How bad is dinner at Chef Mickey's??

[SeaSpray]

Our trip is next week, so not sure we'll even get an ADR (I have an email request in to Polynesian IPO, still waiting to hear), but last night my DH and DS19 told me that they have fond memories of Chef Mickey's from 2001 so they'd like to try it again this time.

I've read the negative reviews... Just how bad is the food? Obviously we'd be going for sentimental reasons... Just hoping that there are enough decent choices to actually make a meal of!

 

[Music City Mama]

It's typical buffet/banquet-style food. It's not terrible by any means. Worth the price for the food? No way. Worth the price for the character interaction and/or sentimental reasons? Sure.

 

[JerseyJanice]

We eat there every trip, and it's never been outright bad. Some of our dinners have been much better than others, though.

The salad and dessert bars are always very good. The soup of the day is usually very tasty, and the mashed potatoes are the best thing on the whole buffet IMO.

We weren't happy with the roast beef at the carving board last trip. It was extremely tough. Before last year, they always served prime rib, and that was usually very good.

 

[harley6464]

I d rather through up what i eat earlier in the day and reeat it, that how bad the food was last nov the saturday night after thanksgiving.

 

[eelkmj01]

I d rather through up what i eat earlier in the day and reeat it, that how bad the food was last nov the saturday night after thanksgiving.

That's just disgusting!!! And it's "throw".

To the OP, we've enjoyed it every year. Some people just like to be trouble makers. And the worst are the types that think they're being funny while they do it. But the joke really gets lost when the joke is (A. not funny and (B. spelled so incorrectly that it's a different word!

 

[Cat0727]

I wasn't crazy about it when we went. But then again, we had a 9pm ressie so maybe that had something to do with the qaulity of food.

 

[Leota]

We found it to be pretty atrocious, to be frank. We also have fond memories of Chef Mickey's, but even that wasn't enough to salvage the experience for us. It was dirty, chaotic, the character interaction was not good (we had our 2 Grandsons with us & the characters barely paused long enough for a photo, much less any type of actual interaction), the food was truly awful. The 5 adults in the party all wound up getting other food later in the evening because none of us could find enough decent options to fill us up.

I wish we hadn't gone so we could keep our Happy memories of Chef Mickeys instead of having that as our last experience. My son grew up doing Chef Mickey's. He celebrated his 10th B-Day there with our whole extended family when the Drs. said he wouldn't live to see 5.... It really did hold a special place in our Hearts, but not anymore.

 

[Nadjalu]

We found Chef Mickey's to be very good when we went.
It was a very nice dinner. Food was fresh and well kept, it was tasty and not gross. Yes it is buffet food, but still very good.
The restaurant was clean and the characters attentive.
Our only issue was the 11 yr old girl next to us who stood on her chair and demanded the waitress "get her a refill, 'cause her mom said she had to...it was her job". (was a direct quote from the girl).
The parents did nothing.....

But CM's very good in our opinion.

 

[momatater]

Honestly, it's the worst meal I've ever eaten at DW! I tried to stay positive, ate what I could, and thought desert would be good. Nope, even ALL the deserts were soggy! YUCK!!!!
And the character interaction stunk as well. We were there for 1 1/2 hrs and only Minnie stopped by, while all the others kept walking right by us. (I know it could have been an off night for the characters)

Save your money or your DDP credit and go someplace that is edible! JMHO

 

[princssdisnygina]

Its our favorite place when we go. We go for dinner every time we visit the world which is 2-3 times a year. It's a buffet... geez people its not a steakhouse. For a buffet we like it and we love the fact we get to see all the characters! It's all Disney to us. But... all food is opinion based anyway.... do not listen to what others say, make your own opinion and you may find you love it. We love lots of places others don't and others love places we think is awful.

And ps... NEVER in the 20 some odd times I have eaten there have we ever had character problems. We ALWAYS get to see all of them and we have eaten there all different times.

 

[HunnyJar]

Its our favorite place when we go. We go for dinner every time we visit the world which is 2-3 times a year. It's a buffet... geez people its not a steakhouse. For a buffet we like it and we love the fact we get to see all the characters! It's all Disney to us. But... all food is opinion based anyway.... do not listen to what others say, make your own opinion and you may find you love it. We love lots of places others don't and others love places we think is awful.

