50s Prime Time Reviews

[myhappyplace]

I LOVE their pot roast. So delicious.

The first 2 or 3 times I went, I had great interaction and tons of fun. ..this was in the 2001-2004 time frame. Since then I haven't gotten the level of interaction that I really like, but I've been back a couple of times since then, for the food and decor alone.

 

[DisneyJunkie]

My group ate there once and almost unanimously agreed none of us would ever need to eat there again. First, the menu was rather small and the food wasn't very good at all. Secondly, our waitress apparently wasn't in with the spirit of the restaurant and did nothing more than take our orders and bring our food....that's it. No "eat your veggies or you won't get dessert" or anything like that, which you hear should be common by the wait staff. No playing the part at all.

 

[dizda]

I have to shake my head when I read some reviews/comments of 50s PT Cafe on Trip Advisor, YouTube etc. "The waitress was so ignorant, why couldn't they just leave me alone, all I wanted to do was eat my dinner in peace, the food was so plain", etc. Part of the appeal of this restaurant is the interaction with the servers! If you didn't do your research before you went there, that is YOUR fault, not Disney's. Just another example of people not doing enough planning before going to WDW. If you want a quiet, 5 star type meal, go to Le Cellier. If you want a bit of fun with your meal, 50s PT Cafe is perfect.

Agreed. If you want or do not want a certain type of meal or dining experience, then you need to research the restaurant before eating there. You cannot complain if you receive the type of meal or dining experience the restaurant is known to provide. That would be like complaining about having to listen to corny jokes on the Jungle Cruise.

 

[jhastings74]

We ate there during our trip a few weeks ago. I had eaten there a number of times before, but it was DW's first time. We had good interaction from our waitress, but not the best ever. The food was great...I had the sampler and wished I had just gotten the full serving of the pot roast. As far as pot roasts go...I've never had better. I want the recipe... Since we had the dining plan, we also got desserts which were also both delicious (the chocolate peanut butter layer cake was intense!). A little bummed that they didn't have the dessert menu in the ViewMaster anymore.

The two things that I remember most about this last experience was that she asked me to take the order for the couple sitting next to us so she could keep visiting with another family (not because she was being lazy...but being 'fun'...) and we ended up getting to know that couple really well!, and then since I didn't finish my green beans, she said I had to spell something out with the leftovers. My wife has a great pic (somewhere) of my final result....that our server took around to all of the other tables in our section.

Overall, it is somewhere I will always go back and eat at if we are at DHS. I always recommend it to anyone who asks.

 

[71dsp]

50's Prime Time is one of our must-dos on our Disney trips. We love it. Some interactions have been better than others, but we never felt like we got bad service. My stand by is the pot roast and my wife is the fried chicken. We will be going back for sure on our next trip.

 

[jhastings74]

Found the pic!
(Because I don't like green beans, but I love my wife):

 

[danyoung56]

The type of interaction you have with the waitstaff here is really not my thing. That said, I booked a dinner there a few years ago, knowing full well the style of interaction coming. It was fun for a while, but after a while it really became intrusive, to the point where I just wanted my waitress to leave me alone. There's a difference between fun banter with a waitperson and just plain nagging. I know some of the negative reviews are just because people don't know what type of restaurant this is. But I also think that they could do a better job at reading the crowd, and understanding that some people just don't want to play.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

My wife and I ate here last summer and enjoyed it. Our waiter was great and kept things fun. The best part was that the table next to us were early 20 somethings on vacation from England...so the playfulness went between all of us. If you're really not into playing around with the waiter, just let them know up front and they'll treat you just like a regular waiter would.

With that being said, there are other restaurants at Disney that I would visit again before going back to PT. This isn't to say we will never go back, we just wouldn't visit there quite as often as we would other places (like 'Ohana).

 

[Punky]

Maybe if I got the full experience of the restaurant I wouldn't have been disappointed, but our entire meal lasted a good 30 mins. It was only my 6 year old and I and she's the one that chose to dine there after watching youtube videos.

 

[The_Jobu]

The variance of experiences at PTC in this thread is fascinating. I have reservations to dine there for the first time in April and I'm not sure what to expect. Having read the thread I'm hoping for a "middle" experience, some mild banter, but not taking me away from my dinner and making me and my family interact with other tables. Ideally, the server would be able to read their tables and find their comfort zone.

 

[Lsumatt72]

I have to shake my head when I read some reviews/comments of 50s PT Cafe on Trip Advisor, YouTube etc. "The waitress was so ignorant, why couldn't they just leave me alone, all I wanted to do was eat my dinner in peace, the food was so plain", etc. Part of the appeal of this restaurant is the interaction with the servers! If you didn't do your research before you went there, that is YOUR fault, not Disney's. Just another example of people not doing enough planning before going to WDW. If you want a quiet, 5 star type meal, go to Le Cellier. If you want a bit of fun with your meal, 50s PT Cafe is perfect.

I agree with what you say, but there have been a few times where the waiter's "acting" has been abysmal, which just ruined the whole fantasy of being in the 50's.