Review of Chef Mickey's...July 2011

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

Hi all,

Chef Mickey's has been a favorite of ours in the past. Unfortunately, no more! The restaurant was dirty and not well kept....tables weren't promptly turned over, instead dishes from one table were stacked on another "dirty" table and it took a while for the busers to clean them off.

We all know that kids (and some adults) aren't as careful about dropping things on the floor...but the floor was just awful!

The photos...really.....??? Way to expensive! Why do we have to do this before we go and sit down? Oh yes, to get even more money out of us. Talk about wasteful....how many people really buy the packages?

Now, on to the food. Yes, it is a buffet and I understand that food quality can be hard to maintain. But they should have someone who is responsible for maintaining and overseeing the cleanliness of the buffet itself to clean up the dropped items and wipe off the area. Also, the food variety's were not as good as in the past. There were only 5 hot dishes and even the hot dishes weren't so hot....my mashed potatoes were cold! Yuck!

Maybe we just caught them on a bad night. We dined at 6:20 on a Saturday evening so it was pretty much "prime time."

Sorry, but we won't be back. It was just plain gross this time!

Keri

 

[bluejasmine]

I think you did catch it on a bad night altho you hear quite a few bad reviews.. We went for the fist time in June, I landed this ADR for my step sons first WDW trip. I told DH upfront that it had eh reviews. We were pleasantly suprised! Server was so sweet and attentive even tho she was constantly running! Character interaction was great and we were very suprised by the food! Food on kids buffett was edible but eh.. Everything we tasted on adult buffet from prime rib, chicken, mash po, augratin po, green beans, corn bread, salads were all very good..Thought dessert bar a little lacking but were too full really..

 

[cns01120]

We went years ago and never went back. The food was awful, the stations were disgusting, you could barely see the floor because so much food was all over it and it was so loud you couldn't even talk to the people at your table. I particularly enjoyed going up to the ice cream station which was overflowing to the point that you could not fit a dish underneath the spout without getting covered in melted mush. Our waitress came exactly one time to our table.

One bad experience can definitely make people never want to go back.

 

[iloveeeyore]

So sorry you had a bad experience at CM! We were afraid to go back last summer because reviews had been getting worse and worse...but we actually had a surprisingly great experience. I'm secretly happy I wasn't able to get an ADR for this trip!

I hope the rest of your meals were better!

 

[bluejasmine]

I do agree one bad experience will keep you from going back.. CP was aweful for us, San Angel was bad on our honeymoon and I have been trying to talk DH into going back now that menu and all has changed..

OP I hope the rest of your meals and vacation were much better!!

 

[lizzyb]

Sorry you had a bad experience. There is definately alot of turnover there but they should keep on top of cleaning.

 

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

Thanks everyone,

Our other meals were good to very good. Since we stayed using our DVC points (for most of the trip), we didn't eat out all that much. Our other ADRs were Cape May (it was terrific!), and Chefs de France (eh...my meal was good, though the beef was well done rather than medium as requested). We stayed at Ft. Wilderness Cabins the last 2 nights of our trip and ate once at Trails End which was very clean and I thought was pretty good...though my husband was more of the eh...it was OK...opinion.

Let me put a plug in here for Cape May. I was skeptical that a seafood buffet could be good....but it was terrific! The fried shrimp was done in a light batter, maybe a tempura batter, and it was wonderful. The crab legs (snow crab) were surprisingly good. Even my husband who was very reluctant to come here said that it is a must do in the future.

Hope you all enjoy your Disney Dining in the future,

Keri

 

[sydneysmom]

I TOTALLY agree w/ you about Chef Mickey's. We went for breakfast last Sept thinking it was going to be awesome . OMG. It was completely unorganized (we had ADR's and waited 1 hour for our table) and completely filthy. As we walked to the food stations, we're stepping on cereal and ice cream. It was disgusting. Parents let their kids pick fruit up w/ their hands.... no, not bananas....they picked up strawberries, pieces of melon, pineapple with their bare hands. it was disgusting. (now granted, that wasn't the fault of Chef Mickey's, but it made me walk away from the fruit...) The food was not replenished, the Mickey waffles were stone cold, the eggs had other food in them from someone using a different spoon. It was disgusting.

The photo package was grossly overpriced and you're not even taking a pic w/ an actual character! We were there over 2 hours waiting for the characters to finally get to our room. (as were the other tables in our area) People were getting so upset. Finally, we all got the characters and at that point, everyone around us had already paid their checks and were just waiting for characters. It was crazy.

Next time, we're skipping this for sure. To us, Tusker House was THE best character meal. Chef Mickey's was too insane.

 

[joell51868]

I'm so sorry to hear you had a bad time. I was actually just going to post asking to hear about Chef Mickey's Dinner. We've only ever done breakfast there & this trip I went against my "gut feeling" and booked dinner just to have one day where we werent getting up at 6am. Now I'm so afraid and I keep checking to try to change our ADR but nothing is available. I dont care if I dont enjoy it, I'm just hoping & praying the kids still have a good time.

