Waits at HP Restaurants

nivekious

Mouseketeer
Joined
Apr 15, 2021
I've seen a lot about the waits at the Harry Potter QS restaurants being long, but we really want to have a meal at either Three Broomsticks or The Leaky Cauldron on our trip in late June.

How bad are the waits? Are we looking at hours? Is dinner better than lunch or vice versa? We were also thinking about doing breakfast but we don't know whether it would be worth missing the time for rides early in the day.

We are staying at the Royal Pacific for one night and have most of the day on check in (our flights lands at 9:30 I think) and the full day on check out (a Friday and Saturday) with two-park tickets if that helps. Any advice would be appreciated!
 
I was there a few weeks ago and we placed a mobile order at Three Broomsticks. We had to wait in line for a table, but the line moved quickly (maybe 20 minutes).
 
If you really want to experience one of the HP restaurants my feeling is, You will have to wait somewhere, why not HP?

Plan on eating at an off time and the line should be a little shorter.

All the QS restaurants had a long line so just pick your favorite and try to eat at an off time.
 
Like pp said, eat at an off time. Why everyone rolls up to eat at noon I will never understand. Show up 11:15-11:30 for an early lunch at one then get a late afternoon (like 4pm) snack or light dinner at the other. For The Three Broomsticks, you can get experience by grabbing a drink (they have all the Butterbeers plus alcoholic drinks) at the attached Hogshead Inn. You can at least see the spaces if you prefer to dine at the Leaky Cauldron for a meal.
 


What is the current process for eating at either restaurant with the mobile order since it's kind of a hybrid table service restaurant? Do we have to wait till we have a seat to order or can we order as we are walking there for example?
 
When we visited last month, we waited about 35 min at Three Broomsticks for lunch. I don't recall what time we got there exactly but it was still during the lunch rush. Honestly, the line to get in looked much worse than it really was due to social distancing. When we got in line, we were past the Moaning Mrytle restrooms and Hog's Head (can't recall what else is over there) but it moved relatively quick. We placed our mobile order while in line and once seated, it probably took another 20 min to get to us.

Considering we were there during spring break crowds and EVERYTHING had a line, I didn't think this was unreasonable.
 


What is the current process for eating at either restaurant with the mobile order since it's kind of a hybrid table service restaurant? Do we have to wait till we have a seat to order or can we order as we are walking there for example?
I was there about 3 weeks ago. You can go ahead and place your mobile order at any point that you want to. However, the app tells you that not to click the "I am here" (or equivalent) until you have a physical table. Most of the QS locations have a barcode and number on the table. Via the app you will scan that barcode or enter the number. This will then start the process of your food being prepared and delivered to your table. Once you figure out how this works, it is fairly easy and you make adjustments for the time you try and eat. The first day we had to wait 30 minutes to get into the Three Broomsticks just to be seated at a table before we could click "I am here" and scan the barcode. Depending on how busy the place is, you may wait once you do this. Another day we had dinner at the Leaky Cauldron and had no wait what so ever to get seated.
 
I was there about 3 weeks ago. You can go ahead and place your mobile order at any point that you want to. However, the app tells you that not to click the "I am here" (or equivalent) until you have a physical table. Most of the QS locations have a barcode and number on the table. Via the app you will scan that barcode or enter the number. This will then start the process of your food being prepared and delivered to your table. Once you figure out how this works, it is fairly easy and you make adjustments for the time you try and eat. The first day we had to wait 30 minutes to get into the Three Broomsticks just to be seated at a table before we could click "I am here" and scan the barcode. Depending on how busy the place is, you may wait once you do this. Another day we had dinner at the Leaky Cauldron and had no wait what so ever to get seated.

awesome, thanks for the info! Seems straightforward enough.
 
Astronomical...this week, there were 70-90 minute waits to be seated no matter what time (11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, etc). Mobile order lines are also astronomical. While they are not understaffed on rides, they can't keep up with food.

Best advice - get in line to eat 20 minutes before any restaurant opens. That may not work at HP restaurants b/c they open for breakfast, but it should work elsewhere...

PS - Mobile order and regular order for Butterbeers took the same time - about 30 minutes yesterday at 1pm...as I left the line and looked, it had tripled in the time I was in line, so again, if you want it, get it early...
 
Astronomical...this week, there were 70-90 minute waits to be seated no matter what time (11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, etc). Mobile order lines are also astronomical. While they are not understaffed on rides, they can't keep up with food.

Best advice - get in line to eat 20 minutes before any restaurant opens. That may not work at HP restaurants b/c they open for breakfast, but it should work elsewhere...

PS - Mobile order and regular order for Butterbeers took the same time - about 30 minutes yesterday at 1pm...as I left the line and looked, it had tripled in the time I was in line, so again, if you want it, get it early...
Agree with this unfortunately. We placed a mobile order at 1:45pm for the Leaky Cauldron. Didn’t get seated until 3:15, food came out at 3:40. Interestingly, we placed a mobile order, plus an i person order for something not in mobile menu. Our in-person ordered food came out 10 minutes before our Mobile ordered food.

The line is in the hot sun with very little shade. With four hangry children, it was frankly miserable.
 
It's why they can't handle allergy dining this week (and I had experience with this, too - my allergy order got lost the 1st day, after waiting forever...well, I learned to hit City Walk if I wanted a guaranteed, no stress, lunch time...or to wait in line at 10:40am for Springfield - which worked - I got the allergy chef 1st - never got one at any other restaurant b/c they were slammed, and thus getting food of any type was an issue...and making sure it had no allergy - well, when you put jalapenos on something I requested no jalapenos on, and it was the ONLY ordered allergy item, how much did you care about the allergy - again, that item I was almost 100% certain was good for me, but if I had doubt...)...
 
It's why they can't handle allergy dining this week (and I had experience with this, too - my allergy order got lost the 1st day, after waiting forever...well, I learned to hit City Walk if I wanted a guaranteed, no stress, lunch time...or to wait in line at 10:40am for Springfield - which worked - I got the allergy chef 1st - never got one at any other restaurant b/c they were slammed, and thus getting food of any type was an issue...and making sure it had no allergy - well, when you put jalapenos on something I requested no jalapenos on, and it was the ONLY ordered allergy item, how much did you care about the allergy - again, that item I was almost 100% certain was good for me, but if I had doubt...)...

yes...all this! I complained via Twitter because it’s ridiculous.
We ordered Uber Eats for delivery to our hotel (CB) and had our food in 1/3 of the time we would have in the park. And that included transportation time. They need to figure this out....it was the one thing that was disappointing this trip.
 
I think my plan is to book lunch at Mythos and then try for an early or late dinner at one of the HP restaurants for our trip in December. Even if there's a wait, it won't be in the high sun.
 
Best advice I can give is that if you are staying onsite, get in early and have a good breakfast at The Leaky Cauldron, we loved it and was a great start to the day.
 

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