What's so bad about Tony's

[Huff]

1)
3) Look how many people still buy DDP, when it has been shown to not be such a good financial deal for the guest.

DDP has been shown to not be a good deal for SOME people, not all. There is no one size fits all. For us and what we enjoy it saves us money. Especially when its free and no other discount for where we stay and our party size and type comes close.

 

[Mazz519]

The food... keep trying every 5 years or so...havent had a good meal yet

 

[buzzrelly]

I can't even read through the whole thread because I have read it all before and I just don't understand the hate for Tony's. We eat there every trip and have always enjoyed it. Just wanted to come show my support since it gets so little

 

[LilyWDW]

Because it's just NOT good food. From my own experience and from those I PERSONALLY know (aka people I have helped plan trips or who are friends of mine), I have yet to hear a positive review. It is below Olive Garden in quality. The tomato sauce tastes like it was canned and unseasoned. Often the food was not heated/cooled correctly (one part would be hot like the sauce while the pasta was cool/cold for example). The service is hit or miss. These are things I hear about again and again to the point I refuse to suggest this eatery when giving out advice.

What it has going for it is simply location and theme.

The DIS review

Review starts at about 50 minutes.

 

[Disney Mom 7272]

We have eaten there several times and have never had a bad meal there. We actually enjoy it. I try to always give the restaurants a chance even if they get bad reviews. Everyone has different experiences.

 

[OLIVIA'S DADDY]

Aside from the red sauce, we had a good meal. And we sat outside on the porch and it was nice watching everything going on around us. Best salad dressing I've ever had too!

 

[goofy4prez]

I love when people say, "I don't understand the hate for such and such," Or "I don't understand how someone can love such and such." Listen, it's called opinions, and like belly buttons we all have one. My opinion, I can't stand Tony's just like I can't stand Olive Garden, just my opinion. I can't stand Chevy's, I can't stand any sports team in NY, or New England, or Boston, or Pittsburgh, LOL... I think sometimes we get our panties or boxers in a bunch because someone doesn't agree with our point of view or dislike what we like.

 

[HopperFan]

The food... keep trying every 5 years or so...havent had a good meal yet

What did Einstein say?

 

[KnittingMom]

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.

The setting of Tony's is ideal -- and if you stick to spaghetti and salad, it's perfectly okay. My complaint about Tony's is that it works so badly with the DDP b/c a Tony's entrée never has a vegetable, so you entire entrée credit is gone on that plate of spaghetti and its "side" of bread. We eat vegetables, fruit, or salad at every lunch and dinner -- and Tony's costs us an extra 40-50 dollars on top of the dining plan to do that. If they changed the menu to "all entrees served with a house or Caesar salad" we would come back. I enjoy watching the parade from Tony's.

 

[KnittingMom]

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?

I completely agree -- now that BOG has so many dining spots, it is time to close Tony's and do a top to bottom refurb and bring in a real Italian chef. People always ask on these boards, "Can you see the parade or the fireworks from X?" Well, Tony's could become a parade and fireworks viewing destination for everyone who had eaten there that day -- it would become the new hot ticket in the MK if someone made up their mind to rethink it. It needs to be re-imagined by a clever Imagineer.

 

[KnittingMom]

I love when people say, "I don't understand the hate for such and such," Or "I don't understand how someone can love such and such." Listen, it's called opinions, and like belly buttons we all have one. My opinion, I can't stand Tony's just like I can't stand Olive Garden, just my opinion. I can't stand Chevy's, I can't stand any sports team in NY, or New England, or Boston, or Pittsburgh, LOL... I think sometimes we get our panties or boxers in a bunch because someone doesn't agree with our point of view or dislike what we like.

Go Sox! -- Just teasing.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

We are at Tony's at Christmas expecting to eat Lady or Tramps dog food. We both really enjoyed it and would eat there again.

 

[KnittingMom]

I'm not saying that it is the best meal at MK....I would chose Liberty Tree or Be Our Guest over Tony's If I had to choose. But many times, we are there for 8 nights and love MK and will often choose Tony's for the 3rd MK night. We love the theme and we love to sit outside on porch and food is pretty good too. Bigger portions too. Just a side note, I've heard the Tony's and Mama Melrose at HS has same food...but I must say, we like Mama Melrose better.. It is a must do for us...so not sure if it is the same food or not.. Does anyone else know???

Mama Melrose definitely has a deeper menu with more choices. If you do Mama Melrose on the DDP, you should definitely do the Fantasmic package instead of regular dining, even if you have no plans to see Fantasmic that night. For the same dining plan credit, you get appetizers, salad, an entrée and a tray of desserts. Without the Fantasmic package, no appetizers and no salads unless you pay out of pocket for them.

 

[KnittingMom]

We (tragically) had to eat there the last night of our honeymoon after Jiko was closed down unexpectedly. Food was awful. Service was awful. We had a reservation made for us last minute after Jiko closed, and it was the longest we had to wait for a table out of the 8 days we'd been in Disney. I think our waitress was the only one we'd had all week who didn't congratulate us on our honeymoon. Disney has to do something about it, it's a waste of space.

The adverb "tragically" doesn't mean exactly what you think it means.

 

[KnittingMom]

Tony's Town Square December 23, 2015 --- My family's opinion...

We checked in for our 11:20am lunch at Tony's Town Square at 11:08am.

We were called to be seated shortly after.

Our table was in the main dining room along the far wall. We were about two tables away from the glass walled room (where we've always sat before).

