Splitting Entrees? Frowned upon?

[Misti]

It's be a while since I asked this so I'm posing the question again. Do any of you routinely split entrees at Disney restaurants? If so, do they frown upon it (i.e. server seems irritated)? Also, is there a split plate charge? The reason I ask is my mom and I are taking a Mother's Day trip and neither one of us eats a lot. Seems silly for us each to order entrees when we'd be happier getting an appetizer and splitting an entree/dessert. I appreciate your opinion! Thanks!

 

[cammie810]

We went on a family trip a couple of years ago. The first night there we went to Spoodles and each ordered our own appetizer, entree and dessert. (Appetizers were included then as part of the dining plan). The amount of waste was incredible. From that night on my mother and I or husband and I split meals. At Wolfgang Puck my husband and I split a calamari appetizer and the sushi platter and even splitting there were still leftovers. Nobody ever gave us a hassle about splitting.

 

[Momelie]

We do it all the time. Mind you, we're not on any sort of dining plan, but we frequently split large orders. Never had a problem, or had a server look funny at us, and many times they will go ahead and split the plates in the kitchen, or bring a spare plate without asking.

Off the top of my head, we've done it at Chefs de France (mac and cheese), Sci-Fi (the steak), and Plaza (Plaza club). I'm sure others, too, but its a frequent occurrence for us.

 

[Darkside]

No CM should ever look down upon or be irritated at you. This is a "HUGE" no, no at WDW. Not sure what policies are at WDW dining, because we don't normally split our meals, but can't possibly see an issue here.

 

[Cinderella94]

As PPs have said, I don't think you'll have a problem. At T-Rex this past Jan, my mom and I split the nacho appetizer and that was it. We didn't have any issues.

 

[Misti]

Thank you for all the feedback! I feel better now. We have a number of ADR's at the more expensive sit-downs (Narcoossee's, California Grill, Citrico's) and I was thinking the server might be irritated that we would be ordering so little. We'll try to tip a little more to make up for the light dinner.

 

[mmmears]

Thanks to everyone who posted info here. My DD and I are planning to split entrees at pretty much every sit-down meal we're going to. The portions are just too big for us and I don't like to waste food or money. Plus, when a huge meal is put in front of me, I will generally eat more than I need to, and I'm trying to avoid gaining weight on this trip.

 

[Sherry76]

It's be a while since I asked this so I'm posing the question again. Do any of you routinely split entrees at Disney restaurants? If so, do they frown upon it (i.e. server seems irritated)? Also, is there a split plate charge? The reason I ask is my mom and I are taking a Mother's Day trip and neither one of us eats a lot. Seems silly for us each to order entrees when we'd be happier getting an appetizer and splitting an entree/dessert. I appreciate your opinion! Thanks!

I'm so glad you asked this question, I was wondering the same thing.

 

[Misti]

The portions are just too big for us and I don't like to waste food or money. Plus, when a huge meal is put in front of me, I will generally eat more than I need to, and I'm trying to avoid gaining weight on this trip.

EXACTLY! I'm glad we aren't the only ones that do this. Plus, it will leave a little room for some of those yummy WDW snacks later in the evening.

 

[ShellyLynn3630]

I think it is a great idea. We are very blessed in this country to have plenty to eat and I hate wasting food if we can avoid it.

 

[BriarRosie]

Absolutely split the entrees if you want to. Servers are used to it, or SHOULD be used to it, or they probably shouldn't be servers in the first place.

On the flip side, it's also perfectly acceptable to order appetizers and desserts without an entree if you wish. I've done it at Jiko without them batting an eyelash at me.

My meal at California Grill in October was based on lots of sharing and appetizers. I didn't order an entree. (But I had to have the molten chocolate cake, of course!)

 

[Misti]

Absolutely split the entrees if you want to.

On the flip side, it's also perfectly acceptable to order appetizers and desserts without an entree if you wish. I've done it at Jiko without them batting an eyelash at me.

My meal at California Grill in October was based on lots of sharing and appetizers. I didn't order an entree. (But I had to have the molten chocolate cake, of course!)

Thanks, Lori! That's what I was thinking about as well. Glad to hear it's not that uncommon. Now I'll feel more comfortable doing it.

 

[dancin Disney style]

We make a habit of splitting meals at WDW. We have always found the portions to be too large.

We will just leave a little extra in the tip to compensate for not ordering an entree for everyone at the table. However, if each person orders something, even just an appetizer, we will just tip according to what the total bill is.

 

[Misti]

I believe it would only cause a problem if you were on the dining plan. From what I understand it is a huge no no when on the plan.

I was talking about paying OOP. No dining plan for us. Thanks for all of the info!

 

[peggyjean123]

If you are paying for it OOP, there should be no problem, if youa re on dining plan maybe?

 

[Misti]

Hi, Misti.

We were just there and my friends split an entree at Narcoossees. They told the waitress their plan when they ordered and she had it all taken care of in the kitchen and brought out to them already split on separate plates. She even brought an extra serving of sides in a separate bowl. They had ordered their own salads and those were huge so it makes sense sometimes to just split an entree. I wasn't sure how this would all play out, but they really made is easy and convenient for my friends. They had room for dessert. I didn't LOL.

Have a fun trip.

Veruca

Thank you!! Narcoossee's is one of the places we're going so your post really helped. I feel so much more comfortable with it now. Thanks again!

 

[brergnat]

We split on the dining plan. As long as you are not at a buffet or family style meal, there is no reason to HAVE to use 1 TS credit for each person in your party.

On our last trip in 2007 (old dining plan), we had three adults.

More than once, we did a meal where we ordered 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, and 2 desserts, and all shared. These meals used up only 2 TS credits. We discussed our plan with the waitperson at the start of the meal. Sometimes, we would order a third dessert, and pay OOP, if we couldn't agree on just 2 to share.

This allowed us to do some signature dining later in the week.

It's perfectly acceptable. Again, though, this obviously doesn't work at buffets or places like Ohana or LTT/Garden Grill. Or, if you go to a place like Whispering Canyon Cafe and order the all you can eat skillet, that is a PER PERSON item, and you can't share that.

 

[chipsgirl1030]

On a recent trip with my mother we often ordered the same meal. We always had at least half of each meal leftover. For our next trip I am considering the ddp again, so I asked the question on the Disney website. Could we split a meal on the ddp? I figured we would waste less food and would have more table service meals to use. I know they don't want sharing meals on the ddp, but I figured this meant if one person was on the plan and the other wasn't. I figured if both were on the plan it wouldn't matter, since you would be getting the same amount of meals ( you only have so many credits, no matter how you use them). The reply I got was it is decided on a case by case situation. Meaning maybe so, maybe not, depending on the server, restaurant, etc. This makes if hard to plan meals and reservations, as you know on the ddp you have to plan everything ahead. I don't think I would even try, sounds like alot of hassle. Of course, if I weren't on the ddp I would definitley share a meal, since wasting food is a big pet peeve of mine.

 

[wdwishes1990]

We split on the dining plan. As long as you are not at a buffet or family style meal, there is no reason to HAVE to use 1 TS credit for each person in your party.

On our last trip in 2007 (old dining plan), we had three adults.

More than once, we did a meal where we ordered 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, and 2 desserts, and all shared. These meals used up only 2 TS credits. We discussed our plan with the waitperson at the start of the meal. Sometimes, we would order a third dessert, and pay OOP, if we couldn't agree on just 2 to share.

This allowed us to do some signature dining later in the week.

It's perfectly acceptable. Again, though, this obviously doesn't work at buffets or places like Ohana or LTT/Garden Grill. Or, if you go to a place like Whispering Canyon Cafe and order the all you can eat skillet, that is a PER PERSON item, and you can't share that.

Yep, us too and they don't even flinch. They bring an extra dish, etc.

 

[BigGoofy44]

My DW and I may consider this as an option then. She rarely eats more than a quarter of her meal and last time she always said that there was too much food on the DDP.

I'm glad Disney does this as when we go out around town we usually split a meal unless I want something with mushrooms.