I’m having trouble deciding where to eat in Epcot. I need to pick two from Coral Reef, Marrakesh, Biergarten, and Le Cellier. My kids are ages ten and five. Feel free to suggest something I haven’t mentioned. Or should we only book one reservation and just try different foods from vendors in the World Showcase? I have the Deluxe Dining Plan, but I purchased that plan more for convenience than value. Personally, I am more interested in the experience than anything else. My husband is kinda picky, my kids are not.
Hi, great dilemma!
I have 2 kids about that same age - 9 and 10. We’ve been to Marrakesh and Beirgarten. We like middle eastern food, but we prefer Tangerine Café (CS) to Marrakesh. Nothing wrong with the food at Marrakesh, we just weren’t wowed by it. As far as the experience is concerned, Marrakesh had belly dancing (Disney-fied and family friendly) and music that we all enjoyed.
We enjoyed Biergarten’s food, there is something for everyone on the buffet. But do consider that you’ll be seated at long tables with other diners. We really enjoyed the German music, so much so that we all got up to dance the chicken dance. That was a fun experience! 
We haven’t been to Coral Reef or Le Cellier, so I don’t have any information to share about them. I’m hoping others can chime in, too!
Are you going during Food and Wine? We decided to try that for dinner one night. It’s a bit of a challenge if the kids are hungry and what they want are in two completely different booths - someone’s going to have to wait for a while, unless you split up. The lines can be a little bit long as well, or at least they seem that way when the kids are whining about being hungry. We tried it another night for snacks, and that went better. We meandered from one place to another and sort of grazed.
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I had deluxe dining for the first half of my last stay. It saved me a lot of money but so much food! I would go for a signature experience Le Cellier. You will also have a lot of snack credits which you may be able to use at the food booths.
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I will give voice for Garden Grill, it’s family style food, you get to see parts of the ride the land, and you get mickey, chip and dale, and pluto.
I haven’t eaten within world showcase as half my family is vegan and had little interest in epcot eating.
I felt the garden grill was better than coral reef, but both were good.
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Biergarten is a must for our family every trip. It is the only Table Service we have never missed. Good food and a really fun time. The atmosphere is fantastic.
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I’ve been to le cellier, and while it is very good, it is essentially a good steak house. I think you will get more of an “experience” with some of the other options on your list. and your kids will appreciate the other options more than the steak house as well. We went with our two boys, who were 5 & 7 at the time. I also prefer having reservations to sit and take a break with the kids as I find the world showcase too busy for me to enjoy.
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Your kids might not find much at Coral Reef that interests them. Seeing the fish swim by while you eat is really fun. The food gets mixed reviews. When we ate there, it was OK.
We do enjoy Biergarten. My DD does not because there is no “kid food” on the buffet, but she’s extremely difficult to feed. I imagine most kids will find something they like. Our daughter did enjoy the entertainment and dancing. My DH and I enjoyed the food, but we love German food.
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I highly recommend La Hacienda - upscale Mexican food (definitely not Taco Bell), plus with a well-timed reservation you may be able to get a window seat for Illuminations.
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Be aware of something regarding the Biergarten entertainment: the band doesn’t begin until 1:15pm, so don’t book a noon lunch. We did this past Monday, and turned a planned hour lunch into a 1.5 hour lunch.
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We loved Garden Grill. It’s one of two restaurants that we will return to out of the five that we tried. (The other being Whispering Canyon) My kids are 16, 8 and 7. The food is family style and a ton of meat, delicious taters and veggies, and dessert had us scraping the bottom of the dish.
To keep kids entertained while eating and for good food, try looking into Tepan Edo in the Japan pavilion. It’s a hibachi restaurant where they cook the food in front of you. There is always a show involved with the cooking.
If you’ve never been to a hibachi before, I highly recommend it. If you have been to a hibachi before, I still recommend it. Like everything Disney does, they do it better than most.
I’m going to be the representative for the pedantic community today - it’s a teppanyaki restaurant, not a hibachi restaurant. Teppanyaki grills are flat metal plates, whereas hibachi grills are open grids. 