Inspired by kinggoofy: Most overrated restaurant at WDW

[ducklite]

Originally posted by tracyeliza
I am just lucky I guess. Or maybe it is because I am from New Jersey and hold season passes for Six Flags due to our close proximity. Now there is some bad food! Can't find a decent meal anywhere in that park.

Amen! My DS-17 refuses to even go there anymore, it's filthy and full of gang-bangers. I do'nt want to go to any park taht you have to walk through metal detectors to get through the gate. And the "Wall of Gum" at the Batman Ride is disgusting and disgraceful YUCK!!!

ANne

 

[mommystieg]

I agree with ducklite and tracyeliza--we have season passes to a Six Flags in Texas and I absolutely refuse to feed my family the overpriced, inedible food they serve. Nothing could be worse than that slop. And don't get me started on how gross and filthy it is. I don't even know why they have trashcans because I don't think anyone uses them.

 

[Gaiusrex]

Seems like something being overrated is based off of initial expectation. Character buffets will invaiably have mediocre to poor food. Remember, the food is prepared, then sat out for a room full of people to paw through for up to 20-30 minutes! Then you get to it! Food can seem over cooked and/or cold because it's been under a chaffing dish or heat lamp.

Always keep expectations low at a buffet. Character meals are for just that... characters. The breakfasts and dinners I've had at Chef Mickey's have been some of the best experiences at Disney. The food was OK (really, how can you mess up eggs, bacon, and sausage), but combining the food with the characters made the experience fun

Of course I'm worried about Crystal Palace for dinner. Mediocre food with poor character interaction!?!? Cold, greasy food I can deal with, but I would expect character interaction. Does anyone like CP?

 

[Rneighh]

JIKO ---

It was not horrible but I would not return. And the prices were outlandish. We loved Boma and will return and return and return. Wish I didn't have to wait a year to eat there.

Renee

 

[DisOrBust]

This year was our 5th trip and the quality and value of the food overall was severly lacking. I am pretty much done for eating sit down meals onsite. The prices are just out of hand for even for WDW.

 

[zulaya]

Hands down - Le Cellier. I guess the people who love it here have no good steakhouses at home. I say it a lot that our Timber Lodge is awesome and Le Cellier can't hold a candle to it.

I also agree with CRT. And I have a DH ( yes DH) who obsesses over getting this PS. I would rather skip it but he's all about the characters.

I guess I haven't seen raves for Tony's, but I agree that it's too expensive for pasta and the very limited menu that they offer.

 

[kamgen]

I agree with the statement that it has a lot to do with expectations.
I think a lot of people on the boards rave about BOMA, and I say rightfully so! It is our favorite and we have enjoyed it all 5 times we have gone
I have only had lunch at LeCellier and I think the cheese soup and the pretzel bread is to die for! Awesome....it is a great place to go for lunch and just have soup and bread and maybe a salad.
Flying Fish-we love that place too. We have gone 3 times and never had bad food or a bad experience. Overrated? not to us.
I think Tony's is okay...nothing special
I think Chef Mickey's is fun...and the food is hit or miss...we love the atmosphere
As far as overrated to me??? I think most of the counter service places are terrible. Many people go there, hence all the lines, but we are not too fond of it.

Kamy

 

[Vinnie The Pooh]

We have eaten at most of the restaurants mentioned in this post and have had both good and bad experiences. I agree with what minnieluvzmickey had to say. You really have to admit that none of the restaurants are great and many times it depends on how hungry you are and what kind of mood your in. I tend to go for the atmosphere and the theme which is what they are all based on anyway. We absolutely love the 50's Prime Time Cafe...for the food?....No. For the fun atmosphere? ....Yes. We will visit Whispering Canyon our next trip and I am just going there because I hear it's fun and I have also never seen the Wilderness lodge and its a good excuse to go see it. We also kill two birds with one stone, we eat a meal and we Resort hop.

 

[Beachangel]

Overrated: Le Cellier

Underrated: Maya Grill at CSR

 

[Rafikifan]

I'm always hesitant to label a restaurant as "bad" etc. since I truly believe it DOES make a difference when you are there, who your server is, what kind of mood you're in, etc. I can go to even my favorite restaurants and get a bad meal once in a while. I know some of the places that have been mentioned as overrated we had good experiences at such as Chef Mickey's for dinner - never had cold food there, we expect buffet food and always enjoy it, Le Cellier, and the Yachtsman. That being said I don't discount anyone's opinions because I'm sure they DID have a not so good experience. We've had mostly all good dining experiences at WDW and have tried lots of places from counter service to a lot of the sit downs. Here are the places that disappointed us :

1. Artist Point - Could have been a fluke but everything from the minute we walked in until the time we left was bad except for the bottle of wine we had ;-)

2. San Angel Inn - liked the atmosphere but not the food or service. We had friends recently return who dined there and I never said anything negative when my friend said that they were going to eat there since everyone has different tastes but they came back unhappy too. My friend didn't see anything on the adult menu she wanted so she asked if she could get the quesadilla from the kids menu ($4.99) and they said, "Sure. For 14.95." She passed. Kind of the principle of the thing. Whatever happened to being able to order off the kid's menus? Is it the restaurants at WDW that are frowning on that or is it just what some servers are telling people?

 

[Took]

I agree that "hype" sometimes "goeth before a downfall" and that low expectations (and big hunger sometimes) promise a great meal. Take our experiences with SciFi.

