Garden Grill at Epcot ?

[dummiesrus2]

Has anyone eaten at the Garden Grill or have any input about the food, service or chacters

 

[disneyfan551]

I would love to know also! We are considering this for our CP dinner, instead of Le Cellier! It would give us extra $$ for a character dinner at Crystal Palace before MVMCP!!

Thanks for any feedback!!!

 

[tink2]

We've eaten here twice and are eating again on our upcoming trip! We've had lunch. The food is OK- nothing spectacular IMHO, but nothing terrible. Typical food. The characters are outstanding! Both times, each character visited our table at least twice, and some three times! They bounced DD on their knee- Chip and Dale- for at least 5 minutes each. We've eaten at Crystal Palace, CRT, Donald's Breakfasaurus, and Hollywood and Vine- when they had the characters. GG has had better character interaction than any of the ones mentioned.
Service was OK- we had to ask for more food. It is served family style- they give you a big plate of food and you put it on your plate. Check out wdwig.com for menu items.
Overall, a good lunch- especially if you have kids!

 

[deadheadbelle]

We ate at Garden Grille before CP in 2001. Food was decent, not great but not awful. Character interaction was good. The restaurant rotates which my SIL hated. No one in our party of 9 has any desire to go back next year. Some people really like it & you might, but if it were my choice I'd try Le Cellier.

 

[padisneylover]

This is a must do for my DH and I on each trip. The food is very good and there is plenty of it. If you really like something like the flank steak better than other items they will bring you just that. The character interaction is great as well even with adults only. Also, it is one of the quiter places to get away from the crowds due to its design of being round and rotating very slowly.

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

Hi Dummie,

My husband and I ate there for lunch last spring and we both thought it was great. One of the reasons is, we both LOVE fried catfish. The rest of the offerings were very good and the characters were great. We are planning to eat there again this December.

Enjoy!!!

 

[Harambe]

One of our favorites. I asked family if they would like to forego this meal, so I could budget in an Illuminations cruise on our next trip - and they vetoed me! We enjoy the food. Kids love the "dirt and worms" dessert they get at the end of a meal.

 

[llebrekniT]

It's ok, just ok and to me that makes it not a good choice. You're on vacation and you're paying a premium for a meal. Yes it's cheaper, but I would rather spend a few extra $$ to get a great meal than go a little cheaper for a lackluster meal. If characters are important, you really don't have a choice. If you don't need the characters, I recommend something else. We have loved San Angel, Italy, and Tepenyaki in Japan. I have eaten at Le Cellier and it was good, but I wouldn't rave about it. It is good, but if money is an issue, I would chose another, there are so many restaurants in EPCOT.
P.S. I didn't enjoy spinning while eating. Felt like I was back on the cruise ship !

Good luck

 

[goofy4tink]

We ate there last August. It was okay. The room rotating didn't bother us at all. In fact, if you weren't watching the side, you really couldn't tell. The food was all right. My dh enjoyed his catfish. THe flank steak was good. THe salad was very good, as was the bread. We would go again, in a pinch. But, there are a lot of places we have yet to try. As my dd gets older, now 10, the characters aren't as important. Hopefully, we'll be able to make do with just CHef Mickey's in the future for character meals.

 

[Taximom]

We ate at Garden Grill for the first time in August. It was one of our favorite meals on our vacation. My kids are not into fancy food (let's just say, it is not yet appreciated!), and the menu was great for us! My kids were 15,13,10 and 8. The characters visited our table 3 times, and we shared many laughs!
It is on our list for the next vacation!

 

[zurgswife]

We are doing it for NYE this year can't wait...our kids are real picky eaters....so, I'm hoping they will find something they like..

 

[OhMickey]

This is also a must do for us. We agree, the character interaction cannot be beat! The food is good too. I enjoy the flank steak, salad, and bread. The kids get chicken, mac & cheese & corn.

My only complaint here is that we are a family of 6 (dd 14, ds 12, dd 9, ds 9) and squeezing in the booth is a challenge. We are not big people, but 6 with cameras, backpacks.... it is a little tight. But because this is a family favorite, we suffer through this "forced togetherness".

 

[Prince Eric1]

We love it. The food is good, simple and to our tastes. The service is great and the character interaction is the best of any of the character meals i have ever been to. Whatever you like, they will bring you more of. Its nothing fancy, but we love it anyway and its a must do for us every time.

 

[chell]

The GG is a must do for us as well. Before our first trip I read many mixed reviews just like what you are getting here. I decided to go try it for myself anyway. That's the only way I would know for sure. I loved it! I was concerned about the spinning and such because I can sometimes be sensitive to that. But it never bothered me.

Like someone else said, you can get more of just the items you want. I like that much better than if they were to bring out more of everything. This way you don't waste near as much food.

But I do have one word of CAUTION for you - you may need someone to roll you around the park after you finish your meal!

 

[disneyfan551]

Since we haven't eaten here before, I'm unfamiliar with the table setup. We will have 2 families of 6 (total!), and 2 of the 6 would need booster/high chairs. Would it be easier to sit at 2 different tables?

Thanks!

 

[erikthewise]

I think the food is excellent for what it is. It is not gourmet, but it doesn't try to be. It's just basic American fare but high quality and well-prepared. The "ordinary" salad that comes with dinner is as fresh as tasty as any I've had elsewhere. I prefer the food here to that at Liberty Tree Tavern which is a similar type of meal.

We've eaten here on each of our three previous trips. So far I haven't made a PS for GG as I'd like to have us try some of the other Epcot restaurants for a change. But I suspect we'll end up back at Garden Grill somehow.

 

[Disneyolic]

My husband and I have been here twice and loved it both times. The character interaction was actually too good. We had enough of it but still love it. We are definitely taking our 2 sons along with both sets of grandparents on our next trip. That makes for a party of 8. I'm not sure how they set that one up but there was no problem making the PS.

~DawnMaree

 

[disneyfan551]

Ok, I just called & they can seat our party of 8 at one table! How in the world can they sit 8 pp in 1 booth??? Has anyone else done this??

 

[Disneyolic]

I'm not sure on this but I think that they have tables, not booths, or at least the booth part may only be on one side and chairs on the other side. That way you can fit a party of 8 lengthwise.

When it was just my husband and I, I remember that we sat at a table for 4. They may be able to turn 2 tables of 4 together to fit everyone.


~DawnMaree

 

[piratesmate]

As I remember, the upper level has "regular" booths & on the lower level they have long padded benches that can be set up as 3/4 separate tables or they can push a couple together to accomodate larger groups.

We just "walked in" during our first trip on evening & were able to be seated immediately. We were so happy with our meal that night. It was the first place we'd eaten that trip that actually served salads AND veggies! (I realize that this was due to boh a lack of planning & the places we ate.) We all enjoyed the catfish & flank steak especially. We enjoyed it so much, that it was a unanimous choice for our 2nd trip.

DH gets car sick & was worried about the rotation - we just sat him so he wasn't looking directly at the outer wall. . . . . . he spent the entire meal leaning around someone so he could see it!

Although we haven't eaten at Le Cellier, we'd probably choose GG again. As DH put it, "we can eat at an expensive steak house at home." (What can I say - he goes with us & has fun, but he definitely is NOT a Disney nut!

Oh - I know most don't agree, but we found that the food at Chef Mickey's (dinner) was only so-so and the character interaction was terrible! GG rates high on both for us.