Garden Grill was overhyped

[Gator]

Between reading reviews about the Garden Grill online, and having some friends say how great this place was, I was expecting to find a great place that I've been missing all these years.

The actual experience didn't live up to the hype. The food was good, but certainly not great. The tables seemed cramped. The scenery was nice as it was changing, but the water feature made the whole place very loud. It was a joy just to get out of there. Of course, all eating establishments at WDW are loud, but this place was louder than the others.

[Jared]

I usually praise Garden Grill, so I hope I didn't overrate it. I recommend it whenever someone asks for opinions on character meals. None of them are particularly good, but Garden Grill seems to be slightly better than the rest.

Sorry you were disappointed, but it sounds like it could have been much worse!

[ElenitaB]

Sorry you didn't like it. We've had the best time with Mickey, Pluto and particularly Chip and Dale there. I've never really found it loud and have always enjoyed the food (I'd take Garden Grill over Chef Mickey's ANY day... talk about loud and chaotic).

To each their own!

[jonahbear2006]

i dont care to ever go back and im with you. i thought it was way over-rated. it was not my cup of tea and the food was just so so. our waitress was sooo slow and with 9 people she brought out enough food, each time, for about 5, so half of us ate while the other half of us waited for her to bring out enough food for the rest of us to eat. It was angering!

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience.

We're big GG fans in our family, but did have slow service the last time we were there. But, the EXCELLENT character interaction more than kept up entertained.

[Darbylew]

My favorite time at Garden Grill was when they
use to have the ice cream sundae parties. It a
great way to be with the characters and not
have such a big expense. We loved it and did
it everytime we were at WDW. I wish they
would bring it back. :mickey:

[forever a child]

My favorite time at Garden Grill was when they
use to have the ice cream sundae parties. It a
great way to be with the characters and not
have such a big expense. We loved it and did
it everytime we were at WDW. I wish they
would bring it back. :mickey:

I remember these..always wanted to try it but never got the chance! :(

Sorry about your experience Gator. But at least you know now and can cross it off your list.

We LOVE GG and look forward to going back. I would rather hear water than screaming children. The character interaction is the BEST out of all of the locations we have visited and we have always had good servers.

[TinkerbellT421]

DBF and I havent been there in the last few years, probably since they made it dinner only. But the lasst time we were there I loved it. DBF love it too and he can be hard to keep happy sometimes (hopefully he doesnt see this :secret:)

But I am really sorry you had a bad experience there :(

I agree with others its one of the few restaurants with EXCELLENT character interaction!
And we both thought the food was very good, yes its not extrodinary but it was very good.

[PETE FROM NYC]

Our first time there was a breakfast in 1987, for seven of us, five adults, and my nieces, 12 and 2 1/2. We all had a blast.
Since then we have had several dinners there, most recent 9/10, and that was a walk up.
The food was always good and plentiful, with attentive servers.
This is one place we ain't got any complaints about.

[Maleficent's Dad]

The actual experience didn't live up to the hype. The food was good, but certainly not great. The tables seemed cramped. The scenery was nice as it was changing, but the water feature made the whole place very loud. It was a joy just to get out of there. Of course, all eating establishments at WDW are loud, but this place was louder than the others.
It's funny how you describe your GG experience. We've eaten here, probably half a dozen times in the past ten years and never had a "great" experience. We kept revisiting so that our kids would have the character interaction, but never really felt it was anything special. Admittedly, DW and I can be something resembling food snobs...

[LudwigVonDrake]

I ate there once and wasn't overly impressed. Maybe some day I'll try it again but I'm not rushing to get there.

[TheRustyScupper]

Our Ratings of Garden Grill (The Land):
. . . food price value: C-
. . . food quality: C
. . . food quantity per serving: A
. . . food prep speed: B
. . . food selection: C
. . . seating quantity: C
. . . seating comfort: B
. . . eatery atmosphere: B-
. . . eatery convenience: C
. . . staff friendliness: B
. . . staff helpfulness: C
. . . character interaction: C

NOTE: The eatery revolves within The Land pavilion. Portions
of the spin include scenes from the boat ride. The food is plentiful,
but just above average. The characters only include Mickey, Pluto
and Chip-n-Dale. To dine with the characters it will suffice, but the
Quick Service area of Sunshine Seasons within The Land is a great
alternative if characters are not important.

[Stickey]

We rate the Garden Grill as very good+. It has good food, excellent character interaction, and a superior atmosphere. We have always had great service as well.

I believe that it is much less noisy and chaotic than other WDW ts locations. Tables tend to be tight in most locations, including signature restaurants.

[Belster]

To the op I am going to have to agree with you. We will not be doing it again. Not only was the food just OK but it was very hard to get in and out of the tables to take pics with the characters. (no we are not big people) I did enjoy the views but that was about it.

[cuteduck223]

we are big GG fans. We had a party of 7, and they were great, bringing us anything we needed. We also had a late reservation (7:45), and so we got TONS of character interaction as it began to clear out for the night. All of the characters came by at least twice if not more.

Sorry for anyone who's had a bad experience, this is one we never take off our list!

[Tigerinvestigator]

I wish you would post a bad review all over the internet so someone will cancel their ADR for the week of March 13th LOL! It's by far our favorite place at WDW and it's been booked for the whole week for quite a while. Maybe a whole bunch of negative reviews will open something up for us!:thumbsup:

[Disney4us2]

Sorry your experience was less than magical. I felt the same way about 'Ohana. I think that 'Ohana is over hyped. Everyone has a different experience.

Our experience at Garden Grill was a good one. We had later ADR's. Food was fresh and good. Server was very good. Great character interaction. It was one of our favorite meals. Looking forward to going back during spring break.

[southerngirl]

We just made an ADR here for our April trip. My DS, age 2.5, LOVES Chip and Dale, and since we had a difficult time finding them anywhere other than the Studios last trip (which is a park we didn't care for at his age), we thought this was a good option. Does anyone know if you can ask them to give you more of something in substitution for something else? We don't eat red meat, but we would love having more turkey in its place. Also, how does this compare with the food Liberty Tree? I always thought that food was just ok, but DH really liked it. So, if it's like that, then we'll be fine.

[TinkerbellT421]

We just made an ADR here for our April trip. My DS, age 2.5, LOVES Chip and Dale, and since we had a difficult time finding them anywhere other than the Studios last trip (which is a park we didn't care for at his age), we thought this was a good option. Does anyone know if you can ask them to give you more of something in substitution for something else? We don't eat red meat, but we would love having more turkey in its place. Also, how does this compare with the food Liberty Tree? I always thought that food was just ok, but DH really liked it. So, if it's like that, then we'll be fine.

Yes you can! Its family buffet style so basically if you tell them at start they will be more than happy to do that for you and not bring what you wont eat or dont care for atleast they did that for me, they had some sort of cat fish type or something like that which frankly I was ALL set with lol, and they were more than happy to accomodate that request for me at no extra charge :mickey: