It seems like there are countless restaurants across Disney World. Between the parks, resorts, and Disney Springs, there’s a restaurant for just about everyone. If that’s true, then the opposite must also be true, and there are restaurants that just aren’t going to vibe with every single guest!
Chef Mickey at Chef Mickey’s!
One of the most exciting but perhaps one of the most stressful parts of planning a Disney World vacation is deciding where you’re going to eat! If you’re preparing to make your Advance Dining Reservations, you may be wondering what other people have to say about certain restaurants!
We reached out on Facebook recently to ask our followers to name the restaurants in Disney World they thought were NOT worth their time, and we got a wide variety of responses! Let’s review some of their most popular (or, in this case, least popular) dining spots. From there, we encourage you to read through our reviews of these restaurants, along with others you are considering, in order to make the most informed decision about where to make those Dining Reservations!
Be Our Guest Restaurant
What was once a top-rated restaurant by many Disney World guests, Be Our Guest Restaurant has over the years started to fade a bit to the background. One reader noted that Be Our Guest “used to be really good, then they switched it up.” That is totally the sentiment we seem to see across many former fans.
Be Our Guest
When Be Our Guest first opened, it featured a Quick Service breakfast and lunch menu, followed by a Table Service dinner menu. Then, the Quick Service breakfast was dropped entirely, and both lunch and dinner shifted to a new prix-fixe Table Service menu. Now, brunch is available again, but there’s a catch. If you have lunch reservations from 10AM to 12PM, you can select one of the brunch entrees as part of your prix-fixe meal. While the food quality here remains pretty good, we’ve noticed more and more people noting that the value just isn’t what it used to be.
Be Our Guest Eats
One reader said that “for the price, def. not worth it.” Currently, Be Our Guest’s prix-fixe menu costs $62 per adult and $37 per child.
Click here to read our most recent full review of Be Our Guest Restaurant!
Cinderella’s Royal Table
Another Magic Kingdom restaurant that has fallen into the category of “just not worth the price” is Cinderella’s Royal Table.
Cinderella’s Royal Table
If you have young kids who are really into the Disney Princesses, then this may totally be worth the expense as a super special occasion meal in Cinderella Castle. Currently, their prix-fixe breakfast costs $42 per adult and $27 per child, and their prix-fixe lunch and dinner menu costs $62 per adult and $37 per child. These prices do not include tax or gratuity.
Shrimp and Grits from Cinderella’s Royal Table
One reader pointed out that the “Only thing great was the ambiance and picture with Cinderella, but not worth $100 for 2 breakfast meals.” So while it may be worth checking out if you’ve never dined here before, you may be better off spending your dining dollars elsewhere in Disney World.
Click here to read our most recent review of breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table!
Tony’s Town Square
One of the more popular responses we saw on our Facebook post when it comes to Disney World restaurants that aren’t worth your time is none other than Tony’s Town Square in Magic Kingdom.
Tony’s Town Square
It would seem that Italian food is hard to mess up, but this is one restaurant that consistently receives low marks from guests. One reader even went as far to note that they get better food at Olive Garden! For many guests, visiting Disney World means dining at some of the best restaurants around, but if you think you can find better options at your hometown chain restaurant, then you may want to consider booking your Advance Dining Reservation elsewhere.
Click here to read our most recent review of Tony’s Town Square!
Space 220
To our surprise, MULTIPLE followers listed EPCOT’s brand-new Space 220 as a restaurant that’s not worth the time! Part of our surprise has come from the fact that Space 220 has only been around for a few months. One reader thought Space 220 qualified as a “one and done” restaurant in Disney World, and another reader agreed, saying that “the environment was fun and the drinks were good. But for sure a one and done for us.”
Space 220 offers some spectacular views!
Space 220 is absolutely an investment in both money and time. Between boarding the elevator that takes you 220 miles above Florida to taking in all of the unique atmospheric elements of the restaurant itself, not to mention eating all of the food, this is totally not somewhere to dine if you want to make the most of your limited time in EPCOT.
Filet Mignon
A 2-course prix-fixe lunch at Space 220 costs $55 per adult, and a 3-course prix-fixe dinner costs $79 per adult. If you want to get the full Space 220 “experience” while saving a little bit on your bill, consider booking a reservation for Space 220’s Lounge.
Click here to read our FULL review of dinner at Space 220!
