Hollywood & Vine- How bad is it, *really*?

[ToxicRoyalty]

Right now I have a reservation for us in October for a seasonal lunch at H&V. Since we aren't doing MNSSHP this year, I thought that would be a cool experience instead, since it's decorated and characters are in costume. However, I've seen nothing but mediocre to bad reviews. Has anyone had a good experience? What about it was really terrible?

Sci-Fi, 50's, and HBD are all not options for us, so I'm pretty reluctant to cancel this res.But if it's truly terrible, hey- it's terrible, and I can figure something else out.

 

[MSPeeler]

I’ve also seen lots of bad reviews, but I love Hollywood & Vine personally. It’s buffet, so most people who don’t care for it probably don’t care for buffets. We’ve done H&V twice. The Daisy’s Seasonal Dine in the Spring and Star Wars themed. We love character dining since we have young kids and don’t want to wait in long lines though We have nothing bad to say about this place.

 

[MarBee]

We’ve been there for breakfast and dinner several times and have always liked it. We are big fans of character buffets in general, though. We also love not having to wait in line at meet and greets, and the buffets offer a little something for everyone- even my super picky eater.
None of the food was astounding, but it was all good. Typical buffet fare at Disney, so if you’ve ever eaten at any of the other character buffets (1900 Park Fare, Chef Mickey’s, Crystal Palace, etc), it’s right on par with those.
I will note, however, that a friend of ours most likely got food poisoning from there. So be careful with the seafood.
Even with that being said, I wouldn’t cancel your res.
Enjoy!

 

[Nancyg56]

We have it planned for December and it is one I am really lookign forward to. I aslo have heard the reviews however I think dinign is subjective, and what is terrible for one is fine for another. I want to enjoy the characters in their holiday finery. I peeked in the window one night and they were so darn cute!

 

[Meka003]

We went it with super low expectations after reading reviews on here but my son was 2 at the time and the Disney jr characters were his favorite. We actually liked the food ! It wasn’t that awful , I mean if you are comparing it to what you pay for yes but you are paying for the characters. I have food allergies and they were amazing with me.

 

[DWillowBay]

It used to be awful (7 or so years ago) and I swore, never again. But I gave it another try 3 years ago and it has become an 'every trip' place for us. We LOVE the character interaction. The food is so varied and delicious with lots of healthy options. Lovely servers. Friendly, helpful chefs. We have love for H&V!

 

[dkmulder]

We went the last two years and loved it! We were hesitant the first time after two horrible experiences at Chef Mickey’s (which had been our go-to character meal) and bad reviews, but we thought the food was actually quite decent for buffet food. I like that there are seasonal offerings. And the characters dressed up for the theme puts this one over the top for us.

 

[DIS_AWC]

Here is a thread from a few months ago where people, myself included, shared reviews (many positive) of *recent* experiences at H&V:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/is-hollywood-and-vine-still-pretty-terrible.3676774/

Every time someone inquires about H&V, there are typically tons of postings about how absolutely wretched it is, but many also say they haven't eaten there in several years. My understanding is that the food offerings and characters changed once the lunch and dinner switched to Minnie's Seasonal dining, so reviews about the food before that change aren't necessarily relevant.

Obviously everyone's opinions, tastes, and experiences will vary, even on the same day, but the food exceeded our expectations when we had dinner there in April. There was something for everyone in our party from my 5-year-old daughter to my very picky 60-year-old mother. The desserts were some of the best we had on our trip, and much better than what was offered at the MK fireworks dessert party. Food aside, the character interaction we had here was some of the very best we had on our trip. I think people should at least give it a try for lunch or dinner if the characters are of interest.

 

[whitney37354]

We've eaten here on all four of our trips, latest trip June 2018. The food is a step up from regular buffet food; good, but nothing exotic. We've been in group sizes from three to ten & everyone always finds something to eat. BIL loved the shrimp cocktail on our last trip! The character interaction is always good. Sometimes the servers are slow to get back for drink refills.

 

[WillowRain]

I booked us the seasonal dine for lunch and I am excited. Does that mean Minnie and co will be in Halloween gear?

 

[Hope Soda]

We ate there once, when Disney Junior characters still met at lunch. Whether it's worth the price for your family depends entirely on your reasons for being there.

The food is meh. We didn't see or taste anything that was disgusting, nor did we find anything that was pleasantly memorable. There were many dessert options, including ice cream, which was nice, but the desserts were all just okay.

We met Disney Junior characters, rather than Minnie and friends. Our boys were big into Jake and Handy Manny at the time. Unfortunately, my older son missed Jake when he was in the bathroom (when you gotta go, you gotta go), so we had to wait quite a long time to be able to see him. Doc McStuffins just kind of skipped us. She hit the table next to ours, then went to the other side of the restaurant until our waiter dragged her back to us, much later. If it weren't so important to my boys to meet Jake, we'd have left without meeting those two. I wouldn't think this experience is the norm, however.

I wouldn't go back for lunch again, personally, but I am willing to try breakfast, as long as it's PPO and we can sign up for Jedi before eating. However, the food was not terrible, and it could be worth doing for lunch if the seasonal costumes are of interest to you.

 

[Rich M]

October is a great time to go if your looking for pictures with the characters in costume and don't want to wait in lines for it. If you time it right you can get the pictures done fairly quick but if you just miss it then it could take an hour. The food is nothing to write home about as there is nothing special at all about this buffett. Honestly I think it is almost identical to Hometown or Golden Coral with there offerings. Is the food awful in my opinion? Not at all. I just fill it is a little small on the selection side for the amount you pay for it but honestly you go here for the pictures with the character in there costumes.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

I wouldn't say bad. It was crazy busy when we went for lunch.

 

[RealBlast3]

The character breakfast is really good, actually. I have always enjoyed it. I think it's better than Chef Mickey's food wise, and cleaner, and less chaotic. Food is solid at this hour and safe and enjoyable enough, without reinventing the wheel. And it's probably the "fastest" buffet in the sense that if you just want to eat a good meal and run and don't care about even meeting any of those Disney Play characters, I have literally stuffed myself, and finished before the first person in their cartoon suit came to my table. I was just there to eat, not meet the characters, so that was fine with me. Though I have lingered other times and met them, but I don't know who any of them are LOL.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We did the Minnie's Holiday Dine for dinner about 4 years ago and it was great. We thought the food was very good.

 

[KenHutch]

I am one of the people who dislikes H&V strongly but that being said I would still tell you to keep your ADR. What I hate you may love and with the Disney Jr characters there it is the only place you can meet many of them. I find CRT to be very meh but with 2 girls 8 and 18 guess where we go every trip?

 

[marcyleecorgan]

I really loved it... of course I love breakfast buffets especially when they include gravy and biscuits!

 

[wdw4rfam]

We have been there 20+ times. Breakfast is best. But never have left saying, eeew that was gross.

 

[wdw4rfam]

We have been there 20+ times. Breakfast is best. But never have left saying, eeew that was gross.

 

[ToxicRoyalty]

Glad to hear it's mostly good or meh reviews! At least if we hate it, we'll still get characters, and I think there's enough CS at HS in case we're starving after (which I do doubt, haha) I'll keep it. It's our longest scheduled day, so I do really want a sit down type meal.