WORST DISNEY DINING EXPERIENCE

[emmabemmainc]

To those freaking out b/c you have reservations at some of the places listed: DON'T! I guarantee that there are many who have favorites listed on other's never again lists. Just go and try it and if you are not thrilled, you don't ever have to go there again. You may go and you may love it! I love 50s PT--and look at how many people hated it (just from this thread alone!).

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

Our worst was Garden Grill. The food really just wasn't good at all. Rubbery meat. The kids wouldn't touch their food. The best parts were the rolls and the dessert.

The last visit we were also disappointed by Crystal Palace. That's been the only place we've eaten for all of our visits, but the food quality was really pretty poor last trip, so I think we're done there.

We also put Tony's on a not likely to try again ... we thought the food was fine, but the whole experience just felt a little lacking.

BUT, we also have had wonderful experiences at a lot of the restaurants that have shown up on this thread - we loved Hollywood & Vine - the food was great and character interaction was wonderful. Tusker House had great food too, Hacienda de San Angel was great. And, San Angel Inn is our new favorite and will be top of our list next visit. Overall, we really have enjoyed nearly all of our meals and think the food in general has been really good and sometimes even fantastic!

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

To those freaking out b/c you have reservations at some of the places listed: DON'T! I guarantee that there are many who have favorites listed on other's never again lists. Just go and try it and if you are not thrilled, you don't ever have to go there again. You may go and you may love it! I love 50s PT--and look at how many people hated it (just from this thread alone!).

Agreed. We thought Cape May dinner was awful -- our worst dining experience other than probably Crystal Palace breakfast -- yet many people love both those places.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

Just go and try it and if you are not thrilled, you don't ever have to go there again. You may go and you may love it! I love 50s PT--and look at how many people hated it (just from this thread alone!).

True, it's one meal! 50's Prime Time, kitchy fun, and they offer one of my major weaknesses, can't pass up that "POT ROAST" and the fried chicken, not too shabby! Now, I wouldn't eat at Chef Mickey's if you paid me but you can bet your bottom bippy that if and when I have grand kids, we'll probably end up going again, at least once! Same with O'Hana's, people love it, I don't. I like my hot food hot and my cold food cold and I can't get either there so I dont go anymore. But if someone I travelled with really wanted to try it, I'd go!

 

[maurrybs]

As a former server in a busy restaurant myself (years ago), I have A LOT of patience. I do not want to be slathered with attention: be polite, smile, maybe if you're super busy just stop and acknowledge us???
I never had a horrible food experience in WDW (some not so great, but that's with anything). My DH and I celebrated our anniversary last summer at WDW. We tried Via Napoli for the first time. The waitress was super friendly and sweet, however, she had a 12 top right next to us and neither my DH and I nor the other couple next to us saw her again after she took our order. We waited, and waited, and waited for our check (decided to pass on desserts about 30min after our meal ended).... FINALLY she came by and insisted we get something because it was our anniversary. Told her no, but she brought it anyways. I just wanted to leave. Finally had to get up and ask manager for check. Like I said, super sweet girl, but had absolutely no time for us.
The next night was our actual anniversary and we had ADRs at O'Hana... THIS is the meal we were looking forward to- been there 4 other times and LOVED IT. I could only get a 9:20pm reservation, so needless to say, we were starving when we got there. Waited about 30m past our ADRs for our table (expected, like I said, been there before - still kind of annoying).
Right off the bat, service took a while. Finally our drinks come out (just soda) with our lettuce wraps. I was expecting the salad, had no idea the menu changed (my fault, didn't read the menu before). They were AWFUL!!!! Didn't eat them, still starving. No biggie, we will eat the wings and noodles like pigs....We waited and waited and waited... while the 6 top next to us (same server) who was seated when we got our lettuce, was already being served their skewers.

Finally our wings and noodles came, we ate some, but they didn't taste as good as they had before... but no biggie... meats and shrimp soon!! I do not eat red meat or pork. I don't ever put this on the ADR because I love chicken/turkey/seafood. I never leave anywhere hungry. Well she comes out with the meats, I pass (order a couple drink refills)... comes out 15m later with the meats again, I pass (no refills).... Getting kind of antsy cause I'm hungry and want some shrimp.. 10m later comes out with 2 sodas for EACH of us (drop and run)... couple minutes later, more meat... By this time I ask "so when are the shrimp coming?". Now she tells us that the big table next to us (remember the one who got here after us, who were already finishing their desserts) has a seafood allergy, so the shrimp will come out later. She then proceeds to LECTURE me on how I should have said I was a vegetarian on my ADRs. I'm not a vegetarian. I don't eat red meat or pork. She leaves, then comes back with shrimp and dumps about 20 on my plate. At this point we asked for the check and I left. They comped us one meal (didn't ask for it, didn't really want it)
.
The waiting till the end for the shrimp didn't bother me as much as how much we were ignored and forgotten. I understand allergies (grandma with a seafood allergy), but don't really understand how a table that gets seated after us was finished way before we were. Our server never slowed down to make eye contact, or acknowledge us. Oh well. The good news is I don't have to worry about getting an O'Hana ADR anymore, LOL.

 

[heehee611]

Yes, definitely don't freak out if you have ADRs for one of the MANY restaurants named here! it seems to be almost unanimous on these boards that H&V is awful, yet my family LOVES it! We think the food is great and my kids love the characters. We were just there in February, and also went to Ohana for breakfast which was wonderful. There have certainly been places that weren't our favorites and we probably won't be back to (Cape May - hubby was looking forward to this the most and it was kind of disappointing), but nothing awful! If there's somewhere you think your family will enjoy, give it a try!

We have Whispering Canyon Cafe on the "maybe" list for our next trip and I do see a lot of negative reviews about it on here, not sure if we'll give it a try or not, but if we don't it'll just be because there's other places we want to try more!

 

[disneysteve]

I still don't get it.

What don't you get? The title of this thread is "WORST DISNEY DINING EXPERIENCE." Naturally, that means that people are going to post bad experiences they have had. That doesn't mean that all of their experiences have been bad. I've had tons of good meals at Disney. There are places I actually look forward to eating. But that doesn't mean that in my 37 years of visiting Walt Disney World I haven't had some bad meals too. It's great that you have never had a bad experience but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened for others - clearly evidenced by this thread.

 

[Crystal824]

Could you be more specific then the food was terrible. We are planning to eat there in the in a couple of weeks and wasn't too change if we need to.

I'm not sure which restaurant you are referring to so I will just discuss both restaurants.

Chef Mickey's- We ate there for dinner, and my biggest complaint was the food was cold. Everything I got from the buffet that should have been hot or at least warm was cold throughout the entire meal. I went back to the buffet several times trying to find something hot. A lot of the food, I felt might have tasted ok if they had just been warm. I really think the chicken and ribs would have been delicious if they were hot, but instead they were cold and rubbery. Also, they weren't replenishing the buffet as often as they should which may be why many things were cold. They were out of things more than once when I went up to the buffet especially the salad items, which generally doesn't happen at Disney. The desserts were good. The characters here were ok. They did their job but nothing special. Over the course of our 10 day trip, we did 6 character meals. Some of the characters were outstanding (CRT and Tusker House, Garden Grill) others were ok like Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace. None of the character interaction was bad. That is the luck of the draw really. Sometimes characters will go out of their way for different guests. That is not my complaint at all. It was the food that was awful.

Garden Grill- the food here was hot but very bland. The bread and salad were good. The turkey and beef were very bland and rubbery tasting. It was like they used no spices or herbs in cooking the meat. The fish just tasted bad. The mashed potatoes were bland instant potatoes. They had no flavor whatsoever. The sweet potato fries were good. My daughter did not care for the mac and cheese she was given for the kids' meal. I didn't try it, but it didn't look appetizing. My DH did try it and he said it was also bland. The dessert was ok not great but ok. It was a berry cobbler.

