Is there any verdict on Steakhouse 71?

[BarbLynnM]

Personally I learned to not trust Yelp whatsoever. I had first hand experience with the way reviews of a business can be skewed.

To explain: I trusted a restaurant review that had many glowing reports. My experience was was 180 degrees opposite and left a negative review that explained exactly why I said so. My review was put in "time out". I actually called them and asked why; I was told there was nothing I could do about it. I never go to Yelp for anything anymore. (ETA: there were literally no negative reviews)

That said, the Disney dining show from the Dis unplugged doesn't review what they don't pay for

 

[gharter]

Agree with not trusting Yelp.
while I may not always agree with the Disney Dining show, it is always entertaining.

 

[Lilias]

Blogs said early on that the burger was added to dinner--is this a secret menu thing, orrr just not true? D: I want the burger, but husband will want the Prime Rib! Baah

 

[JFox]

We were not impressed. Had dinner early November. I've had better steaks at other restaurants on property. I thought the steaks were bland and figured that's why they push the sauces to add flavor. One and done for us.

 

[FredQc]

I had a dinner there in October. I thought it was a fantastic meal, Signature food at s regular TS price. The server - normally assigned at the Top of the World in Bay Lake Tower - was enthusiast, careful and knowledgeable. He made great wine recommendations.

I had the crab cake for appetizer. It reminded me the signature crab cake at the Flying Fish Cafe. The other crab cakes I have eaten at WDW and in Canada were not as good as these ones. I had a glass of a dry riesling.

Then, I ordered a steak (medium) with the gratin of potatoes and a béarnaise sauce. The steak was cooked perfectly and tender. The potatoes were succulent. I asked for a second cup of sauce! Paired with a Cabernet Sauvignon.

The atmosphere was the only downside. With no window, the venue looks like a basement and it is noisy. There is effort with the decor (Walt and WDW photographs on walls) but it is not a great room.

 

[Govolz1]

All the video bloggers seemed to be praising the heck out of this restaurant, yet when I go on Yelp it's not getting the stellar ratings that the bloggers would have you believe. Has anyone tried it first hand and what was your overall verdict? We are going to have two days in the MK....we agreed to do Tony's one day, as when we tried it on our first DW trip we did not find it to be bad at all, despite all the hate it gets. Trying to figure out dinner the second day is going to be more challenging. I thought about trying to score Steakhouse 71. I don't want to get too far away from the MK in case we decide to go back into the park after dinner. My son likes steak....and hot dogs....so it's either Steakhouse 71....or Casey's (which I've never tried personally).

I just got back from a week at WDW and hands down Steakhouse 71 is the place to eat right now. The food was excellent as well as the service. If I had 1 place to eat, it would be there.

 

[Old Man Goofy Runner]

IMHO this is just a way overpriced Longhorn Steakhouse. The steak is nothing to write home about, and the dessert we had was terrible. We didn't even bother eating all of it. Maybe they were just having a bad night, but we will not be back. I will say our server was great, apologized for the extremely long wait we had. I've said it elsewhere but the capacity management at many of the restaurants has become horrible. We checked in online 20 minutes prior to our 8:10 PM "reservation", checked in again when we arrived, and weren't seated until 8:40. And then to top it off we didn't get our food until 9:30.

 

[Macprincess]

We had a party of four for breakfast here earlier this week. In addition, my husband and I had dinner here last night.

Our party of 4 at breakfast consisted of one teen, two adults and Grandma. Our table ordered two orders of Walt's prime rib hash, one steakhouse 71 feast and a veggie omelet. We shared quite a bit and hands down everyone's favorite item was Walt's prime rib hash. Our family loved this meal. Service was amazing. The food was creative, high quality and definitely a meal we will make the effort to return to. 10 out of 10. Our daughter graciously treated us to this meal as an early Christmas present. So I don't know what the check total was. This meal became a family favorite.

Given our stellar breakfast experience I admit we went into dinner with the bar set high. Hubs and I each ordered different apps and entrées and shared. We also shared one dessert.

For apps we had onion soup and the shrimp cocktail. My husband loved the soup. I liked it but did find it a bit sweet which was unexpected, at least for my experience with onion soup. I probably would skip this item and go with something else if I return again. The shrimp cocktail had a beautiful presentation and we both enjoyed this appetizer. On a side note the table next to us ordered the crab cakes app which they raved about and they looked amazing.

