For those who’ve done Victoria and Albert’s, this, and other similarly priced/experienced outside of Disney, how do they compare?
Just looking strictly on property, the three $$$$ignature Dining locations are V&A, Monsieur Paul, and Takumi-Tei. I did all three in 2023.
V&A is on a whole other level. The food and service alone are something that if you have the ability to do so, you should experience it at least once. The only negative is the ambiance of the dining room, it is dated and stale like it's right out of the late 80's. I wish they had renovated it during its extended shutdown after Covid. But looking past that, it is totally deserving of all the awards it has won.
I absolutely loved Takumi-Tei. Every aspect of the meal and service is both visually stunning, intricate, and authentic reflective of the best of Japanese cuisine. The various themed dining rooms are engaging and accentuate the experience. Lastly the service is amazing. Sadly because the cuisine can be intimidating to less adventurous eaters, the place is almost always empty, which really takes away from the energy of the restaurant. Bonus points that since it's an in park restaurant the dress code is not uppity.
Lastly, this brings me to Monsieur Paul which has repeatedly been the biggest disappointment of the $$$$ignature Dining locations on property. Before it was transformed into a pre-fixe experience, the food was authentically French, but it just wasn't great. Quality wise it was just a little bit better than what you got downstairs. It was basically V&A Lite. After the pre-fixe menu debuted it really didn't improve things. The menu was quite frankly dull. I think it also changed to be less seafood focused, which when it reopened it was. Ambiance is stuffy and old. It shouldn't come as a surprise that with the price, quality of food, and ambiance, the place is always available for walkup and ADRs. So much better could be done to showcase wonderful modern French Cuisine and make it a truly magical experience, but knowing Disney they'll just throw Ratatouille IP in and call it a day.
