WORST DISNEY DINING EXPERIENCE

[JerseyJanice]

"sous vide" means cooked in liquid. If cooked longer, it makes the pork more tender.

A relative bought a sous vide cooker and tried it out for the first time by inviting us over for prime rib.

IDK what went wrong, but it was seriously well done and not tender at all.

 

[anncro54]

Turf Club at Saratoga Springs. We were looking forward to this, trying something new. We weren't expecting it to be a library or anything but it was incredibly loud, louder than any bar I have ever been in. I had lamb which was okay but my wife and daughter's meals were not very good either. The server was good but could not salvage this experience.

Definitely agree, I had chicken and it was not edible.

 

[Spencer Wright]

....

I can't think of anywhere at Disney where I would be willing to wait 40 or 60 or 90 minutes past my reservation time unless that meal was going to be free or close to it once we finally got seated. I'm just not that patient. If you aren't going to respect my reservation, I'm happy to go elsewhere.

Am I just a jerk, or would other people be making a fuss after 10 minutes??

I understand its technically a request and not a reservation, but time is money at Disney, lets keep things moving!!

Our ADR's are typically only for dinner, and relatively early (i.e. 5:15pm), so we've never had this problem.

 

[disneysteve]

Am I just a jerk, or would other people be making a fuss after 10 minutes??

I don't expect a reservation to necessarily be honored on the dot but I think once you get past 15-20 minutes, there's an issue. There's no excuse for keeping customers waiting 30+ minutes after their reservation time without any accommodation.

 

[danikoski]

I've had two experiences where I will not go back to either restaurant for a very long time.
First was Coral Reef. We were a group of six, so the tip was added automatically, but, and I rarely say this, the waiter did not deserve their tip. He acted very bothered to explain items on the menu, he brought the wrong meal three times to one if our party, and at no time did he apologize. And after all of that, the food was just okay. I look back and realize I should have asked for a manager, but we didn't.
The second was Cali Grill. This one was on my honeymoon. We wanted to splurge on one signed meal. I chose CG over Artist Point, which was at WL where we were staying, due to the firewrfir view. That was nice... pretty much everything else was not. We waited more than 20 minutes to be seated, then waited more than 20 minutes for our waitress, and another 15 minutes for water. Our appetizer came out the same time as our main courses. It was a flat bread and just ok. The actual main courses, swordfish and buffalo filet, were great, but the sides the came with them were inedible. My husband, who loves brussel sprouts, could not eat the one that came with my buffalo. And he is pretty liberal about what he finds edible. We commented to the waitress about it and she just blew us off. For $200+ for a meal for two, I expect good food and good service. We had neither. I did contact Disney about that experience and I got a call back to discuss it. I would go back to CG for drinks or dessert (which was quite good) but not a meal.

 

[tasha99]

Sous vide is "under vacuum." It's food in a vacuum sealed ziplock or seal a meal type bag in water that is precisely the done temp. I think if it sits there longer, nothing happens--it doesn't cook further because the water is only 140 degrees (for example, for medium rare steak). That's why restaurants use it--it's always ready to go with some quick finishing, such as flash browning it. Interesting that people say they've had food that hasn't been good from it. I've been thinking of getting one, but am not sure how much I'd use it.

 

[Turksmom]

A relative bought a sous vide cooker and tried it out for the first time by inviting us over for prime rib.

IDK what went wrong, but it was seriously well done and not tender at all.

I'm sure it does happen. I wasn't doubting the OP, but for an experienced chef to have that outcome with that cooking method means they really messed up somewhere.

 

[JerseyJanice]

The overdone prime rib was the first time my relatives used their sous vide cooker.

If I had to guess where they went wrong, it was in the browning stage.

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

Le Chefs. Our waiter was so snobby.

Us too, do incredibly rude!!!

 

[mydisneyanytime]

For us both SciFi and Prime Time are no go's. At both restaurants the service was terrible and the food was just meh. The server in Prime Time wouldn't stop with her script even when asked as she was upsetting my son (get your elbows off the table, etc.). The food was very salty as well. It was too much drama for a meal. I tried SciFi this fall after about a 5 year break hoping it had gotten better. It had not from the terrible seating arrangement (we were a group 0f 3 sitting in the car - 1 adult and 2 kids) to the service, to the food. Everyone seems to love both of these restaurants for the most part but we have not experienced the "love" or magic and will not be back.

 

[love2go2disney2]

We weren't super excited about Tusker House dinner last week. Food was ok (1-2 really great items), but the overall atmosphere & character interaction felt overcrowded, rushed, & impersonal.

We were there in Dec, and it was awful! MY dad had to take out his hearing aids, because it was so loud , we could not talk with each other. I asked to move our party, and he was unable to move us. It was utterly the worst experience!! Food was not good, it was the worst character meal we experienced!

 

[aristocatz]

We were there in Dec, and it was awful! MY dad had to take out his hearing aids, because it was so loud , we could not talk with each other. I asked to move our party, and he was unable to move us. It was utterly the worst experience!! Food was not good, it was the worst character meal we experienced!