I have eaten at both these places over the years. DH and I have been to Disney about once a year since 2004. We generally do a table service meal per day. I have had many decent meals at both these places over the years. Neither were ever anything gourmet but the food was decent. This last time the food was awful at both places. I would have much rather eaten at a CS location. Yes, Disney restaurants have off days so I'm not saying I will never eat at them again, but I am saying it wont' be for a while. I was a person reporting on here earlier before my trip that the food was ok, you will find something to eat. It has been about 5 years since I have eaten at Chef Mickey's but I feel as if the selection of food is smaller since the last time I ate there. Garden Grill the menu is different and the items that remain the same are prepared differently. At one time I thought Garden Grille had the best mashed potatoes on property. That is not the case anymore. In fact, everything we ate had instant potatoes. We didn't do any signature dining so that that may not be the case there. I filled up on salad and dessert at Chef Mickey's and left Garden Grill sort of hungry this past trip.

Overall the food this trip was much worse than our trip 2 years ago for a lot more money. Chef Mickey's and Garden Grille were just the worst of the bunch. We always loved trying out new dining location and experience our favorites each trip. I don't mind paying the outrageous prices when I am getting quality food and having a good experience. However, I think we will be doing one sit down every other day the next trip at most. This year the best meals to me were Be Our Guest (dinner) and Yak and Yeti (lunch).

 

[mom2my3kids]

Love Ohana and its a must for our trip, BUT we had the same thing happen a few trips back..Put off my husband so much he didn't want to go back..But we did and had decent service since..here is hoping for good food and service on our upcoming trip..

As a former server in a busy restaurant myself (years ago), I have A LOT of patience. I do not want to be slathered with attention: be polite, smile, maybe if you're super busy just stop and acknowledge us???
I never had a horrible food experience in WDW (some not so great, but that's with anything). My DH and I celebrated our anniversary last summer at WDW. We tried Via Napoli for the first time. The waitress was super friendly and sweet, however, she had a 12 top right next to us and neither my DH and I nor the other couple next to us saw her again after she took our order. We waited, and waited, and waited for our check (decided to pass on desserts about 30min after our meal ended).... FINALLY she came by and insisted we get something because it was our anniversary. Told her no, but she brought it anyways. I just wanted to leave. Finally had to get up and ask manager for check. Like I said, super sweet girl, but had absolutely no time for us.
The next night was our actual anniversary and we had ADRs at O'Hana... THIS is the meal we were looking forward to- been there 4 other times and LOVED IT. I could only get a 9:20pm reservation, so needless to say, we were starving when we got there. Waited about 30m past our ADRs for our table (expected, like I said, been there before - still kind of annoying).
Right off the bat, service took a while. Finally our drinks come out (just soda) with our lettuce wraps. I was expecting the salad, had no idea the menu changed (my fault, didn't read the menu before). They were AWFUL!!!! Didn't eat them, still starving. No biggie, we will eat the wings and noodles like pigs....We waited and waited and waited... while the 6 top next to us (same server) who was seated when we got our lettuce, was already being served their skewers.

Finally our wings and noodles came, we ate some, but they didn't taste as good as they had before... but no biggie... meats and shrimp soon!! I do not eat red meat or pork. I don't ever put this on the ADR because I love chicken/turkey/seafood. I never leave anywhere hungry. Well she comes out with the meats, I pass (order a couple drink refills)... comes out 15m later with the meats again, I pass (no refills).... Getting kind of antsy cause I'm hungry and want some shrimp.. 10m later comes out with 2 sodas for EACH of us (drop and run)... couple minutes later, more meat... By this time I ask "so when are the shrimp coming?". Now she tells us that the big table next to us (remember the one who got here after us, who were already finishing their desserts) has a seafood allergy, so the shrimp will come out later. She then proceeds to LECTURE me on how I should have said I was a vegetarian on my ADRs. I'm not a vegetarian. I don't eat red meat or pork. She leaves, then comes back with shrimp and dumps about 20 on my plate. At this point we asked for the check and I left. They comped us one meal (didn't ask for it, didn't really want it)

