Le Cellier

[Aurora0427]

We had lunch at Le Cellier last Thursday, 10/29. We'd never eaten there before, but popped in for an early lunch. It seems to get dogged on these boards, but we loved it. I ordered the bison steak cooked medium rare. It was cooked perfectly and more flavorful than the filet had by my mom- although her filet WAS great. The bison was just even better. She and I had the cheddar cheese soup- it wasn't what I was expecting but still very good. The only thing we didn't like was my husband's salad. It was basically just lettuce- nothing special. We had wonderful service- friendly, attentive, and well paced. It's pretty pricey, but the steaks were great. If you're on the fence because of what you've read here, I'd go and check out Le Cellier for yourself.

 

[tikkipoo]

I was listening to a podcast this week and there were like 4 people talking about one restaurant - they all ate together. Between the 4 of them I couldn't decipher if the restaurant was crap or if it was great. You never know what expectations people are basing their reviews on. Some are justified bad reviews and some are just people being crabby I think.

I am so glad yours was a good experience!

 

[BDL]

Aurora... Next time you get the cheddar soup, you have to make sure you save some pretzel bread (or, in my case, ask for thirds) just for the dunking. Mmmmmmm

 

[saskdw]

We had lunch at Le Cellier last Thursday, 10/29. We'd never eaten there before, but popped in for an early lunch. It seems to get dogged on these boards, but we loved it. I ordered the bison steak cooked medium rare. It was cooked perfectly and more flavorful than the filet had by my mom- although her filet WAS great. The bison was just even better. She and I had the cheddar cheese soup- it wasn't what I was expecting but still very good. The only thing we didn't like was my husband's salad. It was basically just lettuce- nothing special. We had wonderful service- friendly, attentive, and well paced. It's pretty pricey, but the steaks were great. If you're on the fence because of what you've read here, I'd go and check out Le Cellier for yourself.

When Le Cellier became 2 TS credits on the dining plan it became the favorite whipping post on DIS. It's the cool thing to do to bash it.

My family loves the place. It's one of the must do's for us and the one ADR everyone wants to know when it is. Glad you enjoyed it!!

 

[Aurora0427]

Aurora... Next time you get the cheddar soup, you have to make sure you save some pretzel bread (or, in my case, ask for thirds) just for the dunking. Mmmmmmm

I ate an entire basket of pretzel bread.....

 

[eliza61]

When Le Cellier became 2 TS credits on the dining plan it became the favorite whipping post on DIS. It's the cool thing to do to bash it.

My family loves the place. It's one of the must do's for us and the one ADR everyone wants to know when it is. Glad you enjoyed it!!

I don't think it's about being cool at all, I think it is simply that folks don't think its worth the money. nI think Le cellier is vastly over hyped. It's simply ok. definitely not the best steak on site.

one thing i always say, when you go to a steakhoise the best thing should not be the soup. lol just me

Op glad you had a good meal

 

[piccolopat]

Anyone else remember Le Cellier in the early days? You would get your food cafeteria style and they had the best prime rib, easily shareable. The tables were not packed in either and you could enjoy a meal without feeling like everyone was on top of you. You also didn't need reservations. We did plenty of walk ups with waits that never exceeded 30 minutes.

 

[Aurora0427]

I don't think it's about being cool at all, I think it is simply that folks don't think its worth the money. nI think Le cellier is vastly over hyped. It's simply ok. definitely not the best steak on site.

one thing i always say, when you go to a steakhoise the best thing should not be the soup. lol just me

Op glad you had a good meal

Well, in this case the steak was definitely better than the soup! We live in Texas, I'm very particular about my steak! I will say Pappas Bros here at home is better! For us the DDP isn't a factor... we didn't do it this trip and when we do we try and avoid signatures because I think most of them aren't worth two credits. The only exception being back in the old days before kids when we'd do the Deluxe DDP! I think overall I preferred the soups and sides at Yachtsman but the bison steak at Le Cellier was better than the filet I had at Yachtsman on a prior trip.

 

[saskdw]

I don't think it's about being cool at all, I think it is simply that folks don't think its worth the money. nI think Le cellier is vastly over hyped. It's simply ok. definitely not the best steak on site.

one thing i always say, when you go to a steakhoise the best thing should not be the soup. lol just me

Op glad you had a good meal

You're entitled to your opinion.

Last trip the steak and service at LC was better than the steak we had at Yachtsman a few days later. It was also better than the Bison we had for Christmas dinner at Artist Point. The steak I had at BOG was a joke compared to LC.

 

[eastendlights]

Glad you enjoyed it! We love it and eat there every year. We have never used the dining plan so whether it was 1 or 2 credits never affected us but I am sure the menu prices have increased just like everything else in Disney. While I wouldn't say it is comparable price wise/quality wise to real world restaurants, it does fall in line with other signature Disney establishments like Hollywood Brown Derby and Citricos.

As always, it is truly a matter of opinion. We don't care for California Grill since the rehab and many people love it!

 

[vettegirl]

We have always enjoyed our meals at LC. I plan on having lunch there next month on my solo adventures.

 

[eliza61]

You're entitled to your opinion.

Last trip the steak and service at LC was better than the steak we had at Yachtsman a few days later. It was also better than the Bison we had for Christmas dinner at Artist Point. The steak I had at BOG was a joke compared to LC.

Very true and that's pretty much all any of us can do but I know I definitely don't give a review to be "cool".
For the money they charge for a family of 4, I'm definitely not saying my opinion to be cool,on an anonymous chat.

I'm glad you enjoyed the meal. mine was I said just ok, I wouldn't recommend it at two dining credits

 

[goofyintoronto]

I don't think it's about being cool at all, I think it is simply that folks don't think its worth the money. I think Le cellier is vastly over hyped. It's simply ok. definitely not the best steak on site.

one thing i always say, when you go to a steakhoise the best thing should not be the soup. lol just me

Op glad you had a good meal

Lol. I agree 100%!! LC is very overhyped. Mind you, I havent eaten here since the refurb. But back when it was 1TS credit it was THE place to eat...I didnt care for it, and I didnt hide how mediocre it was when someone asked for an opinion...boy did I get some tongue lashing on this site because of it. People on these boards were passionate about LC, they'd shun anyone who dare trash talk LC. Now its the opposite. People went from praising this place to bashing it. Which is amazing. But I dont think people bash it to be cool. They're giving an opinion, thats just how it is.

Very true and that's pretty much all any of us can do but I know I definitely don't give a review to be "cool".
For the money they charge for a family of 4, I'm definitely not saying my opinion to be cool,on an anonymous chat.

I'm glad you enjoyed the meal. mine was I said just ok, I wouldn't recommend it at two dining credits

I wouldnt recommend it either, not at 2 TS or if by paying cash. And its true, there's something to be said about a place when most people mostly rave about the soup!

 

[Jetta8300]

From 3 trips now, and reading lots of reviews from these boards beforehand, what I have gathered is that people a lot of times base their reviews on whether its "worth" 2 dining credits, "worth" the price, lives up to their high hyped expectations, and also how they compare it to itself like 10 years ago, which I don't think is fair to someone who may have never been before. Anytime a place doubles their prices people will be upset, and many people just can't look past that.

I wouldn't honestly read too much into these reviews. Some places people love, we have not much, and vice versa. People go in with low expectations and are usually pleasantly surprised. And when people go in with high expectations usually it doesn't live up to the extreme hype. We will be dining for the first time at Le Cellier on our next trip and are just going in with an open mind. I'm sure it will be wonderful.

Sanaa? Not that great in our opinion. But people go in with such low expectations a lot of times it gets rave reviews. Ohana regularly gets trashed due to the hype.

 

[eliza61]

From 3 trips now, and reading lots of reviews from these boards beforehand, what I have gathered is that people a lot of times base their reviews on whether its "worth" 2 dining credits, "worth" the price, lives up to their high hyped expectations, and also how they compare it to itself like 10 years ago, which I don't think is fair to someone who may have never been before. Anytime a place doubles their prices people will be upset, and many people just can't look past that.

I wouldn't honestly read too much into these reviews. Some places people love, we have not much, and vice versa. People go in with low expectations and are usually pleasantly surprised. And when people go in with high expectations usually it doesn't live up to the extreme hype. We will be dining for the first time at Le Cellier on our next trip and are just going in with an open mind. I'm sure it will be wonderful.

Sanaa? Not that great in our opinion. But people go in with such low expectations a lot of times it gets rave reviews. Ohana regularly gets trashed due to the hype.

??? every time you spend money Jetta you are determining the "worth" of the item. You buy a pair a jeans, you make a decision on how they will be used and the asking price. Unless you are Oprah or Bill gates, most people cannot randomly, willy nilly spend without thought.

I'll admit that if you charge me 50-100 per person for a meal, I think there should be a distinct difference in a 12 dollar steak and a 50 dollar steak and if you double your prices I fully admit that I have an higher expectation. I think that if you charge me 200 for a pair of designer jeans they should be "better" than a pair of 17 dollar Walmart jeans in some way.

Personally I travel a lot and walt disney is just about the only place where people can get charged vast amounts of money and then turn around and will say "oh I didn't expect a good meal". Why go out to dinner? seriously? You actually go to a restaurant with the expectation that it will be bad?

So I will agree with you, when the price of gas doubled, I got upset. when you charge me twice as much and deliver the same or lower quality stuff, it upsets me.

I enjoy reading dining reviews, I guess I'm weird, I'm on a limit budget and so I want to get the best bang for my buck. If I read reviews and 75% of the people say it's just ok but not worth the money that will make me pause.
I don't make reservations with the intent of having a lousy/mediocre meal especially not TS.

 

[Jetta8300]

??? every time you spend money Jetta you are determining the "worth" of the item. You buy a pair a jeans, you make a decision on how they will be used and the asking price. Unless you are Oprah or Bill gates, most people cannot randomly, willy nilly spend without thought.

I'll admit that if you charge me 50-100 per person for a meal, I think there should be a distinct difference in a 12 dollar steak and a 50 dollar steak and if you double your prices I fully admit that I have an higher expectation. I think that if you charge me 200 for a pair of designer jeans they should be "better" than a pair of 17 dollar Walmart jeans in some way.

Personally I travel a lot and walt disney is just about the only place where people can get charged vast amounts of money and then turn around and will say "oh I didn't expect a good meal". Why go out to dinner? seriously? You actually go to a restaurant with the expectation that it will be bad?

So I will agree with you, when the price of gas doubled, I got upset. when you charge me twice as much and deliver the same or lower quality stuff, it upsets me.

I enjoy reading dining reviews, I guess I'm weird, I'm on a limit budget and so I want to get the best bang for my buck. If I read reviews and 75% of the people say it's just ok but not worth the money that will make me pause.
I don't make reservations with the intent of having a lousy/mediocre meal especially not TS.

My point is, that I gather from most reviews MOST people do NOT think they are being served a $12 steak. I have seen MANY good reviews on Le Cellier, especially on Trip Advisor, and other websites that are not the DIS boards. (there is life outside of the DIS boards you know...) People on the DIS boards are more bias in their opinion because they frequent disney travelers, and are comparing the restaurant to when it was half the price. And if they had a good steak before at Le Cellier when it was 1 credit, and a good steak now that it is 2 credits, they are still not going to be happy that it's double the price, even if they had a good steak. (And it's probably the SAME steak served at Citricos that was ALWAYS $50 so nobody cares there, because there wasn't a price hike). I will be the judge of whether or not I eat a steak that is as good as Jiko, Citricos, or the Cali Grill, not leave it up to a bunch of people that are disenchanted by the price change, when I never ate there before the price change. So it is my personal opinion based on many years reading message boards, that I will not make a decision based on a bunch of people who are disappointed with a restaurant based on other reasons than the actual food quality. And this has served me very well over the last 7-8 years of traveling, to many places other than Disney as well.

