Restaurants most/least impressed by...

[forevermickey]

California Grill is at the top of my "most impressed by" list. I love the restaurant, the location, the food, and the staff. My wife and I have gone several times and it is always the highlight of our trip.

On our most recent trip we made a real effort to only visit restaurants we've never been to before, so I have some new restaurants to add to my list.

My new favorite restaurant in the Magic Kingdom is the Plaza Restaurant. The simple but very well executed menu, cute dining room, and great service all added up to a great experience.

Two new standouts for us were Whispering Canyon Cafe and Kona Cafe.

I'm a serious carnivor, so the Canyon Skillet was a big hit with me, but our server was really above and beyond great, which made a very good meal so much more memorable. And of course the Wilderness Lodge is absolutely beautiful, so it's a great excuse to go there.

Kona Cafe was also really nice. So much more relaxed and calm than Whispering Canyon, and I also absolutely love the Polynesian. The food was amazing, and I had one of the best steaks I've had in a long time and I loved the relaxed atmosphere. Sadly, we also had easily the most lackluster server of our entire trip, but everything else about our visit was good enough to keep this in the "impressed" column.

On to the "least impressive:"

Hollywood Studios. Whenever I plan returning to Walt Disney World I always feel like I need to avoid being hungry at DHS because of the limited and mostly awful dining options. This most recent trip again confirmed my feelings.

While the table service restaurants sit somewhere between acceptable and alright the counter service restaurants are a real disappointment. There just isn't enough variety to sustain multiple meals in the park because all of the menus are similar and pretty uninspired.

While I'm really excited EPCOT is getting two new restaurants this year I think Hollywood Studios needs a culinary boost much, much more. Only finding pizza and cheeseburgers no matter where you turn is a big letdown and a big cop out on Disney's part.

I LOVE the Canyon Skillet at Whispering Canyon!

 

[forevermickey]

For counter service in MK - love Col. Harbor House and Cosmic Rays

Love Kona Cafe for their delicious Tonga Toast- never had dinner always wanted to try.

Love the Whispering Canyon---- love the down home outdoor yummy BBQ

LOVE Hoop de doo's Fried Chicken

 

[disneycouple07]

For counter service in MK - love Col. Harbor House and Cosmic Rays

Love Kona Cafe for their delicious Tonga Toast- never had dinner always wanted to try.

Love the Whispering Canyon---- love the down home outdoor yummy BBQ

LOVE Hoop de doo's Fried Chicken

We have reservations for Kona Cafe this September for the first time ever. We decided on breakfast because of fantastic reviews just on the Tonga Toast. I'm unsure of the strawberry syrup, but I'll at least try it. I can't wait to take pictures. We usually have a CS lunch at Cosmic Rays due to the large variety of food.

 

[zurgandfriend]

We have reservations for Kona Cafe this September for the first time ever. We decided on breakfast because of fantastic reviews just on the Tonga Toast. I'm unsure of the strawberry syrup, but I'll at least try it. I can't wait to take pictures. We usually have a CS lunch at Cosmic Rays due to the large variety of food.

DS orders the syrup on the side, also he is a big fan of the Big Kahuna.

DW loves Cosmic Rays, we eat there at least once a trip, if fact on our last trip she canceled our dinner ADR the last night we were there and we dined with Sonny Eclipse.

 

[redfive13]

We have reservations for Kona Cafe this September for the first time ever. We decided on breakfast because of fantastic reviews just on the Tonga Toast. I'm unsure of the strawberry syrup, but I'll at least try it.

We did brkfast at Kona, it was great. Make sure to get the pressed Kona coffee, its more expensive, but worth it. The Tonga Toast looks CRAZY!! Enjoy. Kona for dinner... food was good, service terrible. Even complained to the manager.

 

[disneycouple07]

We did brkfast at Kona, it was great. Make sure to get the pressed Kona coffee, its more expensive, but worth it. The Tonga Toast looks CRAZY!! Enjoy. Kona for dinner... food was good, service terrible. Even complained to the manager.

We're not coffee drinkers, DH has to start his day off with a Coke. Does the tonga toast have anything in the middle?

 

[DreaminO'Disney]

DH and I went to Coral Reef last September. It was our 1st meal of our trip and a huge dissappointment.

Really enjoyed Raglan Road, Chef Mickey's (a must do for our family) and was pleasantly surprised by 50's Prime Time Cafe. Will be heading for Chef and 50's on our trip over Thanksgiving! :wave:

 

[Tomi-Rocket]

We all found we really enjoyed the Kona Cafe (in '09), the food was wonderful. :slurp:

Least - Pizza Planet (in '05) and we have never been back since. I've heard decent reviews of it since then but think I'd rather try Via Napoli before I go back to PP!

