Be our guest lunch was just bad

[wdwfan1]

We are lunch here on Tuesday 9/8 and it was a terrible experience. We checked in and paid for our pre-ordered meal just fine. Then the problems started. The lunch was clearly overbooked as there were many families searching for a place to sit. This made it extremely difficult for us, since my dd has a fairly large wheelchair that can't block any of the aisles, but can't fit into the center areas. In the past we've asked for assistance in finding a table (since we needed access to an outlet for her medical equipment) and were helped happily. On this visit, the two CM's basically refused and said go find your own seat.

After wandering for 15+ min, a table opened up that she fit at. We settled in and noticed the smell. It was almost 100 degrees outside, and there were literally 20+ trash carts wandering through the restaurant clearing old food. The stench was just overpowering in the heat. By the time my food arrived I was so nauseous I could barely eat.

My son had the potato leek soup and kids turkey sandwich, which he enjoyed. I had the croque Monsieur, which was not enjoyable at all. The ham felt very low quality, the sandwich was cold and slimy, and the toasted bread was soggy. I have had this meal in the past and enjoyed it. Cupcakes were just ok-- the flavoring on the lemon meringue especially tasted chemically.

I don't think we'll be back any time soon. Our first time lunch at Tony's (had pizza, zucchini, and creme brulee) which I was very nervous about was actually very good. Just goes to show that you can't always judge a restaurant by what you read on the internet. Especially since I'm sure someone else had the opposite experience on the same day.

We did not like it either. Dinner was much better.

 

[Princess Mulan]

Looks like most of these bad reviews are from Last year. We are going in Nov and have adr for lunch at BOG. Is it still a pain to find a table? I'm considering canceling it and going to a different quick service meal.

BOG's lunch has suffered from a decline in the quality of the food, at least in our experience. When it first opened, the lunch entrees were delicious. With each visit over the years, however, the quality has decreased, so much so that after our lunch in May I don't think I will try to get an ADR for future visits. It's not that the food is bad; it's just that the food is not the high quality that it used to be. If you've never been before, it is worth an ADR to see the theming and to have a fairly pleasant air-conditioned spot for lunch. Just don't expect better quality food than what you would find at any other counter service in the Magic Kingdom.

 

[CS Torkelson]

I'm so sorry to hear some of these bad stories!! We had dinner there very early last year and it was a fabulous time all around. We're eating breakfast there later this year. We're going to preorder. Keeping our finger crossed!

 

[Rich M]

BOG's lunch has suffered from a decline in the quality of the food, at least in our experience. When it first opened, the lunch entrees were delicious. With each visit over the years, however, the quality has decreased, so much so that after our lunch in May I don't think I will try to get an ADR for future visits. It's not that the food is bad; it's just that the food is not the high quality that it used to be. If you've never been before, it is worth an ADR to see the theming and to have a fairly pleasant air-conditioned spot for lunch. Just don't expect better quality food than what you would find at any other counter service in the Magic Kingdom.

If its no better than any other counter service in Magic Kingdom then if you could get a reservation is it worth it to have or is it not worth all the other hassles that go with it?

 

[skipfierce]

BOG's lunch has suffered from a decline in the quality of the food, at least in our experience. When it first opened, the lunch entrees were delicious. With each visit over the years, however, the quality has decreased, so much so that after our lunch in May I don't think I will try to get an ADR for future visits. It's not that the food is bad; it's just that the food is not the high quality that it used to be. If you've never been before, it is worth an ADR to see the theming and to have a fairly pleasant air-conditioned spot for lunch. Just don't expect better quality food than what you would find at any other counter service in the Magic Kingdom.

I ended up just canceling our reservation for lunch and getting one for Kona Cafe instead. I would still like to get a dinner ADR for BOG one day. I can't believe it was all booked up and I got online at 6:00 am the day I could make them too. Oh well. Thanks for the info.

 

[Princess Mulan]

If its no better than any other counter service in Magic Kingdom then if you could get a reservation is it worth it to have or is it not worth all the other hassles that go with it?

If you've never been, I think it is worth it to see the interior and have a fairly pleasant atmosphere for lunch, especially if the menu appeals to you. We haven't experienced any hassles with BOG. In all of our visits, we haven't had any trouble in finding a clean table, and we've appreciated having free refills on soft drinks. If you can't get a lunch ADR, don't stress about it because other counter services can be just as tasty. Columbia Harbor House is a good option, especially if you sit in the quieter upstairs area.

