Is Tony's really THAT bad?!?

[333disneymom]

I think certain food is better than others here. If you want real Italian, I would recommend Tutto Italia, however, Tony's does have some decent options.

This will be our 3rd straight trip eating at Tony's. They had the third best steak I have had at WDW and my fiance always gets the Seafood Diavolo and she LOVES it. She picked out 3 places to go in Sept and that was her first choice.

My husband and I always order these two items too. He loves Seafood Diavolo and his only request every year is to go to Tony's and Cape May Cafe. I order the steak and have no complaints. It's not the best I ever had, but it was good.

 

[colinsdad]

Tony's makes the Olive Garden seem like Victoria & Alberts.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I'm trying to add some new ADRs to our upcoming trip...kind of stuck in a rut with our favorites...thought I'd try Tony's after seeing a good review on here...but went to Trip Advisor (love that sight!!) and it just gets terrible reviews!!! I really don't want to waste and ADR...especially since it's really not free dining for us this time...we had to upgrade to the reg. plan since we are staying in a value and it really wasn't that cheap. I'd love thoughts of those who have eaten there recently...would love to see a picture food TR too!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you like your sauces rather bland and don't expect any pizazz at all, and you're not adventurous, then you might like Tony's. If, however, you expect some spices in your sauces, and want something other than plain, Tony's is probably not for you. As for the service and other things, it's rather inconsistent. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good. Tony's consistently gets reviews toward the bottom end of all the table service places on the entire property.

 

[DisneyMom2Boyz]

I don't know about the others but, if I go to a Italian restaurant I get Italian dishes that usually have a sauce not a steak. However everyone has different taste. Why go for Italian and order steak!!!!

 

[OKW Lover]

Tony's dining ratings here on the DIS are among the lowest of all the WDW restaurants. There's probably a reason for that. You may want to read the dining reviews here when trying to decide.

 

[eeyoreforever]

We love Tonys and eat here every trip, usually twice. We have tried the shrimp scampi, salmon, steak, and spaghetti. I personally don't care for the spaghetti - like others have said, it is bland. But the other dishes have all been excellent. I'm sure we've tried a few other things as well but these are the ones we always come back to.

I don't know if they still have the eggplant dish on the lunch menu but it was always really good.

 

[goofyintoronto]

Tony's makes the Olive Garden seem like Victoria & Alberts.

hahahahahahahahaha OMG hilarious! So true too! LMAO!

I don't know about the others but, if I go to a Italian restaurant I get Italian dishes that usually have a sauce not a steak. However everyone has different taste. Why go for Italian and order steak!!!!

What does that tell you about Tony's then? It SUCKS! They cannot make good (edible) italian food. Clearly if ppl are avoiding (or recommending) they avoid italian dishes or anything with tomato sauce in it, its not a very good italian restaurant. The food is HORRENDOUS. Now perhaps if i had the steak i'd be singing a different tune. But i really dont wanna go back and find out!

I agree with the pp who said the atmosphere is like a fast food joint. Terrible atmosphere in that place.

 

[monkeyknuckler]

The only one time we ate at Tony's, it took an hour to seat us (of course we had an ADR), the service was horrible, and the food was awful. We would have been better off eating cold Chef Boyardee out of the can.

 

[DisneysPrincess25]

i have never eaten there. but i have always wanted to just because i love lady and the tramp. but now i know to stay far away lol

 

[Eeyore98]

Weren't we posting to another version of this exact thread just a few days ago? Oh, yes, yes we were...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2862014&page=6

For whatever it's worth, my opinion:

- I wouldn't choose it over LTT lunch, but would choose it over the family style LTT dinner.
- The atmosphere is NOT "like fast food", but is like a casual sit-down place. It doesn't feel like a signature, but doesn't feel like a QS either. We enjoyed watching the evening parade through the windows in the front area. We did not have bad service.
- Stay away from the marinara sauce.
- The cheese garlic bread (w/tomatoes and basil) is good.
- The steak is good.
- Others have said the calamari is good (I'm allergic to seafood, so I have no first-hand knowledge there).

 

[MolonLabe]

Only been to Tony's once, May 2011.

My wife and I both got the lamb shank and they were very good.

Service was good and my girls loved the Lady and Tramp theme.

