Who: Me, DH, DS9, DS7 When: May 30th - June 4th Here is the dining exerpt from my trip report: Dining: Crystal Palace (dinner): A for food, D for service, A for character interaction & atmosphere. The grades speak for themselves. The server we had was a woman in her 60s or so. She was angry all night and even snapped at me once when I politely told her we were done with some of our plates! Gorgeous restaurant with excellent food. Ate there our first night. Liberty Tree Tavern (dinner): A for food, C for service, A for character interaction & atmosphere. Again, grades speak for themselves. The C is because even with reservations we had a 45 minute wait. Waitress was okay, but she brought me and DH coffee which was stone-cold. Yuck! At there our last night and the food was great! Kona Kafe (breakfast): A for food, C for service, B for atmosphere. Had breakfast there several times. C is because, again, servers were cranky and, again, brought us stone-cold coffee. What is up with that? Flying Fish (dinner): A for food, B+ for service, A- for atmosphere. Citricos (dinner): A- for food, B- for service, A for atmosphere. The B- for service is because they sat us in the worst table in the restaurant (right smack in front of the swinging kitchen doors). This was supposed to be a romantic dinner for DH and I. There were lovely tables wide open everywhere. I asked the Maitre D if we could be moved, and he rolled his eyes and huffed about it so I said never mind. Our waitress was excellent, but he brought the overall grade down. Biergarten (for dinner): B- for food, B for entertainment/atmosphere, B for service Food was a little rich for me. We really went for the atmosphere and the show, which was great. I had welcomed the idea of the "community table". However, they sat us with 4 adults who didn't seem to like the idea of having family + kids as table mates. Tried to start a conversation with one of the women: "So, where are you all from"? She rolls her eyes and says "Here. I work at Disney." Then they kindof turned away and froze us out. I guess she was a CM sick of conversing w/ tourists. What-ever... Glad we went once, but once was enough. Toy Story Pizza Planet (for lunch): C for food, B for location. We took a nice table by the alley that was quiet. We ate there just for a fast lunch. Had read previous reviews and wasn't expecting much. Flame Tree Barbq (for lunch): C- for food, B- for location. Was really disappointed with this one. I had read decent reviews but the food was just not good. We took a nice private table near the water, but the water smelled bad. Would probably not do this one again, but there isn't much option at AK. Pecos Bills (for lunch): A for food, B- for location. This was a delightful surprise! Great burgers and toppings! Service was fast and location was convenient. Hope this helps! BTW, we used the Disney Dining Experience discount card many times that I got with my annual pass. It helped alot!
Thank you for your reviews! I love how concise they are! The Germany dinner is one we are considering for our next trip. Did your kids enjoy the entertainment and food? My kids are similar ages and I wondered about this. Thanks!
The kids had a really good time. Nice, quick buffet. They had the standard mac & cheese & chicken strips along with the authentic German food. They loved the show and the unique instruments (too shy to dance with me, though). I am glad we did it. We were just talking about it over dinner tonight.
I was truly shocked by the poor service. This was my 3rd trip to WDW so I did have something to compare to. I've been seeing lots of other posts about angry and rude CMs encountered on recent trips, so it's not just me. I hear that there are union contract issues afoot and that the bad moods of the CMs may be attributed to those disputes. I'm not sure how belligerent behavior toward their guests helps their cause, though.
We too just dined at the Biergarten. And I understand what Sawyer means about cranky tablemates. We always make it a point to eat here once on our trips. And usually get bad mates. We did get lucky this time and had another family of four. My DS 6 finally for the first time dances and had a ball. He even got to help ring the bells. (IF you go you will see.) But the kids had fun and we love the food. But then again I come from and Irish/German family and used to the rich food. But they have alot of choices. Try it! My tip: Make sure to get reservations. The band goes on every 40 minutes and I know they played at 6:20 and 7pm while we were there.
