Negative food reviews

[cassie]

My trip is planned for May 2009, and I've been going through the dining reviews, since I'm on the dining plan. Most reviews are awful...come on, are they really so bad? Last time I was there I had wonderful food at the resturants. I would like to hear if anyone recently had a good experience at a Disney resturant.

 

[septbaby]

Those who are unhappy are far more likely to vent than those who are satisfied. There will be good and bad reviews on every place in WDW. My advice is to select the places that appeal to you and go for it. Unless you read that a major menu item you wanted or the entertainment has changed significantly away from your expectations I say go for it.

We loved Narcoossee's, people find reason to complain about that.
Coral Reef was really good, left NOTHING on our plates, yet the Podcast review will have people running from CR.
Boma was an absolutely wonderful dinner, but some just don't like buffets or aren't adventurous.
Hollywood and Vine is a good basic buffet. Not sure what the expectations are, but lots of people hate it. Unless we booked Fantasmic or the character meals there we probably wouldn't go back, we'll try something new instead. But I had a good dinner there. I'd do Boma again vs this as a do over.
We didn't like Peco Bills, others swear by it.
Main Street Bakery was a great CS meal and comfy atmosphere.
Chef Mickey's is a must do now. We ate breakfast late and it lasted me until after Spectro. The characters were great. Over a year later my 7yo is still talking about Chef Mickey's.

Hope those help!

 

[dzneelvr]

Please remember the review are opinions...not fact! We keep an annual date with many eateries in the World and always add 1-2 new ones each trip. I am a HUGE fan of the "disney experience" when dining, such as Sci Fi in DHS. Look at allearsnet.com for the menus so you can see if you'll be happy with the selections offered. Live and Learn. that's the best way to eat 'round the World

 

[hookedonears]

To answer your question, the answer is no, the food is not that awful. However, when you factor in that your paying $16.50 for a burger and fries at the Sci-fi Drive, and the quality is just a little bit less then a Sonic burger and fries which cost about $4.25. People tend to give less than positive reviews. Or you go to San Angel at EPCOT, and the chips and dip are nothing but Tostitos and Picanta sause, some people tend to give less than positive reviews. People expect more from Disney, especially with the prices that they charge.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

We just got back 2 weeks ago. I have not had the time to even think about doing "reviews", but here were our thoughts quickly wrapped up for you.

In Order we ate at
Whispering Canyon Cafe- (dinner) Great meal, great service. Too full ofr dessert but they were nicely packaged up and made a yummy breakfast the next morning.
Kona- (dinner) Nice server, enjoyable meal (would eat that bread and butter everyday!) It was our first time there, we enjoyed it very much and while we would not consider it a "must do" as some of our favorites are, I do see us eating there again.
50's PT- (lunch) I think I licked my bowl clean!! SOOOOO good, but warning, we waited an hour and a half WITH ADRs.
Cali Grill- (dinner, just DH and I) Amazing Views! Meal, good but highly overrated. Glad to go once, don't care to go again. But, still a nice meal.
Chef Mickey's- (dinner, Thanksgiving night) Never disapoints. We enjoyed it very much as we always do.
CRT- (breakfast) See above... Never disapoints, enjoyed it as always.
LeCellier- (lunch) BE STILL MY HEART!!! the most amazing meal I have had probably ever. Soooooo good. It was our first time but will be a new "regular" place for us now.
Akerhaus- (dinner) I ordered wrong, but the salad and dessert made up for that. This was DH's favorite meal all trip (he ordered well!) I thought this was a one time thing before our DDs got too old for the princess thing, but I don't think DH will let that happen, he LOVED it and I would enjoy going back and trying something different.
Chef Mickey's- (breakfast) Our family favorite. They added french toast and it was soooo good. Love it here, especailly for breakfast.

We did a lot of old favorites and places we never miss and they did not disapoint. Added a few new places (LeCellier, Akerhaus, Kona and Cali Grill) and enjoyed them very much, some more than others but didn't regret any of them.

We also had many wonderful CS and snacks.
Top Picks
CS-
Wolfgang Puck Express (so good we went again and ordered the same thing!!!) and Cosmic Rays (also went twice and ordered the same thing) and Sunshine Season's (WOW, the desserts!!!)
Snacks-
Kaki Gori (spelling) in Japan in EPCOT (YUMMY!!!!!!!)
Dole Whip Floats ( DOUBLE YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Everything from Main Street Bakery but especially the cherry turnover!