We were also there in December-I agree, it was really loud.

 

[Belia]

I can confidently say this would never happen to us. Why? Because we would never wait that long. If we weren't seated within 20 or so minutes we would leave and go elsewhere. The only possible exception might be if the manager came over and offered to comp our meal to apologize for the delay.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't part of the problem that you don't have a ton of options to get up and leave? I mean, if you're making your ADRs 180 freaking days in advance, you're pretty invested in them. And it's not like you can just show up at another restaurant, because everyone THERE has made their reservations 180 days in advance, too. It's tough... you're hungry, you maybe have hungry kids with you, you've already invested a chunk of time, to try and start over from scratch and find a new place to eat may not always be that easy.

Plus, do any of these restaurants charge a "no show" fee?

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't part of the problem that you don't have a ton of options to get up and leave? I mean, if you're making your ADRs 180 freaking days in advance, you're pretty invested in them. And it's not like you can just show up at another restaurant, because everyone THERE has made their reservations 180 days in advance, too. It's tough... you're hungry, you maybe have hungry kids with you, you've already invested a chunk of time, to try and start over from scratch and find a new place to eat may not always be that easy.

Plus, do any of these restaurants charge a "no show" fee?

Yes, they do charge a"no show" fee.
You hold your ADRs with a cc, and if no one shows up, you're charged $10.00 per person.
However, IF you call while and explain, I'm pretty sure they will waive that fee.

 

[disneysteve]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't part of the problem that you don't have a ton of options to get up and leave?

It's tough... you're hungry, you maybe have hungry kids with you, you've already invested a chunk of time, to try and start over from scratch and find a new place to eat may not always be that easy.

Plus, do any of these restaurants charge a "no show" fee?

If we were waiting for 30, 40, 60 minutes at a Disney TS place with no sign of being seated anytime soon, I would not hesitate to walk away and grab a casual dinner at the nearest CS location, especially if I had hungry cranky kids with me.

As for a "no show" fee, I wouldn't be a no show. I was there. I checked in. They failed to honor my reservation. No way I'd be paying a fee for their failure. That's on them.

 

[blondietink]

I think if my table isn't ready within 20 minutes of my ADR, I would walk and tell them to not charge me a no show fee. I was there. You were late.

 

[ColoradoMom12]

1900 Park Fare. It was my DD’s first Disney experience. We had a reservation there the night we arrived. We were early (10 minutes) to our reservation and waited more than 45 minutes. We got to our table, and our server got our drinks wrong (or maybe brought us the drinks for another table, I don’t remember), and it was another 20 minutes before we had any beverages. Our table was close to the one next to us, we actually became friendly with the family sitting there. The food was decent at least, and the characters were entertaining. Except we had to wait almost an hour to see Prince Charming. He was the first character, and they had seated us right after he had gone past our table. My poor DD was exhausted that night. She was reluctant to return there on a future trip and still tells me it is her least favorite restaurant because of the long waits she had there on her first trip to Disney.

Not a dining experience, but I’m going to add the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. One time we were there, we waited more than an hour! And we arrived 10 minutes prior to our reservation. We almost missed dinner due to it. Not only that, but my DD’s FGiT didn’t know what she was doing. I had to remind her to put on the eyeshadow. The first time we were there was a similar experience. Not to mention, that place is tiny (nowhere to sit. I have never sat there, in fact, because I’m always giving up my seat for grandparents or expectant moms) and really loud. Recently we were there at Thanksgiving, and my DD needed a wheelchair. We were using a stroller wheelchair. They told me I couldn’t bring a stroller inside. I showed them the wheelchair tag, and they still insisted I had to leave it outside. I explained that I could do that, but my DD was not able to stand and wait, and we would need somewhere for her to sit (even a small footstool works. We have a folding one at home that I wished I’d had on that trip). They wouldn’t accommodate, and after my arms got tired, my DD ended up sitting on the floor. We have decided the next time we want the makeover experience, we will go to the Ivy Trellis salon instead.

 

[piratepride]

Electric Umbrella at Epcot. Waited 30 minutes for a sandwich and fries. They kept claiming they could not find the order. it was awful!

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

If we were waiting for 30, 40, 60 minutes at a Disney TS place with no sign of being seated anytime soon, I would not hesitate to walk away and grab a casual dinner at the nearest CS location, especially if I had hungry cranky kids with me.

As for a "no show" fee, I wouldn't be a no show. I was there. I checked in. They failed to honor my reservation. No way I'd be paying a fee for their failure. That's on them.

Agreed, but you still need to call, or they WILL tack on the fee.

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

This whole thread reminds me, unfortunately how different Disney service has been slipping lately.
Our past trip 2 weeks ago was not near as nice as any of the others... Food was not as good, portions were smaller. We ran into several rude cast members. (NEVER before) and I just didn't feel like I was "in the bubble"...
We either had good restaurant service and a poor meal, or vice versa, bad service and a decent meal. I think OUR best meal was Beaches and Cream. Both good service and good food.
Sad experience all around.
We're going again next February, it may end up.being the last time in a while. That may be our last yearly trip.
We'll see.