Am I Alone... WDW Food is BAD

[OG Runner]

Value is subjective and varies from person to person but I’ve never had a meal at WDW that left me with a “wow, that’s the best (blank) I’ve ever had” or “wow, I’ve never had that before”.

Let’s hear it... am I alone or not?!

It really does depend on the preparation at the given restaurant, at the given time versus your expectations.
I have also eaten at Le Cellier and I totally enjoyed the food. It was delicious and well prepared, yet at the same
time, I felt it was overpriced. I have never had a bad experience at Teppan Edo. Dinner at the American Grill was
much like Le Cellier, excellent food, but again overpriced. I have to disagree with you when you use the generalization,
(I am sure for a talking point), but overall WDW Food is NOT Bad.

 

[M0710NM4N]

Yes if you eat at places like Casey’s, Backlot Express, and Pizzafari you will be unimpressed. Now if you eat at places like Le Celier, Boathouse, or California grill you will not be disappointed. You get what you pay for at Disney.

Funny that you mention Backlot Express is they had a wow factor for me anyway 13 years ago so of course things can change. But I had a lunch there but even though it was simple hamburger and fries I believe it was out of this world. I literally went out of my way for two days just to go back and have that same burger and fries. LOL

 

[foodandwinefans]

You are alone! We had the best meal EVER, at Artist Point, at the Wilderness Lodge! My wife said it was the best meal she has had in 20+ years of marriage. Although the menu may have changed since we were there, I would recommend checking it out. We did not do the "Storybook Dining" event.

 

[rose2617]

I mean that depends... where are you eating?? Honestly the food in la hacienda de san angel is some of the best Mexican food ive ever had outside of mexico ..(and I am mexican)

Granted, it may have changed since 2016 but it was still dope AF then

 

[rose2617]

I mean that depends... where are you eating?? Honestly the food in la hacienda de san angel is some of the best Mexican food ive ever had outside of mexico ..(and I am mexican)

Granted, it may have changed since 2016 but it was still dope AF then

This is our favorite restaurant at Epcot! The food, service and ambiance are wonderful. We have had fabulous family meals here for the last 30 years. Have never been disappointed.

 

[Efirefly]

No, you’re not alone at all. We’ve been going to WDW averaging 1-2 times per year for over 42 years. The last few years, the food at all the restaurants - even including Albert and Victoria - has become less inspired and in a lot of cases, just something to eat, not to savor. My impression is that the menus no longer have a dish that takes a while to prepare. They tend to be “quick meals” that may offer several courses, but have a generally bland flavor. Delicious breads and sides (like brioche, very fresh vegetables, etc.) are no longer available on many of the menus. I think this has been done for cost reasons. I noticed the same thing is occurring on the Disney cruises. I found that the food for the cruises is trucked from FL all the way to Vancouver, BC from the FL distribution system. To me, that says you aren’t looking locally for even seafood in BC or Alaska - much less getting fresh foods along the west coast. I totally agree about the foods and each trip we have made lately, some previously treasured delicious item seems gone from the menus and replaced by a mass market food item. Goodby chocolate brioche, hello plain croissant and M&M cookies. I will say this. It keeps me from spending the money to go high end Disney restaurants because I know the food won’t be worth it (although sometimes the show still is). I love the princesses at Cinderella’s castle for my granddaughter, but I used to love eating there for the meals themselves. The older Disney cookbooks highlight some of the differences (shrimp salad at the top of the Contemporary buffet - yummy!).

 

[Cado603]

I try to keep the $ out of the equation and I usually don’t do table service. I do know my own palette and I’m very adventurous, which helps. Having lived all around the globe I’ve had amazing food from all sorts of backgrounds, but when I eat at Disney I try to find the happy medium.
I would like good food at a reasonable theme park price, so that’s what I look for and that’s what I eat. I really like the Yak & Yeti at AK, I like the Rainforest Café’s specialty menus, had great meals in Pandora, Star Wars, and a bunch of other places. France has a great little grab and go place way in the back that’s reasonably priced and tastes nice (I love me a fresh baguette) and of course the various offerings at EPCOT during the International Food and Wine Festival. I’ve also had some stuff that I didn’t finish, because it just didn’t make my mouth happy.
In the end I think we just have to remember to have fun...like when we were little. We’re not going to disney for the cuisine, we go for the Magic!

