Most Over Rated Restaurant At WDW.

Stellajack

Stellajack

Well-Known Member
Even though I've read several negative comments from this reliable forum, I decided to go ahead and make an ADR for Tony's Town Square. DH and I do not do the DDP and I wasn't sure if I could get a 4/30 ADR, but no problem!
This could mean we're in for a disappointment or a pleasant surprise. If you agree with me, raise your hand. Oh, almost forgot, does anyone know if they allow raccoons!
 
Phonedave

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
Trotsky said:
Absolutely turned around. When a Sig takes positive steps to correct the "cut expenses" (and quality) demon, they deserve praise. About three years ago, the Brown Derby went through a similar learning experience - and recovered STUNNINGLY. Interestingly, the same cure was employed: a new Manager with a quality attitude, and some new chefs to support the vision (in fact, it must be miserable for a quality oriented chef to get stuck with a "save money and damn the quality Manager :().

Nope, AP is back on track as a real, god honest sig. We're going to wait about a year, then give LeCelier and M. Pauls another chance... perhaps they will learn from the BD & AP :).
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I really think part of this has to do with the DDP.

I am sure the situation is something along these lines.

Original chef makes great food, and prices dishes accordingly.

DDP comes along and Manager is told they will get $28 credit for each DDP dinner (or whatever the amount)

Manager tells the Chef that his cost now must be under $28 a plate(in reality the food cost has to be even less)

Now this chef may be a good chef but he or she may not have the skills to create, say a good strip loin for under $28. They may have the skill to make an AWSOME dish at $30, but because of the DDP they are artifically restrained, so they cut what they can and the food suffers.

Then, along comes a chef, that may not be as good overall as the first, but has the skills to work and create under the constraints of the DDP.

Its not a nock on the first chef, it is just a different skill set to be able to create a menu that has a hard and fast cap on cost.

I would really like to see what would happen if the DDP changed to something where there are one beef, one chicken, and one pasta / vegitarian dish on every menu that is "free" on the plan. Then the restaruant is free to include other dishes that are an upcharge in addition the to plan. If such a thing happend, I think we would see a lot better dining options. I have my suspiciions that this is why the appitizer was removed from the plan. Think about it, on a cash menu, how much do dessert prices vary? Maybe a buck or two. They are all about the same price/cost. Now, think about appitizers. There is always one or two appitizers on the meny - shrimp cocktail, oysters, "sampler platters", etc that are a lot more than the rest of the appitizers. With the DDP the restaruant would either have to remove these items, or take a loss whenever someone on the plan ordered them.

-dave



-dave
 
bhg469

bhg469

Well-Known Member
dopeylover said:
I haven't been there, mainly because I live 15 mins. from Canada and I can eat in the actual country any time, lol...But I'd have to say Le Cellier. People I know fawn all over that place, and I've heard mixed reviews. I know there are MUCH better restaurants in WDW, so it always amazes me when that place is booked solid constantly when there's places like Jiko, California Grill, and others.
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LOL! I agree but i have actually eaten there a few times.. I live in Buffalo too but its not like Le Cellier is a restaurant in actual Canada.. It is on par with a long horn steakhouse but with a smaller menu. It was good before but it is NOT a signature by any means.
 
awoogala

awoogala

Well-Known Member
Trotsky said:
In fairnes to BOG... I haven't seen too many restaurants arm the steaks and give them a fair, fighting chance :). But I ABSOLUTELY hear you ... if only the offerings were on a par with the really GOOD architecture :(.
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true! the desserts were lovely, but me ordered med-rare and medium.. and they tasted and looked like a charcoal briquette. They fixed it, though, so no big deal. :oops:
 
awoogala

awoogala

Well-Known Member
Phonedave said:
I really think part of this has to do with the DDP.

I am sure the situation is something along these lines.

Original chef makes great food, and prices dishes accordingly.

DDP comes along and Manager is told they will get $28 credit for each DDP dinner (or whatever the amount)

Manager tells the Chef that his cost now must be under $28 a plate(in reality the food cost has to be even less)

Now this chef may be a good chef but he or she may not have the skills to create, say a good strip loin for under $28. They may have the skill to make an AWSOME dish at $30, but because of the DDP they are artifically restrained, so they cut what they can and the food suffers.

Then, along comes a chef, that may not be as good overall as the first, but has the skills to work and create under the constraints of the DDP.

Its not a nock on the first chef, it is just a different skill set to be able to create a menu that has a hard and fast cap on cost.

