Garden Grill, anyone??

[omalley1118]

Looking for a review of this character dining experience in Epcot! Anyone???

 

[GhostLady]

Looking for a review of this character dining experience in Epcot! Anyone???

We went last November and really liked it. It wasn't the best food we had that week but it was good. The character interaction was great. They spent quite a bit of time at our table. The kids got to decorate their own cupcakes for dessert. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a decent meal and great time with a few of the classic characters.

 

[luvvacations]

We had dinner thier last year. Food was good. Characters were good. We ended up waiting about 45minutes for a table. We had advance reservations too. They ended up losing our name or something. We all agreed we wouldn't be back. It was just one of the least enjoyable dinners for us. It wasn't bad just not memorable in our opinion.

 

[Mommyof3Girls]

We were there in April and I must admit it was my least favorite meal. If you are looking for character interaction it was great as they came around often and spent a good amount of time with the kids, but I found the atmosphere to be dated and the food was only average...

 

[Sorsha]

This is one of my favorite character meals on property. The last time we ate here was in 2007 (trip report link in siggie, I think GG is on about page 3), and we really enjoyed it.

We find it very relaxing. The restaurant goes slowly round-n-round, through the upper parts of the Living with the Land ride. You rotate through the rain forest, the prairie, etc. The characters come around dressed in "farmer" attire (Mickey, Pluto, and Chip & Dale at that time), and they spent lots of time with each table.

When we ate there, the food was not the worst we had all week, nor was it the best. Here's a quote directly from my trip report:

According to all ears, the menu consists of the following:

Biscuits and rolls with honey-orange-blossom butter (YUM)
Flank steak with mushroom cabernet au jus (no one liked this much; although I have three mushroom fanatics in my family, no one much liked the au jus (too wine-y?) and they said the steak was tough)
Rotisserie turkey with cranberry relish (I thought this was wonderful)
Fried catfish (no one liked; too greasy and too fish-y, no tartar sauce available and my kids won't touch fish without it)
Yukon mashed potatoes (this is WRONG. We were given a cheesy-hashbrown sort of potato casserole. I thought it was good, kids didn't much like it, James hated it - too onion-y)
Homestyle corn stuffing (tasted like stovetop to me)
Selection of fresh vegetables (we had baby carrots, which were OK, and fresh, whole, green beans, which were awesome)
Vanilla bread pudding with hard sauce (this is also wrong. we had a very delicious apple crumble/cobbler sort of thing, with vanilla ice cream).

You also can order kids selections (chicken nuggets, fries, mac and cheese, etc) for the little ones. We ordered some french fries, as both little kids love them, and they brought us a huge dish of them.

 

[JW2]

Definitely not one of our favourites - the meal was just ok. The interaction with characters was quite good but did not really compensate for the meal. Wouldn't go back but have had much worse so glad we went once.

 

[koolaidmoms]

There is a review with photos - Garden Grill Review

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

koolaidmoms, thanks for sharing the review...we have never been there but been to LTT (when its been character dinner), have you been to LTT in the past and how do you compare the food to GG. Thank you

 

[VirataMama4]

DH and I were there in April and liked it. It was a last minute choice for us, and not something I was looking forward to, but ended up being fun. The food was good, but not the greatest. I thought the characters were wonderful... Probably the best on the trip.

 

[MHSweb79]

It seems that at Disney, the more "gimmicky" a restaurant is (Garden Grill, Sci-Fi, Coral Reef) then the more mediocre the food is. We ate at Garden Grill once and found the rotating restaurant kind of cool and the character interaction very good. The food, however, would struggle just to meet Applebee's quality and cost about 4 times as much.
If you're looking for a quality meal, save a ton of money and eat in the Land's food court instead. If you like the gimmick and the characters, then the Garden Grill will suit you fine.

