Help Me Out...Dinner for 10, Celebrating a Birthday...

[kristenrice]

The details:
==> Party of 10: 6 "real" adults, 2 Disney "adults" (ages 13 and 11) and 2 kids, ages 8 and 4
==> Staying at the Boardwalk
==> Planning on spending the day at the Studios
==> NO DDP, but we do have the TIW card


The family has allowed me to pick the restaurant for dinner because it's MY BIRTHDAY. I have narrowed it down to two choices...O'Hana or Big River Grille. Here's a breakdown of the + and - to each choice...

O'Hana
+ All but two of us have eaten here at least once and we know we like it
+ Great family atmosphere
+ Easy bus ride from the Studios to the Poly...then walk to TTC and catch the Epcot monorail and walk back to the BWV after dinner...or...
+ Easy monorail ride to the Contemporary/BLT to head up to TOTWL to watch fireworks (Hallowishes...it's a party night!) after dinner.
- VERY Expen$ive!! Especially for my family of 4 "adults", 2 of which are picky and will not eat that much anyways
- Did I mention that it is pricey? I have it in our budget, but it is the biggest sticking point for me..I just can't quite get past the almost $300 for my family to eat dinner

Big River Grille
+ We can walk back from the Studios, stop in our room and easily freshen up and walk down to the restaurant
+ There is a wide selection of food so there is something for everyone
+ The price is MUCH more reasonable
- Some of us have eaten here (once, in 2001) and we HATED it. The food was not tasty at all, but our meal was a "gift" for taking the DVC tour and I'm sure a lot has changed since then. It just wasn't a great experience and we are a little timid to try it again with a large group
- I'm not sure how "family-friendly" this restaurant is or how well they accommodate a group of 10

There you have it....so based on that information, which would you choose and why? It's my birthday and honestly, I would be more than happy with either option. Oh, and I should mention that we do already have an ADR at O'Hana at 5:45pm. This is for a Sunday night in October. I am unable to book a reservation for 10 online at Big River Grille so I will have to call. I'm not going to bother with it until I know for sure that we want to "switch".

 

[Jgeauxmo]

Is there a reason you excluded the other boardwalk restaurants? Flying fish should be back open

 

[Debbie Jean]

Is there a reason you excluded the other boardwalk restaurants? Flying fish should be back open

Flying Fish would be my pick, as well. But I can't say that I like either of the choices you've suggested, so that may just be me.

 

[minnie mum]

BRG is a brew pub. Not where I would celebrate a birthday with family unless I was only interested in beer and burgers. And IIRC, they don't take reservations.

I agree with PPs that you should look closer at other options in the Epcot resort area. If Flying Fish or Yachtsman ( or the other signature level restaurants) are too expensive, then check out the menus at Cape May buffet, Trattoria al Forno, or Captain's Grill. If you have PHs, you could have dinner at an Epcot resort.

Ohana is fun, but expensive. Getting back to the Boardwalk via monorail would require that everyone have park hopper tickets. Better to take a bus to DHS and walk or boat from there. Depending on the time of your ADR, returning to DHS or Epcot for the evening might be difficult.

 

[Jedimike]

If the only negative for Ohana is the cost, I would throw out there that you are on vacation and you said you can swing it. In reality, the difference in cost for 10 people there vs BRG is going to be what...$100? I've never been to BRG, but am interested in going, as i'm a beer fan. Based on your own list of pros and cons though, I would pick a location where you know you'll like the food. The other restaurants (such as Flying Fish) will probably have higher quality food than either Ohana or BRG, but the cost will be in line with Ohana...

 

[Pumbaa_]

inside is horribly loud and quite awful seating, IMHO

Captain's Grill would be my preference in that area, nice menu, reasonable cost and they do have a semi private room

 

[kristenrice]

Is there a reason you excluded the other boardwalk restaurants? Flying fish should be back open

Flying Fish would be my pick, as well. But I can't say that I like either of the choices you've suggested, so that may just be me.

Nobody in the group eats seafood. It's not even a matter of not preferring seafood...everyone in our family HATES it.

I will look into the Captain's Grille. I thought it was another AYCE/buffet which I would prefer to stay away from due to the cost. I would love to eat at Jiko, Yachtsman or Artist Point (those are my favorites!), but the rest of the group was not interested in the menus or the prices. My sister is on the tightest budget, but O'Hana is a restaurant that she really enjoyed the last time we were there so she was able to put it into her budget too.

We do all have park hoppers (I have an AP) so taking the monorail to Epcot and walking through is not a problem.

I'm going to go check out Captain's Grille...thanks for the suggestion.

 

[kristenrice]

I checked out Trattoria al Forno and that looks promising. I talked to my sister and she said that her girls love Italian ("naked spaghetti") so she was intrigued. She also really like the idea of eating near the Boardwalk because she plans on being out of the Studios around 3pm and she thought maybe the kids would like to take a quick swim or nap before dinner. By staying close, we can make that happen.

I went to MDE and there are no reservations available for a party of 10...but...I could get a party of 6 at 5:30 and a party of 4 at 5:40. If we went this route, would we be able to ask to be sat together (or at least close) and be put on one bill? Even if we have to wait, we'd be OK with that. I ate at Kouzzina (once) and I cannot picture the layout of the restaurant so I don't even know if there is a way to physically seat 10 people together. Is this something we should consider? We will have to give up our prime O'Hana ADR if and when we decide to switch so I want to be comfortable with the decision.