Restaurants that surprised you.

[MissMaryPoppins]

Have you ever gone to any Disney restaurant and felt hesitant about it for any reason but were pleasantly surprised?

This has happened to me twice. My father's family is German and my parents and my brother enjoy most German foods like bratwurst and things like that. I do not. So my parents went to the Biergarten alone and met my brother and I later in the evening. They raved about it so much that my brother wanted to go. My mom made reservations for a couple nights later and we went back. I was worried I wouldn't like anything and wasn't excited to go. Well, I was totally surprised! There was so much food to choose from, I discovered I like German wines, and the entertainment was so much fun. We also found out when we checked in that becuase we have a very German last name the cast members working that evening wanted to meet us. There was a steady flow of
German cast members coming by to talk to us. One of them said "your name is more
German than mine and i live in Germany!" I couldn't wait to go back.

Where Chef Mickey's is now there was a buffet but it wasn't a character meal. We had been there before and had nice times. When my brother and I were on Christmas break from our schools my father was in the hospital over Christmas. He told my mom, while
he was still in the hospital, that he felt like he ruined Christmas for all of us and
wanted to see if we could do a last minute trip to Disney. When he was home our
parents told us we were leaving in 2 days for a week at Disney World. We were so
excited. The day we arrived my mom made reservations at what was now Chef Mickey's
and we headed over. She went to check in while my brother, my dad, and I looked in
the shop. She found us and said to my brother and me "I don't think you guys are going
to like this. It's a character meal now." my dad said not to worry, if we didn't like it
we'd just leave and go someplace else. We all ended up loving it! We had so much fun
meeting the characters, even though I was a big shot college freshman, we all got in on the napkin twirling, and my brother and I went a little overboard making sundaes and cupcakes. We went back very often and still do.

[disneynarula]

We loved Sanaa and Olivia's Cafe. My MIL decided to join us last minute and we had to scramble to find ADRs last minute. We were so happy to have her come it was worth it but be we unable to get into places like Chef Mickeys, Le Celier, and O'Hana. I found that it was easier to get ADRs at some of the resort TS rather than the ones at the parks.

Loved the pasta at Olivia's Cafe and had the best lunch on property at Sanaa.

We are going to give the Captain's Grille a try this trip. I love seafood but am not willing to use 2TS at Fultons.

[chefmickey3]

We stayed at AKL two years ago, and we discovered we love Boma. I am adventerous with food, but my kids and DH are not. It is my 10 yo favorite restaurant and now a must do every trip. There is something for everyone and then neat animals to look at after dinner.

[Mickey'sIrishPAl]

Sanaa and Yak and Yeti. Both at the top of the favorites list.

[tink'72]

Sanaa and Yak and Yeti. Both at the top of the favorites list.

I agree was hesitant about trying both and now both of these restaurants are on my must do list!

[c&d]

Boma on the 2nd try. The first time we went we really didn't like it but reading all the good reviews we decided to give it another try. It turned out we liked it.

[disneynarula]

I think Sanaa is one of the hidden jems of WDW dining. I don't know how it is now but when we went a few years ago it was pratically empty. It was so fresh and plated to perfection.

[buzznwoodysmom]

Chefs de France and Grand Floridian Cafe were the two that surprised us the most. You don't hear much about these two, but both were excellent meals!

We were also surprised when we had dinner at Maya Grill at Coronado years ago. We only ate there because we were staying at CSR, but it turned out to be one of the best meals of that trip.

In July we hope to try Shutters at CBR and Captain's Grill at YC. We are staying at those two resorts and would like to try to walk up at their restaurants. I hope we enjoy these two as much as we've enjoyed other "not as popular" places we've come across over the years.

[Mickey'sGirl]

I think Sanaa is one of the hidden jems of WDW dining. I don't know how it is now but when we went a few years ago it was pratically empty. It was so fresh and plated to perfection.

We ate there last August, and I agree with you completely. The food was fabulous. My DS13 said the Coho Salmon was the best fish he has ever had (and he eats a lot of fish).

[ThanxForNoticin]

Sanaa and Yak and Yeti. Both at the top of the favorites list.

Absolutely agree 100%. We were a little hesitant for both places. Now we eat there as often as we can - at least one of them probably every trip! Both are very different, and both are very good.

