San Angel Inn

[bytheblood]

Please tell me how you rate it. I have read reviews all over the web, but they mean more coming from members of this board.

 

[bicker]

The full-service restaurants around the World Showcase Lagoon break down into four groups, IMHO: The truly superior restaurant (Chefs de France), the excellent restaurants (like Le Cellier), the decent restaurants (like Biergarten), and the terrible restaurants (like Nine Dragons). IMHO, San Angel In fits into that second-to-last category: It's decent, but nothing to write home about, and for me, dining at full-service restaurants is all about having something to write home about.

More specifically, while some of the food is yummy, it's not consistently the case for the entire menu, and nothing is really amazingly great. They make a good play at providing atmosphere, with the river and the volcano, but overall, it is just plain too dark to enjoy the meal. No, it's not "romantically lit" -- it's dark. Great chefs will tell you that you eat with your eyes, nose and mouth, and with as dark as they keep the place, you're missing out on 1/3 of the dining experience. Service was good, but again, nothing to write home about.

YMMV.

 

[JennyMominRI]

The Carne Asada was great,as were some of the soups

 

[DreaminDisney]

We like this place but the atmosphere is better then the food.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Everyone has different tastes, that being said, these are the ones I've tried around WS.

Le Cellier
San Angel Inn
Marrakesh
Akershus

Le Cellier being my favorite, Akershus being my least favorite. This is based on the food. Nothing was bad at Akershus, just not to my taste. San Angel Inn, which I'm making a return visit to, as well as Le Cellier, and trying Nine Dragons, Chefs de France, and Rose & Crown, had the best atmosphere / scenery. It's gorgeous inside there, and very romantic, while still being child-friendly.

The food is good, nothing too exotic, but very tasty. The last time there, we had an late lunch / early dinner, and just ordered a couple of different appetizers to share.

 

[janice1234]

we ate there thursday night, my husband and i both really enjoyed our dinner, and i would recommend trying it.

 

[slp87]

As a fellow Texan, I can tell you that when we went it was not the Mexican food we typically get here. It was just too different and we didn't care for it. Make sure to check out the menu...

 

[westcliffemom]

Another vote for atmosphere better than food! The food is okay, nothing to write home about, but the atmosphere is neat!

 

[bicker]

Remarkably, while the cuisine isn't the Americanized stuff that we get at most "Mexican" restaurants around here, the "authentic" cuisines San Angel Inn serves isn't quite as authentic as you get in Mexico itself.

 

[ilovepcot]

DH and I really like San Angel Inn. Folks here are right, atmosphere is far superior to the food but I can get great food back home. Give me different, unique and unusual while on vacation. SAI is *all* that! The food is nothing to write home about as others have pointed out, but it is good. I'm wondering if they're not trying to hold back a bit with spices and such to accommodate children and others who aren't really into heavy duty Mexican cuisine?

I read repeatedly the glowing comments about Le Cellier. Ordered salmon there and it was soooo undercooked I actually gagged! DH said his waaaay overpriced steak tasted no different than one from a chain steak house. Just goes to show, everyone sees (and tastes) things differently.

 

[sunny04]

I voted for the really good and I'd eat there again. I just thought I'd post that at the same time, DH just thought it was okay. So, it's really going to be a personal opinion thing.

 

[bdcp]

I love when people complain that they serve packaged tortilla chips. All I can think is, they don't eat tortilla chips in Mexico and what we eat in "mexican" restaurants in the US isn't authentic at all. We recently ate at Senor Frog's in Nassau after our trip to WDW a few weeks ago and their food is outstanding, but it's still americanized mexican food. We ate in San Angel in early Nov and while the food was good, the atmosphere was great and we had a great conversation with the couple sitting next to us. It was just a wonderful experience.

Mexican food in this country varies a great deal. And chains differ from small individual family owned restaurants. I'm a Texan by birth and used to love mexican food we'd get in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, but it wasn't any better than anywhere else, just different. Our favorite is a mexican owned restaurant near our home in VA, but even there, they've bowed to what American's expect and serve americanized food.

 

[jann1033]

the atmosphere is great...maybe 20 yrs the food was very authentic and great then it went to $$$$taco bell( not even quite as "Mexican" as ChiChi's ) which was when we stopped going. however the menu now looks a little better so i hope it is headed back in the original direction. i probably would try it again if the menu looks good when we go.

 

[kupperman]

My husband and I ate there for lunch. The food was good, we both had the grilled chicken nachos, I believe. The service was also good, we requested a table by the river and were accomodated in less than 20 minutes (we had a PS) I would recommend it.

 

[sleepydog25]

We found it unimpressive. The ambience is actually nice, but that's about all we enjoyed. The tables are very close together, so much so that servers were constantly having to put down trays to move chairs in order to get to a table. Service was decent after our initial wait to be assigned a server. The food was passable though quite bland overall. Worst of all was the margarita I had. Nasty. It was terribly sweet, tasted like a mix rather than of limes, and seemed to have little alcohol if any. I drank perhaps half of it before opting for water. I'm not remotely a picky eater, so I mostly finished what I was served, but I can't say it was good; nor would I say it's bad. It was simply unremarkable in every way. Considering all the choices out there, SAI isn't a place we'll put at the top of our list next time. aw:

 

[lovmy2girls]

This is one of those resturants you have to just try for yourself at least once and make your own decision. It's nice to sit by the river and watch people go by. My whole family loved the food.