Lunch for adults at CRT?

[macnbc]

Hello all,

I'm new to these forums, but I hope I can get some good advice. Hi everyone!

I'm going on my honeymoon to WDW in early December. I debated which forum on the site to put this in but this one seemed best.

Basically, we're planning to go to Cinderella's for lunch on an MVMCP day, so that we can hit a quick dinner later on and enjoy more of the festivities that evening.

I've heard that CRT is a great romantic spot for dinners, but how is it for lunch? I know it's a character meal, and we're big kids at heart, so that's fine by me, but I didn't know if we would "stick out" among all the families there. What do you all think?

 

[coltow]

DH and I did breakfast on our honeymoon. Characters or not it's a great place for the atmosephere. It just has that special feel to it. Romantic? YES! Ask for a window table to make it a little more private.

 

[SleepingMonk]

Don't waste your time or money.

It's a prepay now with a fixed menu, loaded with loud obnoxious kids and tired parents who just let them run wild. Nothing romantic about it now. And because it's a fixed menu they obviously prepare it hours in advance which means it hits your table ice cold and tasteless.

Just plain horrible.

 

[Ashitaka]

I would recommend it for a honeymoon. We took our niece there for lunch on her 9th birthday. The food was good (not great, but good). No, it isn't romantic fine-dining like dinner at Cali Grill. But it's a fun experience and a good way to have a memorable lunch at the Magic Kingdom. Yes, it is a splurge, but you are celebrating, so go for it.

Just don't let your new bride catch you staring (too much) at Princess Jasmine.

Oh, and there were numerous couples without children there, so you won't be sticking out.

 

[Monty]

Don't waste your time or money.

It's a prepay now with a fixed menu, loaded with loud obnoxious kids and tired parents who just let them run wild. Nothing romantic about it now. And because it's a fixed menu they obviously prepare it hours in advance which means it hits your table ice cold and tasteless.

Just plain horrible.

Never had any of those issues. Either they had a bad day or you did. :shrug:

 

[SleepingMonk]

Never had any of those issues. Either they had a bad day or you did. :shrug:

Perhaps, but we had been several times before they changed the format and never had a single issue. It was calm and quiet, nice atmosphere, real service and quality food.

Now they serve this...

I've had TV dinners that tasted better. Combine the horrible food with the loud, annoying surroundings and you get nothing even remotely close to romantic.

 

[meganw1985]

That meat looks fake and the potatoes very rubbery

 

[SleepingMonk]

That meat looks fake and the potatoes very rubbery

Exactly.

If I had to guess I would say it actually got "cooked" about four hours before it was served, stuck under a lamp and then tossed on a plate.

If the food was great it would make up for the daycare atmosphere of the castle, but it's not even good, in fact it's just plain awful.

They took what used to be a quiet, romantic spot with quality food and turned it into a loud and annoying character fest with buffet level slop.

 

[KingStefan]

To each his own. "De gustibus non disputandum est".

However, that prime rib looks fabulous. Granted the plating leaves a little to be desired, but the food looks like it tastes great.

I had the pot pie (or whatever it's called). It was wonderful.

Don't let them kid you. The food is made fresh. On a busy day, maybe it sits for a few minutes before served. The tastes are probably some of the more herbal and sophisticated at the World. Although perhaps too subtle for some tastes. And of course prime rib is cooked ahead of time! It's cooked as a whole huge piece of meat, and then sliced to order.

Yes it is filled with families with kids. But when I went there were none being obnoxious or running around.

I would think it would be a great choice for a honeymoon meal.

Plus, the prime rib is only for dinner, not lunch. Lunch is salmon, or pork tenderloin, or pasta. Menu changes periodically. If they have the pie, I recommend it. It's not what you expect - not in a tin - it's plated. Plus lunch is cheaper (34 vs. 41).

 

[SleepingMonk]

:ROFLOL:

Subtle? Sophisticated?

That's a good one!

I've been to some of the finest restaurants in the nation, I know the difference between quality fare and assembly line slop. In this case it isn't exactly tough to tell them apart.

This is a prime example of dining done right at Disney....

Excellent atmosphere, incredible service and a wonderful display of flavor.

