Chef Mickey Dinner - Worst Meal of My Life

We went to Chef Mickey's maybe 4 or 5 years ago and it wasn't great. Believe me when I say you didn't miss much by passing on the Mickey ravioli...it was like Chef Boy R Dee! The only things I remember enjoying were the Mac & Cheese & Mickey Domes.

It was great having Mickey & Friends come right to the table but so not worth it! I'd go for breakfast because I figure that has to be a little better but we'll never go back for dinner.
 
Ate at CM once back in 2009 for my sons 16th bday dinner. Had a custom cake ordered to be brought out during dinner. There were 4 of us in my party and needless to say, I was underwhelmed. It was my first and only character meal. The characters did come around and spend a good deal of time with each table so that was cool but we were all adults and not there just for the characters.

The food was no better than what you'd see at any $11.99 buffet anywhere else. It was just average.

But the real kicker was when they brought the birthday cake out. Spent 2 weeks calling and emailing to tell them what I wanted and guess what? The cake wasn't even remotely close to what I ordered. I mean, not at ALL close. I had asked them several times prior if they wanted pics to see what I was talking about. I wanted the famous "Haunted Mansion Cake" over in the cake thread. I got a small sheet cake with an image of the HM on it (like how they take real pics and put the image on the cake).

The manager did knock $40 off the (then) $165 cake. Disney later called me and said they would comp me a cake in the future but we haven't back since and Im not sure they would honor it now.

Either way, I will never pay for a CM meal again. Food just isnt worth it.
 
I agree 100% that CM dinner is not worth the money. We first went in 2005 & 2006 for both breakfast and dinner and enjoyed it. When we went back for dinner in 2013 I was incredibly disappointed and vowed not to return for dinner. There were no good options and I am far from picky. Even their mac & cheese tasted bad and I typically don't discriminate w/ mac & cheese. We had breakfast there last August and thought it was good. The quality of the food was good, not great, but the atmosphere and service made up for it at breakfast. I'm looking forward to trying the brunch in August.

In the meantime, we tried Tusker House for the first time when we went this past November. I was nervous about that one because my daughter is a super picky eater but my daughter and everyone else in our dining party loved it. We went again in April and had another great experience. We're booked to return there again this August.

Fingers crossed for CM brunch!
 
We ate at CM 2 years ago. It was the best meal of our trip and the kids still rave about it. The food was good, the buffet was clean, and character interaction was awesome. It is sad to hear that it has gone down in quality. I don't think we will be heading back anytime soon!
 


I'm sorry to hear about your experience. We did Christmas dinner there last year and given it wasn't the best meal ever it certainly wasn't the worst. Our problems were the exact opposite of yours. We waited an hour to be seated then we sat right next to a serving door. We kept getting hit when we stood to take a pic with a character. We liked the food though. 1900 Park Fare, dinner.....now that was absolutely the worst meal EVER. So I know how you feel. Just FYI, don't go there if you think CM was bad.
 
Giving Chef Mickey's dinner another shot this August. We haven't been to their dinner service since 2010 and even then, it was only okay. My family always enjoys the breakfast service (went once in 2010 and once last July) (Yeah, we went to CM twice in 2010, LOL) and since it ranks as one of my sister's favorite restaurants in WDW, we're going to have a little sister's night out here this summer. I agree that the food hasn't been the best on property, but we always seem to find things we enjoy so I'm still keeping an open mind for this year.

That being said, my family always uses the DDP- we'd probably be skipping Chef Mickeys this trip if we weren't. I think everyone here has merited concerns (for the most part)- Disney can't continuously keep serving "okay-ish" character meals and charging hundreds of dollars for it. Where is the value in booking a buffet meal if you only pick up half a plate of food?
 
My final visit to Chef Mickeys was in 2012. We've been back to WDW four times since & it isn't even on our radar now.

My main problem was a complete lack of anything resembling sanitary conditions along the buffet line...

