First trip to the Turf Club - Most disappointing meal of the year!

[brertoad]

Just to give a little background info. We have annual passes and go to WDW a lot, sometimes just for dinner and to walk around for a few hours. We've eaten at a lot of the regular (i.e. TS, QS) restaurants and we're not really all that picky. If the food is decent and fresh we are usually happy, we don't mind paying higher prices as long as the food is good.

We recently tried Tutto Gusto and were really thrilled with it, even though it's a little more expensive than most, the food was really excellent.

We just tried Turf Club and we were extremely disappointed. It ruined our evening completely. The table bread was not fresh, you could tell it was just reheated. The calamari was dried out, not hot, and scrawny, like left over bits, no large normal sized pieces. The breading had fallen off much of it, it didn't seem hot and fresh at all. We also ordered the Buffalo Chicken Dip, which was a bust. Too spicy and just plain gross. They need to take it off the menu. The chips were deep fried potato chips and stale. One of the most unappetizing things we've ever had at any restaurant.

DH ordered the salmon, which didn't come with normal sides at all, just served on a mound of corn that tasted vinegary. The food was tepid. And we were too hungry to really pay attention to the details when we ordered, we had read an Allears menu and thought that the salmon came with rice and mushrooms. Looks like they have an old menu online.

I ordered the shrimp pasta which was also just sad. Small little shrimp in a bland sauce with pasta. For the same amount of money we would have rather eaten at Tutto Gusto, even with smaller portions I would have rather had better eats and enjoyed myself.

The server was okay, it's not her fault the food was gross.
I had read good things about Turf Club so it was really a big let down. DH was saying they should call it Turd Club.

I think I finally understand what people mean when they talk about the dining plan bringing down the level of quality. I really feel that this place must just be another feeding trough for those who use the dining plan. Because they surely would not make it out in the real world of restaurants. I feel ripped off since we paid OOP. It's not worth paying money to eat here in my opinion. We've eaten at QS places that are better, like Cookes of Dublin, Wolfgangs, etc.

Just wanted to share our experience to prevent someone else from having a really really bad time. If you want to have a nice meal (non-signature) with "A" quality food we would recommend Kouzzina, Tutto Italia, Tutto Gusto, Grand Floridian Cafe, Yak & Yeti, Sanaa, & Via Napoli.

 

[brertoad]

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[jennylyn_b]

Sorry you did not like your meal. We have eaten there many times and always had hot delicious meals. And no we don't use the ddp and never will. We've never ha a problem with any dish being stale or gross. I am so sorry you did. Glad Tutto gusto was good though!

 

[psindone]

I have to agree. Not such a great meal. Have eaten there twice. First time was ok but 2nd was a bust. If your staying there I guess you could grab something but I would not recommend making a special trip. There are far better places to eat.

 

[brertoad]

Thanks for the input. I wonder what people do like on their menu.

I think if we didn't have such bad luck with each item we may have not really had a bad time, but every item ordered was disappointing, so the end result was a cumulative failure. I can usually forgive one bad item ordered if the rest is all good. If we had ordered a different combination of apps and entrees, I suppose we may have had better luck. It's been a really long time since we've had bad food at a restaurant. Our last bad meal was at Big River Grille, the bill there was about half of what it was at Turf Club.

It's a shame because the restaurant has a nice location, the view is nice from the restaurant and terrace.

 

[darnheather]

I'm going on the dining plan. If food is bad, I will send it back. If food is really bad then we will never go back and leave bad reviews here and on Yelp. How is that different from people paying OOP? I'm sorry you had a bad experience but I'm not a pig eating from a trough.

 

[mfd25wife]

We've been twice and enjoyed it both times. I know two ordered steaks but I don't remember the other two. This was in 2008 and 2010. May for both.

 

[brertoad]

I'm going on the dining plan. If food is bad, I will send it back. If food is really bad then we will never go back and leave bad reviews here and on Yelp. How is that different from people paying OOP? I'm sorry you had a bad experience but I'm not a pig eating from a trough.

It's not any different. The lack of quality is insulting to all customers, those on the dining plan or not. The lack of quality represents that this place is just another feeding hole for the masses. I feel the same about Casey's and some of the other places where we have gotten sub-standard food, cold fries, stale bun, gross food. The sub-standard food is like slop, and it's hard not to feel like Disney is treating customers like pigs that will eat anything. I'm not saying that I believe that DDP users are pigs, I'm saying that the lack of quality is insulting and that this restaurant would not make it in the "real world". They have a captive audience of people on the DDP staying on site, which means they have constant business, and hence the feeding trough comment, they just load it up and people are ready to eat it. It's not right. I don't know if people on the DP are more likely to excuse bad food, because of the "free dining" promotions, or other perceived value angle. But, I certainly have seen plenty of people eat the same food we have at various places and not complain.

My DH doesn't like to send food back, which is somthing I always had to deal with, he'd rather pay for crappy food and leave it at that. I prefer to send it back. It infuriates me to pay for bad food. This time we didn't say anything, he wasn't feeling well and didn't want the "stress" of dealing with it.

 

[bangzoom6877]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience, that's not fun on vacation. Overall, Disney is feeding the masses, dining plan or no dining plan. However, we have found that resort restaurants are usually better than theme park restaurants (excluding the WS restaurants at Epcot which are some of our favorites on property), because it's a little more difficult for people to get to resorts than it is to get to the theme parks or DTD if they don't have a car with them. Buses (or sometimes other methods of transportation) go directly to all theme parks and DTD from any resort on property. But traveling resort to resort is more difficult, especially depending on the location of the resort. I know SSR is close to DTD, but to my knowledge people do not venture out of DTD and go to SSR just to eat at Turf Club. IMO, this restaurant caters mostly to the guests staying at SSR than anyone else, thus not feeding the masses nearly as much as theme park restaurants or DTD restaurants. Granted, I haven't dined at Turf Club but from all reports I have read about it, the restaurant is never particularly full. Go to any theme park restaurant and it is usually full...that is the definition of feeding the masses at WDW.