[#1donaldfan]

BOMA !!! I was unsure about the African style food, the menu looked unappealing, and the names of the food just set a negative tone....yet we tried anyway and WOW !!!! My favorite place to eat anywhere on Disney property !!!!

[DVC2004]

Rose and Crown. I really had no desire to try this place and I have heard English food is not the best. However, everything we had was really, really good and we enjoyed a view on Illuminations,too. Totally not what I had expected. We've been back several times since.

[darthmacho]

Good question, because when I pick a restaurant, it's because I want to eat there and expect it to be good, so there's a lot less chance of being surprised since my expectations are pretty high.

That being said, the following surprised me by exceeding my expectations:

• Our lunch at Akershus in 1998. The food was a lot better than I expected.
• Our breakfast at Garden Grill in 1999. It was the best breakfast I've ever had at WDW, so the biggest surprise was that they stopped having it.
• Our lunch at ABC Commissary in 2003. The theming was lame, but the food turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
• Our dinner at Boatwright's in 2012. I expected it to be good, but it turned out to be one of the best meals of the trip.

There may be more, but these are probably the standouts in my mind for each trip.

[Fastpasssteve]

The Garden Grill has been one of the biggest surprises to me. I didn't have high hopes for it when friends of mine talked me into a reservation there. It didn't seem too interesting AND it was a Character Dinner. That means too many kids to me! We travel as a party of adults. I am a teacher. I don't need to see a lot of kids when I'm off the clock.

WELL...

The food was great. I loved the fact that the entire restaurant slowly rotates through the various views in The Land Ride, and that the characters were so much fun, and that we got plenty of time to interact with them (twice, in fact!). We had enough space and didn't seem to notice any extraneous noise from other tables (Maybe it was the rainforest and waterfall from the ride below!). I now love this place. On a side note, I like that many of the vegetables served there are grown right there in The Land Pavillion. Cool.

If I had kids, I would make sure to go on The Land Ride before eating upstairs at The Garden Grill.

[epceddie]

I'm not a big fan of Chinese food, but I really enjoyed the pork egg rolls and the chicken lo mein served by Yak & Yeti in the Animal Kingdom. My wife had to talk me into trying it, but it was one of the best meals we had all week. It was just as good as the takeout food we get here at home, if not better, and that surprised me.

[Wolf]

Yak and Yeti was a huge suprise for us, we really went in there just to warm up from the monsoon last October and get some hot tea, we ended up staying in there over a hour sitting at the bar, we had an appetizer and desert and it was one of our favorite meals all trip!! We have it on the agenda for Oct this year cause it was just wonderful!!

[Auroring Good Time]

Yak & Yeti is my son's favorite. T-Rex, I didn't really want to go because I'm not a big fan of Rainforest but, I really enjoyed it. Especially, their flatbread.

We tried to get last minute dinner reservations in EPCOT once, and the only option was Morocco. I wasn't too excited but, actually loved it. My mother keeps asking when we are going back.

[Princess'Mom]

Yak and Yeti is one of our favorites! Definitely a hidden treasure!

[Kairi_7378]

Most of our surprises have been with CS dining. DH had been to WDW serveral times when he was growing up but his family rarely ate in the parks. The only thing that any of them (including his parents) remembers eating is chili at Pecos' Bills!

Therefore, DH wasn't expecting anything special when we went on our first trip. He was blown away at our first meal at Flame Tree. He was also thrilled at Sunshine Seasons during our last trip. I am pleasantly surprised that we had a good meal at ABC Commissary, given the bad reviews around here. (We ate at a really off time, maybe that was the secret?)

Agree with the posters who praise Sanaa. DH said that his dessert was closest to anything that he had tasted when he was in India. (Not that he didn't enjoy everything else, too :-) )

[SBETigg]

San Angel Inn surprises us every time. It's a favorite, but with all the bad reviews, I'm always expecting to have a bad meal/bad visit, and it has been really good for us almost every time-- there was one dish that was not all that good, on one visit. But with the number of visits we've had, and the number of bad reviews, I always think that bad luck will catch up to us, but no-- always a good meal with friendly, attentive service. Surprise!

Also, we really liked Via Napoli. We did not enjoy the previous Italian place before Tutto Italia (Alfredo's) so we had no idea if we would like Via Napoli but we quite enjoyed our meal there.