Quick Dining Review: 16/3-23/3, 2006

[biggroofy]

Me (30), DW (29), DD (2), MOM (63), DAD (65)
Resort: POFQ, on dining plan

17/3/2006
Garden Grill
TIME: Around 11:45am
PAYMENT: VISA
FOOD: A (Flank Steak and Catfish are super yummy! DD2 was free of charge and server brought her apple juice and a small platter.)
SERVICE: A+ (Forgot her name, one of the best server we met in our trip, nice & friendly, dad and I who had iced-tea, was served over 4+ refills during our 50 min lunch)
CHARACTER INTERACTION: A+ (DD2 was so happy, Mickey/Chip/Dale came to our table for over 5 rounds).

Chef De France
TIME: Around 7:00pm
PAYMENT: 4TS + child meal OOP
FOOD: B (not outstanding compared to other French restaurant we had in Toronto/Ottawa)
SERVICE: B+ (Our server, Lidion, was a nice gentleman. He suggested us to share our plates with DD2, but DW decided to order child pasta.)

18/3/2006
Le Cellier
TIME: Around 11:30am (wanted to book dinner but all full)
PAYMENT: 4TS + child meal OOP
FOOD: A+ (Although we are from Canada, I have to agree that the Cheese soup, Grilled Petit Filet are better than any local restaurants in Toronto.)
SERVICE: A (Craig, a young man from Gulph, was our server. Very bright and friendly guy, and we are glad that he pay special attention to my DD2).

19/3/2006
Flying Fish Cafe
TIME: Around 6:40pm
PAYMENT: 8TS + child meal OOP
FOOD: A (No doubt that fish was very well cooked. I like the Mahi Mahi, and DAD like his English Cod.)
SERVICE: A- (Our server Mikail was also a friendly and professional gentleman, introduce all dishes in details. Furthermore, remind us that Valrhona Chocolate Souffle needs 20 mins and ask us to order in advance).

20/3/2006
Crystal Palace
TIME: Around 12:40pm
PAYMENT: VISA
FOOD: B- (buffet style, food was average)
SERVICE: C+ (server was ok, except we later realized that the transactions were screwed when we read our credit card statement - charged us twice and credit one back, ending with a minor loss of $8 CDN via currency exchange).
Character Interaction: B+

Naroossees
TIME: Around 7:40pm
PAYMENT: 8TS + child meal OOP
FOOD: A+ (Crab cakes and Shrimp cocktails are great as appretizer, we all had the yummy lobster)
SERVICE: A+ (Really appreciate our server, Amer. Also another best server we had in our trip, nice & professional).

21/3/2006
Chef Mickey
TIME: Around 9:30am
PAYMENT: VISA
FOOD: C (not impressive)
SERVICE: C+ (average)
Character Interaction: C (we stayed for an hour and met Mickey & Minnie once, the characters were so busy that they stayed at each table for less than 30 sec. Goofy was available at the entrance)

1900 Park Fare
TIME: Around 5:50pm
PAYMENT: 4TS
FOOD: B- (better than average, but not really impressive. They have prime rib but it is worse than the flank steak in Garden Grill).
SERVICE: A- (nice server, unfortunately i lost the receipt and forgot her name).
Character Interaction: B

 

[plgrn]

thanks for the review. I like the easy to read and compare format!

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Thanks for the great reviews. We also ate at Le Cellier & Flying Fish this past December and enjoyed them both.

 

[formernyer]

I just got back from Disney yesterday. The only restaurant on your list that we dined at was Crystal Palace. I had a very different experience than you. I would have given it an A+ all around.

It is a buffet restaurant, so you can't expect the plates to be works of art like you would at a fancy sit-down place...but it isn't priced like a fancy sit-down place either, so you need to keep that in mind.

Our servers were very attentive and friendly.

I thought the food quality/taste was excellent. The selection was HUGE and I cleared everything on all my plates, which I usually don't do at buffets (generally there are one of two things I try that I don't like).

The desserts were better than the desserts at any buffet I've ever been to before.

The character interaction was very good in my opinion. I knew not to expect a "show" but the characters came to every table and were very friendly/playful. The only character that doesn't come to the table is Piglet...they keep him up front near the food so that the kids can visit with him when they get their meal. Once an hour the characters gather up all of the kids in the restaurant and they march/parade around the place.

 

[Dizzy4Dizney]

Thanks for the review. We were dissapointed the last time we ate at the Crystal Palace. We are going again this trip, so I won't get my hopes up that it got better! We are going with another family and feel any character meal with 3 girls under 6 would be fun.

 

[tinkamom]

How were the lobsters at Narcoosees? Were they a good size? I'm looking forward to dining there but a little worried that the $54 lobster will be tiny!

 

[Leota]

Thanx for your review. I have eaten at all the places you listed with similar grades with the exception of Crystal Palace for lunch. I had a surprisingly good experience there last Dec for a buffet. Of course being the first seating with everything fresh from the kitchen helped, topped off by the fact we hadn't eaten a thing yet that day & were famished.....

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reviews ~ Thanx for posting.

 

[biggroofy]

How were the lobsters at Narcoosees? Were they a good size? I'm looking forward to dining there but a little worried that the $54 lobster will be tiny!

According to our server, the lobsters were 2 to 2.5 pounds each. I think it is reasonably large in size, compare to the 1.5 to 2 pounds lobsters we usually had in Toronto. Mom was unable to finish her plate (since her Duxbury Mussels appetizer was large) so I got some extra lobster meat too

 

[biggroofy]

I just got back from Disney yesterday. The only restaurant on your list that we dined at was Crystal Palace. I had a very different experience than you. I would have given it an A+ all around.

Hi formernyer,

Glad to hear you had a wonderful experience at Crystal Palace. I agree that there were a large variety of food selection, and it is absolutely acceptable as a buffet-style restaurant.

Please note that all my ratings are based on comparison with my other TS meals, therefore I classified the food quality as average. We had only two buffet style meals, and the general food quality at Crystal Palace is definitely better than 1900 Park Fare.

Character interaction at Crystal Palace was just fine (at least better than Chef Mickey), but other places (e.g. Garden Grill) had a little more closer interaction. However, I think it also depends on the time we visit the restaurant (i.e. if it is crowded), when we visited Garden Grill we was a bit early and there were less than 8 tables occupied.

 

[formernyer]

Character interaction at Crystal Palace was just fine (at least better than Chef Mickey), but other places (e.g. Garden Grill) had a little more closer interaction. However, I think it also depends on the time we visit the restaurant (i.e. if it is crowded), when we visited Garden Grill we was a bit early and there were less than 8 tables occupied.

This is probably very true. At Crystal Palace there was almost always a character nearby, but rarely all at the same time because the restaurant was so full. The restaurant was filled to capacity and each character only circled once or twice an hour. Once they got to the tables they based the length of their stay on the kids. We only got about a minute per character each time they passed, but my kids are 9 and 10 and really didn't care for any more time than that. I noticed that the characters lingered a little more at the tables with very young kids who thought they were magical and "the real thing."

 

[Selket]

I love Crystal Palace for the food - that is one of my fav restaurants overall at WDW. The character interaction is usually a but hectic due to the set-up of the restaurant. My younger son has food allergies and is diabetic and the chefs here have been great.

Chef Mickey's was also not too high on our ratings (from last summer). The food was o.k. I've been there 2x now and I fail to see what others like about it. Maybe breakfast is better but dinner is just average if that!

We loved Le Cellier - most helpful chefs on property for my son. One of the chefs even helped us get in contact with our resort chef for an upcoming trip.

Sounds like you had some good meals!

 

[TwingleMum]

Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed your reviews.