Goofy's Kitchen Dinner

[Sherry E]

We also booked Goofy's for dinner on our first night-YIKES! We have not been in 4 years but back then, we loved it and thought the quality of food was really good for DL. We really go for the food and consider the characters just extra icing on the cake. With this "wave of bad reviews" lately, I should reconsider I think.

We have vouchers with our package and for 5 of us, it is more bang for our buck if we eat dinner instead of breakfast but maybe we should just skip it?
We do have reservations for breakfast at Minnie's and also at Goofy's for the last day so we can just use our vouchers for one of those meals.

What would be a good first dinner instead?

I am in total agreement with you, Fidoprincess! I've always mainly gone to Goofy's for the food, as I've always enjoyed it and thought the variety and quality were quite good. The characters were icing on the cake for me too, but the food was my main reason. I would not eat there - characters or no characters - if I thought the food was in any way bad. Most people seem to feel differently than we do, however - the characters are #1 and the food is secondary and not expected to be good.

I've been satisfied with whatever character interaction I got at Goofy's 95% of the time (since 1992), and I've been satisfied with the food about that much too. Sure, there have been a few days over the years when the eggs were not as good as other days or the service was not as good as other days, but it's never been enough to deter me from going back to Goofy's again. I've experienced off days at Carnation Cafe and I still eat there.

So it could be that you and I (and others like us) have different tastes and preferences in food or different expectations of the service than what others have, and perhaps we are fine with it while others are not fine with it. OR it could be that, as I pondered earlier, perhaps some new staff has been hired and the food quality and service have gone downhill in the last several months. It's hard to say. Since you have been to Goofy's in the past and enjoyed it, only you would be able to determine for yourself if there seems to be a difference in overall quality to you or if it's the same good food and service.

 

[fidoprincess]

Sherry, thanks for your comments. When was the last time you were there for dinner? Maybe we should just stick to the breakfast?

As I said above, we have not been in 4 years so I imagine things can change. We've done breakfast and dinner there lots of times. In the "olden" days and we thought the dinner was much better than the breakfasts. I always enjoyed the variety of foods and unlike a previous poster, never really wasted my time with the salad part because the main courses were so tasty. I even liked the carving station of beef and because I don't like meat to moo, the chef would always slice me some and cook it more to my liking and even bring it out to my table. I thought the service was great.

I also enjoyed the fish dishes and they would have a different type of ethnic food to the left of the carving area like asian or mexican. You could make your own tacos or burritos or when it was asian, there were all kinds of things like egg rolls, seafoods, just a big variety of stuff! The right side was good old american foods like mashed potatoes and veggies with maybe some chicken and pork chops. I have never seen a pasta area though so that is really different and cheap I think! DH liked to get a cocktail too and it was a nice place to just kick back and relax where the kids were occupied because they think buffets are so much fun since we don't have any here at home.

I hope to hear from anyone who has had dinner lately and liked it!

 

[jasy]

We have ressies for Goofy's for dinner next month and I have to say despite all the negative reviews I am looking forward to trying it out for myself.

Like many others we have typically done brunch only but I thought this time I would try something else. So we shall see. I will try and take a bunch of pics and post a review after.

 

[Sherry E]

Sherry, thanks for your comments. When was the last time you were there for dinner? Maybe we should just stick to the breakfast?

As I said above, we have not been in 4 years so I imagine things can change. We've done breakfast and dinner there lots of times. In the "olden" days and we thought the dinner was much better than the breakfasts. I always enjoyed the variety of foods and unlike a previous poster, never really wasted my time with the salad part because the main courses were so tasty. I even liked the carving station of beef and because I don't like meat to moo, the chef would always slice me some and cook it more to my liking and even bring it out to my table. I thought the service was great.

I also enjoyed the fish dishes and they would have a different type of ethnic food to the left of the carving area like asian or mexican. You could make your own tacos or burritos or when it was asian, there were all kinds of things like egg rolls, seafoods, just a big variety of stuff! The right side was good old american foods like mashed potatoes and veggies with maybe some chicken and pork chops. I have never seen a pasta area though so that is really different and cheap I think! DH liked to get a cocktail too and it was a nice place to just kick back and relax where the kids were occupied because they think buffets are so much fun since we don't have any here at home.

I hope to hear from anyone who has had dinner lately and liked it!