We were very pleased with everything we ate, had great service. You won't hear me complaining (except that it is over!!!!! )

 

[tracirae1105]

We love Disney food, its usually what we base our trips around!! Not everything can be spectacular every single time, but overall we are rarely disappointed!

 

[DaniTaylor]

I live in the area and we eat on Disney property a lot of the time. We just got back from having dinner at House of Blues I know it's not Disney owned but man we love it there we eat their regularly! Last night we had dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe and we love that place too it's fun and the food has always been good. We also regularly go to Kona Cafe, Boma and we have been known to go to the Magic Kingdom just for eggrolls from the cart and dole whips. We are also big fans of Crystal Palace. Though not every meal knocks my socks off I've never had a disgusting meal. I've had not the greatest of service but it's never been so bad that I won't return.

I hope that helps.

 

[danielle.st]

We just got back today from a week in Disney. We didn't always like everything in hte buffets because we are not all that adventurous, but we never disliked everything and we never left anywhere hungry. We were very pleased with all of our meals overall and particularly loved the themes and wonderful servers. We ate at :
Pop food court breakfast/lunch/dinner
Chef Mickey dinner
Cape May Cafe breakfast
Akershus lunch
Biergarten dinner
Sci Fi lunch
Mama Melrose dinner
Crystal Palace breakfast
The Plaza lunch
1900 Park Fare dinner
Cinderella's Royal Table lunch
Liberty Town Tavern dinner
Hollywood & Vine breakfast
50's Prime Time lunch
Tusker House breakfast

 

[catne]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1949596

my reviews from September 2008 trip. Only meal we didn't like was Boma dinner (we're the odd one out there, so many people do like it.)

We also went in May 2008...had dinner at Tusker House, Hollywood & Vine, Cinderella's Royal Table, Cali Grille, Crystal Palace and Le Cellier. We've also eaten at Biergarten, Captain Cooks, Cosmic Rays, Pizzafari and snacks from a lot of food carts. We liked all of those too.

 

[Kmango]

As for me and my house, we love to eat at Disney. We love to eat in general, actually, but that's another story.

I think issues that lead to negative reviews break down in to three basic categories -- expectations, personal taste, and "stuff happens." As for the former, price, the 180 days of anticipation, and the belief that any food is going to become Magic Food because Disney put it on the plate all can contribute to too-high expectations and lead to disappointment.

The second, personal taste, is exactly that. Some people just don't like unusual food and will therefore hate Jiko/Boma. Some people don't like things to exist in a state of chaos, and will hate, say, WCC. The same things that make a restaurant appealing to some people make it unpleasant to others.

And as for the stuff-happens category, well... I don't remember who said it, but the quote goes something like, "There is a war going on between the kitchen and the dining room, and as a waiter, it's your job that the people out there don't know that." Sometimes, you are collateral damage in that war. As part of the normal operation of any restaurant, reservations are lost, order are put in incorrectly, service is delayed, things get cold, somebody breaks dishes, somebody doesn't show up and you're shorthanded, etc. Now, if these things are happening consistently, you've got a bad restaurant, but that's not generally the case here. It's just that the people to whom the stuff happened are writing about it, whereas the people to whom it didn't are not.

This is not to say that some restaurants aren't better than others or that people don't have legitimate complaints against them. They are and they do. But the Disney restaurants are generally good, that's why so many people choose to eat at them/talk about them/obsess about getting reservations. As long as you try to keep your expectations in line, make sure you're eating at the sort of place you'll probably like, and remember that bad things occasionally happen and occasionally they happen to you, and that it's not the end of the world, it's just a meal, you'll have a great time.

 

[Lynne M]

I never look at reviews. You can never tell if there's an actual problem with the food preparation, or if they thought the food was 'bad' because they didn't care for the taste of the sauce or the seasoning.

I've made 20+ visits to WDW since 1985. By and large, I've found their table service food to be excellent, very well prepared, with high quality ingredients. Restaurants are very accommodating, willing to adjust dishes to your preferences and omit sauces, substitute sides, etc.

There are no perfect restaurants at WDW (or anywhere else on the planet). Every restaurant can have an off night or a server who's new and just not going to cut it. There are also no consistently bad restaurants at WDW.

