Inside the mysterious Beast’s Castle, Be Our Guest Restaurant at Magic Kingdom continues to be an uber-popular reservation for Walt Disney World diners. Today, Beth Wesesky shares a guest review of the Croque Madame and other breakfast items.
I was deep in the throes of vacation planning for our upcoming trip to Walt Disney World; obsessively marking our itinerary on my calendar down to the minute (we all do that, right?!), when I received an email from My Disney Experience, requesting that we pre-order our meals for our breakfast Advance Dining Reservation (ADR) at Be Our Guest Restaurant (BOG). OK, so if you’re like me, you know how COOL it is to check out all of the options ahead of time and add just one more completed task to your plans, so of course, I jumped at the chance! That’s when I noticed something that I hadn’t seen before in all of my neurotic menu-checking and review reading – a NEW entrée option for breakfast!
The “Croque Madame” is described as an “Open-faced Ham Sandwich topped with a Fried Egg, Gruyere Cheese, and Béchamel served with Fresh Fruit and a selection of pastries”. It sounded wonderful, and I’m not even a big Swiss cheese fan! I told my hubby and son about the new option, and they BOTH chose it for their entrée. In my effort to be more “continental,” I chose the Assorted Cured Meats and Cheese for my entrée (how “European” of me!).
Atmosphere
The morning of our 8:45AM ADR, which also happened to correspond with morning Extra Magic Hours at Magic Kingdom (so no early entry for us…boo!), we piled on the Resort bus from Pop Century and headed to the Happiest Place on Earth!
Upon arriving at the entrance to Be Our Guest, I was surprised to see quite a bit of chaos at the entry point, right before the bridge to the Beast’s Castle. There seemed to be no real “line” in which to stand to check in for your ADR. There were a bunch of families crowded around two overwhelmed Cast Members (CMs), who were doing their best to check people in using iPads or something similar.
Beast’s Castle
People seemed to be pushing in to get closer to the Cast Members to check in, which made things a little uncomfortable and stressful for the Cast Members. A few ADRs seemed to be lost as well, which added to the stress for both the guests and the CMs. We were able to check in though with no problems, and we were asked to proceed across the bridge to the Castle entrance, then to wait in another line before entering.
After a short wait, a CM came and asked us to go ahead into the Castle and stay to the right. Upon entering, we discovered two lines, one to the right and one to the left of some roped dividers. These lines eventually filtered into the ordering kiosk area. It took about 15 minutes for us to reach the ordering kiosks, and we were directed to a kiosk by a CM. I scanned my Magic Band, and POOF! There was our order, ready to go!
Guarding the Beast’s Castle
Then, it was time to head into the restaurant and find a seat. Now, we’ve been to Be Our Guest twice before, once for dinner during the soft opening, and once for lunch last year. Every time I walk into that beautiful dining room, I am overcome with the pure beauty and brilliance of the décor and atmosphere! It is just stunning. Really.
The Ballroom
On our previous visits, we chose to sit in the West Wing and the Rose Gallery, so on this occasion, we chose the Ball Room, near the gorgeous windows, watching the gently falling snow…ahhh.
There were quite a few people dining at BOG that morning, but it didn’t seem overly crowded, and we were able to find a table quickly. We proceeded to get our silverware and drinks, and in about 7 minutes, our entrees and pastries arrived, delivered by a smiling young Cast Member named Carlos (our son, Luke, photobombed the shot!)!
Be Our Guest Server
Eats
Excited to try everything, we dug in!
The first thing we noticed is that the Croque Madame, which I would assume should be served hot or warm, were both really kinda cold. Not even lukewarm. The Bechemel sauce had “solidified” a bit and tasted grainy because it had gotten cold.
The eggs, which were described on the menu as “fried” were actually poached. The eggs were cooked well, delightfully runny, and balanced out the sauce nicely, but were also not warm. The ham was not the thin, deli-sliced kind, but rather a nice, thick slice topped with the Greyuere Bechemel cheese sauce and poached egg. The bread under it all was a multi-grain variety, and was a little on the “thin” side to hold up to all that gooey-ness. It was toasted and had good flavor. Overall, the flavor of the Croque Madame was quite delicious, but the temperature was unfortunate. If it had been at the correct temperature, I think it would have tasted much better!
Croque Madame
The Assorted Meats and Cheese dish was beautifully presented on a very rustic wooden board, which was covered with a sheet of brown paper. It included Alpine-Smoked Ham, Serrano Ham, Sopressata, and Cheese with Marmalade, Fresh Fruit, and a Toasted Baguette. The meats were all expertly thin-sliced, and the portion size was decent. The Sopresatta, as you may be able to tell from the pictures, was quite dried out when it arrived at the table. The other meats were a bit dry as well. But my favorite of the bunch was the Alpine-Smoked ham — smoky and salty.
