Table Service Dinner without ADR

[dieumeye]

Are there any good dinner table service locations where you can walk up without an ADR and have no more than a 30ish minute wait like at a normal restaurant?

Primarily interested in Epcot resort area and Disney Springs, but any resort or park restaurant where this is possible would be good to know.

I know there’s other options like quick service, to go, or ways to try to snag last minute reservations, but I’m just looking for anyplace we could just walk up at dinner time and eat dinner if we don’t have anything planned.

What are the best (if any) options?

 

[Smugpugmug]

Spice Road Table at Epcot is walk up only and is a great option though it is exclusively small plates (similar to tapas). In terms of places that don't allow walk ups, when I went to La Hacienda de San Angel there was a sign at the hostess podium that said no walk ups were accepted so that is something to keep in mind. I assume San Angel Inn (the restaurant inside the Mexico pavilion) is the same but I have not eaten there in almost a decade so I'm not 100% sure.

I have done walk up for Homecoming at Disney Springs the majority of the times I have eaten there and have never waited for more than 30 minutes for a table. Granted I have always had parties of 3 or less. I am unsure how long the wait would be if you have more people.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Nearly all DS spots take walk-ups; we rarely make reservations there and just decide on the fly where we want to go. Hotel lounges are walk-ups as well, and most have good food options (esp those connected to a restaurant).

Most Disney owned restaurants that take walk-ups utilize the walk-up list digital option in your app BUT I have seen people swing by host stands often to inquire about walkups and they are often accommodated. We have done that ourselves, too, since it never hurts to ask if we're nearby.

We've walked up (literally, not the digital option) to Big River, Trattoria, and Ale and Compass and were seated within minutes. I also really like fiddling with the app - it's amazing what pops up at the very last minute (like next 30 minutes-1 hour) and then you don't have to take a chance of being turned away.

 

[Jennasis]

We eat at Homecomin' every trip and do via walkup.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

If you get a Landry’s card and become a member you get priority seating at any of the Landry’s restaurants (yak and yeti, TRex and both rainforest cafes).

 

[TSM]

We did walk up to several restaurants in June including The Plaza and Sci Fi. We only waited maybe 5 minutes at each one!

 

[Marthasor]

As PP mentioned, Spice Road Table takes walk-ups, but they serve very small portions and, IMHO, the food isn't as good as it used to be. In terms of walk-ups at other restaurants, there is just no predicting what the outcome will be. I've walked up at some restaurants in the past, only to be turned away on subsequent trips. Your best bet is to have a list of back-up QS that have menus that appeal to you and to check the MDE for restaurants accepting walk-ups at the time you want to eat. Another option is to eat at the lounges or bars at TS restaurants - I've had very good luck eating at the bar at Steakhouse 71 and in the lounge at Citricos.

 

[supersnoop]

When you're ready to eat, pull up the app and search. If you search for "now" it will give you a list of restaurants where you can get on the list with an estimated wait time. If you select a time in the future (even just five minutes in the future) it will show you all the restaurants with reservations available. I find that it's pretty easy to get a table, but you might have to travel or choose from what's available.

 

[sethschroeder]

Are there any good dinner table service locations where you can walk up without an ADR and have no more than a 30ish minute wait like at a normal restaurant?

Lots have waitlists and it will say the estimated time.

You should be able to get in likely at many places.

 

[dieumeye]

Lots have waitlists and it will say the estimated time.

You should be able to get in likely at many places.

Any suggestions for the best restaurants like this? Places that are good but will have easy walk-up availability? I assume the better places are booked and some of the worse places are the easiest to get into, so I'm hoping to find places that are good and not just easy to get because they aren't that good!

 

[sethschroeder]

Any suggestions for the best restaurants like this? Places that are good but will have easy walk-up availability? I assume the better places are booked and some of the worse places are the easiest to get into, so I'm hoping to find places that are good and not just easy to get because they aren't that good!

You can check yourself in the app. (not to be mean I just mean it really is everywhere I found and the app will let you see I am not just making it up)

I will say pretty much every place was available the week of the 4th when I would look. It might fill up in the waitlist but if you have a specific place just plan on looking to do an earlier dinner.

Only place that was a no go was Steakhouse 71 for lunch since there was no waitlist.

Tomorrow test it out. Go in the app, click the plus sign, check dining availability, choose the day, choose now. You will see all the options for waitlist.

Want to take it a step further you could install a GPS spoofer and make it look like you are next to the resturant to see the actual wait times at the moment.

 

[sethschroeder]

Any suggestions for the best restaurants like this?

To add I was staying at Grand Flordian Villas and could have easily gotten Citricos, Narcoossee, Cafe, Ohana, or Kona if we wanted it from party sizes of 2 to 6 people.

 

[dieumeye]

You can check yourself in the app. (not to be mean I just mean it really is everywhere I found and the app will let you see I am not just making it up)

I will say pretty much every place was available the week of the 4th when I would look. It might fill up in the waitlist but if you have a specific place just plan on looking to do an earlier dinner.

Only place that was a no go was Steakhouse 71 for lunch since there was no waitlist.

Tomorrow test it out. Go in the app, click the plus sign, check dining availability, choose the day, choose now. You will see all the options for waitlist.

Want to take it a step further you could install a GPS spoofer and make it look like you are next to the resturant to see the actual wait times at the moment.

I'm asking for suggestions for places that are GOOD. Like, good quality. The app doesn't distinguish between better and worse quality places.

