New (to us) TS reservations. Your opinions please

[cmurray234]

My family has been to WDW quite a few times, so this year we've decided to try mostly new table service restaurants. I'd be interested to hear your experiences (good and bad) with the following restaurants.

The Garden Grill

Tokyo Dining

Tony's Town Square

The Wave

Cape May Cafe (clam bake)

Kouzzina


Thanks in advance!

 

[themilesfamily]

The Garden Grill

EXCELLENT character interaction. Chip & Dale are just the best. Farmer Mickey and Pluto are there, too.

I find the food delicious and plentiful. My understanding is that some of the vegetables and fruits used in the meal are organic and grown right there on site.

We love Garden Grill and it's a restaurant we go back to frequently.

***I do recommend requesting a booth on the LOWER LEVEL. You have a much better view of the scenery.

 

[mickeynut1]

We've only eaten at one on your list (Cape May) and we LOVE it!!!! The buffet is great (IMO) with a lot of variety and we love the atmosphere. It's a must do for us at least once every trip .

 

[Quin]

LOVE the Cape May "clambake" dinner. Never mind the clams; go for the crab legs. Don't forget to get some drawn butter from the urn at the end of the buffet line, too.

The Wave - the lunch and dinner menus just don't appeal to me. What I want is to try them for breakfast. THAT looks good.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

We only ate at one of those retausrants, Kouzzina ... and to be honest we weren't that blown away by it. It was fine, but I think we were expecting/hoping for more.

The physical space is kinda blah and some of the food was ok, but some was pretty eh, and could have been better.

We went there really shortly after it opened and I know other people have had great meals there so perhaps it has gotten better

 

[ses1230]

We went to The Wave for dinner, and it was just eh. Not great, not terrible. The appetizers were better than the entrees and my kids loved the kids pasta. Probably won't eat here again.

We just tried Tony's for the first time this last trip. In spite of all the bad reviews I had read, it was actually pretty good. Again my kids liked the pasta - they had mickey shaped raviolis. I had a white flatbread and they were able to hold the garlic, which I appreciated. DH had the chicken parm and he said it was fine, sort of like what you would get at your local pizza shop. We would probably eat here again.

 

[Robin K]

We LOVE Garden Grill. It's one of our must dos when we are at Epcot.
We also really enjoy Cape May. It is usually our last day meal. The seafood is good and the other choices are good for the non seafood fans!
We liked Tonys but the service the last time put us off. Just slow and pretty rude when we asked for a few minutes before ordering. We just felt a little rushed throughout the meal.
We haven't eaten at the other places. Good luck..have a great trip

 

[DisneyMamaof3girls]

We ate at the Garden Grill and The Wave on our 2009 trip. They were two of our favorite meals! Loved the character interaction at Garden Grill and loved the menu options at The Wave. Enjoy!

 

[catne]

My family has been to WDW quite a few times, so this year we've decided to try mostly new table service restaurants. I'd be interested to hear your experiences (good and bad) with the following restaurants.

The Garden Grill Food is OK, not the best by any stretch. Good but not approaching great. Would NOT return here unless I had kids with me who really, really, wanted to see these characters. MANY better restaurants at Epcot.

Tokyo Dining One of the few places we have not been. Have read too many review saying better Japanese food at home, etc. so we've never been interested as the menu doesn't really have anything unusual to tempt us.s

Tony's Town Square Would not return...food was OK, again I'd say good but not approaching great. For Italian at Disney we prefer Mama Melrose in Hollywood Studios or Tutto Italia in Epcot. For unusual , and very good, pizza we really liked Via Napoli in Epcot. For Magic Kingdom in-the-park meal...if you'd want sandwiches with table service in Magic Kingdom, I'd go to The Plaza again. We actually love Crystal Palace for breakfast, lunch or dinner...food is good & service is good. Characters are fun there. For a non-character table-service meal, I'd hop the monorail to Kona Cafe at the Polynesian Hotel, or The Grand Floridian Cafe at the Grand Floridian Hotel.

The Wave Have been here many times, one of our favorite steak restaurants at Disney. Great food & service every time. We'll be back.

Cape May Cafe (clam bake) Have been here several times, too, and we always enjoy the food. Great seafood for a buffet...and wonderful desserts, tool. Would return (and actually, we are returning like 3 times in 2012.)

Kouzzina Did not like this place at all. Mediocre cuts of meat, overcooked and over-seasoned (tons of salt & cinnamon/cardamon) apparently that's only seasonings they have. Terrible service...food was delivered at all different times...like one person gets their cocktail...and 5 minutes later the other 2 cocktails show up. None were unusual, all straight off the menu. Same with entrees...all three of us were served at different times. Dessert showed up at same time. No waiter in-between times, no beverage refills. Asked for coffee with dessert...coffee cup/saucer & cream showed up. NO coffee, though. Would not return. Again, better restaurants in Epcot (would go to Marrakesh if looking for Mediterranean/N. African type foods. Of Hacienda San Angel/Mexican...or Coral Reef in The Seas. Heck, even Biergarten had better food than Kouzzina. If you're looking for a Boardwalk area restaurant...Flying Fish (signature) is great...Captain's Grill at Yacht Club is also good. (steaks, fish, chicken, etc)


Thanks in advance!