 

[mtomkins]

reading through this thread makes me feel much better about dinner reservations! :sohappy:

 

[Hrudey3032]

My personal favorite was Le Cellier followed closely by Crystal Palace. The cast member who was our waitress at Le Cellier was very friendly and told us many things about her homeland that I thought was quite niice and refreshing.

My least favorite was Akershus as the food just was not very good whatsoever. I will say the service was superb but the food just left alot to be desired in my book.This was 11 years ago so things may be different but to me now I am just not interested in the character greets as much as I am interested in the settings.

 

[Mr. Morrow]

Most:
California Grill
Le Cellie
Yachtmans Steakhouse

Least:
Coral Sea
ScFi

 

[Gomer]

Most Impressed:
Restaurant Marakesh-The beef kabob I had there was the best beef I had the whole week.
Kringla Bakery-Everything here is wonderful. Blows the bakery in France out of the water.

Most dissapointed:
50's Prime Time Cafe-Theming isn't good enough to make up for the bland food. (which is saying alot fo me since Sci-Fi is one of my favorites)

 

[Ariel484]

Most Impressed:
Restaurant Marakesh-The beef kabob I had there was the best beef I had the whole week.
Kringla Bakery-Everything here is wonderful. Blows the bakery in France out of the water.

Most dissapointed:
50's Prime Time Cafe-Theming isn't good enough to make up for the bland food. (which is saying alot fo me since Sci-Fi is one of my favorites)

Completely agree. Great value for a QS location.

 

[TWICKERS]

Best TS California Grill. Booked 15th August
Best CS Pecos Bill, Cosmic Rays,Columbia Harbour House MK

Medium TS Le Cellier, Citricos.
Medium CS Lotus Blossom (but need to bring back Lo Mein)

Worst TS 50's Prime Time DHS if server doesn't play the part.Took relatives 2008 server hopeless food not great had to complain to Manager (normally takes a lot for English people to complain).
Worst CS All at DHS

Only 30 days to go.:wave: Can't wair for 3 weeks of WDW and Florida. Booked for Chefs de France (Dinner), Chef Mickeys (Dinner) T Rex (Dinner) Crystal Palace (Lunch) H & V (early Dinner) not sure if this is a good decision after reading reviews but will give it a chance. Have not been to any of these before.

 

[belle_1022]

I would say our most impressive meal was Akerhaus, probably for the same reason. Our expectations were very low and we booked for the princesses not the food. However, I had a delicious mushroom ravioli and my husband had the beef tips and we both enjoyed the food alot.
Least impressed, hands down Garden Grill. It had decent reviews (at the time) and the food sounded good. Worst food I have ever had on or off Disney property. Everyone in our party of 6 left hungry.

DH & I took our 3 year old birthday nephew to Garden Grill. It was horrible. The food was cold and almost compares to Liberty Tree Tavern with the Stouffer's sponsorship. So much for food being grown at EPCOT. Hollywood & Vine is on there for the dinner - enjoyed the Play & Dine breakfast.

Everyone has hit on some of my faves - Chefs de France, The Plaza, Kona. Haven't had a bad experience with any of them.

 

[forevermickey]

We have reservations for Kona Cafe this September for the first time ever. We decided on breakfast because of fantastic reviews just on the Tonga Toast. I'm unsure of the strawberry syrup, but I'll at least try it. I can't wait to take pictures. We usually have a CS lunch at Cosmic Rays due to the large variety of food.

They changed the sauce, it used to be Papaya sauce AND they used to make a shrimp and cream cheese omelette that was to die for!

 

[forevermickey]

We're not coffee drinkers, DH has to start his day off with a Coke. Does the tonga toast have anything in the middle?

omGOODNESS- tonga toast is stuffed with bananas and fried then rolled in cinn. and sugar ---- pure goodness!

 

[forevermickey]

We did brkfast at Kona, it was great. Make sure to get the pressed Kona coffee, its more expensive, but worth it. The Tonga Toast looks CRAZY!! Enjoy. Kona for dinner... food was good, service terrible. Even complained to the manager.

This year I want to order the pressed Kona coffee- I am a big coffee drinker and have a hard time drinking Nestcafe while in the "world"

 

[forevermickey]

DH and I went to Coral Reef last September. It was our 1st meal of our trip and a huge dissappointment.

Really enjoyed Raglan Road, Chef Mickey's (a must do for our family) and was pleasantly surprised by 50's Prime Time Cafe. Will be heading for Chef and 50's on our trip over Thanksgiving! :wave:

I was at Raglan Roads and had a GREAT meal- some chowder and I had a fabulous dessert- I think it was their bread pudding:slurp:

 

[redfive13]

I had a fabulous dessert- I think it was their bread pudding:slurp:

At Raglan they do a Bread & Butter pudding, I agree... it's pretty ridiculous.