When it comes to favorite restaurants at Disney World, EVERY Disney fan has an opinion, although some restaurants seem to always make the favorites list.
Garden Grill Restaurant
But it seems that when we ask Disney fans what the most underrated and overrated restaurants are, the opinions are a little more mixed. When we asked our DFB readers this question, THOUSANDS of you responded!
And some of your answers totally surprised us. When Be Our Guest made its grand debut inside Beast’s Castle at Magic Kingdom, it was a hot ticket and remains so even now. But when we asked you about it, a whopping 70% said it was overrated! WHA?
Be Our Guest Poll
This is the only location where you get to see Beast, and the atmosphere alone is worth dining here! However, we wonder if this response is due to some of the changes that happened when the restaurant reopened: the quick-service lunch is no longer served and both lunch and dinner are a prix fixe menu now. Whatever the case, y’all seemed pretty convinced this is no longer a “must-do” at Disney World!
Be Our Guest Restaurant Ballroom
However, when we asked about Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano over at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the responses were more mixed. About half of you (49%) think it’s underrated, while the other half (51%) believe it’s overrated. It’s interesting how close this poll was!
Mama Melrose’s Poll
We get it. Sometimes we find Mama Melrose’s inconsistent — at times, the food is great, but at other times, not so much. But we’ve also had some GREAT meals here, so maybe we’re torn, too!
Mama Melrose’s
Another restaurant that had a close vote was California Grill at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. This is another restaurant we often recommend, but only 45% of you think it’s underrated, with 55% saying it’s overrated.
California Grill Poll
Granted, a lot has changed since its reopening, particularly now that you don’t get that amazing fireworks view with dinner. But it’s still a great swanky dining spot that overlooks Magic Kingdom, and our most recent experience there was pretty amazing.
California Grill
So many of these responses were SO CLOSE. When it comes to the Hollywood Brown Derby at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we also had a close vote: 44% of you think it’s underrated, while 56% believe it’s overrated.
Hollywood Brown Derby Poll
We recently ate there, and we totally think it’s still great! The Hollywood Brown Derby still delivers a great atmosphere, fantastic service, and super tasty food! Sure, it’s not a place that screams “Disney!” but that’s part of why we love it — it’s a total escape into a quiet super chill old Hollywood restaurant.
Hollywood Brown Derby
Victoria and Albert’s Restaurant at the Grand Floridian is one of the most acclaimed restaurants at Disney World. Yet 63% of our readers think it’s overrated! And this place has a AAA five-diamond rating! Only 37% think it’s underrated, so this is definitely another big surprise.
Victoria and Albert’s Restaurant Poll
We can’t help but wonder if this is due to the price increase of the Chef’s Table, but this was already a pretty pricey place to dine at. We’ve always felt the price was worth it, but it seems like maybe some of you don’t! And that’s fascinating!
Queen Victoria Room at Victoria & Albert’s at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort
However, 61% of you believe that the Grand Floridian Cafe is underrated. Only 39% feel it’s overrated. We’ve often agreed that this location doesn’t get nearly as much attention as it should!
Grand Floridian Cafe Poll
We dined here in the summer after the restaurant reopened and had a great experience there! The food was still great, and even with the changes made due to new health and safety guidelines, we had a great breakfast there!
Chicken & Waffles at Grand Floridian Cafe
As far as character meals go, Crystal Palace has one thing really going for it — it’s at Magic Kingdom and features character dining with Pooh and Friends! We last ate there before Disney World closed and had a great time with the characters. And the food was good, too! But our readers seem split on whether it’s worth eating there or not: 54% of you think it’s underrated, while 46% of you believe it’s overrated.
Crystal Palace Poll
These opinions could change after the restaurant reopens on December 13th, and the buffet becomes a family-style menu without characters.
The Crystal Palace
One of the most fun dining locations at Disney World is 50’s Prime Time Cafe, where you can have a home-cooked meal and get teased for having your elbows on the table. And, most of you — 60%, that is — think this restaurant is completely underrated! The other 40% believe it’s overrated.
Prime Time Cafe Poll
We’ve got good news, too — although the restaurant has changed a little due to new health and safety guidelines, you will still TOTALLY get heckled, just from a distance. It’s still SO much fun, and yes, the food is still solid, too.
50s Prime Time Cafe Servers
There’s a reason that Garden Grill at EPCOT is on our top 10 restaurant lists since the park reopened! And we’ve always felt it was underrated, even with its current modified character experience. And it seems many of you agree — 68% believe Garden grill is underrated, while only 32% feel it’s overrated.
Garden Grill Poll
We love that this restaurant offers a view of the Living with the Land attraction, not to mention that it rotates! Ingredients come straight from The Land pavilion, so you’re getting fresh quality food that’s always consistently good.