Hope that helps!

 

[MicRac]

We have only tried Tony's on your list and we thought it was really good. The restaurant is very pretty and the location is awesome if you get an ADR around parade time. You are going to hear so many mixed review of every restaurant you just have to go with the kind of food you know your family will enjoy.

 

[Kay1]

I agree with the others about Cape May. Even though it's expensive I feel the value is good. And it's really delicious.

Enjoy.

 

[Sweet Melissa]

Tony's Town Square — Its only redeeming quality is that it's conveniently located if you don't want to leave the Magic Kingdom for a meal. If you have an affinity for Italian food, you won't like what Tony's serves at all. I've had cafeteria food and microwave meals with more personality. Disney purports that the restaurant is inspired by Lady and the Tramp, so it seems like it would be cute and maybe even a little romantic, but there is very little theme or ambiance to speak of. The staff are personable, but as with all Magic Kingdom restaurants, they can be rushed and harried. They do the best they can.

The Wave — I really dislike their dining room. It's very plain and too open. It feels like the kind of middling hotel restaurant you would find at the chain hotels that cater to business travelers. Just impersonal and mundane. We haven't been for breakfast since before they added the buffet, but we thought that the breakfast menu was uninspired. We wouldn't go back for breakfast with the outstanding Grand Floridian Café just a monorail ride away.

The good news is that the lunch menu (we haven't been for dinner) is quite good. I loved the bison burger I had for lunch in October. The salsa verde it was topped with was so fresh and herby. I wish I had asked for a recipe. The lounge, which also serves the full menu, is one of the most beautiful, relaxing lounges on property. If you want to go to the Wave, I'd skip the dining room and take your meal in the lounge.

Kouzzina — Kouzzina is our favorite restaurant for breakfast in all of Disney World. The stacked breakfast and the spinach, tomato and feta scrambled eggs are both excellent (as was the breakfast flatbread, which is no longer on the menu -- Kouzzina is slowly replacing the dishes that were holdovers from Spoodles). I look forward to trying the baklava French toast when we visit again in February.

They also have a wonderful dinner, though the open kitchen and cavernous dining room make it very noisy. The atmosphere is celebratory if not intimate. My partner had the whole fish when we last had dinner there. It was some kind of snapper that night. He thought the seasoning and aromatics were perfect. I had the pastitsio and I still fantasize about it sometimes. It will be hard not to order it again when we go back for dinner in February, but there are so many other dishes on the menu that sound amazing that I'll just have to force myself.

 

[janabananas]

My family has been to WDW quite a few times, so this year we've decided to try mostly new table service restaurants. I'd be interested to hear your experiences (good and bad) with the following restaurants.

Tokyo Dining

Thanks in advance!

I haven't been to any of the other restaurants on your list, so I will only comment on Tokyo Dining.

This restaurant is on our list of "must go to again and again". We have had great experiences the times we have gone. The service is fantastic (the staff is always polite) and the food is quite good. The fish/seafood/sushi is very, very fresh and the other items were fantastic as well. We always get the Wafu rib app. In our opinion, some of the best ribs in all of WDW.

Can I also suggest Raglan Road as an option? It is also fantastic!

HTH Good luck!

 

[meredith1]

We just got back and the only one we tried on your list was The Wave for breakfast. We walked right in (no ressie) and it was quite good. We all very much enjoyed it!

 

[itradehilton]

Another vote for Tokyo Dining, good food and great service. Try to get a window side seat the view over the lake is amazing.

 

[B-Ride]

We only ate at one of those retausrants, Kouzzina ... and to be honest we weren't that blown away by it. It was fine, but I think we were expecting/hoping for more.

The physical space is kinda blah and some of the food was ok, but some was pretty eh, and could have been better.

We had the same experience. My meal was great but my wife and kids did not enjoy their meal. It was noisy and the service was not great.

We also were not impressed with The Wave.

Cape May is a pretty decent buffet and we have eaten their several times.

We have not tried your other picks.

 

[cmurray234]

Thank you everyone for your input. Much appreciated.

We went to the Kouzzina location when it used to be Spoodles. Loved the food, hated the service. It'll be interesting to see if the same is true for Kouzzina. I REALLY like Mediterranean food a lot, so I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

I'm starting to re-think Tony's. I want to try Via Napoli and it seems like the food is much better rated at VN. Only problem is, no park hopper. Have to think about how I'd work this differently....

To whoever suggested Raglan Road. We LOVE it there. My children are Irish dancers, so this was right up their alley. My son got up and danced with the servers during one of the performances (he's 8). Got a standing ovation in the room we were eating in.