Big River Grille and Brewing Works

[Tater48]

Okay, we will be eating here for the first time on our next trip to the World. Any yeas, nays or other. Will it be a waste of our time? Is the food good, average or :hurl:? Atmosphere? Also, any thoughts on the Whispering Canyon Cafe. We will be eating there for the firsts time too.

 

[wdwmagic]

I've had my worst WDW dining experiences at Big River. I would suggest going anywhere else. The food was poor, and the service was abysmal. I gave them a second chance a year later, and it was as bad, if not worse.

 

[wdwmagic]

See http://www.wdwmagic.com/Dining/Big-River-Grille-and-Brewing-Works/Reviews.htm for some reviews

 

[SweetMagic]

I can't vouch for the rest of the menu, or for eating inside... but we ate at Big River as a spur of the moment choice one evening while staying at the Swan. We chose to eat outside and I ordered this:

Hickory Bacon Burger - with smoked cheddar cheese, bacon, and sweet magnolia barbeque sauce served with kettle chips

...and it was the best burger I've ever had on property. We didn't have any problems that night, and I've recommended the place to others. I have no idea how the rest of the menu is, but I had a good experience :wave:

 

[SOLISIMO]

Ive never had any problems there either, good food too. But anywhere you go someone will have a bad review, no one is perfect and we all have our days

 

[wdwmagic]

I can't vouch for the rest of the menu, or for eating inside... but we ate at Big River as a spur of the moment choice one evening while staying at the Swan. We chose to eat outside and I ordered this:

Hickory Bacon Burger - with smoked cheddar cheese, bacon, and sweet magnolia barbeque sauce served with kettle chips

...and it was the best burger I've ever had on property. We didn't have any problems that night, and I've recommended the place to others. I have no idea how the rest of the menu is, but I had a good experience :wave:

I was unlucky enough to have that on one visit LOL. The "fresh cooked" kettle chips were straight out of a bag (I saw them open it), the burger was frozen, and the bacon, which I paid a $2 upgrade fee for, was a laughable tiny strip of burnt bacon. It was honestly embarrassing to food.

We obviously had different experiences, but I just can't recommend it to anyone based on my experiences there.

 

[ptaylor]

The issue with Big River is that they have become way to comfortable with all the convention traffic from the Swan and Dolphin. Unfortunately, they seem to operate on the fact that they will take the expense account customers money, who they know will probably not be back.

The food is not at all good, it's over priced, the service is bad, the indoor section has terrible acoustics, and the outside area is not covered, and if it rains, you're screwed (and they don't care)

It's easily the worst restaurant in the Boardwalk area inky opinion. I'd rather eat anywhere else on property, including the counter service locations.

 

[SweetMagic]

I was unlucky enough to have that on one visit LOL. The "fresh cooked" kettle chips were straight out of a bag (I saw them open it), the burger was frozen, and the bacon, which I paid a $2 upgrade fee for, was a laughable tiny strip of burnt bacon. It was honestly embarrassing to food.

We obviously had different experiences, but I just can't recommend it to anyone based on my experiences there.

Ew! Maybe I'm lucky I ate outside! I didn't see anything I wasn't suppose to :lookaroun

 

[mtomkins]

Never eaten at the one At WDW but I am in Nashville & the restaurant is from here in TN (Nashville and Chattanooga). Sorry you guys have had bad experiences! The one here in Nashville is one of my favorite places ever. My dads office is just a few steps from it & that is one of his favorites as well. Sorry to hear the food isn't good as well as service. I'm not sure if they do, but from what I could tell they don't even offer the full menu there at WDW as they do at home. Which is sad bc they have an amazing menu. If you ever get to Nashville, try the original, you won't be disappointed!

 

[mickeysshoes]

We ate at the BRG last year and had a pretty good lunch...burgers were great..was nice to find some one with a burger that is not a pressed patty and would cook it to my liking....NOT DEAD!!!! We ate on the delux DDP and walked out of there very full and happy! Had really good service but we were also there right at opening and as the only table for our server for about 20 minutes. We are going to try it again this year. We also have had good times at WCC...We have eaten b,L,&D here and have had great meals and FUN servers. You will get bad reviews and every place any where so my saying is go with your GUT feelings!!!!

 

[drossjr]

I was unlucky enough to have that on one visit LOL. The "fresh cooked" kettle chips were straight out of a bag (I saw them open it), the burger was frozen, and the bacon, which I paid a $2 upgrade fee for, was a laughable tiny strip of burnt bacon. It was honestly embarrassing to food.

We obviously had different experiences, but I just can't recommend it to anyone based on my experiences there.

I find Disney bacon to be poor at best, its tiny and cooked to ash! :hurl: We stopped at Big River last week for lunch and it was like a million degrees out I wound up getting a salad with chicken because I was so hot I couldnt eat anything else on the menu, it was okay, the beer was good, but the whole restaurant had a terriable odor in it which smelled like old spilled beer and the AC was broken in half the place and they had floor fans out which wasnt cutting it, we ate at the bar probably wont go back

 

[disneylemons]

My husband I were staying at the Boardwalk last Jan for a couple nights and ate at the BRG both nights. The food was good both nights and service was fine also. It was really busy both nights so seemed to be a popular place during our stay. Be sure to order a pink ice pick? It was wonderful!

