Negative food reviews

[SnowWtch]

We like eating at Disney. Our service was slow at O'Hana but the food was good. Cape May Clam Bake wasn't the best meal ever but it was good. The only thing we didn't like was the food court at POFQ b/c DH got sick after eating there.

 

[KatMark]

You are going to get great reviews for each restaurant, and bad reviews for each restaurant. Everyone is NEVER going to agree on everything. In all the trips we have made to Disney (20+), we have only had three really bad meals--combination of medicore to bad food and lousy service (WCC, Boatwright's & H&V) and we will not go back to those three places. We've had good meals to outstanding meals everywhere else we've gone and we still have tons to try.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I don't think any restaurant is so horrible that I would never return, and considering how many people Disney serves a day, I think they do a very good job.

 

[Little_Sister]

We love Disney dining!

I know what you mean about the negative reviews and agree with septbaby that folks are more likely to sound off on the bad rather than the good....so on a more positive note...here are the restaurants we really enjoyed...

Yak and Yeti....fantastic appetisers and desserts! We loved the potstickers with the lime dipping sauce and the cream cheese wontons for dessert were incredible!!

Tokyo Dining....love love love this place....the food, the servers, the view (especially during illuminations) all wonderful. We had the Volcano Roll as an appetiser...fantastic. Their tempura and sushi bento box is delicious. Sushi here is OUTSTANDING. Try the green tea pudding....lovely.

Wolfgang Puck Cafe....delicious....my boyfriend got the Macadamia Nut Crusted Breast of Chicken...said it was one of the best meals he's EVER had. I got the Rainbow Roll....very good! Desserts are not to be missed here, notably the Key Lime Pie....yum.

Coral Reef....the atmosphere alone is worth the reservation...not a bad seat in the house.

Le Cellier....great service, lovely atmosphere, great steaks...what more could you want?

Cosmic Rays....love it...something for everyone...great outdoor seating....fantastic dressing bar....HUGE portions, good food.

Boma....yummy yum yum! cozy lovely dining room....HUGE buffet and it's all good!

Kona Cafe....I don't think you can go wrong with anything on this menu.

Earl of Sandwich....very very good sandwiches....I had the Full Montague....delicious! Get yourself a cupcake while you're at it....with sprinkles!

Raglan Road....calamari....fantastic!

Now just for good measure and so you don't think I just love every thing I inhale....I can not under any circumstance recommend Cantina de San Angel....this was an AWFUL attempt at Mexican counter service. It is worse than Pancho's....however they have a wonderful patio for viewing illuminations...just don't eat the food and for God's sake DON'T order a margarita!

I'm sure everyone has encountered a less than stellar meal from time to time...but overall for us....we are very pleased with the offerings at Disney...here's to happy travels and yummy eats...except for Cantine de San Angel

 

[Abharmagic]

Most reviews are awful...come on, are they really so bad?

IMO- YES! The food at WDW is generally terrible- think Applebees or TGI Fridays on a really busy night. I just don't think the dining is as wonderful as many think it is.

 

[Tricia1972]

I think negative reviews stem from many different things. First off Septbaby is right - generally speaking people tend to share the negative than the positive. Unfortunately, as people, we find the negative much more interesting to read about/discuss.

There probably is some truth to those that feel that dining is changing and things are becoming more homogenized as Disney attempts to cut costs.

I also feel, pretty strongly, that overly glowing reviews can create unrealistic expectations. Especially considering that the food at Disney is about 1.5 to 2x as much as what you'd pay for the same food at off site.

I know that we fell victim to this ourselves. Before kids, we traveled mostly to Vegas, which has a disproprtonally large number of gourmet chefs and fine dining restaurants for a vacation destination. After reading months and months about how Disney's food is the best ever and that everything was "yummy", we went with high expectations. Thinking "Yeah Chef Mickey's costs more than the Bellagio Buffet on a Sunday, but the food has to be as good or better, right?"

Overall we found that signatures delivered for us. Most every other restaurant was good to average. We had a few bad meals - and oddly enough the service was so good at one of those places I figured we'll just go and order sandwiches next time because we really want to go back.

I try to read reviews and then do what feels 'right' to me.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Places we have liked and had good service ~

LeCellier
Mama Melrose
Sci-Fi Dine In
Crystal Palace
Chef Mickey's
Ohana
Wolfgang Puck Express
CBR Food Court
Casey's Corner
Electric Umbrella
Rix Cafe
Restaurantosauras
Toy Story Pizza Planet
Coral Reef


Places we thought were just okay ~

Garden Grill
Planet Hollywood
Sunshine Seasons
Hollywood & Vine
POFQ Food Court
Rainforest Cafe

Places we didn't like or had bad service ~

CSR Food Court -Pepper Market
Cape May
Peco's Bills

So as you can see the good have far outweighed the bad! We look forward to trying Tusker House, Plaza Restaurant, Big River Grill, and 1900 Park Fare next month!

 

[Racknack]

I would like to hear if anyone recently had a good experience at a Disney resturant.

Gosh yes, plenty of good experiences at Disney restaurants. Especially in Epcot at Canada, Mexico, Japan. and the Coral Reef.