Oh yes that is where we do eat Yak&yeti , not owned or run by Disney same with Rainforest I think it is Landry but not sure but NOT DISNEY and we do want to try that Rest way in the back of France looked good. Food and wine is nice if you shop around. But have been going since it started and bites were $2 to maybe 3.50 for nice servings. The crab cake at USA was awesome but they took care of that fast. They also used to have a great dish at Ireland, lobster seafood thing, same thing gone. I'm not sure we liked anything last year.

 

[Tom Thompson]

Value is subjective and varies from person to person but I’ve never had a meal at WDW that left me with a “wow, that’s the best (blank) I’ve ever had” or “wow, I’ve never had that before”.

Let’s hear it... am I alone or not?!

I have been to DW ( from Philly ) way more times than I would like to admit . As far as FOOD is concerned the fast food is at best edible . But usually isn't that good at ALL . Notable is the snack bar at the Beach Club . Not good . It should be great based on the status of the hotel . I do understand the issue is trying to feed large masses of people in the parks . But to go the route of tough luck this is the best we can do is LAME . I could go on and on , but not even worth it .
On a more positive note :
The upgrades of the past decade in eating establishments has greatly improved the food choices . Someone suggested the BoatHouse as a favorite . I back that one up 100 % . Really Good ! I was always amazed at how bad the American Pavilion in Epcot was . But , I see they closed it and are putting in a BBQ joint . I pray they do it first class , that has the potential to be a top spot in Epcot . The Disney Springs influx of new restaurants has been a huge upgrade . Check out Georges Wine Bar . Not a place I would normally go to . But tried it a couple months back . Delicious !
So to answer the original question. Yes , there are a lot of bad food options/ choices . But , there are a lot of really good places too . Just have to search them out or just give them a try .

 

[Cado603]

I have been to DW ( from Philly ) way more times than I would like to admit . As far as FOOD is concerned the fast food is at best edible . But usually isn't that good at ALL . Notable is the snack bar at the Beach Club . Not good . It should be great based on the status of the hotel . I do understand the issue is trying to feed large masses of people in the parks . But to go the route of tough luck this is the best we can do is LAME . I could go on and on , but not even worth it .
On a more positive note :
The upgrades of the past decade in eating establishments has greatly improved the food choices . Someone suggested the BoatHouse as a favorite . I back that one up 100 % . Really Good ! I was always amazed at how bad the American Pavilion in Epcot was . But , I see they closed it and are putting in a BBQ joint . I pray they do it first class , that has the potential to be a top spot in Epcot . The Disney Springs influx of new restaurants has been a huge upgrade . Check out Georges Wine Bar . Not a place I would normally go to . But tried it a couple months back . Delicious !
So to answer the original question. Yes , there are a lot of bad food options/ choices . But , there are a lot of really good places too . Just have to search them out or just give them a try .

The places you mentioned Boathouse and restaurants at Springs are largely NOT owned by Disney. Beach club years ago was great buffet at Beach is still just OK used to be super. Yachtman used to be great too. Iger came in and everything went Down hill.

 

[hapihart]

We just returned from WDW and had some really yummy meals. O'Hana dinner was much better this time around. Sanaa was good but not great. Yaki & Yeti was tasty. I keep thinking back to our last trip a year ago and how bad dinner at Kona Café was. And I mean BAD! We had to send one of the meals back because it was literally inedible. Not likely to ever go there again. Quick service meals were OK, but we don't expect much from them. So it very much depends on where you eat. Things chance so frequently at WDW, you just hope for the best, especially meals you are paying a fortune for.

 

[EthylCooper]

Boma is still pretty good, but otherwise, most of the fabulous meals that I'd still be thinking about when I was back to real life are gone now. Ohana got crappy, Backlot Express lost the Grilled Veggie sandwich, Liberty Inn dropped the portobello burger with the tiny grapes. Turn the clock back 15 years or so and my answer to this question would have been completely different.

And another thing that has to be said: Disney does not know how to make a beignet. I tried them on both coasts and they're barely edible.

 

[tattykattav]

Canada LeCelier is wonderful. We love Be Our Guest, Mama Maria Italian, Boma is good, Tuskas House great, we also love Disney Springs Wolf Gang Puck, Cooks of Dublin.

 

[UNCgolf]

Boma has the best breakfast buffet I've ever eaten (not fine dining, but worth the price). Flying Fish is actually tremendous all around -- the filet my GF got last time we were there is one of the 5 best steaks I've ever eaten. And yes, before anyone claims I'm comparing it to Longhorn Steakhouse, I have eaten steaks at fine restaurants in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Toronto, etc. (as an aside, the absolute best steak I've ever eaten was at a little restaurant called Bistro 90 in Longs, South Carolina).

