Why you should from your own opinions on WDW TS..

[SpecEdismyLife]

Hi all, just back and we tried a bunch of TS places we had not tried on previous trips. I booked ADR's at places that were highly recommended as well as places that have gotten negative reviews both here and on other boards. We were pleased with our choices and realized how important trying these places out for yourself is. I can't tell you how many times I would say to my DH last week "hopefully this will be good because it didn't get very good reviews" only to be pleasantly surprised!

Here is my quick review!

Les Chefs De France- Now this place generally gets good reviews here and on other boards. This was probably our worst meal of the entire week. I got the beef tenderloin which was charred on half of it to the point where it tasted awful. It is a tiny piece to begin with so really it did not leave much to eat. Unfortunately the only ressie I could get here was for 8 pm and after waiting to sit down, for our waiter (who seemed to prefer the party of 2 sitting next to us since they sat down after us and ordered first, were served first and chatted with him all night) it was after 9pm by the time we got our food, so I ate it anyway. My Dh got the shrimp and scallops with the black [earl rice and he said it was "ok" and "edible". We both got Creme Brulee and it was bland, not thick and had hardly any of the sugary topping on it. We were disappointed with this meal.

Teppan Edo- This place seems to get great reviews and they are spot on in my opinion. Wonderful service, friendly and attentive chefs and waitstaff, and delicious food. I had the shrimp and chicken combo and DH had steak and chicken combo and we were both pleased! We will return!

Mama Melrose- This is another place that gets mixed reviews (I actually warned my DH before we went in) but we were SO happy we tried it. Our server Michael was excellent and we even filled out a "applause-a-gram" for him before leaving and mentioned him to the manager. Glowtinis were great, calamari was spicy and delicious and the chicken parm was great. I hear people compare it to Olive Garden and it is on par with that, but we loved it and we will return. We do not go to any WDW TS restaurant expecting gourmet so we were very pleased with this meal!

Hollywood and Vine Fantasmic Dinner- I see some really bad reviews on this dinner and in my opinion it is justified. Regular buffet food, nothing special and really what I expected. We went in order to go see Fantasmic with preferred seating, but felt so awful after eating here we totally skipped Fantasmic and headed for the room. We ate dinner later again from the POFQ food court and thought it was better. Service was friendly though and buffet was clean. What we did eat was decent tasting enough- just sort of blah.

Nine Dragons- We went here for lunch and I had not seem many reviews on this place since the re-furb. It was fantastic! Our server was an absolute pleasure, kind, polite and just lovely. The potstickers were delicious! I got the Kung Pao chicken- spicy and delish and a giant portion. DH got the biggest bowl of fried rice I have ever seen and he ate every bite. We shared the banana cheesecake eggroll and ginger ice cream and it was wonderful. Everything about this place including the gorgeous interior was wonderful. We WILL dine here again without question!

Biergarten- This was not planned prior to our arrival to WDW but after eating Sommerfest for lunch one afternoon we called (while sitting there!) and booked Biergarten. What can I say, this place is cute! The interior is like a Bavarian village, the food was great with a wonderful carving station that had pork loin, cold salads brats and other sausages. The bavarian cheesecake (also at Sommerfest) was wonderful and the GIANT beer steins are neat. The entertainment is very fun as well. I would come here again!

I will be doing a more detailed dining report and trip report but I just wanted to post something quick to let you all know that if I had gone strictly by other's reviews, I would have likely skipped booking Mama Melrose, Biergarten & Nine Dragons and I am so glad I did not! On the contrary I was REALLY looking forward to Les Chefs and was left very disappointed so really it works both ways. As far as H&V I only have myself to blame as those warnings were justified!

Thanks for reading!

 

[ntsammy5]

I tend to agree with all your reviews. We just ate at 9 Dragons a month ago and it was pretty good. Hadn't eaten there in years......

 

[ShannonMB]

Excellent advice! I had some of my favorite meals last trip at places which do get mixed reviews. Everyone has their own tastes, so the only thing to do is try them all! Guess that means we better get some more trips booked when we get home from our Feb trip!!

 

[savvy?71]

Hollywood and Vine Fantasmic Dinner- I see some really bad reviews on this dinner and in my opinion it is justified. Regular buffet food, nothing special and really what I expected. We went in order to go see Fantasmic with preferred seating, but felt so awful after eating here we totally skipped Fantasmic and headed for the room.

