Alfredo's, not good

[Mackey Mouse]

Just came back and wanted to post some of my thoughts on a few restaurants we tried..

First of all, I am a staunch Alfredo's person, but have to tell you this past week, they were awful. Food was cold, the place was rather disheveled looking, food all over the floor, and the service not great. I cannot find anything good to say about them. We were seated close to the front near the Kitchen so that the accordian player who we like, never came to that area of the restaurant. In fact, I thought he barely played at all. Our waitress was ok, when I would ask questions she would sometimes not understand what I was saying, which can be a problem when you are trying to order.

First question asked, are we on the Dining plan....it was the first question asked wherever we ate and I wondered why it was so important to them. Does the food change for the better or the worse for you if you are on the dining plan. We were not on the Dining plan. No chicken parm or veal parm on the menu, seemed a little low on offerings to me.

We ordered an antipasto for 4 which I have to say was the skimpiest one I have ever seen. We had it in March, it did not look like this. Bread and olive oil, then our meals came. Everyone said it was barely lukewarm, and as I did not want to make a scene in this packed restaurant, we barely touched our food, I know mine tasted like Chef Boyardee....awful, I waited till I was leaving.. I talked to one of the managers, whose name I have, who was snippy with me. He put the owness back on me and I should have told them at meal time. I said what difference did it make I was not looking to not pay and certainly would not order anything else as you fell short on the antipasto and 4 meals....I was telling you then in the hopes that maybe you could go to your kitchen and figure out what was going on that night..

I will not recommend this restaurant anymore on these boards nor will I go there again. I suppose we can blame it on the Holiday crowds, the dining plan, etc. etc, but it was bad and the manager was nasty. I will write a letter to Disney when I have a second as I have his name downstairs..

Just wanted you to know.

 

[mickeyfan2]

Oddly we just got back and ate at Alfredo's too. We had a 180 degree experience. The place was spotless. The player was great. The food was wonderful. The waiter spoke great english and was very attentive. At any restaurant we never had anybody asked us if we were on the DDP; which we were not. Could the DDP be noted on the ADRs?

ETA: We ate there for the CP, so that may make a difference. Our food bill (which they show on the receipt) was $20 less than the actual amount charged for the CP.

 

[sweetlovin']

Wow Im sorry to hear that. This is one of my favorite restaurants at Disney. I'm so sorry you had such a bad expirience.

 

[Leota]

Yow - sounds awful. I haven't been to Alfredo's in years, but we used to like it. I hope it's not another DDP casualty, but I fear it may be so....

 

[DisneyKidds]

Well, my wife FORCED me to eat there again on our recent trip. I generally can't stand Alfredo's and swore I'd never eat there again after our last trip. The service is often lacking, the management and their policies stink, they always seem to limit your choices when on a plan (like Candlelight Processional). I WAS NOT looking forward to eating there, but when you book a Candlelight Processional package at the last minute you take what you can get.

So...............................we had a wonderful meal. Go figure. We were on the DDP and doing Candlelight Processional. It was our server's first week as a waitress. It was the dinner package, but our reservation was at 3:30. The meal was rife with opportunities for disaster, for me to be disappointed once again and to tell my DW "I told you so". But that didn't happen.

Sure, given that our server was new there was a minor amount of confusion to clear up. Was it lunch or dinner (the menu)? Did the kids get an appetizer? Were there any limitations on the plan? Our server worked through these questions like a trooper. Mind you, I wasn't an easy customer because Alfredo's has trained me to view a meal there as an adversarial relationship between me and the restaurant. By gosh....they'll never beat me!!!!!

But it didn't come to that. Initially she said the kids didn't get an appetizer on the plan, but I said "the plan states" and she offered soup or salad. While we were given dinner menus when we sat, she seemed confused when I ordered an expensive dinner item. The Osso Buco was very good, by ther way. But she got it straight in the end. Oh, and while in the past on the Candlelight Processional dinner package they said the kids could only have a scoop of ice cream for dessert, this time they got the chocolate mousse. Good thing the DW and I had to eat their desserts so they could get the Lady Bugs with ours.

We ended up talking quite a bit with our server and she was quite sweet and really did a great job in an environment that I think is very tough for female staff.

It was one of the best meals of the trip. Given that I guess I'll give it another chance, but beware Alfredo's because you never do know what you are going to get.

 

[Minniespal]

Thanx for sharing.

 

[CarolAnnC]

I ate at Alfredo's 6 years ago and it was so bad I never returned. I was very disappointed as I love Italian food and had high hopes for a nice meal.

