Whoever recommended Raglan Road owes me 100 bucks!

[MamaToDavis]

Of course I'm totally kidding but seriously we did not have a good dinner there at all. I had such high hopes after reading so many great reviews. The food was just bad. We ordered the calamari appetizer, which turned out to be a few calamari rings and loads of large hunks of fried veggies. I swear there was a HUGE fried broccoli crown thrown on top of the whole thing. DH and I both ordered the fish and chips, which were just blah. I had read such great things about the bread pudding ( I LOVE Ohana's version) but it was also a disappointment. It was very dry and again lacked flavor.

On the upside, the service was excellent and the Irish band and dancers were very entertaining. Maybe we caught them on a bad night or our taste buds were off.

 

[atisikitabasket]

I am so sorry you didn't enjoy it. I have never had the fish and chips but I can say I have had the "it's not bleedin Chowder" 6 times and it is so yummy It is one of our favorite places. I don't like the bread pudding because it has raisins but they have a Raspberry dessert I love.

I hate it when you are so looking forward to eating some where and you don't enjoy it. I hope your other meals were better for you.

 

[Dizneydaz]

I too am sorry you didn't enjoy your meal. I always have the "It's Not Bleeding Chowder" (it's so good) and Ger's Bread and Butter Pudding and have never been disappointed.

Hope your other meals were better.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

ITA! The hype for RR baffles me. It always amazes me, when it's voted the best restaurant in DTD on the DIS. We've eaten there twice & had one really bad meal & one that I wouldn't want to repeat. If we ever eat there again, I'll try the chowder. It has to be better than what I've tried so far. I doubt we'll go again, unless we meet someone over there that wants to try it.

 

[Amy&Dan]

That is too bad.

Of course every single restaurant at WDW has its fans and critics but at least you now know Ragland Road isn't a place you care for.

 

[MamaToDavis]

That's one of the great things about Disney! So many different choices to try each trip. While we didn't enjoy RR we did try a few other new places that we loved and will definitely be sure and visit again.

 

[MickeyNicki]

I agree with you 100%! We ate there based on all the rave reviews and it was the nastiest meal we had at WDW and while we loved the entertainment we will not eat there again. Had the calamari too and it was a mess of greasy hunks of veggies and rubber calamari rings. Wasted $80 that night and it was our first meal of the trip!

 

[wilma-bride]

We have had a great meal there and a terrible one. I think it really depends on what you order. Also, when something is hyped up I think you always go expecting excellence so anything less will always be a disappointment. My favourites are the Dalkey Duo - love those little battered sausages - and the Dunbrody Kiss. The fish and chips are OK but I've had better here in the UK.

 

[TigerKat]

We have had a great meal there and a terrible one. I think it really depends on what you order. Also, when something is hyped up I think you always go expecting excellence so anything less will always be a disappointment. My favourites are the Dalkey Duo - love those little battered sausages - and the Dunbrody Kiss. The fish and chips are OK but I've had better here in the UK.

I agree!!!! We love the It's Not Bleeding Chowder and their burger but anything fried that we've had there was not good.

 

[kelleigh1]

We went many years ago and enjoyed it, but I have to say, I don't think I'd try calamari at an Irish restaurant.

 

[iloveeeyore]

Our first meal at RR was very meh, but we went last summer and really enjoyed it. The best part was the atmosphere. The band and the dancers were fabulous and the crowd was rowdy and lots of fun.

As for the food, I have now tried the It's Not Bleedin' Chowder twice...hated it both times. I don't really get why, I LOVE ALL of the ingredients, but together, it just tasted like a raw garlic-y, fishy, watery mess. I thought the first time I tried it might have been an "off" night, since people rave about it here. So I gave it another try. It was just as gross as the first time. So I will never order that again. DH and DKs all really enjoyed their meals last time, though nobody got the Fish & Chips, which was mediocre at best the first time. We tried Shepherd's Pie (delicious), burger (very good) and steak, which was weird with basil, but cooked appropriately. We all shared the scallops appetizers, which was yummy. Next time we go (which we must, kids are insisting on going again), I will have the scallops as my main. I'm letting them twist my arm because I have to admit, we had fun. Would rather try Fulton's...or avoid DTD altogether. With the excepetion of Ghirardelli's, I could easily skip DTD. Transportation is a nightmare anyway.

 

[DisneyUnited]

I'm sorry to hear of your disappointing meal, and it's even worse that it was your first night.

The three of us went to RR twice last year. Our first visit was a huge success, and we all thoroughly enjoyed our meals - braised short ribs, beef hotpot and plain steak. The second time mine was nasty, I had some kind of baked ham but the beef and steak were good again. We enjoyed the atmosphere so much we will definately be going again this year.

 

[branv]

Our last trip confirmed for me that unless things are roundly panned far and wide, these reviews are so subjective as to be not very useful in picking restaurants. Entertaining reading, of course, but should always always be read with "YMMV" in mind. We often drooled over the photos of foods on here only to find them disappointing in real life, and ended up loving things we'd read terrible comments on.

We also had the same thoughts about Raglan being very overrated. Earnest but terrible server (I'm ashamed to admit he may have gotten some leeway b/c he was cute as a button and his accent was to die for. DH thinks I was just having an out-of-character surge of extra patience ). Dalkey duo was yummy but just too much after just 3 snausages. And I totally agree with a PP about the not-chowder. Good ingredients in theory, but tasted only of watery-cream...odd combination of bland yet super rich with no real flavor but dairy And this is from a girl who uses real whipping cream in her coffee. DH had the steak and found it a) a poor, cheap cut and b) nearly flavorless. Badly needed seasoning. And while we don't like mushy bread pudding, this bread pudding was quite dry and uninteresting. Don't get me wrong...the presentation was marvelous; I can see why the pics always made my mouth water. Just better looking than it tasted.

That being said, I found the fish and chips at Rose and Crown to be MAHvelous, and I normally loathe that style of batter-fried fish. You never can tell...

 

[Saratoga Springs Tom]

We went to RR last year for the first time. We enjoyed the atmosphere and entertainment. The food was....unimpressive. We are glad we went, but I do not think we will visit again to dine.

 

[vettegirl]

Sorry to hear that. We have always had excellent food there, except my DH ordered the steak once and it was terrible. I love their scallop forest and shepherds pie.

 

[SweetSpot]

I also wasn't impressed and really surprise how much we disliked the bread pudding which was the reason I went in the first place. It was so unbelievably dry that the small amount of sauces never stood a chance at making it edible. Love the atmosphere and had the most amazing server. The level of sound is overwhelming and depending on where you are seated it might be worse. We were by the stage near the back bar. The bar area had a counter directly behind and overlooking our table. It felt as if someone was looking over our shoulder the entire time. I would never take that seat again.