Fine Dining in Disney
 

I was wondering what the fine dining restaurants in Disney are and that they are not too juvenile. Thank you in advance.

Anaheim, Orlando?

there are nice restaurants at the Grand Floridian, Contemporary and Wilderness Lodge properties. All are upscale but have sllightly different atmospheres. Best to go to WWW.Waltdisneyworld.com and browse through their descriptions. In epcot, there is a nice French restaurant as well; Alfredo's in Italy. Animal Kingdom closes at sunset; Disney studios...probably the Brown Derby.

Inside Walt Disney World, the Grand Floridian hotel has probably the two most upscale restaurants in the resort: Victoria & Albert's and Citrico's. Victoria & Albert's is expensive and definitely not the best place for a kid. We ate at Citrico's last year during our stay and we were impressed, but it is not as upscale as Victoria & Albert's.

I'm not sure how "fine" you mean, but Epcot has several nice restaurants in the various country pavilions. I'm sure you can find tons of info on the Epcot website.

I would suggest California Grill at the Contemporary, Giko at AK Lodge, and Artist's Point at Wilderness Lodge. Also, as mentioned above, many, if not all of the countries in Epcot have a fine dining option. My faves are France and Japan, although the steakhouse in Canada is quite good and Alfredos in Italy is also good. Cape May Cafe is good at the Beach Club and Flying Fish at the Boardwalk is excellent. There are good restaurants at Downtown Disney too-Wolfgang Puck, etc.

I second California Grill. Here's the problem with fine dining at Disney (and I mean no offense to anyone): tourists often don't dress the part for these restaurants, and they often bring children to inappropriate settings. Before anyone gets upset, I have visited pretty much every "nice" restaurant on Disney property, and it never fails--there are people in tank tops, muscle shirts, shorts, torn T-shirts, etc., and there are kids drooling at my feet playing with old cups, gum, etc. People want to relax and be tourists at Disney, and they do just that. I never mind too much, but you should know this before you spend a significant amount of money. If you have a car, there are excellent restaurants elsewhere in Orlando that I would be happy to recommend. Enjoy your trip!

gummo, I accept your point, but I've dined at Victoria and Albert's three times and have never witnessed any of that there at any time. And I assure you there will never be any diners there in tanktops or shorts. They won't let them in, period!

I guess there's no longer the Empress Lily with the small private rooms atop? Ah, that was wonderful.

In Florida I would also suggest you look into the Flying Fish at the Boardwalk.

Several of these restaurants are nice - or pleasant - but would not qualify them as "fine" dining except in Orlando. Certainly the restaurants in Epcot - while better than Fridays/Olive Garden- are not fine by any deifintion.

We had dinner once at the VA and the food was OK - but not great - and the service/atmosphere was definitely pretentious.

It's Disney -- if you're not prepared to be annoyed by the undisciplined spawn of selfish parents, don't go.

If I remember correctly, Victoria and Albert does not allow kids.

Thank you all for the different replies. For another night we were thinking about going to the Polynesian. What is the dining like there? Do they have a luau there? Thank you in advance.

ohana's is at the polynesian. they might have a luau on one night a week, but typically they offer something similar to a brazilian restaurant were they bring sides to your table and then come around with stakes of different meats.

victoria and alberts is required coat and tie and is rated the top restaurant in central florida.

:) kari

Once upon a time the upscale restaurant at Canada in Epcot had the most awesome creme brulee. They had a hard thick coating of maple sugar on top that was unforgettable. I think that was the start of my family's creme brulee fetish. It is the only dessert my kids get when they dine at nice restaurants. At 14 and 16 they are creme brulee connisseurs! We enjoyed the food and the atmosphere at that restaurant more than most in Disney.

Another vote for the Flying Fish on the Boardwalk. Also, in the Swan Hotel there is a great Italian Restaurant. I can't remember the name, but it's not the type of place that would have a lot of children.

Why anyone would expect a truly upscale restaurant at Disney World is beyond me. There are many excellent restaurants there, but given the volume of business and the nature of the clientele, there will never be a Le Bernardin, Per Se, or French Laundry type place. Those are restaurants I consider upscale.

Disney has high quality restaurants delivering excellent food in interesting venues. I love the Chefs de France. It gives the feeling of a Fin de Siecle (probably need to change that terminology given the new century) French Bistro. Classic Bistro cuisine. No way is this upscale but it is fun and relaxing in the evening.

I think Victoria and Alberts is due for a total makeover. So 80's, both 20th century and 19th.

Jiko, at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, is a wonderful restaurant experience. Beautiful decor, excellent cuisine but not too wierd for American tastes, outstanding wines from South Africa.

Blue Zoo has opened at one of the hotels: Dolphin or Swan. A Todd English production, or should I say brand.

If you want home cooking, eat at home. That used to be printed on the menu of a restaurant I used to frequent in Toronto many years ago. The same idea applies to expectations at Disney World. A place built for kids should be kid like. If you don't want this, you'll have to go elsewhere.

LMF

check out allearsnet.com - they post the menus from all the restaurants at WDW. You also can see pictures of the interiors of most of the restaurants. I wouldn't call any of it fine dining but some of the restaurants are more upmarket than others. Personally I've enjoyed the food at Spoodles on the Boardwalk the most of any meal I've had at WDW - but its been a few years. We had a nice meal at the Coral Reef at the Living Seas.

