Hollywood & Vine vs Mama Melrose's

[coconutsunshine]

Hi,
My DH and I want to get great seats for Fantasmic and so are going to do one of the dinner packages. The options for us are either Hollywood & Vine or Mama Melrose's. Any opinions on which one is better?

 

[beattyfamily]

H&V is a buffet. It's fine for a buffet. Good for picky eaters or when you have little ones. I've eaten here with the package many times.

MM is a nice Italian restaurant. Ate here last year once my girls were older.

I would pick MM.

Just an FYI; you don't get 'great seats' with the package, you just get guaranteed seats, up to 30 minutes before the show. The seats are to the far right but you can still everything just fine.

 

[coconutsunshine]

Thanks for the info... and for letting me know that the seats are not great, just guaraneteed, now I can prepare myself; but, I'll just be happy to get seats, we tried 3 times last year and all 3 times couldn't get in luckily we have seen it before on other trips. Thanks again

 

[keishashadow]

H&V is a decent buffet, with lots of good food (many of same things you find on Chef Mickey's buffet appear). Staff is very friendly and my family of picky eaters all find something to satisfy them.

At my insistence we tried MM last Oct for the FP. Big mistake!!!! Only 5 or 6 tables were occupied (always a bad sign imo). Other than salad & pizza; the food was inedible. DHs steak ordered med was burnt (not blackened); my osso bucco a fatty mess; and DS spaghetti a hard, solid lump. Complained to server who indicated that it was par for the course.

Sad, the theming is great - how can you mess up spaghetti? Back to H&V we go.

 

[coconutsunshine]

sorry to hear you had such a bad time DH and I are leaning toward Hollywood and Vine, we love a good buffet, or any buffet for that matter!!

 

[KIRSTIN'S MOMMY]

I know I'm going to add to your dilemma, but we love MM! It's a "must do" for us for the FDP every trip. We tried H&V and didn't care for it at all. Every restaurant has it's fans though, my best friend did H&V last year and wanted it again this year, she loved it.

 

[rentayenta]

Never been to either but we booked MM for the F! package. The menu looks good to us and there are so many buffets to choose from and few Italian.

 

[HOGFAN]

Have only eaten at MaMas but were impressed. Wonderful flatbread. wonderful dessert.

 

[sunny_stace]

We weren't overly impressed with Mama Melrose on our trip last fall. It was during free dining, and though there weren't many people in the place (it was only 4:30pm or so), we were brought our appetizer (flatbread, good!) two seconds after we ordered it, the our entree immediately after our appetizer was delivered! Then, our desserts while we were still eating our entrees! DBFF's entree was a little chilly when it came out, mine was fine but very very herby (chicken parm...I forget what DBFF had...). Desserts were good. We didn't get drink refills at all, of which we were saddened as it was very hot last september and we were thirsty little girls! However, not having to wait in line for fantasmic was great! (if you get the fantasmic package).

I know I got flack for asking if H&V was still "horrid" before (LOL ), but I've added it to my possible ADRs list for this year. I think it looks good!

 

[tanyaandallie]

We ate at H&V twice in the fall. I was not impressed and we would never go again.

 

[KevinYee]

I find the guaranteed seats to be really really inadequate. Show up earlier, and don't use the dinner option, and you are likely to find much better seats. It doesn't take more than a half hour, usually, to get prime seats.

 

[jjatwdw]

We ate at H&V two years ago and will never return. The food was fair and DS threw up all night. We've never tried MM but Hollywood Brown Derby is one of our favorites. It's a must do everyvisit.

 

[pooch]

I was really nervous about eating here last year. But I have to say we were all very happy with our meals. It was a REALLY HOT (no cloud cover at all - all sun all day HOT) day. Filled up on cold fruit and shrimp cocktail!!! Very cooling. The kids and DH loved the Pot Roast, garlic mashed potatoes and green beans. Best part of the meal? DS (16) grabbed a big bowl of what he thought was cranberry sauce. WRONG!!!! BEETS!!! The look on his face was priceless!!! We'll be there again for Fantasmic package in Sept. The seats are all the way over on the right but are still terrific and worth not waiting in line.

 

[BLLB]

We were at Disney March 31-April 6 of this year. We at at both MM and H&V. We thought both of our meals were great. No complaints. Even my 2 boys, ages 6 and 4, enjoyed there meals. Actually, at MM they at everything they were served.

 

[Tam1067]

We loved Mama Melrose last year, and we're returning there this July for the Fantasmic package. DH, the kids, and I were all pleased with our meals.

 

[coconutsunshine]

Thanks everyone for your input!!!

 

[bigskyernurse]

MM was actually our favorite meal of the trip!! Everyone loved it. H & V was ok but MM was yuuuuummy! I'm always suprised when I see bad reviews here because it was so good. Kids loved it, all meals were good, server was great and the cheesecake was the best dessert we had all trip (chocolate wave at Coral Reef was a close 2nd).

 

[Pixiedust34]

We've done both restaurants. H & V is a nice buffet. We liked it. MM had good food and a relaxing atmosphere. We enjoyed the food at both places.

For us, MM has an edge over H & V. We don't dislike H & V, but it was crowded and very noisy when we there there. It was a good dinner, but it wasn't too relaxing. MM was quieter and it had a nice, comfortable atmosphere. We felt refreshed after we ate there. After being on our feet all day at MGM, MM is the more relaxing dinner for us.

 

[Hopefully]

We ate at H & V for the FDP last April and we hated it. We are not picky and we did not have high expectations, we knew it was a buffet.
The restaurant was very noisy. We were surrounded by unbused tables full of dirty dishes. The servers seemed over worked and the place felt out of control. The Ladies Room was filfthy - the only dirty one I experienced all week.
And other than the desserts, we all felt the food was horrible.
It was of only 2 restaurants (The other being Yachtsmans Steakhouse - a very different category) in all of WDW we will not return to.
I agree everyone has their own tastes, this was just not for us.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

We weren't overly impressed with Mama Melrose on our trip last fall. It was during free dining, and though there weren't many people in the place (it was only 4:30pm or so), we were brought our appetizer (flatbread, good!) two seconds after we ordered it, the our entree immediately after our appetizer was delivered! Then, our desserts while we were still eating our entrees!

This is exactly what happened to us! Our entire meal was served within 15 minutes of sitting down. In addition to not being able to enjoy each course, our server disappeared and never refilled our soft drinks or water. We also had a very early ADR...so if we try it again, I'll make sure we arrive a bit later.