greenban POLL: Disney Dining

[greenban]

Hopefully this poll will attract more attention than my last 6 reply poll :(

This poll is open to persons who have at least 3 years Disney Dining experience.

It can be 2006-2008, or early visits (1974 or so) with at least one 2006-2008 visit.

If you don't meet these guidelines, please select OTHER and post your thoughs in a post.

-Tony

How do you view current Disney World Dining Food Quality and Variety compaired to earlier years?

Please note this is not a value for the money poll.

[glypnirsgirl]

I hae been to WDW with no more than a two year gap since 1987. Not as much as some, but still more than 15 trips total. I can do a restaurant to same restaurant comparison in support of my "much better" vote:

Kona Cafe
I go to Kona Cafe at least once every trip to WDW. I love the stuffed French toast and I get it every time. A few years ago, they stopped calling it Tonga Toast and they took away the coconut syrup as an option. -1

Garden Grill
Was lousy the first time that we went and lousy the last time that we went (2 years ago). They added characters and made it more expensive. The characters I consider a minus because they detract, not add to the ovreall experience of the restaurant. -1

Akershus
During our first trip to WDW (which was 9 days long), this and Kona Cafe were the only places that I enjoyed eating. The Akershus was smorgasbord only. They offered no menus. The food was wonderful: pickled herring, herring in sour cream, herring in tomato, herring with onions, :beatinghe broiled salmon with dill sauce, boiled new potatoes with butter, green beans and NO ZUCCHINI. To be fair, I was the only one that enjoyed it my then husband could not believe that I could eat herring and be happy - but it was home cooking to me - my grand father preserved herring, sturgeon and salmon and all of the offerings were authentic. Fabulous then ... and more fabulous now. Now in addition to the koldbrod, they offer wonderful menu selections - the pork loin is one of the best meals in WDW and there are other offerings were wonderful too. On our last extended family trip, no one complained about eating here because everyone enjoyed their meal. +2

Marrakesh
Our first trip, the ambiance and belly dancing knocked our socks off. I had roasted chicken with couscous and ZUCCHINI. The roasted chicken was okay: it was brushed with lemon and olive oil. Couscous was plain.

At our last trip, the chicken was made with smoked lemons, and olives. The enhancement was amazing - the addition of the smoked lemons transformed this dish from an americanized version to the authentic. The couscous was improved with the addition of pine nuts and raisins and was very subtly seasoned. Love it! Belly dancing was still great. Overall ambiance still great. Food +1.

Pinocchio Haus - Food is basically the same with the addition of fresh fruit. +0.5

Pecos Bill's has gone from just burgers to the addition of the fixins bar +0.5.

Les Chefs de France - Food has been improved dramatically from the first time that we ate at the casual restaurant in France (the Zucchini thing again) ... and I do not remember what it was called or on what trip Les Chefs was when this opened. Probably not specific enough to count.

San Angel Inn - Was terrible. Terrible the first time we ate there. How do you mess up enchiladas with verde sauce. Most recently tried the chicken mole. An improvement, but not good, just fair. But still fair is better than yucky! Still what I believe to be the most romantic restaurant in WDW. +0.5

Counter service in the land is great, it used to be okay. They have tremendous selection of things. Easy to satisfy my vegetarian bonus children here. +1

Now if you love zucchini, maybe you miss being able to get it at every meal except for Akershus and you believe that things have gotten worse as a result. I think that there has been a dramatic improvement in 1 selection; 2 authenticity; and 3 quality. I am much happier eating here now than I was in the beginning.

