Why does dinner take so long?

[branv]

I've noticed a few posts where people said dinner can take 1.5 to 2 hours. Since all indication seems to be that the food is pre-prepared, why in the heck does it take so long? DH and I are pretty quick eaters, we like to dine and....well, dash is the best way to describe it, but of course we don't mean it in the illegal activity sense of that term

We have eaten at many places that do those lovely chef's menu dinners. Amuse Bouche, Appetizer, Dinner, Dessert...items cooked when ordered, and we rarely take as long as an hour and a half.

I understand the longer dinner for AP, but why so long for the rest of the restaurants? And do we have to wait for our tablemates to finish their course before we recieve our next one?

 

[kcashner]

Dinner takes about an hour. Ok, we know we have a fast server and on the first night he asks that we all get there about 5 minutes early. But really, we can be comfortably finished eating in an hour. SOmetimes we choose to linger over tea/coffee...other times, we are out and about. I'd say we never took more than 75 minutes.

Yes, they do serve the whole table at once....so if your tablemates are still eating, they won't bring your next course unless you ask for it. Another standard thing is to ask that the children's food be brought as soon as it is ready. They can eat and go to programming or whatever without waiting for the slow poke grown ups!

 

[lbgraves]

It did take us about 1 1/2 hours to have dinner but it didn't seem like that long. There are four courses and we like to enjoy our food with great conversation with our friends, who are our favorite tablemates. We never really waited for anything. I think it was more of our servers waiting for us...but they never rushed us.

 

[brack]

It did take us about 1 1/2 hours to have dinner but it didn't seem like that long. There are four courses and we like to enjoy our food with great conversation with our friends, who are our favorite tablemates. We never really waited for anything. I think it was more of our servers waiting for us...but they never rushed us.

This has been the case with us. The dinner meal is as much a part of the cruise experience as anything. My DW and I do not miss the rotation even for Palo's. We go to Palo's for brunch.

It's a vacation .... slow down, relax and enjoy!

 

[Nik's Mom]

This is probably a really stupid question, but I can't come up with what the 4 courses are. I know appetizer, main dish, dessert. But that's only 3 courses. What's the 4th?

 

[lbgraves]

We had salads as well.

 

[Nik's Mom]

Oh my! I will never eat all of that. DH will, though!

 

[needalatte]

Oh my! I will never eat all of that. DH will, though!

You'd be surprised. We ended up ordering two and three appetizers, entrees, and/or desserts at every dinner. Most of the extra dishes were shared around the table, but since the menu changes every night it's really the only way to try the many delicious offerings. Even the kids ordered multiple entrees. It was a lot of fun! (And a lot of food.)

Oh--and we didn't gain more than 3-4 pounds each just by staying active and taking the stairs everywhere.

 

[nrk]

MORE 3 OR 4 POUNDS A DAY

CAN YOU REALLY DO THAT ORDER 3 OR 4 APPETIZERS???...IT WOULD BE NICE TO TRY EVERYTHING ON THE MENU...GOOD BANG FOR THE BUCK

 

[tvguy]

I'm a speed eater at home, but on a cruise I actually take time to taste my food.
We always have late seating, and I think the mindset of most late seating folks is to enjoy a leasurely dinner. We are normally in the dining room for 90 minutes, sometimes 2 hours. Not eating for probably the last 30 minutes, just sipping coffee, talking, and in our case, our DS, 16 was exchanging magic tricks with the wait staff.

 

[DIS NURSE]

Do you need the consensous of the entire table to order more than one appetizer each to not disrupt the flow of the servers?

For example, would it be more acceptable if the entire table starts ordering multiple offerings to "share"? We are probably going to be amongst fellow DIS'ers when we dine so would that be a good strategy if everyone wanted try multiple food items?

Thanks, DIS NURSE

 

[webray]

If you prefer to dine and dash, then I would recommend that you eat your dinners in topsiders. They serve pretty much the same menu as the dining rooms do each night with the exception of the salads..at topsiders you go to salad bar instead. The service is excellent, and the meal is very quick!

 

[lbgraves]

You can order whatever you want. You can be the only one at the table doing so and the servers will handle it. On our last night we liked the desserts so much that we asked for one of each. Thankfully our server commented on each of us getting that before he went back or we would have had 20 plates brought out!!! We wanted to sample each one. LOL! He didn't blink an eye about it though.

