TS meals for picky first-timers?

[Colleen27]

So with the arrival of a 40% off code, our next trip has suddenly expanded, and I'm finding that it has thrown a wrench into my smooth-running planning gears.

Usually when we do Disney, it is just DH & I, our kids, and sometimes my mother. I've got planning for our group down to a science. Deluxe dining, lots of adventurous TS meals, and we all stick together for most of the trip. But now we're bringing my brother and his fiancee, both first timers and picky eaters.

The dining plan is out. Too much hassle to plan for, and DB & FSIL are more the grazer type who wouldn't really enjoy sitting down to 2 or 3 meals per day. Plus they're probably going to want more park time than we do, since they've never been and likely won't go back for quite some time. So we're only going to plan a handful of meals for everyone, and we'll go our own way the rest of the time.

The trouble is, I'm having a hard time coming up with a short list of can't-miss restaurants that I think they'd like. They're both on the picky side and don't are for especially creative or complicated food. Right now, the only ones I'm sure of are Chef Mickey and CRT, more for the characters than the food.

So, what other restaurants would you recommend for first timers?

 

[SIMMSMOUSE]

Le Cellier in Canada is really good if you like steaks the Filet we had there was excellent, and the cheese soup was great. Whispering Canyon cafe was great the Canyon Skillet was yummy. It had chicken, ribs, shrimp corn on the cob mashed potatoes and beans. then atmosphere was also good.

 

[KatMark]

How about LeCellier, Plaza Restaurant (a simple salad, sandwich and great dessert place), Biergarten--something for everyone and they might enjoy the entertainment, Crystal Palace (buffet breakfast). Personally, we did not like WCC--found it overrated, but have read good reviews recently for Spoodles, Raglan Road and Kona's.

 

[Pakey]

OP, I was in exact same situation last year taking a first time picky eating couple. Never have I been so stressed trying to figure out where to take them to eat.

I'll tell you where we ate and whether they liked it:

BOMA-no
50's PTC-this was their favorite
Ca Grill-so, so
Le Cellier-this was their least favorite
Yachtsman Steakhouse-yes
Sci-Fi-yes
Coral Reef-yes
Beaches and Cream-yes
Jiko-so, so
Columbia Harbour House-yes
Flame Tree BBQ-yes

Good luck.

 

[Niki Andiokno]

In 2007, I took friends with us on the food plan. DF is like DH and I. We like everything. He failed to tell me that his DW is a finicky eater. Didn't know she was a burger girl. I made ressies for places I liked and thought DF would like. I was concerned when I found out his new wife was picky. She ended up broadening her horizons because of this trip. I'll go through where we went too, and how she liked each of them.

Le Cellier - Good steak, safe. Tried creme burlee for the first time. LOVED IT!
Tutto Italia - OK Italian. Tried fresh mozzarella and tomato salad. Loved it.
Cap'n Jack's - We all hated it. Tried something new. Yuck for all of us.
Boma - too wierd. Didn't find anything she liked. This is where I found out she was picky.
O'Hana - Good food. Hard to screw up grilled meat. Pretty good variety.
Spoodles - Loved this. Good selection of regular food and "different" stuff. Tried fried calamari and LOVED IT. The Sangria alone is worth the trip. She requested this one for our next trip in September.
Flame Tree BBQ - Liked chicken, but ribs too spicey.
Cosmic Ray's - Liked Burger alot.
Sunshine Seasons Food Fair - Alot of great selections
Pepper Market - A cut above regular CS. Alot of choices. Food is good.
Starring Rolls Bakery - Awesome Sandwiches. A real sleeper. Just make sure your picky eaters have them made to order. Some might have flavored mayo or sprouts. Take them off and food is great for a deli sandwich.
Artist Pointe - Didn't like it. Sandwiches and flatbreads too different.

Except for Cap'n Jacks, the rest of us really liked all of the other places we ate. Hope this helps. Good Luck

 

[RussellDisney]

I suggest Garden Grill in EP. It's family style and there are several choices, plus all you can eat! Also, the character interaction is good.

 

[karibritt01]

We are picky eaters, too. We like Beirgarten, 50's PTC, Rainforest Cafe, Pepper Market at CSR, Cosmic Rays, 1900 Park Fare dinner, and all the character breakfasts. We HATED Hollywood and Vine. No other meals really stand out as particularly good, but not particularly bad either. If you want a dinner show... HDDR was incredible, and the Luau was good food but lame show IMO.

 

[magik]

I think it depends on what you mean by "picky." What kind of "picky" are you trying to accommodate?

I consider myself (and my boyfriend considers me) a "picky" eater, but by that I just mean I don't like mushrooms, mayonaise, eggs and chunks of tomatoes, but a very smooth, non-chunky tomato sauce is just fine by me - it's a texture thing more than a flavor thing. And I'm a vegetarian, which is an ethics choice more than pickiness, but I never really liked much meat anyway. But...I love most kinds of vegetables, I love different kinds of spices and flavors and am willing to try anything that is a) vegetarian and b) doesn't have mushrooms, mayo or chunky tomatoes. I do eat things made with eggs like baked goods, I just don't like the flavor of eggs so things like scrambled eggs or omelettes or certain casseroles that are highly egg-based are out for me.

So I'd say I'm an adventurous, picky eater and my recommendations for this kind of picky would be different than someone like my brother who only likes pasta, parmesan cheese, cheese pizza and chicken nuggets.

