Help me decide...Chef Mickey's or Garden Grill?

[mastermind307]

I was really excited when I got a Chef Mickey's ressie for dinner, but now I'm rethinking it. I found an ADR for The Garden Grill for the same day and time. Which one is better?
We have a 4 year old daughter and she is very shy. After reading about the two restaurants I've learned that CM is loud and a bit crazy,and GG is quieter. I was thinking that maybe GG would be better because it's calmer and maybe she will feel more comfortable. Are the character interactions better at one or the other? How about the food?

 

[whitney37354]

Character interaction good at both, but we preferred CM for the food. At GG we only liked the bread, but I have two picky eaters. GG was very cozy and we saw the characters one on one---low key & quiet.

 

[ILuvDisney!]

Garden Grill is one of our favorites. We always enjoy the food...and characters too! Chef Mickeys has been hit or miss for us. So, I vote for GG!!!

 

[amberg@eastlink.ca]

we enjoy both very much! we have an almost 5 and a 3 year old. they enjoyed the interaction at both. but like you stated gg is quieter.

one thing to keep in mind, gg just changed their menu to chicken legs, brocolli and sweet potatoe fries. that made a huge difference for us and sadly we wont be going for it this time on our next trip. my kiddos wont eat that. before it was nuggets, mac and cheese and fries. chef mickeys does have a huge variety where it's buffet too.

 

[wesmom]

Definately go with GG, so much calmer and the food was terrific!

 

[mastermind307]

we enjoy both very much! we have an almost 5 and a 3 year old. they enjoyed the interaction at both. but like you stated gg is quieter.

one thing to keep in mind, gg just changed their menu to chicken legs, brocolli and sweet potatoe fries. that made a huge difference for us and sadly we wont be going for it this time on our next trip. my kiddos wont eat that. before it was nuggets, mac and cheese and fries. chef mickeys does have a huge variety where it's buffet too.

Thanks for letting me know that GG changed it's kid's menu. My daughter would have eaten the nuggets and mac & cheese, but not what's on the menu now.

 

[RadioFanatic]

I would say Garden Grill hands down. Doesn't seem as "crazy" as CM even when busy, character interaction was AMAZING during our time there (came around three times and even sat with DS!) while at CM took forever to come just once and then only for seconds, and enjoyed the food a lot more. AFter our last trip, we decided no more CM for us.

 

[skipperkim]

I like GG and I have no young kids. CM is LOUD and the food is okay. The food and character interaction is better at GG.

 

[pixarmom]

We've been to both multiple times with our three boys, and I would definitely recommend Garden Grill. It's our boys' favorite restaurant and our arrival night tradition.

Food: We were just there in July again, and we think the food has improved significantly. We previously said the the food was good and character interaction was great - now I'd say both are great. Our boys weren't fans of the new sweet potato fries, either (I loved them!) but they still brought out the mac and cheese and our boys loved that. Someone reported that you can ask for nuggets and regular fries - but even our pickiest eater (and he's VERY picky) liked the drumsticks and mac and cheese enough that he didn't want to ask for the nuggets and regular fries.

Characters: Best character interaction of any character meal we've ever done. All three of our boys love characters, and they spend a lot of time with our kids - we usually see each character at least twice per meal. But we always like to start our kids with this meal because if they didn't react well to the characters, they would not see them constantly like you do at Chef Mickey's. At Garden Grill, you can request a booth on the lower level - the booths are high so that little ones only see characters when they are at your table. If a child doesn't react well, you can just tell your server and the characters will pass you by. And if your kids love the characters (like ours do) they can only see the characters when they are at our table, so they actually eat something in between character visits.

Set up: We love family style (like at Garden Grill) instead of buffets (like at Chef Mickey's.) I think the food quality tends to be higher, and it's really nice to sit down and have the food and the characters come to us. Also, we don't have to worry about missing characters when they come around. The whole atmosphere is just so much more relaxed at Garden Grill, and our boys love to see the different scenes in the land ride as the restaurant rotates slowly.

For our next trip, we were going to make ADRs for both Garden Grill and Chef Mickey's, but our oldest son suggested we skip Chef Mickey's and our other boys agreed.

