family style/buffet

[donac]

I have to give my nod to Trails End. We eat there every time we are at DW. It is a great place to just sit back and relax.

We also did the Garden Grill in the Land. It is not listed as a buffet but it is all you can eat but they serve you. We had a great meal there.

 

[tinkerbella16]

Our favorites that we love and are doing on our upcoming trip -

Garden Grill dinner - this is the only character dinner that we really love for the food. The food is so good. Every time we go back, it is better than before. We love GG for everything it offers - atmosphere, character interactions are some of the best we've experienced, but the food really surprised us a few years ago when we almost didn't go. It has been our favorite ever since.
Cape May Café breakfast - we really enjoy this for breakfast and they have a great spread.
Akershus breakfast - We love this restaurant for breakfast. We love having the cold buffets options and the hot foods brought to the table. Everything was really good.

 

[goofy4prez]

Is there any of the family style/buffet that still offer reasonably good quality food. There are so many complains about them, are there are any that are still recommended?

Let me start by saying up front, I am not a real fan of buffets in or out of WDW. When I'm not in Disney I don't do buffets of any kind and when in Disney I'm reluctant to go other than a few breakfast buffets.

I'm of the opinion that there is virtually no such thing as good quality food at a buffet in Disney or out of Disney. The very nature of massive amounts of food made in advance and placed on serving stations for droves of people to stack it high on a plate and to repeat this procedure two, three, four or more times in a seating just doesn't lead to very good quality. Again, in my opinion it is a matter of quantity over quality.

With that said I would rate only two buffets and two family style meals in WDW that I would rate as "average," and a handful that I would call average for breakfast. But again, this is my own opinion and will certainly differ from others.

Dinner:

• Ohana- This for me is one of those places that is just not as good as it used to be. I would say it's average in quality, but still a decent experience.
• Whispering Canyon Cafe- I actually think the endless skillet with it's BBQ comfort foods is a bit better than average. I love the charades and activity here.
• Boma- This is the only buffet in WDW that I would rate from average to just above. I'm not a fan of buffets, but this one is decent for a buffet.
• Biergarten- The 2nd of only two I will eat at in WDW. Not quit as good as Boma but still decent for a buffet.

All the other buffets in WDW included Chef Mickey, Crystal Palace, 1900 PF and etc are nothing more than Golden Corral's with a Disney theme... Tusker House may be the exception but for dinner not quit up to Boma or Biergarten.

Breakfast:

• Wave- Very good breakfast buffet. The food is fresh, it is well maintained, and it is not all that hard to get an ADR for. A nice hidden secret.
• Crystal Palace- I like that it has a fresh omelet station for me. I can't stand pre-made scrambled eggs or some of the other egg slop so many buffets serve. That and I am absolutely addicted to the breakfast lasagna.
• Tusker House- I'd rate this one higher if it had an omelet station. The rest of the offerings are ok.

All the other buffets to me at WDW for breakfast are also nothing more than Golden Corral's with a Disney theme or characters.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Is there any of the family style/buffet that still offer reasonably good quality food

1) Tusker is probably among the best Character buffets.
2) For non-character, Trail's End (FW) is good for breakfast and dinner, and The Wave (CR) for breakfast..
3) Other than these, we do not attend ANY buffet meals at WDW.

 

[Disneypapa]

Big favorites with my family are 'Ohana and Whispering Canyon. We enjoy the entertainment and the food is good too!

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

Cape May has made to order crepes for breakfast with yummy mascarpone cheese as one of the filling choices with fresh fruit! Absolutely devine!
ETA: I have always had great choices at WDW breakfast buffets, fresh fruit, omelets, good choices!

 

[Momof2Singers]

We just got back, TRAILS End, most economical and good food, we loved it, Tusker House, Crystal Palace, Garden Grill, were all great.

 

[adisneyaunt]

Trails end...great for a break during a MK day... Take boat across, easy peasy. Also, crystal palace or Ohana.
Enjoy the feast!

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Whispering Canyon is our favorite family style. We also enjoy HDDR and SOA family style.

 

[alex9179]

We've done 'Ohana dinner and Tusker House lunch with none of us being impressed enough to want to do either again, although the food was ok.

Akershus breakfast was pretty good. The cold buffet was nice and the hot plates that come to the table were good. The potato casserole is the stand-out for most people and we also liked the sausage. Not on our return list, but that's mostly do to the fact that breakfast isn't our favorite meal. The character interaction was fun!
The Wave breakfast was quite good. We ate here on our check-out day before a very long drive home. Filled the kids up for several hours and we'd certainly go back if we had time for another late morning meal.

I'm not a fan of buffets with young kids because DH and I would spend our entire meal serving them. Mine are old enough to help themselves, now, and I have a couple in mind for our next trip due to requests from the family.
Biergarten - DH really wants to try this. I'm not a fan of German food, especially after an unfortunate food poisoning/virus thing years ago at a local place - I can't say "spatzle" without gritting my teeth. I'm going for the entertainment!
Trail's End - For my rib crazy kids. We all love fried chicken but I hate making it at home. It gets pretty good reviews, I want to explore that area, anyway, and reasonably priced for those of us who pay OOP.

