Restaurants, how many and your most and least favorite

[zurgandfriend]

This most likely was posted in the past however I’m thinking about our next trip.

My DS and I have a father & son trip planned for next fall.

Over the years our family made many a pilgrimage to WDW. For each trip we always liked to try some new restaurants which we picked out as a family. My DW, DS and myself also had one individual pick. It could be for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and it could be a new restaurant or an old favorite.

My DS and I were discussing our trip and doing some exceedingly early planning and of course meals were part of the discussion.

I started counting the restaurants we have dined at over the years and produced a list of sixty-five restaurants. These restaurants were where we sat down and ate a meal whether it was table service or counter service running the gambit from Victoria and Albert to Cosmic rays. Purchasing a bucket of popcorn or a Mickey ice cream bar and enjoying it while sitting on a bench did not count.

I am wondering if sixty-five restaurants, aside from making us a little hefty, also makes us connoisseurs or rank amateurs.

As a family the California Grill was our favorite and a must do. Unfortunately, my DS and I were underwhelmed on our last visit. The worst experience we ever had was at Hollywood and Vine.

So, how many restaurants have you experienced and what was your most and least favorite?

Z

 

[KaliSplash]

Well, after a few minutes of reflection, I come up with 63, including the water parks and Disney Springs in its many variations. That's from 1979 to 2024.
Hard to say what was worst. A fairly recent bad one was at The Dolphin, the pool bar.
As to the best, Also hard. Had a superb steak at whatever replaced the original Al Fredo's in Italy. Le Cellier in Canada is always a favorite. And there was a place on the Empress Lily back in the day, not in the main restaurant, but up on the second level that had great prime rib.

 

[JIMINYCR]

My counting over all our years of going, gives me 78. I may have overlooked a few. The DDP once was something we used to go with, but no longer.
When we go I always have favs to do and try to get something booked that we haven't done before that has had good reviews posted by others. I always consult with DW and DS before making ADR's to be sure we enjoy all our dining spots. There are some that DS absolutely refuses to dine at so those spots get booked when DW and I are on trips without him.
Our favs have consistently been La Hacienda, Chefs de France and Yak & Yeti. The bottom spots have been Brown Derby and Be our Guest, because of poor quality and quantity of food for the price. BoG once was a spot we once enjoyed.
If we have a poor dining experience I will give a place another try on a return trip because changing Chefs and menus can make or break a dining evening and that can change.

 

[MR.Dis]

The only restaurant that still rates high on our list is Tiffins (just went to the Turf Club at Saratoga Springs and it still has the best Prime Rib in WDW). So many we used to enjoy that are now disappointments like the Boathouse in Disney Springs. The one that is now totally unacceptable, in our opinion, is Tony's in MK.

 

[larryz]

The one that is now totally unacceptable, in our opinion, is Tony's in MK.

I will give Tony's high marks for flexibility. We have a traveler in our group who is dairy intolerant and has myriad other sensitivities based on certain plant families. A brief discussion with a chef brought forth a very tasty and trigger-free salmon filet accompanied by vegetables and a starch that also did not cause discomfort.

That said, our favorite in the MK is the Jungle Cruise Skipper's Canteen.

 

[JIMINYCR]

I will give Tony's high marks for flexibility. We have a traveler in our group who is dairy intolerant and has myriad other sensitivities based on certain plant families. A brief discussion with a chef brought forth a very tasty and trigger-free salmon filet accompanied by vegetables and a starch that also did not cause discomfort.

That said, our favorite in the MK is the Jungle Cruise Skipper's Canteen.

Our last visit to Tonys gave us a nice meal that was very different from a years previous visit. Our last Skippers meal was not up to our liking. That's always been Disney dining.... it all depends on when you happen to go and what you order that tells how good or bad a place will be. Our many trips with a variety of dining spots have been so variable. Wish Disney could be more consistent in their dining.

 

[joanna71985]

Favorite is Hoop Dee Doo Revue. I typically go there monthly

 

[monorail81]

Favorite is Hoop Dee Doo Revue. I typically go there monthly

Ours, too. We went three times when we stayed at the Fort in December. Bought tickets to the third show while fasting on our salad at the second. Going again at the end of the month. It’s the same show, but it’s always different! The waiter the first night asked if it was our first time. We just laughed and politely said no and had been many times. He asked how many. I said too many to count. I’ve been going long enough that I still remember the cheese dip and tortilla chips from back in the day. I still sing the old song in my head…that show will always have a special place in my heart because my father was Davey’s angel in the early 80’s.

 

[Tiggerish]

I'm not going to count how many restaurants we've visited since 1997, I've got better things to do with my time.

But I can say that we've had consistently good meals at Citricos and Flying Fish. More recently, Topolinos and Toledo.

 

[Kevin_W]

I decided it count and came up with 47 TS and 31 QS over the years. It's hard to pick a favorite - we've liked so many for different reasons: Via Napoli for great pizza with friendly Italian servers, BoG (when it wasn't a fixed menu) for the food and the atmosphere, Space 220 as a splurge for the experience, Tiffins for amazing food. And many more.

No where really stands out as bad, fortunately. I'm not a buffet fan because of the expense and I tend to over-eat at them, so I mostly stay away these days. But I've enjoyed the ones we did.