I expect that many write of poor experiences at restaurants because those meals are the exception and they tend to stick in the memory banks of the brain longer than "normal" or "good" experiences.

The poor experiences are a small percentage of meal stops, at least for me. I have had poor meals, or poor service at very few Disney restaurants. (Raglan Road, Sci-Fi Dinner, and most recently the Brown Derby, come to mind). But they are the exception rather than the rule.

But all-in-all, the Disney restaurants are excellent in my opinion.

Karnak

 

[chell]

It depends on your personal taste for one thing. Another thing we found out is to not order the ordinary stuff you get at home, be adventurous.

We loved Cape May's dinner buffet but see so many people who don't. We loved Yak & Yeti so much we ate there twice.

 

[tripplanner]

We ususally eat one TS meal a day at Disney. We've never had a bad breakfast. We especially love Boma, WCC, and GF Cafe for breakfast. We have had many so-so TS meals. We've had a few restaurants that consistantly provide great meals for us(O'hana, Le Cellier, Kona, Chef Mickey and the now gone Concourse).

The so-so TS meals drive me nuts, mainly because of the price. We are a family of 4 (our kids are teens, so pay adult prices) and don't tend to order apetizers and sometimes split a single dessert, but our TS meals run from $80 and up (ususally the up). It's hard not to compare it to restaurants at our other vacation destination where $60-$80 can get us an outstanding meal. I would expect the food at those prices would simply be good. I'm not looking for "the best meal ever", but simply good. I really do understand why people come across soo frustrated to get so-so meals at such high prices.

Those on my so-so list are Tony's at MK (a fav of my husband's believe it or not), San Angel in Mexico (great atmosphere, but not so good food), 50's Prime Time (we won't be back for the food, enjoyed the waitress though), Sci Fi (kids love the atmosphere, the food is just not that good), Mama Melrose (usually half the folks at the table like their food, and the other half don't).

On our close to great list is the Rose and Crown (most of the meals have been good, one hit the great meter) and The Brown Derby (I just need to keep trying things there until I hit a favorite, but so far most things have been good).

I soo appreciate the good and the bad reviews I've read. For our next trip, we want to try the Wave, Tutti Italiano, and maybe Narcosse or Coral Reef.

 

[DowntownDisneyFan]

I like all WDW restaurants!

 

[michaelwilliammidd]

A few of our favorites are.....Biergarten, Tony's Town Square, Rose and Crown, and Sci Fi.

 

[amblackmon]

I have to say that I love the food at Disney. I am not cooking or cleaning and I am in my happy place! I haven't had a bad meal yet. I had some that didn't appeal to my tastes, but that doesn't mean that the meal was bad. I go to Disney to relax and enjoy being with my family, so I am quite happy with the dining.

Just my humble opinion.

 

[alan_renfroe]

We had our first trip ever to WDW back in May. We were on the Deluxe Dining Plan and had an absolutely fantastic experience!! We enjoyed it SOOO much, that we are now planning our 2nd trip for May, 2009.

Click on the link below in my signature to read our trip report, complete with pictures from every restaurant we ate at. Hope this helps!

Alan

 

[Tiger926]

The thing to remember about reviews is that they are all based on personal opinions with a sprinkling of life experience thrown in. What do I mean? Well those of us who have eaten almost everywhere at WDW multiple times, or, who come from restaurant families or work in the industry are coming into the restaurants with a different outlook. We have lots to compare to and this is what we base our reviews on.

For us, we've eaten pretty much everywhere - have been eating 2-3 TS meals per day way before the DP. Paid out of pocket for them, so we are not folks who are eating in these restaurants for the first time thanks to the DP. We also come from an Italian restaurant family, so this affects our reviews too.

Just this past trip in May, we stayed at 5 resorts over a 16 day span. We had the Deluxe Plan for most of it as this suits our dining need, and is how we normally eat at WDW. Here were our best experiences (for us, the meal, atmosphere and service make up the dining experience):

Cali Grill - outstanding service, great food (although they had trouble with my daughter's steak) and wonderful atmosphere

Citricos - outstanding service, great food and wonderful atmosphere

Yachtsmen - outstanding service and great food. Not a wonderful atmosphere as they don't enforce the dress code, so we were dressed up for Mother's Day next to people in swimsuits - I kid you not! This took away from the atmosphere for us, but did not take away from the delicious food

As you can see, these are all 2 credit-Signature restaurants.

In regards to regular restaurants, it was pretty much the same old, same old. Mediocre food and inattentive servers were the name of the game - we bussed more tables on our May trip than ever before, except at the above-mentioned signature restaurants.

I would say you read the reviews and be prepared when you see the same restaurants consistently get bad reviews: Brown Derby, Sci Fi, San Angel Inn and Tutto Italia, for example (not meaning to insult anyone, but these are at the top for bad reviews around here) are consistently not that great. Does it mean they are always bad? Nope! Many people continue to eat there, so it all depends upon the experiences of the diner, as well as the restaurant that day.

We have learned to have less expectations when dining at WDW, and this works out best. That being said, dining is a big part of our trip, not necessarily for the food, but the experience of eating in restaurants in which we have shared great family memories.

Happy eating to you, Tiger