Turf Club Reviews

[eporter66]

I am going in January for basically a golf week with a buddy, and we are trying to convince another friend. Anyway - I was wondering what people thought of the Turf Club.

Is it a nice place to have a few drinks at the end of the day? Is it more restaurant than bar atmosphere?

Of course we plan on going to Downtown Disney a few nights, but wondered if the Turf was a good place to hang out one night?

Cant wait

 

[Olaf]

We just got back and ate dinner there this past Friday evening. I have to say it was the worst dinner I've ever eaten on property. My steak was overdone and the texture of the meat was strange--similar to an undercooked pot roast. I'm guessing a very low grade of beef--yes, I did send it back. The potatoes that came with it were barely cooked and practically cold. DS & DH ordered the ribs, and they both thought the sauce was strange. My nephew ordered the onion rings, which were like rubber. How do you ruin onion rings? My mom's burger wasn't bad, just a little on the dry side. My ceasar salad tasted fine, but I found the presentation to be silly and pretentious. Beaches and Cream does a far better ceasar. They need to stick to some plain food and get that down pat before attempting the fancy stuff. I'll post some pics of our dishes. We did have an 8:45 ADR, perhaps that contributed the the quality of food. There weren't many people there when we left. On the other hand, our waiter was very good.

We did eat at Artist's Palette a few times, and I thought they made a decent omelette, although I didn't buy the ones under the lamp. Can't stand peppers, so they made one up fresh for me.

I wish I'd turned the steak so you can see it. I forgot to take a picture until I'd cut into it. That's supposed to be a medium rare steak. The potatoes were practically raw.

 

[Uncleromulus]

There are some reviews on the restaurants board. Also a brief, "less than kind" review from the Orlando Sentinal restaurant critic.

 

[starbox]

Here's the alears review:
http://www.allearsnet.com/ae/issue370.htm

Our Turf Club experience was similar to the reviewers. The restaurant has the feel of a country club bar/restaurant and there is a very large and "adult" feeling lounge/bar with a pool table and windows overlooking the golf course.

I think it would be an enjoyable place for a group of men to have a drink after golf.

 

[boettj]

We went to the Turf Club our first night here. I was not overly impressed. Then we went to the Concourse Steakhouse the next night. I was amazed at how close the two menu's were.

We were told by our waiter that Disney had moved the menu's at several of the restaurants to a more common meal plan to save money. I cannot find anything on google to support this. However, from looking at the menu options, it looks like he may be correct.

 

[mikron]

Going thursday, will have to try the restraunt. Can't believe could be this bad, will report findings. My wife claims I will eat anything and if I think the turf Club is not good they should close.

 

[Uncleromulus]

boettj:
That whole "common menus" thing has been discussed quite a bit on the restaurants board.

 

[rahrah]

We ate at the Turf Club for lunch twice last week. The first time we ordered steaks and they were good. Better than what you would get at any chain resturants such as Applebees, The 99, etc.

The second time I had a burger and my wife had a pastrami sandwich (I think). The only problem was the "Disney bread". Every bread product we had at disney seemed to be dried out and crumbly.

 

[Starr W.]

We ate twice at the turf club, lunch and dinner. Hubby had the steak for dinner and thought it was very good(he likes it on the rare side). I had the salmon salad both times and it was excellent. Mussels on the appetizer menu were good too.

We were there Thanksgiving week(lunch on Sunday 11/19 and dinner 11/22).

Personally I would use it as a last resort and try a resturant over at DTD.

 

[esulerzy]

Went twice in October. Both times I got the onion rings and chicken strips (sauce on the side) - basic pub fare. Both were good. The menu is VERY limited but for a quick bite (I was in the mood for fried food ) it was fine for me.

 

[DMKEDM]

Well, there always has to be one person who disagrees! That would be me. We loved the Turf Club.

We were there T-giving week (Tues-Mon), and had dinner there 3 times (a combination of "by accident"--too tired to go to Epcot for our later-in-the-evening reservations (yes, we called to cancel); and choice). I was with two teenagers (19). All three of us loved it.