It was disorganized, the waitstaff poorly trained, and unattentive. The food was mediocre and not hot. There are so many excellent restaurants at WDW that I just never gave this one another chance.

My DH had a similar poor experience ten years ago and also has no desire to give it any more business.

A restaurant should not be hit or miss. There should not be people raving about their evening meal, and others like Mackey distressed at a bad experience. The inconsistent quality is inexcusable. I hope management cleans up this restaurant and makes it worthy of our time and dollars.

 

[Lexxiefern]

Sorry it wasn't good. Thanks for the review.

 

[Disney owl]

Sorry to hear you didn't have a good meal

 

[MissyDVC]

DH & I just ate there on 11/30 and had a WONDERFUL experience. We were on the Dining Plan and the server said that she needed to know that info. first because the process for ringing up the bill is different. Our food and server were amazing and we can't wait to go back. I hope others will give it a chance if they'd like.

 

[CamColt]

Thanks for the warning. We are dining there on Christmas night so I will be paying special attention to these details. Sorry you had such a bad experience. I hope it works out better for us.

 

[shovan]

I can't understand how Alfredo's can vary so drastically within the same time period! The OP & 1st poster on this thread, had such different experiences! I find this very confusing! Not that I don't appreciate you both posting your experiences, I do. nor do I question either of your dining experiences at Alfredo's. I'm just wondering how a restaurant can go from complete chaos to wonderful dining in such a short time period???

 

[DisneyKidds]

All a matter of circumstance. But that is what is troubling about Alfredo's. A truely great restaurant should be consistent, but that doesn't mean you can't have a truely great meal at a mediocre restaurant that isn't run all that well........which is what Alfredo's really is.

All of these things can impact your Alfredo's experience.

Time of day you eat.
How crowded the restaurant is.
Who your server is.
Which manager is on duty.

Again, a truely great restaurant should be able to provide a consistently good experience regardless of the answers to those questions. Alfredo's doesn't......but we've still had some good meals there. It's been a 50/50 proposition for us.

 

[shovan]

All a matter of circumstance. But that is what is troubling about Alfredo's. A truely great restaurant should be consistent, but that doesn't mean you can't have a truely great meal at a mediocre restaurant that isn't run all that well........which is what Alfredo's really is.
Again, a truely great restaurant should be able to provide a consistently good experience regardless of the answers to those questions. Alfredo's doesn't......but we've still had some good meals there. It's been a 50/50 proposition for us.

I agree with you on this. It's really a shame. Because, they are capable of producing some really excellent food. We had the food & wine pairing lunch at Alfredo's, during the F&W fest. Unbelievably delicious!!! Really top quality food & service! Of course, it was a special menu & served in a private room. Just wish they could manage that, all the time! We will skip Alfredo's on our next trip. However, we will definitely book it for F&W next year!

 

[Ltl Mermaid]

I am sorry you had such a terrible experience. I have eaten there many times and have never had bad food. I just ate there on Dec 8th and it was great. You are right that service *can* be bad, but we had pretty good luck and our server was very nice and worked very hard. The accordian player played a bit less than last year, but he still pumped out the restaurant when I was there. Hopefully you'll give it another chance, it seems like it is just luck of the draw!

 

[swankybeth]

Thanks for posting your experience. Sorry you did not have a good meal. I've never tried Alfredo's and it's posts like this one that make me VERY hestitant. DH and I are picky about Italian food as it is, so I guess it's good if we don't try Alfredo's!

 

[Mackey Mouse]

I have stuck up for Alfredo's for years, sometimes it went through spurts where I thought it was mediocre. This time it was unedible....sometimes being Italian can be the reason, you know we can cook it better type of thing, but my husband is not Italian and he said it was awful as did my two daughters.....Never again, I know others have had good meals lately, but something was very wrong in that kitchen and in that dining room that night...messy and disheveled looking....everyone running around in circles...something was amiss.

 

[Pumbaa_]

This was a restaurant we had really looked forward to trying. We did it once, years ago. The food was ok, but our waiter stucnk...literally. Didn't catch on for a bit, just what the smell in the place was. REALLY REALLY hard to get over that.

We may try it again one day, but it will be hard to go back.

 

[notnothin]

We ate at Aldredo's on Sunday the 10th. The antipasto was fantastic, as was each entree in our group of six. Sorry to hear you felt like the food wasn't up to par, we thought it was wonderful!

 

[Blondie]

We had lunch at Alfredo's on Friday Dec. 1st and had a great meal! Our waiter Lorenzo was very personable and did a great job. The restaurant was spotlessly clean and well organized.

I'm sorry you had such a lousy dinner. I wonder why this place is so hit or miss?