After booking our ADR I saw negative reviews and got worried but at that point it was really too late to change things.

I'm glad we went, it was fun and the food good.

I don't recall what my daughters had. I believe they each had pizza... we booked a late reservation and requested the patio so we could watch the parade. It was great.

 

[rentayenta]

We like Tony's. We disliked CRT and Chef Mickey's so clearly we don't agree with the masses.

 

[wendylovesdisney]

yes. It is the worst place at Disney. I ate 2 different trips in case the first time it was a fluke and it was absolutely awful food!

 

[Disney_Princess83]

We ate there a few weeks ago and I'm surprised by the negative reviews. e found the place great. We had a lunch reservation for 2:15PM. I have many allergies so I spoke to the chef before ordering. I settled on the Spaghetti and Meatballs (well it IS Lady and the Tramp themed!) and it was wonderful. It wasn't authentic Italian but the portion size was good for the cost, service was fast. We weren't rushed but caught the 3PM parade right outside.

 

[eliza61]

I'd NEVER order anything with pasta sauce on it there.

Which pretty much says a lot. An italian restuarant that you can't get an entree with sauce on it!

OP, Avoid Tonys at all cost. On no planet would the stuff they serve ever be considered italian. Let me put it another way, we went one time with my 7 year old niece, she took a bit of the spaghetti and promptly spit it out.

Went back another time and my son had chicken parmigna that was burnt on the bottom and I mean burnt, "as in the bottom of a caste iron skillet".

I love the decor and the theme but it is pretty much the only restaurant that I would describe as Nasty.

 

[goofyintoronto]

We like Tony's. We disliked CRT and Chef Mickey's so clearly we don't agree with the masses.

Chef Mickeys is pretty awful too in my opinion. Not nearly as bad as Tony's, but its not that great either.

Which pretty much says a lot. An italian restuarant that you can't get an entree with sauce on it!

OP, Avoid Tonys at all cost. On no planet would the stuff they serve ever be considered italian. Let me put it another way, we went one time with my 7 year old niece, she took a bit of the spaghetti and promptly spit it out.

Went back another time and my son had chicken parmigna that was burnt on the bottom and I mean burnt, "as in the bottom of a caste iron skillet".

I love the decor and the theme but it is pretty much the only restaurant that I would describe as Nasty.

Totally agree with everything here. I wanted to add, even with a good view of the parade, its still not worth going to IMHO.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Tony's was the biggest disppointment of our trip. I went into it thinking it couldn't be that bad. While it wasn't awful, it was nothing special, and certainly wasn't worth the OOP cost. Before we went, I remember reading reviews that compared it to Chef Boyardee or the Olive Garden. In my opinion, neither comparison is accurate. It's not nearly as bad as Chef Boyardee, but not nearly as good as the Olive Garden (and I don't like the Olive Garden, so don't take that as a compliment). It's low quality Americanized "Italian" food in a cute setting. The service was pretty poor, and it seemed like a high price to pay to sit in a restaurant inspired by a beloved Disney movie.

Spend your money elsewhere. You'll be happy you did.

 

[eliza61]

LOL. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around anyone running an Italian restaurant but you can't order a dish with Marinara sauce because the sauce is so bad.

Isn't that like some crime against nature? A break in the time-space continuum?

 

[Huff]

Went back another time and my son had chicken parmigna that was burnt on the bottom and I mean burnt, "as in the bottom of a caste iron skillet".

Thats exactly what I got at Via Napoli. Burnt chicken parmigna. But everyone raves about how great Via Napoli is. Different people have different experiences on any given day. I've had great food and service everytime at Tony's. Not the most fantastic Italian, but good none the less.

 

[flyergrad09]

I ate at Tony's in December and it wasn't awful, but I'd much rather eat at the Olive Garden. Never in my life have I had a plate of spaghetti and meatballs that I would describe as dry, but now I have. The service was kind of so-so too. I remember that we had to wait a loooong time to get refills on our pop, but that our waiter asked us for our dessert orders as soon as our main entrees were brought out, and dessert arrived long before we were even close to ready for it! The only bright spot in my opinion was dessert. I ordered the tiramisu, and it was SO good! It also had Lady & the Tramp in chocolate sauce on the plate, which I thought was a nice touch.