 

[seasonality]

This might be a stupid question...is it air conditioned in the BOG castle? OP mentioned it was hot outside and the trash cart smell made her nauseous. Wasn't sure if that meant it was not air conditioned or just that after being out in the heat all morning, the smell of trash while you eat is unappetizing (which I would completely agree with!).

 

[Boardwalk Tigger]

The place itself is very nice but crowded for lunch and I think the food is just awful!!!! We have been there several times but this year we are skipping. Really they need to upgrade their food quality.

 

[goofy4prez]

We had lunch at BOG this past Thursday and found the food to be very average and the experience awful. Let me start with the awful.

We had to wait in an incredible long line to report in and have our Magic Band scanned which took 15 minutes to get done for our 11:30 ADR. Once in we had to again stand in a long line with mass confusion among the cast member letting people in and those standing in line. When we did get to her we let her know that we already pre-ordered our food; she asked if we were on the dining plan, cash or credit. I told her we were paying with a Disney gift card or Visa. She told us to stand over to the side for a few minutes. During this time she kept letting people past us in both lines. After about 5 minutes I asked her what is up, again, just stand over there for a few minutes. Finally, and to no exaggeration we stood to the side for 15 minutes and I asked her once again and was told we will need to settle our food bill first... I will admit I was very frustrated at this point and said could we please just do that, settle the pre-ordered bill and go eat or either let us go to a terminal and re-order. She again said in a few minutes... At that point I said NO. I want to speak to a manager and I want to speak to him/her now, not in a few minutes, but now! The manager did come out and was very courteous and did take us to a terminal to finally pay our $168 lunch bill for 8 of us and were escorted to a table to eat.

When the food arrived it was a mix of opinion as to the food. Overall, I would rate it fair though I will admit I ordered the Tuna Nicoise Salad and enjoyed it and another in our party ordered the roast beef sandwich and said it was really good. The rest thought their carved turkey was ok but a bit dry and another was not overly impressed with the Quinoa Salad. What was a real disappointment was the rather uninspired size of the Masters cupcake a couple in our party ordered and the pathetically small and previously frozen look of the Eclaire a l'Orange that my wife ordered. It was truly a pathetic looking piece of pastry not even worthy to wear a Hostess or Little Debbie wrapper around it.

After this lunch we thought it was behind us, but a few days later on our night before we were checking out I went to the front desk at our resort (VGF) to settle up any remaining charges we had since I am one who just doesn't like or trust the automatic checkout where any remaining charges will be charged to our card. Sure enough on the printout there was an unpaid balance of you got it, $168 from BOG... The cast member at the desk told me it needed to be paid and would be charged to my card. I told her I would be right back with the receipt to show it had been paid. I brought down the receipt and also accessed my credit card account on my smart phone showing her the pending charge. She asked to make a copy of the receipt and mentioned that once the charge went through on my card they would then credit my Visa. My response, not going to happen (yes I was friendly). You have the receipt, you see the pending charge; You go to charge that and I will call my Visa card as I sit in front of you and inform them I an contesting the charge. Whola, perhaps a few minutes of inconvenience to her, but problem solved and no charge to me.

To sum it all up. Never again for me at BOG. Certainly not for breakfast and their $25 Cronut or Disney Egg McMuffin... Never again for lunch after this... And the dinner menu just has little appeal to me. The decor is awesome, but not worth the aggravation and the loss of time we experienced that day.

 

[CS Torkelson]

This might be a stupid question...is it air conditioned in the BOG castle? OP mentioned it was hot outside and the trash cart smell made her nauseous. Wasn't sure if that meant it was not air conditioned or just that after being out in the heat all morning, the smell of trash while you eat is unappetizing (which I would completely agree with!).

Yes, it is air conditioned.

 

[pjOhana]

Hope this all gets straightened out. Is it switch time for cast members who have contracts? Are they getting accustomed to a new position? Hopefully so...
We have eaten there many many times and always been happy. (of course I always have the pot roast)

 

[momtotaryn]

I must admit, due to the many negative reviews for BOG lunch, we decided to do BOG dinner instead. So happy that our experience was wonderful! We loved our meals, the ambiance was beautiful, and meeting the Beast was icing on the cake! One of these days, we may try BOG lunch. Hopefully by the time we get to WDW in the future, the issues will be worked out.