 

[mom2_3girls]

I had planned on getting an ADR for Chef Mickeys for March, but now I wonder if I should plan on something else. The main reason we are going is to see Pluto and Minnie...my girls favorites. We are also doing Cape May, Tusker House and Crystal Palace...I wonder if I should just go ahead and book it and hope for the best.

 

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

I truly hope your experiences are FAR different than mine and that you have a great time!

K

 

[ksolich]

I had planned on getting an ADR for Chef Mickeys for March, but now I wonder if I should plan on something else. The main reason we are going is to see Pluto and Minnie...my girls favorites. We are also doing Cape May, Tusker House and Crystal Palace...I wonder if I should just go ahead and book it and hope for the best.

Have you been to the character spot at EPCOT? Me and DBF just got back from a trip just yesterday and we did that, while the wait was about 30 minutes we got great character interaction with the Fab 5, even though we were adults without children!

 

[Schoolbread]

Never been to CM's, and these stories are exactly why! In fact, I shy away from the buffets in general because of little paws in the food....ICK!

 

[mlg32]

Ugh we haven't been in a couple of years, and for this upcoming trip I got a ADR right before MVMCP, but now i don't know. I have been there when it's gross and also been seated far away from the "fun" and those experiences stink.

 

[CaptainAlex]

It really reads as CM is a mixed bag and is seems to be the biggest gamble when considering this being ADR worthy.

I hope my family has a good expeirence with CM when we go for dinner.

 

[Disney owl]

sorry to hear you didn't have a good visit. Thanks for posting

 

[Tinkerbellah]

This is a classic WDW restaurant so it's so sad to hear you had a bad meal.It is quit expensive to not be as good of quality as in the past. I had the same thing happen to me @ 1900 park fare. It was in '09 when they did the free dining for the 1st time. I was a little more understanding since I got the free dining plan. However, this year I'm paying full price. The free dining starts in the middle of our stay but we don't qualify for it. I will be very upset if any of the buffets are sloppy like that. GROSS! Not when I'm paying mad $$$ just to eat for a week. I WILL complain. I hope CM is good when we go since I usually love it.

 

[miprender]

For anyone considering cancelling I wouldn't. Everyone has their own experiences. We ate there in July too and did not encounter any of that. So hopefully it was just a bad night the OP experienced.

Our biggest complaint was we had to wait over an hour and weren't seated until 9pm which is late for us.

As for the complaint about the picture you don't have to take one if you don't want to it is not like you won't be seated and unfortunately they do this at alot of the buffet restaurants now. I actually have them use my camera too because we don't pay for the pictures.

 

[JerseyJanice]

The first time we went to Chef Mickey in 1999 was an awesome experience! Not only did my then 2 year-old son fall in love with the characters, but DH and I really enjoyed the food.

We went every trip after that and noticed a decline in quality each visit. The worst is what they did to the dessert buffet. In 2002, they had so many different kinds of candy to top your ice cream, our waiter gave us a baggie to take some with us. When we were there last year, I noticed that all those toppings containers were filled with decorative rubber balls. No more candy buffet! They used to serve chocolate mousse cake decorated with Mickey-printed white chocolate wafers. Last year, the squares of cake tasted no better than something you'd get in a supermarket bakery.

As far as the photo goes, we always refuse to pose for them since we have no intention of purchasing the pictures and that is exactly what we tell them. The only place where they ever seemed put-out by that was in 1900 Park Fare. We had a lot of issues at that meal; I think refusing to pose in front of their stupid castle wallpaper is what caused them to treat us so poorly.

We won't be back to either restaurant. At one time, the Disney buffet restaurants seemed to be a decent deal. Not anymore. They're too expensive to risk having a bad experience.

 

[Maryrn11168]

We just returned from WDW this morning. We stayed for 2 nights after sailing on the Dream. Since we were staying at Bay Lake Towers I made ADR's for us for a breakfast and a dinner at Chef Mickey's. My family has always enjoyed Chef Mickeys, it is usually one of our favorites.

Breakfast: Food was terrible, few choices, we had finished eating for about 20 minutes before we had our 1st visit from any character. It will be a long time before I go back for breakfast.

Dinner: We arrived 30 minutes prior to our ADR. It was a rainy night so I expected everyone to actually come to their ADR. I was informed that they were running about 15 minutes behind schedule. No big deal. Well and hour and 15 minutes later we were still in the bar waiting to be called. Went to the podium and was told people were lingering, etc. OK, just making sure you didn't forget us. We were seated not long after that, and it was hard not to notice the array of empty tables around the restaurant.
The food was better than breakfast, but not up to the standards that I have become accustomed to from Disney in the past.
The food area was very messy, empty stations that were needing addtional food.
The worst was the bathroom downstairs it was disgusting, no one had inspected or cleaned that bathroom in HOURS! There was 3 stalls with paper, the floor had paper towels all over.

We are having a family reunion at WDW next summer to celebrate my niece's 16th Birthday and this would have been a MUST to do for our family...Not anymore! Sorry Mickey!