I thought it might be a little fun to talk restaurants. Which one disappointed you the most and which one surprised you as being better than you thought or especially good?
For me, Rose and Crown was the most disppointing. Everyone raved about the steak and when I looked at our menu it was not listed. I asked about it and the server advised us the manager did not think it was authentic enough. Instead, I got a very sad burger.
Yak and Yeti was much better than I thought it would be. My husband, who can be very picky, loved it, as did my kids. It was one of our favorite restaurants last trip.
For our family Via Napoli. I love pizza and make homemade dough and sauces (my DH is 1/2 Italian so very early in our marriage through trial and error I learned how to make good authentic Italian food). My husband and daughter ordered the smoke salmon pizza (which I warned may not be a good idea at a theme park) and I swear it was an pizza with a thick slab of salmon that took up half their pizza. It could have been served as a protein with rice. We thought it would be thin sliced like regular smoked salmon. So gross they couldnât even finish it. The server was the biggest grouch and all her fellow servers and wait staff avoided her because she would start screaming at them in the middle of the restaurant. She never came to our table except for the order and to give us our check. We were in there for 3 hours because of the slow service and then late for the candlelight processional afterwards.
Surprisingly we ate at CRT this time for an celebration and loved the experience and food. We were seated next to the windows and fireworks went off right as we sat down. The food was really good (which I had heard was not great) and our server was a sweet man from Italy who talked to us about his native home.
We also didnât like BOG at lunch it felt like a cafeteria where we sat and the food was subpar. I do want to try again for dinner. We also used to love 'Ohana at dinner but the last two times the place is empty and the food quality has been downright bad for the price. I still love the experience and memories but the food was just not good at that price level (grisly over salted meat and why canât I eat my weight in shrimp and pudding!!)
Le Cellier was our biggest disappointment. We went for dinner to celebrate my twin DDs 13th birthday. They are steak lovers and were so excited. The five of us were crammed into a table that should have been four at most. I could have rested my elbow on the table next to us if I wanted (I did not). Our service was awful. The food was just okay. They never even acknowledged the girls birthdayâI know that they donât have to, but they were all dressed up and wearing pins and no one even said âHappy Birthday!â
Our biggest surprise was CRT. We had avoided CRT for years after an awful breakfast there when the girls were little. But a few years ago I went on adult girls trip and my friends really wanted to eat there. I grudgingly obliged. We had a wonderful dinner. Our server was amazingâone of my friends couldnât decide which appetizer she wanted, so he brought her both. The food actually tasted great. The setting is beautiful. Aurora made a video for one my friends nieces. We saw a couple get engaged. It was fabulous.
My best surprise was Spice Road Table - I picked it for the Illuminations view expecting a so-so dining experience. The food was absolutely excellent and the service was fabulous. My husband and I loved it.
I havenât had one that was horribly disappointing, but in general HS needs to get their QS act together.
Two disappointments:
Pecos Bill, and Sunshine Seasons.
Pecos Bill fajita platter went straight into the trash. Inedibly salty. The fixinsâ bar was piled high with low rent cheese, and other assorted tums precursors. (I donât really use tums - just trying to be funny.)
Sunshine Seasons - didnât really try much, just the mongolian beef, and the kids meal pizza. If this is the best QS in FWâŚyawn.
Best?
Flame Treeâs ribs and onion rings are way better than they should be considering the Disney Premium.
Honorable Mention 1: Mama Melrose was a lot better than I though it would be.
Honorable Mention 2: HDDR - that fried chickenâŚI assumed it was gonna be a salt bomb. I ate myself silly on that chicken. The mashed taters, and cornbread were the only other things that were edible, but those three things were fantastic. Iâm laughing at myself writing this - I honestly ate myself silly. I was laughing at the table at how full I was. Just a pile of chicken bones in the pail in front of me, everything else almost untouched.
Worst was Sunshine Seasons, my chicken wasnât cooked properly and itâs put me off ever going back there which is a shame as it was probably a one-off.
