Having decided that the theme park we would visit during our three days at WDW would be Epcot (it's a "working" vacation, wherein my wife works at her convention, I largely goof off). We ended up around lunchtime having covered the 3/4 counterclockwise of World Showcase, and that placed us at the Deutschland area, so we ate lunch at the Biergarten.
Assessment:
1) $25 for lunch buffet very steep, BUT the buffet format allows sampling of the maximum number of Deutsches delicacies, which is good, and you should plan to do.
2) Brief wait for table, maybe 2-3 minutes. Loved the interior and decor.
3) Friendliness and efficiency of the staff was excellent. (Well, on the latter note, they DO all seem to be German......)
4) Several people around us seemed to be rolling their eyes like suspicious cattle at being seated at tables with -gasp!- other people!!! It may or may not be true, as Sartre averred, that "L'enfer, c'est les autres,"* but we have been fortunate enough to tour Central Europe and have the experience on numerous occasions of dining with complete strangers, often people with whom we didn't share a language, yet we always have come away with a wonderful, happy experience. So, my advice to those going to the Biergarten: get over it, ENJOY it for Pete's sake! You're on vacation!
5) Quality, appearance, and taste of the food was uniformly excellent. Sauerkraut, Red cabbage, Spatzle, a variety of sausages, a station where a delicious pork roast or German meat loaf was sliced to order. Need I mention the bread was delicious.
6) Beer (oh, yah, the beer gets a seperate item). My wife had a half-liter of Franziskaner Hefeweizen, while I imbibed a massbier** of Spaten Optimator. Both tasted just like they had been drawn in a beer hall in downtown München, where we enjoyed them last Fall.
7) Entertainment. We weren't expecting it in the early afternoon, but a 4-man German band appeared and conducted an uproarious and fun 45-minute show, with audience interaction. A great feature, and the best part was when all the little kids got out on the dance floor and cut a rug when they played the waltzes and polkas.
8) The tab: right at $70 before gratuity; we tipped 20%, feeling that the service was great. The cost was steep for lunch, no question....but the kicker is that that meal stayed with us so long that we could only manage an ice cream cone around bedtime!
* "Hell is other people." (roughly)
** the big boy = 1 liter.
Assessment:
1) $25 for lunch buffet very steep, BUT the buffet format allows sampling of the maximum number of Deutsches delicacies, which is good, and you should plan to do.
2) Brief wait for table, maybe 2-3 minutes. Loved the interior and decor.
3) Friendliness and efficiency of the staff was excellent. (Well, on the latter note, they DO all seem to be German......)
4) Several people around us seemed to be rolling their eyes like suspicious cattle at being seated at tables with -gasp!- other people!!! It may or may not be true, as Sartre averred, that "L'enfer, c'est les autres,"* but we have been fortunate enough to tour Central Europe and have the experience on numerous occasions of dining with complete strangers, often people with whom we didn't share a language, yet we always have come away with a wonderful, happy experience. So, my advice to those going to the Biergarten: get over it, ENJOY it for Pete's sake! You're on vacation!
5) Quality, appearance, and taste of the food was uniformly excellent. Sauerkraut, Red cabbage, Spatzle, a variety of sausages, a station where a delicious pork roast or German meat loaf was sliced to order. Need I mention the bread was delicious.
6) Beer (oh, yah, the beer gets a seperate item). My wife had a half-liter of Franziskaner Hefeweizen, while I imbibed a massbier** of Spaten Optimator. Both tasted just like they had been drawn in a beer hall in downtown München, where we enjoyed them last Fall.
7) Entertainment. We weren't expecting it in the early afternoon, but a 4-man German band appeared and conducted an uproarious and fun 45-minute show, with audience interaction. A great feature, and the best part was when all the little kids got out on the dance floor and cut a rug when they played the waltzes and polkas.
8) The tab: right at $70 before gratuity; we tipped 20%, feeling that the service was great. The cost was steep for lunch, no question....but the kicker is that that meal stayed with us so long that we could only manage an ice cream cone around bedtime!
* "Hell is other people." (roughly)
** the big boy = 1 liter.
) The other family, an elderly couple, actually rearranged their chair placement (as far away from the middle family as possible) and scootched their dishes/utensils down to the very end--to the point their stuff was almost falling off the table!
