Is Tusker House going downhill?

[LongLiveRafiki]

On our last trip, TH was easily our least favorite out of the 13 restaurants we went to. We did have a bit of a wait for dinner, yet we were told we had to park the stroller and take our sleeping toddler out before they would even check us off on the list as being present. We then waited for about 30 mins before they called us to seat us. The food was all very bland. I was excited because so many people praise the vegetarian selections there and I love ethnic food, but all of the veggie and rice dishes tasted really sweet and devoid of any other real flavor. The characters took awhile. We waited for Mickey for about 20 mins after we finished eating. The character interaction overall was a little disappointing. They spent several mins with some families, but we could barely snap a quick pic before they gone with us. There are too many other restaurants to eat in Disney, so we probably won't return anytime soon.

 

[Micca]

This is so disappointing, TH has been a family favorite for lunch/dinner. Our most recent trip was in May and we loved it. It's possible the number of choices had been reduced from previous trips but the quality of the food AND the character interaction was excellent. I'm vaguely recalling that the service was good until it was time for us to pay. The server, who had been attentive and very pleasant throughout the meal, made herself scarce when it was time for her to pick up our credit card.
As a 40 yr WDW vet I agree that the quality of the food has declined over the years, but there have been some venues that have continued to please us. I hope they don't all fade away.

 

[Mazz519]

We went last December we did have to wait 30 mins for our table but the food was good and the Characters were great, we have a ADR this Dec also will let you know how it is

 

[CHEMISTSP]

I guess I will represent the minority opinion on this thread. We had an early dinner at Tusker House in late August and it was one of our favorite meals. The food was mostly good with great variety, the characters were a lot of fun and our service was fine. It was our first time here, but we are foodies and have some standards about food quality. I think maybe coming to the first seating of dinner service may have helped because everything was stocked and fresh. I loved the roasted pork here, it was one of the stand-outs of all the restaurants I went to. We went to multiple buffets & family style meals on our trip (Cape May which was just ok, Ohana which was very disappointing, Hoop De Doo which was a lot of fun) and this was our favorite. We would definitely go back on our next trip.

 

[MomOTwins]

We ate there in 2017 and 2018. We waited very long for our table both times, but nontheless had a good time and decent food in 2017. But I hated it in 2018. It felt like they crammed the tables closer together so that it was genuinely hard to get in and out of our seats for the buffet because our chairs backed up against the chairs of the table behind us. The curry was watery and pretty much everything else was just bland, and I agree with others here who have reported the selection was MUCH more limited and less interesting. The character visits were rushed, and the server was impossible to find (no refills on drinks, lunch plates never cleared before dessert, had to let my husband and kids leave after waiting 45 minutes for the check and waited another 20 minutes sitting on my own after that, so I missed the lion king show). It was easily our least favorite character meal of the trip. I think we will stick to Hollywood and Vine and Garden Grill for our meals with Mickey next time.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Tusker is sort of a mystery to me. So many people rave about it, including the hosts on the DIS Unplugged shows, but I've tried it for both breakfast and dinner and didn't see anything rave-worthy about it. If anything, we thought the dinner food was so bad that we felt ripped off and moved it to our "never again" list. We love places like Sanaa and Tiffins, so it's not a matter of us being unwilling to try different foods. It's just that the quality, cook time, and seasonings are all off in nearly everything we tried to consume. The breakfast we had there several years before was even worse. On top of bad food (and many things not replenished- even though it was just after 8am), the service and character interaction during that meal were severely lacking. I know some sources, like DFB, have noted inconsistencies and how we may hate a place they love simply because different chefs and such each day make for different levels of food experiences and maybe that's it. I had a friend visit WDW in May/June and I decided to hold my opinions ...well, at least until after their trip. She was thankful for that because she thought Tusker dinner was absolutely delicious.

 

[nkereina]

I am reading recent reviews (another forum) complaining about food quality, chaos, and very long waits to get seated (like an hour)

I always taking dining reviews with a grain of salt because, as you can see here, they vary greatly and are very subjective.

But that said, our last visit to Tusker House last August was both chaotic and took a while to get seated. This was for lunch and we were a party of 9, so it is what it is, but it took a solid 30-35 minutes after checking in a minute or two before our ADR time. Its to be expected at a place this busy. Inside, the acoustics are just loud, the restaurant is always full, and its a character meal so there's a level of chaos with characters around. Plus people getting up for the characters, getting up for the buffet, etc. and it always feels crazier with people constantly moving around.

No issue with food quality at lunch, but we did prefer breakfast. We like the first seating of the day there both because the food is fresh and the restaurant isn't at capacity yet, so usually no issues with chaos or late seatings.

 

[keahgirl8]

We had the total opposite experience last Christmas. We were trying to leave breakfast to get to the 12:00 FOLK and our waiter would not bring our check even though we asked 3 times. He kept saying we needed to see all the characters and try the lunch offerings. We finally told him if didn't bring the check, we were going to get a manager as we had somewhere to be. He got a little miffed but brought us the check. Strange how different experiences are. We have eaten here several times and it is different to us every time depending on the CM waiting on us and the food that is offered.

That's so odd to me. If I recall, they brought me the check pretty early, but sometimes servers do that at buffets. Since they're not bringing you food, they can't be sure when you are finished. I didn't feel rushed at all.

I am planning to go on my next trip and having been in a few years. I hope it is as good as I remember!

 

[disneyworldsk]

I'm sort of off topic, but I have an adr next week for three and two more people want to join me in my grp. I tried to add them on as update guest but the site just says no it's not available now if i add those people. Why can't I just add two more people? and how? should I call? We haven't eaten there in many many years so I was looking forward to it, will see based on this thread for sure. Let you all know!

 

[mlayman7]

We went in May this year and were very disappointed. First problem was we didn't get in until 30 minutes past our reservation. Second issue was once we got in the tables are literally on top of each other. There is no room for the characters. This was ridiculous how close the tables are to each other and reason we will not be back.