Le Cellier, the Whipping Boy (shortsheeted/shortsighted?) of the Dis Dining Boards?

[eliza61]

I am a foodie so it's hard for me to be objective. Grew up in my family restaurant so it's hard for me to be objective.

I think the opposite. I read all the glowing reviews about Le Cellier and could not wait to try it. I went 2X's and keep thinking "You gotta be kidding me". People post all the time about it being the "best steak" they ever had. Seriously? Where the heck are people eating at where Le Cellier is "the best". sure compared to Outback or Fridays.

It's not even the best steak at Disneyworld.
What I always find very funny is that people rave about the cheddar soup. Which while is good is generally not the reason I visit a steak house.

What I find funny is how outraged people get when you say you don't like it. LOL. It's like you short sheeted the Pope.

 

[bicker]

I am a foodie so it's hard for me to be objective.

It is equally hard for non-foodies to be objective. They're simply two different perspectives on dining - two different biases. Neither is an objective perspective.

I read all the glowing reviews about Le Cellier and could not wait to try it. I went 2X's and keep thinking "You gotta be kidding me". People post all the time about it being the "best steak" they ever had. Seriously? Where the heck are people eating at where Le Cellier is "the best". sure compared to Outback or Fridays. It's not even the best steak at Disneyworld.

I have always had the feeling that the difference was with regard to criteria. Some folks consider quantity a significant criteria for a good dining experience, and Le Cellier did tend to offer bigger steaks than other (what you and I would consider better) restaurants at WDW. They seem to have been able to justify this by purchasing cheaper cuts of meat. Back when I was eating animals, I remember how the steaks we ate at restaurants like Citricos, California Grill, Artist Point, Yachtsman Steakhouse, and especially Shula's, had superior flavor and texture as compared to those at Le Cellier.

One of the biggest transgressions I saw Le Cellier commit, with regard to steak, was when they started offering smaller portions. Any chef worth anything knows that if you want to offer a "fine" steak, just smaller, you make the length and width of the steak smaller, you do not make the steak thinner. I couldn't believe it, that one time I ordered the smaller cut, and was served this thin steak. I looked up at the server thinking, "Are you kidding? Where's Allan Funt?" The only time you'd make steaks thinner is if you really don't care about what they taste like - if their taste is not their appeal.

What I always find very funny is that people rave about the cheddar soup. Which while is good is generally not the reason I visit a steak house.

There are a lot of items offered at WDW that have developed abnormal and inappropriate (imho) followings, and Cheddar Cheese Soup is one of them: You throw enough saturated fat into something and, yes, it will be luscious. In essence, menu items like this aren't especially good in some magical way - they're good mostly because their being offered as a legitimate part of a meal serves as rationalizing a gross over-indulgence. It is far more difficult (and therefore more impressive imho) to offer a dining experience that is just as satisfying, but doesn't rely on being so unhealthy.

It's an Outback with a Canadian theme.

Otherwise known as Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse.

 

[labattblue]

What I find funny is how outraged people get when you say you don't like it. LOL. It's like you short sheeted the Pope.

 

[TDC Nala]

It's like you short sheeted the Pope.

Now that's funny.

I don't do the dining plan - gives me the freedom not to wonder about whether or not the restaurant I want to eat in is worth two credits.

And I think Big River Grill has better cheese soup. It actually tasted like cheese and not bacon and salt (although I love bacon and salt I like cheese better). That's just my opinion though, if Le Cellier has the sacred soup for you, there you go.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

While the simple-taste neanderthals like myself are fighting over ADRs to eat a slab of beef and some potatoes and then have to plan the rest of our day around that ADR we feel lucky to have...you can walk up to Morocco and Japan at your liesure and enjoy your meal.

And the cheddar cheese soup, in our opinion, is

What I find funny is how outraged people get when you say you don't like it. LOL. It's like you short sheeted the Pope.

 

[Planogirl]

People keep comparing Le Cellier to Outback. I don't agree, I've had a decent steak at Outback at a lower cost.

