What was your biggest surprise and disappointment?

[Dano1182]

Disappointed by La Hacienda de San Angel in Epcot.
We ate there last April.The food was bland and tasteless.Even after I asked for it to be spicey. The waiter was rushing us to order.He handed us menues turned to the table next to us for about a minute and then asked if we were ready to order.We barely had a chance to read the menu.
They were clearly trying to get people out prior to the lagoon show.The food we ordered had to be pre prepared our apps and main course all came at the same time.
They came out so fast it had to of been put on the plate before we ordered kind of like a self service resturant.
It honestly seemed as if the waiter walked to kitchen turned around and had our food.
It was so fast I told him it could not be ours as we had just ordered.

The last time we ate at Yaghtsman it was very disapointing.The waiter was inexepeirnced and the steak were simply not up to our expectations.

Very Disappointing.

Blue Zoo has always been excellent.
Shulas was good
ESPN is good if you only expect decent bar food .

 

[curious3069]

Disappointment-Kona Cafe for dinner. So wanted to love it and so didn't. Service was rushed and food didn't come out consistantly.

Biggest surprise-Norwegian bakery! Fantastic, loved everything we got, plus it was a nice, relaxed spot to unwind. We now make it a point to go every time we return.

 

[2 lil'princesses]

Biggest surprise-Definitely Mama Melrose-the steak was delicious but I only got a small portion because my kids were eating it up faster than me Loved the seating for Fantasmic, too. Was really surprised because of all the negative comments I've seen on this one.

Biggest disappointment-By far, Ohana. Went back in 2009. Never saw any coconut races which I had told my kids about, lady only sang 2 songs in the 2+ hours we were there, and my server was horrible. Couldn't find him to get a bill and never got the kids the chicken nuggets he promised them twice. I don't think I can ever go back there.

 

[Berlioz70]

Biggest Dissappointments: California Grill (no one in my party liked their entree and service was horribly slow) and Nine Dragons.

Biggest Surprises: Boatwrights, Flying Fish, and Olivias (for breakfast/lunch). I didn't know anything about these prior to our visit, and all were fantastic!

 

[quirty30]

After about 10 or so trips the last 3 years, our biggest surprise was Sanaa. We were staying at Kidani this past July and I was dealing with unexpected and painful swelling in my feet and legs. I had to take it easy for a few days. We ended up at Sanaa 3 times. The 1st time, we visited reluctantly, but after that, we couldn't wait to go back. Great food, service, atmosphere; the whole package. And fairly reasonable prices - a great Disney value.

Biggest disappointment; hands down 'Ohana. First visit last year was so rushed; pretty much had all our food slammed down on the table in about a 10 minute span, before we even got anything to drink. Then we couldn't get any of the meats. When we finally did, we wished we had skipped it - it was charred, dry and tasteless. No sauce could save it.

This past September, we had free dining and thought we should give 'Ohana another try. I started the meal by telling our server that we wanted to take our time. She obliged. And we thoroughly enjoyed all the food, except for, you guessed it - the meats. Same dry, burned tasteless meat as before. Really wanted to love 'Ohana, but I just can't fathom that we'll ever go back.

 

[psac]

Just finishing up a trip this week to the World.

Biggest Surprise -- Garden Grill. People always say you go to character meals for the characters and not the meals. We gave GG a try since we wanted pics with Chip n Dale, and while it wasn't fine dining, the food was REALLY good. Way better than we expected. We asked for the kids mac and cheese in addition to the standard meal, and they were happy to oblige. All the food was fresh and hot. Will definitely go back next year.

Biggest Disappointment -- Il Mulino. Always hear great things about this place and didn't get it. The fried calamari we had was very good. The half pasta for the other appetizer was good, but not amazing. The main courses went down from there. The chicken Parm I had was decent, but again not great. The portion was big, but the chicken was pounded really thin (I know this is the traditional Italian way, but still a little too pounded), and then my wife's Veal saltimbocca was not good. It had a little odd taste to it. We were too tired to bother sending it back or anything. I don't see us going back.

Most consistent -- Kona cafe dinner. Best non-signature meal as always.

 

[goofy4tink]

Biggest surprise??? LeCellier for lunch. I've eaten at LeCellier more times than I can remember, but never for lunch. But with it going to two TS credits, and since we were with a couple that really wanted to eat there, I booked it for lunch. I knew the food would be fine, not great, but fine. However, my filet was to absolutely die for. The general concensus of the group was that this was the best meal we had....all things considered.