Best, Iâm not sure. We had a lot of great meals but none of them were better than we expected. Maybe Biergarten - nothing to do with the food, I wasnât sure DH and DS11 would get into the music etc but DS especially really did, and has asked to go again next time.
Weâve had a handful of experiences that werenât necessarily bad, they just failed to live up to the hype. But the longest drop from penthouse level expectations to basement level reality was Le Cellier. It didnât just fail to live up to the hype. It failed, period.
Best surprise has to have been Hoop dee Doo Musical Review. I went in with low expectations of the food. But it wasnât just decent, it was very good on its own merit (independent of the show).
Worst (compared to expectations) was Le Cellier - and this was before they became a âsignatureâ restaurant and were still considered amazing value. The tables were crammed together so closely that my DH couldnât actually get to his seat without both our and our neighborsâ tables being moved. The steak was so salty it was almost inedible, and this is from someone who puts a fair amount of salt on her food⌠We did go back a few years later (when it had become âsignatureâ) and whilst it wasnât quite as bad as the first time it was still decidedly âmehâ. We have no plans to go back.
Best⌠I think thatâs got to be Satuâli Canteen. We were expecting fairly mediocre theme park food the first time we went and were completely blown away - it was absolutely delicious, fresh and full of flavor! Weâve been back about 5-6 times since and have never been disappointed so far.
Worst is between Via Napoli which was bland and poor pizza shared with T Rex the food was warm and the server down right rude âŚ
Best between Cali Grill and House of Blues which had great bbq and our best server Ian who couldnât do enough for us ⌠and yes these two restraunts got great tips
Itâs both interesting and a bit concerning how different peopleâs experiences can be. WDW can be poor at consistency.
For example, one of the stand-out memories of my first trip last summer was of my lunch at Le Cellier. It was incredibly delicious. My only complaints would be (a) far too much food and (b) hugely claustrophobic restaurant with tables too close together. I didnât go again this year and I may bump it for Monsieur Paul next year.
On the other hand, I thought the pizza at Via Napoli was shockingly poor. And the restaurant itself was ghasty â incredibly loud. I wouldnât send my worst enemy there for lunch.
I had disappointing experiences at three of the top names â CRT, BOG and CG â last year. I didnât revisit any of them this year, though I do plan on trying the new style BOG dinner and the CG brunch next year.
My stand-out memories this year were all breakfasts: 1900PF and Ohana â and even H&V, which rarely gets much love. Breakfasts form a major part of next yearâs planning.
As others have said, I think Satuâli is outstanding. Itâs a must-do for me.
Worst - Via Napoli - Horrible service and blah food.
Best - Trattoria al Forno - Amazing service, food was amazing, chef came out to our table to give us a recipe once we complimented the waitress on how amazing the food was.
Via Napoli was our most disappointing experience - we all found it average and no one has ever asked to go back. We had the same experience at Jiko - so unmemorable that half of our group canât even remember it.
restaurant that always over delivers is Yak and Yeti.
I have had so many great experiences dining at wdw. As I have gotten older, dining has become an important part of my trips. I love Raglan Road, Tiffins and Jiko.
I was disappointed in the food at California Grill but I will some day give it another chance. I will never, ever return to Yachsman. The food was ok but the waitress treated us like it was painful for her to approach our table. I will never forget how bad she made me feel and I cannot shake that feeling.
As @profmatt said, it is amazing how different peopleâs experiences can be. Via Napoli has been a standout for us on two trips now. We loved the pizza. We also had two great experiences at Sanaa.
Nothing has been terribly disappointing, but I would probably not go back to Mama Melrose again. It was just kind of blah for us.
Better than expected - Skipper Canteen & San Angel Inn. Great service, good food. Now on our âmust doâ list every trip.
Worse than expected - HDDR (DH and I are introverts, so it was not enjoyable)
Oh Raglan Road was a nice surprise for us too. We just walked in desperate for dinner after a long drive on the first day, and it was such a welcome and delicious surprise!