We had the ribs, the pasta, the burger, the steak...the onion rings, the ceasar, and some other stuff, too. All of it was excellent (and I "eat for a living"--I take clients out to "expense account" restaurants frequently--generally, at least 3-4 times a week). We particularly loved the smoothies milkshakes!

Maybe the cook was having a good week when we were there. We had one night where the service was kind of stinky--but when I "lost it" and told the waiter that I was just plain unhappy...waited 45 minutes for meals after we'd told them we had only an hour before we had to leave to get to our next spot and then they brought the wrong food. But the CMs--from waiter on up to management--couldn't possibly have done more to try to make it right once I told them I was unhappy...they offered the meals "on the house;" another night of meals; one even offered to get her car and drive us to Epcot because of the time. (We refused the freebies--we were on DDP and having trouble using up all our prepaid food already! And we also declined the offer of the ride, altho it sure did feel nice to receive the offer)...my personal opinion is that anyone can make a mistake: the "key" is how the establishment reacts when a mistake is discovered. The Turf CLub people couldn't have done better. That was one reason we kept going back.

As for a place for drinks after a round of golf: the bar area is reminiscent of someone's living room...couches & easy chairs, as well as a few small tables & chairs...a tv, a pool table...very nice and not at all crowded any of the times we were there...definitely a place I'd have been happy having drinks in had I been looking for such a place (I wasn't).

Bottom line: we're Turf Club fans ... we loved it.

 

[Pinmaniac]

We had dinner at the Turf club on 12/1. We were a party of 7. As we were on the dining plan we all had appetizers. Loved the calamari, and mussels. The crab bites were ok. Three of us had the steak and all were prepared wrong - mostly overcooked. The meat was tough and we all commented that it appeared to be a low quality cut. The ribs did get a thumbs up.

As a comparison we ate at the Brown Derby at MGM the next evening and everyone commented that the food at the Brown Derby was head and shoulders above the Turf Club.

 

[bsusanmb]

Couldn't get ADR's first week in Dec, and so we went to our home resort dining Turf Club.

Onion rings were great, calimari great, crab bites great, Caesar salad - well, how about cutting up the lettuce instead of giving me a bunch of huge stalks?

Top sirlloin steak had a good taste, but they don't know how to cook - medium rare was medium, medium was well done.

Potatoes were au gratin and awful. Overdone and cold.

Dessert was ok. Service great.

When I looked at the menu for Boatwrights, it is the same except for the Jumbolaya (sp)

 

[dbm20th]

OK, this was called a "Bar and Grill" yet where is the bar?

 

[canda]

another example of the evils of the DDP.

 

[LIFERBABE]

OK, this was called a "Bar and Grill" yet where is the bar?

The bar faces the lounge, but all drinks can be ordered. It is not a bar with barstools except for some bar tables in the lounge.

My favorite item is the Buffalo Chicken tenders

They do like to mix Pesto in many of the dishes/sauces at SSR and I have nut allergies, so be sure to ask.

 

[graygables]

DH and I had lunch there in November and LOVED it, excellent food, excellent service.

 

[disney-super-mom]

Well now this has me re-thinking our dining plans.

For our first night at SSR, DH and I have an ADR at the Turf Club, but now I'm thinking maybe we'd have a nicer meal (using the DDP) at either Raglan Road or Wolfgang Pucks.

I don't want the first meal of ours, during our very first trip to WDW, to be a flop, and I'd like to make good use of the DDP.

What do any of you think?

 

[dbm20th]

It is not a bar with barstools except for some bar tables in the lounge.

Not to get into a verbiage debate, but then it is not a bar. A bar is a bar, this is a lounge that serves drinks. No bar. Yet it says "bar and grill". Not a big deal, just annoying when you are looking to sit at a bar and expect to find a bar but instead find lounge chairs and pool tables.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We ate there last Friday night. We were 3 in our party, and we all felt we had a very nice and tasty meal as well as a well presented one. I especially liked my mussel appetizer.