Spoodles isn't as good

[_queenie_]

Has anyone else noticed that spoodles has changed? It used to be one of our favorite restaurants, but now it's just okay. They used have all kinds of tapas dishes, real meditteranean pizza and the best olives, but I guess that just wasn't working for their target customer. What do you think?

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

I think you are right. Spoodle's fell off a couple of years ago and has never regained it's good position.

For excellent tapas (and an extensive menu of them) head to Ceviche in downtown Orlando (near where Church St. Station used to be). It's wonderful and has excellent sangria too!

 

[Brit17]

I also agree ... I was looking forward to dining there for the first time a couple of weeks ago, but it turned out to be disappointing ... my greek salad wasn't good at all ... the vinagrette dressing was so strong/overpowering that it actually made my eyes tear when I tasted it ... the cornish game hen was not very good either ... my DH liked his steak kabobs (even though he said they were a little spicy), but at least something was good ...

We probably won't go back though ....

 

[SauceBoss]

Has anyone else noticed that spoodles has changed? It used to be one of our favorite restaurants, but now it's just okay. They used have all kinds of tapas dishes, real meditteranean pizza and the best olives, but I guess that just wasn't working for their target customer. What do you think?

You're going back a long time if you think there is mostly Tapas at Spoodles. The menu has actually doubled in size in the past year and changes are constantly being made. Looks as if certain trends such as dining plans have made it a haven for the "less adventurous" diner. Sadly, a trend that is very noticable lately in other restaurants in "The World."

Cheers

 

[Meredisney]

I have to agree with Sauceboss. The Dining Plan has, UNFORTUNATLY, become the way of the world (WDW that is!). It looks like no matter what "we" say or post on this board, we are just going to have to deal with it. Don't get me wrong, the Dining Plan is a great way to experience all of the restaurants at WDW and you definitly get more "Bang for your Buck", but it does mean more guests and fewer menu choices. In other words, they have to "turn & burn"

Plus, the majority of guests are looking for more venues to use their points and are less focused on the authenticity/theme of the restaurant and food...and this causes Disney chefs to limit their creativity and focus on family friendly food. However, Spoodles remains one of my top choices for dining. The chef continues to revamp the menu offering tapas and entrees to suit both the "boring" dining plan guest's pallate and the experienced diner. The sangria is one of the best I have ever tasted. It's homemade and excellent! Another favorite is the Lemon-Garlic Shrimp Linguine. As far as the tapas dishes, real meditteranean pizza and the olives queenie mentioned in the first thread.....those are all still there. Spoodles has Four-Cheese Flatbread and Margherita Flatbread, as well as Calamari, Garlic Shrimp, Lamb Kebabs, & Steamed Mussels. The olives are served with the Mediterranean Dips.

 

[alldiz]

I went to Spoodles for the 1st time this Aug....with the free dining...

It is now one of my FAVORITES......I thought the food was awesome...

I had the shrimp app...to die for...and the rigitoni dish....much better
than I thought it would be....In fact the best pasta dish that I ever had
in WDW.
Kerri

 

[gina2000]

Food got dumbed down a few years ago. First, they virtually eliminated the tapas menu in favor of a full menu. Then the full menu went bland. We've struck it off the list of places we dine.

We're getting down to nothing at WDW. Just a couple of upscale places and CS.

 

[MommyBuzz909]

Any words on the challah bread french toast? It sounds good, but would like an opinion of it!!!

 

[ImprovGal]

Whether it's due to the dining plan or just pure economics of money and time, many restaurants at WDW seem to have become more formulaic and I'm afraid not the best representations of the individual chefs' capabilities. It's one of the reasons I enjoy the Food & Wine festival so much! It's not just about the visiting celebrity chefs; there are a number of events that allow the WDW chefs to shine, too, including the Food & Wine pairings at the Epcot restaurants and the Signature Dinners at the resort restaurants!

Since this thread is about Spoodles, here's my story of Spoodles' Chef Tony. Granted, I still haven't yet made it over to Spoodles recently enough to try the new menu so I don't have a comparison to the restaurant's current bill of fare. However, I attended two festival events that he participated in -- a Party For the Senses and an Exquisite Evening -- two separate events with quite different price points and presentations.

For the PFTS (9/29), he prepared a cheese ravioli with eggplant and sundried tomato. It was quite tasty, although perhaps too familiar in ingredients to stand out like Chef TJ's (Boma) ostrach bobotie did for many at my table.

As tasty as that ravioli was, it was the Exquisite Evening that wowed me. He took responsibility for the cheese course. Now I've had many a cheese course and yes, I think Cali Grill, Jiko, and Flying Fish have offered amazing cheese courses. This cheese course, however, blew them all out of the water. Some accompaniments were more traditional to me than others. However, all perfectly complemented their cheese matches.

Murcia al Vino with Spice-candied Pecan Brittle
Pecorino Toscano with Fig Jam
Ubriaco al Borolo with Prosecco Grapes
Blue del Moncenisio with Sardinian Bitter Honey
Brunet with Amaretto-braised Cherries

It's such a shame that a cheese course like that doesn't fit into the Spoodles budget. Sigh.