 

[amberg@eastlink.ca]

Thanks for letting me know that GG changed it's kid's menu. My daughter would have eaten the nuggets and mac & cheese, but not what's on the menu now.

your welcome! i was so sad when i read it. i love garden grill, the food is so yummy, and i've told many people it's better than what they read/think etc. i just handed over my dining list to my ta last week and had to take it off. dd might have eaten the chicken leg, but ds nope no way not happening. i'll miss the warm bread/rolls and butter so much!

 

[pixarmom]

your welcome! i was so sad when i read it. i love garden grill, the food is so yummy, and i've told many people it's better than what they read/think etc. i just handed over my dining list to my ta last week and had to take it off. dd might have eaten the chicken leg, but ds nope no way not happening. i'll miss the warm bread/rolls and butter so much!

Mac and cheese was still there less than 3 weeks ago - our boys ate a ton of it!!! And we didn't ask for anything special - it just came with the kids' items. Like I said, others have reported getting the chicken nuggets and regular fries just by asking their server. I hope everyone doesn't give up!

 

[troynkasey]

CM has more "kid friendly foods" compared to GG. We prefer GG over CM and we have a 4 and a half year old and a 1 and a half year old. Both got plenty of the mac and cheese and chicken legs at GG to walk away full. CM has a buffet, so you can pick and choose what you want. The character interaction is fun either way. CM you can get up and wave your napkin and dance around with the characters... Ultimately it's probably the menu that would decide it for you. I will say as far as adults are concerned...GG was a much better selection, but kids tend to be a littly pickier.

 

[mastermind307]

I wish I could combine the best of GG and CM. The food at CM sounds better, but the atmosphere at GG is more our style. Still not sure what I want to do...

 

[HollVoll]

GG is very calm. It is a "Must" for us and we LOVE the fresh food, but their menu is very limited in choices. Only my little guy is picky and as long as bread is served he is happy.

Haven't done CM for dinner, but we adored it last year for breakfast and are going back for breakfast. It is definitely more lively and the breakfast food was great.

 

[jlk806]

If you have picky eaters (in my case, DH), then go with Chef Mickey's. Our 1 year old and Dh & I all loved it and cant wait to go back in a few weeks. I didnt think it was too loud, no louder than any other restaurant full of kids! My husband I know would not like the menu at GG thats why I have never booked it though it does look like fun maybe I can convince him next trip or maybe they will bring him a kids meal. LOL

 

[MartDM]

No question...GG wins hands down. Chef Mickey's is loud, cramped, chaotic, and the buffet is mediocre. The characters have to cover so much ground in the restaurant you are lucky if you get one rushed visit with them during your stay.

GG on the other hand is quiet, relaxed, has good food served hot & family style, and the characters not only spend quite a while with your child, they do so several times during the course of your meal. It is always the highlight of our trip because DS actually gets time to play with them and build some real memories instead of just getting a photo op (he is still talking about our last visit when Chip used DS's new binoculars to play explorer with him and Mickey helped him eat his dessert).

I really don't understand the elimination of nuggets & fries from the menu causing people to change their plans. The mac & cheese & broccoli are just fine to eat even if the kiddos turn their nose up at the chicken & fries. There's ample opportunity for nuggets & fries all over WDW but you'll never get this quality of character interaction with it!

 

[AirGoofy]

I think the food at dinner is better at Garden Grill. You have more characters at CM. I would let your location decide this. If you are in the park at Epcot that day, then I would book Garden Grill. I dislike wasting time in transportation between parks.

 

[princesslexis'mom]

garden grill ,i agree is better for character interaction ,it feels like more of a one on one, chef mickeys can seem a little busy,but has more options on the menu,and I think everyone should try Chef Mickeys at least once

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

We've been to both fairly recently. We were lucky to score an early ADR at Chef Mickey's within a half hour when they open for dinner. We were seated in the smaller section behind the buffet and got a lot of character interaction and were away from a lot of the noise. We really had a wonderful time. As for the food, it was just okay.

GG's food is better than CM but I still wouldn't call it great. I agree with other posters that the characters here are awesome. I also like the novelty of the rotating restaurant. There is not as much variety in food as there is at CM.

I hope whichever you chose you have a wonderful experience.

 

[EeyoreEma]

GG, definitely for us. We didn't care overly much for Chef Mickey's to be honest. The character interaction at GG is fantastic - we saw everyone at least twice, and they spent a pretty good amount of time with us as well. The food there was also much more appealing to us. DH and I really liked what we had, and the kids enjoyed theirs as well.