I would really like to see what would happen if the DDP changed to something where there are one beef, one chicken, and one pasta / vegitarian dish on every menu that is "free" on the plan. Then the restaruant is free to include other dishes that are an upcharge in addition the to plan. If such a thing happend, I think we would see a lot better dining options. I have my suspiciions that this is why the appitizer was removed from the plan. Think about it, on a cash menu, how much do dessert prices vary? Maybe a buck or two. They are all about the same price/cost. Now, think about appitizers. There is always one or two appitizers on the meny - shrimp cocktail, oysters, "sampler platters", etc that are a lot more than the rest of the appitizers. With the DDP the restaruant would either have to remove these items, or take a loss whenever someone on the plan ordered them.

-dave



-dave
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I agree to a point with this. My only question is how chili's can make a decent burger for less than disney's dried out pucks these days? :eek: Or the fact that my average local restaurant can make better food, with better prices (no franchise, no bulk discounts). Makes me wonder what they are doing there, feeding the cows mickey bars?;)
 
Club Cooloholic

Club Cooloholic

Well-Known Member
Phonedave said:
I really think part of this has to do with the DDP.

I am sure the situation is something along these lines.

Original chef makes great food, and prices dishes accordingly.

DDP comes along and Manager is told they will get $28 credit for each DDP dinner (or whatever the amount)

Manager tells the Chef that his cost now must be under $28 a plate(in reality the food cost has to be even less)

Now this chef may be a good chef but he or she may not have the skills to create, say a good strip loin for under $28. They may have the skill to make an AWSOME dish at $30, but because of the DDP they are artifically restrained, so they cut what they can and the food suffers.

Then, along comes a chef, that may not be as good overall as the first, but has the skills to work and create under the constraints of the DDP.

Its not a nock on the first chef, it is just a different skill set to be able to create a menu that has a hard and fast cap on cost.

I would really like to see what would happen if the DDP changed to something where there are one beef, one chicken, and one pasta / vegitarian dish on every menu that is "free" on the plan. Then the restaruant is free to include other dishes that are an upcharge in addition the to plan. If such a thing happend, I think we would see a lot better dining options. I have my suspiciions that this is why the appitizer was removed from the plan. Think about it, on a cash menu, how much do dessert prices vary? Maybe a buck or two. They are all about the same price/cost. Now, think about appitizers. There is always one or two appitizers on the meny - shrimp cocktail, oysters, "sampler platters", etc that are a lot more than the rest of the appitizers. With the DDP the restaruant would either have to remove these items, or take a loss whenever someone on the plan ordered them.

-dave



-dave
Click to expand...
I kind of believe a few things have happened in the opposite direction with this. For instance, if you look at what Signature places are charging for their chicken offerings, that is just criminal, but they do it, to justify it costing 2 dining credits.
 
Phonedave

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
awoogala said:
I agree to a point with this. My only question is how chili's can make a decent burger for less than disney's dried out pucks these days? :eek: Or the fact that my average local restaurant can make better food, with better prices (no franchise, no bulk discounts). Makes me wonder what they are doing there, feeding the cows mickey bars?;)
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I am sure Chili's is getting frozen patties just the same as a WDW location. That's not a knock either, some frozen patties are damn good. The key is, if you don't like the burgers at Chili's, then you go to Friday's, or Jose Tejas, or Applebee's, or Chevy's or any of a host of local places. In WDW what are you going to do, go to another place - that is owned by Disney. Disney, via it s transportation systems and the Magical Express has made going off property for anything a option on many people have. They are not feeding the cows mickey bars, they are filling their pockets, because they can.

-dave
 
Phonedave

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
pjkdog said:
I kind of believe a few things have happened in the opposite direction with this. For instance, if you look at what Signature places are charging for their chicken offerings, that is just criminal, but they do it, to justify it costing 2 dining credits.
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I think they do that to make up profit on cash customers. Chicken is a "Safe" dish for people who don't know what they want to eat. They order it, and the restaruant makes up some of the food cost they lost on the steak that went out to the DDP person. Vegatarian plates are even worse than chicken. How much is the food cost on a vegaterian plate - a few bucks? Adn they chage $18+

-dave
 
Club Cooloholic

Club Cooloholic

Well-Known Member
Phonedave said:
I think they do that to make up profit on cash customers. Chicken is a "Safe" dish for people who don't know what they want to eat. They order it, and the restaruant makes up some of the food cost they lost on the steak that went out to the DDP person. Vegatarian plates are even worse than chicken. How much is the food cost on a vegaterian plate - a few bucks? Adn they chage $18+

