Which Disney restaurant has the best food?

[BabybetterDisney]

I know that everybody will think differently about this, but I want to get people's opinion to see if there is one restaurant that is particularly outstanding. I'm only referring to the food, not the ambience or service or cleanliness or characters. Here is our experience:

The best restaurant in terms of food: the California Grill. Most everything we ordered (the steaks, the sushi, the pizza) were all out of the world. The seafood pasta wasn't edible, though, but we were willing to overlook it because the rest of the stuff were so amazing. It is without doubt the best restaurant I've ever been to.

Our family's opinion of other restaurants that we've been to:

Jikos: average, even though it's as expensive as the California Grill so we are not going back. It wasn't near as busy and we had no problem making same day reservations, so maybe that should have been a clue to us. Compared that to the California Grill. I wanted to go again but couldn't find another reservation any day during out trip at any time slot to save my life.
Cape May: average; will go back.

Restaurant inside Mexico: not one bite edible. (Also incredibly dark and crowded. My son dropped his fork and the guy at the next table turned on his cell and helped my son find it, without leaning out of his chair!)
Liberties Inn in MK: not one bite edible.
Crystal Palace: the only thing edible there was the broccoli. (Restaurant very beautiful outside, super plain inside.)
Shutters at CBR: not one bite edible.
Restaurant in France: edible. That's all.
Restaurant in Germany: edible, but too much music. I wish they would block up half the space so that people can choose a quiet room if they wished.
Mama Rosa at HS: edible.
Kona Cafe at Poly: pretty good, may go back.

Most of the time, we eat at quick service places. We have loved the cat fish at the Fish and Chips place in Epcot for years, but this year they changed it to tilapia and we don't like it near as much. The rest of the quick service places we mostly find it edible, no better but no worse than the sit down restaurants except much cheaper and don't have to wait near as long.

We rather enjoyed the cell phone order option this year, which eliminated the standing in line for food completely.

So, what is your experience? Do you have a restaurant in WDW that serves much better food than the others, to your taste?

 

[RealBlast3]

Well, if you just want a simple, no frills answer for the #1 restaurant in Disney World, and indeed, all of Florida, that's easy enough, the answer is Victoria and Albert's.

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

Well, if you just want a simple, no frills answer for the #1 restaurant in Disney World, and indeed, all of Florida, that's easy enough, the answer is Victoria and Albert's.

Agree without a doubt.

 

[CinderellaDream]

Well, if you just want a simple, no frills answer for the #1 restaurant in Disney World, and indeed, all of Florida, that's easy enough, the answer is Victoria and Albert's.

Another vote for Victoria and Albert's! We also enjoy California Grill as a second best option that we frequent more often due to a lower price point. V&A is for special occasions but is worth every penny!

 

[KSR0330]

Liberties Inn in MK: not one bite edible.

Wow! Liberty Tree Tavern is one of our must-do restaurants for every trip. We love it!

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

I know that everybody will think differently about this, but I want to get people's opinion to see if there is one restaurant that is particularly outstanding. I'm only referring to the food, not the ambience or service or cleanliness or characters. Here is our experience:

The best restaurant in terms of food: the California Grill. Most everything we ordered (the steaks, the sushi, the pizza) were all out of the world. The seafood pasta wasn't edible, though, but we were willing to overlook it because the rest of the stuff were so amazing. It is without doubt the best restaurant I've ever been to.

Our family's opinion of other restaurants that we've been to:

Jikos: average, even though it's as expensive as the California Grill so we are not going back. It wasn't near as busy and we had no problem making same day reservations, so maybe that should have been a clue to us. Compared that to the California Grill. I wanted to go again but couldn't find another reservation any day during out trip at any time slot to save my life.
Cape May: average; will go back.

Restaurant inside Mexico: not one bite edible. (Also incredibly dark and crowded. My son dropped his fork and the guy at the next table turned on his cell and helped my son find it, without leaning out of his chair!)
Liberties Inn in MK: not one bite edible.
Crystal Palace: the only thing edible there was the broccoli. (Restaurant very beautiful outside, super plain inside.)
Shutters at CBR: not one bite edible.
Restaurant in France: edible. That's all.
Restaurant in Germany: edible, but too much music. I wish they would block up half the space so that people can choose a quiet room if they wished.
Mama Rosa at HS: edible.
Kona Cafe at Poly: pretty good, may go back.

Most of the time, we eat at quick service places. We have loved the cat fish at the Fish and Chips place in Epcot for years, but this year they changed it to tilapia and we don't like it near as much. The rest of the quick service places we mostly find it edible, no better but no worse than the sit down restaurants except much cheaper and don't have to wait near as long.

We rather enjoyed the cell phone order option this year, which eliminated the standing in line for food completely.

So, what is your experience? Do you have a restaurant in WDW that serves much better food than the others, to your taste?

