My nightmare at Wolfgang Puck Express!

mickeysgirl17

Wish I was at Disney
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Aug 16, 2006
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On Tues, Dec. 9th, my family and I were at Downtown Disney. We visited just for the day so we could go to disneyquest and mvmcp at MK that night.
Before Disneyquest, we decided to eat lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express.

It was an absolute nightmare.

I always wanted to eat here after hearing the great reviews of the food and how yummy it was. My complaint is not of the food at all. The food, when we actually got it was delicious.

Let me start off by saying its not hard to please me when it comes to restaurants. I usually enjoy almost all meals at disney. I also want to mention that I am pregnant so I really craved the chicken and mashed potatoes from the menu here at WPE and we were starving by 10:50. So, we arrived and found the order line. When we got there, DH stated that if they were still serving breakfast, he wanted to try the waffles. I saw people eating pizzas so I assumed they had already started lunch. For 10 minutes, we waited and no one took our order. One lady was filling water bottles and saw us standing there for a while, but never got us any help. A man behind us was wondering what was going on too. :confused3

Finally, they took the order. I asked if they were still serving any breakfast and the lady said yes. DH ordered the belgum waffle and was going to share with DD. We asked if it was a big portion and the lady said oh yes, very big.
I asked for the Rosemary chicken and the lady told me it would be about 5 minutes until lunch. So, DH just ordered the bfst and I told her I would come back in 5 min. to get the chicken. We sat down and waited. After 5 min, still no waffle, but I went up to order my chicken. They told me it would be about 15 min. to get it to my table. We were in no rush and I really wanted to try it, so I told them that was fine. About 10min. later, the waffle came out. It was big, but not that big. DH could have easily eaten 2 of these and he's not a big eater. When shared with DD, he was still hungry so I told him he could share my food. After 30 min. I was a bit upset that my food had not come out yet.

I went inside (we sat outside) to talk to the manager. I explained that its been over 30 min. and my food has not come out. She apologized and told me it would be about 10 more min. This was very upsetting.

I went outside again and 5 min. later, one of the waitresses came over and apologized and offered to bring me some fries or something while I waited or to change to anything else on the menu if I didn't want to wait any longer. I told her to bring the fries. I didn't understand why I had to wait so long in a CS location and a place that was mostly empty.

I should have demanded my money back and walked out at this point, but DH and DD already ate and I was starving so I didn't want to drag them along to find another spot and sit and watch me eat somewhere else. We already wasted so much time.

An hour after arriving, I finally got my food. Honestly, it was very good, especially the potatoes and the portion was very big, but I will never return here again. The service and wait was ridiculous.
 
Wow. With a wait that long, they should have given you some sort of explanation for the delay. It sounds like the food wasn't even cooked before you ordered it. I'm sorry you had to wait so long.

Glad you enjoyed your food when you finally received it.
 
We tried to get chicken there once a bit after 11am and they said it would be another hour....I dont get it...if you have a time set that you start lunch then all lunch items should be ready by that time.

I think you should give it another shot, WPE is the best food! Bad service can happen at anyplace at anytime but that is no reason to not go back especially if the food rocks
 
Wow...that is pretty horrible. Sorry to hear about the experience. I think I'll stick to Earl of Sandwich.
 

That was a horrible experience but keep in mind it was ONE out of THOUSANDS of outstanding experiences at that place. So, keep it in perspective, people :confused3

I've eaten there many times and have never had a long wait for my food. Something went wrong that day - what the person experienced is not normal at all. I've seen the belgian waffles, and they're more than 1 person needs to eat - I cannot imagine anyone eating 2 of those things! :eek:
 
We went there for the first time during our trip a couple weeks ago. We had the chicken and potatoes and the BBQ beef melt. The service was fine though I would have prefered to pick up my order and not have to tip, but the food was so darn amazing I could not thing of anything but that so to keep me away the service would have had to have been really bad. We actuall ywent back a few days later and ordered the eact same thing. man did I love it there...
Sorry you had a bad time, but I'd give it another try. The food is sooooo worht the wait.
 
Between seven and nine of us dined for breakfast twice and dinner twice a couple of months ago--and it was amazing from start to finish each time. I am sorry for the OP :grouphug: , but I agree with keeping perspective--that this was an isolated incident.
 
I've seen the belgian waffles, and they're more than 1 person needs to eat - I cannot imagine anyone eating 2 of those things! :eek:

Does anyone have a pic? Are they bigger than a normal waffle or something? I can't imagine my DH being satisfied with just one waffle and he certainly wouldn't if he shared it.
 
