Restaurant that you went to with low expectations but turned out great?

[HeatherC]

Just saw the other thread about Tony's Town Square at the MK where the OP mentioned the meal was very good even though the place gets mixed reviews.

So what restaurants have you tried that you thought may not be so good, but turned out to be great?

My neighbors just came back and told me they wound up loving Akershus at Epcot. This is one I'd probably never try but maybe should?

 

[vettegirl]

PT 50's cafe, saw some mixed reviews. We loved it and the pot roast is amazing!

 

[Rainkiss]

Marrakesh. I didn't expect to like the food, but it was wonderful, service was great, we had a great time!

 

[madalex]

Captain's Grille. I had stayed at the YC more than a dozen times, but never tried this place. Then, in 2006, I failed to make an ADR for our travel day and could not get one at the last minute anywhere else. We were staying at the YC, so we headed down to CG and were seated immediately. The meal was quite good (not "signature restaurant" good, but a solid and tasty meal). As a result, this is now on the list of places I go to just about every trip.

 

[Nadjalu]

San Angel Inn. I was prepared for authentic mexican food, which is different for me. I like more tex-mex style, but I enjoyed it. Not to mention it was the best atmosphere of the trip!

 

[inkedupmomma]

also Tony's. Heard terrible things and went in assuming it would be terrible. Food was pretty good, service wasn't great though ;/

 

[clutter]

Sanaa. I don't like Indian flavorings, so I didn't expect to like it, but we did buy points there.

I made a lunch ADR for 11:30. We were the first customers of the day and got the welcome song. The service was beyond outstanding, they sent out the two curry sauces for me to try (the green was good, the red was a bit too hot), but I ended up ordering the pork with pickled lime and ginger, whihc was my waiter's favorite. My dd wasn't too fond of it (although she did like the pork, so there is something she'll eat there), but I Sanaa.

 

[Coconuts]

I always heard so-so things about GG, but we loved it on our last trip. It had great character interaction, wasn't too loud, and the food was different than your basic disney meal.

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Biergarten-it's never booked up and when we went my dd LOVED the show and dancing and now it is a must do on every trip!

 

[carmie3377]

Marrakesh. I didn't expect to like the food, but it was wonderful, service was great, we had a great time!

I second this. DH and I were having our first date night at WDW. We were visiting guest services to print our boarding passes about an hour before our ADR time. They had a list up of all places that had openings. I wanted to change but DH urged me to give Marrakesh a chance. I'm so happy we ended up keeping our ADR because it turned out to be an excellent meal. We thoroughly enjoyed our food and the service was some of the best we've had at WDW. Our waiter took the time to answer any of our questions about the food and even shared some of his culture with us. We would go back in a heartbeat if it was just DH and I.

 

[jec13]

I would also say Biergarten. It seems most people stay away from it because they don't really know about German food. My wife and I tried it on our anniversary trip in 2007 and both loved it.

Another reason people tend to stay away from it is because you sit at a large table (I think it holds around 8 people). We had 2 other families at our table and we all got along great. It was nice talking to people and seeing their perspectives on Disney.

 

["Cinder" Ella's Mom]

Mama Melrose. I had read some negative posts about it, but it was decent. Great server too.

 

[Mrs.Toad]

Spirit of Aloha. We had read bad reviews of the food here, but went anyway. We were pleasantly surprised at the food. Our chicken was nice and moist, the ribs and rice were good. The dessert wasn't that great, but overall better than we'd expected.

And while the show starts off pretty corny and lame, it really picks up and gets better later.

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

I have two from our last trip. First was Sci-Fi. We booked it for the atmosphere but were pleasantly surprised that our food was good too. The second was dinner at 'Ohana. I'd read some negative reviews and I wasn't sure we'd be up for an all-you-can-eat experience so late in our trip so I toyed with cancelling the ADR. I'm so glad I didn't because we really enjoyed it.

 

[KEMdisney]

Right before we left for our June trip I read TONS of awful reviews for Whispering Canyon Cafe --- I went into it with low expectations -- and we loved it!!!

 

[Hollymom1229]

Big River Grille, just kind of ended up here one night while staying on the Boardwalk because it was the only place taking walk ups. It was great, had one of the best entree salads of my life.

 

[Kae]

GF Cafe. We never really heard much about it except it was compared to a Denny's. Well one year we decided to slow down & have a good Breakfast wanted Kona it was booked & most things were but we got GF Cafe food was great, service good & it was a nice meal. I had a window seat & watched the CM's plant flowers gosh they were so neat & quick. I would still be planting & that was a few years ago.

then we went for Dinner once again great meal.

Kae

 

[Pakey]

Tusker House breakfast.

 

[carmie3377]

GF Cafe. We never really heard much about it except it was compared to a Denny's. Well one year we decided to slow down & have a good Breakfast wanted Kona it was booked & most things were but we got GF Cafe food was great, service good & it was a nice meal. I had a window seat & watched the CM's plant flowers gosh they were so neat & quick. I would still be planting & that was a few years ago.

then we went for Dinner once again great meal.

Kae

Wow, can't believe it was compared to Denny's! We ate there and thought it was a fantastic meal too!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

CHEF MICKEY'S Right before we left on our trip, a whole bunch of extremely negative reviews came out and I very seriously considered cancelling our ADR. I am SO GLAD I didn't! We LOVED IT!!! Okay, so the food is NOT 5 star, but it was hot and fresh and you just can NOT beat the character interaction!