During my trip to Epcot this weekend, I enjoyed one of the better meals I've had in a theme park - a great corvina en mole verde at the Mexico pavilion's San Angel Inn. Yet at lunch in The Land pavilion's Sunshine Seasons food court, my wife and I were served two disappointing chicken dishes.
My wife ordered a chicken Caesar salad ($8.99),
while I chose the cashew chicken ($9.99).
I was disappointed to find, when I got to my seat, that the cashew chicken was all dark meat, and not the white breast meat that I usually find when I order this dish at Chinese restaurants. Had this been high-quality dark meat, I could have made do, though for ten bucks, this really should have been all-white meat. But this tasted like the cheapest, factory-farmed, chemical-laden chicken that you'd find marked down to bargain price in your grocery freezer case.
My wife and I choose free-range, vegetarian-fed chicken at the store because we like our chicken to taste like, well, chicken. But I expect to find cheap chicken when I eat out in fast-food or counter-service restaurants. Most places cover the bland taste with heavy spices or flavorings, but the weak sauce on the Sunshine Seasons chicken couldn't overcome the plastic flavor of this dark meat. I ended up picking out the cashews, and eating them with the accompanying rice and broccoli. The chicken stayed on the plate, until it went into the trash.
Laurie reported, however, that the white meat on her salad was every worse. With a stale flavor that she described as "chemical" and a "slimy" texture, the chicken remained on her plate, too. Ugh.
But that wasn't the worst experience we had at a Disney restaurant over the weekend. Earlier, at the Whispering Canyon Cafe in the Wilderness Lodge, my daughter was served a chicken kids' meal with... two long black hairs in it. (My daughter, for the record, has light brown hair that she had tied back in a ponytail.)
Hey, it happens. It shouldn't, but it does. But instead of whisking away the plate immediately, the server seemed confused when we told her of the problem. And the offending plate remained in front of my daughter for over five minutes (I timed it), until a manager appeared to ask what the problem was. He then removed the plate and brought another (four minutes later), but by that time, my daughter was so grossed out that she couldn't take a bite.
Disney didn't remove the kids' meal from the bill, either.
(I understand that the schtick of the Whispering Canyon Cafe is the "bad" service. But at some point, you need to be able to break character and actually take care of your customers.)
In contrast to the more reasonable portions at Universal Orlando, the kids' meals at Disney World's table-service restaurants tended to be huge, more than any child with a reasonable appetite possibly could finish in one sitting. The only kids' meal my children liked (and finished) was, ironically, at the Sunshine Season food court, where they each had a reasonably-sized sub sandwich, along with pre-packaged pudding and carrot sticks.
It's not like Disney can't do a great meal - my wife ordered the chicken salad at Epcot in part because the one she'd had the previous week at the Port Orleans food court was so good, with freshly prepared chicken that tasted like, well, chicken.
And the food we order at the Disneyland Resort in California is, consistently, excellent. Writing this piece reminds me how much I want to get a curried tofu with rice at California Adventure when I get home.
Ordering food shouldn't be a gamble. Disney can deliver high-quality food, and it should, for every guest. But it doesn't.
My first thought is to blame the Disney Dining Program. By locking so many of its guests into a pre-paid meal plan, Disney increases the volume of food that it sells. But it also eliminates the need to "sell" that food to its visitors. They've paid for it, so they're going to order it - whether it's good or not. And, at the same time, since visitors have paid for their food, there's less incentive for Disney to offer something spectacular in an effort to entice visitors to open their wallets and pay for that meal, as opposed to getting by on snacks or eating later off-property.
No matter what the reason, Walt Disney World's food wasn't good enough for us, on a consistent basis, for us to plan many in-park meals on our next visit. Unless we hear of some changes in food management at Disney World, next time we visit the parks, we'll try to stick to those restaurants run by outside vendors (such as many in Epcot's World Showcase), where the odds of getting a great meal remain much better.
If you've visited Walt Disney World recently, what's been your experience with Disney's food? How does it compare with the past at Disney, or with the present at other theme park resorts?
