Is chef Mickey's really that bad?

[MeganMango]

I'm in WDW now.

Is it really that bad? Can chef Mickey's really mess up breakfast?

I LOVE the Tusker house but since I just did it 3 months ago I wanted something "new." I've also done the Crystal Palace which was also good. But I want new pictures/memories.

 

[Jonas_Swe]

Hi!

I absolutely love Chef Mickey's.

What have you heard about it that makes you hesitate?

It's quite loud at times, and not to mention if there's a birthday or two... Then they pull out all the stops!

The breakfast buffet I found as quite standard. Nothing extra special really. But remember, you go there for the characters!

If you don't want it too loud and a more intimate setting (the CR lobby isn't really small and cozy), I'd highly recommend Character Breakfast at Cape May Cafe at the BC resort!

 

[MeganMango]

Hi!

I absolutely love Chef Mickey's.

What have you heard about it that makes you hesitate?

It's quite loud at times, and not to mention if there's a birthday or two... Then they pull out all the stops!

The breakfast buffet I found as quite standard. Nothing extra special really. But remember, you go there for the characters!

If you don't want it too loud and a more intimate setting (the CR lobby isn't really small and cozy), I'd highly recommend Character Breakfast at Cape May Cafe at the BC resort!

Thank you! I've just heard it's very dirty and the food is plain "bad." I want some hot food unlimited (LOL) and fun characters.

Is cape may a small selection/mainly fishy stuff? I don't like any type of fish.

 

[jpwest]

Thank you! I've just heard it's very dirty and the food is plain "bad." I want some hot food unlimited (LOL) and fun characters.

We've done it twice and will do it again in November. The food is just fine and I have never seen any evidence of dirtiness.

 

[nikjd68]

We have done Chef Mickey's several times over the years. I have always found the tables, buffet area and the rest of the restaurant area to be very clean. It is a standard Disney breakfast buffet (I LOVE the corn beef hash with the corn bread crust topping).

If you have never been to the Contemporary, this is the great reason to go visit. You ride the monorail right into the resort and while you are eating, you see/hear the monorail arrive/depart, which is cool.

The experience itself is raucous and fun. You get pictures and sigs of the fab five. I would suggest you do it first or last in your vacation. It is a great way to start out and get some character meet and greets. It is also a great way to put an exclamation point on your vacation at the end.

 

[addiln]

It is loud there and a bit crazy there. That is what you would expect there. For me I just was not impressed with the food they had to offer. I thought it was bland and nothing really worth the money. Yes it is nice to meet all the fab 5 right there and not having to worry about it in the parks. If I was go somewhere new and wanting new pictures I would look at 1900 PF.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

We love it as well. Never had a problem with it being "dirty". The food is standard buffet quality, but the experience and character interaction is worth it IMO.

 

[GC&S]

We ate there a couple of weeks ago for dd's birthday. Loved it! Our dinner was later (830) so maybe everyone was tired but it was a lot quieter than I remembered. The food was good (loved their ribs and I don't generally eat ribs). There was someone constantly cleaning up the area and they continued to put food out. We didn't see the messiness a lot of people talk about and we were happy with the food.

 

[lennyd]

It's one of my favorite resturants

 

[wolf29]

We love it as well. Never had a problem with it being "dirty". The food is standard buffet quality, but the experience and character interaction is worth it IMO.

This. We go every year and have always enjoyed our meal.

 

[boxer]

Was probably our favorite meal/experience from our trip last fall. This is our annual tradition to start our trip off with the first dinner at Chef Mickeys!!!

