Steakhouse 71/100

[ianwaldecker]

For our first trip back to the parks since the pandemic started we decided to trust the reviews we had gleaned over the past 18+ month of VLOG watching. Having heard rave reviews about The Wave, but never having gone, and hearing those reviews continue onto it's replacement, we decided that Steakhouse 71 should be on our list. We made a reservation for 8:30am on Saturday January 22nd.
Upon being seated our waiter introduced themselves and we ordered drinks (coffee for my wife, and orange juice for me). When returning with our drinks they promptly took our order. Here's where things started to go downhill. While waiting for our meals, we both noted how noisy it was in the restaurant, and when looking around I noticed there was no sound deadening material used anywhere. Now I've drank more orange juice than I care to admit, and I've known for many years that Florida is one place where you should get a decent glass of it; however, mine was some of the most watered down I've ever had in my roughly 40 years of drinking it. We both ordered the Steakhouse 71 Feast to get a little taste of everything, and the only thing I won't review are the Bacon Cheddar Grits because we don't eat them, and really don't know what they're supposed to taste like. I will say that my wife who typically stays as far away from them as possible mentioned that they weren't that bad. Once we had our meals, we immediately noticed there was no salt, pepper, maple syrup, nor sugar substitute on the table. At least 5 minutes later our waiter returned to check in on us, we mentioned the (missing) items, and in a hurried but nice manor they set off to retrieve them. I say hurried because our waiter seemed nice, but I'm guessing they were short staffed and we were there during the breakfast rush. While waiting for them to return we started eating. The eggs benedict was pretty decent, and I'd consider getting that as my whole meal if I were to return. The rest of the meal (besides the Mickey Waffle) certainly didn't match the stellar reviews I had listened to. The scrambled eggs were overcooked and flat, the sausage was dry and flavorless, the bacon was average, and the potatoes - well they weren't terrible.
We were about 3/4 of the way through our meal when our waiter arrived with the syrup, salt, pepper and sugar substitute, and again they seemed very rushed - nice but rushed. We were both disappointed that we had to wait so long to eat our waffles, now expecting them to be cold and hard, but to our surprise they were still very good. After a couple more minutes our waiter returned with bowls of fresh fruit which were part of our meal but which I had completely forgotten about. I love fresh fruit, but I'm guessing the kitchen had just pulled these prepared bowls out of the refrigerator, because they and the fruit were extremely cold and almost off putting.
At the end of our meal our waiter returned one last time with a small chocolate dessert for my wife since she was wearing a Birthday Pin (that day was actually her birthday). This was a very nice gesture; however, the dessert wasn't worth it. Even for being free, we wouldn't recommend it.
So is Steakhouse 71 worth it for breakfast? For our experience, not at all. From all the excellent reviews we've heard, we were very disappointed.
~Ian Waldecker

 

[DVCjj]

Went last week for lunch and I believe we are One and Done. Didn’t match the hype about it. It was also the loudest Disney restaurant except for Chef Mickey’s and that one is understandable.

 

[Stacybaeasm]

I went for dinner on Saturday, Jan 29 (our ressie was 5:30). I guess we had opposite experiences as I loved the entire meal. I found the restaurant itself comfortable and not overly loud. I always worry about non-park dining because I'm usually coming right from the parks and I don't want to be under dressed or dine in a stuffy environment. I felt just fine in my jeans and coat (because it was COLD). My steak and au gratin potatoes were delicious. The rub on the steaks was seasoned perfectly. The red wine sauce was good but I"m not big on sauce for my steak so I eat most of the steak without it. And the 17 layer chocolate whiskey cake was life changing. Honestly, I'd go back again.

 

[Her Dotness]

Perfect thread title!

We had a dreadful lunch there. Our server kept disappearing for ages, and we couldn't attract anyone else's attention to try to find him. DH's steak was a bad cut anyway and not at all medium. My food came long before his which was weird. I'd ordered only two appetizers and wasn't asked if I'd prefer them brought with DH's entree.

Our steaks at dinner previously were pretty good and sides similar. However, our server was formerly V&A's head waiter, so we suspect his dedication to superior service had an effect. We were thrilled to have him serve us.

Breakfast the day before we left was quite good. We suspected that was largely due to having the earliest possible reservation with fewer than half the tables occupied.

I heartlily agree with the OP that the sound level is deafening in that place. Easily as bad as Chef Mickey's.

Breakfast maybe again was our verdict. Nothing else. The food wasn't that good.

On the whole, we were truly sorry we'd believed Pete's rave review and booked so many meals there. Yachtsman is vastly better in all respects in our opinions.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We ate there in November and the restaurant was totally full and I didn't notice the noise at all. We were at a table in the corner, so maybe that helped.

We had dinner there and thought the food was great. Our server was very attentive and knowledgeable about the menu. We will definitely be back next year.