I don't get the allure of Le Cellier at all.

 

[TK Brown]

To each his/her own right? We have gone there several times and have always enjoyed the food and have had great service.

 

[Sassagoula Billy]

Shortsheeting the pope? Outback steakhouse? "Fancy" cuisine?

Rrriiiight. Le Cellier isn't the whipping boy of the Dis Restaurant Boards. It's the out and out joke! And for the record, I don't think it's even necessary to say whether you're a gourmet or not. That reeks of the exact kind of arrogance I meant to highlight with this thread.

So what if I eat at Le Cirque one day and Outback the next? Who's darned business is it? I rate all restaurants equally. That's why I give the same consideration to an angus burger at McDonalds as an angus burger at Bar Americain. If Mickey D's does it better, that's just too bad for Bobby Flay.

To paraphrase Patty Duke in Valley of the Dolls: Snooties, snooties, SNOOTIES!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I think Le Cellier is way better then Outback, but there are much better places for steak on property.

Hopefully with dinner becoming a two-credit meal next year, it'll get even better.

 

[BriarRosie]

I really thought Captain Jack's was the whipping boy, since most people say that it's spectacularly awful. Nine Dragons never got much love in the past, either.

But Le Cellier has a fan club. Whipping boy? Hardly. Hype turned an ordinary restaurant into a cachet of ADR success.

Big whoopin' deal.

 

[mcd2745]

I really thought Captain Jack's was the whipping boy, since most people say that it's spectacularly awful. Nine Dragons never got much love in the past, either.

But Le Cellier has a fan club. Whipping boy? Hardly. Hype turned an ordinary restaurant into a cachet of ADR success.

Big whoopin' deal.

From my very, very, limited time on here, I was actually thinking that Tony's might be the whipping/short-sheeted boy.

Another factor with Le Cellier might be this...when something becomes really popular, there is always a number of people who thinks it's the "cool" thing to bash it.

 

[eliza61]

Shortsheeting the pope? Outback steakhouse? "Fancy" cuisine?

Rrriiiight. Le Cellier isn't the whipping boy of the Dis Restaurant Boards. It's the out and out joke! And for the record, I don't think it's even necessary to say whether you're a gourmet or not. That reeks of the exact kind of arrogance I meant to highlight with this thread.

So what if I eat at Le Cirque one day and Outback the next? Who's darned business is it? I rate all restaurants equally. That's why I give the same consideration to an angus burger at McDonalds as an angus burger at Bar Americain. If Mickey D's does it better, that's just too bad for Bobby Flay.

To paraphrase Patty Duke in Valley of the Dolls: Snooties, snooties, SNOOTIES!

See outrage. LOL. How is this arrogance? No one said anyone's review was better or worst. We did say we did not understand the hype but I never said someones review was "wrong".

No one asked where you dined personally or that infered that your dining choices were better, the question was asked about Le Cellier so some of us compared it to the Outback. We were comparing quality and cost across 2 restaurants.

I believe it was you who asked "Why was Le Cellie hated", now your upset because you don't like the tone of some of the answers? Obviously you are not "all ears". Please next time state in your post exactly how you would like us to phrase our comments so as not to offend.

not sure what the heck snooties means but I'm sure I've been called worse.

 

[Sassagoula Billy]

I believe it was you who asked "Why was Le Cellie hated", now your upset because you don't like the tone of some of the answers? Obviously you are not "all ears". Please next time state in your post exactly how you would like us to phrase our comments so as not to offend.

not sure what the heck snooties means but I'm sure I've been called worse.

It means snooty and arrogant. When it comes to reviews and responses to Le Cellier here, on this board, those are the first two words that come to mind. As to my "all ears" sentiment, I don't mind differing opinions, but it's all in the game and the way you "say" it. And surely, you know all about snark.

