What Restaurants and How Do You Choose.

[pumpkin7]

For our first trip many moons ago we called in a reservation that day or just walked in. I guess I'm dating myself huh. For later trips we used the Unofficial guide to assist in our choices along with what we saw on previous trips and heard from others. Now we have our "Must Dine" list, our "Let's Try" list and our "No" list.

I don't suppose you would mind sharing this list?

I am complete Walt Disney World Dining noob and I have no idea where to go to at all. I've never eaten in a single Restaurant on site I am ashamed to say, and this time I am planning on going to at least a couple of places. Guide me oh wise one!

 

[real mad hatter]

I don't suppose you would mind sharing this list?

I am complete Walt Disney World Dining noob and I have no idea where to go to at all. I've never eaten in a single Restaurant on site I am ashamed to say, and this time I am planning on going to at least a couple of places. Guide me oh wise one!

Whit!!! Have you stayed on site before? They are hundreds to choose from and plenty of cuisines.Whats your favourite food.Also they are plenty of WDW apps that give you the menu's.

 

[Figgy1]

I have a must do list Chefs de France,Crystal Palace, Tangerine Cafe and Sunshine Seasons. This year will try Be Our Guest, Restaurantsaurous, Sunshine Seasons and Plaza Restaurant. My boys must get turkey legs and want to try the pork shank. I think I might skip those.

 

[real mad hatter]

I have a must do list Chefs de France,Crystal Palace, Tangerine Cafe and Sunshine Seasons. This year will try Be Our Guest, Restaurantsaurous, Sunshine Seasons and Plaza Restaurant. My boys must get turkey legs and want to try the pork shank. I think I might skip those.

OMG.Your gonna get your boys to eat Turkey legs. What did they do wrong? I take it their on Santa's naughty list.

 

[Figgy1]

Thanks Mad Hatter! The boys like meat any meat but let me assure you they are on the nice list! They are getting 10 day tickets for Christmas! ps they pay for turkey legs themselves!

 

[zurgandfriend]

I don't suppose you would mind sharing this list?

I am complete Walt Disney World Dining noob and I have no idea where to go to at all. I've never eaten in a single Restaurant on site I am ashamed to say, and this time I am planning on going to at least a couple of places. Guide me oh wise one!

Off the top of my head and not a total list here is our short list. This is our list I’m sure others have other opinions.

Must: (some of the restaurants we enjoy and have or will go back to in the future) California Grill, Yachtsman Steakhouse, Citricos, Jiko’s, Shula’s, Flying Fish. Chef Mickey’s, 1900 Park Fare, Crystal Palace, Ohana, Whispering Canyon, Captain’s Grille, Biergarten, Grand Floridian Café, Boma, Fulton’s, Kona Café, Cosmic Rays.

Let’s Try: (haven’t been there yet); Bongo’s, Kouzzina, The Wave, Paradiso 37, Monsieur Paul, Yak & Yeti, Be Our Guest, Via Napoli.

NO: (been there tried it did not like or bad experience) Artist Point, Hollywood & Vine, Sci-Fi Dine In, Akerhaus, Nine Dragons, Chefs du France, Captain jack’s, Planet Hollywood.

There are other restaurants that are okay and we use as fall backs if we can’t get into our musts and/or let’s try; Narcoossee’s, Brown Derby, ESPN club, San Angel, Tutto Italia.

 

[Figgy1]

Can't agree more stay away from Hollywood and Vine!!!!!!

 

[real mad hatter]

I don't suppose you would mind sharing this list?

I am complete Walt Disney World Dining noob and I have no idea where to go to at all. I've never eaten in a single Restaurant on site I am ashamed to say, and this time I am planning on going to at least a couple of places. Guide me oh wise one!

Silly me.Ive just seen your dates of your four WDW trips.

 

[real mad hatter]

Thanks Mad Hatter! The boys like meat any meat but let me assure you they are on the nice list! They are getting 10 day tickets for Christmas! ps they pay for turkey legs themselves!

Nice one.Make sure they don't gobble them up all at once.

 

[disneygirl1024]

Unlike some people, we don't always eat at TS restaurants. We are just as happy to eat at CS. However, we do typically do 2-3 TS restaurants during the week.

First we'll look at menus online, and then we will base it off of reviews and what we want to do. Not much put into it, but it works!

We do the same thing. We look at the menus online and then make our decision. We usually eat a TS a day. Sometimes we do eat TS twice a day for just day only to get that other place in that we love. It usually ends up being Nine Dragons. Their food is awesome.

 

[Disneykidder]

The way I choose? Eeny meeny miney moe. Just kidding. We usually revisit our favs and also try new one based on recommentations, reviews and this web site. We ALWAYS eat at Chef Mickey's on our first day. It's a tradition. This summer we tried Nine Dragon's for the first time, Captain's Grill for the first time and we loved them both!!

We ALWAYS visit MK on our first day so Chef Mickey's is right next door and very conveinient.
On our next trip in August, we will be staying part of the trip at BLT so we may eat there more than once. We will also be trying The Kitchen Sink for the first time at Beaches and Cream. (yeah, I know...all of my trips and we've never eaten it!! ) My hubby says he can eat it all by himself so we have a little bet going. We will also be staying at BCV for the second part of the trip so we may even venture there a couple of times, too!!

