Hopefully this is the last of my many questions since we leave in 5 days! I was able to get a Mamma Melrose with F! package for the time we needed for our afternoon at HS. We already had a Sci Fi adr for later that afternoon. Now I am having a hard time choosing which one to stick with. We really do want to see F! but could do standby or try for FP. I have read mixed reviews on both restaurants. Kids would like the atmosphere of Sci Fi for sure but MM looks to have good atmosphere as well and maybe better food? We are going back to HS a different afternoon and will be eating at 50’s PT café that day so probably similar food to Sci Fi? We are paying OOP and looking at MMF! prices ($45 for adult) not sure it is worth it? Looks like a ton of food since it includes appetizer, meal, dessert. Apps on the menu include flatbreads which in themselves look like a meal! Can you bring leftovers with you? But thinking no because then the food would be sitting in heat in park for hours. I guess I am wondering mostly what people think of the 2 restaurants since I have read fabulous and terrible reviews for each. One reviewer wrote that Sci Fi was their most expensive meal at WDW! (not sure where else they ate though!)
I prefer the food at SciFi, but I do try to always get a Fantasmic package (thought we always get it either at HBD or H&V). I can’t comment on the price, because we always have a dining plan. It does tend to be a lot of food (we get the deluxe plan, so we always get the apps), so if we’re having a TS lunch then we either do it very late (like, 2:30) or we just have a very light breakfast.
You can take a box, so if you had flatbread or otherwise portable leftovers then you might be able to nom on them for a late afternoon snack in the park. We’ve been known to get something like chicken tenders or grilled cheese for the little ones’ meals, and just box it all up for them to snack on later while they eat from our plates.
Personally I prefer the food at MM’s, but the ambiance at SciFi is better. Given the choice is over Fantasmic!, I think it boils down to if you want to see Fantasmic, then you go MM’s, if you’re indifferent to F! then you consider your choices. MM’s is a little more expensive, but we have had good meals there multiple times - the New York Strip is fairly good (and if paying for the F! plan you may as well order expensive). I’ve been underwhelmed by the food at SciFi, but drive-in feel watching B Movie snippets is a lot of fun. Seating is in cars all facing the same way which makes conversation difficult, if that matters to you - it could be a welcome respite if you’re looking for a break from someone in your group after all… 
We had and canceled a Sci-Fi res after I read mixed reviews (mostly negative) and then a good friend of mine gave me her personal review. She said it’s a neat environment, but the food was “awful”. Said her daughter’s burger was like a greasy floppy burger from Sonic and her husband’s steak was incredibly tough and gummy. Lol…
I can say that we have personally eaten at MM twice and it was very good both times, everybody in our party was pleased. I would vote MM for sure!
IMO, the dining options at HS leave something to be desired overall as a whole. We liked MM and like H&V for a character breakfast (haven’t done Brown Derby yet as kids are still a bit young to probably appreciate it lol), but I feel like it’s pretty slim pickins otherwise.
Thanks for that input. I keep reading the same thing about the food quality as you found. MM looks like a better menu to me and then we don’t need to worry about trying to get F! FP later. I just didn’t want to feel like we missed out on a must do by not going to Sci Fi. It looks very cool and originally when I was looking at adr’s I thought we have to do this one! But now I am thinking, MM also looks cool and we will should get a decent meal there. This will be our big meal of the day around 3. So then maybe we can take those sure to be left over flatbreads with us to munch on later (while waiting for F! to start) as @Nikkipoooo suggested!
We tried Sci Fi for the first time on our last trip and loved it.
I’m not a milkshake person but my boys enjoyed them as a Desert. Depending on the timing, you could always keep MM for lunch and go to Sci Fi for milkshakes later on. I don’t know how close you have them just now. But that way you get to try out the whole Sci Fi experience without over-doing things too much!
We ate at both on our last trip. Mamma Melrose had more of a traditional restaurant feel to it. We all loved the food there. We waited forever to get our bill at the end, it made us miss getting into Fantasmic that night. It was already to capacity and we couldn’t get in (only 1 show that night). SciFi was good, but we have 5 in our family so 1 son had to sit in a row by himself (can only fit 2 people across). Not very friendly to conversations. The kids weren’t too impressed with the black and white movie clips or the cars, but they really liked the shakes.
Wow! So sorry to hear you missed the show over a late arriving check! Do you mind if I ask how long your entire meal/stay took? I was allowing about 1 hour. Maybe I should put in some more buffer room.
I was in the same boat but finally decided to do MM F! for lunch. I managed to move my Sci-Fi res to 5:30 and we’ll be just getting milkshakes and apps before F!. My kids are huge pasta fans so I think they’ll love MM.
We enjoy MM over Sci Fi. MM has good food for a very reasonable prices especially for Disney
I will admit I am not a big fan of MM but that package would be my choice. You get an appetizer with your meal, and reserved seating. The dining package seats are center aisle.
This is how I feel… it’s not that I dislike it, I just think that I’ve had so much good Italian food elsewhere so it’s just never really as good as I want it to be. That said, it’s definitely good enough that added benefits would probably tip the scales if I had that choice to make.
Unfortunately my sister really, really likes HBD, so that’s usually where we end up.
Unfortunately? Well maybe if you’re picking up the check, but HBD is by far the best food at HS. Unfortunately it carries a corresponding price tag…
I just am usually not that impressed… our first time there was incredible, but since then service has been spotty and the food hasn’t been “signature” to me. I actually prefer 50s Prime Time, because I love the pot roast but they don’t do Fantasmic packages. We’re doing the H&V lunch this time, mostly just for the characters.
I haven’t been to HBD in a while. I think we went on about 3 straight trips as walk-ins probably around 10 years ago. Even got to do the ribbon cutting ceremony to “open” the restaurant once which was cool. Always had good food and service. I haven’t managed to get an ADR on our more recent trips so it’s certainly possible it’s level has fallen off…