And this confirms your title about forming one's own opinion

My family nearly had to shove me into H&V, despite my making a lunch ADR (this past first week of Dec). I read so many bad reviews--actually--revolting reviews, that I wondered what in the world I was doing keeping the ressie. But we were at DHS after a full morning and we don't normally do big lunches...so since I kept the res, I told everyone "Just keep your expectations grounded and don't get mad at me!"

I guess I was morbidly curious

My formed opinion? H&V was one of the better meals this past trip and reflected nothing of the reviews I read on the boards. Maybe it was because we were there for lunch? Maybe because we were the first seating (all items fresh)? Maybe because the buffet gods smiled on H&V that day?

But the variety was impressive (and I don't eat meat, and am picky to a fault), everything was fresh (hots were hot, cold dishes cold, no sog, no unexplained foreign matter, etc...)

The food was actually good! Flavorful (for example, buffet broccoli can be a mistake. But this was freshly steamed with spices). Small example, but since I eat little to no meat, the veggies count a lot! And every item on the buffet was like that. I can't even remember all the items, but everything had a distinct flavor (you know how some buffet items all blend together into mehness). So this was a pleasant surprise.

My husband who is exceptionally buffet-picky (and expects nothing but the bill at character buffets/meals), was impressed; he couldnt' stop eating some Mexicali Chicken or Balsamic Chicken or somesuch thing.

My mom who sustains herself on coffee and the occasional biscotti had 3 plates.

Even the dessert selection was impressive; ice cream station, a variety of bite-sized treats (mini carrot cake, mini torts, cheesecakes, puddings with dark and white chocolate shavings, bread pudding, some kind of apple/berry crisp....all replaced as needed, as the lunch items were)

The service was fantastic. Servers were there when we needed them but never did we feel rushed (I am still annoyed with how rushed we were at Chef Mickey's this past trip both with characters and servers--top all of that with the worst buffet food this time around and that makes for a less than magical morning).

The characters, although not my dd4 and dd3's favorites (they don't really watch JoJo but do enjoy The Einsteins), were awesome! Great interaction, lots of individual time and silliness.

After the reviews, I wonder if this was all a figment of my imagination or if I was at the wrong restaurant

 

[SpecEdismyLife]

I think you were in the right place! We actually went a few years back for dinner and enjoyed it, so that was the reason I booked it for the Fantasmic package. No characters for dinner, and about half of the desserts you described. We had items such as a pineapple ginger chicken (this was pretty good), seafood alfredo (looked like the inside if a chicken pot pie with peas and carrots), carved turkey (my DH did rave about this one thing), breads and salads and few other things that had me looking for the sign to tell me what they were. Desserts were mini pumpkin cheesecakes, soft serve ice cream and 2 kinds of cobbler I think but one of the trays was completely empty so not sure if it was the same or different, and chocolate mousse. Service was on par for most buffets. I am sure I am just comparing it to the other excellent meals we had there during our stay which is unfair since it is a buffet, but at the same time I think it could of been better. Like the title said, it is important to form your own opinions on these places especially since it sounds like different food is served at each meal and places do have "off days"! I do want to mention that my DH was more pleased with this meal than I was- see, different opinions! I would NEVER discourage people from trying H&V or Les Chefs because we did not like it. All we can do is share our experiences and hope people try it for themselves!


Oh and a couple more things:
Chef Mickeys used to be our favorite, do not miss place, but we had a terrible experience there a few years back at breakfast and have not returned.
Also- I think I should mention our ADR's at H&V were for 4:30 pm (only time available) which is really early for dinner for us so I think maybe some of my opinions might be due to the fact that I just was not very hungry to begin with!

 

[natalielongstaff]

We loved mama melrose as well, im not sure why it gets such mixed reviews

 

[SpecEdismyLife]

We loved mama melrose as well, im not sure why it gets such mixed reviews

Sometimes I wonder if people just simply expect too much of these places. They serve so many people in any given day plus they have to try to please the masses with the food as much as possible. Unless you are at one of the signature dining locations or Victoria and Albert's I would not expect gourmet. In fact, in ANY of the parks I don't think gourmet can be found. Seems like all of the 5 star places are at the resorts. Mybe we are happy with most of the places because we go in thinking "It's Disney food!" Now bad service on the other hand there is no excuse for...

