I like this suggestion. Everyone who thinks @davej should buy his daughter a pony instead of going to Chef Mickey’s, vote now!
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Well, framing it that way makes Chef Mickey’s sounds like a wonderful idea. My daughter clearly has a number of Liner’s advocating on her behalf.
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If you would leave hungry, I definitely wouldn’t do it. Like you said, it’s a huge amount of time that you could otherwise do something else.
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Well, obviously. No decent parent would ever deny their child a pony. 
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^This
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We are doing it at the request of DS7 in July. Not March, didn’t do it the last 2 trips when we stayed at CR either, but he asked politely if we could please do it this summer since “it’s his favorite place to eat”. So I booked us a dinner, figuring we’d find something we can eat at dinner.
Sometimes, we have to take one for the team, and really, seeing them smile with each character coming to the table, isn’t that a wash? My son’s first meeting with Mickey was at CM when he was 22 months old. I still have the pic framed because the look on his face seeing Mickey, was why we were all sitting there.
I also do all the planning, and plan a lot of dessert parties, etc, that are not his pick, so I can give him one this trip.
I am guessing a child at CM, it’s like Disney heaven. Tons of greasy food, desserts, songs and “dancing” and the characters all come to them like they are kings and queens.
I’ll save my super mom powers of NO for the “can I please have that toy” (that he doesn’t need).
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Nobody should take my parenting advice. When my wife takes the 2 year old to the hotel for a nap I let the older kids eat nothing but ice cream if they ask nicely
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Sadness 
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Tell them you are doing something else. They are so young that this isn’t going to be something they even remember. They will just be happy to be at disney.
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My guess is that they want to do it again simply because it was fun the first time and they don’t know any different. I would just tell them you are excited to try something new and run with it. (I didn’t especially care for the meal or the character interaction.)
Our kids wanted to meet Mickey and Minnie again on our second day at MK… it was a stellar experience on our first day, but no … we had too many other fun things to try! They didn’t mind a bit!
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I mean, not that you have to buy her a full pony but you could do a pony ride over at Fort Wilderness. And make smores with Chip and Dale. I think that beats Chef Mickey’s.
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Go to Garden Grill or Chef Mickey for breakfast? Maybe you will like the breakfast better??
Get an 8 am for GG and get into Epcot before it opens. Then you can still do lunch where you and your wife want to eat.
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Maybe try breakfast at Crystal Palace or Garden Grill? That way you would still get the character interaction, but hopefully food you like better.
Or Tusker House breakfast! We loved our breakfast there and now you can get the Rivers of Light package with it to get preferred seating. The characters were very interactive during that meal and looked adorable in their safari outfits.
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Follow-up –
I decided to ask my daughter which 3 things is she most excited to do on our next trip to Disney World.
She said:
Breakfast in the castle with the princesses
Lunch with Mickey and his friends
Ride Alien Swirling Saucers
That settled it for me. If it’s one of the 3 things she is most excited for, then my wife and I will do Chef Mickey’s despite that fact that we don’t enjoy it ourselves.
Oddly enough, my daughter didn’t ride AS2 last trip (we skipped DHS), but she saw Toy Story Land on one of the Disney holiday specials and asked me at the time to tell her about the rides there.
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Try to find something she’ll love even more and hopefully she’ll want to do that next trip
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Nice to see lively discussion! 
I come at this from a grandparent standpoint now so I am aware this is a much different perspective. If one of my grandchildren expressed a wish I would try my best to make it happen because grandma, but if I shared your distaste for buffets I’d just send them with their parents. Quite evil, I know!
And this is what I was thinking when I realized what is going on. You have bought into the hype. Don’t worry about it I’m sure we all do where Disney is concerned. We want it to be that special, perfect, dreams-come-true holiday for our little ones. Nothing at all wrong with it, but it does make things like this difficult.
I would say why don’t you just plan a different visit with Mickey? Arrange to take her to one of the Mickey and Minnie meet and greets just before a meal you know she will enjoy. I’m sure there are plenty of restaurants in Disney with food she will enjoy and food you will enjoy. Just tell her you are trying out a new way of visiting with her friends.
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I think the OP handled t well to give them a top number of choices, I too would make what they prioritised happen.
There are so many character meals though, if you really don’t dig chef mickeys (I wouldn’t) I’d still consider offering them alternatives like the one at the four seasons which has Minnie and Mickey.
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Although lunch with Mickey and his friends wouldn’t have to be CM. Garden Grill would be an option.
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