What's so great (or not!) about Hollywood & Vine?

[4boysmom]

Convince me that this is a wonderful place to eat ... or not! I have ADRs here but I'm not sure why I did that. I can't see anything that makes this place stick out. Is the food really good?

 

[eeyore45]

It is a hard choice for me. We want to do the Fantasmic Dining Plan... and the limited choices for our family made it an easy choice - - we did H&V because my mom loves Buffets... She is able to serve herself, and get seconds as soon as she is ready!! She loves shrimp and prime rib - buffets win out!!!

The negative? Its a buffet!! So everyone pays to eat regardless of what they eat - and its a buffet, so its all prepared food...

Now dd is not much of an eater, but will take a bite here and there... and the dessert topping ice cream bar was just what she was looking for!! (and let me say the other dessert offerings paled in comparison, I took one of each, and some of those things were not calorie worthy!!)

Mama Melrose is Italian, and it just is hard for me to pay so very much for so very little - a plate full of pasta cost so little... but thats just me... it is tempting to do a different sit down menu...

hth

(and welcome to the Dis!! )

 

[beattyfamily]

I've eaten there a few times but only for the Fantasmic package. It's fine if I want it for that purpose. It's like almost any other buffet at WDW.

But if I wasn't doing Fantasmic, there would be no reason for me to eat there. I'd much rather try a better themed restaurant like 50's Prime time, Sci-fi, MM, Brown Derby or many other restaurants in other parks or resorts.

 

[Bibbidi]

We ate there on the Fantasmic dinner package last September because it was the least expensive restaurant on that package. We had read several good reviews beforehand which is why we decided to give it a try. However, to me at least, it felt like a diner-themed restaurant but in a huge cafeteria type setting. The food was OK at best and we found the theming of the restaurant to be nothing special. Sometimes my effort at saving a buck ruins the experience. It was a buffet and there were several options, but the meats seemed dried out and the lo mein noodles lacked flavor. There were a couple fresh salads, like a buffalo mozzarella with basil and tomato that were good. Put it this way, I would not have eaten there if I weren't trying to get the Fantasmic special seating in the cheapest way possible. Turns out we didn't even need special seating because we were there the third week in September and crowds were low. I don't think we'll bother doing the Fantasmic dinner package again anway, but if we did I would choose the more expensive dining options (and hope for a better meal). That was just our experience.

 

[mom2rb]

Bibbidi, you and I had the same experience. We have seen Fantasmic twice now with out the dinner package and have never had a problem getting good seats.

 

[Disney MAINEiac]

We ate there and liked it, everyone found something they liked and the food was quite good. Now that being said buffets can be hit or miss. we tried the buffet at Germany in EPCOT in july of 2005 and loved it, just went back in February '06 and it was aweful! (maybe they had a chef change?)

 

[nicolemarie]

If you are going for the Fantasmic ticket - good plan.
If you are going for buffet b/c you have varying tastes in your party - good plan.
If you are going for any reason other than the above - not such a good plan.

I found this restaurant to be so unimpressive that I devoted a whole paragraph of my trip report to a description of it. But suffice it to say, we probably will not return unless it's for the dinner package. It isn't awful, it just isn't worth the money, in my opinion. Good Luck!

 

[Kitka]

It was the worst dinner of our trip (4/23-4/29/06). I wish I would have stuck with Mama Melrose, but we switched last minute because I didn't know if my husband would like that since he's not a huge Italian fan.

Food selection sucked, desserts were boring, service sucked, atmosphere sucked. Definitely not worth wasting credits or money on.

 

[4boysmom]

Whew! Thanks, everyone, for your input which was mostly quite negative. I now need to get on the phone & change ADRs! We're not going for Fantasmic. I can't even remember why I chose H&V!