I totally agree with this post! We personally have never had a bad meal at Chef Mickey's and my husband always looks forward to the parmesan mashed potatoes. Is it super great food? Well..no. It's a buffet, but it is a buffet we happened to enjoy! If your family tends to enjoy buffets, give it a shot. If you know you are not a fan of buffets, there are other restaurants out there that would better suit your tastes. But for my family we like it not just for the food but of course for the characters.

 

[KarenAylwood]

My mom (62) and I (28 today!) go to Disney every year on the free dining plan so we try to get to as many restaurants as we can. We're going for our fifth year in a row so we have a lot of repeats on the list.

And another important fact is that my mom LOVES herself some Mickey. Seeing him in his tent each year is a must.

After those two facts being said we likely won't be returning to Chef Mickey's. It really wasn't the worst food I've ever had, but I was not a huge fan. My mom will forgo good food to be able to see characters, and she nixed the idea of returning when we were booking ADRs for this year.

If I had little kids- I'd definitely go. It's Mickey and his pals, and the food isn't totally inedible. But for "adults" (you, DH and DS19) I fear you may be a little disappointed if your experience is similar to ours.

Keep in mind everyone has different opinions and YMMV.

We've opted to go to Crystal Palace for a character buffet because we've never been let down by the food and like the atmosphere a little better.

 

[troynkasey]

I totally agree with this post! We personally have never had a bad meal at Chef Mickey's and my husband always looks forward to the parmesan mashed potatoes. Is it super great food? Well..no. It's a buffet, but it is a buffet we happened to enjoy! If your family tends to enjoy buffets, give it a shot. If you know you are not a fan of buffets, there are other restaurants out there that would better suit your tastes. But for my family we like it not just for the food but of course for the characters.

That's a second "agree" on my part. It's a buffet. Things are going to be a bit more bland or middle of the road because it's a buffet. We ate there two years ago and found the food to easily meet our standards. When we do character meals, we end up letting our food get cold or something like that because the characters are all around and it's hard to keep the kid's attention. And furthermore...we do it for the character experience and the experience the kids have. If they like it, good enough for us. We always view the menus ahead of time to make sure there's something to eat and we've never had a problem.

 

[castleview]

We love the food there. DH lit up at the selection the way my daughters did at seeing Mickey.

 

[BrerSam]

It is alright nothing special would not be on my list to try again.

 

[burberryplaid]

We tried CM for the first time last month. I was nervous about it because of the bad reviews, but in the end I am glad we went. There are definitely some items that are better than others (the ravioli and mac & cheese were both bland...they had awesome mashed potatoes and au gratin potatoes, and the carved meat was good) and it wasn't spectacular, but it was good. Will we go every trip? Nope. We'll go back though...probably try breakfast next time.

My advice is to always give it a try for yourself and don't listen to all the negative comments. Make your own judgement!

 

[Kricketnp]

Chef Mickey's definitely has a bad rep around this place, but I've always enjoyed my experiences there. It certainly isn't the best food I've ever eaten, but they have a nice variety of foods that no one will leave hungry. My sister is one of the pickiest eaters on the planet and even she leaves full!

If you go in expecting a glamorous meal, you will be sorely disappointed. If you go in expecting pretty basic buffet fare (plus AWESOME mashed potatoes) and a fun experience, you will enjoy yourself. The dessert/sundae bar is pretty epic as well!

 

[lblume91]

In '06, we absolutely loved it. Great character interaction, good variety of food, everything we hoped for.

In '09, we absolutely hated it. Not much variety of food & what was there was often cold or just looked yucky, very rushed characters & a couple that never even stopped by, the total opposite of our first experience.

Sadly, I could say the exact same thing about our experiences with Crystal Palace. I think the buffets have just gone downhill over time. We were disappointed. Hopefully we just caught them on bad nights.

 

[twooley2]

We just returned from Disney and there were 12 of us and everyone enjoyed it and enjoyed the characters. The service has gone downhill which I am not sure why. The food was good and the characters made the kids laugh. The waiter was downright rude when I paid with Disney gift cards. stating " well this will take me an hour to do and I do mean that!" he was speaking about the time to process my gift cards.

 

[loveysbydesign]

We were gonna try CM's for the 1st time in Nov. but have decided on the Garden Grill instead...simply so we don't take a chance on missing the characters when we go up to get the food plus my in-laws prefer a sit-down meal to a buffet. Maybe we'll try CM's on a future trip if the reviews get better!