This kind of hyperbole is really unnecessary. If you really thought it inedible, did you speak to the manager, and leave and find EDIBLE food somewhere? Did you pay to dine 5 times on inedible food? Did your server notice you were not eating anything and try to offer an alternative. I don't believe the oft-quoted INEDIBLE. After you left and your stomachs were rubbing on your backbones from hunger, where did you find edible food? Or did you just go without eating 4 of the 5 times you mentioned?

 

[Huff]

Jikos: average, even though it's as expensive as the California Grill so we are not going back.
Restaurant inside Mexico: not one bite edible.
Shutters at CBR: not one bite edible.
Kona Cafe at Poly: pretty good, may go back.

Agree with Jiko. It was good but not great. Didn't wow me for a signature.

Disagree with San Angel. It is one of our must do's. Most that do not care for it were expecting Mexican food similar to what they get at home or typical Tex-Mex and other Sonoran style food such as tacos, burritos, chimichangas etc. Not much of that there! We find it close to the style of central and southern MX and love it!!

Agree about Shutters but it has closed. Heard the new Sebastian's Bistro is very good but have not tried it.

Agree with Kona. One of our favorites and not really talked about much.

I haven't found any of the Disney restaurants to be outstanding. They cater to massive tourist crowds.
The signatures are all good but way over priced for what you get.

For the #1 for ambiance is San Angel. It is dark but we like that! Tables are close together but that can be said about the majority of Disney restaurants.

For the #1 food wise for non signature I'd have to say Kona or The Wave. For upscale I'd say Shula's.

 

[Huff]

Wow! Liberty Tree Tavern is one of our must-do restaurants for every trip. We love it!

LTT is very popular but not my style of food. I find the menu very basic and bland. I'm from the southwest where typical midwest style staple foods don't go over very well!

 

[chris benton]

So, what is your experience? Do you have a restaurant in WDW that serves much better food than the others, to your taste?

Well, I absolutely LOVE your bluntness, though I do take it with a wee bit of a sense of sarcasm mixed with hyperbole - and I love it. I'm kinda the same way (if that's how you roll.) I'll add:

For my tastes, the Pecos Bill fajita platter was a complete disaster of oversalted garbage. For me, the meat was, in fact, inedible. I threw it away and laughed at it. The Fixin's Bar had "free guacamole" which was priced accordingly. It was green, but trust me, it was not guacamole, unless the fda has not set requirements for that label yet. The Free Guac train is over - you gotta pay now.

OTOH, for my tastes:
Flame Tree is outstanding for Theme Park BBQ.
Kimonos over at The Swan is outstanding for Disney World Sushi
Ample Hills at The Boardwalk is outstanding for Ice Cream you can find on prop.

Going back in a few weeks, and trying to find new spots, but...You gotta remember, it's DW, and the food quality is haphazard at best. Finding value and quality in the same place is tough-ish, since everyone can like different stuff.

I'm kinda researching by youtube this go round - Dis Unplugged and DFB are decent vloggers. The guys at Dis Unplugged also rated the darkly lit Mexican place at Epcot pretty much garbage. They commented on a lot of the food tasting like it was made in a test kitchen in Nebraska and then shipped in. Especially the mole. They were very descriptive about the chefs there not being familiar with upscale Mexican foods.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

I'm curious about your definition of "inedible" since it seems like you have that experience a lot.

In regard to open ADRs at Cali Grill vs Jiko, I'd say that has a lot to do with the fireworks viewing at CG and less to do with the food itself.

 

[jsbowl16]

In my opinion, everything at The Swan and Dolphin is very good. We have had our best meals at that resort but we have never been to V and As so cant compare to them. We have been to every other signature restaurant at Disney and the quality of food at Swan and Dolphin are on another level from Cal Grill, Yachtsman, Flying Fish, Jiko, etc.

 

[RealBlast3]

I have never eaten any "inedible" food at Disney, but I get that we do enjoy being hyperbolic about food we hate. I would like to say that the food at Tony's Town Square was "inedible" but that technically would not be true since I still ate it. But I'm a dude and I'll eat just about anything because I love to eat and I also hate wasting food and wasting my money. Though actually, the burger I got at Backlot Express in Hollywood studios almost deserves that description, dry hockey puck that it was, but I still ate it and survived , so I guess it was edible as well.

 

[Huff]

I'm kinda researching by youtube this go round - Dis Unplugged and DFB are decent vloggers. The guys at Dis Unplugged also rated the darkly lit Mexican place at Epcot pretty much garbage. They commented on a lot of the food tasting like it was made in a test kitchen in Nebraska and then shipped in. Especially the mole. They were very descriptive about the chefs there not being familiar with upscale Mexican foods.

If you scan the internet you will find scores of bad reviews for every single Disney restaurant. They cater to masses from all over the world and thus peoples tastes vary widely. I read some of the so called 'expert' reviews on San Angel and had to laugh. What they considered great Mexican food was for the most part the typical Americanized versions and Tex-Mex or New Mexico Hatch Valley style. I don't think most of these experts have actually traveled deep into Mexico but rather expected the more familiar northern Sonoran style. For us, San Angel has always been excellent.

