Le Cellier is losing their edge

[karenmason]

We have dined at Le Cellier for dinner at least once per year for the last ten.
Had dinner there again Friday night. They are losing their appeal for us.
Portions are getting very tiny and it seems that presentation is becoming the focus. We enjoyed Le Cellier much better when they were less well known. Anybody else agree?

 

[webmomom]

I never liked Le Celleir. First time we went we waited over and hour to be seated with ADR"S. The cheese soup was good and the pretzle bread was good, that from it went downhill. I ordered the stufed Filet and I had to send back three times. I asked for it be medium well. It first came out was bloody. That is not medium well. I so sent it back. Second time it came it was bloody. Third time came you guessed it, it was bloody, I asked for my money back ( as were on CP package which of course pre-paid) they told me no. They could give me dessert trio. I told them I was hungry basically sorry and brought me out the dessert trio. At this point I asked for manager and she said same thing, NO. When I got back home I called my Credit Card and told what happend and they took the charge off my card. I never went again.

 

[Fast Pass]

We didn't have problems with the portions but we did have problems with the slow service. I just don't understand the appeal of this place,it is crowded,noisy and has low lighting. I also think it cost too much money! I was on the free dining last year and thank God I was because there would be no way I would spend that much money on such an awful place.(The bill came up close to 200.00)I also believe that the bread they serve is better used to build a new themed pavillion than for eating. It was so hard my DF couldn't even cut it!

 

[LindaR]

We've been a few times. It's a "take it or leave it" place for us. If we are in Epcot and in the mood for steak, we will go there. We absolutely despise the cheese soup! It's salty and you can really taste the beer - YUCK! DD17 and I don't use salt and don't care for the taste of beer so we find this unappealing.

Sometimes a place (like CRT) gets so much hype and people think they MUST eat there so they can say that they ate there!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is one of those places!

 

[DisOrBust]

We are going for the first time in November.

 

[spaceoddity]

I ate there for the first time 3 weeks ago, it was great. Great service, was not slow. The cheese soup was very good, the bread was very good. I really liked the pretzel bread. I got the 7oz filet and it melted in my mouth, and was cooked to the way i asked. I will go again next trip

 

[8caliace]

We just ate there last week and for us it was still very enjoyable. Service was excellent, food was very, very good.

 

[jackmac]

I've taken LeCellier off of my list of places to go. It's too crowded, the tables are too close together, service is spotty and the food is nothing special. I believe that it has become a victim of it's own success. I'm never on the dining plan (use DDE) so it has no appeal. LeCellier has become the most over-rated restaurant at WDW.

Years back it was a nice restaurant, good service, reasonably priced, friendly atmosphere, good food. Then it became the best value and "Darling of the DDP" and the rest is unfortunate history.

 

[mod22]

Just went on the first week of June and the food and service were excellent.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Going for the first time this Dec, I hope we will not be disappointed.

At last years F&W we sampled the cheese soup and although it was rich it was the soooo good!!

 

[DizWacko]

I agree with the OP .. we were down in January. The service was nothing short of abysmal ... waited 45 minutes to be seated (with ADR), very slow response from our waitress just trying to get drink refills (we were a table of 2). All and all, we waited almost an hour from the time of order to actually getting our entrees. We were at Le Cellier almost 2.5 hours from the time we arrived for our ADR to the time we paid the bill.

I will say however that the food was very very good.

 

[jezebella]

LALALALALALALA.....Don't be telling me bad things about this place now! I've made ADR's for our honeymoon as a direct result from the raves about it on here!

 

[ceecee]

We ate there 2 times during our visit last year and DH insists we go again. The second time the service was awful! I had to hunt down a fork while our food was getting cold. DD ordered a drink with the light up cube and since they didn't have it brought her a Root Beer float instead. (we could have done w/out the extra sugar). We also had a long wait each time even with ADR. The steak however was delicious but very small! Like most French rest. Presentation is great portion size is small. But we aren't big eaters so it worked for us.

 

[TigerKat]

I admit I'm getting concerned here. I too made ressies based on all the rave reviews, but the thing that concerns me is the portion size. DH & DS are big meat eaters and from the pics posted they do look small.

 

[grinningghost]

I'm going to pretend I didn't read this thread.

All I've heard for years on this board is how great Le Cellier is - so I finally booked it for July. Now I'm actually even more intrigued to go there - just to see how it turns out for us.

I'm most concerned about getting bad service. Dark, cramped, that's not an issue for me. When you go in July, dark is a welcome thing - anything to feel cooler.

 

[johnnyh14]

We are going there on the 26th and already booked it. From reading the rest of the dis boards it sounded great.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[ElizabethB]

If they are serving smaller portions and focusing more on presentation, we may just try it again. Starting to sound more like our kind of place!

 

[keishashadow]

If they are serving smaller portions and focusing more on presentation, we may just try it again. Starting to sound more like our kind of place!

agree, this is not an "all you can eat buffet". Think the portion sizes are normal but, not excessive. Guess it depends on what you're looking for but, with DP including appetizer & dessert; we've neve left hungry.

I, for one, would rather have a moderate portion of excellently prepared aged beef than a slab of tough meat any day of the week...quality over quantity!

 

[jenjersnap]

We had the worst service of my entire life at Le Cellier. In fact, it is the family joke - if you are slow doing anything, you are "doin' a (server's name)". It was abundantly clear that our poor service was due to being on a meal plan (the DDP's predecessor, the Silver plan) and a relatively small group. He had two other tables around us - a group of 4 adults and another group of 6 - who received fantastic service. We had to have another server find the guy just to pay our bill and leave. I should have asked for a manager but we were in a hurry to get our two boys back to the hotel for naps.

The food was good. Portions were fine.

 

[rcraw45425]

Our first time, several years back, was wonderful. The server kept raving about the Prime beef, saying it was similar to Kobe, etc. Our steaks were fork tender and so to die for. The last two times have been like the OP and others have mentioned. Extermely poor slow service (no DP either). Refills, what refills? Had to ask three times for an extra plate for DD, so she could have some of my steak since there was no child's steak. We were very disppointed and have not returned since the last bad experience. Shame too because the first time was very good. Also, last two times there has been no mention of Prime beef either, although the price did not go down any