Top 10 restaurant recommendations - must do's

[Capthook1]

1st time at Disney at Easter. Kids ranging from 15-4, not on DDP and staying off site. Happy to spend so would love your recommendations as am having to make reservations. A mix of character and just dining would be fab. Thanks

 

[Texian@WDW]

Some of our favorites (no particular order):
Brown Derby
SciFi Diner
50's Prime Time
Garden Grill (Character meal but very quiet and relaxing)
Wolfgang Puck Express
Liberty Tree Tavern
Whispering Canyon
Biergarten
Grand Floridian Cafe
Big River Grill

New ones we are going to try next trip:
Be Our Guest
Chefs de France
Cape May Breakfast
Plaza

Have fun!

 

[AndyandSue]

Our personal favorites that would be good for a younger child as part of your group are:

Garden Grill - Epcot, in The Land. Character Dining, lots of choices and plenty of food. Expensive but definitely worth it once. The restaurant revolves slowly around the ride and is quite relaxing yet engaging and the food is fabulous.
Biergarten - Having grown up eating German food and seeing German entertainment (including in Germany) I can promise you this is not "theme park" German food. Authentic and pretty close to my Oma's cooking. The entertainment is sure to keep the 4 year old occupied as well, lots of fun here!
Whispering Canyon Cafe - At the Wilderness Lodge. Lively atmosphere and definitely excellent for kids, they even have stick pony conga lines through the restaurant. My DH is involved with competition BBQ so he's very picky when it comes to BBQ and even he likes the food here. Ask for ketchup for real fun. After dinner take a walk in the back by the pool to see "old faithful", then hop a boat back to MK to go home.
Sci-Fi Dine in - Studios. Dining in the dark in a sort of car, at a drive in. My kids loved it when they were younger, and continue to enjoy it as teens. Make sure to get a light-up drink! You get to keep the novelty "ice cube" to have fun with later.
Raglan Road - Disney Springs (aka Marketplace) Really nice pub atmosphere. Irish fare and Irish dancing. Relaxed and fun.
T-Rex - Disney Springs. Fun. By Rainforest Cafe but specifically for Disney, so it's like Rainforest on steroids. LOL
For fast food we love Peco Bills in MK, nothing so special about it but the food is basic and good and the atmosphere is just fun.
Boatwrights - at Port Orleans Riverside, makes for a nice evening out away from the parks. Food is great, and if you plan it right you can see Yehaa Bob Jackson at the River Roost Lounge, and then walk around by the marina- it's a lovely resort.
Cape May Seafood Buffet - Beach Club Resort. Great seafood and fun, lively atmosphere but not too crazy. Another great place to walk around, hop on over the the boardwalk. If you don't like seafood though, don't bother!

Those are our favorites for you. I have "honorable mentions" too; Yachtsman Steakhouse at Yacht Club serves some of the best steaks we've had and we live close to NYC so we've been to some of the best steakhouses around. Boma is simply fabulous with something for everyone and the AK resort is also great to walk around but neither of those two are particularly good for younger kids.

Hope that helps in some way.

 

[Disney Mom 7272]

Some of our favorites are:
Tusker house for breakfast
Ohana for dinner
Via Napoli
Sci Fi
Yak and Yeti
Be our guest for dinner
My 6 year old loves Hollywood and Vine because of the characters
We really like Tony's town square

 

[vettegirl]

Yak and Yeti
Sanaa
Yachtsman Steakhouse
PT 50s lunch
BOG lunch
Biergarten

 

[Derb]

BOG lunch
Biergarten
Raglan Road
Boma
CRT
Chef Mickey's breakfast
Crystal Palace breakfast
50's Prime Time
Earl of Sandwich
Ohanas

 

[sleepydog25]