 

[Pakey]

We are frequent World visitors and do a lot of TS eating while we are there. We are very adventurous and have eaten at every TS at the World with the exception of character meals. Overall, I think WDW food exceeds expectations for theme park food. My negatave opinions on restaurants are usually more about the atmosphere than the food. Places that are noisy with tables crowded together will never get a great review from me, regardless of the food. There are only 3 TS places in the World that I have no desire to return to at this time so that leaves a ton of places where I have no problem dining.

Highly positive dining experiences in 2008 (spread over 2 vacations) have been V&A, Bistro de Paris, Jiko, FF, CG, bluezoo, Boma.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We had a ton of sit down meals in Oct and did not have one bad meal. I say you have to take it with a grain of salt and try it for yourself

 

[PoohIs#1]

Eating at different places is a big part of our Disney vacations. We have eaten at the top end (Cali Grill) and some of the lower (I won't mention so I don't offend) and everything in between. The only times I didn't enjoy a meal, were because of my personal tastes. Some restaurant's service has been better than others, but compared to the service that you can receive at restaurants in the "real" world--Disney's can't be beat. Like other posters have said, take all reviews with a grain of salt and go where your taste buds lead.

 

[DonaldTDuck]

I've eaten over 100 meals at 20 or so different TS restaurants at the World and the worst meal I had was at H&V, and it was good enough that I'd go back. Faves are Biergarten, R&C, PTC and LTT, and I try to add at least one new one each trip.
Try checking the review pages at www.allears.net. They tend to be more varied and favorable.

 

[suzimar57]

we just got back yesterday, and as much as we didn't have any true "negative" meals or service, it was very noticeable that the portion sizes were much smaller than last year (and year's prior as well) - and this was at every restaurant we ate at last week (sci-fi, mama, liberty tree tavern, coral reef, 50s prime time, le cellier) - the steaks were smaller, the sides (potatoes served any way: mashed, fried, roasted) were smaller - either disney is embracing a healthier lifestyle attitude, or they're just cutting back.

 

[eclairemom]

We just got back last week and had the best time. I was very impressed with the food and service. I had noticed a lot of poor reviews for places I thought were excellent, but then again we don't have very good luck, with service at home. The only place we didn't really enjoy the food was Flame Tree and I was really disappointed because I wanted the ribs to be great and the flavor was but they were undercooked and tough.

We ate at:

POP -- Breakfast and Dinner
Tusker House Breakfast
Crystal Palace Breakfast
50's Prime Time - Lunch
Flame Tree - Lunch
Narcooses - Dinner
LeCellier - Lunch
Kona - Dinner
Hoop Dee Doo - Dinner

 

[jsesp]

We went over Thanksgiving week and since it was our second trip for the year we did almost exclusively CS restaurants with the exception of Crystal Palace. Most of the negativity you see are unrealistic expectations (food is still made by people and served by people so there will be mistakes anywhere) or personal tastes. We have gone 4 times in the last 3 years and I would have to say the only bad experiences were at the CS at Wilderness Lodge (CMs at the registers didn't understand the dining plan on multiple days and during two different trips).

On our previous trip, we were absolutely amazed with the service we received at CRT, Flying Fish and at Chef Mickey's.

Everyplace we didn't enjoy was either our own fault (cranky kids or adults ) or a personal taste issue. When you compare Disney Dining to the real world, Disney wins every time.

 

[Csaks]

Is it just us or does the food in general seem to be getting bland and the selection smaller. We never had a bad meal this trip but we never had one that knocked our socks off so to speak. Last trip we had some meals where we tried to get another ADR there because we enjoyed it so much. The dinning out has always been a part of the trip we would look forward to, but it was not this time, just curious maybe it's just us.

 

[DisMN]

Is it just us or does the food in general seem to be getting bland and the selection smaller. We never had a bad meal this trip but we never had one that knocked our socks off so to speak. Last trip we had some meals where we tried to get another ADR there because we enjoyed it so much. The dinning out has always been a part of the trip we would look forward to, but it was not this time, just curious maybe it's just us.

It's definitely not just you. I think many will agree that the goofy dining plan has created a situation where the restaurants have had to modify their menus and use a less quality product overall. We noticed this change beginning 3-ish years ago and it's gone progressively downhill from there.

Very discouraging when you view the meals as a big part of the Disney experience.