.
The waiting till the end for the shrimp didn't bother me as much as how much we were ignored and forgotten. I understand allergies (grandma with a seafood allergy), but don't really understand how a table that gets seated after us was finished way before we were. Our server never slowed down to make eye contact, or acknowledge us. Oh well. The good news is I don't have to worry about getting an O'Hana ADR anymore, LOL.

 

[Metz172]

I'm not sure which restaurant you are referring to so I will just discuss both restaurants.

Chef Mickey's- We ate there for dinner, and my biggest complaint was the food was cold. Everything I got from the buffet that should have been hot or at least warm was cold throughout the entire meal. I went back to the buffet several times trying to find something hot. A lot of the food, I felt might have tasted ok if they had just been warm. I really think the chicken and ribs would have been delicious if they were hot, but instead they were cold and rubbery. Also, they weren't replenishing the buffet as often as they should which may be why many things were cold. They were out of things more than once when I went up to the buffet especially the salad items, which generally doesn't happen at Disney. The desserts were good. The characters here were ok. They did their job but nothing special. Over the course of our 10 day trip, we did 6 character meals. Some of the characters were outstanding (CRT and Tusker House, Garden Grill) others were ok like Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace. None of the character interaction was bad. That is the luck of the draw really. Sometimes characters will go out of their way for different guests. That is not my complaint at all. It was the food that was awful.

Garden Grill- the food here was hot but very bland. The bread and salad were good. The turkey and beef were very bland and rubbery tasting. It was like they used no spices or herbs in cooking the meat. The fish just tasted bad. The mashed potatoes were bland instant potatoes. They had no flavor whatsoever. The sweet potato fries were good. My daughter did not care for the mac and cheese she was given for the kids' meal. I didn't try it, but it didn't look appetizing. My DH did try it and he said it was also bland. The dessert was ok not great but ok. It was a berry cobbler.

I have eaten at both these places over the years. DH and I have been to Disney about once a year since 2004. We generally do a table service meal per day. I have had many decent meals at both these places over the years. Neither were ever anything gourmet but the food was decent. This last time the food was awful at both places. I would have much rather eaten at a CS location. Yes, Disney restaurants have off days so I'm not saying I will never eat at them again, but I am saying it wont' be for a while. I was a person reporting on here earlier before my trip that the food was ok, you will find something to eat. It has been about 5 years since I have eaten at Chef Mickey's but I feel as if the selection of food is smaller since the last time I ate there. Garden Grill the menu is different and the items that remain the same are prepared differently. At one time I thought Garden Grille had the best mashed potatoes on property. That is not the case anymore. In fact, everything we ate had instant potatoes. We didn't do any signature dining so that that may not be the case there. I filled up on salad and dessert at Chef Mickey's and left Garden Grill sort of hungry this past trip.

Overall the food this trip was much worse than our trip 2 years ago for a lot more money. Chef Mickey's and Garden Grille were just the worst of the bunch. We always loved trying out new dining location and experience our favorites each trip. I don't mind paying the outrageous prices when I am getting quality food and having a good experience. However, I think we will be doing one sit down every other day the next trip at most. This year the best meals to me were Be Our Guest (dinner) and Yak and Yeti (lunch).

Thank you for elaborating. Garden grill was the one I was wondering about. We had an amazing meal there 3 years ago and the mashed potatoes were the best.

 

[maurrybs]

Love Ohana and its a must for our trip, BUT we had the same thing happen a few trips back..Put off my husband so much he didn't want to go back..But we did and had decent service since..here is hoping for good food and service on our upcoming trip..