 

[gmboy95]

OK...my take on Chef Mickeys....here is what I enjoy about it...THE CHARACTERS in that great Contemporary setting. ...Thats it, nothing else. i have eaten there for different meals on probably 7 different occasions. I cant tell you for the life of me what the hell the food is. Its a buffet, and its OK I guess....we went there for the characters and the pictures. aside from that, it is just like any other character meal. You get mickey shaped waffles and a smile. As far as saying its a great restaurant, well, I guess if typical Disney buffet food is your thing. The only Buffet in Disney IMO worth anything or that stands out is cape may

 

[tinkerbell1112]

I know some people are quite negative about it on here, but we have always enjoyed it. The food is nothing special; standard buffet fare. But it's the characters you're going for. We don't expect 5 star food at a place like this. It was spotless and clean when we were there last. our character interactions were perfect, server was good and everyone left stuffed.

 

[TexasTSL]

MY DS5 and I went for the first time last year for dinner on our arrival night. I hesitated to book it because of all the bad reviews. We both loved it! The food was good, not great, but standard buffet food. The desserts were good. We liked it better than lunch at Crystal Palace. The characters were great and DS loved the setting. It is his request this year and one of the things he enjoyed the most about our last trip. It was loud, but not nearly as bad as I expected.

 

[slbgnb]

We go every trip too! LOVE it. We only do breakfast, which I tend to only do breakfast for all of our buffet meals (except 1900PF), and I think breakfast food is always better on buffets then lunch and dinner. But, my whole family loves the restaurant, seeing the monorail and the of course...THE FAB 5!!!

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

We had dinner there for the first time in May. I was not looking forward to it at all, because of the bad reviews.
We were very pleasantly surprised.
The food was tasty. Not 5 stars, but everyone found plenty to eat. We enjoyed the desserts. Mom and Dad ordered a drink. It was clean.
Our server was great, very attentive!
It was loud and fun, but was expected.
Glad we did it; the kids especially enjoyed it.

 

[MSLRAC]

We've eaten at Chef Mickey's 4 times and never had a good meal. It is officially off our list for awhile. Yes, they can mess up breakfast and we've seen the buffet area nasty with spilled and splattered food everywhere. Combine that with inattentive servers and rushed characters and it's just not worth it for us anymore. We'd much rather go to any of the other character breakfasts on property.

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

Nothing is REALLY bad at Disney - except maybe Tony's...

People's opinion on food varies - it's all subjective. We loved Artist Point, but a big Disney Food blog didn't care for it. The review was so uninspired that we almost canceled our ADR - something we're very glad we didn't do.

Some people just don't care for buffets and I'd rank Chef Mickey's at the bottom rung when it comes to food. We've only been there for breakfast. Look, the food wasn't anything great. Some of it was warm when it should have been hot. The offerings and quality reminded me of Golden Corral. I bet some people would read that and say "what's wrong with Golden Corral?!"

At the end of the day, you're there for the characters. If you enjoy the food, it's just another perk. Again, the food is far from torturous. I wouldn't use a dining credit (or money) on the place, but that's because we've been there and seen it. We'd rather go to Crystal Palace or Boma —but we're foodies and put the food first.

 

[Pixie Dust ✨]

You know how when you attend a toddler's birthday party, or go to Chuck E. Cheese's... you half-heartedly pick at some edible-but-not-good food, spend most of your time trying not to step on small hands/feet & leave feeling a bit sticky?

It's like that.

 

[JimmyV]

Nothing is REALLY bad at Disney - except maybe Tony's...

This. And I will add that nothing is REALLY great at Disney-except maybe Victoria & Albert's. So when you wedge Chef Mickey's into PlutoTheDog89's statement and mine, there is no reason why the restaurant should stand out among most others. If a typical WDW restaurant is a 2.5 stars (out of 4) experience, and Chef Mickey's comes in at around 1.5 stars, it isn't completely out of line with the rest. It just has the highest percentage of "under 7" kids helping themselves to the buffet and making a mockery out of the ice cream station and it can get pretty ugly at times. And if you have ever hosted a birthday party for a bunch of 5 year olds in a public place and listened to the noise level rise, and rise and rise, you will know what to expect. In the end, there is only one reason to go, and that makes it worthwhile.......