yuck!

[crltkcagle]

Is it is just me or is the character lunch at Hollywood Vine and the dinner at Chef Mickey's just awful! I found the food to be so bland and yucky. Thank God it was free dining plan because I don't think I would have been happy about paying for that junk. The characters were cute and my kids did enjoy seeing them at their table but we were all hungry after we left. I think part of the problem was we ate at Ohana's our first night and expected all the food to be up to par and it wasn't. I must say i will always eat dinner at ohana's! How wondefully delicious the food was there! We did enjoy breakfast at Crystal Palace though but I guess you really can't mess up breakast right?

[kakn7294]

We ate dinner at H&V in Sept 2005 and weren't overly impressed but we ate at Chef Mickey's in Dec 2006 and thought the food was good. It was our dinner companions who were lacking - dinner with Debbie :ack: for those of you who remember that trip! I'm sorry you were disappointed in your meals!

[cal5755]

I agree with Chef Mickeys... the kids love the characters but the food is not the best. We did love H&V though... maybe you had a bad night?? We also like Crystal Palace for lunch!! We did notice though that most buffets offered a lot of the same choices...some just cooked better than others and the desserst differed a bit.

[snifflesmcg]

My last trip I actually ate at both places. I had H&V for dinner and Chef Mickey's for lunch. I found H&V to be better than expected and Chef Mickeys not as good as I expected but both were good in my oppinion.

[RALPH]

I would agree with you on H&V, it has gone down and my family has requested no more adr's there,but in our opinion, Chef Mickey's is the best of WDW's buffet's. I am not a buffet person and like the more sophisticated dinning choices around the world, but I have never been disappointed at CM. And we eat there every trip.

I would be curious as to how the buffet disappointed. I know, food is sooooo subjective, but it would make for interesting discussion. I know I like it better when the buffet at CM has roasted turkey as the second meat, if I dont feel like or like the prime rib. I usually find some kind of good white meat fish (not the farm raised catfish though) or other entre. The mashed potatoes are good, as well as other vegggies.

Just curious as to what went wrong as we have been consistently pleased. That does not guarantee a good meal though.

[#1donaldfan]

I can't beleive you didn't like Chef Mickey's.....we've always had a good time and meal there.....Ohana's to us was OK, not over the top just ok......I suppose it takes all kinds for the world to go around and everyones tastes are different....you should try Chef M at least one more time....maybe it was an "off" night or something....I am sorry you didn't enjoy your meal....

[crltkcagle]

I would agree with you on H&V, it has gone down and my family has requested no more adr's there,but in our opinion, Chef Mickey's is the best of WDW's buffet's. I am not a buffet person and like the more sophisticated dinning choices around the world, but I have never been disappointed at CM. And we eat there every trip.

I would be curious as to how the buffet disappointed. I know, food is sooooo subjective, but it would make for interesting discussion. I know I like it better when the buffet at CM has roasted turkey as the second meat, if I dont feel like or like the prime rib. I usually find some kind of good white meat fish (not the farm raised catfish though) or other entre. The mashed potatoes are good, as well as other vegggies.

Just curious as to what went wrong as we have been consistently pleased. That does not guarantee a good meal though.


I guess the food was just really bland. The meat was not cooked and was full of fat. I kind of felt like i was eating at picadilly. ( bland food.) The potatoes and fish were good though. I am from New Orleans so I am used to food with alot of spice to it. The dessert bar was good though. I probably just got tired of eating the same food since we did so many character meals. I don't know. I just wasn't impressed with HVD or CM's. Sorry if this offends anyone.

[Hammer]

If you like your food with more spice, I suggest you try Boma next trip. They use many different kinds of spices in their dishes, but it is not "hot sauce" spicy.

[Jared]

Sorry to hear about your bad experiences. Unfortunately, the character buffets are often mediocre. My family was equally disappointed with the food at Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace for dunner.

For a delicious buffet meal, try Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, as Christine suggested. Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club is also great, especially for seafood eaters.

[RALPH]

Kelly, that makes perfect sense. Spicy is NOT what your going to get at CM. If you like your food that way, your going to be dissapointed. The buffet's at WDW are designed in my opinion to reach out to the most conservative of paletts. Kind of like the food my irish uncle likes, meat and potoato's and well done.

There are other places in WDW that will make you feel more at home. I guess it means understanding what you are about to be served and judging accordingly.

[mttafire]

Hmmm...I really LOVE Chef Mickey's.
Different strokes for different folks.;)

[murphy1]

I have always been pleasantly surprised by all the cm's at Disney. I am certainly never disappointed. Not only do my kids get great character interaction and good food, but so do I plus I didn't have to cook it like I do everyday of my life at home.! You can't even imagine how much Disney has changed their meals since the early 90's even! The CS meals were often better than the TS ones.

[crltkcagle]

I don't mean spicy food I guess when I say spice i am referring to seasonings. I know it's not going to be New Orleans style food just thought it would be a little better. I think too that because it was free dining maybe everyone including the chef's were a little overworked? The meat wasn't overcooked it was way under cooked like mooing at me kind of. LOL Like another person said different strokes for different folks.

[jsw123]

I was also disappointed at Chef Mickey. We were a somewhat large party (14) and had made our ADR 180 days in advance. We were seated with too few chairs---and the characters started coming immediately! We were all faced with either going for food or seeing our children meet Donald, Pluto, Mickey, or Minnie! We chose to stagger the food, so some could take pictures. The buffet line was 10-15 minutes long. The waiter, at the end of the service, was rushing us out! We'd paid for this and, as parents, should have been able to get food and see our kids meet the characters. That was wrong! We enjoyed lots of character meals more (O'hana was the best!). Won't go to Chef Mickey's again! Could have been a bad night, but there are many other choices!:mickey:

[crltkcagle]

I was also disappointed at Chef Mickey. We were a somewhat large party (14) and had made our ADR 180 days in advance. We were seated with too few chairs---and the characters started coming immediately! We were all faced with either going for food or seeing our children meet Donald, Pluto, Mickey, or Minnie! We chose to stagger the food, so some could take pictures. The buffet line was 10-15 minutes long. The waiter, at the end of the service, was rushing us out! We'd paid for this and, as parents, should have been able to get food and see our kids meet the characters. That was wrong! We enjoyed lots of character meals more (O'hana was the best!). Won't go to Chef Mickey's again! Could have been a bad night, but there are many other choices!:mickey:


I had the same experience when it came to character dining. we had to sit and wait for the characters to come to the table before we could go get food or we would have missed them. That didn't bother me as much as the horrid food though. LOL

[bibbidiboo3]

Maybe you'll have to try them for breakfast. We went to both for breakfast last week and enjoyed the food and the characters. There was a larger selection at Chef Mickey's (donuts, hash browns, desert bar toppings, etc.), but all in all, you're paying for the experience and probably not the food.

[IloveDisney71]

I've eaten at CM once for breakfast and the food was your standard b-fast buffet. I thought the food tasted better at the Crystal Palace even though the food choices were similar. I totally agree that the food at Hollywood and Vine was gross. My husband tried to find things to eat that looked like they would be good, but we didn't have much luck. Everything we tried was nasty. When we left, we had to find something else to eat because we were still hungry.

[MsMin]

I'm a native New Orleanian too so I understand your disappointment in the food. I have only eaten @ CM for breakfast and it was good and have not gone to H&V b/c the menu just didn't appeal to me. I'm sure it is planned that way to reach a broader spectrum of diners. We love Spoodles, you will find plenty of "flavor" there and we are trying Boma's this time. So sorry you were disappointed. You've confirmed my avoidance of that particular menu @ WDW. Most are the character dinners. We don't have any little ones so and occasional character breakfast suites us.
I guess you'll have to plan another trip to find some of the restaurants you do like ;)

[Disneyatic]

Chef Mickey's was one of our favorites on our first trip and we were so excited to go back.
Well, we went back and I was very dissappointed. The food selections seemed very slim and there were only like 2 meats and 1 or 2 vegetables offered. By the time I got back to our table my food was cold...We had to wait forever for the characters and they were very rushed when they did come. I also noticed on both visits that Donald was VERY rude. I am not sure if this was a character role or what, but we had met him elsewhere and didn't notice this.

My daughter loves this place, so I am sure we'll go back, but I will try to not be very hungry before we go again :secret:

[pox24]

Hammer nailed it..... BOMA is the best buffet on site. :thumbsup: