Chef Mickey's Dinner or Tusker House Lunch?

[Jnbm63]

This is our first trip and I'm having a hard time deciding which meal to drop. For Chef Mickey's, it is on our MK day. 8am park opening emh. We have late breakfast at 1900 park fare and will take a break at BC in the afternoon with dinner at 7:20 then fireworks. Or, I have Tusker house at 11:30 and will be there at 8am until we are tired.

The pros of Chef Mickey's for us are that we will be close to Mk for dinner, the desserts look great, the characters, it is classic Disney and the menu sounds good to me. The cons are, it is a late dinner for us, the extra traveling from resort to dinner to park to resort again, mixed reviews and it will probably be loud.

The pros for Tusker house is that it is in the park and has very good reviews. The cons are that I'm not sure if there is food my husband will like. He is a steak and potato guy.

We are a family of five. Me, my husband, DS7, DD6 and DS4. We also have Minnie's holiday Dine, so Minnie is covered. Which is my daughter's favorite. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts! What would you do?

 

[kyle3423]

We are also going on our first trip and I had a dilemma similar to yours (in fact, my thread is right above yours as we speak). Our group is also "meat and potatoes" types. I had Whispering Canyon booked at the Wilderness Lodge and have dropped it for Chef Mickeys to knock out 3 birds with one stone....monorail ride, character meets, and dinner (plus it also gets us a little more time in the MK on our one and only MK day). I'm pretty happy with the choice, even if the food may not be quite as good.

 

[goofyintoronto]

Since its your first trip, I say go for Chef Mickeys. You have to do it at least once. The kids will love it. All the characters are there, the character interaction is great.

Food at Tusker was ok, I didnt care for the selection though. I was a bit disappointed. Im pretty adventurous but also a meat and potatoes kinda gal.

 

[SouthJersey]

Tusker House lunch.
Chef Mickey's sucks, breakfast is tolerable.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Tusker House lunch.
Chef Mickey's sucks, breakfast is tolerable.

Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes.

 

[jon18uk]

Tusker House lunch is great and will satisfy the meat and potatoes requirement, I remember some good carved meats at Tusker House.

 

[dachsie]

I like both but for a first timer with kids your age, I would do Chef Mickeys.

 

[Jnbm63]

I kept Chef Mickey's. Thanks!

 

[DougDavis]

I kept Chef Mickey's. Thanks!

Good choice.

Tusker House is cool for lunch and seeing the characters in their safari outfits. But if you have to do one or the other then Chef Mickey's hands down is better.

 

[Ambehnke]

We liked both but my kids preferred Chef Mickey's.

 

[hollannc]

We just returned and hands down preferred TH lunch. The food selection was terrific - many plain American options for the kids. Characters are great.
Chef Mickeys is just too chaotic. It's not closed off and open to the main area of the hotel and another restaurant. Stayed at the contemporary and really avoided that area. There are plenty of other places to see the main characters.

 

[epcotcenter1982]

I love the characters at Chef Mickey and I just can't get it into my ADR list...there's only so many that will fit and I just can't mentally do it. The food is TERRIBLE!!! with a bold T
I keep it spinning in my mind simply for photos. As I love the chef hats and the characters...but...for me everything is kicking it out for now...the smell of these 'classic American foods' is not vented very well so it's all a bit overwhelming and sickening given it's poorer quality than other locations....

Tusker House is on the list for breakfast Very happy about that...

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

You made your choice but if anyone else is having the same debate I agree that TH is better. Good carved meats, and a chance to see Daisy who I don't think is at CM. CM is fine for breakfast but I've heard dinner is pretty awful, and the setting is nothing special. I would only eat there again for convenience if we were staying at the Contemporary.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

Honestly, I would NEVER choose Chef Mickey over Tusker House. CM is one of the dirtiest restaurants I've ever been to--at Disney or anywhere. And this is on more than one occasion. Food spilled and thrown all over the floor. Things not wiped down well. The buffet is a disaster. The food is bad to begin with. But then when you see kids picking something up, changing their mind, and throwing it back in the tray--all with bare hands! YUCK. Food gets spilled all over the buffet, mixed in with other things. Staff can't or won't keep up with it.

For some reason, parents feel no need to supervise children at this restaurant. Kids running all over the place. Dropping food as they go. Coming to our table when it's our turn with the characters.

Have tried it several times, hoping it would get better. It just doesn't....

But we LOVED Tusker House!

 

[GreatLakes]

Tusker House every time hands down. Most character meals sacrifice food because people will stupidly pay for the novelty of dining with the characters despite the poor quality of the food. Tusker House is an exception to this rule. I won't pay a premium price for mediocre food just to get a picture with the characters so Chef Mickey's is a never again for me, at least until they improve the food.