There were food spills along the counter that no one was cleaning up, there were serving utensils being shared among several entrès, food on the floor (which I slipped in) and someone placed a serving spoon onto the counter from the floor that ended up back in a serving dish. Where the CMs were who were responsible for the upkeep of the line were was a complete mystery.

Can't see myself paying a premium for that kind of dining experience again... so we've passed.
 


Oh man, i just made reservations to this yesterday, should have done a search first. We were looking for something on the Monorail line so cancelling this and will eat at Kona Cafe instead.
 
We had a fantastic dinner at Chef Mickey's in early December 2014. We were there for the atmosphere, no expectations on the food in advance.

I don't want to negate the OP's bad experience (it does sound like the food was awful that night) but I just want to share my own positive review.

We went right at 5pm. I personally think going early, when the food is fresh and plentiful and neatly presented on the buffet tables, is key to a successful experience at any buffet. By the time we were leaving it was extremely crowded and hoards of people waiting to get in.

I had a 3 individual metal bowl servings (very small) of the beef short ribs w/polenta that a PP mentioned early on in this thread. The meat was delicious. I also had 1 other plate, mostly salads (e.g. tomato/bocconcini) that were decent. DH had some kind of carved meats, salad, bread etc.-possibly 2-3 plates. Kids had one plate of the usually kids fare and there were no complaints on their end. I'm sure I threw on some kind of broccoli or carrots. Then the kids and DH had self serve ice cream/sundae toppings. I tried a few of the little desserts which were not great but oh well.

For the record, we have also eaten dinners at CRT, Akershus, Garden Grill, and Crystal Palace. In my opinion, food at Chef Mickey's was comparable to all of these places i.e. it is the experience that makes these character meals memorable, not the food.
 
The Librarian said:
We had a fantastic dinner at Chef Mickey's in early December 2014. We were there for the atmosphere, no expectations on the food in advance.

I don't want to negate the OP's bad experience (it does sound like the food was awful that night) but I just want to share my own positive review.

We went right at 5pm. I personally think going early, when the food is fresh and plentiful and neatly presented on the buffet tables, is key to a successful experience at any buffet. By the time we were leaving it was extremely crowded and hoards of people waiting to get in.

I had a 3 individual metal bowl servings (very small) of the beef short ribs w/polenta that a PP mentioned early on in this thread. The meat was delicious. I also had 1 other plate, mostly salads (e.g. tomato/bocconcini) that were decent. DH had some kind of carved meats, salad, bread etc.-possibly 2-3 plates. Kids had one plate of the usually kids fare and there were no complaints on their end. I'm sure I threw on some kind of broccoli or carrots. Then the kids and DH had self serve ice cream/sundae toppings. I tried a few of the little desserts which were not great but oh well.

For the record, we have also eaten dinners at CRT, Akershus, Garden Grill, and Crystal Palace. In my opinion, food at Chef Mickey's was comparable to all of these places i.e. it is the experience that makes these character meals memorable, not the food.
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I agree. Had a good time with the characters and had plenty of prime rib and other food.
 
i think if you get there early you will probably enjoy it better. It sounds like if you have a later reservation then it's russian roulette as far as food quality goes. I can say that if I find soggy salad I would ask for new salad but that's me. I did do that at crystal palace once and they brought out new salad. not sure about CMs though. I have to say I find the best food IMHO to be dinner at 1900 parkfair. but again that's my opinion
 
Sorry OP for your CM experience. I read so much negativity about CM that I can't believe it's still one of the hardest ADR's to get.

We go to CM breakfast most every trip (less expensive) and enjoy the food. We (including our kids) love the mickey waffles, different egg dishes, carved ham....

As a general rule, we try to avoid character dinners. One, the cost is always highest at dinner time. Two, character meal buffet food is not the greatest, we all know that, so if we're going to have fun with the characters and have adequate/good food, then it's hard to go wrong with breakfast (in our opinion...).
 
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