Whispering Canyon Cafe vs. Sci-Fi Diner

[Saraheg2107]

Food is so subjective I think it really is something you have to try for yourself. Personally, we ate at WCC in October and loved it -and I can be a pretty picky eater. We have a reservation there next weekend. I also love the Wilderness Lodge, I think it is a beautiful resort.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Definitely Sci-Fi! I say that especially since you're going for lunch (dinners there are hit or miss). I have eaten at WCC 3 times and didn't have good food (it was ok food, the skillet was bland and greasy) or service (just very slow) any of the times (I always get a Shoney's/Cracker Barrel feel here too). We eat at Sci-Fi every trip and it has such great themeing inside and the food's pretty good!

 

[irunnoft]

I would pick Whispering Canyon Cafe over the Sci-Fi any day of the week. The last time I ate at SF, it was disgusting. I had the worst Reuben sandwich I've ever had. I've heard the burgers are good there, but, in all fairness, I've never had one there. I wouldn't want to go to a restaurant where the advice I'd received was "just stick with the burgers and you'll be OK." The ambiance is cool at the Sci-Fi, but for the disgusting food, it's not even close to worth it. The spinach/artichoke dip we had there was nothing special. The meal was either reviewed by my family as nothing memorable to disgusting.

On the other hand, we've eaten at WCC several times and it has been consistently good always. We've eaten mostly lunch there, but have eaten dinner there once, too. I've had several things from that menu that were very good including: the canyon skillet, trout, and buffalo burgers. My personal favorite is the skillet. I've never had the overly greasy food that some complained about. Ribs, chicken and the like are always going to be greasy, to a certain extent. However, I would say the quality of their food is very good. I'd say the ribs are very good here! The cornbread and other items served with the skillet have also been great! For the finale, I highly recommend the apple pie served with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. I'd go there just for that!

Hope that helps!

 

[pozey]

Whispering Canyon is number 1 on my family's list of favorite Disney World restaurants.

We have had a fantastic time each and every time we've been. It's a must do for us.

We had lunch at Sci-Fi on our last trip. And while the food was good, our major complaint is the seating. You don't face your tablemates. When we eat, we enjoy talking to each other about what we have done, what we are doing, and what we are planning on doing. And sitting in the cars didn't afford us that opportunity.

 

[KatMark]

I so enjoy reading these because it just goes to show how different everyone's taste really is. Someone indicated they hated the reuben at Sci Fi and my husband LOVED it in September, and then you have all of those who either love or hate the skillet (my DH and I were with the "hate" it and we won't go back -- greasy, fatty disgusting food and horrible service).

This is why if a place appealse to you that you really ought to try it for yourself.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

This is why if a place appealse to you that you really ought to try it for yourself.

I completely agree. I never listen to reviews when picking restaurants. There's a few I LOVE that get horrible reviews and I've never had an issue there. My goal is to eat at every TS place in WDW (almost there! 5 restaurants to go! [if only I could stop accumulating great places so I could try more than 1-2 different ones on each trip]) and then I can pick places I love to go every trip (and even the ones I love have bad nights).

 

[pozey]

I so enjoy reading these because it just goes to show how different everyone's taste really is. Someone indicated they hated the reuben at Sci Fi and my husband LOVED it in September, and then you have all of those who either love or hate the skillet (my DH and I were with the "hate" it and we won't go back -- greasy, fatty disgusting food and horrible service).

This is why if a place appealse to you that you really ought to try it for yourself.

Very true. As one poster above mentioned...food is VERY subjective.

I also think that people's "expectations" going in to a place has something to do with how well they enjoy a restaurant. If you go into Whispering Canyon expecting your server to play every "trick" that has ever been mentioned, and you end up getting a server that maybe had a headache or just wasn't in the mood that night...then your experience will be a disappointment.

