Originally Posted By nbodyhome It's funny, there are such different views (when I posted elsewhere, I had a lot of other people saying they had overcooked, oversalted meals). But some people have posted positive reviews as well. Denise
Originally Posted By MPierce That's just the way it is Denise. There are people that can't praise a place enough, and others that just hate it. I have written so many places off at WDW I'm running out of places to dine. Just about every experience I've had lately has been mediore or unfavorable. I am starting to believe it's time we took our business elsewhere.
Originally Posted By Mr X Hmm...seems like this is a real love it or hate it kinda place. I ate there once many years ago (but after it was a buffeteria though, around 1997ish?), and thought it was "okay", but others in my party were raving about it.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<That's just the way it is Denise. There are people that can't praise a place enough, and others that just hate it. I have written so many places off at WDW I'm running out of places to dine. Just about every experience I've had lately has been mediore or unfavorable. I am starting to believe it's time we took our business elsewhere.>> MPierce, some people think I'm a Disney hater as you know quite erroneously but, I was recently there for more than a week and I ate all over (at least one table serve location a day) and every place I went -- including Le Cellier -- the food was universally very good to, in some places, great. There are aspects of Disney Dining I really don't like (look at my thread regarding Disney-MGM quick serve, which is inedible), but overall the quality of the cuisine at table service locations is quite good. And I am a discerning diner.
Originally Posted By jonvn It may depend on who is in the kitchen. There are just too many wildly different comments about this place, and you just don't usually see that. My guess is that the presentation is just uneven, and steak can be messed up easily. That's probably a lot of it.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo "I am starting to believe it's time we took our business elsewhere." Yep - mediocre experiences last time mean we have. Paris got $2000 of our hard earned money instead, and Disneyland will receive at least $6000 next year. WDW = $0 That said, I found Le Cellier in Dec 2007 to be one of the best meals we had (along with 9 Dragons) at WDW, and actually one of my better meals last year, beating Cartier, Claridges and the Ivy last year. Chefs and days can make or break a restaurant.
Originally Posted By jmuboy wow.....I found nine dragons to be TRUELY ho-hum. Hope the new version we get next year will be better. One thing is for sure.....I'm enjoying all these dining upgrades around EPCOT.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 while Nine Dragons never blew my socks off - ( I also prefer Thai ) - I also have never had a bad meal there, most entre's were above average.
Originally Posted By jonvn Last thing I'd do at WDW is eat at a chinese restaurant. There are just too many of them around me that are good. I would rather eat at some of the more different places, myself.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Ah, I see your point. But when there are regional variences (American chinese is different than UK chinese, or French Chinese) and you are at WDW for 14 days with a picky eater who requested we go there, I was VERY pleasantly suprised. Having grown up in the SF Bay area, and having visited HK, I went in with low expectations. I came out very surprised. Also, I am talking about my last visit, it was one of the better dining experiences. That said we had a number of disappointing ones at WDW last time (and on this trip did not experience California Grill or Artist Point). Nine Dragon's may not be the best restaurant at WDW or have the most different food. But in terms of portions, quality and service, it was honestly one of the best of the 14 TS we went to beating many of the others
Originally Posted By jonvn I would rather have smaller better tasting portions than larger ones. Last time we went we ate at Le Cellier, the Octoberfest place, the thing at the Living Seas, Alfredo's and the french one. I can't remember the names of all of them. Alfredo's was the best. Followed by the french place. Thinking back, the most unpleasant was probably the octoberfest, but that might have just been for cultural reasons (and I was reliving nightmares of my mother dragging me to these things when a child). But the restaurant at the Seas pavilion was not great (had the stuffed lobster) and the Le Cellier was icky. It was also dead. Next time we're going to probably eat at the morroccan place, and the norwegian place. IF we get time. Isn't there also a second french restaurant in there? We ate at the one downstairs, but I thought there was one upstairs, too, but we didn't find it.
Originally Posted By Mr X **Last thing I'd do at WDW is eat at a chinese restaurant. There are just too many of them around me that are good.** Well then, you can imagine how conflicted I am about this new (and yummy looking) Japan pavillion then, as much as I would love to try it on my upcoming trip.
Originally Posted By Mr X **Yep - mediocre experiences last time mean we have. Paris got $2000 of our hard earned money instead, and Disneyland will receive at least $6000 next year. WDW = $0** Wow, you guys are really sticking it to the mouse, huh? (I'd be a lot MORE impressed if you wrote about plans for an Orlando, Anaheim, Osaka Universal Studios tour)
Originally Posted By Mr X **Next time we're going to probably eat at the morroccan place, and the norwegian place. IF we get time.** MUCH better food at the Tokyo Disney parks, Jon. Why go back to boring WDW? PLUS, you also get those smaller portions you seem to enjoy. ;p
Originally Posted By jonvn I understand about the Japan pavillion. I'd just breeze through it. One of the things I didn't care about MGM was that it was basically themed around LA. I didn't need to see that. It was lame. Ate at the Brown Derby, though. Still lame.
Originally Posted By Mr X I enjoy the Japan Pavillion (I like all of em, really), but it's REALLY tough for me to justify laying out the bucks for a Japanese meal while in America...ESPECIALLY since my wife and I have actually had some Japanese food that was quite suspect (I'm sure the Epcot place is quite nice though). Funny thing is, since I visited Hong Kong for a couple of days, I don't even really wanna eat Chinese food anymore here in Japan. I'm gonna have to find a better income if I'm forced to return to any country who's cuisine I've sampled though.
Originally Posted By jonvn "MUCH better food at the Tokyo Disney parks, Jon. Why go back to boring WDW" I have no interest in going to Japan at all. First, it's like 12 long long hours away while florida is only 5 long hours away. If TDL was a couple hours away, I'd visit it, but otherwise, TDL hasn't really got anything I haven't seen, and TDS is not really worth that big a trip. I don't care about seeing the country. It's full of foreigners.
Originally Posted By jonvn I have, literally, about 20 chinese places within a 1/2 mile radius of my house. Vietnamese, thai, too. I mean, it's crazy around here, and they're all pretty busy, too. If I want to splurge, I'll go to chinatown in SF, and have something there. I might as well live in hong kong.
Originally Posted By jonvn Now that we're talking about this, I think I'm going ot get some dim sum for dinner tonight. that's fattening.
Originally Posted By Mr X **It's full of foreigners.** Hey, we're called "gaijin", okay!? Actually the flight from LA is only about 8 hours (I assume NorCal is about the same). But that's fine. More rotten soybeans and funky teens with white hair and white makeup for the rest of us (and you thought the bay area was full of freaks).
