We had a really bad experience at Chef mickey's

[connie254]

We know that it was not the norm for CM as we ate there at least 7 times before and loved the food, character interaction, service, etc.
On 2/6 we had a ADR for 7:15 am and were seated by 7:20. There were 6 of us, including 2 little girls and my autistic 17 yo son.
The food was cold even the food that was just set out as we passed them doing so. Eggs, French Toast, potatoes, etc. The server seemed hurried and only asked us what we wanted to drink, gave it to us, picked up plates only once and they were getting quite piled with 6 of us at a table, and gave us our bill. The characters just came by, signed autographs for the 2 little girls and didn't stop to take a picture with my son even though he was standing there and they turned around and faced him and continued turning to the next table. They did interact with toddlers seated next to us.
If this was our first time there we would not go back. Crystal Palace was so much better in all above catagories.
Who can we contact to give our opinion at CM's that would actually care?

 

[java]

We had the same experience the last 2 times we went so we skip it now. The food was horrible. Cold and not exactly that hard to make eggs that tasted like rubber.

Didn't do it for us. So it's off the list- one time I can say off day- 2 times you're off the list(There are too many other good ones out there)
Sorry can't help with who to complain to. We complained when we were there and the manager was going to comp our meals- to which I refused. I said I just wanted it fixed. We ate so I paid. But I appreciated his attempt to fix the problem. I wasn't looking for a freebie I just wanted a good breakfast.

 

[disneystacy]

I hate to say it but we had the same experience at Crystal Palace for dinner. After that meal we actually cancelled our ressies for Chef Mickey's and 1900 Park Fare and ate outside the park.We wanted our 2 year old to spend a few minutes with the characters, but the totally ignored him other than a pat on the head and off they went.The quality of food was close to a Golden Corral. We were not on a DDP at the time and it was not worth paying out of pocket for. It really is a shame.
We did go to the Garden Grill and had a great experience with the characters. They came around a few times and actually interacted with my kids. It wasn't as crazy either.

 

[PrincessMama605]

Sorry you had a bad experience! We have been there twice, once for lunch (during free dining) and once for breakfast. Both times the characters seemed hurried as well as our server and the food wasn't great. We will continue to go back though because my dd loves it.

 

[minniebeth]

I'm sorry you had an unpleasant experience~
We've done Chef Mickey's once for dinner and had a great experience, even the food was better than I expected it to be, but breakfast was just so so.
I did notice that the younger kids get much more attention and interaction than the older kids and even adults who love the characters there without kids get...

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Sorry to hear your Chef Mickeys experience wasn't what you'd hoped for.

We were there on January 11th and the food was great , the characters were great .... our server, well...... let's just say she was the least impressive aspect of our dinner.

We will definitely, however, go back on any future trips!

 

[sockies31]

I am worried now....we are going toward the end of march and I was really excited---but now reading this post I am wondering if i should change it?

 

[koolaidmoms]

This is an address I have:

Walt Disney World Guest Communications
Complaints Department
PO Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-0040

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

I also hope you told a manager on your way out how you felt. We are always sure that if we have a really great experience or a really bad experience we make sure we tell someone.

Hope this helps.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I am also sorry to hear about the OP's bad experience.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

I am worried now....we are going toward the end of march and I was really excited---but now reading this post I am wondering if i should change it?

I wouldn't change it if I were you. Experience it once, if you don't like it then don't worry about going back again.

I have had breakfast and dinner at CM and loved both meals. Give a try and don't worry too much.

OP, sorry about your bad experience. That really stinks. I hope you still had a magical trip overall!

 

[autumnpalm]

Sorry you had a bad experience.

We ate at Chef Mickey's about 5 years ago for dinner and we didn't love it. I'm considering booking it for breakfast for our upcoming trip but I keep going back and forth. CM really gets some mixed reviews! Thanks for adding yours though, I appreciate it.

 

[feline figaro]

Another bad review to add about Chef Mickeys
We had realy been looking forward to eating here but it was our worst dining experience at WDW. The food was terrible, character interaction poor (they rushed through every table near us), servers were very rushed. We had been for character meals at Crystal Palace, LTT & Chip & Dales meal at Epcot (cant remember the restaurants name) & at all 3 we had a great time.
We left Chef Mickeys feeling very dissapointed & vowed never to eat there again. We re going back to wdw in 11 weeks for our wedding & recently made our adrs, Chef Mickeys is nt on our list

I know a lot of people love it there so if you ve never been before try it. For us it just lacked the experience we had received at other character meals

 

[natalielongstaff]

we have really enjoyed CM in the past, im sorry you had a bad time

 

[gwmom]

Unfortunately, I have to agree, we have gone to numerous Character meals in the last 30 years and Chef Mickey's was the least impressive.We went on the Sunday morning after Thanksgiving 2008 for our twin Granddaughter's 2nd Birthday and another toddler. The girls were all dolled up in the Princess garb, etc. The characters interaction with our large group table was minimal and the service was probably the worst we have had pretty much anywhere. We actually had to ask the Manager for help. The server "barely" spoke english, but he did show up with the bill. I think we will not try that again, we'll try one of the other Character meals.

