11, 14, and 16 year olds). Using $12-14 for counter service, $4 for snack, $2,50 a day for our refillable mugs or $92.50 per day for everything but the table services. We then wen through our reservations and scanned menus for what we thought we'd order and leaned towards more expensive dining options and also added desserts but not appetizers, we added non-alcoholic drinks to it as well. As it turns out at $63.70 per person per day it runs $318.50 per day for us. Taking away the $92.50 leaves us $226 for dinner per single table service or $452 per Signature dining option.

Examples of our proposed menus items Yachtsmen-$345, Cape May-$392, Boma-$304, Germany Beirgarten- $282. LeCellier-$378. Do the math it's an eye opener. They're no dummies.

disclaimer- Prices based on 2016 Disney Dining plan, at places we like to eat food that we prefer. Individual results may differ.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Sorry. I misunderstood a post at first.

 

[wilkeliza]

I'm totally with you on Jiko. We thought it wasn't even close to being worth the price. We felt most everything we tried was too low quality &/or too bland for a signature restaurant. We've had better meals at non-signatures for less than half of the price. As with all restaurants, it has it's fans. We're definitely among them. I will give it credit for the atmosphere. If the food matched the atmosphere, we'd add it to our list of possibilities..

I think you miss read my statement. I said Jiko was amazing and totally worth the price. You seemed to have not enjoyed it which is opposite of what I experienced.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I think you miss read my statement. I said Jiko was amazing and totally worth the price. You seemed to have not enjoyed it which is opposite of what I experienced.

I did misread it at first. As soon as I realized it, I edited my post. You were too fast for me. Sorry for the misunderstanding. No offense intended.

 

[CraigInPA]

My wife and I eat OOP at signatures. We do so because we've figured out that our total food bill will be less paying OOP than buying DxDDP. This came after years of buying DxDDP, and then analyzing the receipts from the restaurants. The only way we were saving money was by taking home the snack credits in the form of a suitcase full of trail mix. Without using all those leftover snack credits, we were paying more for DxDDP than we would have had we paid OOP.

If you want to have a signature experience, you'll want to go to California Grille, Yachtsman, Narcoossee's, Citricos, or Jiko. LeCellier is not a signature experience. It's an over-priced crowded dungeon that's living on its reputation gained when it was a 1 credit restaurant. Outside of Disney, there's also BlueZoo and Shula's, in the Swan/Dolphin. Both of these are excellent restaurants.