Happy eating!!

 

[Figgy1]

Nice one.Make sure they don't gobble them up all at once.

Can't stop teens!

 

[tracyandalex]

I have a little bit of a system for this. First I decide what hotel we will be staying at and then i plan dinner for arrival night at that hotel. Then I decide what park we will be visiting each day. Once that is done I can decide if we want to do a favorite or try something new. We always try at least 1 new place per visit. Sometimes my dining choices depend on the reason for the trip. For example, for our Christmas trip the first week of December I chose Liberty tree Tavern because it was a good Christmasy meal. We always do Chef Micky's breakfast on the day we leave. We fill up, see the fab 5 one more time, then hit the road.

 

[EvilQueen-T]

Thanks Mad Hatter! The boys like meat any meat but let me assure you they are on the nice list! They are getting 10 day tickets for Christmas! ps they pay for turkey legs themselves!

If you're getting 10 day tickets before you leave you should see how much more you'd have to add to make it an annual pass...10 days puts you right there.

 

[disneygirl1024]

For our first day we always eat at crystal palace or liberty tree!!!!

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

First off let me just say how much I enjoy your presence at wdwmagic. You bring such a good vibe to the place and I am sure many others appreciate your effort.

As for this question, it looks upon reflection that we do a mix of a) must repeats, b) want to try it again, and c) new places. So for example this year (Jan 1-7) we will start with California Grill, which we now always do to put us in the mood. Another tradition is CRT. Then we will have a few repeats that we enjoyed but are not wed to. This tip that includes Artists Point, Jiko, and Tutto Italia. Then we add a few places we either haven't tried in forever or never. This year this includes BOG for dinner, Les Chef de France (hoping for some Remy time), 50's Prime Time cafe for lunch and Rose and Crown for dinner.

We always do Artist Point when we stay at WL villas (which we are this year) and last time we had such a great lunch at Tutto Italia (food and the young man from Sicily that served us), so we decided to go back. Jiko's we usually do every other trip but love it and it gives us an excuse to go see the AKLodge and have a drink at that great bar (I can't remember her name, but the lady bartender there rocks!).

Among the "new" places we have one we went to along time ago (50's), one that we haven't been to in a while (Chefs) and two we have never been to (R&C and BOG of course).

So, I think that is our basic strategy....but one more important point. Usually our trips have a reason behind them and the person in the spotlight gets to direct the dining selections. Last trip it was my son's choice as it was a high school graduation celebration. This year it is my daughter who made the choices as this is a special trip for her and her best friend (who btw has never been to disney world - a fact that we are all excited about, since we can experience the place for the first time through her eyes!).

Thanks again RMH and that is how we make our decisions about where to dine.

Here, here, we all love @real mad hatter!!!

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

Good Morning Everyone. Now I've just been reading today's "Eatingwdw" and reviewing Kona Cafe at Poly.Looks awesome by the way.But here's my question.With so many fantastic restaurants to choose from at WDW,how do you go about it?. Do you rely on other people's recommendations ? When you dine at a restaurant that blows you away do you revisit or try somewhere new.? So how do you go about this awesome challenge.?

Well, me being the major foodie I am, I have a tendancy to follow suit with many other wonderful foodies on WDWMAGIC, and weigh out recommendations and reviews here. However, Disney is very nostalgic for me and my family. Certain traditions, are never broken, for instance, first night, dinner at Ohana, dinner at Ragland Road, breakfast at Chef Mickey's. Regarding Kona Cafe, we love breakfast there, but wasnt thrilled with dinner. Each trip, we do try new restaurants, based on other's opinions. This year, was Boma for breakfast, and we loved it, as well as a few CS we have never tried. (Believe it or not this trip we tried CHH for the first time, Sleepy Hollow, and went to Sassagoula Floatworks for beignets)

 

[real mad hatter]

Well, me being the major foodie I am, I have a tendancy to follow suit with many other wonderful foodies on WDWMAGIC, and weigh out recommendations and reviews here. However, Disney is very nostalgic for me and my family. Certain traditions, are never broken, for instance, first night, dinner at Ohana, dinner at Ragland Road, breakfast at Chef Mickey's. Regarding Kona Cafe, we love breakfast there, but wasnt thrilled with dinner. Each trip, we do try new restaurants, based on other's opinions. This year, was Boma for breakfast, and we loved it, as well as a few CS we have never tried. (Believe it or not this trip we tried CHH for the first time, Sleepy Hollow, and went to Sassagoula Floatworks for beignets)

. Please don't remind me of the Beignets.Yum,Yum.

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

. Please don't remind me of the Beignets.Yum,Yum.

disney 2012 074 by DisneyDebNJ, on Flickr

Just for you, my friend....

 

[PhilharMagician]

I pick restaurants by their food options. When I am on vacation I want to eat food that I normally do not eat or can make @ home in minutes like hamburgers, hot dogs and the such. The more exotic and differant the higher on the list in most cases. Then there are a few that we go to simply for the magical experience.