LeCellier - bad day or change in quality of food?

[2binak]

We usually eat at LeCellier during each trip. We've eaten both dinner & lunch and always had a good meal, not an "OMG I HAVE to eat there again!" kind of meal, but a good meal. Unfortunately, that was not the case during our last trip.

We ate a late lunch (2:45pm ressie) at LeCellier a few weeks ago. There were 5 adults and 1 toddler in our party. DH ordered the strip steak and said it had a lot of grizzle in it. 1 friend ordered the shaved prime rib sandwich and said, "It should have been called the onion sandwich because it had so many onions on it that you couldn't even taste the steak or cheese." I ordered the maple BBQ chicken sandwich which was good, but nothing spectacular. Our other 2 friends ordered the salmon BLT and the salmon two ways. They really enjoyed both of their meals. DD's child's meal was pasta w/sauce, veggies & fruit. The veggies had some sort of seasoning or sauce on them. DD LOVES veggies, but wouldn't touch them. I tried them and they did taste strange.

I will say that the service was great. Our waitress was very friendly, very attentive throughout the entire meal. We added an extra person to our ressie earlier that day. One of our friends who is a local decided last minute to join us that day. The host told us to arrive at our ADR time and that we would have a slight wait. We arrived and 30 mins later, were seated. I thought that was good considering they could have told us "no can do!"

So, I don't know if LeCellier was having a bad day or if the quality of the food has changed, but I was disappointed and so was DH, who is a big LeCellier fan. Like I said before, we usually have good meals there, but this time, that wasn't the case.

 

[KatMark]

We were there in September for lunch and our meal was as good as it had been the previous five or six visits (we both had the mushroom filet). Hopefully, you just had an off day (but too bad for you and I'm sorry it wasn't more enjoyable).

 

[2binak]

Glad to hear your meal was as good as it's always been. Maybe it was just an off day for us.

 

[Jerry@dvcstore]

It sounds like they may have had a bad day. Sorry to hear about that.

 

[kpm76]

I was just about to review our Le Cellier experience on 11/30. The food and service were really sub par. Our waitress was downright rude. I almost complained but I was with 6 other people, some of whom embarrass easily, so I decided to bite my tongue (literally). The server was argumentative (i.e. my dad ordered a pale ale and the beer he was served looked and tasted like Bud Light. He politely asked if he got the wrong beer, and the server replied "sir, we only have one draft beer on tap, it's Moosehead Pale Ale so I know you got the right beer. What's the problem??" She was very terse and remained so throughout the meal.

As for the meal, it was Outback quality at Ruth's Chris prices. I do not understand why people flock here. We were on the DDP but we paid OOP because we are DVC so I guess this was a good "value." No way on earth was the filet $34 quality though. Again, I guess the people that love it here have never been to a real steakhouse. I do like the cheddar soup and pretzel bread but other than that, the rest of the food is mediocre. This was definitely our last visit to Le Cellier for a while. Hope those of you who love it get the ressies you are looking for

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

My first time there my mushroom filet was quite good. Service OK.
My second time there, service much worse, and food just OK. Grizzle, blaech!
That said, the cheese soup and spicy chick sausage appetizer are SO good, I would like to be able to take those back to the villa to have later in the evening after coming home from a late park night.

 

[MickeyisanNDfan]

We had dinner there on Thanksgiving and while the service was great the food was eh. I had cheese soup (never understood the facination with that, tastes like chowder with nothing in it) and the mushroom filet. The Filet while cooked perfectly had some sort of salt rub on it that ruined the steak. The entire party commented on how EVERYTHING was salty. The maple creme brule was awesome!

 

[Berta]

The last time we were there (18 months ago), I was disappointed. Portions were smaller, and the food was just not as good as we had remembered .Then, last summer, we couldn't get an ADR, and wound up at Yachtsman instead...HUGE break for us...Yachtsman was SOOOO much better!

HTH!

 

[Angry Eyes]

My DSIL and I visited LC on 11/20 @2pm. We had never been but I read great reviews here. Our DHs both took our 6 kids in total around the world for lunch and we were going to have a nice, "grown-up" meal w/out the party of 10 we were collectively. We checked in and everyone was polite and sweet. While we were waiting for our table we decided to wash our hands in the ladies room in which we had to walk through the dining room to get to. It was 2pm on a Friday and the park crowd was light but the dining room was like a bonafide circus. Restless kids were everyewhere, guests were elbow to elbow and (sorry in advance for this) but it smelled like a giant poopy diaper! We laughed about it and washed our hands and returned to lobby to wait for our table. Our table was ready and our host led us both to the worst table I have ever been "sat" at in my life. I literally could have eaten off my neighbors plate without extending my elbow more than 90 degrees and four other guests would have had to stand up for us to get through/sit down. The chaos, the tight squeeze that was our table (and don't forget the smell) was too much and we just politely excused ourselves from the table and let them know they could seat their next victim...I mean guest there(kidding). They were SO nice and we were not upset at at all. It just wasn't at all what we were hoping for at that particular moment in time. We just decided to track down our own stinky kids and enjoy a CS meal with them. I know from reading the boards here habitually that LC is a fave and someday I hope to experience it a bit differently. Overall, the staff was really fun and friendly and the host completely understood why no one would prefer to sit there. I love kids big, little, in between and even a little bit stinky it was just a perfect storm of oddities that precluded us from enoying the experience.

 

[2binak]

Then, last summer, we couldn't get an ADR, and wound up at Yachtsman instead...HUGE break for us...Yachtsman was SOOOO much better!

HTH!

Maybe this is what really did LC in for us too. We ate at Yachtsman in May and the food was amazing!!!!! We have a local steakhouse that is only open seasonally. The food is top quality and has also really spoiled us. I think we'll leave LC ressies to someone else from here on out...

 

[gatorsfan]

You must have been there on a off day for them I was just there two days ago and the food was fantastic the server Patrick was really nice and I also had the strip steak and there was very very little fat on it. We arrived 20 minutes before our ADR and were seated five minutes after a ADR time.

Sorry if you had a bad experience.