Is Chef Mickey for dinner that bad

[rach1200]

We couldn’t get breakfast with Chef Mickey but got dinner. We are staying at the Polynesian and have breakfast with Lilo and Stitch planned. Of note, my daughter will visit Disney 2 months before her 3rd birthday so any family or buffet meals where she eats free is a plus.

The only Disney character she can recognize and name is Minnie. She loves Minnie. A Minnie character meal would probably be the only magical one for her (more so that even Cinderella or Snow White).

The TripAdvisor reviews on Chef Mickey for dinner are truly horrible. Cold, chewy food. One person even said a child vomited everywhere and it took half an hour to get environmental service to clean it.

So are the Disney characters worth the inedible food? Are the characters enough to to make it worth it? If it’s an amazing character experience for my daughters; I can put up with lesser food but prefer food not to be so bad we have to eat again after.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

We have had breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner at CM and no it's not a high end restaurant, it has never been terrible. I really enjoy the ribs for dinner and the desserts are good as any on property.

 

[Haley R]

We ate there in January for dinner and it wasn’t too bad. You’re paying for the characters so the food isn’t amazing but it wasn’t awful either. Our son loved seeing the characters and watching the monorail so I would eat there again

 

[LYSE]

The food was terrible and the character interaction was the worst we've experienced ever, for Minnie Mouse go to topolino's instead, great food and character interactions.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We had dinner there once and it was fine - nothing special, but nothing terrible either. We've done breakfast several times and breakfast is better.

 

[lovethesun12]

We couldn’t get breakfast with Chef Mickey but got dinner. We are staying at the Polynesian and have breakfast with Lilo and Stitch planned. However, my daughter will visit Disney 2 months before her 3rd birthday. No matter how much I show her other Disney movies, her favorite is Minnie Mouse. She hadn’t even attempted the other Disney names because she loves Minnie so much.

The TripAdvisor reviews on Chef Mickey for dinner are truly horrible. Cold, chewy food. One person even said a child vomited everywhere and it took half an hour to get environmental service to clean it.

So are the Disney characters worth the inedible food? Are the characters enough to to make it worth it? If it’s an amazing character experience for my daughters; I can put up with bad food.

We ate there a month ago and the food was great. Fresh salads, lots of veggies with the meal, etc. The character interaction was amazing and it's just such a fun, happy atmosphere. My kids loved it.

Staying on the monorail, with a 3 year old child that loves Minnie - I'd definitely go for it.

 

[maryj11]

The food was terrible and the character interaction was the worst we've experienced ever, for Minnie Mouse go to topolino's instead, great food and character interactions.

There is great interaction at Topolino’s, but it’s really hard to get a reservation for breakfast.

 

[Sam60]

No Disney restaurant is “bad”. Chef Mickey’s is great for kids. Mine loved it when she was that age.

 

[_19disnA]

I would never decide to not eat somewhere based on online reviews from strangers on any of those trip review sites. You have no idea if the people are the type who complain about everything and what may be important to them isn't to you. It seems like some people post terrible reviews just to try and 'outdo' prior posters and likely have exaggerated their experience.

We had dinner at Chef Mickey's during a prior trip and enjoyed it. The small children in our party liked meeting the various characters and getting autographs. Some character interactions have likely been modified due to covid, but it is definitely someplace we would eat again. Don't recall exactly what we ate, but as I recall there was a large variety of items to choose from and had no issues with any of them.

 

[lovethesun12]

No Disney restaurant is “bad”.

Finally, someone said it! lol. I feel the same way.

 

[maxbuffmelvin]

I liked the food during my Oct 2021 visit

 

[goofy4prez]

I'll start by saying I personally am not a big fan of buffets and their quantity over quality approach. I just don't believe you can make mass amounts of food and place it on steam tables for droves of people and call it great. But with that said, there are a couple of buffets in WDW that do a pretty good job of offering an average to slightly above average job; those being Boma and Tusker House (at least pre-covid). I tried Chef Mickey once and found the food and the service terrible. Chalked it up to a bad day. Tried it again the next year and found it to be almost as awful. I would call it nothing more than a Golden Coral with Disney characters running around. I'm sure a 3-year-old would love Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy, along with a plate of chicken nuggets and sweets would be easily entertained. And for that reason only it may be worth it. Looking for an enjoyable dining experience for the adults, forget about it. Maybe Tusker House would be the better option where the adults and kids may actually enjoy the food and atmosphere along with the characters as well.

