Help me decide about making reservations for Epcot's Le Cellier restaurant?

[RaySharpton]

Help me decide about making reservations for Epcot's Le Cellier restaurant?

I have been going back and forth about making a reservation for Epcot's Le Cellier restaurant for my June 2018 WDW trip. I have had good experiences and bad experiences with the food and service.

Every time I make want to make a reservation...I change my mind.

Maybe you can give me some of your thoughts and recent experiences with dining at Epcot's Le Cellier restaurant.

I tried searching the DISboards titles, but I guess not many people have been in the last three years.

Below are some of the menu items that I am thinking about choosing if I decide to make the dining reservation.

I usually order the filet mignon and creme brulee. Sometimes the cheese soup.

The photos below are from a google search, but I don't have photos of everything in case you might have some photos.

I am mostly a steak and potato kind of guy and I usually order at a steakhouse a grilled ribeye and baked potato.

The link to My Disney Experience Le Cellier restaurant menu as of 05/16/2018 and menu items that I am trying to decide to order for my June 2018 Epcot visit.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/dining/epcot/le-cellier-steakhouse/menus/

Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup $11.00
Moosehead Pale Ale and Nueske’s Applewood-smoked Bacon

Black Angus Rib-Eye $54.00
Fingerling Potatoes, Baby Spinach, Fried Capers, Creamy Mustard Sauce, Maple Bordelaise Butter

Le Cellier Filet Mignon $54.00
AAA Canadian Tenderloin, Mushroom Risotto, Asparagus-Tomato Relish, Truffle-Butter Sauce

USDA Prime New York Strip $52.00
Escargots à la Bourguignonne, Brioche Custard, Asparagus, Bercy Butter

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Maple-glazed Baby Carrots $9.00

Loaded Mashed Potatoes $9.00

Three-Cheese Macaroni & Cheese $10.00

Maple Crème Brûlée $9.00

Nanaimo Cake
Chocolate Cake, Peanut Butter Crémeux, Raspberry, Coconut Ice Cream $11.00

 

[armerida]

We had a great experience here recently during a late lunch on our anniversary. It was quiet and not very busy, service was extremely attentive, and the filet was perfectly prepared. Our server brought us a complimentary maple creme brûlée (yum!) and champagne to really make the meal special. The only thing I would pass on next time is the signature poutine - we found it to be waaay too salty.

 

[RaySharpton]

Thank you, armerida for your reply. I am thinking about a late reservation, too. It would be great if it were slow then.

We had a great experience here recently during a late lunch on our anniversary. It was quiet and not very busy, service was extremely attentive, and the filet was perfectly prepared. Our server brought us a complimentary maple creme brûlée (yum!) and champagne to really make the meal special. The only thing I would pass on next time is the signature poutine - we found it to be waaay too salty.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

I find the Le Cellier saga interesting. It was for so many years the "favored darling" of ADRs , the best filet, the best mushroom risotto, the best, the best.... and then the boom fell, they raised their prices and changed the cuisine. The hate began! People loved it because in their eyes, it was the place to get a dirt cheap filet. Personally, I enjoyed it before, and I enjoy it now, though I'm not a filet person. My steak of choice is either the rib-eye or the NY Strip, both full of flavor and juiciness. The steak tartare appetizer is so good and fresh, as is the spicy pork belly (love anything with kimchi) My problem, it's a lot of food, so now I try to find someone to share the soup, because I must have it. The seating with it's close proximity to other diners is really now quite typical of Disney, packing us in like herds of cattle, no different than many other DW restaurants. The noise level, greatly diminishes after 8, so I make my ADRs for 8;30 is again typical of Disney Dinning (sorry, couldn't resist misspelling, an ode to a previous thread). Last but not least.. the maple creme brulee, my second favorite to Chef's de France, gotta have a few bites of that, though the Whiskey Chocolate Trifle calls to me. As for the signature poutine, well, as a Canadian, I pass, even the poutine res. in DS, though edible, it's still not authentic. (my fortune for a proper cheese curd)

Service, I've been fortunate, no complaints though it appears you have had issues...