 

[mousermerf]

Just don't forget, this is just right now - Le Cellier was not always the place we know it as:

Le Cellier has been at this location since the park opened in 1982. Originally the name was just Le Cellier rather than Le Cellier Steakhouse and it served food buffeteria style. The focus of the food choices was definitely more on Canadian dishes such as maple-syrup pie and salmon dishes. In September 1994, the restaurant closed and reopened on June 25, 1995, with a new menu featuring custom made sandwiches. This didn't last long and in 1997 the restaurant again closed, reopening as the sit-down table-service steakhouse that is currently there.

 

[HunnyJar]

Just don't forget, this is just right now - Le Cellier was not always the place we know it as:

Le Cellier has been at this location since the park opened in 1982. Originally the name was just Le Cellier rather than Le Cellier Steakhouse and it served food buffeteria style. The focus of the food choices was definitely more on Canadian dishes such as maple-syrup pie and salmon dishes. In September 1994, the restaurant closed and reopened on June 25, 1995, with a new menu featuring custom made sandwiches. This didn't last long and in 1997 the restaurant again closed, reopening as the sit-down table-service steakhouse that is currently there.

That's very true! I think my family would have been more excited to have tried Le Cellier back when it was a buffeteria rather than the steakhouse that it is now. While my husband and son love a good steak every now and then, we are more about trying food we can't normally get at home while on vacation.

 

[declansdad]

That's not clear. "The general reader" is not a normalize sample. This kind of advocacy is contagious - the term used these days is "viral". The highest rated videos on YouTube are typically the ones that people ("fervent advocates") have gotten other folks to watch and rate highly - not the ones that are necessarily the highest quality.

Yes youtube is viral but reviews in a published guide are not. How do you know that sample used by the unofficial guide is not a valid sample?

 

[bicker]

Again, "the general reader" is not a normalized sample. Normalized samples require the absence of bias from the same, i.e., "reader" and "reader who chooses to submit in a review" reflect two levels of denormalization of the sample. The fact that the information is published has no impact, whatsoever, on the normalization of the data-collection mechanism.

 

[declansdad]

Again, "the general reader" is not a normalized sample. Normalized samples require the absence of bias from the same, i.e., "reader" and "reader who chooses to submit in a review" reflect two levels of denormalization of the sample. The fact that the information is published has no impact, whatsoever, on the normalization of the data-collection mechanism.

Respondents always choose to submit there answers to a review; otherwise it would be pretty hard to get any real data. Unless you can show there was bias in the way these reviews were collected, your point isn't valid.

 

[sydneysmom]

I'm kind of curious why it seems like all of Billy's threads he starts include "_______the whipping boy of the DIS Boards". It seems as though he like to stir up controversy and negativity.

No, I personally don't think that most all things Disney are "the whipping boy" of the Dis boards. I think that SOME people have had positive AND negative experiences and choose to respond to threads requesting information.

If you only see the negative in what everyone writes, why not try to promote something POSITIVE instead of fostering negativity. It seems you like to stir the pot a bit.

Just sayin.......

 

[Sassagoula Billy]

I'm kind of curious why it seems like all of Billy's threads he starts include "_______the whipping boy of the DIS Boards". It seems as though he like to stir up controversy and negativity.

No, I personally don't think that most all things Disney are "the whipping boy" of the Dis boards. I think that SOME people have had positive AND negative experiences and choose to respond to threads requesting information.

If you only see the negative in what everyone writes, why not try to promote something POSITIVE instead of fostering negativity. It seems you like to stir the pot a bit.

Just sayin.......

I started two threads. Just two. Not every thread I've posted on the Dis follows a similar thesis. There was one, yes, ONE, about the Animal Kingdom, and one about Le Cellier. I'm not trying to stir the pot, I'm trying to get all of the venom for either one into ONE thread. And I'm naturally curious as to why there is such venom on either side of the fence. I don't exclude myself, otherwise, why would I post it? But it's nice to read details instead of caustic remarks peppered all over the place. You may not recognize it, but I do, because I'm bonkers when it comes to details.

And as to your second point, most of my best friends are positive topics! I love positive topics. I love them a la carte! I love them as part of a complete menu. My question to you is, if every post I'm starting has to do with a scapegoat of the boards, why on Earth are you opening them?