Which restaurants are on a par with the highend restaurants near you?

[crisi]

I agree I can get a better meal locally (and pay nearly as much for it), but I really don't do it that often. One of the nice things about Disney is that we NEED to eat out. At home, eating out becomes going to the old standbys where we eat the same things - often not as good as what we get at Disney, and dealing with kids.

Back when we were childless, eating out in the neighborhood was easy, we did it often, and eating at Disney provided no real treats. Now that we have children, its nice to have so many decent family friendly restuarants available on vacation.

Its also nice to have so much in such a close vacinity. I can go out for fantastic food here, but I may have to drive thirty or forty minutes to get to it.

 

[jbthi]

I guess here in Indiana we don't experience fine dining because I like DW restaurants. I like Le Cellier, Brown Derby, Flying Fish, Jikos and while I don't like buffets, I did enjoy Bomas. In fact I have found something I considered good (not fine dining) in every place, even counter service, except the Commissary (sp?) at MGM. To me that was inedible.

June

 

[peachgirl]

Originally posted by GladysK
Having grown up in the Food Capital of the USA(New Orleans) no restaurant at WDW comes close to food I've eaten my whole life.

The best at WDW are only "Pretty good" in comparison.

I spent a summer in a little town near New Orleans a year or so ago...

New Orleans and the surrounding area has to have some of the best food I've ever eaten in my life. NYC doesn't have anything on them...great food, wonderful people...even if I can't understand a thing they say!

As far as WDW food....we're pretty straight up when it comes to food so what some consider "upscale" don't appeal to us. It's a dream restaurant to me when I can find a place that can serve a great steak without playing with it until I can barely discern it's a steak anymore. Throw it on the grill, put a few grill marks on it for looks and put it on a plate....anything else and it's ruined.

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by peachgirl
It's a dream restaurant to me when I can find a place that can serve a great steak without playing with it until I can barely discern it's a steak anymore. Throw it on the grill, put a few grill marks on it for looks and put it on a plate....anything else and it's ruined.

Got to agree with you 100% on that one!

Anne

 

[Planogirl]

We have better restaurants in Dallas than anything Disney has to offer IMO. But there is good food in WDW, it's just not necessarily on a par with some of the very finest elsewhere.

I would however eat at Akershus if we had a local version. But only because we don't have anything similar in our area.

As for New Orleans, I agree that this city has outstanding food. I wish that we had some of the great New Orleans restaurants here!

Now back to your regular scheduled bickering...

 

[Jen D]

JenD--if you want to come across the river to jersey i can suggest a few really good authentic Mexican places--San Angel will appear to be dog food after eating at the places I like

Sounds good Anne. When I first moved here about 8 years ago from Dallas the state of Mexican food in NYC was truly pitiful-- it was mostly made by California transplants that specialized in Cal-Mex, in which the main feature seems to be burritos as big as your head.

But in the last few years, there has been a large influx of Mexican immigrants into NYC-- the dominant Latino communities here have always been Puerto Rican, Dominican and others, but not so much Mexican-- but that has been changing, and not a moment too soon for me, because now there are some fabulous little Mexican places clustered up in Morningside Heights. Yum. Generally they are inexpensive, though, not upscale.

But back on topic. I don't think any of us meant to ruffle any feathers when we declared the supremacy of our local offerings. I think generally WDW does a pretty good job with their full service restaurants, especially considering the volume they do and the fact that the whole thing is run by a behemoth corporation. I think it is hard for a World Showcase restaurant like Nine Dragons, San Angel Inn or Marrakesh to compete with a well-run independently own restaurant run by immigrants of those countries. Just my opinion.

If I were going on a foodie vacation, I'd pick New Orleans too. MMmmmmm.

 

[Tea Please]

Generaly speaking I am not too impressed with the restaurants at WDW, although I do have my favorites. Citricos and CG being the top two.

I will also agree the restaurants in and around my immediate area are way above even the best of WDW.

 

[WebmasterPete]

I'm going to ask certain folks here to calm down and knock it off. There is no need for the childish back and forth. If you can't respond appropriately to the original posters question (which is a very good one, IMHO), then step back and don't post anything else to this thread please.

Pete

 

[*123JOANNA123*]

Thanks for all the replies- I didn't mean to start a debate- oops

Seriously though, some of the posters brought up the point that they wouldn't eat at the restaurants if they were nearby, whereas they're their favourites at WDW. That's something that I was thinking about when I started this thread. I love Citrico's and the BD, but I wonder am I looking at them with my rose colored Disney goggles on KWIM?

On reflection, I think I'd be eating at Citrico's if it were near me, and probably occasionally at the BD. Like another poster mentioned, I would love the upscale feel of the restaurants coupled with their child-friendly nature (speaking as someone who comes from a place where you're a social pariah if you take your kids out to eat).

It was interesting to note how many find the WDW food comparable to regular restaurants- 20 years ago it was pretty difficult to eat well at WDW. We returned last year after a very long absence and when I suggested we go to certain places for a nice meal, both my mother and brother remarked 'you don't go to WDW to eat fine food'.

Well when we got there, we were very pleasantly surprised (especially my very cynical mother). In the olden days it was those horrible processed curly fries with everything, chlorinated coke, chemical tasting hotdogs and mass produced buffet food. Great to see things have really changed for the better.

Thanks again for all the input

Joanna