 

[Hi Pluto]

When I asked DS (who is 6) what he favorite restaurant was at WDW he said the German Biergarten. Shock to me too, but he gobbled up 5 or 6 of those pork schnitzels and said they were his favorite thing ever. DH loved the sausages, I loved the apple strudel with vanilla bean sauce and grapefruit beer. Great food with a fun atmosphere. Just a thought.

~Cari~

 

[JerseyJanice]

Nobody here has mentioned Minnie's Seasonal Dine...
I'm here to tell ya, it was so good! Character interaction was amazing, and DH and DGS are still talking about the Asiago Chicken and the very cool Christmas desserts!
So just a shout out of lover for H&Vs Dinner parties with Minnie!

I am really torn on doing this meal.

I have been on this board since it pretty much started. I spend lots of time here when I'm planning a trip, I can be absent for years at a clip. One constant in all these years that I've seen is bad reviews for H&V.

I can't think of anything about WDW that I've noticed more hatred expressed for than H&V. The only thing close is the Stitch attraction.

I made an ADR to try the seasonal dinner on our trip in October. My nephew was there with his wife and baby in July so I asked them what they thought of it. Nephew actually liked it. Mentioned a pork loin dish he enjoyed whereas his wife hated the food. She ate only chicken nuggets and mac & cheese off the kiddie buffet. The baby loved the characters and ate fine, but being a little over one year old, she was free anyhow.

So I don't know what to think. The atmosphere looks really blah in photos. Maybe with the characters, it's more exciting. I don't know; at close to $50 per head, I will probably cancel it.

 

[Sarahleigh]

We enjoyed Crystal Palace, Garden Grill, Tusker House and Boma (breakfast) enough to repeat them all on our trip next month. We're also trying Liberty Tree Tavern as well. Haven't been since 2005 and from what I remember it was good then.

 

[rangerxenos]

Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge, hands down best buffet, whether for lunch or dinner.

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

I am really torn on doing this meal.

I have been on this board since it pretty much started. I spend lots of time here when I'm planning a trip, I can be absent for years at a clip. One constant in all these years that I've seen is bad reviews for H&V.

I can't think of anything about WDW that I've noticed more hatred expressed for than H&V. The only thing close is the Stitch attraction.

I made an ADR to try the seasonal dinner on our trip in October. My nephew was there with his wife and baby in July so I asked them what they thought of it. Nephew actually liked it. Mentioned a pork loin dish he enjoyed whereas his wife hated the food. She ate only chicken nuggets and mac & cheese off the kiddie buffet. The baby loved the characters and ate fine, but being a little over one year old, she was free anyhow.

So I don't know what to think. The atmosphere looks really blah in photos. Maybe with the characters, it's more exciting. I don't know; at close to $50 per head, I will probably cancel it.

I think there's a huge difference in the "old" H&V and Minnie's Seasonal Dine. The old one was Disney Junior characters and I don't think the food was anything special.
With the evening becoming something different I think they upped the game food wise.
I know we were really surprised at just how good it was. There were a lot of photo postings of the adorable tasty desserts, especially the Halloween ones.
You may not like it, some folks absolutely hate buffets, but we found this one to be really good with great character interaction!

 

[JerseyJanice]

I think there's a huge difference in the "old" H&V and Minnie's Seasonal Dine. The old one was Disney Junior characters and I don't think the food was anything special.
With the evening becoming something different I think they upped the game food wise.
I know we were really surprised at just how good it was. There were a lot of photo postings of the adorable tasty desserts, especially the Halloween ones.
You may not like it, some folks absolutely hate buffets, but we found this one to be really good with great character interaction!

I like buffets a lot. I am some one who enjoys trying a variety of dishes. I also like having control of portion sizes. Plus I try to select "pieces" that look appealing to me.

Our upcoming trip is during Halloween season, and I agree that the costumes sound adorable, Nonna. I will be on the trip with my 3 baby great nieces, so I want to go there with them. But I won't know till we get there (maybe) how these babies will be at different hours.

I have a SciFi ADR a few hours earlier the same day as the H&V dinner ADR. If the babies will be napping, SciFi would be a fun place to go with my siblings since we went to drive-in theatres together all the time while we were growing up.

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

I like buffets a lot. I am some one who enjoys trying a variety of dishes. I also like having control of portion sizes. Plus I try to select "pieces" that look appealing to me.

Our upcoming trip is during Halloween season, and I agree that the costumes sound adorable, Nonna. I will be on the trip with my 3 baby great nieces, so I want to go there with them. But I won't know till we get there (maybe) how these babies will be at different hours.

I have a SciFi ADR a few hours earlier the same day as the H&V dinner ADR. If the babies will be napping, SciFi would be a fun place to go with my siblings since we went to drive-in theatres together all the time while we were growing up.

You will also love Sci Fi then!!! It's such a cool.place, we had so much fun there. it's dark and starry, just like I remember our old drive ins! The food is decent, burgers and excellent shakes!
Quite honestly I don't think there are any "bad" choices at WDW.
Have fun!