I haven't eaten here, but we ate at WP's last June - horrible experience and horrible food. My DH was so disappointed as this was our honeymoon, and WP was supposed to be our formal meal. (We dressed up.) It was terrible, though. I will NEVER go back.

And, to be honest, I went there 3 years ago with my parents and it wasn't very good then, either. But, DH wanted to try it so bad I gave it one more shot; NEVER again.

I don't know if the places there just don't rep his name well or what; it's sad...
 
I haven't eaten here, but we ate at WP's last June - horrible experience and horrible food. My DH was so disappointed as this was our honeymoon, and WP was supposed to be our formal meal. (We dressed up.) It was terrible, though. I will NEVER go back.

And, to be honest, I went there 3 years ago with my parents and it wasn't very good then, either. But, DH wanted to try it so bad I gave it one more shot; NEVER again.

I don't know if the places there just don't rep his name well or what; it's sad...


We didn't care for WPC either, but that has nothing what-so-ever to do with WPE--the counter service that is being discussed here.
 
We didn't care for WPC either, but that has nothing what-so-ever to do with WPE--the counter service that is being discussed here.

Well, it kind of has something to do with it. It's the same people who run both operations.
 
Well, it kind of has something to do with it. It's the same people who run both operations.

I don't really think it matters. If you think about it, Disney, itself, "runs" many of the restaurants at the world, but the quality is definitely not consistent throughout. It would be my guess that either different groups are managing the different Puck restaurants or they do much better at running a counter service operation!
 
WPC is definitely OFF our eating list when we are at the West End of Downtown Disney. DW and I have had several so-so experiences and it's been getting worse. A little history that I found out along the way from another guest -- apparently, Wolfgang lost that restaurant in his divorce settlement and his wife sold out to the company that currently manages WPC, WPE and the formal upstairs dining room. They also manage Raglan Road and Portobello Yacht Club. We have eaten at Raglan and PYC and they have been fine. Anyway, no excuses for the negative dining experiences, poor service and uppitty attitudes @ WPC & WPE. We have been going off property periodically to Olive Garden, Macaroni Grill and the old Pebbles (forget the new name).
 
Bad service can turn me off of a place if the food is nothing too memorable. I can't imagine any chicken and mashed potatoes being good enough to go back. Yes, I agree, service is a roller coaster at WDW. Sometimes great, sometimes bad. But I don't go back when I get bad service. I did get HORRIBLE service at WP upstairs about 3 years ago. Never going back. The service problems ranged from the temperature in the restaurant to the attentiveness of our waiter to the timing of our food. Sorry, yes, perspective on service should be kept but when I get bad service, I don't go back....and I let others know that it could be a problem. Thanks for reporting.
 
OMG!
My husband and I were sitting at the table next to you. I even commented to you that I would've been very mad had then been me and that WPE should have compensated you with your meal. Your daughter was very patient. But your chicken did look delicious. I even thought I may get that next time.
It's definately a small world after all.
LOL!
 
Unfortunately we also had a problem there recently. We had an incredible breakfast, corn flake french toast and breakfast pocket there on 1/15 then went back on the 20th for dinner. The pizzas were good but my father ordered the four cheese macaroni and what came out was a tiny portion of dried up mac & cheese that tasted old. When he complained a heaping bowl of hot, creamy and delicious mac & cheese came but I don't think he will ever go back (he did not like the cornflake french toast either even though the rest of us liked it).
 
Thank you for sharing your experience with WPE. By my math, we have eaten there 5 times, and have had major service/order issues 60% of the time. The food was quite good, but the order problems, and the time it took to correct them, have caused us not to go back for the last 3 years.

We've had our food given to people who were behind us in line and had ordered 6-7 minutes after us, despite my pointing it out before they were handing it over the counter (Westside). The last two issues (at Marketplace), they rung it up, took our money, then forgot to bring us 1/2 the items. Once we waited an extra 15 minutes for them to correct it. The last time, they tried to tell me it was my fault, that they had come outside looking for us but we didn't answer (not true, and physically impossible, given our table location and the direction I was facing).
We got our money back on that order, and haven't been back since.
 
I am sorry you had to wait that long - I would be ticked too. But I would give it another shot, only because the food is soooo good. I have become accustomed to eating breakfast here on every trip.
 














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