It's been a much longer time since I did the Goofy's Kitchen dinner than since when you last did it! It's been years and years and years for me. And don't get me wrong - it's not that I ever thought the dinner was bad in any way. It's just that I am usually famished in the morning and that's the best time to eat a large meal for me. By the time dinner rolls around, I am not all that hungry so a huge buffet doesn't make much sense. So when I went to the Goofy's dinner a couple of times ages and ages ago (in the old, old, olden days!), I was already not that hungry and nothing really appealed to me from the buffet because of that, so it felt like a waste of money. I always figured that, eventually, I would get back to GK for the dinner, but the breakfast/brunch experience always worked well for my group so there has been no need to really switch it up yet.

From all accounts, it seems like there is still just as much variety at GK's dinner as there is at breakfast/brunch. It's still a huge buffet. And from what I have heard, it appears that there is still a carving station. I think there are still at least a couple of different types of chicken and some sort of fish dish. They still have all the side dishes and salads and desserts. I recall pasta being there when I was there for dinner ages and ages ago, so I guess I just expected there was always pasta at GK for dinner. I think some of the foods may change seasonally - so certain dishes that are there in summer are not necessarily there in Fall or Winter.

As I said earlier, I was only at GK for breakfast in December but it was more delicious than the previous time I had eaten there. I was not deterred by the wave of not-so-great GK reviews that came in last year because those can come in for any restaurant at any time. I was a little worried that I would run into a bad meal, but I went anyway and it was far from that. And even on the less-than-perfect days I have encountered at GK over the years, it was never enough to keep me from going back. It may just be that this is my taste and this is what I like, while others folks won't like it.

Unless DLR hired new staff that has affected food and service quality (which is entirely possible, and that would explain a lot), then I think there will be occasional off days when service and food is not as great. And even if it is good, there will be people who just don't enjoy that particular food at Goofy's and have different tastes. There will be people who expect something more from the characters or the service and will be disappointed if they don't get that. And maybe all the not-so-great reviews will come in back-to-back so it will seem like things have taken a turn for the worse.

I would also be curious to hear from anyone else - especially folks who are Goofy's Kitchen veterans and have had good experiences in the past but have noticed a definite decrease in quality lately. (I know DizNee Luver had a less than favorable breakfast/brunch experience recently at GK, and she has always had good meals there in the past.)

We have ressies for Goofy's for dinner next month and I have to say despite all the negative reviews I am looking forward to trying it out for myself.

Like many others we have typically done brunch only but I thought this time I would try something else. So we shall see. I will try and take a bunch of pics and post a review after.

Good! Jasy, I'm glad you are going to go to GK anyway and see for yourself. At least you've done the breakfast before so you kind of know the overall Goofy's experience - it's just that the food will be different at dinner. You'll have your previous GK experiences to use as a reference point and should be able to tell us if the service and quality have decreased significantly.

 

[DisneyJewel]

We had character dining vouchers from Costco, and we let DD2 pick because it was her birthday. She picked Goofy's for dinner. We've eaten there for dinner and breakfast in the past. Generally I prefer breakfast because I prefer to eat a big breakfast, it's cheaper, and it's harder to mess up basic breakfast food. But on this trip we did 3 Magic Mornings and really tried to hit the park early, do rides and gather FP, then take a long break and go back later, so dinner made sense. And we made sure to be hungry, lol -- we only had one other meal that day -- brunch at Riverbelle (eggs, pancakes, we all liked this) -- and then an early dinner at Goofy's.

I am generally not a fan of gut-busting buffets or food in chafing dishes. This dinner was for the kids. That said, I thought it was fine. I was VERY happy to have such a large array of vegetables, and the salads were fresh and replenished often. I didn't have any of the hot food (except the vegie potstickers which we all really liked, and the fried plantains, which I liked) but DH had the carving station beef and the mashed potatoes. He liked them both, and said the beef was very good. I had loads of salad and vegies, lots of the smoked salmon and capers. Both were great. My kids both had pasta (they liked it), cheese pizza (fine), and a plate of raw vegies and fruit. Again, fine, fruit was replenished often and tasted good. The caprese salad was bland, and tomatoes were only OK (a bit soft for my taste) but the other salads were good. For dessert, we all had the soft serve ice cream, which was fine -- what you would expect.

I personally didn't see any downturn in the staff on the floor in terms of keeping the buffets clean and replenished, the wait staff was attentive and re-filled drinks regularly, they brought DD2 a cupcake and sang. I can't comment on the kitchen staff, and like I said, I didn't eat any of the cooked stuff except the potstickers and plantains. Two chefs came out of the kitchen while we were there to lead around families with dietary needs (one dairy-free and one gluten-free) to tell them about the food -- they seemed very helpful and knowledgeable, down to trace dairy in the food, and the families were grateful.

