What was your biggest surprise and disappointment?

[KCMiller]

Over the years, I would say our biggest surprises were:

Mama Melrose - great service, great food, just a very pleasant dining experience!

Tutto Italia - I think the antipasto platter was one of the most delicious things I've ever had on Disney property.

Tangierine Café - the best counter service lunches in the parks, bar none. Delicious, huge portions, and interesting.

Earl of Sandwich - need I say more? I only pray they open a location in my neck of the woods someday.

Our big disappointments have been when places we really love change or menu items we love are discontinued. For instance, you used to be able to get a huge bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon at Starring Rolls in HS. Sadly, this was discontinued. Or when they swapped out green beans for collard greens on the friend chicken plate at 50's Prime Time - yuck!

Well, my BIGGEST disappointment was paying for the Party For The Senses a few years ago. The company was great (hi, sisters!), but the food was ridiculous. I posted a huge review of it at the time - there were a few tasty items, but most of what they served was pretentious and unappealing. And talk about expensive!


KC

 

[Kakikomori]

Or when they swapped out green beans for collard greens on the friend chicken plate at 50's Prime Time - yuck!KC

I knew something was off about the chicken when I had it on my last trip. Now I remember. Thank you KC!

 

[PJ]

We're here right now
Biggest Surprise: I'm still smiling over our wonderful time at O'hana's. It was a surprise because it had been about 5 years since our last time, and was MUCH better than I remembered. Loved ALL of the food except the pork which I thought was dry but DH really liked. Last time we were there, dessert was just wedges of pineapple with caramel dipping sauce. This time, the bread pudding was yummy - except that all of the ice cream melted - but that's because they served it just as Wishes was starting and we had a table by the window. And that in itself was a wonderful surprise!

Biggest disappointment: Having to cancel all 5 of our remaining ADR's because we both went down with stomach flu within 2 days of each other! (But at least we saved a bunch of money - we're in FW which doesn't offer free dining unless you're in a cabin.....)

 

[nvsnot]

Biggest Surprise: T-Rex (Downtown Disney) -- Dinner. The first night of our trip we ate at Rainforest and was underwhelmed. T-Rex was the last night of our trip and my entire party, 10, thought the food at T-Rex was much better than Coral Reef. I'll definitely be doing T-Rex on my 2013 trip!!

Other Biggest Surprise: Tusker House (AK) -- Breakfast. When planning the trip i'd gone back and forth trying to decide which character meals to do because my family definitely wanted to do at least 1. I don't know what made me keep Tusker House over some of the more popular character meal experiences, but i'm glad I did. The food was enjoyed by the children and adults alike. We did feel overwhelmed by the characters since we were trying to still make rope drop, but we really enjoyed the selections, the juice, the coffee, and the characters. Next time I think we'll do a late breakfast/brunch so we'll have time to sit and enjoy without feeling rushed to get to the rides.

Biggest Disappointment: Boma (AKL). I'd read so many wonderful reviews about Boma that this was the 1 reservation I insisted my party didn't cancel. Boy did I feel like a butt making my family spend so much money for a meal that none of us thoroughly enjoyed. I liked the Salmon and some of the other meets, but didn't like any of the soups, and the Zebra Doma was not what I thought it would be. Some of my family didn't enjoy much of anything. Major disappointment.

 

[goofy4prez]

Biggest surprises:



Biggest disappointments:

ABC Commissary - Holy.mother.of.Moses. I cannot believe that this place is allowed to do business on Disney property. This is by some margin the worst meal I have ever had in a restaurant. I didn't go in with high expectations, but I at least expected a food-like substance. No lie, I had better food in my elementary school cafeteria back in 1980, when gelatinous green gravy ("turkey" gravy) was still en vogue. I shudder every time I pass this restaurant.

I have said this same thing many times; I have never, and I do mean never have I had a meal slapped in front of me that was as aweful as I encountered at ABC. And the real shame of it is that I was foolish enough to go back the next year... with the same results.


To the OP.

My biggest surprise was Captains Grille at the Yachtclub. We made an ADR only because we were staying at the YC and really didn't want to leave the area for dinner on our first night in. What a pleasant surprise and I have been back twice more and equally delighted in the place.

My biggest disappointment was LeCellier. We went there before it was a signature restaurant and found it to be very noisy, very cramped, waited over 1 hour past our ADR. Sat next to the entrance to the restroom and between server stations. Was refused by management when asked if we could move. And on top of it all the steak was average, the mushroom sauce was like a can of Campbells dumped over it, and the risotto was like eating Minute Rice. I guess you could say I was not impressed and the current menu and the report I have gotten from a few friends who have been there recently does not inspire me to give LeCellier another chance.

 

[MickeyMoguls]

We are on our way home today from WDW. Our biggest surprise was lunch at Teppan Edo. We thought the were generous and we REALLY enjoyed our chef Kenga, even though he gave me my husband my sirloin and me, the filet mignon. He ended up splitting it between both of us when he realized his mistake. We didn't mind since we tried each others food at each meal.