Biggest disappointment??? Brown Derby. I had never been, but always wanted to give it a try. My steak was ordered med rare. It was oozing red when it came to me....still cold in the middle!!! So, back it went. When it finally came back, it was grey, no pink at all. When our server finally came back to see how it was (about 10 mins after serving it to me) I told her it was badly overcooked but wasn't sending it back since everyone in my group had almost finished eating by the time it came back the second time. She said nothing, and just walked away. She was a miserable server. I was really surprised by the mediocrity of this restaurant. The others in our group were also underwhelmed.

 

[MickeyNicki]

From our last Oct trip? Biggest surprise was Kona breakfast had pumpkin pancakes on a special menu, we were so shocked! Went there expecting to get mac pineapple ones and ordered the pumpkin..we know we love Kona but now we REALLY love Kona!

Biggest disappointment? ESPN, the food was just eh, nothing special

 

[Princess Mags]

Biggest Surprises:
ABC Commissary... Despite knowing all the negative reviews and assuming that it wasn't going to be any good, I begrudgingly ate there for lunch one day because the rest of my family insisted that thats where they wanted to eat (you would think that they would listen to me when I was right about every other restraunt up to that point ) Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised... my fish and chips were surprisingly delicious and I would happily eat there again.

Wolfgang Puck Express... Even though I had seen the positive reviews I couldn't quite believe it could be THAT good... Boy was I wrong...I was blown away by the food, especially the fact that it was a quick service.

Biggest Disappointments:
Hollywood and Vine... Picked it because many members of my family are picky eaters and there are a variety of foods to pick from... The food was adequate at best and is not something I would ever pick again

 

[PrincessesX3]

Biggest surprise: plaza restaurant. We loved it, great kids options, didn't wait long with three kiddies. They loved the ice cream of course.
1900 park fare breakfast: I think our favorite breakfast buffet. Characters were great too!

Biggest disappointment: chef mickeys. Food was horrible (for several years) and characters rushed.

 

[Infamousmare]

Biggest disappointments:
Crystal Palace (dinner) - waited 30 mins after ADR to be seated, hostess was short with everyone (we were even being nice!), place was sooo crowded, buffet was a mess.
Cinderella's Royal Table (breakfast) - waitress was extremely short, even told my daughter to "make it snappy" when it was her turn to order, food wasn't that great for 2 credit meal. Loved the atmosphere, though, and would give it another chance at lunch or dinner.
Garden Grill (dinner) - food was just "okay". We just weren't big fans.

Biggest surprises:
The Wave (dinner) - loved it so much the first night that we made another ADR and went back! Food was great, service was marvelous - truly a hidden gem.
Le Cellier (lunch) - the cheese soup is outstanding, the steaks are amazing, the service was just fabulous.
1900 Park Fare (breakfast) - character interaction was wonderful, food was good, waiter was outstanding.
Tony's Town Square (Grand Gatherings Breakfast) I am SO disappointed that Disney is discontinuing this! Tony was AMAZING! The breakfast was great, service was wonderful...so sad we won't be able to do this again next year

Artist Point Quiet atmosphere, great food, great server - another hidden gem!

 

[MaggieBailey]

This thread has been great, I love hearing what others have to say about what they liked and didn't! Gives me a lot to consider when making ADR's for the next trip

The last trip... Biggest disappointment would have had to be Chefs in France; service was awful, the meal was just... basic. It wasn't anything special, not was it worth the huge bill... Thank goodness for that dining plan! Also, 50's Prime Time - it could be that I make great pot pie and meatloaf, lol, and that's what we ordered.... But the decor was really great - felt like I was at Grandmas house!

Biggest surprise would have been Boma, I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did! We went for breakfast, and it was so good - also, the service was outstanding!

 

[Coconuts]

Thanks for all of the great responses. I have really enjoyed reading them and keep them coming. I need the input for our next trip, whenever that may be.

 

[Patience]

Biggest surprise: Sci Fi diner was much better than I expected it to be. We were also pleasantly surprised by the food at 1900 Park Fare for dinner. We went to Park Fare primarily for the characters and I was expecting bland food based upon some of the reviews on here but we enjoyed our meal.

