Tell me about the Garder Grille

[wonderlandaddict]

I have made reservations at the Garden Grille for our upcoming
trip at the end of March? What can you tell me? Is the food good?
Do they have a dessert bar, do they have the muffins the kids
can decorate? Will we really evolve thru Living With The Land
Ride? Thanks in Advance!

 

[Aprille's Mom]

Garden Grill is our favorite place to dine in WDW. We love the food - plain but always delcious (IMHO - others will disagree). There is no menu and no dessert or salad bar. The food is brought to the table and you can request seconds. The food offerings change occasionally but it's basically 3 meats (always includes fried catfish which is declicious and I don't even like catfish), salad with a great Ranch type dressing, and several side dishes. Last time we ate there we had a sweet potato caserole that was wonderful. Desserts will change from time to time also. We had a great bread pudding and our 5 year old had a great time eating his Worms in Dirt. I think the current menu is posted outside the restaurant. The restaurant does revolve and you can see small glimpses of Living with the Land. I usually forget we are revolving. The character interaction has always been good. We got some of our best character pictures in the Garden Grill. We are going back in June and this is the only place on our "must eat here" list.

 

[Buckalew]

I agree with Aprille's mom even down to her remark about their catfish. We have eaten there twice and loved the food and the character interaction. Next time I go, I will want to go back but I really should try something new We had a great time there!

 

[grinningghost]

Sorry, but I'm going to take the other side on this one. We really hated Garden Grille. The food was weird (at least to us, we aren't into unusual foods) and what really stands out is the greasy, dark meat chicken. They serve the food in skillets, and you get what they give you, like it or not. Our server was useless. He was there to take our drink orders, eventually brought the "food" and then we didn't see him again. We grabbed another server to bring the check (very expensive), paid and got the heck out of there. The only plus to this place was the characters. I think we got a few good pictures of DD with Chip and Dale. This is on our MUST NOT DO list.

 

[vicb]

I will be the "in-between" voice, our experience was just fine but not outstanding. I think there are so many resturants to try at Epcot that we probably won't return to the GG. We found the food to be good, especially the chicken. Kids liked the chix fingers and fries. The salad was tasty but the bread dry. Character interaction was good. Our kids also got the dirt cups which they loved and we got the white chocolate bread pudding which was unusual but good.

 

[Safari Steve]

Garden Grille is my favorite. Here are some things to note:
1) the food is all-you-can-eat, served "family style" (serve yourself from a skillet)
2)The price includes a soft drink and dessert.
3)The rotisserie chicken has been replaced with sliced roasted turkey breast (which are much better).
4)The sunflower bread has been replaced with pumpkin bread (very good, not too strong pumpkin flavor, but just enough).

Grinningghost, sorry to hear that you had a bad server. I usually get Victor or Rosie, who are both wonderful. (I also dine at off-peak times, which may translate into better service.)

After the first skillet, the server will bring more of whatever you want. If you just want more catfish, he/she will bring more catfish. More flank steak and turkey? no problem. More of everything? Just ask. The adult dessert always seems to be different, but I have never been disappointed. Yesterday they were offering a phenomenal pumpkin cheesecake (wow!) of course, you always have the option of going with dirt and worms.
If you are very sesitive to motion sickness, be aware that Garden Grille rotates slowly (almost imperceptible, but yesterday watching the sunflower mural on the inner wall made me a little dizzy.)
Hope your meal is fabulous!

 

[DreaminDisney]

We liked the character interaction with our Kids and we liked the revolving part but (I'm sorry to put a damper on this)
didn't like the food, had a terrible waiter (won't mention names) who totally forgot about our rehitching ceremony that I was so looking forward to.
After our meal and right before the place was closing, I mentioned it to him and he said oh, I forgot. He did do the rehitching for us after all but it was lame because all the characters where gone at this point and they were basically cleaning up.
We won't go back.