 

[RaySharpton]

Thank you for your reply, BEASLYBOO. What you said about the prices increases, the change in cuisine, and then the hate of no more cheap steaks seem to be very true. I have never really heard that before.

I like ribeyes too, but I usually get a filet at Le Cellier because it is so filling with the soup, filet and the maple creme brulee. I might just try the ribeye and creme brulee. I'll try not to eat too much of the pretzel bread and butter...ha...ha.

I can't wait to hear everyone else's response...and photos.

I find the Le Cellier saga interesting. It was for so many years the "favored darling" of ADRs , the best filet, the best mushroom risotto, the best, the best.... and then the boom fell, they raised their prices and changed the cuisine. The hate began! People loved it because in their eyes, it was the place to get a dirt cheap filet. Personally, I enjoyed it before, and I enjoy it now, though I'm not a filet person. My steak of choice is either the rib-eye or the NY Strip, both full of flavor and juiciness. The steak tartare appetizer is so good and fresh, as is the spicy pork belly (love anything with kimchi) My problem, it's a lot of food, so now I try to find someone to share the soup, because I must have it. The seating with it's close proximity to other diners is really now quite typical of Disney, packing us in like herds of cattle, no different than many other DW restaurants. The noise level, greatly diminishes after 8, so I make my ADRs for 8;30 is again typical of Disney Dinning (sorry, couldn't resist misspelling, an ode to a previous thread). Last but not least.. the maple creme brulee, my second favorite to Chef's de France, gotta have a few bites of that, though the Whiskey Chocolate Trifle calls to me. As for the signature poutine, well, as a Canadian, I pass, even the poutine res. in DS, though edible, it's still not authentic. (my fortune for a proper cheese curd)

Service, I've been fortunate, no complaints though it appears you have had issues...

 

[BarbieGal457]

I have gone several times for lunch and will be back there this Saturday! When we've gone it's always been crowded but not very noisy or hectic. I absolutely love their food and make it a point to get there each trip. I also find that I really like having a nice hearty meal during my trip since burgers can get old! I too always get the filet mignon and all of my recent experiences have been wonderful. I think you should definitely give it another go!

 

[Smalerie]

After years of sorta ignoring this place, I went for the first time this past Feb. I was a bit worried because I have a bunch of butchers in my family. This resulted in spending a lot of my childhood hearing my grandfather or uncles critique the quality of steaks at various restaurants.

I'm happy to report that I was pleasantly surprised. Le Cellier will never replace any of my favorite steakhouses, but I enjoyed the upscale feel and my steak was cooked perfectly. The large portions take a little of the sting off the high prices, but I didn't leave feeling as though I wasn't given a great overall experience for what I paid. The service we received was wonderful. The only complaint I had was that my rib-eye was a little too dressed up and salty. I think next time I might ask that they leave off the mustard sauce or something.

I would love to go there again, but I don't think I will be rushing back either. There are a lot of other signature restaurants that I want to try instead. So my advice is, go if the menu intrigues you. Otherwise, it might be more fun to compare other places for steak at Disney.

 

[RaySharpton]

Thank you for your replies, BarbieGal457 and Smalerie. I'm happy to see more positive reviews about their steaks. This will help to know how to ask for the steak to be cooked.

I have gone several times for lunch and will be back there this Saturday! When we've gone it's always been crowded but not very noisy or hectic. I absolutely love their food and make it a point to get there each trip. I also find that I really like having a nice hearty meal during my trip since burgers can get old! I too always get the filet mignon and all of my recent experiences have been wonderful. I think you should definitely give it another go!

After years of sorta ignoring this place, I went for the first time this past Feb. I was a bit worried because I have a bunch of butchers in my family. This resulted in spending a lot of my childhood hearing my grandfather or uncles critique the quality of steaks at various restaurants.

I'm happy to report that I was pleasantly surprised. Le Cellier will never replace any of my favorite steakhouses, but I enjoyed the upscale feel and my steak was cooked perfectly. The large portions take a little of the sting off the high prices, but I didn't leave feeling as though I wasn't given a great overall experience for what I paid. The service we received was wonderful. The only complaint I had was that my rib-eye was a little too dressed up and salty. I think next time I might ask that they leave off the mustard sauce or something.