As for the food....I know going in to Whispering Canyon, that the skillet is comprised of mainly BBQ type food. I know ahead of time that ribs are sometimes fatty and greasy. That's just the nature of smoked ribs. Same with the brisket and pulled pork. Now, I'm not saying that the food is covered in grease...but that's the nature of smoked meats.

 

[KatMark]

Very true. As one poster above mentioned...food is VERY subjective.

I also think that people's "expectations" going in to a place has something to do with how well they enjoy a restaurant. If you go into Whispering Canyon expecting your server to play every "trick" that has ever been mentioned, and you end up getting a server that maybe had a headache or just wasn't in the mood that night...then your experience will be a disappointment.

As for the food....I know going in to Whispering Canyon, that the skillet is comprised of mainly BBQ type food. I know ahead of time that ribs are sometimes fatty and greasy. That's just the nature of smoked ribs. Same with the brisket and pulled pork. Now, I'm not saying that the food is covered in grease...but that's the nature of smoked meats.

See and when we went we could have cared less one way or the other about the antics. What we cared about was that it took over two hours to have a meal that shouldn't have taken more than an hour at most (after we dealt with a rude hostess who was NOT part of the show); and the food -- chicken and ribs -- made my husband ill as I don't believe the chicken was cooked (I didn't eat it because I thought the salad, potatos and everything else was disgusting -- and I LOVE barbecued food!) and it was covered in grease.

But you only learn by trying yourself.

 

[pozey]

See and when we went we could have cared less one way or the other about the antics. What we cared about was that it took over two hours to have a meal that shouldn't have taken more than an hour at most (after we dealt with a rude hostess who was NOT part of the show); and the food -- chicken and ribs -- made my husband ill as I don't believe the chicken was cooked (I didn't eat it because I thought the salad, potatos and everything else was disgusting -- and I LOVE barbecued food!) and it was covered in grease.

But you only learn by trying yourself.

KatMark...Please don't think I'm picking on you or anything, but 2 things stood out in this post....

One...When you mentioned that you were dissatisfied with the TIME in which it took you to have your meal and that you had a rude hostess....

These 2 factors contributed to your displeasure of your meal. (I'm gonna generalize here based on your experience...) A lot of times, someone will post "We had a horrible meal there" and sometimes it has nothing to do with the food...but other factors. Now, you went on to say that you simply didn't care for the food, so that contributed to YOUR dissatisfaction with your meal.

The other thing that stood out is...."you only learn by trying yourself". Very true statement.

 

[LUVDZNY2008]

First, my DS9 loves the atmosphere of Sci-Fi (I like it too). We have eaten there twice and liked the food (I had a burger both times..the onion rings are excellent).
I've eaten at Whispering Canyon twice as well. I had the skillet both times, the first time(2 years ago), I thought it was good. The last time(this past August), I didn't like it at all (the salad and cornbread were good though). The meat wasn't good at all, and I do not want to go back.
Good luck with your decision and I hope you enjoy your meal.

 

[movie77]

We've been to Sci-Fi a number of times and it's fun to do once, but the food is horrible. We went to WCC for the first time on our last trip and we all loved it. We're doing our DD birthday dinner there next year.

 

[KatMark]

KatMark...Please don't think I'm picking on you or anything, but 2 things stood out in this post....

One...When you mentioned that you were dissatisfied with the TIME in which it took you to have your meal and that you had a rude hostess....

These 2 factors contributed to your displeasure of your meal. (I'm gonna generalize here based on your experience...) A lot of times, someone will post "We had a horrible meal there" and sometimes it has nothing to do with the food...but other factors. Now, you went on to say that you simply didn't care for the food, so that contributed to YOUR dissatisfaction with your meal.

The other thing that stood out is...."you only learn by trying yourself". Very true statement.

I don't think you are picking on me at all. You are right--we were displeased with the length of time we had to be there and with the food. We prefer Flame Tree Barbecue 100 times more than our meal at WCC. But we are glad we tried it as I would like to try all of Disney's one table service meals eventually. But like a previous poster mentioned, I'll have to give up some of my favorites or we'll never get there.