Second guessing two ADRs- Chefs de France and Garden Grill

[pinkxray]

I thought I had my ADRs picked but I am really starting to second guess Chefs De France for lunch and Garden Grill for dinner. We will not be on the dining plan.

Honestly, Chefs is more about seeing Remy than the food and the menu doesn't look that appealing besides onion soup. Plus, most recent reviews have been pretty sad.

DD6 has said she doesn't want to do any character meals but I added Garden Grill b/c I think she would love to see Pluto and Mickey and I would get to see Chip and Dale. Again, the menu doesn't really look that appealing.

I think paying OOP is making it harder to justify paying just the experience of eating somewhere that the food doesn't interest us.

Chefs would most likely be replaced by Via Napoli and Garden Grill maybe HDDR or a different EPCOT TS.

 

[Nadjalu]

Personally I would not choose any restaurant if I wasn't excited about the menu. Period, no remy, no character is worth paying that much money and not getting something you like/love.

OOP puts more pressure on because you view your $$ more valuable than a dining credit (not sure why, but it is that way).

So in my opinion you need to go with a place where first and foremost you will enjoy the food, next to have a good time.

JMO

 

[pixarmom]

We always like to take our kids' opinions into account, and I know tastes can vary significantly. So if the menus here on the Dis and on allears.net don't appeal to you, you might want to make the change. But I'll share our experience in case it's helpful.

Chef's for lunch and Garden Grill for dinner is our arrival day tradition! Our most recent visits to both were in March and July of this year. We absolutely love both. Our three boys are ages pre-school to pre-teen, and Garden Grill is their favorite restaurant. They all enjoy meeting Remy at Chef's.

As for the food, we really enjoy Chef's. The onion soup, the adult mac and cheese and the quiche are some of our favorites. And our two younger boys love the mini hamburgers and the chicken on the children's menu.

We also really like the food at Garden Grill. It seems to have improved significantly on our last trip in July. Very fresh salad, great bread, and a wide variety of adults' and children's items. They did change the children's menu a bit, but others have posted that you can still request and receive traditional items like chicken nuggets. Even our pickiest eater didn't need to do that because he likes the mac and cheese.

I know that your daughter doesn't want to do character meals - is it because it was loud, noisy at character meals in the past, or does she not like meeting characters? Either way, I'll add a bit of information about Garden Grill in case it helps with your decision. If you sit in the lower level booths, the booths are so high that you don't see the characters much until they arrive at your table. In our experience, each character has stopped by at least twice to visit us. But if she's not interested, they will stay briefly or you can even sort of wave them along. Especially on that lower level, it's a far more relaxed atmosphere than most character meals. You can't see other tables, and the food is served family style so we find it more relaxing than the buffets.

Again, if you don't like the menu, you might just want to make the change and do something that will work for your family and that you'll feel more excited about! Hope that helps - good luck with your decision!

 

[pinkxray]

Thanks for the replies.

I am not sure why DD doesn't want to do character meals this trip. We did a bunch last trip and when we first started planning this trip she wanted to do them all again plus a few more. I think she just isn't really into the characters as much this time, she really just wants to do SWW to see Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia.

I'm sure she'll have fun at Garden Grill. I am happy to hear that you can still request regular chicken nuggets. That helps.

 

[wcpamotm]

Garden Grill does not frequently come up in our regular rotation of restaurants but when we were there in September, we thought it surprisingly good.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

We've never been to Chefs (though we're trying it for the first time, this coming trip)

We've been to Garden Grill twice,and really enjoyed it. Chip and Dale are GREAT (they will often chase the servers around the restaurant, and bother them while they are talking to you). The food is very good. And, one thing to keep in mind: if you don't like a certain offering, you can ask for more of what you do like (each item is all you can eat, and you can just get the items you want). We're going to GG again this trip.

 

[Sleeping Becca]

HDDR is by far waaaaaay better than Garden Grille. However Garden Grille is not bad, the characters are fun.

We have always enjoyed our meals at Chef's, the lobster bisque is amazing and Remi is a fun little treat. The food is very French so if you don't care for French food then this may not be the best restaurant for you. Last trip Chefs for lunch was one of our best meals.

Via Napoli is great, but some don't care for the style of pizza, I thought it was good.

So if the menu looks better for you at Via then go to Via.

 

[TDC Nala]

I wouldn't go if I didn't like anything on the menu.

The Remy thing is extremely short. He comes to the table, says hello, and is gone to the next table pretty much.