-dave
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True, but even those steaks...what I am trying to say is that once a restaurant becomes a Signature Dining place, the price goes up on everything even though they are often the same items, see cheese soup...salads
http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2011/...celliers-new-dinner-menu-what-should-i-order/
These restaurants make money on the steaks too, because in all honesty, steak is one of those things you can make at home and save about 30 dollars easy, and it's not even that hard to prepare, if you have a grill it might even be better than the restaurant. So they all make money. The problem is that once the DDP came in, it forced restaurants to be either a Sig, and charge 35 and up for most everything or a one credit and keep in the 17 to 28 range for all items. Before the DDP a restaurant could offer a range of items from $12 all the way to $50 if it cared to. I think the way to fix DDP would be like snack credits are shown on menus at kiosks, go in and if you see an icon next to the dish it qualifies for the plan, but there might be a few icons on there that are more expensive that you can get by paying a a surcharge, often how you see if you want crab or lobster added as a topping to say egges you pay an extra 7 dollars.
 
Phonedave

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
pjkdog said:
True, but even those steaks...what I am trying to say is that once a restaurant becomes a Signature Dining place, the price goes up on everything even though they are often the same items, see cheese soup...salads
http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2011/...celliers-new-dinner-menu-what-should-i-order/
These restaurants make money on the steaks too, because in all honesty, steak is one of those things you can make at home and save about 30 dollars easy, and it's not even that hard to prepare, if you have a grill it might even be better than the restaurant. So they all make money. The problem is that once the DDP came in, it forced restaurants to be either a Sig, and charge 35 and up for most everything or a one credit and keep in the 17 to 28 range for all items. Before the DDP a restaurant could offer a range of items from $12 all the way to $50 if it cared to. I think the way to fix DDP would be like snack credits are shown on menus at kiosks, go in and if you see an icon next to the dish it qualifies for the plan, but there might be a few icons on there that are more expensive that you can get by paying a a surcharge, often how you see if you want crab or lobster added as a topping to say egges you pay an extra 7 dollars.
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Yep - I think we are on the same page.

As for making items at home, that's almost allways cheaper.

-dave
 
GMRO

GMRO

Active Member
Trotsky said:
I really think part of this has to do with the DDP....
... I would really like to see what would happen if the DDP changed to something where there are one beef, one chicken, and one pasta / vegitarian dish on every menu that is "free" on the plan. Then the restaruant is free to include other dishes that are an upcharge in addition the to plan. If such a thing happend, I think we would see a lot better dining options.....-dave

AMEN! Put TWO of us down for that wish, Dave....
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Guess I miss the point sort of...

All our poor experiences we when we PAID out of pocket at the places we don't like.

So do you mean DDP is what causes all of this? Wondering...

We had better food at these places when we were on the DDP at the places we now don't go back to at all. Usually we tried a place on the DDP and liked it. Then went back another year and paid out of pocket. Then we tried it again, paying, and still found the place lacking. So we try atleast 3 times before we make up our minds to not feed the mouse on the place. I have no issues feeding the mouse if the value/food/service is there.

Confused...we like Wolfgang Pucks Express @ DTD. Have had great food and portions. Very consistant for QS. You folks don't like this place?

THANKS!
 
Phonedave

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
GMRO said:
Guess I miss the point sort of...

All our poor experiences we when we PAID out of pocket at the places we don't like.

So do you mean DDP is what causes all of this? Wondering...

We had better food at these places when we were on the DDP at the places we now don't go back to at all. Usually we tried a place on the DDP and liked it. Then went back another year and paid out of pocket. Then we tried it again, paying, and still found the place lacking. So we try atleast 3 times before we make up our minds to not feed the mouse on the place. I have no issues feeding the mouse if the value/food/service is there.

Confused...we like Wolfgang Pucks Express @ DTD. Have had great food and portions. Very consistant for QS. You folks don't like this place?

THANKS!
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You get the same food and experience regardless of if you are on DDP or cash. The point is that the DDP has caused a "leveling" of the menus. Everything is now below a certain food cost (that covered by the DDP) and sometimes that involves making cuts that a chef is just not about to work around.

While I am not sure of it, I also have a feeling that Disney Dining does not pay a 2 credit restaruant twice what it pays a one credit restaruant. If signatured were paid twice the rate of regular places they would be making money hand over fist.There is no signature out there that provides double the value of a regualr restaruant.

-dave
 
awoogala

awoogala

Well-Known Member
Oh, another one- we hit "earl of sandwich" this time in downtown. Heard lots of good things for a qs. was not impressed. Sandwiches were so much bread, so little filling. Seemed like most franchise toasted sandwiches to me.
 

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