I've only a few but here they are:
Sanaa - While we don't find it overly exotic, they do use unusual spices on some dishes. Still, the food is quite good, and if you go during daylight hours--essentially lunch--you should get to see animals on the savannah. The bread service alone is worth the effort to get to AK-Kidani. Reasonably priced (for Disney standards) to boot.
Whispering Canyon Cafe - This isn't a restaurant we frequent, but I will acknowledge the experience here is a big draw for kids. The food is passable.
Sci-Fi - Again, this is a place more for the experience than the food, although the latter is solid and plentiful.
Teppan Edo - A bit pricey, but it something for everyone including entertainment since the chef shows off his slicing, dicing, and cooking skills. Fun experience.
Coral Reef - One of those love it or hate it places. I've only had good meals there, and if you can swing a table close to the aquarium, it's a super place for kids.
1900 Park Fare - One of the best buffets on property. Large selection for kids, reasonably priced for a Disney buffet, and excellent character interaction.
Trail's End - A bit of a pain to get to, but worth the effort. Their breakfast buffet is tasty, has unique dishes (pulled pork eggs benedict, e.g.), and is the best dining bang-for-your-buck on property.

Have fun!

 

[Vernie822]

Some of my personal favorites...

Via Napoli - Awesome pizza. Can't get anything like it where we live. Delicious! And you can easily split it among your family.

Crystal Palace - I have only done breakfast. This is a character meal with Pooh and friends at Magic Kingdom. The breakfast options are awesome! Pooh's puffed french toast, breakfast lasagna, made to order omelettes. Yum.

Tusker House - Character meal with Donald and crew at Animal Kingdom. I did breakfast and it was AWESOME!! There were so many options that were normal breakfasty stuff and then they had some African inspired stuff as well. Highly recommend it.

Be Our Guest - we have done lunch and dinner here. Lunch is a quick service but you still need an ADR. I loved it! Dinner was great too but it was kind of a one and done for us - highly suggest it though if you can get it for any meal.

Ohana - This is our favorite WDW restaurant! IT's an all you can eat experience. They'll bring out some stuff for your kids if they are picky but they give you so many good options!!

Columbia Harbor House - This is a quick service meal in Magic Kingdom - no ADRs needed. I love the seafood options here. It is generally quiet upstairs so you can go up there to eat and relax for a bit. The food is great.

I also have a couple of dining reviews (links below in my signature) of our recent trips! Lots of pictures!

 

[luvdisdogs]

1. Via Napoli
2. Biergarten
3. Chefs de France
4. Earl of Sandwich
5. Ohana
6. Sci Fi
These are in no specific order. I can't wait to try BOG, Boma, Sanaa & Tusker House.

 

[brinkley07]

Via Napoli
Boma- Dinner, but we also love breakfast
Narcoosee's- if you want to splurge, and it was our best meal
50's PT
BOG- must do at least once
Crystal Palace
Tony's Town Square

 

[Vernie822]

50's Prime Time was also great. Portions are large and prices are reasonable. This was at Hollywood Studios. I ate here with my mom and 2 other family members. We ordered 2 apps (onion rings and fried herb cheese), and 2 sampler platters. The samplers are an entree - you get fried chicken, mashed potatoes, pot roast, meatloaf, and 2 types of veggies I think. So my mom and I split an app and an entree and it was the perfect amount of food. It is basically comfort food, but it's done well!

 

[Sarahbelle341]

Top 10 Must Dos for our family

Ohana
Tusker House
Sanaa
Crystal Palace
Sci-Fi Drive In
Coral Reef
Sunshine Seasons
Be Our Guest
Columbia Harbour House
Garden Grill

 

[Chelle's Belles]

MK
BOG
Crystal Palace is a credible choice for a character experience
Cinderella's Royal Table
(I'm a huge fan of Columbia Harbor House, but as a PP said: no ADRs needed)

Epcot
San Angel Inn -- kids will love the volcano! And the dim interior feels like a nice escape from the park bustle. Plus... margaritas. Duh.
Via Napoli is a great family choice. Good Pizza.
Chefs de France
Monsieur Paul for a nicer, more grown up dinner if that suits.