Whispering Canyon is one of my all time favorite places to eat to have a good time - be sure to ask for ketchup! LOL

 

[tigsmom]

We ate there on the spur of the moment the trip we stayed at the Boardwalk Inn...the place was overcrowded (to the point that you could not move the chairs to sit or the servers able to move), the "special beer" they were serving had been out of stock for 3 days and yet they still told you about it when you were seated! :brick:
The food was lackluster to say the least and took forever to arrive; we could not get out of there fast enough.


We adore the Whispering Canyon Cafe! We eat breakfast there several times a trip (love those breakfast skillets), they have nice sandwiches and salads for lunch (BBQ skillets too) and the big BBQ skillet for dinner...all you care to eat! :slurp:

The atmosphere is a bit wild so if anybody in your group does not like "friendly" servers and audience participation then maybe something more sedate would suit you...all in all it's one of our favorite places to eat!

 

[tampabrad]

Everything at Big River is just OK. The beer is not that great (and I love a good microbrew) the food is not that great and the service is not that great. It seems everything they do at the WDW location is to "just get by." I am sure one of the more "local" Big Rivers would be much better. Personally, I find it very expensive for mediocre food. Compare it to going to Appleby's and paying double for anything there.

As for WC, it is loud and wild and crazy. If that is not your thing, you will hate it. BBQ is very good. They have a smoker out back of the WL. Lunch seems to be a bit more tame due to the lack of crowds. Be sure to ask for ketchup.

 

[Tazer19]

We ate there in December of '08. We were one of three or four parties sitting outside for lunch. The service was awful. I know it was a bit cool outside, but more than 2 trips out would have been nice. I sat with an empty beer glass through all of the meal and was only asked if I wanted another when he brought the check. Also, I wasn't impressed with their beer. Between the four of us, I had the chance to try 3 different beers. Although it should be noted that most of my friends/family consider me a beer snob, so maybe I was a bit more critical than others.

 

[Eeyore]

I've been to big river 3 times. Each visit was worse than the last. I wouldn't go back a 4th time that's for sure. The food is mediocre at best, I can make better myself at home and I'm not much of a cook. It's just nothing special. The noise inside due to bad acoustics is horrendous. On our last visit we waited a half an hour (they weren't busy) for our server to surface after we were seated. We finally had to go to the podium to see if we even had a server. It seemed that didn't go over too well with her. She barely spoke two words to us the whole time and slammed our drinks down on the table. All the while she was very pleasant and chatty to the table next to us. I had a burger (I wanted the Kobe burger but they were out of it) and it tasted as though it was frozen for months and was dry as a bone. My kettle chips were smashed to pieces and stale. It's a shame that it's such a disaster, it's
a real waste of a great location.

 

[amykissangel]

I've had my worst WDW dining experiences at Big River. I would suggest going anywhere else. The food was poor, and the service was abysmal. I gave them a second chance a year later, and it was as bad, if not worse.

The issue with Big River is that they have become way to comfortable with all the convention traffic from the Swan and Dolphin. Unfortunately, they seem to operate on the fact that they will take the expense account customers money, who they know will probably not be back.

The food is not at all good, it's over priced, the service is bad, the indoor section has terrible acoustics, and the outside area is not covered, and if it rains, you're screwed (and they don't care)

It's easily the worst restaurant in the Boardwalk area inky opinion. I'd rather eat anywhere else on property, including the counter service locations.

I've been to big river 3 times. Each visit was worst that the last. It's a shame that it's such a disaster, it's
a real waste of a great location.

Can I second something that's already been said more than twice?

I had my worst Disney experience EVER and I will NEVER, EVER return there after how we were treated. I'm not normally a complainer and have been a waitress in my college days, so I know how restaurants get. I understand having ADRs and still having to wait for 30 minutes or so. 45 is a bit much. 60 is unacceptable. 1 HOUR AND 40 MINUTES is atrocious - especially when every time they promised us a table, ten minutes later they came back and had "seated someone else" there.

We had a fairly large group, which I called and asked them about TWICE, and they promised they could accomodate with no problem. I even called the day of to remind them, and they said we'd be seated right away. Apparently they were trying to get 3 or 4 tables together for our group and kept seating others at them instead. They brought us chips and guac free as an appetizer, but the day had already been ruined. Then, after the host who we asked politely 5 TIMES what the heck was going on told our server that we were horrendous, I overheard our server tell another waitress: They're so nice - I have no idea what Nick (the host) was talking about! He's going to be in so much trouble tomorrow - did you know they waited for almost 2 hours?

Honest to God, she was such a sweetheart - bless her heart, she made the night better. But the food was what you'd get at an Applebee's, so the whole experience was just miserable. Never again

 

[Disneybird]

It's a shame the BRG at WDW has gotten such bad reviews. My husband has eaten there several times, and didn't complain.

We live close to the 2 in Chattanooga and they are some of our favorite restaurants. The company also has other restaurants in the area that are very good too.