 

[eugeniuss]

Agree with the OP... Spoodles was the best for our July 2006 trip, and we looked forward to it this past week... very disappointed... the bread was brought to our table cold, the menu has been limited to a select few items, and none matched the quality of last summer... the kabobs were bland at best... the only good portion of the meal was the desert, but that is good anywhere...

on a side note, the place was empty during Christmas week...

 

[SauceBoss]

Agree with the OP... Spoodles was the best for our July 2006 trip, and we looked forward to it this past week... very disappointed... the bread was brought to our table cold, the menu has been limited to a select few items, and none matched the quality of last summer... the kabobs were bland at best... the only good portion of the meal was the desert, but that is good anywhere...

on a side note, the place was empty during Christmas week...

Empty during Christmas week? Not the 5 days I walked past it and tried to get in without a reservation. There was a line out the door every night.

 

[TigerKat]

We fell in love with Spoodles last year and were a little worried about the menu change this time. We were there the beginning of Dec. We got the Mussel appetizer and the Shrimp Linguine and of course the amazing Sangria. Everything was excellent and the place was packed!

 

[Calgary DISHeads]

Hated Spoodles - worst meal of our trip, both food and service. DH is a Chef and we found nothing appealing - soggy breaded calamari on a bed of jarred hot peppers? Granted, everywhere has an off night, and we did give it a try because of positive reviews on here, but we won't be returning. We were there on the 20th, and it was very quiet.

 

[jwfla422]

I would have to agree as far as the past several years ago UNTIL we were there just 2 weeks ago and they had undergone a recent menu change.

I was actually impressed and thought it was a big improvement on the downhill slump it's been in over the past several years.

The service was also probably the best we ever had there this past trip as well. I always recall slow service there whenever we went in the past, but this time our server was available and attentive. He was also very friendly so it was nice.

Loved the mozzarella and tomato flatbread with balsalmic drizzle....mmmm!

This was my dd's chocolate mousse dessert which was just amazing!! They didn't need those sprinkles at all!! Wish this was on the adult menu!

 

[NJFireman22]

Let me tell you about this place tonight, well the walk up window anyway.
DW and I desided that we would like to take a pizza back to the room after walking around the Boardwalk area.
We ordered our pizza at 7:45, there were 3 other people in front of us, and many behind. We recieved the "pager" and was told to "stay close as they dont work very far" anyway we took a chair at a table 10 ft from the window and waited, at the 12 min mark the "pager" went off. I went to the window and the women said "I didnt call you" its was a mistake OK , sat down again,
at 17min mark it went off again. again same thing " I didnt page you".
Ok maybe its me ??? at 25 min mark again its blinking and buzzing.
This time DW walks up to the window, the window lady looks at the pager and my DW and says in broken english "you shouldnt use this pager its no working right!!!!!" Now we are both looking for the cameras and waiting for Alan Funt to come forward. hahahah
I finally ask for our money back the window lady says NO, pizza be ready in 5 min. at this point I explode, I ask for a manager. Window lady tells me that
the manager is busy and she needs to help other "peoples" Talk about RUDE.
By the way Spoodles was only about 1/2 full.
The pizza was delivered to the window with no apologizes ,no nothing. We took it and watched 2 other couples that had been waiting try to get there pizza.
All total it took 45 min !!! And we are not finnished I called Disneys Management and will be filing a complant.
Beware everyone!!

 

[marivaid]

My mother & I were there on Christmas night and it was booked full. The food was great - I don't know what some of you mean by "few", but a choice of 10 appetizers is pretty good in my book.

They still have the olives, tapenade, spicy hummus and tzatziki (mediterranean dips), calamari, shrimp, flatbreads, lamb kebabs.. and they have recently added a tomato/mozarella dish and mussels.

We wanted to share an entree, the steak kabobs, but she eats her meat rare and I like mine well done. It was not a problem, they cooked each kabob to our liking and brought them on separate plates.

And our server was awesome again. Ask to be in Wayne's section!!!

 

[madlib26]

Well my wife and I finally got into Spoodles last night. We are local and have tried for two and a half weeks to get in, but couldn't due to them being booked solid. We had a great time, she had the rigatoni and I had the pan fried chicken cutlet, and they were outstanding. When we finished the entrees we got a dessert menu and noticed that they got new desserts for the new year. It looks like they did a complete overhaul on the desserts, adding a marscapone cheesecake, and a panna cotta as well as others, as well as finally adding baklava. I had their new chocolate cake, and my wife had the cheesecake and they were awesome. And for the people who said that the place wasn't busy the past few weeks must have walked buy really early in the night, because when we walked by a few night coming from Epcot, there were still a lot of people in the restaurant an hour after it closed.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

we ate there a few weeks ago and it was very good. I thought the menu had more and better selections then they have had in years.

 

[laughinplace199]

OP, sorry you feel this way. Spoodles has been one of our favorites for the past few years now. We've always had great food and service there. We can't wait to go back in April. Maybe you were there on an off night?

 

[_queenie_]

It's not that Spoodles is that bad, it's just that it used to be so much better. It was in 2000 that we first started to notice the decline, but before that it was fantastic. We've been back quite often since then in hope that it might be back to the way it used to be but with no luck.