Restaurant Experiences

StupidJudy wrote:

This last trip we only did counter service meals and since we had never tried Pinocchio’s Village Haus I wanted to check it out. The girl behind the counter was sooo confused, she got our order all wrong, wrong entrées, wrong drinks, in the confusion I ended up with a tomato and cheese flatbread which wasn’t on my bill and it was the worst thing I have ever eaten at Disney. Good thing it was free!

Oh Nooooo… that sounds like a terrible experience!! I’m guessing you won’t be back for another try

StupidJudy wrote:

This last trip we only did counter service meals and since we had never tried Pinocchio’s Village Haus I wanted to check it out. The girl behind the counter was sooo confused, she got our order all wrong, wrong entrées, wrong drinks, in the confusion I ended up with a tomato and cheese flatbread which wasn’t on my bill and it was the worst thing I have ever eaten at Disney. Good thing it was free!

I’m sorry to hear about the bad experience at Pinocchio’s I’ve heard a string of those recently. I feel like sometimes places go through a phase of being bad, maybe because of staff changes, or menu changes. I’ve been to places that have been fantastic, then been bad, and I’ve had the reverse where the first time wasn’t great, but the next visit blew me away.

Those flatbreads at the Mara are AMAZING! Between those and the butternut squash soup, one trip we ate dinner there 3 times because we were loving it so much!

Guess what I’m looking forward to on my next trip? I’ll give you a hint: We’re staying at Jambo House!

Artist point was awesome! Love the food (and beer) at Hoop de do Revue. Ohana, Kona, Coral Reef, Le Celier, whispering canyon and I could go on and on and on.

StupidJudy wrote:

I actually don’t mind the pizzas at PizzeRizzo! The combo with ceasar salad was pretty good for what it was.

We still havn’t been to PizzeRizzo… I look forward to going this year to see how that whole area has changed !

chucksmart wrote:

My favorite on property so far is Boma, both food and service were outstanding every time we went there.

Agree 100%. So good!

starbee wrote:

Our last visit to The Garden Grill left a lot to be desired. We’ve been there more times than I can count over the years, but our last trip was myself, my husband and my brother. All adults. The food was fantastic, the server was great at coming around and asking what we wanted more of, but he neglected to keep our drinks refilled. The most disappointing part was the characters. They kept walking by our table and never stopped. We had to flag them down to get them to interact. At first I thought that was because we were eating the first time they came by, maybe they’ll stop next time. Nope. We did it for the experience (the characters and rotating through the scenes of Living With the Land) as well as the food so we were disappointed. This was our first visit to The Garden Grill without children. We got plenty of attention from the characters at Tusker House earlier in the trip, which was a group of 5 adults, so I don’t know why that happened here. When they did stop it was extremely brief. The restaurant didn’t seem all that busy either, we actually had a reservation for an hour later but tried to get in early and got seated immediately. At least the food was good.

I am shocked (and saddened) to read this! Garden Grill is the one character dining where we never had an issue when traveling without kids. Always good food, great service, and the best character interaction out of ANY character dining we have ever done (with or without the little ones)… I’m so sorry to hear!

Based solely on surprise value (not listing all favorites/bad experiences)…
Good:
Artist Point- This was a replacement ADR when our Spirit of Aloha show was cancelled due to weather. Wow! Food, service, atmosphere. Awesome.
Sci-Fi – I had heard very mixed reviews, and went in expecting at least to be underwhelmed. Our food was great, our service was good, fun atmosphere, and our kids were “honorary guest chefs” where one of the chefs came out and helped them make their sundaes.
Hollywood & Vine Disney Jr Breakfast- After multiple abysmal experiences at Chef Mickeys, I expected to really have to suffer through this one for the sake of my kids… Pleasantly, the food was excellent, hot, and selection was fantastic. Character interaction was good, service was excellent.
Bad:
Whispering Canyon- Meh food, poor service, waited long after our ADR to get in (we were there 30 min before ADR, and there were walk-in guests that arrived after and seated before us). The shakes were underwhelming at best, and we asked for ketchup and received one half-empty bottle on the opposite side of the table we were sitting at.
‘Ohana breakfast- We usually enjoy dinner at this location, breakfast however was a one-and-done occasion. Cold food, poor character interaction (even with a 2 year-old princess seated at the table), service was rushed when they were there and then MIA for a long period of time.
Akershus princess breakfast- Seemed the princesses (with the exception of Ariel) never could make it to our table before a dance/song/whatever to interrupt coming to the table, then would head to a totally different section of the restaurant after the activity (2 kids at our table). Ended up with most of our photos/autographs at the end as we are getting pushed out the door. Food was decent and plentiful, but not noteworthy. Saw our server once, finally asked another to help us with coffee refills and finally our server showed up and said the coffee maker was broken.

Those were our biggest surprises, have other favorites and disasters, but I’ll save those for another thread