For example, I've heard that Big River Grill is easy to get seated at, but also that it isn't very good, so that's not a great option.

 

[sethschroeder]

I'm asking for suggestions for places that are GOOD. Like, good quality. The app doesn't distinguish between better and worse quality places.

For example, I've heard that Big River Grill is easy to get seated at, but also that it isn't very good, so that's not a great option.

My point is don't worry about it as you can get a table most places.

Instead just ask what are the best places. That's a much more in depth question.

You would need to outline what types of places you want to eat at, what food preferences you have, what parks you will be in for how many days, are you looking to eat at the park you are at or hop elsewhere, just doing dinner or lunch too, want to eat around your resort location or don't care.

Basically the question of "can I get a table from waitlist" is really non-important.

Example for us Dinner is seperate from the park touring. So we are at the resort, get ready for dinner, then go where we want. If I didn't have reservations I would look to make them earlier in the day and if nothing was available I would look to waitlist and likely plan an earlier or later dinner.

I would pick possibly Epcot for the evening and then have my top 3 places for the night in mind. I would then put in the waitlist and kill time looking around the country try pavilion or doing a show/ride.

Another night I might do resturants around my hotel. Example for VGF 1) Citricos 2) Narcoossee 3) Kona which I was easily able to get Citricos.

Another night I might be saying we are doing burgers so its off to Wilderness Lodge if Geyser shows the waitlist is open otherwise we might pivot for Deluxe Burger. We easily got Geyser on waitlist.

Some of my waitlist experiences is with 2 people and some with 6 people. This could always change but I feel Disney holds back a good number of availability these days for walk ups.

 

[dieumeye]

Instead just ask what are the best places.

I don’t get the confusion. In the first post I literally ask what the best places are and specify dinner at Epcot resort area or Disney Springs.

 

[sethschroeder]

Heck just checked tomorrow for the heck if it can get dining reservations at places like California Grill, Be our Guest, Le Celliar, Ogas, Sci Fi, Via Napoli.

About the only place I think you likely wouldn't get in is Space 220 or Victoria and Albert's when it reopens.

 

[sethschroeder]

I don’t get the confusion. In the first post I literally ask what the best places are and specify dinner at Epcot resort area or Disney Springs.

Your whole question seemingly was outlined about what you could just walk up to.

So I was thrown off by that think it's not something to even think about. Just look at what the best in general.

You also outlined you wanted to know any place it was possible at resorts or parks.

So bascially you are looking at the best resturants from all over Disney.

DFB does great detailed overviews and they actually eat at everyone of the resturants.

My list would be for sit downs in order:

Epcot/HS area - Topolinos, Beaches and Cream, Via Napoli (Epcot), Biergarten (Epcot), Sebastiáns, Sci Fi (HS), Brown Derby (HS), Le Celliar (Epcot - although poor experience last time but will try again)

Disney Springs - Morimoto (I don't normally do sit down reservations in Disney Springs it's typically Delux Burger or Polite Pig)

MK area - Citricos, Narcoossee, Geyser, Whispering Canyon, Steakhouse 71 (people love Ohana but can't comment on it) (I would leave off California Grill because of the current fixed menu)

AK area - Jiko, Sanaa(although no AK sit down would be really in my plans but they are good options)

 

[summerlvr]

Ale and Compass at the Yacht Club frequently has walk up availability and I've never had a bad meal there. You would have to leave Epcot, but it's easy to get to from International Gateway.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

I'm asking for suggestions for places that are GOOD. Like, good quality. The app doesn't distinguish between better and worse quality places.

For example, I've heard that Big River Grill is easy to get seated at, but also that it isn't very good, so that's not a great option.

Depends on who you ask. Someone somewhere is going to say they like Big River Grille. We don't hate it but it's not a favorite either. It's just a middle of the road choice. We don't dine there as it is actually a local restaurant. We dine at it at home so we do not dine there at Disney. We dine at places we can't dine at when at home when at Disney
Out of all the guests at Disney you will find positive votes for each restaurant and negative votes for each restaurant. Tastes vary that much.
You also have off nights and such. I really hate to tell someone to never try anywhere, unless of course they just don't like X cuisine. Then of course, you should skip that. We don't do sushi. So we don't dine much in Japan. It has nothing to do with how good or bad the sushi is. It has all to do with what we enjoy eating.

I also never suggest walk ups unless you just like gambling. You never know if you'll be accepted or turned away. Or if you are accepted, how long the wait may be. Instead, why not open the app and find something. There are just so many ADR there to be found. We do just about 95% TS, very little QS at Disney. And never walk up. Always ADR and not done more than 24 hours in advance. Last week we found lots and lots of ADR options for breakfast lunch and dinner. I think every restaurant except Space 220 came up at one point or another.

No idea how many you are have in your party but one hint, look for even numbers if it's an odd number party. Last week we were 3 so I searched for 3 and 4. It never hurts to show up with 1 less and sometimes their system will show tables for 4 but not show them for 3

 

[supersnoop]

I'm asking for suggestions for places that are GOOD. Like, good quality. The app doesn't distinguish between better and worse quality places.

I don’t get the confusion. In the first post I literally ask what the best places are and specify dinner at Epcot resort area or Disney Springs.

Define "quality." That word can mean a lot of different things. Disney isn't in the business of serving cheap crap. Some might be better than others, but it's going to largely depend on your tastes.

The "best" place is going to be the one where you can get seated. In the Epcot resort area, the Swan and Dolphin have some of the nicer restaurants.