 

[clten]

We always do late seating dinner and maybe the whole atmosphere is a little more laid back than early seating but it usually did take us somewhere between 1 1/2 and 2 hours to complete the meal. (Usually hit the 2 hour mark when we lingered over desserts with our tablemates.) It is possible to do it faster and if you prefer to dine and dash, I would request a smaller table and on the first night discuss it with both your servers and any tablemates you are assigned. (That way the servers can give you an experience that you will enjoy and your tablemates won't think you rude.)

You may find that you want to slow it down a little anyway. Keep in mind that AP may be the only venue where the whole restaurant is a show but on the 7 night cruise, they staff does do some "entertainment" in the other restaurants as well.

 

[geffric]

Just to add another type of experience...

on our 3 past cruises, we sat at a table for 4, just our family. Last cruise, was the first that we had late seating. The kids were into the eat and dash mode as they were in a hurry to go back to their friends and the activities. We had a nice meal, salad, entree and dessert, and left the dining room in about an hour or so. We never rushed but we are not the lingering types either.

 

[mostyn17]

On our last cruise...of course Disney We were one of the last ones out of there. It took FOREVER! We were one of the first ones there (waiting in line until they opened the doors) and then the rest of the people were gone when we left...except for the rest of our servers tables. We ususally got back to our room around 10:45 - 11:00 Now that is annoying! It's the same for PALO. We love the food, but we are the eat and leave type because there is so much to do on the ship. The year before we were in and out....and found out our old server is still onboard and we have requested her....she is great!

Travis

 

[mmouse37]

Do you need the consensous of the entire table to order more than one appetizer each to not disrupt the flow of the servers?

For example, would it be more acceptable if the entire table starts ordering multiple offerings to "share"? We are probably going to be amongst fellow DIS'ers when we dine so would that be a good strategy if everyone wanted try multiple food items?

Thanks, DIS NURSE

Not at all....you order what you what and how many of what you want...it has no bearing on what other tablemates order and you do not have to share any appetizers with your tablemates.....the appetizers are small which I like because you can sample a few and not get stuffed.

Oh, and someone else was asking about the 4 courses....don't forget the soup....DCL has some yummy soups but you do not have to have all 4 courses....

We love the dinner experience....it is a time to catch up with friends and family and is a huge part of our cruise experience.....plus we have always loved our servers and enjoyed being in the dining room.

MJ

 

[branv]

Lemme tell you though...if you had someone like my aunt-in-law dining with you, you'd go mad I've never seen someone eat so slowly in my life...but she still eats ALOT. That woman can nurse a starter salad for a half hour. By the time a full dinner is over, you're covered in a fine layer of dust (not that DCL would allow that, I'm sure the custodial staff would have given you a going over with Pledge and a rag by then ).

If I have a tablemate like that, I may have to start drinking...which is not good since more then one drink makes me fall asleep, which would REALLY slow dinner down.

I would love to do Topsiders for dinner if they had the same menu...but they don't offer it on the 4 day.

 

[Liz]

Lemme tell you though...if you had someone like my aunt-in-law dining with you, you'd go mad I've never seen someone eat so slowly in my life...but she still eats ALOT. That woman can nurse a starter salad for a half hour. By the time a full dinner is over, you're covered in a fine layer of dust (not that DCL would allow that, I'm sure the custodial staff would have given you a going over with Pledge and a rag by then ).

I think your aunt-in-law and my mother are one in the same!!

 

[needalatte]

Do you need the consensous of the entire table to order more than one appetizer each to not disrupt the flow of the servers?

For example, would it be more acceptable if the entire table starts ordering multiple offerings to "share"? We are probably going to be amongst fellow DIS'ers when we dine so would that be a good strategy if everyone wanted try multiple food items?

Thanks, DIS NURSE

It started out that first night when DH couldn't decide between two entrees. My friend and I, who had been on the DISboards and knew you could do this, encouraged him to order both, which he did. Then it just sort of became a running joke, what would he order two of tonight? Before long, someone at our table was ordering an extra of something every night and our waiters were asking, "What else would you like?" and "What would you like for the table?" (to share.) By the end of the cruise our wait staff just told us "We'll bring you a ______ for the table." But because we were sharing those extras, we never got overly stuffed.

The wait staff will accomodate you whether only one person or everyone at your table orders multiples. Although, if you know your tablemates well enough (we did--we came together as a group of 8) or feel comfortable sharing with your new friends, just ordering a few extras for the table works fine so you can all sample and not overdo it.

But by all means, order whatever you like--you've paid for it already! (We also joked a lot about "free" room service, "free" ice cream and cookies from Scoops, "free" soda, "free" burgers, pizza and hot dogs from Plutos and Pinocchios, etc. and how much it cost us to get on board for our "free" food!)