Disney Food Is Expensive and Worse Than Ever

[Smiley/OCD]

How can the cooks mess up a burger and fries in Sci Fi?

There are two things that I NEVER get at Disney…burgers or pizza.
Burgers because you can get them anywhere and pizza because I’m from Jersey…’nuff said! While we’ve had disappointing meals at Disney (last time at BoG), the only BAD meal we ever had on property was at Paradiso 37 ( which isn’t a Disney restaurant), and the last dinner we had at Ohana (IMHO, just didn’t live up to the hype).
I like, no LOVE food, but I’m not a foodie, lol. There are some on here that think the food is so disgusting, it was laced with rat poison. Yeah, it’s expensive, but it’s no more expensive than most NJ restaurants. I don’t expect a five star meal…just don’t want food poisoning.

 

[Crunchie9]

I forgot DHS! The Ronto Wrap is great for a quick-service lunch/dinner!

MK we do more snacking - cheeseburger eggrolls, corn dog nuggets, split a chicken waffle from Sleepy Hollow, loaded tots ....no one said you have to be healthy.

Mac and Cheese fries from Casey’s!

 

[dave mi]

We just ate at the following Space 220 exp I really liked (had beet salad my fav and salmon OK) wife just thought the place was OK but i would do again
via napoli - thumbs up
Paddlefish we had a group luncheon about 25 people - it was very good shrimp and grits were great (were not from NO so if you are your opinion may differ
went for a snack crab cake and fish tacos wife really enjoyed tacos and the crab cake was good
Morimito Asia - great pot stickers and the ribs were the best Ive had -fell off bone and not fatty again exp but this place is a winner.

 

[Phonedave]

There are two things that I NEVER get at Disney…burgers or pizza.
Burgers because you can get them anywhere and pizza because I’m from Jersey…’nuff said! While we’ve had disappointing meals at Disney (last time at BoG), the only BAD meal we ever had on property was at Paradiso 37 ( which isn’t a Disney restaurant), and the last dinner we had at Ohana (IMHO, just didn’t live up to the hype).
I like, no LOVE food, but I’m not a foodie, lol. There are some on here that think the food is so disgusting, it was laced with rat poison. Yeah, it’s expensive, but it’s no more expensive than most NJ restaurants. I don’t expect a five star meal…just don’t want food poisoning.

I have to say, living in NJ myself, the food at WDW is consistently worse than the restaurants I eat at in NJ, and consistently more expensive.

It is not as if it is double the price, but it is at least %10-%20, which I can understand - it is a captive audience. However the food you get at WDW, while as you said is not disgusting, it is in most cases far from what you would get in NJ for a similar price.

Heck, the local bar that I eat at every so often has better food when you compare like for like (steak sandwich, etc)

 

[CaptainAmerica]

There are two things that I NEVER get at Disney…burgers or pizza.
Burgers because you can get them anywhere and pizza because I’m from Jersey…’nuff said!

Via Napoli's prosciutto and melon pizza is legit. It's extremely expensive of course, but it's excellent. I'm convinced they found a way to add extra gluten to the dough. It's the only way I can explain crust that soft and chewy.

While we’ve had disappointing meals at Disney (last time at BoG), the only BAD meal we ever had on property was at Paradiso 37 ( which isn’t a Disney restaurant), and the last dinner we had at Ohana (IMHO, just didn’t live up to the hype).

BOG breakfast is consistently awful IMO. I tried Space 220 and the experience was fun once, but I won't be back as long as it remains prix fixe. My steak (ordered medium rare) was straight-up raw and didn't seem to have any salt on it. I'm always disappointed by the Ohana steak, and there's no justifying the price, but the shrimp are so good that I still make a reservation there very time.

This past trip we had great meals at Boma (always), Tusker House (new for us, but great diverse offerings around brunch time), Liberty Tree Taven (hit or miss, but this time was great).

 

[Hockey89]

Via Napoli's prosciutto and melon pizza is legit. It's extremely expensive of course, but it's excellent. I'm convinced they found a way to add extra gluten to the dough. It's the only way I can explain crust that soft and chewy.


BOG breakfast is consistently awful IMO. I tried Space 220 and the experience was fun once, but I won't be back as long as it remains prix fixe. My steak (ordered medium rare) was straight-up raw and didn't seem to have any salt on it. I'm always disappointed by the Ohana steak, and there's no justifying the price, but the shrimp are so good that I still make a reservation there very time.

This past trip we had great meals at Boma (always), Tusker House (new for us, but great diverse offerings around brunch time), Liberty Tree Taven (hit or miss, but this time was great).

I cannot even imagine cantaloupe on pizza.... Is this typical elsewhere?