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When dining at The Coral Reef, she and my mom ordered the mushroom soup as an appetizer. The soup was served cold. Upon questioning, the bowls were removed, and replaced with hot soup.
The only downer meal was breakfast at the Caribbean Beach Resort food court. It seemed like they cooked the food the night before and left it under heat lamps.
I do find it odd that there is a dish (chicken caeser salad) can be inconsistent from one restaurant to the next. One would think there is a SOP for a lot of dishes.
PS: For anybody wondering how I've been so many times - I live in Orlando and half my friends are College Program.
We have had some good meals at table service restaurants (the ones you can still get into) and in fact I find Raglan Road is now one of my favorite standbys. Usually a short wait, great food, great beer and entertainment to boot.
I won't go there again.
At EPCOT, we really enjoyed the large restaurant in China when we visited last Christmas. Not a huge menu, but what we got was delicious.
On my last trip (one year ago):
On our first night, we were supposed to eat at Teppan Edo. Although not adventurous, we experienced the restaurant in 2003 and the food quality was good, reasonably portioned and priced, and the experience was a lot of fun. However, I booked the reservation using Disney's online reservation system, which was new at the time, and encountered problems once we arrived. They phoned our room and told us the system had experienced an error and overbooked the restaurant. They neglected to tell us this until the day of our Epcot visit despite that I made the reservation three months prior. What they should have done is given us a comp at another available restaurant. What they did was... nothing. No other Epcot restaurants were available that evening, which screwed up our trip as we had planned to experience the fireworks followed by dinner, then Extra Magic Hours. Instead, we had to eat outside of the park and experience the fireworks another night. That is some weak food service.
That night, we ended up eating at Raglan Road. My full report is here, but the gist of the review is that the food is very good, the beer is even better, and the entertainment takes the cake. Excellent service, too. We had a gorgeous waitress that had a taste for good food and beer. My kinda girl. For my money, the best place to eat and/or drink in Downtown Disney, and the quality has remained consistent over my two visits.
We experienced the Spirit of Aloha show the following night. My full review is here. The food was surprisingly good (though the chicken was dry), the show was decent, and the service was excellent. We more than made up for the steep $60/person charge in food and drinks. Overall, a very worthwhile experience if you're with a rowdy group, though I'd only do it once.
We tried lunch at the 50's Prime Time Café in Disney's Hollywood Studios. This place is really hit-or-miss. The food was passable on two separate visits, our server was fun and excellent on our second trip but bland and inattentive on our first, and the milkshakes were excellent on both occasions. I'd rather eat at the Prime Time, Brown Derby, or elsewhere.
On a side note, did Disney screw up their grammar on this one? I do believe it should be '50s Prime Time, not 50's Prime Time. Robert - can you help me on this one?
Opting for something a little quieter, we tried this year's winner of TPI's Best Theme Park Restaurant award, Bistro de Paris. The pricing was what you'd expect at a Disney table service restaurant, which is surprising considering the quality this place offers. In terms of food, I actually enjoyed my meal at downstairs' Les Chefs de France better. However, the atmosphere is much more serene at Bistro, which is a nice respite after a day of sensational overloading. You won't find strollers or wife-beaters here. The service at both restaurants is professional, friendly, and attentive. Plus, the chef slipped our table some free samples of his latest dish. Nice touch.
We ended our trip at Biergarten, which has been a hit on three separate occasions, even with a vegan. I've never been too impressed with the food, which is somewhat bland, but the beer selection and entertainment are excellent. The price is right, too.
I am suprised in the Sunshine Food Fair due to me liking it immensely, but it was for breakfast.
DLR needs to have better food, less food options and chances. They have also had 55 years to iron out the wrinkles. :)
If you've had a bad experience like the hair in the food, I would definitely write a letter about it - these are things that, like you said, they happen but shouldn't. Disney should be way more careful about that and accomodating when they make the error (and take it off the bill at least!).
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Come to the Rainforest Animal Kingdom and ask for Big Ben...i got you :)