Grand Floridian Cafe

[foxfire]

I don't remember seeing many posts about this restaurant. Can anyone comment on the food and service for both lunch and dinner? Thumbs up, thumbs down, only so-so, or what? Just curious...

 

[SplashMom]

We ate lunch there in March--it was OK. I can't remember what we had but I remember that it wasn't fabulous, just OK. There wasn't a huge choice of lunch items. The service was good and the atmosphere was nice but I don't think I would rush back. A bit pricey for nothing special.

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

We have eaten there on last 2 trips .. lunch and dinner both. We think the food is pretty good, the service fine and the atmosphere very nice. They make a very good burger. The desserts are made small so you can get two. Try the key lime!

We found we needed a ADR even at lunch. The guard would not let us in without one. I pulled out of the driveway, picked up my cell phone and made one with no trouble. The guard had a funny look on his face when we came back in about 3 minutes!

 

[cdpa4d]

My family ate their for Mother's Day. The service was probably the best I ever had at any WDW restaurant. The food was above average, but it was the service that I found to be terrirfic. With all WDW restaurants you never know about service and food. In most cases it is a complete crap shoot. Most wait staff and chefs for that matter have good days and bad days. Unfortunately for us, it affects our experience while on vacation.

I can only tell our experience at the GF Cafe was fabulous; but, the same may or may not happen during your visit.

My signiture below has a picture of our family at the GF Cafe. Our waiter was so nice he offered to take our picture all together. He was great!

 

[Alicnwondrln]

ate there for lunch last year several times
it was great
the turkey club is awesome and so is the cappacino

 

[foxfire]

Thank you all for the feedback. It's very helpful since I have never been to this restaurant. If anyone else has a comment, I'd love to hear it.

Another question, please...what is acceptable dress for lunch and for dinner there?

 

[ibouncetoo]

We had a lovely late lunch there a couple of years ago. It was a non park day, we had been shopping, it got rainy, we didn't want to stop at any old restaurant (like back home), so we thought we'd try the cafe. I don't remember exactly what my sandwich was, but it was very good and the waiter brought me a free desert because it was my birthday. I really enjoyed the atmosphere, especially as the place wasn't very crowded at that time.

 

[Aimeedyan]

We had the best service exp at any WDW restaurant EVER there 2 years ago. We wanted to order the cindy slipper dessert so took my mom there for lunch and to surprise her with the slippers - our waiter was fantastic and SO funny, and he and the manager presented those slippers like we were royalty. VERY good food, very fair priced, and we all know service can make or break an exp.

Dress is very casual.

 

[gilld]

We had dinner there last month. The food was very good and the service was superb. We didn't have time for dessert as we wanted to watch Spectro and Wishes, so the server went and got one boxed for us, complete with forks and napkins.

 

[CarolynU]

Ate there twice in August. Wonderful both times. We had halibut in a wonderful creamy sauce, and the chocolate fondue. Ummm!
It was a quiet break away from the parks, and the service was excellent. I would go back again without hesitation.

 

[Hugpug]

I love this place for Breakfast. Food was very good and choice of items good. They charge a little bit more but the service is great. Going back this December.

 

[sotoalf]

I completely agree with the posters praising the GF Cafe's service, which can go a long way after a trying day at the parks. We've had a couple of excellent no-nonsense lunches here over the years. We were very pleased when the Cafe reopened for dinner last year.

 

[jjohnson]

I know GFC gets consistently good reviews because I read them all before going but I have to say our lunch server was absolutely awful. We waited 25 minutes for drinks and another 45 minutes for our lunch. We had gotten up to leave when our food appeared. I did say something to our server & her excuse was too many were seated at once & the kitchen couldn't keep up. We had ordered pretty basic food sandwich, hamburger, nuggets etc. I'm very leary to try it again.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

DH and I ate dinner there in April. We called from our Poly room during a huge storm and had about an hour wait. We got to relax in the lobby and listen to the great orchestra. I wore capris, and ds jeans, I think, but not blue jeans. Its casual enough and kids were there too. For the appetizers we shared the crab cake, which was excellent, dh had the french onion soup which he loved, I had the salad, good but overpowering dressing. For the entrees dh had the pistachio encrusted snapper and I had the shrimp and penne with asiago cheese sauce. The cheese sauce was a little too heavy but there were so many shirmp. They also had a bread basket of sourdough and mini raisin loafs. Our server was Jessi and she was excellent and attentive. For dessert we shared the fondue, dh choice and I really didnt like it. I would have rather had some of the mini desserts. All in all we would go back again. Getting a 20% discount with our dde card didnt hurt either.

 

[suzywindy]

This is absolutely one of our favorite restaurants to eat at. I find it so comfortable and relaxing. We were also pleased when they reopened for dinner. There really wasn't anyplace to get just a good hamburger for dinner on the monorail line. Sometimes, you are just not that hungry for dinner. We are addicted to their spinach dip. It is delicious. The mini desserts are wonderful and we actually enjoyed the fondue dessert at the end. All 4 of us could share from it. In fact the picture we took of the fondue is our screen saver.

 

[foxfire]

I'm so glad to come back and find even more comments....thank you all very much for replying and telling me about your experience at this restaurant!

I was thinking of eating here on one of our non-park days when we are resort hopping to see Christmas decorations. I was unsure about making an ADR since I have heard so little about it. So far, most of the replies indicate you have had a good experience there with food and service. I know it could go the other way for us but I'm going to book a meal there. I hope we are lucky enough to get one of the great waitpersons mentioned and hope the food will be good, too. Thanks again for commenting and helping me with my decision!

 

[Eeyore2003]

We love the Grand Floridian Cafe and I recommend it ALL the time as one of Disney Restaurant's "hidden treasures". The atmosphere is lovely, the service excellent, and the food delicious. We make a point of eating there every trip. I can't wait to have the Chocolate Fondue with Orange Ganache for two for dessert. YUM!!!

 

[Gagebre]

Jjohnson - we must have had the same waitress! Your experience with the long waits for everything sounds like ours. We were in there for about 2 hours. We noticed that several tables around us that were seated after us were finished with their food and out of there before we got out food. Our waitress would disappear for long periods of time and was a bit strange. If this had been a park day I would have been pretty upset. Even though our service wasn't very good the food was excellent. I had the sandwich and soup combo (chicken salad and french onion) and it was very good. Everyone in my party enjoyed their food. I loved the tiny desserts because I'm usually to full to get one.

 

[jjohnson]

Jjohnson - we must have had the same waitress! Your experience with the long waits for everything sounds like ours. We were in there for about 2 hours. We noticed that several tables around us that were seated after us were finished with their food and out of there before we got out food. Our waitress would disappear for long periods of time and was a bit strange. If this had been a park day I would have been pretty upset. Even though our service wasn't very good the food was excellent. I had the sandwich and soup combo (chicken salad and french onion) and it was very good. Everyone in my party enjoyed their food. I loved the tiny desserts because I'm usually to full to get one.

Sorry you had the same experience but I'm glad I'm not the only one. I'm always reading such good reviews here I was starting to wonder what happened with us.