What happened to Chef Ms?

[ppony]

We just returned from our vakay last night. It's been 3 years since we have been to WDW. I knew Chef Ms food was never any great shakes but it was usually palattable and the atmosphere always made up for it. This time though we got there just after opening as we always do and things were until now, usually somewhat fresh "looking", but I didn't even take any of the veggies or garnish because they all looked dry as a bone. Oh and the kids pizza? ICK. Our server was hardly ever there, not friendly and the reaturant had hardly any energy even during the twirling napkins. What did I miss in the alst few years? It used to be fun.

Just a little blip on the radar and small snapshot in time but did we just have a bad window of experience? It's usually been so nice up until now. On the brighter side though, most of the CMs everywhere else as well as our DCL cruise were phenominal!!!!

 

[goofy4tink]

Nope, I haven't noticed any big difference. The last time I was there was August and it was pretty much the same as always. You may have just had that unfortunate experience.

 

[mickeystoontown]

We had dinner at Chef Mickey's in August and it was not good at all. The character interaction and our server were fine but the food was just plain yucky.

 

[FSUSammy]

We've had dinner and breakfast there at two different times in the last year and I MUCH preferred breakfast. Dinner was just kinda blah.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

Same here. Went last January/June/August and all three time the food was Blah. Went so downhill since my first time in 2003.

 

[dalstitch45]

Nope, not the same now. I mainly go for the pictures with the characters.

 

[catheren]

Honestly, I miss the old CM, at DTD (where RFC is located).

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

I agree that breakfast is better than dinner. I think the breakfast has declined a wee bit. CM breakfast is a must do EVERY trip (you can see by my siggy, we go often) but yeah, the last two times it was not *as* good as previous visits...but still pretty good.

 

[PurpleTurtle]

Honestly, I miss the old CM, at DTD (where RFC is located).

I was going to post and ask if anybody remembered that place. It was so wonderful. So quiet, and Mickey would just calmly come around to your table. He once made my brother (we were older teens at the time) go sit with another table of all young people. I was going through our videos the other day and happened upon it. It was such a fun time. Very cute, much better food, and a calmer but still fun character experience. Oh well. We still do CM's when we go, but it's not the same.

 

[ppony]

Honestly, I miss the old CM, at DTD (where RFC is located).

Actually that was the very first restaurant we ate at on our very first trip to WDW ever. I remember.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

We went to CM on our trip (first time) and we were not impressed with the food. LOVED the characters and we had custom ordered a cake for my dd, which was BEAUTIFUL (Thank you Chef Brian at CR!!!!) but I doubt we'll go back b/c the food was so blah. I'm glad we did it once, but I think I will just get in line to see the characters and pass on the bland food.

 

[catheren]

I was going to post and ask if anybody remembered that place. It was so wonderful. So quiet, and Mickey would just calmly come around to your table. He once made my brother (we were older teens at the time) go sit with another table of all young people. I was going through our videos the other day and happened upon it. It was such a fun time. Very cute, much better food, and a calmer but still fun character experience. Oh well. We still do CM's when we go, but it's not the same.

I know.... it was a TS restaurant, great food, atmosphere. And Mickey, was so interactive! AHHHH, memories

 

[catheren]

Actually that was the very first restaurant we ate at on our very first trip to WDW ever. I remember.

It was our first night restaurant, every visit....and I am so happy that I got to bring our DD there before they moved it. I have great photos of the old CM and videos.too. The food was soooo yummy, not like now, perhaps TS vs a buffet.

 

[macmom3]

We've never been to CM, but going for the first time in May. How does CM compare to CP? We usually go to CP for breakfast and now I'm wondering if we should change places.

 

[ktlm]

We ate dinner at CM in May. To give you an idea of how bad it was- my 3 year old (big Minnie Fan) doesn't want to go back. The characters were good and our server was great, but the food (other than the salad and desserts) was absolutely inedible. Plus, the restaurant was filthy. I don't think I have ever seen dirtier floors in a restaurant and we were there towards the beginning of the dinner service. We walked in and my DH looked at the floor and whispered to me "Are we actually going to eat somewhere this dirty?" I also watched a little boy drop tongs on the floor and put them back in the food. His horrified mother told the server, and if they changed out the food or did anything about it, I sure didn't see it. My MIL actually wound up getting sick later that night from the food. Luckily, she was fine by the next morning. I don't think DD ate a thing other than dessert, and she didn't eat much of that because she wanted the ice cream and it was inedible soup. We aren't what you would consider picky about restaurants either. I'd have to say it was the worst meal we've ever had at WDW.

