Restaurant recommendations needed for a disillusioned Disney lover...

[amandaC]

My husband and I are from NY and my DH is a chef. That being said, we enjoy fine food but we also enjoy simple well done food.

You can't beat Victoria and Albert's for a fine dining experience.

For signatures, we like Narcoosee's. We also enjoyed Tiffin's on our last trip.

We love Via Napoli for pizza. 50's Prime Time is a lot of fun and has solid comfort food. We love Raglan Road- again comfort Irish pub grub. There's step dancing at night that is entertaining for all ages. We enjoyed the Boathouse in Disney Springs.

I am not a big fan of character meals. I would probably do a breakfast- either Tusker House or Crystal Palace.

For counter service we really enjoy France in Epcot- a baguette and a cheese plate are my favorite for lunch.

 

[MermaidMommy]

There are a lot of new restaurants at Disney Springs that have gotten really good reviews. Art Smith's Homecoming, Rick Bayless' Frontera Cocina, Morimoto, Boathouse all seem to have consistently good reviews.

Tiffin's, AK's new restaurant, also has had really great buzz, and seems to have vaulted to a lot of "best restaurant" lists. They have a lunch menu that lets you try several items, too. Easywdw.com has reviewed most/all of those restaurants lately, if you want to check out some of the options.

Also, if you decide to go to Sanaa, two tips: absolutely don't skip the bread service -- it's amazing. And, try to eat there during the day, so you'll be able to see the animals on the savannah. (In case it hasn't been mentioned, it's at Kidani Village, which is the DVC building, not the main lodge.)

 

[Westcoastwild]

I didn't read the whole thread. But I'm a foodie, and I think my best meals were: rose and crown, Marrekhesh, the Italian place on the boardwalk (il for no?) rose and crown was probably only in my top 3 because I am a fish and chips fan and I enjoy pubs anyway. I wasn't impressed by via Napoli at all, but there are some really amazing pizza places in Seattle and I'm probably spoiled. And Marrekhesh was not THE BEST Moroccan I've had- it's just a little dumbed down. but it's good value and Morrocan can be a bit hard to find out here. So it was a treat.


But I largely agree with the earlier poster who said it IS a theme park. Don't get me wrong- good food, mostly, but I never walk onto the property expecting exceptional food. If I wanted that, I'd skip Disney. The few times I get my hopes up- for instance, my jiko dinner- I am inevitably let down. They have to feed so many people a day, it's generally not cost effective to turn out exceptional quality food. And for a lot of the prices, I can eat at a five star place in pretty much any city- and eat better. So I think they just can't compare it to what they eat at home- or just don't look at the prices

What I'd do for the foodies is pick somewhere fabulous to eat off property for one night. Let them choose. A city like Orlando- there has to be some awesome local dining.

 

[Nancyg56]

Thank you for all your advice! As I sit here thinking about it, it seems to me that they are more upset with the price of just mediocre food. Our usual choices are always Cali Grill, Citricos, and Jiko. Our last 2 meals at Cali were really just sub par. We have had some AMAZING meals there, but recently it's just been OK. Even Jiko was not as great as it normally was. Maybe we were just there on an off week? I think they get more upset because they just spent $$$ on a meal that was not up to their expectations. When we ate at Teppan Edo however, they were totally happy and had a great time because they felt like the food was better value if that makes sense? So maybe what we do need are not signature meals, but good "value" meals where they didn't feel like they wasted $40 on just an OK steak.

I know 'Ohana is good for this, any others? I like the idea of 50's Prime Time! How about Narcoosee's? Have you had good experiences there?

"Ohana? It's funny, about 4 years ago we went on a blow out trip, and left pretty discouraged by the mediocre food throughout. Even YSH was a disappointment, which had never happened before. ASide from SOA, which was what is always promised, no more no less, 'Ohana was the only meal I left thing, Boy was that good! ANd I am no fan of 'Ohana, so I suprised myself! LOL!

But things have changed. 'Ohana seems to be a victim of it's own success. One day high hopes, and the next a total disaster. No way to know what day you are going to get. But for the most part the last year was one of really good meals.

I've never heard anyone say ohana was the best on property until this thread. Weird.

I know! LOL! All you can eat stringy meat! LOL!


OP- first, Narcoossees is my favorite.

DD just had dinner at Al Forno and said it was the best meal, outside of Narcoosses they had on their trip. Great food and outstanding service.

We always enjoy Rose & Crown, Raglan Road and Mama Melrose. KOna is good too. DD hits Kona for late lunch and loves it.

I enjoyed San Angel Inn, and while I was nto at Sanaa, it was a family favorite on that last trip.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Out of curiosity, which is Breakfast and which is Dinner?

. . . 1900 Park Fare (B-D)
. . . Ohana (B)
. . . Garden Grill (B-D)
. . . Tusker House, moved from #1 Spot due to menu changes (B-L)
. . . Garden Grove Swan (D)
. . . Akershus Royal Banquet (B-L-D)
. . . Tusker House, (D)
. . . Cape May Café (B)
. . . Hollywood & Vine (B-L-D)
. . . Crystal Palace (B-L-D)
. . . Cinderella Royal Table, since new menu (B-L-D)
. . . Chef Mickey's (B-L-D)

 

[AngiTN]

. . . 1900 Park Fare (B-D)
. . . Ohana (B)
. . . Garden Grill (B-D)
. . . Tusker House, moved from #1 Spot due to menu changes (B-L)
. . . Garden Grove Swan (D)
. . . Akershus Royal Banquet (B-L-D)
. . . Tusker House, (D)
. . . Cape May Café (B)
. . . Hollywood & Vine (B-L-D)
. . . Crystal Palace (B-L-D)
. . . Cinderella Royal Table, since new menu (B-L-D)
. . . Chef Mickey's (B-L-D)

Sorry, that wasn't my question. I know what meal is served where.
I was asking about 1900PF specifically. On your ranking of Best Character Interaction you listed 1900PF twice. I realize that's because it's different characters so I wondered, which was which on your ranking, which do you place 3rd, Breakfast or Dinner?

 

[SGMCO]

From reading all of the so called bad reviews of Restaurants I have found that most negative views are for Meat (steak), I never eat steak (beef), chicken or Pork and have never gotten a bad meal, I eat mostly Seafood and Vegetarian dishes. Just a Thought.

 

[tasha99]

Our favorites:
Casual: Tangerine Cafe (Epcot), Scifi Dine In (mainly for theme--just get burgers /shakes and don't go fancy here).
Buffet: Boma (really, probably the best place with a normal price tag that we went last trip. We got there for an early seating, and there were no crowds--that probably helped our enjoyment. It's become our "must go to" restaurant. We also liked The Wave breakfast buffet. Not sure I'd make a trip for it, though it would be easy on the monorail from Poly. I usually cook most breakfasts in our room, but we liked it so much we went 3 times!
Sit down: V&A

I would NOT get the dining plan. It traps you in to Disney restaurants and ordering certain items. I'm not convinced it saves money but I do think it shapes behavior. Our last trip, we probably spent about the same as if we had the dining plan, but we got to eat and drink what we wanted, which included appetizers, alcohol, frequent meals in our own kitchen (I'm an oddball who doesn't mind cooking on vacation), and V&A's chef table, which didn't participate.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Sorry, that wasn't my question. I know what meal is served where.
I was asking about 1900PF specifically. On your ranking of Best Character Interaction you listed 1900PF twice. I realize that's because it's different characters so I wondered, which was which on your ranking, which do you place 3rd, Breakfast or Dinner?

1) I guess I read the request incorrectly.
2) 1900 is G-R-E-A-T at dinner for interaction. *
. . . the Ugly Sisters really clown it up !
. . . for extra fun, have your hubby propose to one of them (even better is when a young boy asks)
3) Breakfast has good interaction, but the dinner Sisters are hilarious.

* Most of know that people go to character meals for the characters and not the food quality. However, the way the Sisters act, really does make the food taste so much better.

 

[Yahweh]

We kind of had the same experience our last trip at WDW. We were really disappointed in the food. California Grill, which we normally love, wasn't great and the service was awful. The Plaza was perhaps the grossest meal I have ever had anywhere. Even Sanaa wasn't very good this trip. Tokyo Dining where we go almost every trip wasn't very good either.

Jiko however was great again, both the service and the food. Hopefully your experience was simply an off night. I am holding out hope that California Grill and Sanaa will both be better this trip!

Other than Jiko some of our best experiences have been at:

1. Raglan Road
2. BlueZoo
3. Kona Cafe

We are going to try Monsieur Paul's this trip and expect great things! If you get a chance to do Victoria & Alberts, it was worth the extra money...especially when you see what Disney is charging for some of the dessert parties etc..