 

[bluezy]

We ate lunch there two weeks ago and thought it was just as good as when we ate there last June. Everyone enjoyed their food and actually thought it was better than most CS locations in MK (though CHH is a definite close second). We didn't have any desserts. We had no trouble finding a clean table for a party of 8 @ 11:40. A CM came over and checked our receipt within a few seconds of us sitting down and our food was brought to the table in less than 10 minutes.

My only complaint was the check-in process. We found this to be much more tedious and disorganized than last year. Last summer when we checked in we were sent to a specific and well-defined line (clearly roped off). There was one very efficient CM confirming the pre-orders and taking care of the payments. It took less than a minute for most parties so there really wasn't much of a wait (3 minutes tops). Anyone who had not pre-ordered was sent to a 2nd very defined area (again, marked with ropes) to line up for a kiosk. This year it was just one big area and they told the parties who had pre-ordered to stay to the left of the area. There was no real line so you didn't necessarily get helped in the order that you arrived. Who ever squirmed to the front of the pack the quickest got helped first. The CMs (there were 2 this time) were not very quick and didn't seem to be confident/efficient in what they were doing. We waited about 10 minutes to get to the CM and then it took him a few minutes to go through our orders and then take care of the payment. Other than that, we had a good experience.

I wouldn't say this is a "must do" for us each trip, but we did still enjoy it this year and will probably do it again on our next trip.

 

[lilmomma00]

Sorry you had a bad experience! We loved our dinner! My steak was perfectly cooked!

 

[hjvigz72]

YIKES - not very stellar reviews. We have resies for 11 for lunch on New Years Day. Should we be reconsidering? Sounds like food is just meh and seating will be even worse.

 

[Shanti]

YIKES - not very stellar reviews. We have resies for 11 for lunch on New Years Day. Should we be reconsidering? Sounds like food is just meh and seating will be even worse.

We had a lovely, tasty lunch there in February 2014, and a good breakfast there in January this year. In neither case did we have any trouble getting a good, clean table.

Remember that all restaurants get good and bad reviews, and that a thread titled "Be our guest lunch was just bad" is going to attract the posters who didn't happen to enjoy their experience there. There are plenty of other people who loved it.

If you are interested in trying a new restaurant, I recommend you do so, and not be scared away by someone else's opinion.

 

[mom2my3kids]

We did lunch last year, and while it was beautiful and glad we did it we wont do it again..food was not that good for what you pay..

 

[Vijoge]

Oh I'm glad (sort of) to see this from others!! The scowl on my face when we left BOG had to have been one for the record books!! What a miserable experience! It took us over an hour and a half for LUNCH!! Between the messed up orders, cold food, rudeness from other guests and CM's who clearly didn't want us to be their guests....in the 90+ minutes we were there:
- I was chastised for ordering a kid's meal (we were on the DDP and it shouldn't have mattered anyways...if anything, they save the money! It's a grilled cheese sandwich!)
- My cousin was sworn at by an adult male guest for beating him to a clean table. This probably wouldn't have happened if some tables had been cleared but instead, several CMs stood around gossiping by the beverage bar...
- I was sworn at by a woman because I took the last straw (I guess it was her last straw ) Again, no CMs refilling anything. There was also no silverware available besides a few dirty knives. When I asked one of the 3 CMs standing there I was given a dirty look and told to go to another room to find them. There were none there either and we had to ask the server.
- The floor in the ballroom (not where we sat but I walked through on the silverware hunt) was wet from a spill and I almost fell! Several other guests were slipping too...no one cared obviously. There was no one around to clean it up or even put up a "wet floor" sign.
- My 4 year old niece's meal never showed up! Then the CM just said "sorry" and walked off! Um no, I don't think so! It took 3 CMs before we got it resolved (refunded) and we had long since finished our meals (she just ate from our meals and was fine). Our food that did arrive wasn't great and was cold. However, the server was the nicest person we encountered in the place!
- The poor young honeymooners next to us had been sitting there for 40 minutes and hadn't seen their food yet...I wanted to complain on their behalf.
- After I ate my (cold) meal, I went to wander around and see the other rooms (they were all very pretty!) 2 CMs I had asked for things gave me dirty looks as I walked by (I wanted to ask them if they were secretly Gaston's henchmen but I figured the humour in it would be lost on them...) As I was about to leave and join the rest of my party outside the restaurant I realized I had left a bag under the table! When I went back to get it, the man about to sit down swore at me (said I was "f****** ruthless and to find another f****** table!"), I just said I had left something and told him to enjoy his meal and have a great day...wow!