Biggest disappointment: Flame Tree barbeque. Based upon reviews here, I was expecting to like this place. My husband and I both ordered the chicken and ribs platter. The chicken was okay (not great) but the ribs were very tough and just not very good. On the plus side, we ate at Boma that night after our day at Animal Kingdom and it was awesome so that made up for our less-than-delicious lunch at Flame Tree.

 

[JennyDrake]

For those that commented about Ohana and dry food. Did any of you ask your waiter to bring out something not so welldone? Our last visit was Sept. 2010. We too got some rather over cooked beef. Very dry. We simply asked for something rare to medium-rare and waiter came back with perfectly cooked beef.

I have only eaten at Ohana once (once was enough for me) and my asking for lesser than way well done meats produced no different results. YMMV.

 

[4butlers]

We were just there last week. While these places weren't really surprises, they were among our favorites. We all really liked Le Cellier (lunch), Cape May (dinner), Crystal Palace (breakfast) and 'Ohana (breakfast & dinner).

The biggest disappointment was CRT. The food was just ok and while our server was very nice, he took FOREVER! I think we spent 2 hours there. We now know his whole life history. He would stay and talk to every one of his tables, including our's. So it took him forever. Plus, my DS totally got the wrong meal, but we just kept it because we were afraid it would take another hour just to get the correct one. We just wanted to eat and get on with our day. It was neat to eat in the castle, but we won't do that again.

 

[heatherenae71]

My biggest surprise....was that there was no disappointment

We were on the DxDP (ate all TS meals) and never had a bad meal!!

I guess the biggest surprise (as in I had low low low expectations going in - hehe) was Cinderella's Royal Table! DH and I both got the beef tenderloin and even he thought it was good (and he is quite the picky eater!) The food, atmposphere and princess interaction was just terrific!

If I *had* to pick the biggest disappointment, I guess it would be Whispering Canyon Cafe. But really just the ribs on the skillet were a disappointment. Everything else was yummy and the kids loved the "craziness" of the restaurant - I did, too! I have such cute pics of them running around the restaurant doing "pony rides"! I was disappointed that DH wouldn't ask for ketchup (he ALWAYS needs ketchup). But he is not one for "antics" and when he saw what happens when you ask for ketchup - yeah. No dice!

 

[PoohsFan1]

Our biggest surprise from last trip (May 2011) was lunch at Tusker House (did the Nemo Musical package). We have been many times for breakfast but never for lunch. We loved the food selection and the not so crazy atmosphere like when the characters are around. I know that Tusker House lunch is turning into a character meal starting in December, which I am guessing we will be dining there for dinner instead .

Our biggest disappointment was SoA. I know that there is a lot of negative reviews on the boards about it, but we wanted to try it anyways to see for ourselves, even our DDs who were 9 and 7 at the time where bored with it and didn't touch their food much. Our consensus....the DIS was right, not so great food and the entertainment was cheesy at best. The only part we did like about the show was the fire thrower. I wished they made the whole show staring him. At least we can check it off our to do list.

 

[HarborBlvd]

Here I am, post-Thanksgiving dinner, stuffed to the gills, and I'm poring over the restaurant boards. The dumb suffer.

My favorite dining experience was definitely Tutto Italia. I loved the food, the service was excellent, and the ambiance was nice. We had a 6pm ADR, so a relatively busy dinner time, but we were seated quickly, and well attended to throughout the entire meal. Everyone in our party of 4 adults enjoyed their meal.

I just asked DH what his best dining moment was at the World and his response was the turkey legs. Good to know he holds a high standard.

I can't recall any glaringly disappointing meals. We're pretty easy going about minor unexpected waits, peak-time delays in service, etc, so I don't think anything of that nature would really stand out to me as making my meal unpleasant.

I can tell you, after reading this thread though, I have a list of places I want to try on our next trip. And the one after that. Love all the great input!

 

[goofyintoronto]

Biggest Disappointment: Biergarten AND Le Cellier. After hearing rave reviews about Biergarten, i was incredibly disappointed in the food here. Particularly the meats. They didnt have the best selection overall. .....and Le Cellier wasnt that great either. Steak wasnt flavourful, and it was too fatty. The soup wasnt that great, ditto for the bread sticks. I've had a much better meal and service at my local steak house.

Biggest Surprise: WolfGang Puck Express (market place). OMG this place is fantastic! I really wasnt expecting it to be as good as it was. Im hooked!!