Our biggest disappointment was Les Chefs de France. The only good thing was we got in early before our ADR. Once we ordered, the kitchen screwed up my husbands order and gave him salmon instead of a hamburger. It was at least 45 mins before they brought out the right meal and I was done with my meal. Then the server brought out 2 desserts for us for our anniversary, creme brulee and chocolate cake, which we probably would have ordered anyways since we were on the DxDP, but my husband was a little miffed since he would have liked to have at least seen the dessert menu.

 

[MusiqChic99]

Disappointment - 50's in HS - The food wasn't horrible but we couldn't figure out the appeal of it at all. We won't go back.

Suprise - FairFax in HS- I had the FairFax salad and it was suprising one of the best CS meals I had all week. I mean yeah it's a salad but it was GOOD!

 

[Disneynut5]

Surprised by Mama Melrose! Everyone loved it! The food and service were GREAT!

Disappointed by - Flying Fish the food was good but the service was so bad that it took over 2.5 hours for dinner. The kids were about to jump out of their seats and got soooo annoyed.

 

[SPOERLX3]

Biggest and best surprises:

• The new double meat burger at Sci-Fi! Our family always goes to Sci-Fi, it is a tradition every trip and we love it. This was no exception, the burger was GREAT! Great service, great atmosphere and great burger and onion rings! Soooo much fun.
• The taco's at the CS in Mexico at the World Showcase. delicious!
• Fish and Chips in United Kingdom. Hot, fresh and yummy!

Biggest disappointment:

• Sunshine Seasons. We ate at the Asian station and we could barely eat our food. Overly salty and grissle in the meat. We had 4 meals that we threw away. Horrible.
• The seating at the CS at mexico at the World Showcase. We got there about 6:30pm to eat and the place was full of people with no food, just sitting there waiting to watch Illuminations. When we asked a manager, we were told "sorry, nothing he could do"
• Pecos Bill. Just so-so. We were looking sooo forward to the taco salad based on what we had read and the shell was stale. yuk

 

[mommy2twinprincesses]

Our biggest disappointment was Mama Melrose. We chose it as part of the Fantasmic dining package. The service is slow and sub par as far as Disney is concerned. We arrived at our 2:40 reservation expecting to be seated quickly since it wasn't really lunch or dinner. We waited 45 minutes and had to stand the entire time since they were clearly overbooked and/or understaffed. I don't mind waiting a reasonable amount of time with a reservation. Reasonable, to me, is 10-15 min...especially since it was an off-peak time. The food was mediocre. Now, to be fair, we are picky when it comes to Italian food since we are both Italian and live in the Northeast where there are excellent Italian restaurants on every corner. Olive Garden is 100 times better than Mama Melrose. To top it off, we were very disappointed by Fantasmic. Wishes and Illuminations are far superior.

We were nervous about LeCellier since we had built it up so much in our minds. It was AMAZING!!! We LOVED the pretzel bread and cheddar cheese soup. I LOVED my salt crusted prime rib and recently noticed it is no longer on the menu. Say it ain't so! It was SOOOOO good. DH's ordered steak and it was just okay. He wished he had tried the Filet. Oh well...next time!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Biggest and best surprises:
1. Kouzzina dinner...ended up here by accident, last minute. One of our faves!
2. Pizza Planet's chicken salad...I LOVED it! We ate there in 2008 because our son LOVES Toy Story; I was skeptical but the salad was terrific
3. Chef Mickey's dinner...all 10 of us loved it!

Biggest disappointments:
1. Whispering Canyon Cafe...we love antics, I'm a total *ham*, but this place was just too repetitive. In a 1-hour meal, they need some new material every once in a while
2. Marrakesh...we had high expectations because we love Tangierine Cafe so much...so we figured the TS should be just as good or better...total disappointment, nothing special at all
3. Le Cellier...quality of the meat was excellent, but very salty...the potato gratin I had with my steak just tasted like salt and I couldn't eat it. And I am not that picky...no real flavor here, just salt, and very disappointing

 

[rentayenta]

We loved Marakkesh and hated CRT.

 

[Coconuts]

Thanks so much for all of the great input. I definetly have some more restaurants to put on our must-do and must-don't lists for our next trip. I also love how some places are the best for some and the worst for others. Variety is the spice of life.

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Biggest surprise - Contempo Cafe (the fish sandwich was fabulous!)

Biggest disappointment - Chefs de France

And to boot, my steadfast ALWAYS good places (NEVER had a bad experience and have gone many, many times) - Columbia Harbour House, Aloha Isle , La Cava, and Le Cellier.

 

[pumba21]

biggest surpise- captains grille. the food was great and service was quick and good

biggest disappointment- cape may cafe

 

[minniebride]

Biggest Surprise=Flame Tree BBQ ribs-these were delicious & I usually hate ribs!

Biggest Disappointment=Lighthouse Sandwich from CHH. I wanted to love it, but I thought it was gross