The bottom line is Royal Table is no better than the buffet garbage slung at Crystal Palace. There are so many superior choices at Disney it would be a crime to waste your money and time at Royal Table.

 

[SleepingMonk]

....Plus lunch is cheaper (34 vs. 41).

Lunch....Adults $50.96
Dinner....Adults $57.19

 

[SleepingMonk]

Don't let them kid you. The food is made fresh.....

Impossible and simply not true. It's a fixed menu, they know exactly what they'll be selling and most likely the ratio. From placing our order to getting our plates it took all of four minutes. There is no way they could have made anything we ordered fresh. Cranked out on an assembly line and warmed under lamps is more like it.

 

[macnbc]

Thanks for the feedback thus far!

The presentation shown in the picture there does leave a bit to be desired, though I don't think the food looks inedible..

I am having a couple of second thoughts, but then again every restaurant has their good days and their bad ones as well.

The cost doesn't really bother me since we're on free dining and I've budgeted for 1 or 2 2-credit TS meals.

Does anybody else have any feedback/thoughts? Good or bad?

 

[KingStefan]

Lunch....Adults $50.96
Dinner....Adults $57.19

Oy. WDWinfo posted those lower numbers just in May. Could they have gone up that much?

 

[reptar77]

Before the format change to food was good and atmosphere was calm and quite (well as much as Disney can be). Since the fixed menu I have been disappointed with everything. This could just be because I remember how is used to be.
I would keep your resi and make up your own mind.
Have a great trip.

 

[blackthidot]

Never ate there but wlecome!

 

[DizneyPryncess]

Here's my take on CRT. I've been there twice - once for dinner before it included the princesses, and once for the princess breakfast on my honeymoon.

I would call the experience more magical than romantic. For our honeymoon, we were ushered to the front of the line to meet Cinderella where we were announced as a newly married couple. Then we were taken to a window seat that was decorated for us. Like I said - magical moment for us. The food itself was okay, nothing spectacular. We prefer the breakfast foods at Crystal Palace & a few other places. In general, we felt a little rushed throughout the meal. Meeting the princesses was fun, and we didn't care at all that we were one of the only tables with no kids. I enjoyed the whole thing, thought it was a bit overpriced though. It's not something we'll regularly do, but I'm glad we did it.

The dinner we did was more romantic, I think because it was less rushed & there were no characters. Since it isn't the same food, or the atmosphere is now completely different w/the princesses, I won't go into anymore depth about it.

All in all, eating in the castle is kind of neat. Since it is your honeymoon you have a chance of having some extra little magic happening for you, but it's different for everyone. It's expensive, it's fun, and I think it's worth doing once.

 

[KingStefan]

I've been rethinking things are reading over the entire thread, and I've had some thoughts.

(1) Since I've been there they have revised the lunch menu (as they do from time to time) and I'd have to say that the choices look less interesting than when I was there. Perhaps this is a result of cost pressures. If this is so, I'd expect that the food is not as good as when I last went.

(2) Some of what you are paying for (I'd say about half) is the atmosphere and special treatment (which is variable to say the least), the photo package, etc. Therefore the cost is on par with what you would expect from a signature restaurant. Is the food comparable to a Disney signature restaurant? Certainly not! I realized that in some posts (some of them mine) there could have been a misunderstanding that this was the comparison. So in that respect, if you are going for the food, for the price you pay (which if you are on the dining plan is literally the same as a signature restaurant) you are most definitely NOT getting your money's worth. I certainly agree to that, and never meant to argue otherwise.

(3) Having said that, the food (at the time I went - see (1) above) was much better than I expected. Yes, of course with a limited menu, the food is generally prepared continuously, but at least when I was there, they did a pretty good job of serving it "just in time". That is what I meant when I said that it was "fresh", not that it is prepared to order. It is most certainly NOT prepared to order. Maybe I was lucky.

(4) As DizneyPryncess posted, the place has "some extra little magic". I'm also glad we went (we went with our two daughters). Would I do it again? That's a definite "NO", but I'm glad we did it once. And if the honeymooners' treatment is the same now as DizneyPryncess posted, maybe it would be worth it.