 

[OurDogCisco]

I agree with you whole heartedly.... Also, I'm sure we all have different tastes. I was pleasantly surprised with San Angel Inn. It thought it was great but the reviews of the place here are horrible. On the other hand I can't figure out why people like Cantina de San Angel. Now, I don't think Disney has the best food I've ever eaten but it is good to me. I don't mind it and it wouldn't deter me to eat off site. I don't think it is bad enough for off-site food. I'm not a chain food type gal so, I really enjoy the themes at Disney type restuarants. Most of the time we are just happy to sit down and rest for a bit. I intend to try restaurants that appeal to me and take some reviews into consideration but with a grain of salt. I still love reading everyone's reviews.

Now, if you ask me the BEST restaurant I ever eaten at is Mama's Fishhouse in Maui. It is at the top of my list. Even my kids love it...

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

Chef Mickeys used to be our favorite, do not miss place, but we had a terrible experience there a few years back at breakfast and have not returned.

We took CM out of our rotation for a while. We just went back last week and had a pretty good meal.

And as I posted on another thread we had a good meal at Coral Reef last year and a not so good one this year. If we have two bad experiences in a row we don't go back for a while.

 

[happymommy]

I agree about forming you own opinions, but... I wish I had read the negative posts about Chefs de France before last week! I had thought it would be wonderful - France in known for good food!

We had such an awful experience there last Sunday night! Both ordered the tenderloin, it was disgusting! Must have sat under a heat lamp for at least a half hour. Even the tops of the green beans were dried out! I cut into it, and refused to even taste it (and we had also been sitting for over an hour!). We ended up leaving without eating any of our entrees (we weren't charged either, but that was due to a manager coming by and overhearing our comments). Almost never saw our waiter. Horrible....

We tried Tusker House at 4pm on Saturday - wonderful! So yummy - we all loved it!

Breakfast at Cape May Cafe - wonderful! I normally don't do breakfast buffets, but we wanted something to stick with us all day, and have choices for the children. It was all so fresh and good - they seemed to be constantly replacing the food on the buffet. We were very pleasantly surprised!

The only bad meal was Chefs - and boy was it bad!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[KatMark]

Totally agree with the OP. Everyone has such different tastes. We've tried places that people loved (LeCellier, Cape May Cafe, Boatwright's--dinner, Whispering Canyon Cafe) and places that people hated (Mama Melrose, Biergarten, Rose & Crown, Yak & Yeti and Plaza Restaurant). We loved LeCellier and Cape May and immensely disliked and won't return to Boatwright's, Whispering Canyon and Brown Derby. We loved Mama Melrose, we alternate every year between Rose & Crown and Biergarten, and Plaza and Yak & Yeti have become a must do every year for us. Luckily fo rus, we had done Hollywood & Vine twice before we started reading the reviews on here and knew NOT to go back.

 

[MissionMouse]

Another component of the reviews besides people have different taste and point of references is that restaurants on Disney property are consistently providing inconsistent experiences too. It not all about the guest opinions, but also the inability of the restaurants to provide consistent experiences throughout the year...from year to year.

 

[dzneelvr]

Our family has had some real duds at TS over the years, but I do agree the only way to find out is to try it for real. The old Afredos, H&V, Hollywood Brown Derby (except for the steak entree), and 50s Prime Time are ones that will never make another trip for us. But with over 13 years worth of trips, that's a pretty short list
In June we'll be back again at our faves: Sci Fi, Tuttos in Italy, Mama Melrose, Biergarten, Le Cellier, Tony's, Ohanas, and adding Boma and TRex to try. Believe me, we don't go hungry

 

[HBD1973]

I think you are spot on about forming your own opinions. The times we have been to WDW are usually in low peak times & we don't usually do ADR's except for character meals. We have found the food to usually be decent in most places. Maybe because when were have been there it hasn't been crazy busy, hence the kitchens aren't as rushed as during peak times.

 

[Jenvenza]

I agree as well. When we went in September, we had the best food of the trip at Coral Reef - which gets mixed reviews here - and the worst food for me was at Le Cellier - I didnt see what all the hype was about.

 

[DWFan4Life]

All of us have different opinions, it's a matter of what we experience on that place. So, lets try first by ourselves then see if it fits what we want and if we are satisfied.