 

[Prince Eric1]

We loved the GG. We had a great server both times that we have went there, and they will bring you more of whatever you want. Turkey, Flank steak, and catfish for meat. The kids get chicken fingers, mac and cheese, and french fries. You also get mashed potatos, pumkin seed bread, cornbread stuffing, and some vegetables. I thought the turkey was outstanding. For desert the kids get worms and dirt and the adults get a small round pumpkin cheesecake that is easily big enough for two. The character interaction is great and the place never seems crowded. Its a must do for us.

 

[Lezah]

We love the Garden Grill. We went for the first time this past August. The flank steak was heavenly and we all loved the catfish and previous to this, we hated catfish. The mashed potatoes were good and my hubby and son liked the salad. None of us ate the chicken, mainly because we enjoyed the flank steak and catfish. The dessert when we were there was a lemon meringue cake and worms and dirt for our son. Our server was wonderful and insisted that we try the catfish, sensing that we really didn't want to try it. We were very glad that we did. The character interaction here was the best we experienced during our 13 day stay.

 

[annej]

We ate there last Monday and everyone truly loved it! DS and dd ages 7 and 10 were entranced with the moving restaurant and loved the food. The flank steak is terrific and the pumpkin cheese cake divine. Saw all the characters at least twice and they were very playful and funny. It was a great lunch.

 

[cindy_k]

We also love the Garden Grill and eat there at least once every time we go down.
The character interaction is wonderful and we also (me and my son (10) ) like the food.

I have over the years heard varying opinion about this restaurant. I can only say it's not for everyone. The food puts me in the mind of a Farmhouse meal.

The service has always been friendly and we have had the most memorable character experiences there.

Here's a link to a picture of the Cup Of Dirt that my son got for dessert last time.
http://www.ofoto.com/PhotoView.jsp?...286703&collid=93211075603&photoid=13258185603

And here is a picture of my friend and my son with some of the characters that were going around...
http://www.ofoto.com/PhotoView.jsp?...286703&collid=93211075603&photoid=84908185603

Ohhh and here was my dessert, a pumpkin cheesecake (delicious!):
http://www.ofoto.com/PhotoView.jsp?...286703&collid=93211075603&photoid=11258185603

Have a good trip!!
Cindy in NY

 

[Buckalew]

Just reading this thread makes me want to go back!! Truly this was our best character meal of all!

I hope that if you do go, that you'll have as great of a time as we did!

 

[Muffy]

We ate at the GG for the first time a few weeks ago and loved it. It was our first night dinner and we had a blast! The food was great and the characters came around a few times. It is definatly on our must do list! Hope everyone tries it!

 

[erikthewise]

We have eaten at Garden Grill the last two years for the Candlelight Processional Package. We had great food both times and the second time also had great service and character interaction. The food is unpretentious American style but first-rate, flavorful and well-prepared.

Hint: Beverages are included, and that means you can have more than one! I had both diet coke and lemonade, with refills on both, at no additional cost. This is true AFAIK at any all-you-can-eat meal that includes beverages. I did it at Liberty Tree dinner as well.

 

[dizneyfan]

Our family dined there as well, and while the character interaction was fine (the restaurant wasn't full), it is not on our list of things to do on our next trip.

The food was fair, service poor (no refills on anything as we could never get the attention of our service!!!), and overall, I just didn't care for the atmosphere. It was our least favorite of three character meals--we loved Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey's.

Just my two cents!

--dizneyfan

 

[Bichon Barb]

Thanks for the pics NY Cindy. We are really looking forward to dining at GG. We won't be having too many meals out as we are staying in a townhome, so we picked this for our character meal. I'm not expecting four star dining, but just to have a good time with the kids. (We're saving the four star dining for grown ups night out at CG ).

So, if we eat lunch there, will we be able to walk around the park afterward or are they going to have to get us out of there via wheelbarrow?

 

[cindy_k]

So, if we eat lunch there, will we be able to walk around the park afterward or are they going to have to get us out of there via wheelbarrow?

That all depends on how many of those yummy fried catfishes you eat.

I was rather full after eating there the last time. You have to remind yourself to save room for dessert.

Enjoy your vacation.

Cindy

 

[wonderlandaddict]

Thanks for all the good advice. Now I am really looking forward
to our meal there. The pictures were great. My kids will love the dirt/worms dessert!