Coral Reef Restaurant
While we may have been a little surprised to see Space 220 mentioned more than once, we were not at all surprised to see that perhaps the most popular response to this question was Coral Reef Restaurant in EPCOT. Located in the Living Seas Pavilion, Coral Reef answers the question “What does it feel like to eat fish while its fish brethren are staring at you?”
Coral Reef Restaurant
A reader pointed out that the “best part is the fish tank,” and we feel like we need to agree with her. It’s not every day you can dine alongside a massive aquarium, making for a neat dining experience (especially if you have kids!). Unfortunately, the food itself hasn’t lived up to our expectations over the years.
Click here to read our most recent review of Coral Reef Restaurant!
Chef Mickey’s
Ah, Chef Mickey’s. We’ll start off by saying that we HAVE been pleasantly surprised by this rite of passage character dining location since the closures in 2020.
Breakfast at Chef Mickey’s
Despite its best efforts to improve the food, it’s still a noisy, crowded, and pricey buffet. If you want to meet the Fab 5 at one fell swoop, then Chef Mickey’s may be a good option to consider. But there are other, potentially better character dining options out there that also includes the chance to take a socially distanced selfie with Mickey, including Topolino’s Terrace and Garden Grill.
Pluto at Chef Mickey’s
One reader advised everyone to avoid Chef Mickey’s “all.day.long.”
Click here to read our recent review of Chef Mickey’s!
Rainforest Cafe
Our followers certainly seem to think just like us when it comes to Rainforest Cafe — it might not be worth your time! If you’re visiting Disney World on a once-in-a-lifetime or certainly a once in a long while vacation, there are SO many other fantastic dining options out there!
Rainforest Cafe
Rainforest Cafe is a national chain of restaurants, meaning many of you may have one close by to where you live. A reader noted that Rainforest isn’t worth the vacation time, since it falls into that category of “anything that is a chain that I can get outside of Disney.”
Ribs, Steak, and Shrimp Trio
Rainforest Cafe can be a fun experience for the family, but we encourage you to consider other options that will be equally fun! Then, you can enjoy all of the Rainforest Cafe you desire when you return home.
Click here to read our most recent review of Rainforest Cafe!
Mama Melrose Ristorante Italiano
Italian cuisine was certainly one category of restaurants that our followers had some harsh criticism for! Between Tony’s Town Square and now Mama Melrose Ristorante Italiano in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, it sounds like it’s harder than you think to come across a decent bowl of pasta!
Fried Calamari
We must say, we were very much amused by a comment left by a reader who couldn’t help but wonder why guests took the time to dine at Mama Melrose, when PizzeRizzo “is RIGHT THERE.” PizzeRizzo is probably not the first place we would consider eating at when we’re searching for the best of the best Italian cuisine in Disney World, but you made us smile, reader!
Click here to read our most recent review of Mama Melrose Ristorante Italiano!
Sci-Fi Dine-In Restaurant
Our final entry on the list of restaurants our followers say are not worth the time is Sci-Fi Dine-In Restaurant in Hollywood Studios. This one is unique in that, while the other restaurants were called out for being too pricey or for the food quality not being all that impressive, Sci-Fi Dine-In was repeatedly cited as being too dark.
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater
The atmosphere is one of those elements that can save many a Disney World restaurant, and while Sci-Fi Dine-In’s is truly unique (you get to sit in old-fashion cars like you’re at a drive-in movie theater), to some Disney may have gone a little too far to make it seem like you’re dining at nighttime.
Click here to read our recent review of Sci-Fi Dine-In Restaurant!
It was very interesting to see what our followers had to say when it came to Disney World restaurants that aren’t worth your time! Like we mentioned at the very beginning, we highly encourage you to read through our many reviews of each of these restaurants, as well as other ones you may be considering, in order to make the most informed decision when it comes time to book your Advance Dining Reservations. Many Disney World restaurants have both positive and negative aspects and preferences are going to be different for everyone! Sometimes a restaurant is a big hit, and the next time we go, it’s having an off day! Choose what’s best for you and your party!
Be sure to follow along before your next trip for more tips and tricks!
Click here to read a recent review of one Disney World restaurant we think is is totally worth your time!
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Agree with all of these except BOG. I had dinner there just last month and found it to be one off the best meals of the trip. I had previously la eled it one and done, but ate there again to give it another shot. It was delicious and our server amazing.
Last January my 23 YO daughter got food poisoning at Cinderella’s. It cost her a day in the park, but Disney was very good to us. My daughter is in food science, so she knows a bit about food. She knew it was something on the charcuterie that made her ill by the way it tasted. One bite and she told the server it was rancid. I won’t go there again. Too much $$ foe that to happen.