Our waitress was Kelly and she was from the Midwest like us. Said she came down for a little while and stayed! I am hoping to be able to say that some day! Kelly took our drink orders (Sprite for Cary, Apple Juice for Skyler, Root beer for me, and coke for Tyler). And brought bread and dipping oil. The kids don't like the dipping oil and prefer butter but the bread itself they enjoyed.

The place was slowly filling up but was still on the quiet side. I know Tony's gets a bad rap around here, but we have always loved it and have never had a bad meal.

For appetizers I had Zucchini Fries ... breaded seasoned zucchini with creamy sun-dried tomato dressing for dipping.

These are really good. Crispy on the outside, hot and moist on the inside. The dipping sauce is really good and compliments the zucchini.

Skyler had the Caesar Salad - Romaine lettuce tossed in Caesar Dressing topped with Romano and Crostini.

She loved this salad and ate the whole thing.

Tyler ordered the Calamari ... served with Olive Relish and a side of Marinara sauce.

We have always loved the calamari here. Yes, even my picky kids eat calamari! We do only like the rings though none of the suction cups (as the kids call them).

And Cary had the Pasta Fagaoli ... traditional meatless Italian soup with pasta and beans.

He really enjoyed his soup. I tried it too and it was really good.

as my entrée I ordered Cannelloni - filled with a mixture of ground beef and sausage, mozzarella, and ricotta served with marinara and creme sauce.

Which surprised me because I ALWAYS get the Shrimp Scampi. I must have really been in a "try new things" kind of a mood. The Cannelloni was really good and I was glad I got it. If there was one thing I would change though it would be less meat inside and a bit more cheese instead. But like I said, it was really good. I ate most of it but I did end up leaving some...it was huge!

Tyler got his usual...

Chicken Parmigiana ... Lightly Breaded Chicken Breast with Marinara sauce topped with Melted Mozzarella over Spaghetti. He loves this here and practically licks the plate clean!

Cary ordered the Spaghetti - with Meatballs and Marinara sauce .

He really enjoyed it. He finished most of it.

Skyler ordered the Margherita Pizza - with pizza sauce and fresh mozzarella garnished with fresh basil; add pepperoni or sausage with pepperoni. It was perfect. She allowed Cary and Tyler to each have a piece and they agreed!

As our desserts we got a couple of things which we actually ate there!

Skyler got the Tony's Cheesecake. I believe it was pumpkin spice flavored.

It was ok. I think it was more the flavor we just didn't prefer but we did like it and it got eaten!

Tyler and I got gelato ... Italian style ice cream chocolate or vanilla (Tyler Vanilla and me chocolate).

What could go wrong with gelato?!?!?!

And Cary got the Pistachio Crème Brulee.

It was hit first time eating crème brulee, I had explained what it was but until it arrived, he didn't get it. But now he does and he loved it. The chocolate biscoti was great too!

Kelly kept our drinks full and was very nice, talking to us about her family and such, without being annoying. It does get a bit loud in there when it's busy but we are ok with that for this venue.

By the time we were finishing up, the place was packed. We had another successful meal at a place most people around here would tell you is worse that a frozen dinner. We love Tony's and I expect we will be back! By 12:04pm we were paying our check.

TOTAL = $157.77 ... TOTAL FOOD = $2522.59
USED 4CREDITS ... USED 59 MEAL CREDITS

It's really just what you make of it. Is it gourmet...nope. But all this "it's dirty", "it's crowded", "it's bad food"...maybe on THAT day it was dirty...maybe on THAT day it was crowded...maybe on THAT day you chose the wrong food. or maybe, we like Olive Garden. We can't all be gourmet diners and we don't all expect that every time we go out. We have NEVER had to wait to be seated, in fact we have always been seated before our ADR time and we are usually out in about an hour. Bad taste on our part, maybe...but we happen to adore a lot of the places other people rave about too so we can't be that far off.

And actually, we don't care for Liberty Tree, it is at the bottom of my list for when we have a deluxe dining plan and need a filler. Be Our Guest (I haven't gotten to that in my review yet) is good but the cost and fanfare for it is unjustified. Cinderella's is good but not comparatively for the price (not there yet in my review) and we had a rude waiter there this past visit. We also like Coral Reef.

I think everyone needs to go to a venue at least once and decide for themselves. If Olive Garden is that bad, how come I always have to wait to get a table???

I'm so glad you had a good meal there -- and the crème brulee looked great!

 

[KnittingMom]

Is Tony's like spaghettio's? Or chef boyardee? Trying to imagine it. When I google pictures, the food doesn't look bad. The consistently bad reviews are scary though.

Don't be afraid to try it for yourself!

 

[Eastern]

Don't be afraid to try it for yourself!

Still not ready.

 

[burnsy1972]

You should watch petes reviewon dis unplugged, doesnt rate tonys at all

 

[Hisgirl]

I ate there once in Jan. 2014. I had a lovely bowl of butternut squash soup, which was enjoyable and a child's portion of spaghetti with some bread. Everything was simple and quite frankly, I enjoyed it. And I don't like to eat at chain food eateries and typically spend $35+ for an entree. I had no issues with the food and would try it again. I thoroughly enjoyed the theming and seeing all of the Lady and Tramp references brought back memories.

 

[Huff]

Because it's just NOT good food. From my own experience and from those I PERSONALLY know (aka people I have helped plan trips or who are friends of mine), I have yet to hear a positive review.

From my own experience and the people I know I have yet to hear a single bad review. Every restaurant is subject to ones own taste and appeal. As I've said, I do not understand the high reviews for restaurants serving what I consider bland foods. A lot of people from the mid west for instance swear by staple meat, potatoes and bread for dinner. Spices mean it has salt and pepper. Those type of places seem to get the 8+/10 reviews where I would rank them 5-7 tops.