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New Enhancements, Dining Options Coming to Disney’s BoardWalk
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Truly curious how this is performing against expectations. Nearly every review I've seen has the restaurant half-empty.
In general, the reviews seem to be that the service is excellent, the atmosphere is amazing and while the food is decent, it's nowhere near worthy of the price. $25 for a ham & cheese sandwich that you could get at the Boardwalk Bakery for half the price is bonkers. The $26 for a lone crab cake is also wild.
For me, I think the big miss is between the seeming excellence of the overall atmosphere + dining experience, juxtaposed with what amounts to good-but-not-amazing hotel coffee shop food that is drastically overpriced.
In general, the reviews seem to be that the service is excellent, the atmosphere is amazing and while the food is decent, it's nowhere near worthy of the price. $25 for a ham & cheese sandwich that you could get at the Boardwalk Bakery for half the price is bonkers. The $26 for a lone crab cake is also wild.
For me, I think the big miss is between the seeming excellence of the overall atmosphere + dining experience, juxtaposed with what amounts to good-but-not-amazing hotel coffee shop food that is drastically overpriced.
You can't make reservations through Disney. Not everyone knows about open table, at Disney.
Almost like cake is going through a soft opening. Have we seen any grand opening signs or activity?
MickeyLuv'r
Well-Known Member
I don't know about this operation, but where I worked, we technically baked everything, but it came to the bakery premade.
Cookies arrived as cookie dough that was scooped or premade frozen lumps. Breads and other items came as compact dough lumps, which are easier to transport. First, they went in a proofing over to active the yeast, then we baked them.
At another place I worked, food was also prepared offsite. I firmly say there is a difference between cooking food onsite and cooking it offsite. Although the food was fresh to the point that some arrived still warm from the oven, it also suffered a bit from being transported. We certainly missed out on the aroma, but bakery goods degrade very quickly, especially unfrosed cakes.
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
There are obviously distinct advantages and disadvantages to having an onsite bakery versus an offsite commercial kitchen versus a full-blown industrial factory. The point is simply that "factory" is not an accurate descriptor of Cake Bake Shop's offsite facility.
MickeyLuv'r
Well-Known Member
Perhaps. The point I wanted to make is that many people don't realize that baked onsite is not the same as made entirely onsite. It is a common misconception. Scent is a powerful sales tool.
Purduevian
Well-Known Member
If anyone is interested, the commercial kitchen is 4890 Industrial Ln, Kissimmee, FL 34758 (I think) which is just under 14 miles to the Cake Bake shop
I personally don't think a 30-45 min drive in a refrigerated truck is going to make a huge difference in freshness, but I am certainly no expert.
I personally don't think a 30-45 min drive in a refrigerated truck is going to make a huge difference in freshness, but I am certainly no expert.
bmr1591
Well-Known Member
They're baked off site in Orlando, frozen, and delivered to the store at Disney. They're then thawed and put out.
Purduevian
Well-Known Member
I'm not saying you are wrong. I'm just curious where you got your information that they are frozen between the kitchen and the store? Why wouldn't they just send them fresh in a refrigerated truck?
bmr1591
Well-Known Member
Someone was complaining about their cake tasting freezer-burnt and someone who worked there said that was how they were made/delivered.
The most shocking part of this, other than the prices, is that the reviews for the cakes themselves are decidedly very mixed.
Posters have said freezing in commercial kitchens doesn't produce freezer burn.
Most of the real reviews I've read have been good.
Reviews by posters are shaded by their opinion of price and location. CBS would work by the GF. There is nothing to suggest space in or near thr GF was available or was offered
I've read and watched a ton. The reviews for the bakery are fine enough, though often feeling the cake is overpriced.
The negative reviews I've seen is from the restaurant itself, both the prepared food and the desserts. People seem to think it's all fine -- some very good, other options not great -- but in general the price point continues to be an issue. The desert options seem fine but people can't get the price point.
If the prices for this were 10-15% less and replaced the Grand Floridian Cafe, it would absolutely work. The savory food that is on offer is fine, but isn't special enough to warrant a "special" visit across property, but rather feels like a menu you'd find at a fancy hotel's "casual sit down" restaurant (breakfast, sandwiches, soups, some entrees, etc). That's kind of what this should function as for BWI, but they're trying to market themselves as a special occasion signature place and that's not really what's coming through with the food.
Fido Chuckwagon
Well-Known Member
LOL. The post-mortem on this place when it fails is going to be wild.
Not really wild. Overpriced, assuming it fails, will say it all.
Starcruiser and NBA zone have monuments to remind us.
Expensive dining fits Disney. $800pp NYE at CA Grill.
My last meal at Coral Reef wasn't bad enough to sendback.
Reduce the cake by 2/3 and bundle it with some entrees.
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Fido Chuckwagon
Well-Known Member
The fact that they are selling $26 pieces of cake that were previously frozen is the unbelievable height of hubris.
bmr1591
Well-Known Member
My wife bakes cakes and she has assured me freezing a cake, especially when you’re freezing them fast on a mass scale, definitely does lead to freezer burn.
Is she working in a commercial kitchen?
Before I knew better I bought Pepperidge Farm frozen cakes. NEVER any freezer burn.
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Bocabear
Well-Known Member
well now that I see the offsite bakery, I would not call it a "factory" but instead a "Manufacturing Facility"...31200 sq ft! That is HUGE! About twice the size of a Home Goods or TJ Maxx store....I wonder if she is baking the cakes for all of her restaurants and shipping them out of Florida now? That size baking operation would have to produce more than just the baked goods for one medium sized restaurant....