In sum, I thought it was fine. It's a character buffet with chafing dishes, and IMO there is a limit to how great the food will be in those circumstances. I didn't notice that it was better or worse than it has been in the past when we've gone -- we've had dinner there twice and breakfast twice over the past five years so we are not regulars, though.

Sherry, thanks for your comments. When was the last time you were there for dinner? Maybe we should just stick to the breakfast?

As I said above, we have not been in 4 years so I imagine things can change. We've done breakfast and dinner there lots of times. In the "olden" days and we thought the dinner was much better than the breakfasts. I always enjoyed the variety of foods and unlike a previous poster, never really wasted my time with the salad part because the main courses were so tasty. I even liked the carving station of beef and because I don't like meat to moo, the chef would always slice me some and cook it more to my liking and even bring it out to my table. I thought the service was great.

I also enjoyed the fish dishes and they would have a different type of ethnic food to the left of the carving area like asian or mexican. You could make your own tacos or burritos or when it was asian, there were all kinds of things like egg rolls, seafoods, just a big variety of stuff! The right side was good old american foods like mashed potatoes and veggies with maybe some chicken and pork chops. I have never seen a pasta area though so that is really different and cheap I think! DH liked to get a cocktail too and it was a nice place to just kick back and relax where the kids were occupied because they think buffets are so much fun since we don't have any here at home.

I hope to hear from anyone who has had dinner lately and liked it!

 

[Sherry E]

We had character dining vouchers from Costco, and we let DD2 pick because it was her birthday. She picked Goofy's for dinner. We've eaten there for dinner and breakfast in the past. Generally I prefer breakfast because I prefer to eat a big breakfast, it's cheaper, and it's harder to mess up basic breakfast food. But on this trip we did 3 Magic Mornings and really tried to hit the park early, do rides and gather FP, then take a long break and go back later, so dinner made sense. And we made sure to be hungry, lol -- we only had one other meal that day -- brunch at Riverbelle (eggs, pancakes, we all liked this) -- and then an early dinner at Goofy's.

I am generally not a fan of gut-busting buffets or food in chafing dishes. This dinner was for the kids. That said, I thought it was fine. I was VERY happy to have such a large array of vegetables, and the salads were fresh and replenished often. I didn't have any of the hot food (except the vegie potstickers which we all really liked, and the fried plantains, which I liked) but DH had the carving station beef and the mashed potatoes. He liked them both, and said the beef was very good. I had loads of salad and vegies, lots of the smoked salmon and capers. Both were great. My kids both had pasta (they liked it), cheese pizza (fine), and a plate of raw vegies and fruit. Again, fine, fruit was replenished often and tasted good. The caprese salad was bland, and tomatoes were only OK (a bit soft for my taste) but the other salads were good. For dessert, we all had the soft serve ice cream, which was fine -- what you would expect.

I personally didn't see any downturn in the staff on the floor in terms of keeping the buffets clean and replenished, the wait staff was attentive and re-filled drinks regularly, they brought DD2 a cupcake and sang. I can't comment on the kitchen staff, and like I said, I didn't eat any of the cooked stuff except the potstickers and plantains. Two chefs came out of the kitchen while we were there to lead around families with dietary needs (one dairy-free and one gluten-free) to tell them about the food -- they seemed very helpful and knowledgeable, down to trace dairy in the food, and the families were grateful.

In sum, I thought it was fine. It's a character buffet with chafing dishes, and IMO there is a limit to how great the food will be in those circumstances. I didn't notice that it was better or worse than it has been in the past when we've gone -- we've had dinner there twice and breakfast twice over the past five years so we are not regulars, though.

I'm very glad to hear this! It sounds like there may be hope!! Actually, the dinner items you described sound quite intriguing and may even be enough to drag me from the clutches of the GK breakfast to try their dinner again.

 

[fidoprincess]

DisneyJewel, Thanks for posting your experience! It sounds like your food was fine if not good or great. I am still up in the air only because we do have reservations for Plaza Inn so we can use the coupons then too. That meal is strictly for characters though because I don't think the food is very good at all there, just ho hum breakfast type foods.

I think I will just leave our reservations as they are and see what happens when we get there and where we are when it is close to dinner time. It only takes a second to make a phone call to cancel but without a reservation, it could take more than an hour to wait in lines for dinner. We are going to try and not come home exhausted so taking time outs for meals is just part of trying to relax a bit. We'll see how that works out.

Thanks again for your posts!