 

[tfoster]

It's nice to see I'm not alone in not wanting to go back to CMs. We went in Sep 2007 for a late lunch (they added lunches for FD). I thought the food was pretty bad and had a difficult time finding anything to eat. I even thought the desserts were pretty bad. Most people say they had great character interaction and a lot of fun, but we didn't even have that. I think part of it had to do with our table location. We weren't in the main room and were right next to the buffet. When they did their fun little napkins and games things, we couldn't even see what was going on. I have no desire to go back.

 

[tikimimi]

Honestly, I miss the old CM, at DTD (where RFC is located).

Our most wonderful character breakfast was on the old Empress Lilly riverboat in DTD long before it was DTD. What made it so amazing was the walk to the boat, over the small bridge - the characters would "wait for the guests to get seated" in a separate building and walk down the sidewalk and over the bridge - I have some of the most wonderful one on one pictures of my son with Mickey, Goofy, etc... and the interaction with the kids on the Empress Lilly was priceless!!!!

 

[eliza61]

I think it is an overall trend. We didn't do CM's this last trip in August but food quality is waay down from 2 years ago. It may be where the head mouses are making cuts to try and survive this awful recession. Menus are watered down, food is blah. We went to the Plaza restuarant which I use to adore and it wasn't awful just very mediocre. Food was luke warm at best and tasted like it was sitting under heat lamps.

Don't even get me started on Tony's LOL.

 

[DisneyMim]

Oh Wow, thanks for the memories. Yes I remember Chef Mickey's at DD and also the breakfast at Empress Lily's. Both excellent. I still have a bunch of those red mugs that the kids got at Chef Mickey's. My kids are older, but from my experience the character dining used to be much better than it is now. We haven't been in awhile, but the last few times we went all of us felt it wasn't the same. Food was not as good, and the greatest difference was the character experience. People seem to be more "pushy" than years ago. The characters used to be able to walk around and really spend time with each family. They would write notes to my kids and take tons of pictures. Now it seems everything is more "timed" and rushed. It's too bad, but I guess there are more people wanting to go so there is a time thing. I used to like when what is Chef Mickey's now was the Contemporary Cafe. They had a character breakfast, but a non-character dinner. It was very good. I also don't like the fact they moved the fast food place upstairs right besides Chef Mickey's. IMHO I think it attracts more kids from running in to see the characters. The CMS try to keep them out, but it's hard to catch an excited kid. LOL!! Oh well, again IMHO I think that's what happened to Chef Mickey's.

Enjoy The Magic!!

 

[sharadoc]

We ate dinner at CM in May. To give you an idea of how bad it was- my 3 year old (big Minnie Fan) doesn't want to go back. The characters were good and our server was great, but the food (other than the salad and desserts) was absolutely inedible. Plus, the restaurant was filthy. I don't think I have ever seen dirtier floors in a restaurant and we were there towards the beginning of the dinner service. We walked in and my DH looked at the floor and whispered to me "Are we actually going to eat somewhere this dirty?" I also watched a little boy drop tongs on the floor and put them back in the food. His horrified mother told the server, and if they changed out the food or did anything about it, I sure didn't see it. My MIL actually wound up getting sick later that night from the food. Luckily, she was fine by the next morning. I don't think DD ate a thing other than dessert, and she didn't eat much of that because she wanted the ice cream and it was inedible soup. We aren't what you would consider picky about restaurants either. I'd have to say it was the worst meal we've ever had at WDW.

I have to agree. We ate there in January and will never go back for dinner. My DD wants to try breakfast there, so we're going in Feb, but only for her, not for the food.

Dinner food was just mush - cheesy potatoes, cheesy vegetables, mushy pasta and cheese dishes. The meat was unappetizing. I think the salad bar was the best part of the meal. We went for my DDs birthday and the server brought out her cupcake when I was at the buffet, which I was sad about. But the characters were really nice! I much prefer Cape May Cafe or 1900 Park Faire for a character experience.