 

[Smiley/OCD]

I have to say, living in NJ myself, the food at WDW is consistently worse than the restaurants I eat at in NJ, and consistently more expensive.

It is not as if it is double the price, but it is at least %10-%20, which I can understand - it is a captive audience. However the food you get at WDW, while as you said is not disgusting, it is in most cases far from what you would get in NJ for a similar price.

Heck, the local bar that I eat at every so often has better food when you compare like for like (steak sandwich, etc)

We all know the restaurants at WDW aren’t going to win any Michelin awards (except for maybe V & A), but I don’t think the food is as wretched as you imply. We enjoy LTT, Trattoria Al Forno, Chef Art Smith’s… we’ve never been disappointed there.
Restaurants, like movies, music, hell rides are all subjective. People on here constantly complain about trash all over the parks…again, we’ve been there 4 times in the past 3 years and we’ve NEVER seen this dirty, disgusting park some refer to.
I drive 287, 80 & 78, so I know what disgusting looks like. Lol

 

[Smiley/OCD]

Via Napoli's prosciutto and melon pizza is legit. It's extremely expensive of course, but it's excellent. I'm convinced they found a way to add extra gluten to the dough. It's the only way I can explain crust that soft and chewy.


BOG breakfast is consistently awful IMO. I tried Space 220 and the experience was fun once, but I won't be back as long as it remains prix fixe. My steak (ordered medium rare) was straight-up raw and didn't seem to have any salt on it. I'm always disappointed by the Ohana steak, and there's no justifying the price, but the shrimp are so good that I still make a reservation there very time.

This past trip we had great meals at Boma (always), Tusker House (new for us, but great diverse offerings around brunch time), Liberty Tree Taven (hit or miss, but this time was great).

I will agree that BoG has gone downhill…ate there 3 times from their opening and it’s clear it’s the ambiance, not the food (same with CRT…ate there once, daughters loved it, but one and done. As far as the VN pizza goes, you are from New England…just like I wouldn’t go to one of the awesome restaurants at Quincy Market in Boston and order Manhattan clam chowder, I’m NOT ordering pizza at Disney…lol

 

[Smiley/OCD]

I cannot even imagine cantaloupe on pizza.... Is this typical elsewhere?

Just like pineapple…

 

[the_rich]

As an Italian I say put whatever u want on pizza.

 

[Hockey89]

Just like pineapple…

Yeah, I know that is common. Just never seen cantaloupe....

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I cannot even imagine cantaloupe on pizza.... Is this typical elsewhere?

No, it's not typical. But it cuts the saltiness of the prosciutto perfectly.

I will agree that BoG has gone downhill…ate there 3 times from their opening and it’s clear it’s the ambiance, not the food (same with CRT…ate there once, daughters loved it, but one and done. As far as the VN pizza goes, you are from New England…just like I wouldn’t go to one of the awesome restaurants at Quincy Market in Boston and order Manhattan clam chowder, I’m NOT ordering pizza at Disney…lol

Pizza was perfected in New Haven, Connecticut in 1925.

The 101 Best Pizzas in America

The 101 best pizzas in America is an annual ranking of pizzerias from New York to Los Angeles and everything in between.

www.thedailymeal.com

In the top 50, New England appears 9 times, New Jersey appears twice.

Connecticut at #1
New Jersey at #4
Boston at #7
Connecticut at #9
Connecticut at #16
Boston at #25
Connecticut at #28
New Jersey at #36
Connecticut at #43
Connecticut at #45
Connecticut at #47

Frank Pepe's, which is consistently ranked among the top pizza places in the country, and often at #1, is my "it's a random weeknight and we're going to order pizza for dinner" spot.

 

[UNCgolf]

Wow, that list has 3 places in Atlanta (or at least the Atlanta metro) and none of them are even remotely close to being the best pizza in Atlanta.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Wow, that list has 3 places in Atlanta (or at least the Atlanta metro) and none of them are even remotely close to being the best pizza in Atlanta.

Are there even any I-talians in Atlanta?

 

[Smiley/OCD]

Are there even any I-talians in Atlanta?

The name of the city DOES end in a vowel…lol

 

[Phonedave]

We all know the restaurants at WDW aren’t going to win any Michelin awards (except for maybe V & A), but I don’t think the food is as wretched as you imply. We enjoy LTT, Trattoria Al Forno, Chef Art Smith’s… we’ve never been disappointed there.
Restaurants, like movies, music, hell rides are all subjective. People on here constantly complain about trash all over the parks…again, we’ve been there 4 times in the past 3 years and we’ve NEVER seen this dirty, disgusting park some refer to.
I drive 287, 80 & 78, so I know what disgusting looks like. Lol

I never said it was wretched. But it is clearly mass produced, food service type dining.