I would love to go there again, but I don't think I will be rushing back either. There are a lot of other signature restaurants that I want to try instead. So my advice is, go if the menu intrigues you. Otherwise, it might be more fun to compare other places for steak at Disney.

 

[rentayenta]

I too have wrestled with making reservations at Le Cellier for our upcoming anniversary trip. The food looks good, like yum good, but I keep reading its very dark and the ambiance isn't great. Both the latter factors have kept me from making a reservation. I have opted for Yachtsman Steakhouse; much brighter, all around better reviews. Good luck with your decision.

 

[RaySharpton]

Thank you for your reply, rentayenta. I really like Shula's Steakhouse and Yachtman's Steakhouse, too. I guess I miss not going to Le Cellier Steakhouse.

 

[rg35]

It sounds like you have enjoyed it in the past, so it's probably worth another shot.

 

[KenHutch]

Le Cellier fell out of favor with me after it became a signature restaurant. I call them a legend in their own minds because the extremely high quality has declined and on our last trip there the waitress argued with my carnivore daughter that she did not want a rare steak and then brought her out a medium steak which we promptly sent back. She even tried to get my daughter to switch to the filet saying that she would not like the ribeye (our favorite cut). With places like Shula's and Yachtman out there it was an easy decision to drop them from out rotation. All that being said there are some extremely good reviewers on this board who love the place.

 

[ErinsMommy]

My husband is a Le Cellier fan and is a filet mignon/potato eater only (combined with pretzel bread and beer). From his experience, he loves it and its on his "must do" list every time we go. I'm the less picky eater of the bunch and prefer not to eat there...although when I do the food isn't "bad" per se, more just the service has been pretty bad last couple of times we've gone.

Crème brulee is very good, the wild mushroom risotto is pretty good as well, there's fries there that are as an appetizer (poutine or something like that) and they were horrible and I sent them back. Have never ventured into their soup because I'm not a soup fan, but the pretzel bread and bread with seeds is very good!

 

[4DisneyWVUfans]

We ate at LeCellier last summer as a last minute ADR because of a change in plans. My family thought it was the best meal of our trip! I had the mussels with chorizo and filet mignon with the risotto. The service was excellent. The server made sure all of our steaks were cooked to our liking. We loved it so much we are gong back in June this year!

 

[loves to dive]

We have never seen the appeal of the place, we have eaten there once and felt it was just o.k. It was so small it was very noisy and very crowded and it seemed the wait staff was rushing us along. We were actually at WDW last week and searching for somewhere to eat one evening and it popped up, we thought about it for just a minute and decided on Le Chef instead. Le Chef is not one of our favorite places to eat as we have never had good service there and like LC, it's noisy but the food has always been pretty good, thus our decision to go there instead. The bonus for us, which we were not even thinking about at the time, was that our ADR was late enough that we were there while the fireworks were going on so we saw them from our table.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We've never had a bad meal or experience at Le Cellier and we've been going there, intermittently, for at least the past 10 years if not more. I like the filet as well. We will be there on the first night of our trip in August!

 

[DisMommyTX]

We had fun last Nov when three of our more adventurous teens split the porterhouse for two. With the larder and steak tartare was quite the spread, and easily my favorite use of 'free' dining-credits on the trip! I love the soup, but now that it is available at the Refreshment port, I have less reason to choose Le Cellier over any of the other steak houses at Disney. We have enjoyed Yachtsman and Narcoossee's too, but have had excellent steaks from Mama Melrose and BOG as well! Any one of these on a good day will beat all of the others on a bad day. Still have to try Shula... When in doubt, we choose to try something new!

 

[epcotobsessed]

Have you been to Yachtsman? It's a 10 minute walk from Le Cellier and, in my opinion, much better. I have had good food and good service at Le Cellier, but I have had consistently excellent food and excellent service at Yachtsman, so that always gets my vote.

 

[RaySharpton]

Thank you for your replies rg35, KenHutch, ErinsMommy, 4DisneyWVUfans, loves to dive, DisneyWishes14 & epcotobsessed. I'm going to go ahead and make a reservation since I haven't been there in such a long time.

 

[CynBeth]

We love dinner there! I always get the fillet and maple creme brûlée.