coopersmom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2010
- Messages
- 839
Because I read a lot of dining reviews here before going to Disney, I thought Id report back on our food experience. This isnt an in-depth report and there are no pictures, but just in case you are curious here goes (BTW, we were NOT on the dining plan)
The first night we ate at La Hacienda de San Angel. We had an 8:00 PM ADR and ended up waiting about 35 minutes for our table, which was our longest wait of the week.
It wasnt a great table, but it was in the room we could have viewed Illuminations from, had our son not become squirmy wormy. The food was average, at best. Definitely the caliber of a Chilis or On the Border, but two or three times as expensive. The chips are from a bag, the salsa from a jar (which, now that I think about it, actually makes it worse than On the Border). Edible, but nothing even slightly special.
We had the taco trio and the enchilada-something. Both were barely OK and totally forgettable. But our waitress was wonderful, and the manager came by to check on us and had a nice chat. (He seemed genuinely interested.) Also impressive were the margaritas, particularly the Mango Fire. Even at $13/each I was searching for another one of these for the rest of the week, but La Hacienda is the only place that offers them. Very, VERY good (but pretty strong; they are a one and done option for me) and almost made up for the lackluster food.
The next morning we had breakfast at Ohana. There was a bit of a wait, though we were the first reservations of the day, but once seated things came fast. The food was Not good. Not at all. Powdered eggs, cold bread (I had one bite and thought it tasted like semi-stale Entenmanns), floppy pre-cooked and re-warmed bacon and potatoes so salty they were literally inedible. (My incredibly non-picky husband spit his bite into a napkin, so I took a bite thinking they couldnt be THAT bad. They were.) Oh and did I mention that the plate and my silverware when we sat down was covered in gunk (very visible)? Just yucky.
What redeemed this dreadful meal were the characters. The interaction was great and my sonthis being his first brush with Disney characterswas absolutely enthralled. When Pluto picked him to lead the parade, he never even looked back or asked us. He was just gone. (Seriously, Pluto could have led him to a Turkish prison and my son would have been thrilled.)
Due to a monorail malfunction we missed our California Grill dinner ADR, so I cant tell you how that was.
On our second full day, we had breakfast at Tusker House. Again we were the first reservation of the day. Here, you pose for a photo with Donald but Disney, who pushes those autograph books like crack to kids, doesnt allow Donald to sign autographs AND Donald never comes to your table either, which felt like a rip-off and there were lots of disappointed children around.
Apparently, they have separate dining rooms and different characters service both, so my son inadvertently saw two Goofys at the same time, which was confusing. (But he just thought Goofy had run really fast.)
As for the food, there was a lot of it, but little of it edible to my mind. How do they have stale donuts at the first seating of the day? Kind of mind boggling. My son enjoyed the kid-level buffet, but everything on it was cold, including the Mickey waffles.
The character interaction here seemed a lot more rushed and the parade was half-hearted at best. We didnt really eat and my son didnt really enjoy himself all that much so it didnt seem like $75 well spent. After that experience we cancelled our third character breakfast reservation at Crystal Palace.
That night we went to Victoria and Alberts which was sublime. I was so worried after all the so-so Disney experiences so far, but this was one of the best meals of our lives and nothing Disney-like at all. A real wow that was worth every single penny (and, trust me, it was a LOT of pennies). Ill post about it in the Victoria and Alberts thread.
We ventured off property to try the Sweet by Holly cupcakes. Oh my goodness were they yummy! Totally worth the trip (or delivery charge). Just wonderful. We got the Christmas assortment of mini-cupcakes and they were to die for. And then couldnt help ourselves trying the red velvet and they were just SO good. (We ended up with too many to finish, but what we did were excellent.)
That night we went to the Hoop-De-Doo Revue, which my son adored. Honestly, it might have been his favorite thing on the whole trip. Again, the food was edible, but little more (Jiffy box cornbread, Kentucky Fried Chicken, box mashed potatoes and canned beans), but the show was lots of fun and my son left singing and stomping for the next 30 minutes.
The next day we made a last-minute lunch reservation at the San Angel Inn (there was little to choose from). When the hostess asked us what we were celebrating I said, Getting in out of the cold. (It was 20 degrees at the time.) She laughed.
The food, again, was sub-par, but we expected that. The soup I had was clearly from a can (again, so salty!). The atmosphere was interesting, though we were nowhere near the stream, and the margaritas were nothing compared to La Hacienda. It was nice and warm though, making it almost seem worthwhile.
That night, after a good bit of disappointing Disney dining, we cancelled our dinner ADR and had a local friend bring Papa Johns pizza, which we ate in the club lounge at the Polynesian.
The next day it was time for our long-held lunch reservation at Le Cellier. We were seated VERY promptly (even early) and the hostesses at the front were great and fun. Our waitress though was not exactly highly motivated. She was very blasé, didnt want to joke (when she offered us signature Canadian cocktails I joked that I didnt know Canada had a national cocktail and she, looking completely nonplussed, simply pointed to the menu list) and altogether bored. She disappeared for long periods of time and I never even got a soda refill.
My husband had an open face sandwich, which he said was good. My son had a hotdog and French fries he didnt eat (though, that was his only hotdog and fries on the trip, so I thought I was doing well) and I had (and shared with hubby) the mushroom filet over mashed potatoes. Having experienced all the too-salty food, and hearing salt complaints about this place, I was really worried but, in the end, it was fine. Not greatif youve been to Outback, youve experienced this level of food and service beforebut not bad, and well better than average compared to the Disney food wed experienced thus far. Perhaps thats how this place got such a great rep. Its not really good, but it is outstanding compared to other Disney options.
On the last day we went to Downtown Disney and tried Babycakes NYC. My son had a doughnut and I tried the red velvet cupcake. (They didnt have brownie bites that day.) The woman at the counter was SO nice and friendly; I wanted to love this place. Alas, the red velvet cupcake was dry and pretty tasteless and the icing tasted like powdered sugar and nothing else. My sons doughnut was better, but still dry and chalky.
We ate a late lunch/dinner at T-Rex. We didnt expect the food to be good here, and that expectation was rewarded. Very greasy, clearly frozen hamburger patty (trying to stick to easy/safe food) and lukewarm waffle fries (for which there was an up-charge). Probably would have been better off eating at the Pollo Camparo, which actually smelled pretty good when we were in the building for Babycakes. T-Rex is definitely a do-it-once-for-the-kids experience that I never want to have again. (Both my husband and I felt a little queasy afterwards. I think it was just so greasy.) And, frankly, after a week in Disney World, animatronic dinosaurs and meteor showers were almost ho-hum to my almost-four-year-old used to Disney magic around every corner. Definitely would have been a bigger hit on night one, before we visited the parks.
Other than that, my son had one Mickey ice cream bar and we had one bite of a truly awful, but it looked good, cupcake from the Main Street Bakery in the Magic Kingdom. That kind of summed up my entire feeling about Disney food (minus Victoria and Alberts, which really shouldnt be mentioned in the same breath as Disney food): it LOOKS good, but tastes pretty bad.
We also tried the hot chocolate at the Christmas party, which was nothing but brown colored boiling water. Mostly I just wanted to pour it on my feet because it was C-O-L-D.
I will add that Im stunned they dont have better drink options for kids at the many drink kiosks. Nothing but soda, water and Crystal Light. How hard would it be to have even an apple juice option at a place with so many young kids? Or a juice box? Or, something, marginally kid-friendly?
I went in with pretty low food expectations, and they were met. I left thinking that anyone who visits Disney for the food is bound to be disappointed. And, if you have a car and want to save a buck, just about any off-property chain restaurant, and theyre everywhere, is going to give you a better experience than Disney dining.
The first night we ate at La Hacienda de San Angel. We had an 8:00 PM ADR and ended up waiting about 35 minutes for our table, which was our longest wait of the week.
It wasnt a great table, but it was in the room we could have viewed Illuminations from, had our son not become squirmy wormy. The food was average, at best. Definitely the caliber of a Chilis or On the Border, but two or three times as expensive. The chips are from a bag, the salsa from a jar (which, now that I think about it, actually makes it worse than On the Border). Edible, but nothing even slightly special.
We had the taco trio and the enchilada-something. Both were barely OK and totally forgettable. But our waitress was wonderful, and the manager came by to check on us and had a nice chat. (He seemed genuinely interested.) Also impressive were the margaritas, particularly the Mango Fire. Even at $13/each I was searching for another one of these for the rest of the week, but La Hacienda is the only place that offers them. Very, VERY good (but pretty strong; they are a one and done option for me) and almost made up for the lackluster food.
The next morning we had breakfast at Ohana. There was a bit of a wait, though we were the first reservations of the day, but once seated things came fast. The food was Not good. Not at all. Powdered eggs, cold bread (I had one bite and thought it tasted like semi-stale Entenmanns), floppy pre-cooked and re-warmed bacon and potatoes so salty they were literally inedible. (My incredibly non-picky husband spit his bite into a napkin, so I took a bite thinking they couldnt be THAT bad. They were.) Oh and did I mention that the plate and my silverware when we sat down was covered in gunk (very visible)? Just yucky.
What redeemed this dreadful meal were the characters. The interaction was great and my sonthis being his first brush with Disney characterswas absolutely enthralled. When Pluto picked him to lead the parade, he never even looked back or asked us. He was just gone. (Seriously, Pluto could have led him to a Turkish prison and my son would have been thrilled.)
Due to a monorail malfunction we missed our California Grill dinner ADR, so I cant tell you how that was.
On our second full day, we had breakfast at Tusker House. Again we were the first reservation of the day. Here, you pose for a photo with Donald but Disney, who pushes those autograph books like crack to kids, doesnt allow Donald to sign autographs AND Donald never comes to your table either, which felt like a rip-off and there were lots of disappointed children around.
Apparently, they have separate dining rooms and different characters service both, so my son inadvertently saw two Goofys at the same time, which was confusing. (But he just thought Goofy had run really fast.)