The cheese was two small wedges of Brie, which to my disappointment, consisted of quite a bit of rind. Once I removed the rind, there wasn’t much left of the actual cheese, but what was left was smooth and creamy, and paired well with the meats and bread.
The “toasted baguette,” was a small loaf of French bread, sliced almost all the way through…and not toasted. It had a nice chew to it, and was a good addition to the board. The orange marmalade was standard, but added a nice sweet balance to the saltiness of the meats. The “fresh fruit” was simply one strawberry, cut in half.
Assorted Meats and Cheeses
The pastry plate was, in my son’s opinion (he’s 14…so you get the “unfoodie” opinion!), the best part of the meal! He liked the Danish and the Chocolate Croissant the best. The other items could have used some butter, but we were not offered any when the plate was delivered. It took some doing, but we were able to flag down another server and ask for butter, which was delivered promptly.
Breakfast Pastries
Overall
My family is in agreement. Was it a good experience? Yes, for the ambiance and thrill of dining at Be Our Guest. Not so much for the food. Is it worth $20 per person? Again, it depends on how much you are into Beauty and the Beast and the “novelty” of the restaurant. The food, in our opinion, wasn’t quite worth the expense.
If you do decide to go to Be Our Guest for Breakfast, my advice would be to make an early in the morning ADR and get into Magic Kingdom early! Eat, enjoy the décor, then be first in line to greet Elsa and Anna!
What’s your favorite meal at Be Our Guest? Is breakfast worth trying? Share your opinion in the comments below!
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One strawberry sliced in half? Seriously? I would’ve complained about that and the lack of cheese, and the fact that the bread wasn’t toasted!
I know the atmosphere at Boulangerie Patisserie les Halles in Epcot isn’t anywhere close to that of BOG, but I would be hard pressed to spend $20 at BOG for the croque madame when the croque monsieur (no egg) at les Halles is under $9 and the cheese plate with half baguette would be just about $11. Maybe I’m missing something…is BOG a character breakfast or is it just an “experience”?
Gigi, it is just an experience.
I haven’t had breakfast there and after reading the reviews won’t be. I haven’t yet read one review where people enjoyed the food. Have eaten at BOG three times (x2 dinner, x1 lunch) and found lunch to be great. Last year dinner was awful, over salted, and a real lack of service. I am going to stick with lunch and if that doesn’t impress this year won’t bother going back. Yes theming is fantastic but I am paying for decent food not pretty ceilings!
Just wondering why you did not ask for a new plate with warmer food and new meat? I would never accept that type of service – the kitchen needs to be notified if they are prepping too much food at a time at the expense of the guest experience! I would have asked for warmer food and fresher meat…
Hi Nicky!
You’re absolutely right about asking for a new plate…and a lot of folks around us at the time DID ask for warmer food. For the sake of the review, however, we “let it go” (sorry, bad pun) and reviewed the plate as-is. They did seem to be cranking the food out quickly, and I think that a lot of it had been plated for quite some time.
Beth Wesesky
This is so disappointing to read! I’ve eaten at BOG 4x lunch and 2x dinner in the last year. I’d take the lunch experience over dinner any time (lunch = delicious food, great environment, unlimited refills on drinks, plus gray stuff cupcake; dinner = not great service, waiters running around like chickens with heads cut off, ok food – the steak and lamb were tough, very loud atmosphere so felt more like a quick service place). I have a breakfast reservation in December but now I’m questioning whether to keep it. The amount of food you get a lunch is fantastic so to have this price for breakfast and get lukewarm food (and not a huge portion and no dessert b/c it’s breakfast)…blah.
Nicky, we had the same issue with our breakfast there. Cold eggs and at that time, the cook didn’t know how to cook them. Last time I checked, you should not be able to stab the yolk of a poached egg! We did ask for a new dish and that was cold as well. Our last request was for a refund, which we did get. Skip breakfast, we will stick to dinner.
Beautiful Pics!! Thanks for a great review. We’ve had the same issues with cold, broken bech. It’s hard to execute a menu like that with the number of covers they have. I was surprised when I saw the French bistro items and the number of tables.
Jym
I know this meal is supposed to be quick service, but still, there is no excuse for serving cold food that is supposed to be served hot. And dried out meats? No, not for that price. We enjoy our lunches there but even though the menu looked appealing for breakfast, the reviews are not so good. We’ll pass.
I don’t know if this is true but a friend says his kid worked there and that many of the egg and meat meals are prepped and left sitting out or under a heat lamp. This would explain the dry or cold service.
I’ve been told by a number of friends about the cold food and lackluster service before so I guess the idea is to accept it once and enjoy the ambience. Make sure you take plenty of pictures!!!