Chip ‘n’ Dale at Garden Grill
So there you have it, the restaurants you think are overrated or underrated. Some of your responses surprised us, but others we couldn’t agree with more! Thanks to everyone who participated in the polls and keep an eye out for the next one!
We Asked Our Readers: Do You Think Character Dining Is Still Worth the Splurge? Here’s What They Said
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Hmm, interesting that some of these have flipped (Crystal Palace, 50’s PTC) as compared with the youtube video you guys posted a couple weeks ago. Keep up the good work, gets us our Disney fix while we’re not traveling to the parks.
How many responses did you folks actual have?
I understand why someone would ask their server to leave them aline at Prime Time but the food AND the full treatment is why we go there every time we go to HS!
Once things settle down a bit, we will give California Grill another shot. We have eaten there at least twice a year over the last 7-8 years, and our visits in 2019 were sub-par. We always enjoy the wine pairings here, as previously our servers were incredibly knowledgeable about wine. The last few times, though, it just didn’t feel like a worthwhile experience. Hopefully that has changed again for the good.
And truly, I’ve gotta question any poll that calls Victoria and Albert’s overrated. While it is an extraordinarily pricy experience, it is undoubtedly one of the finest restaurants in the state. If it were eligible, it would without a doubt be Michelin Starred. Much more sophisticated food critics than me agree.
Your personal opinion may be that you wouldn’t (or couldn’t) spend that kind of money for a meal, but at the end of the day, the world’s finest restaurants DO cost, and this is one of them.
On the other hand, I know this blog attracts readers with widely varied palates, so perhaps that played into the results.
I wonder what percentage of respondents have actually dined there.
It seems obvious to me that this survey has confused ratings with the emphases on price point. Actual results do not seem to make sense.
I agree and I disagree…so what else is new. Best meal on pr-overturn is still O’hana at the Polynesian Resort, a bit pricy, but consistently the same and good, with plenty of it. Although minor changes over the years have made it an up and down experience, it is always on my list when I visit the world. Best breakfast is at the Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness lodge for the same reasons above. Typical Disney fare at a pricy level, but, for a group dining/Breakfast experience, I like it better than Chef’ Mickeys.
I haven’t eaten at all the restaurants listed, but here’s the ones I have and my take on them:
California Grill – It’s nice but really overrated. We went for brunch and the food simply wasn’t worth the price, even at Disney rates. A far better meal for similar money is at M. Paul’s in Epcot. Now THAT was a meal!
Hollywood Brown Derby – I’ve gone there twice. The first time was a knock-it-out-of-the-park experience. It was amazing. The second time, it was just so-so. Same with the service – the first time, we had a highly experienced waiter. The second time, a nice young lady who seemed frazzled and couldn’t keep our orders straight. So, because it can be such an iffy situation, I’ll say it’s overrated.
Grand Floridian Cafe – This is a restaurant I really wanted to like, but we’ve never had a good experience. So: overrated.
Crystal Palace – The food is alright but the characters make it a must-do for us. We won’t go back until the characters are there. Rating: underrated!
50s Prime Time Cafe – It’s been over 20 years since we’ve been there, but we still laugh about it. So, with having such good memories for so long: underrated!
Garden Grill – I’m sorry, but we’ve eaten there numerous times just because of the characters, but we find the food terrible. So: overrated.
For a really high-end meal, treat yourself to Monsieur Paul’s – you’re stepping into France! A wonderful experience. For a great buffet meal – no characters, though – Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Another great buffet meal is dinner at the Cape May Cafe if you like seafood. It’s really good.
But, wherever you choose to eat, I hope it’s wonderful!!
These ratings, unfortunately, do not surprise me in the least.
I think that much of the Disney going audience is thinking about portion size and overall value and does not place significant stock in the overall quality of the food. I also believe that most Disney patrons tend to prefer “comfort food” vs more inventive or gourmet meals. The results of this survey seems to track with that pretty well.
For my family a big part of vacation is having unique and high quality culinary experiences. Places like V&A, California Grill, etc are always one of the highlight of our trips.
By the way, I am not saying one preference is better than the other just that there are indeed different ends of the spectrum. Based on the types of new restaurants opening in WDW however I would say the shift to higher quality dining is well under way.
Be our guest is definitely over-rated. When it was a one credit restaurant it was terrific. They made it a two credit restaurant and the food quality actually went down. And having the set menu gives you less options. Unfortunately they ruined one of our favorite places to eat. We will not eat there again. Except for breakfast if it ever opens again.
I agree with Scott+D about the small percentage of people who actually eat at Victoria & Albert. I know the price is prohibitive, but I don’t go there because I dress like a slob and they have a dress code. Besides, fancy food is wasted on me!
Could y’all do an evaluation of the Flying Fish at Boardwalk. My wife and I eat there every time we visit Disney World?
Barry, I’ll let the team know. Thanks for reaching out.
Has the Flying Fish reopened?! As far as I know it’s been closed since the initial pandemic shutdown.