HS
SciFi Dine In -- Just campy and fun
Brown Derby -- if you need a lengthy escape from touring

AK
We like Rainforest Cafe

Resorts
California Grill
Jiko
Yachtsman
Victoria and Alberts if you can make arrangements for the kids. You will not regret that choice.
Chef Mickey's -- I think this is decent for the classic character experience.
Narcoossee's -- esp. if you plan it so you can see the water parade and wishes

If you want to spend, I hear the new fireworks dessert cruise is fun.

 

[jodywgirl]

Some of our favorites
kona breakfast
Ohana Dinner
Be our a Guest Dinner
Cinderella Royal Table Breakfast
Crystal Palace all meals
Mamma Melrose
50's Prime Time
Le Cellier
Teppan Edo
Yak & Yeti
Tusker House ( brunch get late breakfast and you can have breakfast and lunch
Whispering Canyon Cafe
Cape May Cafe dinner

 

[Minnie's House]

Sci Fi
Ohana dinner
Cape may cafe
Teppan Edo
Biergarten

 

[Zel]

If any restaurant at Hollywood Studios looks interesting, see if they have a Fantasmic package. You're probably going to eat there, so why not get some pretty good seats for the show? We really enjoy Brown Derby, although I'm not sure how picky your kids are.

Monsieur Paul was pretty good. If you time it right and get lucky, you can enjoy a nice dinner that overlooks Illuminations; and if you eat late, the park will be entirely empty when you leave. Kids are allowed, they do have a kid's menu, but it's not a "kid's menu". Last time we were there, I believe the kids options were fillet and chicken breast. I do believe they have a dress code, but it's more along the lines of shoes, pants, and a shirt that doesn't show off your arm pits.

Since you're happy to spend, get someone to look after the kids for an evening and have a date night at Victoria & Albert's. Even without drinks, you're not going to walk out for under $400 for a party of two, but it is so worth it. Strict dress code here. Dresses and dress shoes for women and a suit and dress shoes for men.

Even though you don't need a reservation, Columbia Harbor House is one of my favorite counter service places. It's never horribly busy and the salmon is very good for what it is.

I'm fairly "meh" on Be Our Guest. However, I'd say it's a must do at least once. The food's pretty good, but I find the dining areas to be too large and too populated to fully enjoy the atmosphere and the food.

 

[DizzyDis]

We don't have a lot of experience with the table service restaurants but wanted to add that we chose not to make reservations because we didn't know how our 1 year old would hold up. As a result we tried a lot of quick service and would highly recommend Yak and Yeti (prefer CS to TS) as well as Columbia Harbour House. I hope to hear your thoughts on what reservations work out for you!

 

[kkpsirog163]

Top picks of my wife and myself -

California Grill
Narcoossee's
Biergarten
Le Cellier
Cape May Cafe (Breakfast)
Ohana (Breakfast)
Yak and Yeti TS

Overrated:

Yachstman (Steak was tough and flavorless - gonna blame it on it being an off night maybe)
Via Napoli (At least if you're on the dining plan)

 

[strine56]

Boma for breakfast. California Grill for dinner. Earl Of Sandwich for lunch. I have been to Ohana for breakfast. It was very good. Boma is excellent for breakfast.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

Crystal Palace breakfast- we always get a pre-opening breakfast ADR- an absolute must do every trip.

Chef Mickeys - buffet is only average. This is a good way to see the Fab Five without any lines, though.

Sci-fi- good burgers, fries, and shakes. Neat atmosphere

Columbia Harbor House- plenty of seating here and we enjoy the fish and shrimp.

We liked BOG for lunch. The food was good, the restaurant is gorgeous.

Cali-grill is nice. Some of the best sushi I have ever eaten.

The Wave- really enjoyed my beer flight and dinner here last trip.

Next trip we will try Yak and Yeti and Yachtsman