Hated the food at Ohana - those skewers of chicken sausage and pork were dried out - though the appetizers and pineapple cocktails were good.

One note on California Grill, Victoria and Alberts and Giko. Last time we were there there were signs posted saying something to the effect that proper attire was required and they turned away a couple in shorts and tee shirts when we were checking in...

"I think Victoria and Alberts is due for a total makeover. So 80's, both 20th century and 19th."

Too funny, Ms. Foodie!

Lilmsfoodie, so glad to see you posting. I have missed you these last few months.
I agree on Jiko. We had a wonderful dinner there a week before Christmas.
We also had a very good dinner at Wolfgang Puck's at Disney Marketplace. Not the Express place, but the restaurant. It was a very very good meal. Incredible mussels appetizer in a white wine broth w/fresh herbs, and it was all uphill from there. Busy night w/crowds and a 30 min. wait without priority reservations, but excellent service also.
I've had some very good meals at Epcot (Chef de France, Coral Reef) but they have not been replicated when I have eaten at those places a second time. California Grill was a zoo.
If you get to Islands of Adventure, Mythos is very good and has been good all 4 times we have eaten there. We like Emeril's restaurant at City Walk (not Tchoup Tchoup; we should have listened to LilMsFoodie before we blew so much money at Tchoup Tchoup- in one word, yuk).

I agree that Disney is not a hotbed of haute cuisine. Last year I was there for over a week for work and tried a number of different places. The 2 best meals I had were at the California Grill. One was a private dinner but one was in the main dining room and I thought everything was well-prepared. Plus the view gave it some bonus points. Jiko is attractive in that Disney/Vegas fake sort of way and our meal there was good but I would have preferred if they'd pushed the envelope a bit more and not "dumbed down" the food. Chefs de France was pleasant. I also had a fairly good meal at a steak house in either the Dolphin or the Swan (the one in back) but I can't remember the name of the place.

LilMsFoodie, love your comment about for home cooking stay home.
Reminds of the guy who goes in the place with the big sign "Mom's Home Cooking" and orders. The food is horrible, so he calls over the waitress and says, "This is terrible. I want to talk to Mom. Where is she?"
"Like the sign says," replies the waitress. "She's home cooking."

I usually recommend California Grill but I have not been there for two years now. It was always my favorite.

My husband loved Disney World although he was not an insane disney fan like you find on the DisBoards. We also liked the Wolfgang Puck's at Downtown Disney. We always sat at the bar as you could usually order there and watch the passing show of tourists and commando style Disney parents.

The steakhouse mentioned above is Shula's at the Dolphin (of course). Fairly good steak house with the football menu gimmick. This hotel and the restaurants inside are set up for meeting and convention business so be aware.

Sequess, Disney is all about artifice and artificiality of experience. That is the point. I am both attracted by the perfection of it and repulsed by the fake experience that many take for the real thing. It is what it is. A resort for families is never going to have a cutting edge restaurant, it would close.

What Disney does is let people experience a little bit of things outside their normal routine without risk. What Disney has not done is update the experience. The internet and cheap airfares have made the mass audience much more sophisticated and they need to massively upgrade their "hardware" at this point. Always in my NSHO. :-)

LilMsFoodie

Just realized I never followed up on this. Had a great time, and really loved the Calif Grill. It was excellent in every way. Also had a great meal at Schula's. Enjoyed House of Blues,too, but not "fine dining." Thanks for the suggestions.

I want to add my recommendation for Jiko at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We had 2 wonderful meals there.

I loved Jiko but it's been two years since I was there. I've heard mundane reviews lately on Victoria's and Albert's. But lots of raves for California Grill.

I spent some time lately at Saratoga Springs Spa at Disney. No place good to eat there, that's for sure.

Quoted from above:
"We had dinner once at the VA and the food was OK - but not great - and the service/atmosphere was definitely pretentious."

The atmosphere is supposed to be Victorian. All the costumed waiters are named Albert and have name tags saying so. All the waitresses have name tags saying Victoria.

Pretentious? Yes, don't you think that's the entire point?

Am I missing something? Has anyone mentioned Arthurs 27 at the Wyndham? It is upscale. You don't have to wear a jacket but you do dress for dinner. no t-shirts, shorts, etc.,. Food is exceptional. The view is wonderful. Make reservations and ask for a table to see the fireworks at Epcot.

Or the Peabody hotel. Dinner is very nice there as well.

I've heard good things about Artist Point at Wilderness Lodge.

Le Cellier is the Canadian steakhouse at Epcot. It is pretty good; when you consider that you're within walls of a theme park it's fantastic! Likewise the Hollywood Brown Derby at MGM Studios. Neither would count as the best food in town in the "real world", but it sure is nice to be able to get off a ride in your shorts and t-shirt and have a very tasty meal (including wine) right there in the park.

It was a good suggestion to look at the menus on allearsnet.com. Also, read the reviews on the disboards.

Other than V&A which doesn't allow kids, there WILL be kids. Lots of the restaruants have un-juvenile decor, but there WILL be kids.

Also, the prices are hefty. In my opinion, if you want a decent sit down meal, you have to just suspend reality and not think about where you could have eaten at home for that price.