 

[disnut8]

If it were me, I'd give them the website address of a place that lists the menus and what is available. Have them come up with two or three choices based on that. They are the ones who are "picky" therefore, they will be the ones not enjoying the meal while everyone else is fine.

I do this with my brother-in-law who is the only one in the family who has issues with certain types of food. With everyone else, as long as a chicken breast is on the menu, they are fine. The brother-in-law hates chicken and refuses to eat any other kind of meat that he has to cut. Burgers are fine but only made a certain way. I could go on but you get the idea. It's next to impossible to please him at a normal restaurant. So he picks because everyone else can find lots more to like than he can.

And if they don't want to put forth the effort, then they are stuck with whatever you decide.

 

[danielle.st]

My dh is very picky. He dislikes eggs and also any slightly adventurous food. Basically, he liked chicken, turkey, pizza, and burgers. With simple veggies and pasta salad. He doesn't like exotic sauces or anything.

He liked most of the places we went, especially breakfast buffets (real buffets, not the family style that is mostly eggs we didn't try those). Places he liked:
Chef Mickey dinner (I thought it was ok, I'd rather try breakfast next time)
Sci Fi
The Plaza
CRT
50's PT
Tusker House
HDDR

He loved :
Cape May Cafe breakfast
Akershus lunch (which was a shock, he looked at the menu and groaned, but it was one of the best meals foodwise all trip)
Biergarten (wants to return next time, it was very fun)
Mama Melrose (even though we were too full from lunch to fully appreciate it)
Crystal Palace breakfast (this is one he definitely wants to go back to next time)
Hollywood and Vine Breakfast (wants to return)

The only places he wouldn't want to go back to:
1900 Park Fare dinner (we had a lousy atmosphere which didn't help, stuck in a side room) there wasn't much simple food there
LTT dinner- the food was just ok, stuff he likes well enough, but it was not worth the money. We were paying for the characters and they aren't going to be there anymore so we'd rather go somewhere that has more choices.

Really, nothing was a complete miss for us. Even the 2 we would definitely not go back to weren't horrible, just not worth the time and money when there are other choices. And my dh really is very picky

 

[Colleen27]

Thank you guys for all the suggestions!

This is what I've got on my list for sure:
Chef Mickeys
CRT lunch
Teppan Edo (a bit adventurous but it is DS's favorite and he really wants to take DM, DB & FSIL there, so we're going to try it)
Beaches & Cream or Whispering Canyon (depending on where we stay)

And I'm thinking about scheduling tea at the Grand Floridian for us girls while the boys hang out poolside.

That gives us 4 sit down meals all together over 7 nights and covers all the must-see characters except Tink. We'll probably just wing the rest, and I'll point my brother in the direction of the menus so he can get an idea of places he'd like to try. If nothing looks good or they don't want to hassle with ADRs, they can do CS for the other meals.

 

[magik]

Teppan Edo (a bit adventurous but it is DS's favorite and he really wants to take DM, DB & FSIL there, so we're going to try it)

Maybe I'm not thinking clearly, but I would not consider Teppan Edo adventurous. Don't get me wrong, I love it there, but even a steak and potatoes type person can essentially get steak. It's not like they use crazy seasonings...just soy sauce, salt and pepper and maybe sesame seeds. Or chicken...essentially grilled chicken. And the vegetables are usually carrots, zucchini, onions and maybe sprouts...which is the only thing I'd call adventurous.

So basically...I would think you'd be fine with picky people there as long as they don't freak out if chicken is called "tori" or the shrimp called "ebi." Or is this crazy thinking? Do most people consider this adventurous eating? I know you *can* get some more adventurous things like sushi, but I'd consider the bulk of the menu to be fairly standard normal food.

 

[Colleen27]

Maybe I'm not thinking clearly, but I would not consider Teppan Edo adventurous. Don't get me wrong, I love it there, but even a steak and potatoes type person can essentially get steak. It's not like they use crazy seasonings...just soy sauce, salt and pepper and maybe sesame seeds. Or chicken...essentially grilled chicken. And the vegetables are usually carrots, zucchini, onions and maybe sprouts...which is the only thing I'd call adventurous.

So basically...I would think you'd be fine with picky people there as long as they don't freak out if chicken is called "tori" or the shrimp called "ebi." Or is this crazy thinking? Do most people consider this adventurous eating? I know you *can* get some more adventurous things like sushi, but I'd consider the bulk of the menu to be fairly standard normal food.

I wouldn't consider it adventurous either, but I'm never quite sure with my brother. When we were kids/teens, he was a ridiculously picky eater who didn't like any ethnic foods or really much of anything beyond standard kids' menu type foods. My mother assures me he's not quite so bad now, but I know their idea of a nice date night dinner is Applebees or Red Robin or something on that level. I assume Teppan Edo will be fine because the chefs are so accomodating if one person doesn't want a specific ingredient (mushrooms, onions, etc.), but I'm just never sure about his tastes.

A big part of it is in his attitude, though. Getting him to try new things is like pulling teeth. Our favorite restaurant is a Mongolian grill. Each person has total control over what meats, veggies, and seasonings are in their food, but he resisted trying it for the longest time. When DS wanted to go there for his birthday dinner DB came along to make DS happy, and now he really likes that style of dining, but before he tried it he couldn't get past it "sounding weird". If it wasn't at DS's request, I don't know that I'd include Teppan Edo in our dining plans, but I know my brother will do just about anything to make DS happy so he won't voice his objections because DS is so excited about taking his favorite uncle to his favorite Disney restaurant.