What restaurant surprised you?

[DaisyDuck001]

Skipper Canteen, when it was new. When I first saw the menu online, I thought it looked too weird and not in a good way. But I liked the theming so I gave the restaurant a try. It immediately became my favorite restaurant in the MK and one of my favorites anywhere at WDW. So glad I gave it a chance.

 

[eva]

SAI in the Mexico pavilion was quite a nice surprise after all the bad reviews I read. The food and atmosphere were very good.

 

[SinCityMMAFan]

Grand Floridian Cafe - Wasn't expecting much from this place as it has gotten a lot of mixed reviews and this place is easy to get a reservation at the last minute. Anyways had breakfast here one day and I must say their eggs benedict was really, really good and the price wasn't bad at all either. I think next time I will try their benedict flight which comes with all 3 versions.

 

[Arielfan98]

Coral Reef--I'm not sure why there's so many negative/so-so reviews for this place. It blew my family away. They offer complimentary fresh bread to start which most 1 TS restaurants don't, and had arguably the best steak entree from all of our 1 TS credit reservations. Everything was perfect. The food was good and so was the service and fun atmosphere. As long as you go in not expecting signature dining level quality, it is definitely an all around enjoyable dining experience.

 

[OfCourseTheresAlwaysMyWay]

Satu’li Canteen.

I went in expecting “Avatar food.” Admittedly, I had no idea what that would entail.

I think it’s the best QS in the parks. I love that it’s a QS where you feel like you’re eating actual food and not fast food garbage. I can only take so much fried/macaroni and cheese/decadent stuff.

Plus the blueberry mousse is one of the most underrated desserts on property.

 

[soniam]

San Angel Inn. Being from Texas and knowing the difference between Tex-Mex and authentic Mexican food, I didn't think it would be good. It was actually really good. I would go back again.

Mama Melrose was another surprise. I figured it would be your typical Olive Garden like food. It was good, especially the mushroom flatbread.

 

[antlane]

Captain's Grille. A decently priced menu and the food was really good whenever I went PLUS it was usually dead.

 

[smcabee]

San Angel Inn. We ate here years ago and were underwhelmed. Reviews seem to indicate it was still terrible and as someone who has access to extremely excellent Mexican food, I was hesitant. However, we were hungry for a sit down and hit up the app and we were right near there so we said why not. It was very very good this time (Oct. 2018). While we didnt put it in the rotation for our spring trip next month, we did put it in our rotation for our Oct fall trip.

 

[Trinity88]

Mama Melrose - we've been there a couple of times now and love it every time!

Coral Reef - I was so hesitant to make a reservation here, but decided to give it a try. We really enjoyed it! The service wasn't amazing, but it wasn't awful either. And the food was good.

 

[kiford]

Crystal Palace for breakfast. I've always avoided character meals and buffets at WDW because you're usually paying for the characters and not the food. But our friends really wanted to go there Christmas Day so we did. I thought the food was pretty good and, though I don't usually go for the character thing, we had a really good time with lots of great photos. The characters really played it up for us even though we were a table of 4 adults.

Also Pecos Bills. It was part of our KTTK tour. Not stunning gourmet food but downright tasty and reasonably healthy. We typically avoid CS/QS places but I'd be fine to keep it on the list for lunch in the future.

 

[cinderaimee]

Also Pecos Bills. It was part of our KTTK tour. Not stunning gourmet food but downright tasty and reasonably healthy. We typically avoid CS/QS places but I'd be fine to keep it on the list for lunch in the future.

I was pleasantly surprised by Pecos Bills, too!

 

[Newsies]

The Wave. We booked it last minute because it was the only restaurant that had availability that evening and we were all blown away by our meals. We loved it so much that we came back the following trip, and we have breakfast booked for our upcoming trip!

 

[Kaleidodad]

Tony's. Seems to be one of the most-disliked restaurants in online reviews and general WDW chatter, but we loved the theming (big Lady & Tramp fans) and have been perfectly satisfied with the food as well, so it's a regular for us now. Being able to share a bottle of wine these days is a nice plus.

 

[Realgrumpy]

Tony's Town Square. Party of 11, we all loved it! Would go back in a heartbeat!

 

[redfieldsdodisney]

Pop Eats-

Specifically the turkey sandwich. We had plans to eat at the Poly that night, but due to a late lunch we skipped it and ate when we got back to the resort. The sandwich sounded good and it was, it was kind of like a caprese salad on a turkey sandwich.

 

[Crystal824]

Grand Floridan Cafe, the Wave, and Boatwright's Dining Hall. I didn't have high expectations for these but they were all really good. I also loved Bon Voyage Breakfast; I expected it to be good but it was better than expected.

 

[skullsplitter]

Big River Grille. Hadn't seen much positive said about it. I stopped in last year to try their beers and ended up having one of the best burgers at Disney I've ever had.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

H&V breakfast. I'd heard that all meals here were downright vile, but we had a great breakfast and would definitely go back.

 

[nkereina]

Hollywood & Vine. Food and service were great, and it wasn't busy so the characters came around more than once. Really enjoyed it.

 

[goofy4prez]

For me two come to mind. Several years ago when we were staying at the YC we were way to worn out and tired to do our ADR in Epcot and just walked up to Captains Grille and was surprised beyond belief. My wife, DD, and myself enjoyed the service and the meal. I'm disappointed it is no longer there. The second was Citricos. I love signature dining and for whatever reason I just kept putting this place off. In 2016 I had a total of 8 of us and staying at the VGF and on our arrival day it was an easy ADR. I wasn't expecting much, but I was blown away. Excellent food and excellent service as well. It is certainly a restaurant I will go to again.