There are some excellent meals available at Disney, but I don't know why anyone would expect every meal, especially at QS restaurants, to be a fine culinary experience. It's a theme park. If you compare it to other theme parks, Disney does pretty well. Universal, for example, has food that is essentially inedible in its parks (although at least some of the restaurants at CityWalk are pretty good).

Overall, Disney's food is fine. Certainly overpriced at times, but it could be far, far worse.

 

[righttrack]

WDW is on such a scale that a visit to a small restaurant in a major city that specializes in just a few things will blow anything they have away. Imagine you are at the largest wedding or convention you have ever been to. That's how fast they turn out food and they do it well. Is it going to really be something special? Probably not, but it's serviceable, safe and decent. That's how I look at it. I live near NYC and get some of the best restaurants to dine at nearby. When I do go to WDW, it kind of brings it closer to institution food quality but it's still quite good. All things considered, no complaints from me. Just reduced expectations because they are turning out mountains of food every minute of every day.

 

[mdcpr]

I have been to DW ( from Philly ) way more times than I would like to admit . As far as FOOD is concerned the fast food is at best edible . But usually isn't that good at ALL . Notable is the snack bar at the Beach Club . Not good . It should be great based on the status of the hotel . I do understand the issue is trying to feed large masses of people in the parks . But to go the route of tough luck this is the best we can do is LAME . I could go on and on , but not even worth it .
On a more positive note :
The upgrades of the past decade in eating establishments has greatly improved the food choices . Someone suggested the BoatHouse as a favorite . I back that one up 100 % . Really Good ! I was always amazed at how bad the American Pavilion in Epcot was . But , I see they closed it and are putting in a BBQ joint . I pray they do it first class , that has the potential to be a top spot in Epcot . The Disney Springs influx of new restaurants has been a huge upgrade . Check out Georges Wine Bar . Not a place I would normally go to . But tried it a couple months back . Delicious !
So to answer the original question. Yes , there are a lot of bad food options/ choices . But , there are a lot of really good places too . Just have to search them out or just give them a try .

I've had some of the best food in Philly. Eating in Philly (yeah City Tavern! and Oh Brother cheesesteaks) inspired me to cancel the majority of my ADRs because I did not want to pay top $$ for mediocre food after not paying much for incredible meals in Philly.

 

[xdan0920]

WDW is on such a scale that a visit to a small restaurant in a major city that specializes in just a few things will blow anything they have away. Imagine you are at the largest wedding or convention you have ever been to. That's how fast they turn out food and they do it well. Is it going to really be something special? Probably not, but it's serviceable, safe and decent. That's how I look at it. I live near NYC and get some of the best restaurants to dine at nearby. When I do go to WDW, it kind of brings it closer to institution food quality but it's still quite good. All things considered, no complaints from me. Just reduced expectations because they are turning out mountains of food every minute of every day.

True. They are serving institutional food at ultra premium prices though. Kinda skews the old value slider.

 

[Sonconato]

Let’s hear it... am I alone or not?!

No. Nothing in the parks is great, but we do like to eat at the hotels. However, one of the value hotels we found at least palatable took somewhere between 8 and 13 items off the list a week ago. And they were the good things! We never eat at the parks, but some of the hotels do have good things to eat.

 

[Efirefly]

Can we be best friends?

and come visit ! I promise to praise everything - lol!

 

[ddbowdoin]

WDW is on such a scale that a visit to a small restaurant in a major city that specializes in just a few things will blow anything they have away. Imagine you are at the largest wedding or convention you have ever been to. That's how fast they turn out food and they do it well. Is it going to really be something special? Probably not, but it's serviceable, safe and decent. That's how I look at it. I live near NYC and get some of the best restaurants to dine at nearby. When I do go to WDW, it kind of brings it closer to institution food quality but it's still quite good. All things considered, no complaints from me. Just reduced expectations because they are turning out mountains of food every minute of every day.

But is that the case for the higher end restaurants? I don’t see how the Cali Grill sears and serves more guests per day than any restaurant in a major American city. The QS locations... yes, that’s huge.

 

[KeithVH]

Did no one mention declining by degrees yet? Face it, a large majority of the food USED to be pretty darn good at most of the World 10 years ago (and before). Yeah, there were stinkers but they were few and usually didn't stick around. Then again, I ain't gonna touch the whole "free dining's fault" thing. I don't think anyone has enough factual info to prove the case and effect relationship there.

Then again, what do I know - we switched over to DCL after 2016 and are much happier (including the food) giving them money instead of TDO.