 

[Steelersfan]

It seems like the only weapon you have is to lower the tip if the service stinks, but it sounded like you were over the "automatic tip" method. I know this is a terrible can of worms that comes up here from time to time, but I wonder if the service tends to be better at tables with fewer people when the tip isn't automatically added in?

Has anyone gone with big and small groups? Our last trip we were on the dining plan and had a group of 7, but tips were included then.

 

[Disneylvr]

Ok, this report worries me. We have a breakfast ADR on March 19th for my DD's 6th birthday. She also has autism....

 

[dazednconfused]

Our experience at Chef Mickey's was less than stellar too. Our main gripe... the food. Not pleasant at all. The characters were nice. Service good too. But the food was just terrible. So we will not be returning to Chef Mickey's. Crystal Palace though was amazing. Great food. Great character interaction. We also had breakfast at Cape May Cafe and it was fantastic too. When we go this year, we want to try 1900 Park Fare for dinner. I hear it's a hoot!

 

[Tiger926]

Sadly, this is the norm for Chef Mickey's. After 4 times there (DD kept asking us to go back) with nasty food, broken sundae machines, bad service, dirty, noisy, horribly long waits to check in for ADRs and to be seated and disorganized character interaction, we are done. I told this to DD 5.5 this week, and she seemed ok with it, once I explained that there were too many problems, and we have other places to eat at. We knew based on the DIS, that this was to be expected, so we weren't surprised with our experiences, nor am I with yours.

Sadly, CM is a horrible character meal and is in need of some serious overhauling, but alas, that is not going to happen since it's booked solid each and every day. We are pretty much phasing out most character meals as they have seriously declined over the past few years. We have eaten at every character meal (B, L & D), many, many, times, and this saddens us, but we feel it is necessary at this time to only eat at our top 4 buffets: 1900 Park Fare (B & D), Donald's, Crystal Palace and Cape May Cafe. We find these buffets are consistently good in regards to service and food. They aren't superb, but for our needs, these 4 suit us just fine!

Sorry about your experience, Tiger

 

[maxiesmom]

I am worried now....we are going toward the end of march and I was really excited---but now reading this post I am wondering if i should change it?

Absolutely not. Stay on these boards long enough and you will hear something bad about each every restaurant. And every resort.

I have ate at Chef Mickey's twice. One breakfast and one dinner. The character interaction was great at both. The food was good as well.

If you are unhappy with how the food is, or feel that the characters are not spending enough time with you, the time to complain is there and then. That is the only time they can take action and actually rectify the problem.

 

[Luvamouse]

It seems like the only weapon you have is to lower the tip if the service stinks, but it sounded like you were over the "automatic tip" method. I know this is a terrible can of worms that comes up here from time to time, but I wonder if the service tends to be better at tables with fewer people when the tip isn't automatically added in?

Has anyone gone with big and small groups? Our last trip we were on the dining plan and had a group of 7, but tips were included then.

While this was at CP, I think it will answer this question... Nov. 2007, day before Thanksgiving, lunch at CP. Grand Gathering of 13. We did wait way past our ADR time of 1 or 2 or so, but I understand that given how it is hard to time character meals, etc. Not on DDP (but characters don't know that...), we had 5 girls from 7 to 13 with us. Waitress-- very nice, constantly replenishing drinks. Characters seemed to take a long time at other tables with little kids so I began to worry. Then, to top it all off, my aunt and her boyfriend showed up-- I was the only one who knew they were coming, but didn't expect them at the lunch. Immediately extra chairs appeared and we were asked if they wished to eat too! No, just beverages- very accommodating CM--didn't even charge for them-- I'm not saying if that was right or wrong, just nice. Then the characters appeared. I was embarrassed by the amount of time they spent with us! We must have taken pictures as they strolled through-- one at a time-- for well over 10 minutes. I'd say 15 but you wouldn't believe me CP full, but lots of interaction observed. Well worth our money IMHO.

So...we had a large group--tip automatic anyway. Kids, but not toddlers-- tons of character time anyway. Kind and accommodating waitress-- that's a personal trait (we did tip her 20% even though it was buffet). Character interaction time/quality- amazing. We never once begged them to stay, just kept thanking them and having a good time getting all our pictures taken. Great CM's in there-- enjoying their job. It's hard to say why it was all positive, except it was like a perfect storm of wonderful. It doesn't always go that way for everyone...

I didn't do CM because I felt that there were many more negative posts for CM than CP. Everyone's experience is different, even at the same time, but OP, I am very sorry that your experience was less than adequate. I'd expect much better interaction and wait-service, especially at that time of day.