Be Warned, It's True What They Say About Chef Mickey's

We returned here in August after many years away. I think it will be many years before we go back! Food was ok, overpriced standard buffet fare I thought. But we went for the characters....... The place was so noisy, kids everywhere, running after the characters, grabbing them, I have unknown kids on my pics! Food was being dropped/thrown on the floor, I actually saw a child sat in the middle of the table. Parents did nothing, CM's did nothing. For us it was chaotic and rushed, food was nothing special and character interaction was poor - Pluto had to literally flee in fear from the next table and he didn't come back! Can't say I blame him.
 
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We always do breakfast on our first or second day to meet the characters, but as we are coming from England and still in British time we are awake ridiculously early so having a 7am booking means it's quiet and we have always enjoyed the food. Bacon, eggs, waffles, danish, Mickey, Minnie etc what can go wrong?
 
We returned here in August after many years away. I think it will be many years before we go back! Food was ok, overpriced standard buffet fare I thought. But we went for the characters....... The place was so noisy, kids everywhere, running after the characters, grabbing them, I have unknown kids on my pics! Food was being dropped/thrown on the floor, I actually saw a child sat in the middle of the table. Parents did nothing, CM's did nothing. For us it was chaotic and rushed, food was nothing special and character interaction was poor - Pluto had to literally flee in fear from the next table and he didn't come back! Can't say I blame him.
This happened to us once when we foolishly booked at 10.45am. Never again. The children on the surrounding tables were out of control and we have stuck to our 7am bookings ever since. We are usually first to check in, first to see the characters and after the obligatory napkin waving with Mickey and the gang we are first to leave for MK.
 


We went to CM's a couple years ago during free dining. The characters were great. The food wasn't but I didn't feel it was any worse than Golden Corral. It was certainly no Crystal Palace! I would never go again without free dining. The desserts weren't half bad. I think there was an egg dish I liked. My son liked the cold salmon and wants to go anywhere they have it. My expectations were low before we went so I wasn't too disappointed.
 
I feel the same way about food not being great! We've been on our last three trips and we aren't going back this time. Breakfast at Tusker House is a great way to see Mickey and we have always enjoyed the food here!
 
We ate at CM for brunch on our arrival day. I thought it was great way to start our trip off. I was concerned with all the reviews but I stuck with my gut and kept our ADR. Cute atmosphere, no screaming kids or dirty food areas like others are reporting. Characters were fun and we enjoyed the food. I think it is hard to mess up breakfast food. Eggs, bacon, potatoes...its not anything gourmet but still thought it was all good.
 


We have reservations for December. The boards have scared my husband, and he wants to cancel. Has anyone who had a bad experience complained and gotten something done about it?

I personally am fearing Ohana. I don't want to sit with people I don't know.
 
We have reservations for December. The boards have scared my husband, and he wants to cancel. Has anyone who had a bad experience complained and gotten something done about it?

I personally am fearing Ohana. I don't want to sit with people I don't know.

'Ohana doesn't seat you at a group table, that's Biergarten. Have no fear! In 'Ohana's case, family style means platters of food that you dish up yourselves - at your own table.
 
Just offering a data point:
I asked about how bad CM was in a different thread. The reviews are all over the map. I went a few weeks ago. It was much better than I expected. I'd do Chef Mickey's if:

1. You want a photo and interaction with each of the "fab 5" characters.
2. You want to combine that guaranteed character interaction into a one hour meal break.
3. You know how to navigate landmines on a buffet.

My experience:
The clam chowder was vile. I didn't taste it. The wife and kids said it tasted like it was a cheese soup base. That was enough for me to not need a taste.
I took little tastes of what I thought would be decent, sat down and nibbled away.
The spicy tuna rolls were edible. I had higher hopes, but the rice was not right. I took about 6 pcs and ate them all, so it wasn't inedible.
The braised short ribs were darn good (knowing what holds up and doesn't hold up on a steam tray will generally help you in a buffet setting)
The roast beef and roast turkey were darn good. (I asked for the rarest beef they could hack off, and was pleasantly surprised)
The mashed taters and beef gravy were decent.
Then I went back in line and loaded up on the good stuff - mostly the short ribs, and roast beef.

The desserts were just fine.

Was it worth 50 dollars per adult for the food alone? NO WAY. NO HOW.

Was it worth the price for all in one character guarantee / break / meal? Debatable. On this one occasion for us? Yes, it was.
I don't think we need to do it again, but it was worth it the one time.

As a counterpoint to a few - I thought Pecos Bill's fajita platter was an oversalted, inedible, waste of food. I threw most of it out. I'm not saying it can't be enjoyable for others, or maybe I got a bad platter, but it's just an opinion. The fixin's bar's "guacamole" allowed me to use the tortillas to make rice and bottom of the barrel guacamole tacos, but the meat on that platter was something I'll remember for the rest of my life. I can laugh about it, no big deal.

All in all, if you go to CM knowing that it's more about the characters than the food for the the price, you might come away a little bit surprised by all the hatin' on this place. If you don't get a visit to your table by each character WITH a few photo ops from each one, you did it wrong. Make sure to ask a CM for whatever character didn't visit you.
 
Thanks, Chris.

We are going to keep the reservation. Truth is, none of us are big eaters, so there just needs to be a couple of good things. Plus - it must not be dirty. If that happens, they are going to hear from me.

The funny part about it is that we have stayed at The Contemporary yearly for almost 10 years now. Every trip, I stress to the kids to speak up if there is something they want to do. This year, they both said they have been wanting to eat at Chef Mickey's since the first time we stayed at The Contemporary. Yet - no one said anything until this trip! Almost a decade of silence!

I have to wonder what else they have been keeping from me.
 
Our last dinner there was about 15 years ago, DD was a CM there. My recollection is that there were a couple of items on the buffet that were pretty good--let's say fried chicken and mashed potatoes. The dinner rolls may have been ok too. That's a pretty slim selection considering the number of items available and the cost. The consensus is that you go to Chef Mickey's for the characters, but they could do a little better on the food.
 
I feel the same way about food not being great! We've been on our last three trips and we aren't going back this time. Breakfast at Tusker House is a great way to see Mickey and we have always enjoyed the food here!

we feel the same way! my husband almost fell over at the bill (yes - I knew what it would be going in but he didn't). soooo expensive for the quality of the meal IMO, even considering the character experience is great.
 
I've only done breakfast and the food was ok. Yes it was noisy and chaotic and overpriced but pretty much a quintessential Disney experience. I would absolutely recommend it if you have young kids in your party.
 
I think you have to go in with low expectations for food and high expectations for characters. I have dined at Chef Mickeys for breakfast and dinner too many times to count. The food has always been average, where breakfast was the much tastier option. The character interaction has always been awesome, and much better than waiting in long lines at the parks to see them...my biggest complaint about Chef Mickeys is that it always seems dirty...food all over the floor, sticky tables etc.
 
Ate there once for dinner when we had Free Dining and it wasn't even worth that much.
It was very dirty also when we went, food on the floor, kids going get things off of the buffet with their hands and touching everything on the buffet, it grossed me out.
I also worried about getting either food poisoning or Stomach virus.
 
We stopped going when the food started to decline and the behavior of other people's children became out of control. I spend way too much money at WDW to tolerate substandard food and chaos. This does not go on at other character meals. Cinderella's Table is still outstanding. Breakfast at 'Ohana's is still wonderful.
 
It's been just fine the three different times we've been to Chef Mickey's. Clean restaurant & table, tasty breakfast, great character interaction, children bahaving as they should. We got what we paid for and left satisfied all three times.
 

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