Chef Mickey Dinner - Worst Meal of My Life

[Candy1971]

We went for breakfast and were not impressed. I understand there are openings because of the monorail running through the hotel, but there were so many flies on the buffet and birds were everywhere...the food was mediocre, definitely not comparable to other places we've eaten at while there on vacation.

 

[Kevin355]

We ate there last September for a Dinner Buffet and it was rather good. Sorry about your experience.

 

[Candy1971]

We ate there last September for a Dinner Buffet and it was rather good. Sorry about your experience.

At least we can say we tried it That's what we like to do at DW...try new things, add to our favorites list. Glad you had a good experience! The characters were definitely fun

 

[TheDisneyNurse]

That was very nice of the manager to offer you food from somewhere else in the resort. I agree, however, that CM sure is declining in quality. I know the price is solely because of the character meet-and-greets, but come on. I except to be eating some good quality food while I'm there for that money! When I have children of my own, I will be booking a different character dining venue. Have not been satisfied at all with my previous trips there.

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

I've only ever had breakfast at CM, and it was fresh and hot. The food isn't that memorable, but even for me (an adult), the place is still all about the characters. Last time we were there was five years ago. We will be going again for breakfast the end of this month! I'm so excited. My 10 year old nephew said he wanted to have a character meal so he would have more time with characters (as opposed to meeting them in the parks). My 11 year old niece is also excited because, as she said, "I still believe." I told her that her aunt and her grandma still believe too. (My sister is a "practical adult" who could care less about seeing the "animals" as she calls the characters. In other words, she's a killjoy.)

Chef Mickey's is a magical place, just not for the food.

 

[Rivermonster]

This is discouraging...

 

[Crystal824]

We were at WDW at the end of April/beginning of May. We dined at CM for dinner. It was the second worst meal of the trip. The winner was Garden Grill by a landslide. However, it will be a LONG time before I ever go back to either. I used to really like both, but they have both gone down hill in the past few years. My favorite character meal is now Tusker House.

 

[jsebsirois]

This is discouraging...

Well, keep in mind that :

1) Some people actually had a good time at Chef Mickey
2) It's always easier to talk about a bad experience, and I'm not saying that in a bad way : I'd rather know something is not worth it...

 

[Rivermonster]

Well, keep in mind that :

1) Some people actually had a good time at Chef Mickey
2) It's always easier to talk about a bad experience, and I'm not saying that in a bad way : I'd rather know something is not worth it...

I'm a very "go with the flow" kind of person, plus, as someone with food allergies (and with kids who also suffer the same), any meal out is very much a treat, so I question whether I am as discriminating as the average diner who can eat out on a whim. For us, Disney is a "food vacation", and makes for the majority of meals we are able to eat out a year. I'm thinking Chef Mickey's will probably be great to us, but it's also discouraging hearing as many negative reviews as we do.

...but thanks, you've made me feel a little more encouraged as opposed to the opposite

 

[owynn]

We are booked there to take DS1 for his first day at WDW in September. After the meal its off to the Harmony Barbershop to get his first haircut. I hope the food is edible. I'm not expecting a gourmet meal, but am worried that it will not be good. Now I'm wondering if I should switch to another restaurant.

 

[ELSA711]

We had a fine time last October but with that said I don't think I would do it again this trip. I do like to get the characters out of the way though, it's nice...1 meal and done. Then 1 princess meal. We liked Garden Grill too and that gets negative reviews, so maybe we just don't know where to eat!

LOL

My fav meals were Boatwrights at POR and BOG

 

[Rivermonster]

We are booked there to take DS1 for his first day at WDW in September. After the meal its off to the Harmony Barbershop to get his first haircut. I hope the food is edible. I'm not expecting a gourmet meal, but am worried that it will not be good. Now I'm wondering if I should switch to another restaurant.

We will be doing a first haircut at Harmony Barbershop too!

 

[StirlingSilver83]

We always go to Chef Mickeys, but we go for their breakfast. My kids love Mickey and his friends and the vibe of the restaurant is cool. That being said when we went to Disney in 2013 we were actually staying at the Contemporary and we were driving in from NJ so I booked dinner at Chef Mickeys bc I figured no one would want to get back into any type of vehicle to go somewhere for dinner after that drive, lol. We have eaten before at Chef Mickey's for breakfast and always liked it so the quality of the food wasn't really on my mind. Honestly it was the worse dinner we had there. We would of been better off not making any reservations and just eating at The Contempo Cafe. We had dinner there a few times and they had pretty decent food. Much better than Chef Mickey's. Now we stick to breakfast there. Its pretty hard for any place to screw up breakfast food, lol

 

[jacknsally19]

Personally, I don't think any of the character meals are very good. (My least favorite food was actually Akershus) That being said, we usually eat at CM (last time in October) because my DD loves Mickey and friends and for her the atmosphere is pretty awesome. If you are going purely for your child's benefit, I think that this is a good choice. If you are going for good food, I would recommend avoiding all the character meals. I agree that breakfast overall is a good option for these character meals.

 

[MikL99]

I have to agree. This was by far the worst meal we had. I have only been to Disney once so i don't have a lot of experience but the food was not good. I took it as a place just to see all the characters and the food wasn't important. The staff there wasn't the nicest. They were out of plates and when i asked about them they said they weren't sure and just stood there and kept talking.

My family still had a good time there with meeting all the characters and taking pictures but the food was the worst of all our meals. And i'm not a picky person.

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

We've never been to CM and I doubt we'll try it after all the terrible reviews I've read. (I think H&V and Tony's are the only restaurants that rival it for worst reviews.) With so many restaurants at WDW, including many that get generally positive reviews, I can't see wasting my time and money on CM.

Also, we did three character meals on our most recent vacation. (We'd only done 1900 PF dinner before.) The food at each (TH brunch, Akershus dinner, CRT breakfast) was alright, but I don't think the character experience is worth it. The character dining pictures all have strangers and/or food/utensils in them, the lighting was frequently poor, it was too crowded to keep getting up to take pics, the characters all seemed rushed,... We were able to meet a lot of characters in the parks (many with little or no wait), and the pics turned out SO much better than the ones in the restaurants. The park M&Gs allowed for more interaction, the backgrounds are cute, etc.

 

[mpetti]

For our upcoming trip we are passing on CM for Dinner!! Last time the food was terrible and I can't see paying all that money for terrible food. My 12 year old DS wants to do CM for Breakfast, because we always do CM for Breakfast every trip. I made an ADR, but am really considering cancelling it. It is nothing special and don't want to waste that money. Sorry you had such a bad experience. It's a shame WDW didn't make it right.

 

[5kidsmommy]

We have never done CM but my daughter really wants to try it, every time we've walked through the Contemporary she's wanted to go. She's read the reviews and knows they aren't great but we are willing to give it a try. We have a 1:35 brunch in November and I'm hoping it will be a decent enough meal.

 

[pezaddict231]

If you're on the fence, give it a try and judge for yourself. We did Chef Mickey's for the first time two weeks ago and liked it. The food was on par with other character dinners we went to and the atmosphere is cool. DD loved seeing the Fab 5 and really that's what you go to a character meal for. She loves Minnie and no where else has Mickey and Minnie together. We had a 5:40 reservation, everything was hot and fresh. The food was pretty good, not gourmet but plenty of options. My DD who doesn't eat anything actually ate quite a bit. The character interaction was a little rushed compared to other places though. It was me, DH, DD and my parents and everyone enjoyed it.

I'd definitely be willing to go again but not every trip. It wasn't my favorite, Tusker House Breakfast is probably my favorite but they don't have Minnie.

 

[Baptist]

I have been to CM for dinner once and breakfast 3 times. We liked the experience. Honestly, I think the food is comparable to Disney's other buffets. If you have a choice and are concerned about the food, I would choose breakfast. It's really hard to get bacon wrong. We have opted for breakfast since we pay out of pocket and the price is reasonable.