Jiko gets rave reviews, and the first trip to Disney I ate there and it was the worst meal of the trip. We got their "famous" filet, and that week they had gotten rid of the mac and cheese that was talked about. I ordered it anyway with the veggies and the steak was all chewy and sinew. So it was probably just my steak that was bad. I wouldn't tell others "don't go there" because I had a bad steak. It was not worth $50 to us but we are going to try it again this trip.

I think it's hilarious that people compare Tony's Town Square to Chef Boyarde. Hilarious. Either those people have zero taste buds or have never had the canned stuff. Tony's is not good by any means, but it's more like Olive Garden with a chunky sweet sauce. Chef Boyarde tastes like tomato paste mixed with glue. Not remotely the same and I'm glad we tried Tony's. It wasn't spectacular, but not nearly as bad as some people report.

 

[eliza61]

My point is, that I gather from most reviews MOST people do NOT think they are being served a $12 steak. I have seen MANY good reviews on Le Cellier, especially on Trip Advisor, and other websites that are not the DIS boards. (there is life outside of the DIS boards you know...) People on the DIS boards are more bias in their opinion because they frequent disney travelers, and are comparing the restaurant to when it was half the price. And if they had a good steak before at Le Cellier when it was 1 credit, and a good steak now that it is 2 credits, they are still not going to be happy that it's double the price, even if they had a good steak. (And it's probably the SAME steak served at Citricos that was ALWAYS $50 so nobody cares there, because there wasn't a price hike). I will be the judge of whether or not I eat a steak that is as good as Jiko, Citricos, or the Cali Grill, not leave it up to a bunch of people that are disenchanted by the price change, when I never ate there before the price change. So it is my personal opinion based on many years reading message boards, that I will not make a decision based on a bunch of people who are disappointed with a restaurant based on other reasons than the actual food quality. And this has served me very well over the last 7-8 years of traveling, to many places other than Disney as well.

Jiko gets rave reviews, and the first trip to Disney I ate there and it was the worst meal of the trip. We got their "famous" filet, and that week they had gotten rid of the mac and cheese that was talked about. I ordered it anyway with the veggies and the steak was all chewy and sinew. So it was probably just my steak that was bad. I wouldn't tell others "don't go there" because I had a bad steak. It was not worth $50 to us but we are going to try it again this trip.

I think it's hilarious that people compare Tony's Town Square to Chef Boyarde. Hilarious. Either those people have zero taste buds or have never had the canned stuff. Tony's is not good by any means, but it's more like Olive Garden with a chunky sweet sauce. Chef Boyarde tastes like tomato paste mixed with glue. Not remotely the same and I'm glad we tried Tony's. It wasn't spectacular, but not nearly as bad as some people report.

Gotcha,

I admit, I read reviews. I try to get an overall feel of a place. I'm the opposite, I really hate having a bad meal and I really hate wasting money. I wish I had listened to the reviewers with Tony's. It was horrible. IMO when 75% of reviews are telling me "beware", lol that's some thing to think about. sorry but I don't think 75-80% of dissers are panning a restaurant to be "cool". was it chef boyardee? No but there is a whole rang of "terrible" between canned and olive garden. was it a waste of my money and more importantly my time? Without a doubt. would I recommend it? not unless there was no other place open in Orlando and I was dying of hunger.

So if I a meal is over priced and just ok, I feel like I've wasted my money. It's hard for me to separate the two. So yes, I admit I will give a review that includes the price.

Great current example.

BOG breakfast.
We did it,it was something to try once but the food is mediocre (this is just breakfast, I haven't had the dinner menu but heard it was much better) . you do it for the experience of eating in the castle but it is way overpriced. I simply cannot separate the cost from the food. I have two sons 6 ft tall and college football players. LOL 20 bucks for a donut with sprinkles on it??? I don't care if you added some banana slices. it's a 1.29 donut. LOL.