As for the food, there was a lot of it, but little of it edible to my mind. How do they have stale donuts at the first seating of the day? Kind of mind boggling. My son enjoyed the kid-level buffet, but everything on it was cold, including the Mickey waffles.
The character interaction here seemed a lot more rushed and the parade was half-hearted at best. We didnt really eat and my son didnt really enjoy himself all that much so it didnt seem like $75 well spent. After that experience we cancelled our third character breakfast reservation at Crystal Palace.
That night we went to Victoria and Alberts which was sublime. I was so worried after all the so-so Disney experiences so far, but this was one of the best meals of our lives and nothing Disney-like at all. A real wow that was worth every single penny (and, trust me, it was a LOT of pennies). Ill post about it in the Victoria and Alberts thread.
We ventured off property to try the Sweet by Holly cupcakes. Oh my goodness were they yummy! Totally worth the trip (or delivery charge). Just wonderful. We got the Christmas assortment of mini-cupcakes and they were to die for. And then couldnt help ourselves trying the red velvet and they were just SO good. (We ended up with too many to finish, but what we did were excellent.)
That night we went to the Hoop-De-Doo Revue, which my son adored. Honestly, it might have been his favorite thing on the whole trip. Again, the food was edible, but little more (Jiffy box cornbread, Kentucky Fried Chicken, box mashed potatoes and canned beans), but the show was lots of fun and my son left singing and stomping for the next 30 minutes.
The next day we made a last-minute lunch reservation at the San Angel Inn (there was little to choose from). When the hostess asked us what we were celebrating I said, Getting in out of the cold. (It was 20 degrees at the time.) She laughed.
The food, again, was sub-par, but we expected that. The soup I had was clearly from a can (again, so salty!). The atmosphere was interesting, though we were nowhere near the stream, and the margaritas were nothing compared to La Hacienda. It was nice and warm though, making it almost seem worthwhile.
That night, after a good bit of disappointing Disney dining, we cancelled our dinner ADR and had a local friend bring Papa Johns pizza, which we ate in the club lounge at the Polynesian.
The next day it was time for our long-held lunch reservation at Le Cellier. We were seated VERY promptly (even early) and the hostesses at the front were great and fun. Our waitress though was not exactly highly motivated. She was very blasé, didnt want to joke (when she offered us signature Canadian cocktails I joked that I didnt know Canada had a national cocktail and she, looking completely nonplussed, simply pointed to the menu list) and altogether bored. She disappeared for long periods of time and I never even got a soda refill.
My husband had an open face sandwich, which he said was good. My son had a hotdog and French fries he didnt eat (though, that was his only hotdog and fries on the trip, so I thought I was doing well) and I had (and shared with hubby) the mushroom filet over mashed potatoes. Having experienced all the too-salty food, and hearing salt complaints about this place, I was really worried but, in the end, it was fine. Not greatif youve been to Outback, youve experienced this level of food and service beforebut not bad, and well better than average compared to the Disney food wed experienced thus far. Perhaps thats how this place got such a great rep. Its not really good, but it is outstanding compared to other Disney options.
On the last day we went to Downtown Disney and tried Babycakes NYC. My son had a doughnut and I tried the red velvet cupcake. (They didnt have brownie bites that day.) The woman at the counter was SO nice and friendly; I wanted to love this place. Alas, the red velvet cupcake was dry and pretty tasteless and the icing tasted like powdered sugar and nothing else. My sons doughnut was better, but still dry and chalky.
We ate a late lunch/dinner at T-Rex. We didnt expect the food to be good here, and that expectation was rewarded. Very greasy, clearly frozen hamburger patty (trying to stick to easy/safe food) and lukewarm waffle fries (for which there was an up-charge). Probably would have been better off eating at the Pollo Camparo, which actually smelled pretty good when we were in the building for Babycakes. T-Rex is definitely a do-it-once-for-the-kids experience that I never want to have again. (Both my husband and I felt a little queasy afterwards. I think it was just so greasy.) And, frankly, after a week in Disney World, animatronic dinosaurs and meteor showers were almost ho-hum to my almost-four-year-old used to Disney magic around every corner. Definitely would have been a bigger hit on night one, before we visited the parks.
Other than that, my son had one Mickey ice cream bar and we had one bite of a truly awful, but it looked good, cupcake from the Main Street Bakery in the Magic Kingdom. That kind of summed up my entire feeling about Disney food (minus Victoria and Alberts, which really shouldnt be mentioned in the same breath as Disney food): it LOOKS good, but tastes pretty bad.
We also tried the hot chocolate at the Christmas party, which was nothing but brown colored boiling water. Mostly I just wanted to pour it on my feet because it was C-O-L-D.
I will add that Im stunned they dont have better drink options for kids at the many drink kiosks. Nothing but soda, water and Crystal Light. How hard would it be to have even an apple juice option at a place with so many young kids? Or a juice box? Or, something, marginally kid-friendly?
I went in with pretty low food expectations, and they were met. I left thinking that anyone who visits Disney for the food is bound to be disappointed. And, if you have a car and want to save a buck, just about any off-property chain restaurant, and theyre everywhere, is going to give you a better experience than Disney dining.
