Never a bad meal at WDW

[acourtwdw]

I am surprised at how many bad reviews there are for dining at WDW. I don't recall ever having a bad meal at WDW. Sometimes the service was not great, but the food has always been good. Do people really only remember the bad stuff?

 

[Disneyof3]

I also don't remember a bad meal at WDW either. Bad service or too crowded restaurants but never bad, down right awful food. Actually I love the food at WDW and the variety of foods that you can get, except for the kids menu . I had to add that one. I must say it is getting better

 

[ILoveMK2008]

I had an absolutely horrible, inedible meal at CRT in the MK... but everything else was average at worst. I think people on the dis want to warn others against bad food and keep their disney vaycay as perfect as possible

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I'm not a picky eater and by the time I get to restaurants I'm starving so the food has been good everywhere for me!!!!!!!!!!! Not top notch but for a buffet with characters I would say good!

 

[belle&sebastiansmom]

I had an absolutely horrible, inedible meal at CRT in the MK... but everything else was average at worst. I think people on the dis want to warn others against bad food and keep their disney vaycay as perfect as possible

Yes! CRT food is awful. Go for the atmosphere and experience, but not the food!

 

[i3utterfli82]

I also have never had a bad meal at WDW, and we eat out a lot. Oh wait, our meal at the big river brewery was not so hot...but other than that...all good.

 

[garettdoyle]

It depends on how you define bad. Food quality? Value? Service? Menu?

The first thing to comes to mind is WDW coffee. No way to dance around this, it is plain BAD. I have had poor service, luke warm food and slow service. In fact, I had all three at Cinderella's Table. And to top it off, it was over priced in comparison to other WDW restaurants. I would have to say it was a bad experience.

I sympathize with Disney on trying to serve such a huge quantity of meals per day at so many different establishments. Taking this into consideration, I think they do a great job. I was at Sea World in San Diego last year and the food was BAD, in all categories. This said, if you live in a major city, your local favorite (fill in the blank) style restaurant will have better food at cheaper prices than the corresponding WDW establishment. This doesn't mean the food is bad, it just means you can find better.

I think our memories of food are influenced by the emotions of the meal. Everyone will swear their mother's meatloaf is award winning. Is it because it really tastes great or the precious memories it stirs. I would argue that many the "over the top" reviews are heavily influenced by emotions of the moment.

 

[KatMark]

We have had both bad and very good food at Disney. We have only had two really bad meals in all the years we have gone to Disney--Boatwright's for dinner and Brown Derby at HS. We have had very good food at LeCellier, Rose & Crown, Biergarten, Crystal Palace, Cape May Cafe and other places. I think people like to write more about the negative sometimes than the positive.

 

[DisneyFan83]

I had an absolutely horrible, inedible meal at CRT in the MK...

I completely agree! We've enjoyed every meal except our lunch at CRT- the food was awful!

 

[Cass]

I've had all good meals at WDW except one bad one from Prime Time Cafe that made me deathly ill for 3 days... don't order the Chicken Puke Pie.

 

[ElizabethB]

Bad food is extremely plentiful at WDW, unfortunately. For every good meal we've had, I'd say we've had at least one bad one -- perhaps more. This is at the 1TS restaurants. CRT (as others have mentioned), which is technicaly at 2TS restaurant, but only due to price gouging; Ohana (the single worst meal we've ever had at WDW), Sci Fi Dine Inn, Hoop De Doo Review (again, acutally 2TS credits, but not based on the food), Chefs de France (in the last couple of years unfortunately).

The CS places are even worse if that's possible - some meals have been totally inedible. For signature restaurants the ratio is better. Our meals at signature restaurants have ranged from outstanding to pretty darn good.

 

[emmabemmainc]

I agree w/ you, OP. We went last September, and I wouldn't say any of our meals were "bad". One or two were not absolutely wonderful, but I'd certainly never call them bad, either.
I have read a few dining reports and have wondered about the OP's expectations. Some of them are just so negative--it seems like they have something bad to say about everything. However, my expectations have been lower than their's too, I don't know.

 

[DisMN]

We have had both bad and very good food at Disney. We have only had two really bad meals in all the years we have gone to Disney--Boatwright's for dinner and Brown Derby at HS. We have had very good food at LeCellier, Rose & Crown, Biergarten, Crystal Palace, Cape May Cafe and other places. I think people like to write more about the negative sometimes than the positive.

I attempt to give as much praise as I do criticism when/if I have a bad meal, but like everyone I probably I fall short of that goal and report more of my negative experiences than the good ones.

That said I think there's a little more value in the negative reports because it can save someone else from making the same costly mistake. I'm very budget minded and really HATE when we have bad food.....it feels like such a gigantic waste of good money when that happens that I feel better warning others about my experience.

With regards to what makes a meal bad or good, for me it's the cost of the food, whether the food is prepared well, fresh and generally worth the price of the dollars spent is where most of my critical points are given. I can usually live with "bad" service but honestly don't recall ever having bad service at a WDW restaurant.

 

[DisMN]

Bad food is extremely plentiful at WDW, unfortunately. For every good meal we've had, I'd say we've had at least one bad one -- perhaps more. This is at the 1TS restaurants. CRT (as others have mentioned), which is technicaly at 2TS restaurant, but only due to price gouging; Ohana (the single worst meal we've ever had at WDW), Sci Fi Dine Inn, Hoop De Doo Review (again, acutally 2TS credits, but not based on the food), Chefs de France (in the last couple of years unfortunately).