Not sure if I agree with the underline for that reason. Like I said, I do have expectations. with food, with hotel rooms and with just about any merchandise.

If I'm looking for a hotel room in Paris, and they are charging 400/night. Yes, I want to hear from reviews that it was worth that kind of outlay. If they are charging me 400 bucks and the large percentage of the reviews say it's a Hampton inn type place, I don't really care if the folks found it comfortable. I'm looking elsewhere. no way am I'm paying double the price for something that I can get cheaper.

it's all good, different strokes as the saying goes. but I know me and many others do want to know in the review if we are getting a good value. as I said before my funds are not unlimited. so I need to know that if you raised the price of that steak, you also raised the quality. lol, I apologize I just can't pay double for the same thing even if it was "good".

nothing worse imo that being on vacation, taking the time, effort and money on a meal and when you come out you say "meh, it was ok".

 

[saskdw]

My point is, that I gather from most reviews MOST people do NOT think they are being served a $12 steak. I have seen MANY good reviews on Le Cellier, especially on Trip Advisor, and other websites that are not the DIS boards. (there is life outside of the DIS boards you know...) People on the DIS boards are more bias in their opinion because they frequent disney travelers, and are comparing the restaurant to when it was half the price. And if they had a good steak before at Le Cellier when it was 1 credit, and a good steak now that it is 2 credits, they are still not going to be happy that it's double the price, even if they had a good steak. (And it's probably the SAME steak served at Citricos that was ALWAYS $50 so nobody cares there, because there wasn't a price hike). I will be the judge of whether or not I eat a steak that is as good as Jiko, Citricos, or the Cali Grill, not leave it up to a bunch of people that are disenchanted by the price change, when I never ate there before the price change. So it is my personal opinion based on many years reading message boards, that I will not make a decision based on a bunch of people who are disappointed with a restaurant based on other reasons than the actual food quality. And this has served me very well over the last 7-8 years of traveling, to many places other than Disney as well.

Jiko gets rave reviews, and the first trip to Disney I ate there and it was the worst meal of the trip. We got their "famous" filet, and that week they had gotten rid of the mac and cheese that was talked about. I ordered it anyway with the veggies and the steak was all chewy and sinew. So it was probably just my steak that was bad. I wouldn't tell others "don't go there" because I had a bad steak. It was not worth $50 to us but we are going to try it again this trip.

I think it's hilarious that people compare Tony's Town Square to Chef Boyarde. Hilarious. Either those people have zero taste buds or have never had the canned stuff. Tony's is not good by any means, but it's more like Olive Garden with a chunky sweet sauce. Chef Boyarde tastes like tomato paste mixed with glue. Not remotely the same and I'm glad we tried Tony's. It wasn't spectacular, but not nearly as bad as some people report.

Amen!

 

[minniecarousel]

We cancelled our dinner ADR last month @ LeCellier. We just couldn't justify the cost since we were eating so much at F&W. Last time we ate there was 5 years ago & the prices def went up!

 

[goofy4prez]

When Le Cellier became 2 TS credits on the dining plan it became the favorite whipping post on DIS. It's the cool thing to do to bash it.

My family loves the place. It's one of the must do's for us and the one ADR everyone wants to know when it is. Glad you enjoyed it!!

For me it's not the cool thing to do bashing LeCellier; I genuinely don't care for the place just as your family loves the place. To each their own.

I don't think it's about being cool at all, I think it is simply that folks don't think its worth the money. nI think Le cellier is vastly over hyped. It's simply ok. definitely not the best steak on site.

one thing i always say, when you go to a steakhoise the best thing should not be the soup. lol just me

Op glad you had a good meal

I agree with you 100%... When people speak of this place it's so often the beer cheese soup and the pretzel bread. For me, my experience is like you said, not worth the money. Dark, cramped setting with tables on top of each other. Then IMO, very average steaks. My mushroom filet was like someone plopped a can of Campbells Mushroom soup on it over a bed of Minute Rice. For me LeCellier is a one and done.

Likewise, I'm glad the OP had a pleasant experience.