 

[sanapp]

I agree I have never had inedible food at Disney World. Well maybe once at Sci Fi, but that was just due to how under cooked my meal was. Then again I couldn't see well enough to really see the food. Sci fi isn't really a place I enjoy anyhow, so that one is just off my list!
I personally think most of the QS are close to inedible, but just as a rule I don't like fast food type of food.
I thought that the food was pretty inedible at Chef Mickeys and overall just hated the entire meal, but it was pretty much cafeteria slop and not what I want on vacation.

I have had wonderful meals at Jiko, Narcoosees and California Grill(don't really like this one, but not due to the food).

I have yet to have the enjoyment of V&A's as I have always traveled with a child, but some day I will get there.

 

[Jennasis]

Inedible or Not one bite edible. Hyperbole or reality? Because that's some harsh criticism. If I had that actual experience at as many restaurants as you have at Disney I'd probably stop going to Disney restaurants.

The only inedible meal I've ever had on property in close to 40 trips was a burnt steak at Sci Fi. Truly inedible. The waiter was mortified and offered to replace it with something else but I just had it taken off the bill. It was charred into a hockey puck. Not sure how it made its way out of the kitch n.

 

[goofyintoronto]

Inedible or Not one bite edible. Hyperbole or reality? Because that's some harsh criticism. If I had that actual experience at as many restaurants as you have at Disney I'd probably stop going to Disney restaurants.

The only inedible meal I've ever had on property in close to 40 trips was a burnt steak at Sci Fi. Truly inedible. The waiter was mortified and offered to replace it with something else but I just had it taken off the bill. It was charred into a hockey puck. Not sure how it made its way out of the kitch n.

That's pretty bad. The server shouldn't have brought a steak like that to your table.

The only truly inedible meal i've had in disney was Tony's. The meatballs, couldnt swallow it, it was that bad. The marinara sauce...definitely inedible. All of it. Gross.

 

[chris benton]

If you scan the internet you will find scores of bad reviews for every single Disney restaurant. They cater to masses from all over the world and thus peoples tastes vary widely. I read some of the so called 'expert' reviews on San Angel and had to laugh. What they considered great Mexican food was for the most part the typical Americanized versions and Tex-Mex or New Mexico Hatch Valley style. I don't think most of these experts have actually traveled deep into Mexico but rather expected the more familiar northern Sonoran style. For us, San Angel has always been excellent.

Actually, Huff, you've made an excellent point here. The way one of the Dis Unplugged guys was talking about moles needing to have a great depth of flavor, and all of the ingredients, and traditions, made me think he knew what he was talking about. I'm kinda spoiled by living in an area with an abundance of Mexican food from many regions, and many price ranges, so I just assumed he kinda knew what he was talking about when he started waxing.

 

[Huff]

Actually, Huff, you've made an excellent point here. The way one of the Dis Unplugged guys was talking about moles needing to have a great depth of flavor, and all of the ingredients, and traditions, made me think he knew what he was talking about. I'm kinda spoiled by living in an area with an abundance of Mexican food from many regions, and many price ranges, so I just assumed he kinda knew what he was talking about when he started waxing.

I live in Arizona and have traveled to Mexico many times as well as having some family members from MX who cook awesome dishes. Numerous very good Mexican restaurants here but most are Sonoran style which is what most people think of when they go to a Mexican restaurant in the USA. I love good Sonoran or Tex-Mex but also love traditional styles found in central and southern MX. I find San Angel is close to the latter. It has been a couple years since I've been there. No idea if their menu or quality has changed.

 

[Shanti]

Yachtsman Steakhouse

 

[DeanDoug]

Given your penchant for describing food as "inedible," it's challenging to offer an opinion that might meet your expectations. I've eaten at nearly 100 restaurants at WDW. I'm a cook and a foodie. I can't recall one meal that I would call "inedible." Some of my least favorite/memorable meals at Disney? Tony's was pretty bad, probably the worst I have had at WDW, but I hear that the new chef is great (and while I don't remember what I had, I'm sure I ate at least some of it). San Angel Inn- VERY underwhelming, but love the atmosphere. Coral Reef, love it and often a go-to, but sometimes underwhelming.

I like Garden Grill, but it isn't my fave. We have enjoyed Jiko, but our family favorite is Boma. I've also had very good meals at the Grand Floridian Cafe, Citricos, and the Turf Club in SSR.

In my experience, my worst meals have been at quick service places... Tomorrowland Terrace comes to mind. Yet we also really enjoy Pecos Bill's (it's really pretty good!) and Flame Tree BBQ is our FAVE!

It's surely all subjective. As long as we enjoy the magic in our own way, that's what counts!