The first time we ate there, we were hyped up about the place. We ordered the recommended burger, fries and a shake and just hated the place. Loved the movies, thought the food was mediocre and overpriced. Thought the staff was unconcerned and hurried.

The second time we ate there, with our DD (age 5) in tow, we were hungry, tired and had few expectations of a good meal: we just wanted ANYTHING and SciFi was THERE. To our surprise, the food tasted good and we had a FUN and fast waiter. Our DD also really got into the movie clips and we laughed right through the meal. I don't know if the food was really any better, but we THOUGHT it was. Thus, we had a great time. Now SciFi is often part of our trips, though not every one of them, so we don't get burned out or hyped up.


So, perhaps, as with many things Disney and otherwise, expectations have much to do with restaurant quality.

That said, our biggest "overrated" experience was with Fulton's. Maybe, we'll give it another try, just to see...

 

[anne60]

I was disappointed with both of these, especially Akershus. The hot selections were only offered on one side of the buffet, and the line was huge! After waiting all that time, there wasn't anything that I would even categorize as "good", in fact most if it was not worth a second bite! The shrimp salad was pretty good, as was the "brown" cheese (once you got over the fact that you were eating brown cheese!!!).

 

[merryweather's twin]

Fulton's CRABBY hOUSE.... by the look on the servers face you would have thought we either smelled like old fish or I was sending him back to the kitchen to be cooked with the crab legs....Rude Rude Rude!
Tony's is a good place to trick your DH into thinking the ragu from the jar you made last week was the best pasta on earth. I must have herd that I was such a good cook 30 times.
Flame Tree BBQ. the beans from here were still showing up in DD diaper 4 days later...... UGG

 

[sha_lyn]

Originally posted by anne60
I was disappointed with both of these, especially Akershus. The hot selections were only offered on one side of the buffet, and the line was huge! After waiting all that time, there wasn't anything that I would even categorize as "good", in fact most if it was not worth a second bite! The shrimp salad was pretty good, as was the "brown" cheese (once you got over the fact that you were eating brown cheese!!!).

Well I love Biergarten, but I agree about Akershus. The cheese and the shrimp salad was the only items I could/would eat except DS shared his kids meal veggies with us (he had a lot of corn and mashed red potatoes)

 

[kmchar1]

I'd have to name a few overrated restaurants IMHO. First, the San Angel Inn was disgusting. The entrees were way overpriced, the food was gross and the wait staff was unbelievably slow. Second, Akurshus restaurant in Norway. None of us could find anything decent to eat. While we are big cheese and seafood fans, none of the food was to our pleasing. We will never eat there again! Third, I'd have to say the Sci Fi. While the atmosphere is great, the wait staff was again, unblievably slow. The food was ok..until about an hour later. All of us ended up in the restrooms vomiting. YUCK!!! (not sure if we got food poisening or what).

 

[Bbgrizzle]

Flying Fish (lame atmosphere and service) and Beaches & Cream (burgers were very bland and my sundae was half melted by the time I got it).

 

[wilderness01]

We did not care for Spoodles at all. The food was just ok and overpriced for what you got. The first time we went to Beaches and Cream the burgers were just plain gross and not cooked (even though it states on the menu that all burgers are cooked well done unless otherwise requested). We gave the burgers another shot a few months ago and they were great!

A favorite is the ESPN Zone. The menu is not very extensive but the food is good. We have always loved the CP but this time the food for breakfast was just ok!

We have had both princess breakfasts and CRT wins hands down. We must have gotten lucky because the food was very good the last time we were there.

 

[molly213]

Tonys! Burnt rolls, unbelieveably small portions on kids pasta - you could have counted the pieces.

Sci Fi - Overpriced blah food.

 

[two-foxes]

Marrakesh (the sit-down in Morroco.) We cancelled our PS at the Brown Derby to give this one a shot, and what a mistake! (Not that the Brown Derby is heaven sent, but this was BAD!) The service was OK, until towards the end of our meal when some VIP's of some sort were seating near us and they had at least 4 servers (ours was one of them) gushing all over them. And all that I wanted was some coffee to get rid of the taste of the food in my mouth!

 

[AmyA]

Ugh! I have 2 restaurants that I will never eat at in WDW again:

1. Flying Fish Cafe--wow, were we disappointed in this place. We had to wait >30 minutes, with a PS in September. When we arrived the "maitre d'" looked us up an down and said, "We'll see what we can find you". By the time we finally got seated, the red snapper was gone. Our waiter (I swear--he is one of Satan's minions) treated us like we were Quasimodo and Quasimoda. I mean granted, we're not Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt, but it wasn't like DH wore a tanktop, swim trunks, and flip-flops and I wore my pink lycra hotpants with my thigh high patent leather boots! He was SO rude--plus he got nasty when we decided not to order dessert. I just couldn't believe the snooty attitude displayed by the servers--I mean they are servers in a resaturant--not executive chefs!!

Also, the food was probably some of the worst we had at WDW. Cold, tasteless, and and served with that side of attitude--uh-uh. No good. I know it may have been an off night, but we'll never go back to find out.

2. 1900 Park Faire--cold food with very limited choice, and poor character interaction. I'd only return here if my DDs were huge Cindy fans and we couldn't get a PS at CRT.

JMHO, though of course! We love Le Cellier, Artist Point, Jiko, and Akershus so to each his own, lol!