But seriously, if we all like WDW and enjoy the experience then we should let them know that this is not acceptable and hold them to a higher standard.
For the cost of entry and the food we should expect, no demand, better from them. Stop accepting this and tell them you are not happy.
Oh, and if Jeffery shows up here and tells you to go to Denny’s or Olive Garden just ignore him…
LOL! The brie is SUPPOSED to have the rind on it.
My dinner experience there is right on par with your breakfast. I do want to mention though that you can (and should) eat the rind on the brie. I know not everyone enjoys it, but it is part of the cheese. I would encourage you to try it next time. Also, I’m wondering about dry sopressata as cured meats are actually often very dry anyway. The idea of curing them is to remove the moisture with salt.
That being said, that croque madame is appalling.
We are going for breakfast in January and I expect that the food will be “fine”. We’re really going to enjoy the venue as when we went for dinner last year, the food was sub par and so was the service, so I had a hard time wanting to hang around and really enjoy the space. It sort of took the “bloom off the rose” so to speak. Now that I know what to expect, I hope to spend a little more time enjoying the castle while I eat overpriced food.
Dani:
Yes, you’re absolutely right. Brie should have rind…just not THAT much. It was almost like the one chunk they gave me was cut from the end of the side with rind 3/4 of the way around. It tasted great, but the rind was very hard, like it had been sitting out, drying.
We did breakfast when it was beginning in May. We ordered the open bacon egg sandwich and the croissant/dougnuth. Our order came reasonable fast, but just as in the review, the bacon egg sandwich was cold.
We complained about it and then we had to wait a long time, and after asking again finally they bring another plate, and at our surprise we got 2 of them. Not hot, but warm enough. So we ended with 3 entrees. They both taste very good.
If we found worth the money? No I don’t think I will do it again if I have to pay. Perhaps if I was on the dining plan I would do it. It is 1 quick point just as lunch.
Why didn’t you complain about the cold plates?
We are planning to eat at Be Our Guest for breakfast on our upcoming trip. I also wish that you had requested the food be replaced with warm sandwiches. I would really like to know how quickly and politely the task of fixing temperature issues would have been handled. Thanks for the review!
WE absolutely loved everything about the experience and food at the BOG Breakfast. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Another thing no one has mentioned is the free Fast pass to Seven Dwarfs mine train.. Well , not a free FP, but let me explain. We had an 0800 breakfast and the park officially opened at 0900. We finished up our breakfast at about 0845 and immediately headed for the line to 7DMT. There were 5 folks ahead of us and that was all.. They allowed us on the ride before official park opening, so that in itself was worth something. We never could score FP’s for our 10 day Disney vacation in late May, so this was an added bonus (stayed off campus). The breakfast, I thought was outstanding as did my kids and the grandparents, as well.. The CM’s even brought us another plate of French toast for the kids, free of charge. I thought for $20 a pop for adults and $12 for kids it was well worth it for a Disney breakfast.. Sign me up again!!!!
The rind is the yummiest part! =]
Originally I figured the reason for the cold food was b/c it was pre-ordered, and therefore more likely cooked too early (ie not at time of order). (Truly, I still can’t figure out why one would order in advance, it’s not like they will run out of eggs.)
But seeing that this seems to be a recurring problem, it seems to me that the issue is the pre-cook of ALL the meals. And this, I would assume, is a function of demand.
Eventually, like in a few years, this will change as demand for this meal drops and consumers start demanding, well, EDIBLE MEALS.
I have had dinner at BOG x3 and lunch once. Every time I have had excellent food and service and would never hesitate on going back. I have a reservation in January for lunch with my mom and really looking forward to it. For Michael Kuzminski comment, this does not happen every time. So, don’t go there for breakfast thinking you are going to get in front of everyone, it seems to be different CM different rules.
We have had issues with our breakfasts being cold at BOG on several visits now so we won’t return sadly! They just try too hard to pump the food out that I’m sure it’s sitting around for a while. Who wants cold eggs?
Wow. After seeing the above I think I’ll cancel my reservation. I’ve been inside before, so I’m not worried about he ambiance. But I would at least like decent food.
More time at Kona!
Ate BOG about 2 weeks ago for breakfast and lunch. Not worth the money AT ALL!!!
Regarding the rind, Brie is often made in small batches so almost any chunk will have 3/4 sides with rind on. From the photo, it doesn’t look unusual to me.
My family went a couple weeks ago. Before going, I was concerned about how the pastry baskets work, so I wanted to share my experience for others… There were 8 of us in the party–including a couple teenage boys–and I was concerned that the 2 pastry baskets we’d be given would not be enough food. BOG serves 1 basket for tables of 1-4 and 2 baskets for tables of 5-8. Once there, I politely and quietly explained the situation to our server and asked if we could have a third basket. She happily got us a third at no extra charge!