Elaine

[greenban]

I hae been to WDW with no more than a two year gap since 1987. Not as much as some, but still more than 15 trips total. I can do a restaurant to same restaurant comparison in support of my "much better" vote:

Kona Cafe
I go to Kona Cafe at least once every trip to WDW. I love the stuffed French toast and I get it every time. A few years ago, they stopped calling it Tonga Toast and they took away the coconut syrup as an option. -1

Garden Grill
Was lousy the first time that we went and lousy the last time that we went (2 years ago). They added characters and made it more expensive. The characters I consider a minus because they detract, not add to the ovreall experience of the restaurant. -1

Akershus
During our first trip to WDW (which was 9 days long), this and Kona Cafe were the only places that I enjoyed eating. The Akershus was smorgasbord only. They offered no menus. The food was wonderful: pickled herring, herring in sour cream, herring in tomato, herring with onions, :beatinghe broiled salmon with dill sauce, boiled new potatoes with butter, green beans and NO ZUCCHINI. To be fair, I was the only one that enjoyed it my then husband could not believe that I could eat herring and be happy - but it was home cooking to me - my grand father preserved herring, sturgeon and salmon and all of the offerings were authentic. Fabulous then ... and more fabulous now. Now in addition to the koldbrod, they offer wonderful menu selections - the pork loin is one of the best meals in WDW and there are other offerings were wonderful too. On our last extended family trip, no one complained about eating here because everyone enjoyed their meal. +2

Marrakesh
Our first trip, the ambiance and belly dancing knocked our socks off. I had roasted chicken with couscous and ZUCCHINI. The roasted chicken was okay: it was brushed with lemon and olive oil. Couscous was plain.

At our last trip, the chicken was made with smoked lemons, and olives. The enhancement was amazing - the addition of the smoked lemons transformed this dish from an americanized version to the authentic. The couscous was improved with the addition of pine nuts and raisins and was very subtly seasoned. Love it! Belly dancing was still great. Overall ambiance still great. Food +1.

Pinocchio Haus - Food is basically the same with the addition of fresh fruit. +0.5

Pecos Bill's has gone from just burgers to the addition of the fixins bar +0.5.

Les Chefs de France - Food has been improved dramatically from the first time that we ate at the casual restaurant in France (the Zucchini thing again) ... and I do not remember what it was called or on what trip Les Chefs was when this opened. Probably not specific enough to count.

San Angel Inn - Was terrible. Terrible the first time we ate there. How do you mess up enchiladas with verde sauce. Most recently tried the chicken mole. An improvement, but not good, just fair. But still fair is better than yucky! Still what I believe to be the most romantic restaurant in WDW. +0.5

Counter service in the land is great, it used to be okay. They have tremendous selection of things. Easy to satisfy my vegetarian bonus children here. +1

Now if you love zucchini, maybe you miss being able to get it at every meal except for Akershus and you believe that things have gotten worse as a result. I think that there has been a dramatic improvement in 1 selection; 2 authenticity; and 3 quality. I am much happier eating here now than I was in the beginning.

Elaine

Elaine, thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed and specific post!

(I like zuchini, but again, I am green by nature.....)

Serious question......

Do you like WDW coffee????????

-Tony

[carolina_yankee]

I voted somewhat worse. For me, not so much the quality as the variety. I've also noticed a little more nickle and diming at some of the counter services (like cheese sauce at Pecos Bill's and Cosmic Ray's, which I believe used to be free).

By the way, glypnirsgirl, I'm pretty certain it's still called Tonga Toast. I haven't had it yet, but lust after it every time we breakfast at Kona. Kona was our first table service, and a sentimental fave almost every time we go to WDW. We even stopped in for lunch on the way back from Naples to MCO for a later afternoon flight!!

Dirk

[glypnirsgirl]

Coffee??? You call that brown stuff coffee???

Seriously, after the experiences that I have had with WDW coffee, the only place that I drink it is with my stuffed french toast (yes, they really did stop calling it Tonga Toast - the waitress that we had was new and did not even know what I was talking about) at Kona Cafe. They have wonderful coffee there.

I think that there must have been an apex in WDW two or three years ago that happened while I was cooking in my villa instead of eating out and I missed it.

One of the reasons that I bought DVC was to be able to get a kitchen. The food was so bad that I was looking forward to cooking. And cook I have done for years. I did still occasionally eat out - but normally at the places that I already liked: Kona Cafe, Akershus and Marrakesh.

I did not think about that until I started looking at the time when people started thinking that the food was better.