The CS places are even worse if that's possible - some meals have been totally inedible. For signature restaurants the ratio is better. Our meals at signature restaurants have ranged from outstanding to pretty darn good.

It's beating a dead horse I know, but many people believe that darn dining plan is what has made the restaurant foods "bad".....and I see you used the plan. The quality has seen a dramatic decline since the dining plan became a hot item and it's hard not to connect the dots and see one of the main causes of that decline IS the dining plan. LOL

But I'm sure someone will be along soon to tell me how wrong I am.

 

[Katiebell]

At WDW last year we ate at Boma, Mama Melrose, 'Ohana for breakfast, GF Cafe, Akershus breakfast. Our CS were Tangierine, Sunshine Seasons, Columbia Harbor House, Tusker House (when it was still CS), WPE in DTD, and Cantina de San Angel. DH was very ill at the end of the trip (not due to food!), so I had tea at the GF by myself (delicious but a lonely meal ), and we missed our ADR's for Rose and Crown for dinner and Crystal Palace for breakfast.

Almost everything ranked from good to great -- even Mama Melrose which gets mixed reviews. We loved our character breakfasts. Boma was wonderful. We stopped in late one night for grown up shakes at Sci Fi -- very yummy -- and the atmosphere and theme were really cool I enjoyed all the CS except the sandwich bread at CHH was stale and dry (I should have taken it back, but the tuna was still tasty and I was starving ), and we did not care for the Mexican food at the Cantina. But we are from CA and know that we are very particular about Mexican food. I'm sure someone who is a true gourmet regarding Middle Eastern cuisine might not have enjoyed Tangierine as much as we did, or would not consider it authentic, but we thought it was delicious.

We are trying almost all new places TS places this year, re-visiting some of our favorite CS, and really looking forward to it. We will be on vacation, at WDW, having a ball, trying new things in an interesting and fun atmosphere, free DDP -- what's not to love about that???

 

[stemikger]

I think people do tend to remember the bad more, especially since they are expecting so much from a Disney vacation.

I had two really bad meals. However, it was throughout the years.

It is true, I rembmer those meals, because I was so disappointed and all the good meals I had are not as memorable. Having said that I had a lot of great meals on my many Disney vacations.

That is why I'm going back in August.

 

[Lynn5700]

I am surprised at how many bad reviews there are for dining at WDW. I don't recall ever having a bad meal at WDW. Sometimes the service was not great, but the food has always been good. Do people really only remember the bad stuff?

We never had one that was bad,we just didn't care for Hollywood and Vine...food wasn't as good as everywhere else we ate,other than that I LOVE Disney food!!!!

After a week of disney food,when we get home the food just isn't the same lol.

 

[Nicole721]

I've had bad experiences (screaming kids running around restaurants at TS meals whose parents don't attempt to calm their kids down or remove them mostly), but never a bad meal.

More times than not, it's better than anything I could cook at home, so it's really hard to screw it up for me LOL. As long as the food is warm and there's nothing that shouldn't be in my food and the server is pleasant, it's at the very least decent in my book.

 

[CoolDisneyKitten]

As previous posters have said, we've had many more bad-type experiences than bad *food*. Last time we went to Boma, the family behind us had devil children. Seriously. I was gonna call that Nanny 911 thing. The little boy (like.. 5?) *kicked* his mother when she asked him to stop throwing crackers on the floor. Both kids used their crayons to color in their bowls. Luckily they weren't there long, and our (fantastic) waitress laughed with us about it. That sort of thing (to me) isn't about the restaurant, it's about... I don't know... whatever it is at Disney that makes some parents think it's ok to let their kids run around like hellions.

Other than things like that, we've had not-very-good food at 'Ohana, Italy place that's now closed, and Sci Fi (so long ago I don't even remember now). I'm always willing to give food a second chance; it could be an off night or something. If there's a bad combo of atmosphere, food, etc... then we might not go back. We never went back to Italy, and so far we haven't been back to Sci Fi. We've never had any food that was *gross,* inedible, etc.

We actually really enjoyed our lunch at CRT. We all liked our food, and they brought my mom a cupcake and a certificate for her birthday.

 

[stemikger]

Originally posted by CoolDisneyKitten
Last time we went to Boma, the family behind us had devil children. Seriously. I was gonna call that Nanny 911 thing. The little boy (like.. 5?) *kicked* his mother when she asked him to stop throwing crackers on the floor. Both kids used their crayons to color in their bowls. Luckily they weren't there long, and our (fantastic) waitress laughed with us about it. That sort of thing (to me) isn't about the restaurant, it's about... I don't know... whatever it is at Disney that makes some parents think it's ok to let their kids run around like hellions.

My daughter is 13 (she is an only child). I was really blessed when she was young because we would go to restaurants and she would sit there like an adult. However, the few times that she got a little cranky I would immediately leave the restaurant with her. I don't understand how some parents can sit there while their kids are this out of control.

I would be so embarrassed. I have an aunt and uncle who adopted two little boys and they are a smart couple but I noticed they don't reprimand the kids when they get unruly in public. On a few occassions, I was with them and was extremely uneasy because they were jumping all over the restaurant. I am not the only one who noticed this. However, I will not go out with them in public restaurants anymore. Very strange because they are so fanatical (to a fault) when it comes to other parts of their lives.

Sorry to go so off topic.