Garden Grill question (Family style = buffet?)

[ClemsonTigger2]

Is Family-Style treated like a buffet on the Disney Dining plan?

The latest menu I read from the Garden Grill is that it is served Family-Style. Does this mean our party of six (two adults, two tweens, and two children) will be charged for six TS meals? I had been hoping to share plates here, and save two credits (towards CRT).

Thanks! (Never done the Dining Plan before, so unsure about the details!)

 

[HolliePoppins]

Is Family-Style treated like a buffet on the Disney Dining plan?

The latest menu I read from the Garden Grill is that it is served Family-Style. Does this mean our party of six (two adults, two tweens, and two children) will be charged for six TS meals? I had been hoping to share plates here, and save two credits (towards CRT).

Thanks! (Never done the Dining Plan before, so unsure about the details!)

Yes you will be charged 6 TS credits. You cannot share at buffet or family style meals. We have eaten here a couple of times and liked it each time. Have fun and enjoy whatever you decide.

 

[hotdogmj71]

We may be in the minority, but we tried GG on our last trip & it was the worst meal we have ever had at Disney.

 

[ClemsonTigger2]

Wow - two different opinions!
That's very helpful information about the TS credits... thanks!

We were going more to see Chip and Dale, really - they're my DH's and DS's favorites... but I don't want to use up a TS meal on something not so great.

Anyone else have recent experiences at Garden Grill?
The menu doesn't look bad, but it does look pretty limited...?

 

[JerseyJanice]

The Garden Grill, like Ohana's in the Polynesian Resort, is served family style. You have no choice in what you get. They bring you a starter platter of what they're serving that night. You split it among your group, then order another platter or tell them what you want more of as it's all-you-can-eat.

We ate there in August and really liked the food. It wasn't a fancy selection, but it was tasty. OTOH, I wasn't thrilled with the atmosphere of the place. May have been because we were inside the ring due to our large party.

For starters, we were served a nice oat bread and butter, and a salad with a very good berry vinigrette. We were then brought a platter containing sliced flank steak in mushroom gravy, herbed rotisserie chicken and cheesy potato casserole and another platter filled with fried catfish and string beans. Dessert was a puff-pastry turnover filled with vanilla custard and topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

Much of the food served is grown inside the greenhouse you ride through on the Land boat tour. The salad greens, string beans, catfish, potatoes, etc. are farmed right there in Epcot.

 

[DanaAustinChelsea]

We ate at GG last month & I was very hesitant to keep the ADR after reading the reviews. I was also concerned about it being a "character" meal because my kids are 12 & 18 I was not sure they would enjoy themselves. The character interaction was excellent & my kids had an absolute blast! The food is not going to compare to somewhere like Le Cellier or California Grill, but that is to be expected. If you are looking for great food, this is probably not the restaurant for your family. There are much better restaurants for TS. Our meal was ok to very good flavor wise, depending on the item. The first serving of turkey was a little dry, but our second serving was fine. We were able to order items off the kids menu, even though we were all adult TS credits. The mac & cheese nobody cared for, but we had seconds on turkey, cranberry-orange relish (basically cranberry sauce with mandarin orange chunks) beef & cabernet sauce. I loved the salad & buttermilk ranch. I even tried & liked the warm apple bread pudding, & I HATE bread pudding! I would definitely eat there again.

 

[ClemsonTigger2]

Thanks, everybody - especially DanaAustinChelsea - those were all very helpful descriptions!
No, we're not going for "fine dining"... just wanting something yummy and some fun with the characters, and a chance to sit down towards the end of a long day!
Thanks for all the input!

 

[septbaby]

As for TS credits expect each person to be charged a TS credit each time you have a meal. You can easily order a CS meal and share it, but not TS.

To save a TS credit you'll either need to pay "cash" for a TS meal or cancel a TS meal to match your number of credits. For example, pay for half your group at CRT (3 people use the 6 credits) or cancel a TS meal to get back those 6 credits. One thing for sure make your decision and let it go. Don't sit at a meal and get frustrated by a member who "doesn't eat enough" to justify the credit; let it go you are on vacation!

 

[Coconuts]

Our meal at GG was delicious! The food is all served to your table on platters, and in my opinion, the choices weren't gourmet but a step above your basic choices at most character meals. I loved the fact that it wasn't a buffett; it makes your meal so much more quiet and calmer. The character interaction was great and I would definetly return.

 

[ClemsonTigger2]

Our meal at GG was delicious! The food is all served to your table on platters, and in my opinion, the choices weren't gourmet but a step above your basic choices at most character meals. I loved the fact that it wasn't a buffett; it makes your meal so much more quiet and calmer. The character interaction was great and I would definetly return.

That's encouraging to hear! I hadn't considered how the "family-style" aspect would be a little calmer - not having to get up ourselves to get our food - that makes sense!
I'm looking forward to our Garden Grill time now!
Thanks everybody!

 

[snookiedoodles]

We went there last year and thought that the food was just OK.

The character inter action was great, we felt like we had Chip and Dale and Pluto all to ourselves.