My DH will eat lots of weird stuff. Right now he is on a raw food diet and he drinks a "smoothie" made with fresh baby spinach, 5 bananas, and frozen berries. :blech:

Where are all of the other voters???

I expect to get shot down in flames!

Elaine

[greenban]

Coffee??? You call that brown stuff coffee???

Seriously, after the experiences that I have had with WDW coffee, the only place that I drink it is with my stuffed french toast (yes, they really did stop calling it Tonga Toast - the waitress that we had was new and did not even know what I was talking about) at Kona Cafe. They have wonderful coffee there.

I think that there must have been an apex in WDW two or three years ago that happened while I was cooking in my villa instead of eating out and I missed it.

One of the reasons that I bought DVC was to be able to get a kitchen. The food was so bad that I was looking forward to cooking. And cook I have done for years. I did still occasionally eat out - but normally at the places that I already liked: Kona Cafe, Akershus and Marrakesh.

I did not think about that until I started looking at the time when people started thinking that the food was better.

My DH will eat lots of weird stuff. Right now he is on a raw food diet and he drinks a "smoothie" made with fresh baby spinach, 5 bananas, and frozen berries. :blech:

Where are all of the other voters???

I expect to get shot down in flames!

Elaine

Not by this froggie, and I'm *NOT* a coffee achiever either.

In fact, RIBBIT, you just got my Croak Of Approval! (CoA!) ;)

-Tony

[tomandrobin]

I voted slightly less. This poll is kind of hard to answer accurately for me. When we go to WDW, we like to try new places to eat. On this past trip we ate at Narcosse, Cape May and Bomas, the rest of our eating was counter service or snacking. Bomas we had eaten before, no change from the last time we ate there. Narcosse and Cape May were new to us, and Narcosse was terrific!

When we at WDW in December, alot of the places we ate we new. All of the new places we thought we great. There were only three places that were repeats was Le Cellier, Coral Sea and Concourse Steakhouse. Two of those three, we felt a lessewr degree of variety and quality, LeCellier and Concourse.

[greenban]

I voted slightly less. This poll is kind of hard to answer accurately for me. When we go to WDW, we like to try new places to eat. On this past trip we ate at Narcosse, Cape May and Bomas, the rest of our eating was counter service or snacking. Bomas we had eaten before, no change from the last time we ate there. Narcosse and Cape May were new to us, and Narcosse was terrific!

When we at WDW in December, alot of the places we ate we new. All of the new places we thought we great. There were only three places that were repeats was Le Cellier, Coral Sea and Concourse Steakhouse. Two of those three, we felt a lessewr degree of variety and quality, LeCellier and Concourse.


Very good points about this poll's limitations T&R!!!

While I am proud of my flawed polls, this one is very tough for those reasons, so I am glad you posted the accompanying explanation.

-Tony

[harmrose22]

I voted slightly less but am in the same boat as tomandrobin in that we like to try new places. In addition, when I was younger and we went, I don't remember eating at so many table service places. I remember mostly eating counter service which I would say has declined much more than our TS dining experiences. We were with friends last May who wanted to eat the the noodle station at MK and the food wasn't even edible... except for the kids prepackaged Smuckers pb&j sandwiches.

Some places we have tried and gone back that have been the same are Biergarten and Chef Mickey's. While I would not say either place is exactly stellar, they are both good meals for ok prices and no one has ever left hungry. On the other hand, we tried Maya Grill last trip and absolutely hated it. It is the only place I can think of before my full cup of coffee that I would never tell anyone to eat at.

[cali09]

I have noticed less variety. Seems like the same things appear (with minor twists) at many of the TS restaurants.

[bruinfan]

I voted 'slightly less' but I'm in the same boat as others here. We like to try different places with each visit. One nice thing I have noticed is that with the counter service meals, there seem to be more options than just having fries as a side. With the table service, I like the quality but the variety seems to be diminishing. Some of the desserts seem to be 'portable' across restaurants. How many places can you get (insert flavor here) creme brule?