I get it, when you do that many covers a night, it has to be (or else you have a kitchen the size of an aircraft hanger and a brigade to match).

WDW Dining has become a victim of it's own success. When table service restaurants were not as popular, they were actually good (or above good). Once WDW started pushing people to TS dining, the restaurants had to change in order to keep up. Most of the dishes there are now of the same caliber as a upper end chain restaurant. I'm not disparaging chain restaurants - I like an El Presidente Margarita, some White Spinach Queso, and a Margarita Chicken - but Chili's makes no pretenses about what it is and is not. WDW dining has consistently gone down from the level you would get from a 90% scratch cooked kitchen, to a maybe %20 scratch cooked.

Trattoria Al Forno, which you mentioned, is one of the places where I was actually very pleasantly surprised. I'm sure there are a lot of bags of Osso Bucco in the sous vide, but you really have no choice with that.

 

[Phonedave]

No, it's not typical. But it cuts the saltiness of the prosciutto perfectly.


Pizza was perfected in New Haven, Connecticut in 1925.

The 101 Best Pizzas in America

The 101 best pizzas in America is an annual ranking of pizzerias from New York to Los Angeles and everything in between.

www.thedailymeal.com

In the top 50, New England appears 9 times, New Jersey appears twice.

Connecticut at #1
New Jersey at #4
Boston at #7
Connecticut at #9
Connecticut at #16
Boston at #25
Connecticut at #28
New Jersey at #36
Connecticut at #43
Connecticut at #45
Connecticut at #47

Frank Pepe's, which is consistently ranked among the top pizza places in the country, and often at #1, is my "it's a random weeknight and we're going to order pizza for dinner" spot.

I take any "best pizza" list with more than a few grains of salt.

First off, pizza is extremely regional. There are styles of pizza all over the US.

Secondly, pizza is extremely personal. People like certain things (Crisp/chewy, lots of sauce/less sauce, sweeter sauce/tangy sauce, thicker crust/thinner crust, sauce under cheese/sauce over cheese, etc) There is no "best for everyone" there is a just a "best for you"

Third, there is no way any review is taking into account all of the great pizza places. There are at least 7 pizza places within a 10 minute drive of my house that all have their fan base:

Joe's Pizza
Tuscany Villa
Wood Stack
900 Degrees
Parsippany's Best
Columbia Inn
Reservoir Tavern

I have eaten at all of them, and all of them are different, and all of them are at least good, and some are great. Some are traditional NJ pizza, some are wood fired Neapolitan type, one is an extremely thin and crisp crust. You cannot compare one to the other.

 

[UNCgolf]

Are there even any I-talians in Atlanta?

I realize you're joking, but yes, a bunch! The best pizza place here IMO is traditional Neapolitan pizza (with ovens and most, if not all, ingredients imported from Italy) by a guy who was born in Naples. It's so good -- might be the best pizza I've had in the US, although it's certainly not the only place in the running.

But as @Phonedave mentioned above, pizza tastes are subjective, and it's hard to compare different styles to each other anyways. If someone loves Chicago deep dish pizza and doesn't like Neapolitan, then they're going to like an average deep dish pizza over the best Neapolitan pizza anyways regardless of the overall quality.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I realize you're joking, but yes, a bunch! The best pizza place here IMO is traditional Neapolitan pizza (with ovens and most, if not all, ingredients imported from Italy) by a guy who was born in Naples. It's so good -- might be the best pizza I've had in the US, although it's certainly not the only place in the running.

But as @Phonedave mentioned above, pizza tastes are subjective, and it's hard to compare different styles to each other anyways. If someone loves Chicago deep dish pizza and doesn't like Neapolitan, then they're going to like an average deep dish pizza over the best Neapolitan pizza anyways regardless of the overall quality.

Of course. I was just pushing back on @Smiley/OCD saying "lol you're from New England and New England pizza sucks so your opinion on Via Napoli is invalid," when in reality New England pizza is often very highly rated.

That said, PizzeRizzo and Pizzafari are objectively bad and anyone who likes them is wrong.

 

[Lilofan]

Of course. I was just pushing back on @Smiley/OCD saying "lol you're from New England and New England pizza sucks so your opinion on Via Napoli is invalid," when in reality New England pizza is often very highly rated.

That said, PizzeRizzo and Pizzafari are objectively bad and anyone who likes them is wrong.

New England pizza highly rated as compared to what? Surely not even close to the NYC / NJ style pizza. I lived in Rhode Island for several years and the pizza there sucks including MA, NH. Parts of CT especially New Haven by Yale has top notch pizza.