 

[koolaidmoms]

koolaidmoms, thanks for sharing the review...we have never been there but been to LTT (when its been character dinner), have you been to LTT in the past and how do you compare the food to GG. Thank you

We have been to LTT. Sorry, no pictures of that.

I think the food overall was better at GG than the "Thanksgiving Feast." The mac-n-cheese is the same at both places (for the kids at GG). Like I said in the review the steak was good and the catfish (once we asked for a new plate) was one of our favorite parts of the meals.

The beef was similar but with a sauce and roasted red potatoes. The stuffing was similar with the turkey but the biggest differences for us were the salad and the catfish.

Hope this helps some.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Thank you so much, koolaidmoms...your response is exactly what I was looking for. I like LTT for the characters but my husband was not thrill with the food (he doesn't like turkey but the steak was ok to him). I wanted to try GG b/c the characters are dressed up differently and I'm glad they do have the steak and catfish. Thank you again for taking your time to answer my question. Wished they still have a lunch there b/c we want to eat at so many different place for dinner.

 

[vcgirl925]

We went last november and it was our worst meal. We didn't care for the food at all. The flank steak was too rare for us, then we asked for it to be cooked a bit more, and it came out overdone. Then we told them it was over done and they brought it back rare again. We just gave up. The fried catfish was mushy and cold. We ended up eating off the kids platter. The restaurant atmosphere wasn't impressive either and the character interaction was good, not great, not bad, but good. The only thing we liked about it was that we were there with good friends AND it was near soarin' and we were able to ride it right after our meal and right before closing so there was no line.

 

[disnywd]

After two bad experiences in a row, we will not be going back.

Both times, we had 8p.m. reservations and did not get seated until 8:45-9p.m.

Once seated, our service throughout the meal was poor. Both times.

The first time it happened, we wrote it off as the restaurant/server having a bad day.

But when it happened again during a another trip a year later, we decided that we will try somewhere else next time.

 

[ladcraig]

We went in January. It wasn't our favorite, but I still enjoyed it. I actually liked the catfish, maybe because it was just something different.

 

[Mom2Capnhook]

We must be an exception, we were just there last week and it was a favorite of ours. We had mahi mahi, flank steak and turkey. The mahi was great and if we weren't so full, we would have asked for more. My son had the normal mac and cheese and nuggets... and then a nice "dirt and worms" dessert, which he loved. The characters came around a few times, and it was really happy to see them.

I agree that it was a bit dated looking, and it took a while to get seated.

 

[chipndales]

My DD's favorite place to eat. The food is alright, nothing amazing, however the price is worth the character experience in my opinion! Anytime we've been there, it's not been very crowded so we got max time with Chip n Dale who are my absolute favorites and they seem to be most amusing at the Garden Grill! Very mischevious! They come around a few times and spend a lot of time with us. It's definitely a great place to relax for a while, enjoy the atmosphere, and play with the characters!

 

[jara1528]

We have had lunch at the Garden Grill several times. It is one of our favorites. The food is good, not great. The character interaction has always been fantastic. Chip, Dale, and even Pluto are so fun and entertaining. We are planning to go again in December...I just wish they still served lunch.

 

[grace&philipsmom]

We must be an exception, we were just there last week and it was a favorite of ours. We had mahi mahi, flank steak and turkey. The mahi was great and if we weren't so full, we would have asked for more. My son had the normal mac and cheese and nuggets... and then a nice "dirt and worms" dessert, which he loved. The characters came around a few times, and it was really happy to see them.

I agree that it was a bit dated looking, and it took a while to get seated.

Oooohhh, I hope they have Mahi Mahi when we go in August, as it is my husbands favorite. I made this reservation for my birthday but it was fro character interaction, as the menu didn't appeal to me at all.

 

[Disnsyncey]

my fam (me 27, and my 2 parents in their 60s) really enjoy GG.....we like the characters, but the food is great! We really love the catfish and always end up asking for more.....the dessert changes and makes it more enjoyable or less, but its someplace we usually always end up going back.......