Have I messed up? Biergarten

[g3pak]

Looking for input. My wife and I are going to WDW next month- WITHOUT KIDS!!!!!- for 15th anniversary. Doing V and A's first night. Because I visited Germany/ Austria/ Switzerland three times while in high school and college, I want to go to Biergarten. The only thing- my wife HATES the smell of beer, and the thought of sitting at a table with people drinking and getting tipsy/ rowdy is about as appealing to her as shooting herself in the foot.

So....is beer included on the buffet or extra? Also, how rowdy does it get? I think it will be fun with the music and people getting noisy- like an Octoberfest- but I don't want her to hate it.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Beer is not included with the buffet but they do sell rather large beers.

I think your experience is mostly going to depend on who you are seated with.

 

[ga9497]

Looking for input. My wife and I are going to WDW next month- WITHOUT KIDS!!!!!- for 15th anniversary. Doing V and A's first night. Because I visited Germany/ Austria/ Switzerland three times while in high school and college, I want to go to Biergarten. The only thing- my wife HATES the smell of beer, and the thought of sitting at a table with people drinking and getting tipsy/ rowdy is about as appealing to her as shooting herself in the foot.

So....is beer included on the buffet or extra? Also, how rowdy does it get? I think it will be fun with the music and people getting noisy- like an Octoberfest- but I don't want her to hate it.

Beer is not included but since you are sitting at banquet type tables the people sitting with you may order a beer. If she will be miserable I would suggest going elsewhere

Another thing you can do is reserve it for later in your stay and on your first day in Epcot peek in at the restaurant during dinner and see what she thinks. If she doesn't like it then you can always cancel your reservation for there

 

[Belle5]

You are seated communally. You could be seated with anyone...

I don't think I would consider that a romantic anniversary meal at all. Most times we have eaten at BG it has been ok but one time we were seated with a man who make our meal miserable.

If it is not during a busy season I believe you could explain that is it your anniversary dinner and would really like to be alone. If they say no, then walk away...

 

[Daggett]

It's called the Biergartens for a reason! You might get lucky and be seated with a family that does not enjoy beer; that would not be my family!!!

That being said, most people that go to Disney are pretty stable (mostly) and tend not too get to wasted.

 

[tiggerunner]

I wasn't impressed with this restaurant. My family is german and cooks authentic, so a major letdown. I expected that, so not a big deal, but we had a dud for a group at our table. We really tried to talk a bit with others, but they were pretty antisocial. It seemed they wanted to eat as much as they could for their buck.
My husband and I enjoyed the fun of the place and had a beer(which was very good) each.
Not sure if you can request a smaller table which may be nicer.
Hope this helps.
Kathy

 

[g3pak]

Thanks for all of the imput. Don't worry, this isn't our special anniversary dinner. Victoria and Albert's is the day before and 'Ohana's is the next night- my wife's favorite place.

I may do as someone suggested- peek in earlier in the day and if she doesn't like it, then try our luck walking up somewhere else.

 

[disnut8]

The only thing- my wife HATES the smell of beer, and the thought of sitting at a table with people drinking and getting tipsy/ rowdy is about as appealing to her as shooting herself in the foot.

You can do what we did with our granddaughter who said she hated the smell of sauerkraut. We had her do a smell test before we went into the place.

Personally, I love the Biergarten and I don't think it smells like beer. I've never been in a real German beer hall but my husband has and his impression is that the Biergarten is as close to the German one as Disney is going to allow. Do people drink at the Biegarten? Yes - just as they do at any other Disney restaurant. Yards of beer are available at the Rose and Crown and I'm sure there are people there who have a few too many of those. Will there be singing of some drinking songs during the band? Yes, at least once but I saw quite a few people toasting with their ice teas and waters. Will you be seated with other people? Yes but that's what a biergarten is all about.

I think the only person who can figure out if this meal is going to work is your wife. It's not going to be perfect for her but it she's willing to deal with some things and not go in with a negative attitude, you both can have a good time. But if she has already made up her mind that the meal will be horrible, then it will be. It's up to her.

 

[onelilspark]

Instead of walking up, call the reservation line. It'll save you time

 

[BadgerBruce]

We love the Biergarten. The food is really good & the band is talented & fun! We've only gone at lunch & that would be my suggestion for your wife. Not likely to be excess drinking, it's cheaper, & you still get to see the band. There are some items from dinner that aren't on the lunch buffet--but there's still plenty of great food to enjoy!

 

[NMAmy]

We love the Biergarten. DH and I went alone on our last trip while our teens did something else. We were seated with three other couples--all older and, frankly, they were just wonderful. We had a fabulous time chit chatting with them and ended up staying much longer than we'd anticipated. One gentleman was celebrating his 70th birthday. While most people get a beer, we've been many times and I've never seen anyone drink too much. It is loud, though, especially with the show going but there are a lot of young children there, as well.

I did notice since we went just as a couple the last time, that they seated four couples all together. When we've gone as a family, we were seated with another family. Oddly, our only bad tablemates were a family that didn't realize the restaurant had communal seating. The mother was just horrible to us--she acted like we'd plopped down and stolen her family's table (even though we were seated first.) She was so awful that our waitress apologized as we were leaving. We didn't let that stop us from trying again, though.

 

[njmom47]

We ate at the Biergarten on our last visit (Christmas week 2007) and I must say we enjoyed it immensely!
I believe we ate at 1:30 and there was plenty of tables that were empty or partially empty.
We had another family at our table that we spoke with minimally, which is fine (there were 6 of us in my party and plenty of our own converstaion going on)..no one at the table drank to excess (and we don't drink at all) so that was not an issue for us.

The band and music were fun too!

 

[MickeyNicki]

We have dined there a million times and have never seen it rowdy or smell like beer. Sometimes we are seated with a family that is nice and chatty and other times you have to check the people's pulse to see if they are alive!

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

Try going for lunch. We went there for lunch in October and it wasn't very people. I only saw a few drinking beer and most people aren't getting wasted that early. Don't go before 1 though or you'll miss the entertainment.