 

[lovethesun12]

I'll start by saying I personally am not a big fan of buffets and their quantity over quality approach. I just don't believe you can make mass amounts of food and place it on steam tables for droves of people and call it great. But with that said, there are a couple of buffets in WDW that do a pretty good job of offering an average to slightly above average job; those being Boma and Tusker House (at least pre-covid). I tried Chef Mickey once and found the food and the service terrible. Chalked it up to a bad day. Tried it again the next year and found it to be almost as awful. I would call it nothing more than a Golden Coral with Disney characters running around. I'm sure a 3-year-old would love Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy, along with a plate of chicken nuggets and sweets would be easily entertained. And for that reason only it may be worth it. Looking for an enjoyable dining experience for the adults, forget about it. Maybe Tusker House would be the better option where the adults and kids may actually enjoy the food and atmosphere along with the characters as well.

It sounds like you were there when it was actually a buffet though, and not family style.

The reviews have been a lot better since they went that route and after eating there last month I found them to be pretty accurate. The food was good.

 

[yaksack]

I don't think it is bad, just not worth what they charge.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Keep trying for the Topolino's breakfast(really great food) and hold the Chef Mickeys as a backup. Also Chef Mickeys is still family style not a buffet at the moment. Not sure if a buffet return date has been announced yet.

 

[goofy4prez]

It sounds like you were there when it was actually a buffet though, and not family style.

The reviews have been a lot better since they went that route and after eating there last month I found them to be pretty accurate. The food was good.

Yea, I guess I'm out of the loop a bit. I haven't been to WDW since covid and cancelled our trip earlier this year. With how things are now with WDW (another topic for another thread), I don't see myself returning to the parks anytime soon and will stick to the cruises. But I am glad to hear that there has been improvement with CM.

 

[reddog21]

I'll go back when it's back to a buffet otherwise it's the same as every other character meal.

 

[SuperJ]

We couldn’t get breakfast with Chef Mickey but got dinner. We are staying at the Polynesian and have breakfast with Lilo and Stitch planned. However, my daughter will visit Disney 2 months before her 3rd birthday. No matter how much I show her other Disney movies, her favorite is Minnie Mouse. She hadn’t even attempted the other Disney names because she loves Minnie so much.

The TripAdvisor reviews on Chef Mickey for dinner are truly horrible. Cold, chewy food. One person even said a child vomited everywhere and it took half an hour to get environmental service to clean it.

So are the Disney characters worth the inedible food? Are the characters enough to to make it worth it? If it’s an amazing character experience for my daughters; I can put up with bad food.

We did lunch at Hollywood and Vine for Christmas and Dinner at Chef Mickeys in April. Family style both places. Food was not amazing but not inedible. Definitely not fine dining but it was fine enough for the purposes of a character meal. However, we found character interaction at Hollywood and Vine to be much better and much less of a rush than Chef Mickeys. If you’re there for the kids, every time we have been at Chef Mickey’s it’s been have the kid ready in advance, quick pose for a photo or two, then they move on. At H&V we got multiple table visits and the character stayed to interact (my niece had a dress on and she and Minnie had a twirl off). If you are going to HS during your trip, I’d recommend that over Chef Mickey because I have felt like the smaller restaurant means better interactions. Another option is Cape May if they are doing characters then - Minnie was there pre-Covid.

 

[snikki]

We've done Chef Mickey's dinner multiple times. It is my son's favorite, even at 22 years old. We've never had a bad meal there and I'm not a fan of buffets. The food has always been hot, fresh and what we've eaten has been seasoned well. Of course the FOOD is not worth the price but you are paying for the characters, location and atmosphere. It's been worth it to us simply for the memories even as I think back to paying a $200++ bill.

 

[raidermatt]

We couldn’t get breakfast with Chef Mickey but got dinner. We are staying at the Polynesian and have breakfast with Lilo and Stitch planned. However, my daughter will visit Disney 2 months before her 3rd birthday. No matter how much I show her other Disney movies, her favorite is Minnie Mouse. She hadn’t even attempted the other Disney names because she loves Minnie so much.

The TripAdvisor reviews on Chef Mickey for dinner are truly horrible. Cold, chewy food. One person even said a child vomited everywhere and it took half an hour to get environmental service to clean it.

So are the Disney characters worth the inedible food? Are the characters enough to to make it worth it? If it’s an amazing character experience for my daughters; I can put up with bad food.

The food is not horrible, the food is not cold and chewy. People exaggerate for attention, or because they have an axe to grind.

The food is ok. Not great, and it should be better, but unless you are very picky you will find something you like.