For dinner my husband ordered Prime rib and yorkshire with au gratin potatoes. It was alright, prepared well but given that the prime rib hash at breakfast was such a wow, we were both a bit underwhelmed with this dish. Honestly, It was not bad. It was just a standard prime rib dinner that can be ordered at a multitude of places. The server had suggested the au gratin potatoes. We both liked these but were not wowed by them. Our verdict was neither of us would order the prime rib for dinner here again as there are other things we would rather try on the dinner menu. I went with the filet mignon, med rare, with béarnaise and mac and cheese. My steak was cooked to perfection, it was a nice cut of meat and both of us enjoyed the béarnaise sauce. The mac and cheese was good. However, its very rich and the serving size is huge. Together we ate maybe a 1/4 of the serving. Because of this I would probably go with a veggie for a side in the future.

For dessert we went with the crème brulee which did not disappoint. It has both a vanilla and chocolate layer of custard. It's topped with berries. It was the perfect ending to the meal for us. We were tempted with the 15 layer chocolate cake. However, with such a filling meal we decided to go with the lighter dessert.

We had a lovely casual date night out at Steakhouse 71. We both agreed that we would rate our dinner experience as a 8 out of 10. The service was exceptional! Our food was good. However, will probably try different dishes next time. Which we both look forward to. Considering we were at Disney World I would say the value for the quality of the meal at this price point was very good. (We don't drink alcohol. Hubs had a Ice tea and coffee. I had a soda.) Our bill after our passholder discount without tip was $117.29. While we will more then likely return for dinner; we won't be in as big of a rush to get here again for dinner as we will be for breakfast.

 

[Pluto1976]

If I were choosing between hot dogs (Casey's) and steak (Steakhouse 71), I would definitely choose Steakhouse '71.

That being said, we enjoyed our meal there and would say the food was average for a WDW TS restaurant, but it does not compare to a WDW Signature TS restaurant (ex. California Grill). The steak and other food were nothing amazing but it was enjoyable and worth the costs. As others have said, the tables are rather close together so you will be near other diners. We tend to like more space from others when dining but it was not a big deal.

Would we go back? Not on our next visit, but would not rule it out either after a few more trips. If you want to get a break from the park, walk over to a restaurant from the MK, not in the mood for a hot dog, and grab a decent dinner Steakhouse '71 will work. Of course, there is always the California Grill at the Contemporary as well if you do not mind spending a bit more.

Lastly, Casey's is also good and worth a visit one day. Best of luck with your decision!

 

[Disturbia]

We had lunch in November and it was really good. We had onion rings, crab cakes, French onion soup, bread, steak, burgers, kids allergy friendly chicken, chocolate cake and creme brule. The price was reasonable (under $200 for 3 Disney adults, 1 child and 1 infant) and everything was fresh, hot (rare at WDW) and exceeded our mediocre Space220 dinner experience, although we might try it for lunch given a huge 5 yr old everything Space fan.

We prefer the BOG atmosphere (it’s only a once per trip deal now), but the service at Steakhouse 71 was exceptional. The walk from MK was not easy (we did sprint from BTM in 15 mins-not recommended). We were a bit late but they still accommodated us. The chef stopped by to discuss allergies and assured us that the chocolate cake was made in house and had no nuts in it. They even had Tofutti ice cream for our son (dairy allergies). We did Boma twice (best buffet and extremely accommodating chef). Steakhouse 71 is a close 2nd; it was an extremely comfortable and relaxed lunch and we will definitely go for dinner.

note: we had a 6:15 BOG reservations and they took over 40 mins past our reservation to seat us (we arrived 20 mins early); we skipped dessert to check in to the dessert party at 7:45 (fireworks at 8pm).

We used to love Ohana, but everything was served cold, the meats were inedible slathered with excessive BBQ sauce along with the stressful hour+ it took us to get there after fireworks (monorail was packed) made it a horrible experience. We will not be going until they serve the meats hot on skewers again. Same thing with Topolinos; last Nov the meals we had were exceptional and June the steaks were flavorless and chewy. Tiffins-mixed

Overall, I think Steakhouse71 is a solid choice on a MK day. If you’re planning on getting Genie+/LL then just do dinner after parks so nothing conflicts and you’re not running around (we did more QS than we ever had in the past 5 years)

 

[_19disnA]

Personally I learned to not trust Yelp whatsoever. I had first hand experience with the way reviews of a business can be skewed.

