Restaurants to avoid

[Princess Disney Mom]

Just got back from 8 days with the dining plan and I must say reading this board I was so worried. However I enjoyed Kona/1900 Park Fare/CM/Crystal Palace.

 

[Must C Mickey]

DHS - ABC Commissary

MK - Pinnochio's Village Haus(or something like that, it's right beside of the Dumbo ride & It's a Small World)

Epcot - San Angel

Animal Kingdom - Rain Forest Cafe (only b/c i prefer the one @ DTD)

 

[flamom]

We have reservations in August for Coral Reef and it seems like the majority of the posts list this as one to avoid. I guess I will just hope for the best....

we ate lunch at the Coral Reef on June 20th and i have to say it was the best lunch i have ever had (was my birthday). it's now one of my favorite epcot restaurants.

 

[flamom]

the only place i don't have any desire to go back to is TeppanEdo. my children loved it but for the price we had a chef that didn't do anything other then make the volcano he burnt the vegetables just wasn't good. i've had better food,show at bennihana.

 

[etoiles]

After going to Disney World this month the only restaurant I would never go back to is Marrakesh. The vegetable couscous was the plainest Morrocan food I have ever tried and had no real Morrocan spices in it. I could and have made better.

 

[brandydan]

I'm still in the process of figuring out our ADRs for our first-ever trip to WDW, adn am very very VERY thankful for threads like this. Like many poster have noted, what one person likes another hates, and service and food can vary from year to year.

That being said, we decided to overpay and do the Deluxe Meal Plan simply because we want to be able to sit down at a 'nice' place (because being on the TX/MX border, there are no real fancy places to eat, and we were intrigued by the Signature dining. Thankfully (for me) there have not been too many bad reviews on them, and outside of a ressie for Tony's which I will most likely cancel, we hope to be spared.

Since it's just the two of us, we don't need to be entertained during meals, so for us we aren't focused on eating with princesses or chipmunks, and neither of us want to eat take-out (because we'll be on VACATION!!!), but I know that we might have awful experiences anyway. We don't expect 5-star restaurants (it's a theme park), but we also would like to have a decent meal here and there.

Or Not.

But we won't eat at the Commisary.

 

[GovieMom]

the only place i don't have any desire to go back to is TeppanEdo. my children loved it but for the price we had a chef that didn't do anything other then make the volcano

Same with us; our chef made a volcano, said "ooh" and that was it for the show. Even our kids weren't impressed.

 

[michelleiada]

Avoid the Sci-Fi Dine In Theater at Hollywood Studios. We ate there on our most recent vacation and it was horrible. I ordered ribs and coudn't even eat them they were so bad. My daughters got the steaks and the were "ok". I will never eat there again. We also found Coral Reef to be a bit of a disappointment. The atmosphere was nice and our server was excellent, but the food was just ok. We all ordered steak and my parents steaks were nothing but grisel and they sent them back only to be replaced by steaks with more...grisel...YUCK! I felt so bad for them. Neither of them are picky eaters either.

 

[GoldieSaysMeep]

I have been eating many years at WDW. IMO the DDP ruined the menus!
Over the years they have been dumbing down the menus until very little is left

I totally agree about the DDP ruining the menus.

 

[Iwant2BAprincess]

I have 2 never agains-

Mama Melrose-EVERYTHING-including the asparagus-tasted like smoke/charcoal-if I closed my eyes I would have never guessed what I was eating.

Marrakesh-We had a combo platter that included lamb-It smelled like a barn animal when it was served and tasted like a barn animal too

 

[NC State]

I think all restaurants at Disney are great and maybe we hit these two on a bad night. The only two restaurants that I don't care to go back are:

1) Marrakesh - the food had no flavor and it was just a big disappointment.

2) Liberty Tree Traven - the food was good, if you like Stoffer's Fozen Meals
(I can do this at home but not on vacation).

 

[B-Ride]

I'm hoping everybody will join in and add their own opinion to this list. While one persons opinion is just that, everybody can use it as a guide line. Of course facts are facts. For example the reason i started this thread, Kona Cafe. My wife and i ate there on May 7th with a 8:30PM reservation. While the service was good, the fruit flies were not. Fruit flies you ask? Yes, fruit flies. I'm not sure if they migrated in from the kitchen or not. Were else would they have come from? Also the Prime Rib and NY strip steak were ok. The NY was under cooked and PR was bland. Not worth another visit. In my opinion.

Funny, but your start to this thread indicates just how pointless it is. For any restaurant at WDW there will always be someone who has a bad experience. As far as my family is concerned Kona is the most underated restaurant at WDW and we have eaten there 3 times without a bad thing to say. If you start removing restaurants because 1 person has a bad experience there will be nothing left.

Come to think of it, this is a great thread. Remove every restaurant from the list of places to eat and I won't have such a hard time getting an ADR.

 

[dacky041208]

Just got back from 8 days with the dining plan and I must say reading this board I was so worried. However I enjoyed Kona/1900 Park Fare/CM/Crystal Palace.

Threads like this can be fun, but you can't usually take it too seriously unless you see a place that everyone seems to dislike. I read a bunch of negative reviews of WCC, but my wife and I ate there last week and thought the skillet was the best meal we've had period at WDW. For us, I think the only place we don't plan on going back to is the Sci Fi, but I know plenty of other people do like the food there.

 

[polineedyan]

i didnt care much for tangerine cafe. I love gyros, and they were okay..the side dishes left a lot to be desired.
As for offsite, I have to tell you that I went to Chevy's offsite on the recomendation of people from the chat room. I was pretty embarrased when the table they tried to give us had no less than 6 flies on it..
We moved to a cleaner station, the server was very good, the food was mainstreamed mexican..not real authentic..