Glad you had better experiences after that! I'm sure it was a "bad" day, and those lettuce wraps did NOT help. I need to take a break from there for a few more trips and maybe we will try again.......

 

[Crystal824]

Thank you for elaborating. Garden grill was the one I was wondering about. We had an amazing meal there 3 years ago and the mashed potatoes were the best.

I agree Garden Grill used to be really good. The last time we ate their was about 3 years ago as well. It was good then. We all left disappointed this trip. Their mashed potatoes were awesome, but not anymore. If you do go there, don't expect the same mashed potatoes. The character interaction there was fantastic.

 

[Tinkerbellerella84]

I'll admit i'm nervous....we have a Chief Mickey scheduled for the day we arrive 9pm figured with checking in go to MK for a bit then head to dinner would be good but I'm worried I made the wrong choice???? Should I rethink a different dinner or maybe even do quick service that day??? First timer here and don't want things to go south on the first day lol.

 

[Tom Caselli]

I'll admit i'm nervous....we have a Chief Mickey scheduled for the day we arrive 9pm figured with checking in go to MK for a bit then head to dinner would be good but I'm worried I made the wrong choice???? Should I rethink a different dinner or maybe even do quick service that day??? First timer here and don't want things to go south on the first day lol.

 

[Tom Caselli]

I'll admit i'm nervous....we have a Chief Mickey scheduled for the day we arrive 9pm figured with checking in go to MK for a bit then head to dinner would be good but I'm worried I made the wrong choice???? Should I rethink a different dinner or maybe even do quick service that day??? First timer here and don't want things to go south on the first day lol.

If that is what you want to do, do it. Don't let other people's negativity change what you want to do. We just went to Chef Mickey's last week and we thought it was great.

 

[Tinkerbellerella84]

If that is what you want to do, do it. Don't let other people's negativity change what you want to do. We just went to Chef Mickey's last week and we thought it was great.

Yay I'm so glad! Good hearing a positive review lol

 

[southjerseymom]

I'll admit i'm nervous....we have a Chief Mickey scheduled for the day we arrive 9pm figured with checking in go to MK for a bit then head to dinner would be good but I'm worried I made the wrong choice???? Should I rethink a different dinner or maybe even do quick service that day??? First timer here and don't want things to go south on the first day lol.

Chef Mickey for dinner has been my family's "go to" spot since our first family trip in 2002. DH and I loved that we could unwind and enjoy a bottle of wine while the kids were entertained. Every trip since then has included CM. It is loud, it is chaotic, and it is a LOT of fun. I enjoy it more than the kids! You get the Fab 3 plus Daisy, Pluto and Donald. This trip we are maybe not going because I think the price of dinner is just getting out of hand but if I was going to WDW for the first time I would do CM in a heartbeat!

 

[dreaminginwonderland]

Coral Reef.... if only I had heard about Kevin's sad little crab cake before making reservations there. Awful service, dirty table and chairs, loud, and bad food.

 

[disneysteve]

If that is what you want to do, do it.

I agree completely. Don't let anything in this thread stop you from going to a restaurant that you enjoy or want to try for the first time. Make your own opinions. As Pete often says on the show, reviews are just a snapshot, one person's experience at a specific time. Disney restaurants are no different than restaurants anywhere else. Around here, there are places that we will never go to again even though we know people who rave about them, and vice-versa - places we enjoy that our friends don't care for. Everybody is different.

 

[DisneyCrazy123]

Last year we ate at Sci-Fi Diner. I was with my DS. We ordered burgers and sat back to enjoy the movie clips. We sat through the entire set of clips and of course the clips repeat. I start wondering where our food is. The waitress comes by hands me the check and says have a good evening. I say um we never got our food. The waitress was mortified. The manager brought my son a fancy light up drink. 20 minutes later still no food. They apologize and ask us what we want as our complimentary desert. I say I really want my burger. It came 5 minutes later along with some extra fast passes. It was a very long wait that I chalk up to a fluke. We will go back. My son and I still laugh about this.