What's so bad about Tony's

WDisneyWLove

Mouseketeer
Joined
May 8, 2015
Messages
144
I've eaten there a couple times and have never had horrible food. I keep seeing postings on here bashing the place though. Am I missing something or did I just get lucky the few times I've eaten there? One time we did have kind of slow service but the food was still pretty good. I'd even go as far as to say we even like it better lately than Coral Reef.
 
I'm glad to see something positive about it! We've never tried it because of the negative reviews.
 

It's just very poorly done Italian food. It's on par if not below Olive Garden which is not good at all either. I think it depends for some on whether they've been exposed to traditional Italian home cooking/dishes. It is one of three restaurants at Disney that I will not go to. The others are Coral Reef and Whispering Canyon.
 
It always seems so busy in there...I guess that's why I'm so confused by the hatred for it.
 
We've eaten there several times and have no complaints. For sure, it's not gourmet Italian food. If you are familiar with the fast-food Italian chain Fazoli's, I would say it's similar. Still better than a lot of the other options in the park, and it's always been super fast for us.
 
I think what bothers me the most is that it's a BEAUTIFUL restaurant in the best location in MK and they just can't be bothered to elevate the food. I haven't eaten there in like, a decade, so I have no idea what the food is like. But based on how bad the reviews are, I would venture to say they're not using the real estate to it's fullest potential.
 
we eat there almost every trip. as someone else mentioned its not fine dining, but I have always had a decent meal there. they did change their menu between my 2014 and 2015 trips though so I was not a huge fan of the change and my pass on it next time around
 
I'd even go as far as to say we even like it better lately than Coral Reef.

Talk about damning with faint praise. Coral Reef is the only place we like less than Tony's. Tony's serves the poorest quality food of all of the WDW Italian restaurants. It's entrees taste like they were frozen and reheated in a microwave. Way below even Olive Garden , IMO.

It always seems so busy in there...I guess that's why I'm so confused by the hatred for it.

Two reasons I can think of.
1. It's the easiest place in MK to get an ADR
2. Most visitors to WDW don't haunt the Dis or spend a lot of time reading dining reviews.

In other words, they don't know any better, or they just don't care. I would love to see a poll to find out how many diners at Tony's are repeat customers.
 
We've eaten there several times on our last trips over to Magic after a layoff due to all the bad "reviews". The past two or three meals there were just fine. Nothing to complain about at all.

If you go in there expecting a gourmet Italian meal, then that's on you. We do not do this.

Is it the best Italian meal I've ever eaten? Of course not. Is it the worst? Hardly. I've had far worse paying far more. Honestly ... I'd put it on par or maybe a little below depending on how you feel with an Olive Garden.

If everyone let bad reviews sway their visits to [insert place here] no one would ever go anywhere.
 
The prices and reviews both get me. I don't mind trying a place with bad reviews but $20 for a lunch salad is even outrageous for disney. Especially when I can go to Liberty Tree and get one for $14 or even a full turkey meal for $19.
 
been there twice.. not the worst but there are SOOO Many better options.. Will only go there if were in a pinch..
 
I enjoyed our meal at Tony's. It's nothing to rave about and it's pretty dumbed down Italian food, so you're not going to find anything over the top flavour wise. But for main stream, family style type Italian, we liked it.
 
I would not say it was horrible but the food was not as good as other places. I can't explain the long lines there either. We tried it twice and both times the place was packed and SRO in the lobby area to wait to get called. I would have to guess since it is in MK that was why it is such a draw. I would not go back to this place since there are fair better options around MK.
 
I work in advertising. Part of working in advertising is learning that people's opinions are subjective. I jus wrapped up a portfolio review the other day and was thrown more conflicting opinions than I could count. I remember 2 people telling me that one campaign I had should be ditched, while the last review I went on raved about it. The point I'm trying to make is that restaurants and food, like the arts, are subjective. I won't post my whole spiel about NYers and pizza, etc.

Being from NY, we're food snobs. We have an Italian place that we LOVE. We've never had Via Napoli, but the closest we've come to NY Italian food was Il Mulino. Tutto Italia wasn't bad, but nothing special and Trattoria Al Forno was decent, but the service was atrocious.

Tony's was insultingly bad. We ordered an al diavlo (spicy marinara) dish and it was literally canned tomato sauce with a ton of that dried hot pepper you'd sprinkle on pizza. We rarely find problems with food places. Even the okay Disney spots are good in our books... but we didn't even finish. I think we paid the check, left and went to a QS.

What hurts the most is that there was a time that Tony's had a GREAT breakfast. It was the spot to be mornings at Magic Kingdom!
 
I have been to Tony's twice. The first time was mediocre at best. The second time we were seated near the back and against a wall. I couldn't eat the food because it was so dirty. The floor looked as though they never swept in the corners, old food sitting on the floor. The worst was how dirty the walls were. Food splatter paint and even the pictures hung on the wall were yellowed and dusty. I couldn't eat. They need to shut Tony's down for a long refurbishment. It has such a good location, why should it be this bad?
 
We went to Tony's twice several years ago. Being from Boston we are admittedly snobby with our Italian food. It wasn't bad. It also wasn't good. For what you pay for any TS meal in WDW, I want yummy and memorable, not bland and mediocre.
 


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