Garden Grill at Epcot

[361DP]

Going back June 7-11 and looking to eat somewhere new for us to have a character meal.
Please give me your thoughts of the Garden Grill at Epcot.

 

[DLo]

We went for the first time last oct and I hate to tell you this but we were disappointed. Our food was luke warm or cold. The taste was ok but not great. We did have fantastic service though. We may give it another chance some day but probably not anytime soon. The character interaction was good though.

 

[momto2inKC]

It's one of our favorite character meals! The food has never disappointed, the atmosphere is so relaxing and the characters are great!

 

[HunnyJar]

We went last month for our daugter's 1st birthday and had not only a fantastic time with the characters but a very tasty meal. Our server was wonderful and made sure we had plenty of everything. She was even sweet enough to offer to pack our dessert to go. Loved this meal and will be doing it again next year.

 

[We_love_WDW]

We thought it was great! The food was good and the characters were great! We are going back this summer.

 

[PJAY]

We haven't eaten at GG since 2004 but we plan on trying it again on our next family trip. We also had great service and I tried catfish for the first time and liked it! I'm hoping that the menu hasn't changed to drastically

 

[WEDWDW]

Request a table on the Lower Level.You will be able to see more of the Living with the Land attraction as you "rotate".

 

[AirGoofy]

We really enjoyed Garden Grill. Farmer Mickey wore his overalls. Make sure you do the ride first, so that you can re-ride it from above. I have had better food at Disney and better family style (Ohana), but it was ok. We were glad to have done and may go again; however, it is not a must do for us like Akershus Princess Breakfast.

 

[SimmerBaggins]

Request a table on the Lower Level.You will be able to see more of the Living with the Land attraction as you "rotate".

Ha! I didn't even know there was a lower level!!

Here's some pics of the food and what we experienced -- very good, overall! Great meat.

This was a blueberry cobbler of sorts -- interesting, and I thought good. But not everyone liked it.

The characters were very interactive!

A french fry was given:

Overall, even when we weren't being entertained by the characters, it was interesting just to rotate!

 

[tinkandpan]

we were there about 3 yrs ago and it was the best interaction by characters, but the food was so horrid as was the service, we haven't been back. Everything was cold and tasteless but i know lots of people like it.

 

[916chipndale]

i loved the garden grill the food is good and the character interaction is amazing they spend so much time at ur table and come around more than once wen i went there i saw each character about 3 times you should try it

 

[Disney_Mama]

We went quite a few years ago.... I do remember that we enjoyed it very much. I would go back again.

 

[Flrancho]

The Garden Grill is one of our favorite restaurant's in Epcot. We haven't eaten there in a few years, due to the fact that we've been trying to try some new restaurants, but I believe it is a great restaurant. It's one of the few places where I will eat fish, the catfish they have is excellent!

 

[OhThePain]

My girlfriend and I like to go to GG on our first night. The food is nothing special, not bad but not great. We like to go the first night because as character meals go it is by far the quietest and most relaxed with some of the best character interaction you will find at WDW. Its a nice way to be thrusted into "Disney Mode".

 

[loveysbydesign]

Can you book a ressie for 7 there? We are taking my in-laws with us for thier 1st trip in Nov. and they'd love to eat at GG as would we!

 

[RadioFanatic]

My husband demanded that we go there for our trip in fall 2009. I wasn't looking forward to it because of the bad reviews I saw on here. Well, I'm happy to report it was our favorite meal both in terms of food and character interaction. We all enjoyed the food, including my picky son. And the character interaction was the best we had ever experienced! The characters each came around TWICE and on the last round, the chipmunks even sat down with my son and held them on their lap. He loved it and it will now be a standard for every trip - and not to miss meal!

On the other hand, we have been VASTLY disappointed with Chef Mickey's teh last two trips and was really unhappy with character interaction so we will not be returning.

 

[ValinWV]

We were not impressed. The food was just okay. Many times we had to wait long after our meals were done to be able to see all of the characters. After three times we have decided to take this one off our list. The kids can just have one less character meal.

 

[arielmomma]

When we went to Garden Grill in Sept 08 we loved it! However, when we went in Sept 09 we were rather disappointed. The character interaction was good at both times. The service was only okay, but they were very busy b/c of free dining, so they were fine under the circumstances. It was the food that was the problem. They had changed their menu and the new menu was not very tasty at all! There was very little that I enjoyed. The steak was okay, the rest of the meat was dry. I did enjoy the salad and the stuffing. The dessert was alright, but that was about it. I'm really hoping that they go back to the old menu.

 

[pixarmom]

We were just there on March 10. Garden Grill is our favorite character meal, and our arrival night tradition. Based on another outstanding experience there, the tradition will continue!

The food was still good (although I'll admit it's not the best at WDW, and I'm not a fan of the new blueberry buckle dessert.) The character interaction is still great - actually even better this last time!! Our youngest jumped up and down when he saw Mickey, and Mickey jumped with him. Our oldest forgot his autograph book in his brother's stroller and Chip promised to return to our table - he did. We usually see each character twice during our meal, anyway, but it looked like Chip made a special trip. This is the least rushed character interaction we've seen at Disney - it's more than just autographs and photos - they spend additional time with the kids and I never felt like they were rushing away.

The lower level booths are great for our family - we seat our three boys at the ends of the booth. It's a relatively relaxed atmosphere for meeting the characters, and the boys love how the restaurant rotates so that you see different scenes from the Land ride during dinner.

So we highly recommend Garden Grill! Have fun!

 

[361DP]

I know that everyone has their own taste and each trip brings a different experience, that is why we are looking for something different.
We really enjoyed Cinderella's Royal Table and Liberty Tree Tavern but have not been a fan of The Crystal Palace. Really enjoyed breakfast at Restaurantosaurus, a couple of years ago and the Princess Breakfast in Norway is one of our favorites. Chef Mickey's was different but good.
Any other suggestions that are not on my list? I would love to hear about them. We have not been to WDW during the summer months in years and I am looking to make it the best trip possible.
Thanks again for the help.