To explain: I trusted a restaurant review that had many glowing reports. My experience was was 180 degrees opposite and left a negative review that explained exactly why I said so. My review was put in "time out". I actually called them and asked why; I was told there was nothing I could do about it. I never go to Yelp for anything anymore. (ETA: there were literally no negative reviews)

I agree and consistent with my prior comment. Any website who artificially manipulates the reviews (good or bad) isn't one I would ever use. The above example sounds like a restaurant who pays Yelp their bribe fee and then they hide/bury the negative reviews in an attempt to inflate the overall rating.

 

[focusondisney]

The atmosphere was the only downside. With no window, the venue looks like a basement and it is noisy. There is effort with the decor (Walt and WDW photographs on walls) but it is not a great room.

Agree with you on the room. The room used to at least have a warm color scheme. My thoughts when I saw it was it looked like a cold school cafeteria. Nothing cozy or inviting at all. I really don’t think it is an upgrade or improvement on the previous decor.

 

[spot28]

We thoroughly enjoyed our breakfast at Steakhouse 71! Unlimited mimosas…

 

[LA Poolboy]

Our daughter got us a reservation for Steakhouse 71 for my Christmas present for our upcoming January visit to WDW. I have heard the Dis Unplugged crew rave about this restaurant since it was the Wave so we are really looking forward to trying it out. BTW, if the Dis Unplugged crew reviews a restaurant or a resort they paid the publicly available price. Pete will not review something he gets for free or the TA rate.

 

[JFox]

Follow up to my thoughts earlier.

The room is cozy, no windows. Like a nicely decorated dungeon. Dimly lit and high ambient noise level. We were seated on one edge of the dining room. There was a family of 4 on the other side. Each of their 2 kids had an iPad on full blast. They were battling each other to hear their respective videos. We could clearly hear both videos from across the dining room.

The house manager was walking around talking to the tables and acknowledged the disturbance but opted out of asking the parents to address the situation and instead was asking all the tables to "be understanding". I suggested maybe having complimentary headphones available. Our table wasn't the only one relieved to see them leave.

 

[eandt]

Follow up to my thoughts earlier.

The room is cozy, no windows. Like a nicely decorated dungeon. Dimly lit and high ambient noise level. We were seated on one edge of the dining room. There was a family of 4 on the other side. Each of their 2 kids had an iPad on full blast. They were battling each other to hear their respective videos. We could clearly hear both videos from across the dining room.

The house manager was walking around talking to the tables and acknowledged the disturbance but opted out of asking the parents to address the situation and instead was asking all the tables to "be understanding". I suggested maybe having complimentary headphones available. Our table wasn't the only one relieved to see them leave.

I would have politely asked them to keep their kids quiet. If they aren't told perhaps they will never realize how ignorant and disrespectful of others they are being. If they balked at my request I would take a page from their book and do my best to make their experience as uncomfortable as possible. This is not a restaurant issue, it is a parenting/societal issue.

 

[B-Ride]

If your are looking for a "definite verdict" you won't get it here. Tastes vary. As Don Cherry used to say - "That is why they make so many flavours of Jello".

And for those of you who have no idea who Don Cherry is that is a "Hockey Night in Canada reference". Oh and he coached the Bruins at one point too.

 

[live2teach123]

Has anyone had success ordering the grilled cheese for dinner? It is only on the lunch menu.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Has anyone had success ordering the grilled cheese for dinner? It is only on the lunch menu.

Haven't asked here but on my last trip my traveling companion asked for a lunch item for dinner elsewhere. We learned that it's up to the chef working no matter where you ask. And if they have the ingredients for said item. Since you'll be asking for just bread and cheese I'm sure they have it. So your issue is going to be it's up to the chef. Even if someone else had a yes, or a no, it wouldn't have any bearing on what you encountered since you could have a different chef working that day.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I don't ever use Yelp or Trip Advisor to judge a WDW restaurant. Disney is such a different animal from the real world. however I don't go with Disney bloggers either unless i know they paid for the meal themselves. Some of them do, and they disclose it.

I love the cocktails. someone upthread said the cocktails were not good. its all subjective