 

[gonzo76]

ABC Commisary. YUCK

 

[redrosesix]

The Sci-Fi. The food went downhill - way downhill. Last time I had the ribs. They were mostly fat.

On top of that the show isn't even sci-fi anymore. It's a bunch of commercials for the snack bar and a cartoon. I was embarrassed when we took 2 first timers here last year. They were expecting a lot of 50s sci-fi clips (like it used to be in the 90s). The show has been so tamed down that now it's just another kiddie restaurant.

We went to Sci-fi in Feb and had a different experience. DH loved the campy old movie clips. I had the Reuben sandwich and fries with a choc. milkshake and thought it was perfect. DH had a burger and liked it -- but the wait was pretty long to get in and the service was sloooooowwwww.

My worst meal at WDW was the Princess meal at Norway. (Akershus) The dinner did not live up to it's expectations. The Princess interaction was good and the server was good. The food quality was below average. For the price I paid for my dinner I expected better food quality. (We did order American meals) Another gripe I had is if I'm paying that much money for my meal my shrimp need to already be peeled!! Now as for the Princess breakfast at Akershus it was wonderful. Great food, great interaction and wonderful service.

We went to Akershus for lunch. We didn't eat the American style food and we were very happy with our meals and the buffet.

The only restaurant we have decided not to return to is Pinocchios. The food was subpar for CS food and the selection was poor in our opinions. We will not return there unless there is a significant change in the menu.
While Disney dining tends to be expensive due to location, we have been satisfied with other options.

We had the pizza there -- everybody in our party (14 people) thought it was great, but they made mistakes on 2 of the orders, gave us 2 extra pizzas and that was way too much food.

I have to agree with everybody on Yak & Yeti CS -- haven't done TS. it has the award for being the only restaurant in North America where DD wouldn't eat the fried rice. The steamed rice was pretty good -- almost as good as what I can make at home. I actually liked the veggies in the s&S entree -- but that was the only thing I liked besides the rice.

I will never go back to Rosie's All American Cafe (Sunset Blvd in DHS). Absolutely the worst burgers in all of WDW, and I had to wait over 1/2 hour in line to get them.

BTW, the kids menu is the same everywhere, and DD refuses to eat anything but the pizza and mac & cheese -- those aren't bad, but after a few days it gets real old real fast. If it weren't for the sides and buying adult meals for her, she would starve.

And even though we love the convenience of the CS restaurants, we never, ever order dessert there -- same few offerings at each and every one. Instead, we pick up pastries or ice creams from one of the smaller shops. This is why we'll never buy the DDP.

 

[dstevens]

Funny, but your start to this thread indicates just how pointless it is. For any restaurant at WDW there will always be someone who has a bad experience. As far as my family is concerned Kona is the most underated restaurant at WDW and we have eaten there 3 times without a bad thing to say. If you start removing restaurants because 1 person has a bad experience there will be nothing left.

Come to think of it, this is a great thread. Remove every restaurant from the list of places to eat and I won't have such a hard time getting an ADR.

I don't think any reasonable person is going to avoid a restaurant just because several people did not like it. If you read through the entire thread you will find there are some restaurants (ABC Commissary, Coral Reef and Sci-Fi for example) that have virtually no positive comments. Earlier in the thread somebody kept track of the positive, so so and negative comments per restaurant. As previously mentioned, be wary, but try any restaurant you desire. Just remember you were warned to stay away from the worst offenders.

 

[pilesoflaundry]

Sunshine Seasons:
Have tried it 4x now, since the poorly done re-design of The Land--and have walked away disappointed each time. Great looking but bland, overpriced food in a very noisy atmosphere. The bakery's still good, though!

It was absolutely gross when we went in June. Once was enough. All the food was overcooked. The roasted chicken was dry and the kids sweet and sour chicken was I'm not even sure it was chicken and heavy on the pineapple. The mashed potatoes were good but honestly they were so full of butter it's a possibility they were bad and you couldn't tell

 

[Amy&Dan]

I don't think any reasonable person is going to avoid a restaurant just because several people did not like it. If you read through the entire thread you will find there are some restaurants (ABC Commissary, Coral Reef and Sci-Fi for example) that have virtually no positive comments. Earlier in the thread somebody kept track of the positive, so so and negative comments per restaurant. As previously mentioned, be wary, but try any restaurant you desire. Just remember you were warned to stay away from the worst offenders.

And I have had excellent meals at Sci Fi and Coral Reef and used to love ABC Commissary (until they removed the Cuban Sandwich). I am not at all saying your thread is pointless. To me its fun. I get a kick out of seeing the various responses. But in spite of the fact this thread is lengthy, it still represents a teeny, tiny little slice of WDW dining experiences. I have seen more than my share of postive reviews of Sci Fi and Coral Reef. I can tell you this, Sci Fi is one of the hardest places to get into as is Coral Reef. They both have an experience to offer alongside the food. So you may not come away feeling like Emeril cooked your meal, but you will likely come away thinking you had a fun, unique experience.

I think people should also be wary of places that get a lot of hype (Le Cellier comes to mind). Because that can lead up to expections that cannot be met and even the best places in WDW can have off nights or a run of off nights.

 

[goofy4prez]

And I have had excellent meals at Sci Fi and Coral Reef and used to love ABC Commissary (until they removed the Cuban Sandwich).

When did they remove the Cuban Sandwich from the menu? We were there in January(09) and it was still on the menu.That sandwich is the main reason why we will never step foot in the ABC Commissary again; It tasted like it came from Cuba, 5 years ago that is.

Just another example of how one person can love something and another has a completely different opinion.