Large parties at Le Cellier (or any TS)

[MichellT]

We'll be a party of 9 on DDP this September and many of us would like to eat at Le Cellier. Personally, I was very turned-off by my last experience at Le Cellier (group of 7 on DDP) even though I have loved it in the past.

Is there any reason to believe that large parties are not accomodated well at Le Cellier? If you've gone there with a large party, have they tried to separate you into more than one table even if you had a reservation all together? They did try to separate us and we had 4 little kids with 3 adults, so no pleasant split there, and they made us wait forever.

Also our service was horrible but like I said, we've had good experiences there before. I'm scared to book this again but have had others in my group (not the same folks as the bad experience trip) ask to go to "that steak place in Canada."

While I'm on the topic, are there any places folks would recommend or disrecommend for large groups? We have 6 adults, 1 child and 2 infants.

Thanks so much!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Your best bet is to make your reservation for as close to the restaurant's opening as possible. That is the only way you can be sure of being seated at either tables pushed together or adjoining tables.

 

[bicker]

Most restaurants (in the country, not just WDW) accommodate smaller parties (4 people) better than the accommodate larger parties. The fewer tables in the restaurant, the more difficult it is to accommodate larger parties. The mathematics of it will always work out that you end up waiting longer than a smaller party would wait. We learned out lesson about this at Brown Derby during our last visit, and that's a larger restaurant than Le Cellier.

Beyond aiming for dinner at the opening time for the restaurant, I would aim for larger restaurants, or alternatively, restaurants that are naturally family style, such as Biergarten and Teppanyaki.

 

[Milobaby]

My family- 16 of us-were there 1 month ago and they put us all at one table at Le Cellier. We all loved it-our server was great and the food was outstanding.

 

[RedRuby]

We'll be a party of 9 on DDP this September and many of us would like to eat at Le Cellier. Personally, I was very turned-off by my last experience at Le Cellier (group of 7 on DDP) even though I have loved it in the past.

Is there any reason to believe that large parties are not accomodated well at Le Cellier? Thanks so much!

No, in fact we had our (Canadian) Thanksgiving dinner with friends on our October trip at Le Cellier- we were a large group and had a good time. We were seated together - which was a bit of a feat unto itself since we had four children in high chairs (in theory ), another child in a regular chair and 8 adults! All our meals came out together, and our requests for drinks and extra plates for the kids were all accomodated.

I think the only glitch in the meal were with the diners themselves -- one set of twins (not quite age 2) had to leave early 'cause they hadn't napped, and another set got restless at the end, too. The five year old felt especially spoiled because he was treated like 'one of the adults' and got his own meal including a gummy-worm-infested chocolate dessert!

We dined in various groupings that week, from one buffet for two kids/one adult, to a breakfast for 30 people (20 adults, 10 kids?), and didn't have a problem once we arrived. Getting the ARs was a challenge, though. Sometimes we had to make reservations which indicated we wouldn't be guaranteed tables together. Even then, we were always seated together.

 

[Ginamarie]

We often go with a large group and have never really had a problem with our dining. Some restaurants have an easier time putting tables together than others, but most of them were able to seat us all together.

Some of the best we've found for large groups were Alfredos, Cape May Cafe (long booths are great for large groups), Prime Time (made a reaaaaaaally long table for all of us), and Rose and Crown (even though they always say we'll be at seperate tables they find a way to push a bunch of tables together).

 

[aaroncg]

I just made my ADR"S last week for end of aug through sep. we are a party of 7 ( 2 adults and 5 kids, 9, 12,14,15,16) i couldnt get alot of the times I wanted cause they said they dont have tables for that size and at boma and CRT i had to get 2 tables. I called at 180 days out and was suprised we had to get 2 tables even at boma. at chef mickeys i wanted a 11:30 time and the lastest for that many people would be 10:15. At 50's prime time i wanted around 5:30 for right after the parade so we can eat and get seats for fantasmic. well the only times they have for a large party is 5:00 or 6:45. UGH!!!!!! I didnt think that a party of 7 is THAT large. I really do hope that they try and seat us toghter at CRT. It is our 1st time and what to enjoy the magic of eating in the castel with my family.

 

[Ginamarie]

I just made my ADR"S last week for end of aug through sep. we are a party of 7 ( 2 adults and 5 kids, 9, 12,14,15,16) i couldnt get alot of the times I wanted cause they said they dont have tables for that size and at boma and CRT i had to get 2 tables. I called at 180 days out and was suprised we had to get 2 tables even at boma. at chef mickeys i wanted a 11:30 time and the lastest for that many people would be 10:15. At 50's prime time i wanted around 5:30 for right after the parade so we can eat and get seats for fantasmic. well the only times they have for a large party is 5:00 or 6:45. UGH!!!!!! I didnt think that a party of 7 is THAT large. I really do hope that they try and seat us toghter at CRT. It is our 1st time and what to enjoy the magic of eating in the castel with my family.

Don't sweat it too much! Oftentimes we're told that we need two or more tables for our group size and we've never had it be an issue. August is a very busy time of year, which is why the ADRs may be limited. Also, you can always keep calling the dining reservations number and seeing if something opens up at a better time for you (a lot of people change their dining reservations along the way). Boma has a lot of seating, but not many large tables, but you should be able to sit together (they have some long booths and some tables that can be pushed together).

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

For our party of 8, we have a mixed bag. Sometimes, we're seated together. At other places we were told that it's not guaranteed that we'll be together, but they'll see what they can do. Splitting us up won't be too bad though because the youngest is 19(not counting the 9 month old). I think in the places where they had to split us up, they're going to put us as close together as they can.

 

[lynninpa]

I just made my ADR"S last week for end of aug through sept. I really do hope that they try and seat us toghter at CRT. It is our 1st time and what to enjoy the magic of eating in the castel with my family.

Party of 9 here. Just made our ADR's, too, for end Of August-Sept. (08/27 to 09/02)
It will also be our first time, too, at CRT. Even though there is no guantees, I also hope we can be all together at one table for our ADRs-especially CRT!

 

[SuBeat]

Last June, we went with a party of 13. Le Cellier was one of several restaurants that did manage to put us all at one table, and also provided excellent service. We will be returning there this summer with a party of 9. Chef Mickey's, 'Ohana, and Donald's Breakfastasaurus also seated us all together. CRT and LTT split us with 2 tables, but they were so close together it made no difference...and was kind of nice to have a "grown up" table and a "kids" table.

We were a little disappointed with 50's Primetime though, not only did they split us into 3 tables, those tables were in 2 different rooms. I'd seen large parties here in the past and the CMs there always seemed to have a lot of fun with the big groups, so I know it can be done. The older kids in our group had a great time, but we didn't get to share in it since they were the ones in the other room. But, we knew we were taking the chance when we booked.