I was very apprehensive about booking dinner our first night at Chef Mickey's. We had a kind of mini first night tradition going on here our first three trips, but the third time, well, it was just, let's say, "less than magical." The food was pretty bad, characters were meh, and though we had told our waitress we were celebrating a birthday, no aknowledgment. We gave it a break last trip, did WCC first night, since we were staying at WL (didn't like it much). This time, the kids, especially Hercules, really wanted to come back to Chef Mickey's the first night. I tried to persuade them that something ELSE might be fun to try the first night. 1900 Park Fare or Crystal Palace, maybe? In the end, Herc really wanted CM's and the guy asks for so little, I said ok. Aladdin and Belle were totally into it. It would be great, right? We were mostly going for the characters, right?
We arrived at CR around 4:45 for a 5:30 ADR, so we knew we had plenty of time for Aladdin to check out the gift shops (DANGER, DANGER! we should really keep Aladdin out of the gift shops)! Since I don't much enjoy shopping, I told my family I was going out onto the observation deck to look around. No one wanted to come with me; they preferred the shops.
I snapped some photos of the view from 4th floor deck:
BLT:
Standing in that spot looking left:
Other side of the monorail tracks:
Zoomed:
It was a little too much concrete for my personal taste, but nice and close to MK.
We decided to check in to CM's a little early, around 5:05. We had to wait several minutes for our photo because the one party ahead of us had 23 members in their party. As you might imagine, it takes a while to get a photo with 23 subjects! Immediately after our photo was done, our buzzer went off and we were led to a table kind of near the buffet with a nice view of the monorail gliding above. They have changed the configuration of this restaurant quite a bit, it seemed to me. It no longer has a "main room" under the monorail. As usual, it is broken down into a few rooms, but the part that used to have the most action is now occupied by the photo station, and what used to be part of the photo station and waiting area is now the restaurant? Anyway, we were very happy with our table, we weren't very crowded at all.
Our server was Chris, and she was wonderful! Extremely attentive and kept our table clear and our drink glasses filled without us ever looking her way. No bad service at our table on this night, that is for sure!
Before our first trip to the buffet, Pluto and Goofy visited. By the time we were done chatting and taking photos with the dogs, Chris delivered my drink, a magical star cocktail:
This was delicious! It was one of my favorite cocktails of the week. Except by the time I got to the end of it, it was tasting just a little sun-screeny. And it was HUGE! I know it doesn't look very big in the photo, but trust me, these glasses are bigger than they appear. I could have had one of these every night and been very happy, but I wanted to taste other drinks, too. Please note the empty tables in the background of the photo. Pretty much nobody was there when we sat down.
Now the food. It was shocking! It was very good! Was it gourmet? Of course not, by any means. But it was VERY good for a buffet! MUCH better than the last time we were here, and FAR exceeding our expectations.
Let's see, pics:
Herc's main plate:
Comfort food. Mickey mac & cheese, pizza and chicken nuggets. Piles of it all. Exactly what he wanted from Chef Mickey's, what he had been craving for a few years.
Some other plates:
Peel and eat shrimp - these were small but OK. I like eating them because with the effort it takes, it forces me to eat slowly (and hopefully not overeat - *snort* AS IF!).
My salad plate - iceberg lettuce with very good, creamy (but with some bite) bleu cheese dressing, bean salad that was seasoned with cumin, pasta salad that had a sort of spicy peanuty dressing, and tangy seafood salad. Everything tasted fresh and well-seasoned. Iceberg would not be my personal choice for lettuce, but it was fine as a dressing vehicle. Otherwise, I have nothing negative to say about the salad course. There were a few other things there that even looked appealing, but my plate was full, so it didn't make the cut.
Roast beef (I guess it wasn't prime rib, I think they call it roast strip loin?) Perfectly cooked, very tender, tasty, and served au jus or with horseradish cream sauce. There was also ham at the carving station, but we didn't bother. You also see the parmesan mashed potatoes on this plate. Last time the texture was very gluey, but this time they were just wonderful, creamy and silky!
This is my dinner plate:
-baked salmon (it was just a tad bit overcooked for my liking, but I would expect that on any buffet; it wasn't overcooked to the point of dry, and I suspect most people would find it cooked to their liking).
-two different kinds of sauteed veggies (the green beans were absolutely delicious!), there was also broccoli with cheese sauce on the side, and though I didn't taste it, Belle did and she said it was great, the broccoli was that beautiful bright green color it should be;
-mickey head shaped ravioli which I picked more for the fun of eating it than I expected it to taste great, I left most of this on the plate
-baked turkey casserole, which I didn't like at all, but both Aladdin and Belle thought it was very tasty; it reminded me of a pot pie all mashed up.
-THE BEST AU GRATIN POTATOES EVER! Sorry, I started eating them before I took the pic. I wanted more, but somehow restrained myself! Afterall, I had to have a small piece of roast beef, since it had the horseradish cream sauce on the side, and parmesan mashed potatoes!
Sorry, this is the only dessert pic I have:
Bread pudding with caramel sauce. Sorry to say, this was the worst part of the meal. It was hard and dry, though to be fair, it was an end piece, and one of the last ones on the tray. Aladdin's had looked better, but he ate faster than I did so he probably got his about 10 minutes before I got mine. I know they brought out more, but I was full and happy to say not really needing dessert anyway, so I didn't bother. Herc and Belle enjoyed the Mickey mousse domes (oreo cookes with choc moose on top, coated in chocolate with ears sticking out). I have tasted these in the past and the kids told me they were just as good now. Chris also surprised us with a vanilla cupcake with a candle in it for Belle. It was the same cupcake that was available on the buffet, but she loved it for the attention! The soft-serve ice cream looked very watery, and none of us bothered with that.
Aladdin and I ordered coffee and we both thought it was fine. We lingered long enough to digest a little, and we didn't feel rushed at all. The other characters that we saw between our trips to the buffet were Mickey, Minnie and Donald. We were there long enough for Pluto and Goofy to make their way back to our table and we said "hello again!" We found that the characters took their cues from us. If we chatted, they stayed and played along, if we didn't, they posed for photos and moved on. It was just as it should have been.
I have learned over our trips that it's a good idea to have some kind of question or joke ready to break the ice with the characters. It tends to get their attention and encourage them to spend a little extra time with your family. For example, we asked Donald why the restaurant isn't called Chef Donald's, what's up with that?! And he spent a lot of time with us and it was very funny.
Overall, this was a wonderful meal and an excellent way to spend our first dinner in WDW. While the food wasn't gourmet, it was all good and satisfying AT LEAST, while some of the offerings were even VERY YUMMY! If you are scared about trying it because of all the bad reviews, I say go for it and decide for yourself. You may come away VERY PLEASANTLY SURPRISED!!!
I can't wait for more!