We just ate at San Angel Inn Restaurante in Epcot. We were all very disappointed. This used to be a family favorite, but it has lost its charm for us. I feel like there used to be more happening with the volcano and the ambience. The menu choices fell short for us. T even the drinks were disappointing, we even sent one back. The prices are not as bad as other Disney Restaurants, but we felt they were too high. This restaurant is one to skip.
I agree with some of them and disagree with others. BOG was NEVER great, and was very misleading to require reservations for a QS lunch at one time. I wasted a TS credit on a lunch because I didn’t know. Not only that, they wouldn’t allow us to have both appetizer AND dessert which was part of our dining plan. They even got 3 out of 8 of our orders WRONG. Mama Melrose’s is another one I agree with. I was so looking forward to their steak after hearing so many people rave about it. Sorry, but I would hardly consider what I and others at my table, steaks. I am used to Filet Mignon, so this thin little tough piece of meat was hardly expected. I must admit that those who got the pasta dishes were satisfied, but those of us who got “steak” were not. Chef Mickeys, Cinderella’s Royal Table and Coral Reef, I disagree with. You are not just paying for the food, which was good, not GREAT, but you are paying for character interaction, location and mostly atmosphere. The Coral Reef is lovely, the food is good and the service when we were there, was impeccable. Chef Mickey’s is about the most iconic place in all of Disney World, being in the Contemporary. And just to say you ate at Cinderella’s castle is enough, but the food was delicious and the princesses were charming (we went before Covid). One meal was wonderful because the service was fantastic, but the other was horrible due to the server. People need to remember that you are not only paying for the food, you are paying for the atmosphere, the special features of that restaurant and good service.
Unfortunately, and honestly for reasons I can’t figure why, now getting reservations anywhere is a nightmare so people are stuck eating at less favorable places because of availability. One of our favorites is Yak & Yeti. Have you tried to get a reservation??? Good luck!!!
PLEASE DFB put a date on your articles because then we know if it’s a current opinion/fact out from mints maybe years ago. Things are changing rapidly and we need to know when the article was published. Thank you.
Hi Bernie! While it’s not noted on the webpage itself, you can find dates for our Disney Food Blog articles in the URLs. For instance: https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2022/01/15/9-disney-world-restaurants-that-are-not-worth-your-time-according-to-our-readers/
We were at Tony’s Town Square a few weeks ago and had a great meal and spectacular service. Everyone was very happy with their meals for quality and portion. We did have a not-so-great experience at Tony’s a few years ago but decided to give it another try and were pleasantly surprised.
To be fair to Rainforest Café (ate there once and no, I wouldn’t do it again), not everyone lives in or near a city where one is located. It can be a really fun experience especially for kids and the food is just average, not outright terrible.
Agree with all of these although to be fair there are 2 I haven’t visited as I didn’t fancy them, it the others I totally agree …… which is quite unusual with this kind of thread.
We do enjoy Coral Reef but tend to avoid meals in the parks, preferring meals at the hotels. Some favorites are Coronado Springs And everything at Animal Kingdom Lodge.
I love breakfast at BOG. Dinner, not so much. Given time, La Creperie will necessarily be added to the list. It’s the worst I’ve ever experienced at Disney.
Completely disagree with avoiding Sci-Fi. Yes it’s a tad dark, but food is excellent and environment is way unique. Brest burgers, fried pickles, and excellent milk shakes. Do not pass this one up.
Space 220 is DEFINITELY a one and done experience. I was able to snag a reservation but my sister was not. Because she had only one day in the park, we both spent the next 60 days trying to get a reservation. We succeeded.
$55 is a lot for a hamburger or chicken if you’re not into raw or “living on the edge” menu items. Glad I did it once. We canceled our other reservation.
I’m actually a big fan of Sci-Fi, myself. The pimento burger was so good and you’re right about the environment, Chris. It’s so unique!
Thinking about dining at Space 220?
Better Idea: Ride Mission Space: Green* and eat wherever else you wish!
* Mission Space: Green is a gentler version with no spinning or other motion. It takes you on an orbit around Earth, giving a view aimilar to that in Space 220, but with simulated motion.
Completely agree with all but Sci Fi and Mama Melrose. One that should have been included was the awful Tiffins. We went on our anniversary and the food and service were horrible. Bizarre menu with basically inedible food ruined our night. Plus the prices were way too high. I realize most restaurants in WDW are overpriced, but I felt Tiffins was ridiculous.