It certainly wasn't a magical meal but the setting was pretty and the cupcakes were good...It's hard to say if I would return or not. For me, it didn't live up to the hype. I hope they change it up and make it a flat out TS place and get rid of the QS elements

Bolding mine. You would really consider going back after all that?

 

[disneyquilter]

My family and I (keep in mind, we had 8 adults in our party) have eaten at BOG twice, once for lunch and once for dinner.

Dinner was fabulous. Got the Rose Room which was not disappointing, but people pilfering in and out taking photos of the rose were annoying. The food was wonderful, the service top notch.

We had lunch 3 days later, and it was terrible. We all had something different. The food came out at different times, it was difficult to find a table for 8 adults until finally a CM came over to help us get situated by moving tables together. By the time that was done, a large table opened up, and a manager moved us which proved to be a big pain in the rear after getting settled. When the seating debacle was over, the food came out at different times. 3 people got their sandwiches, then 5 minutes later I got my quiche, a few minutes after that my dad got his pork, and a few minutes after that, the rest of the food came out. The pork was luke warm everyone only got (maybe) 10 fries on their plates and those fries were cold. The dessert was alright. It's a cupcake. With this being said, we will definitely go back for dinner, but NEVER again go for lunch. It was just too chaotic of an experience for the price point.

 

[bluezy]

My family and I (keep in mind, we had 8 adults in our party) have eaten at BOG twice, once for lunch and once for dinner.

Dinner was fabulous. Got the Rose Room which was not disappointing, but people pilfering in and out taking photos of the rose were annoying. The food was wonderful, the service top notch.

We had lunch 3 days later, and it was terrible. We all had something different. The food came out at different times, it was difficult to find a table for 8 adults until finally a CM came over to help us get situated by moving tables together. By the time that was done, a large table opened up, and a manager moved us which proved to be a big pain in the rear after getting settled. When the seating debacle was over, the food came out at different times. 3 people got their sandwiches, then 5 minutes later I got my quiche, a few minutes after that my dad got his pork, and a few minutes after that, the rest of the food came out. The pork was luke warm everyone only got (maybe) 10 fries on their plates and those fries were cold. The dessert was alright. It's a cupcake. With this being said, we will definitely go back for dinner, but NEVER again go for lunch. It was just too chaotic of an experience for the price point.

There seems to be such a "hit or miss" thing

My family and I (keep in mind, we had 8 adults in our party) have eaten at BOG twice, once for lunch and once for dinner.

Dinner was fabulous. Got the Rose Room which was not disappointing, but people pilfering in and out taking photos of the rose were annoying. The food was wonderful, the service top notch.

We had lunch 3 days later, and it was terrible. We all had something different. The food came out at different times, it was difficult to find a table for 8 adults until finally a CM came over to help us get situated by moving tables together. By the time that was done, a large table opened up, and a manager moved us which proved to be a big pain in the rear after getting settled. When the seating debacle was over, the food came out at different times. 3 people got their sandwiches, then 5 minutes later I got my quiche, a few minutes after that my dad got his pork, and a few minutes after that, the rest of the food came out. The pork was luke warm everyone only got (maybe) 10 fries on their plates and those fries were cold. The dessert was alright. It's a cupcake. With this being said, we will definitely go back for dinner, but NEVER again go for lunch. It was just too chaotic of an experience for the price point.

There seems to be such a hit-or-miss thing going on with lunch at BOG. Our experience (also with 8 people -- all adults except for 1) was almost the exact opposite of yours. We had no trouble finding a table for all of us, in fact there were at least 3 of them available (we were eating at 11:45 a.m.). A CM took our receipt before we were even all settled at the table and our food was out within about 10 minutes. It came out on two carts but there was only about a minute lag time in between. We all thought our food was great (what we would expect for the price and atmosphere) and those of us who got fries with our meals got plenty of them. In fact, I think we had some left over. I know I didn't finish all of mine and even after my son ate some of them, I still think there were a few on the plate when we left.

It seems like BOG is very inconsistent with lunch.