Avoid the Disney Soda Fountain & Studio Store in Hollywood. ICK

[GoinAgainSoon]

We ate there last week and it was beyond disgusting. The restaurant was filthy, we had to track down a towel ourselves to wipe down the "clean" table they put us at.

The floor under the table was so full of grease, we had to put napkins down to soak it up and not slip and slide.

There was nothing on the (very limited, not for picky eaters) menu that was "fresh". They use store bought/frozen items for everything. Even the chips that come with the sandwiches are from a bag (kettle chips). The chicken on my ceaser salad tasted like it had been reheated, and the breadstick that it came with was stale with no flavor.

The prices for the quality of food did not equate.

The final kicker, the restrooms are disgusting. There are two single shared bathrooms. BOTH bathrooms had urine all over the seats. Not just a little sprinkle, but it looked like someone took a hose and sprayed the seats. I finally found a manager, and they didn't seem to care.

When I complained and asked why they were not up to Disney standards, we were told that they weren't associated with Disneyland, only Disney Studios.

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up in case they planned on going up to Hollywood for the specific purpose of dining there.

 

[vettegirl]

We had a pleasant visit there in December and found it to be very clean with great homemade ice cream. It's a shame that it was in that condition when you visited.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

That's interesting. I have read on many Adventures by Disney trip reports that the soda shop is one of the stops on the Behind the Scenes Magic tour. Think that is the correct name. They must clean up for the tour people, because no one has expressed disgust with their experience.

 

[GoinAgainSoon]

I had always heard great things about it too, that's why we decided to try it while we were down (up?) there.

Not sure if it was because it was the Friday evening that Toy Story 3 opened right next door (around 6ish) when we were there or what?.

I have no plans to visit again though.

I will say they had some cute souvenirs though.

 

[toddbushman]

Was there June 17th for the Toy Story Magical Marathon and ate at the Soda Store right before. Not overly impressed. Especially with the Studio store. The website claimed it had a kiosk that you could get any Disney DVD from, and that rare or hard to find DVDs were available. Turns out the kiosk was so bad it was removed long ago, and they didn't have any DVD's not found elsewhere. The whole thing is a very tiny shop connected to the El Capitan (which is awesome BTW).

I agree that the food was not that great, the ice cream was good, but when is ice cream not good, and the restrooms are not Disney standard in terms of cleanliness, not horrible like you experienced, but definitely not cleaned as often or as well.

 

[Sherry E]

I've read other reports (from people/friends whose opinions I trust) who went to the Studio Store and they did not have the experience you did, GoinAgain Soon. It sounds like you were there on a particularly 'off day' - either that or right after busloads of frat boys had made their mark on it!! The other people said they enjoyed it. The menu is limited - and that's easy enough to find out about before you get there - but they didn't complain about horribly filthy conditions like what you're describing. From all accounts, it's a small, cute place with a small store and a limited menu and that's about it. Good peppermint ice cream, supposedly. So I still plan to go there at some point!

 

[GoinAgainSoon]

I'm wondering if our experience had something to do with the release of Toy Story right next door. The "mall" across the street had filthy bathrooms too.

It's a cute, small shop, and prior to eating there, we were shopping around looking for things to buy. After the meal and the restroom and floors/dirty table thing, we decided not to purchase anything.

The chocolate shake was decent, nothing spectacular and not worth $6.50, but tasted decent enough.

 

[Belle Ella]

I'm wondering if our experience had something to do with the release of Toy Story right next door. The "mall" across the street had filthy bathrooms too.

It's a cute, small shop, and prior to eating there, we were shopping around looking for things to buy. After the meal and the restroom and floors/dirty table thing, we decided not to purchase anything.

The chocolate shake was decent, nothing spectacular and not worth $6.50, but tasted decent enough.

I'm thinking that may play a part in it. And every place has off days. Coming from a retail background I know how the 'standards' and reality thing works out when you have people coming in and out who trash the place on their own. The things I have seen people do to our store and restrooms is just horrifying. And we cant always get to it right away and then add in an off day and it always seems like people don't care.

It's funny though, this is the first negative experience I've heard regarding the place and I've seen it come up in quite a few reports and from my own personal experience I loved it and want to go back.

 

[Karenann*]

Thanks everyone for the balancing opinions..Disney Soda Fountain is on our Hollywood visit Sat July 10! It's a "must do" return trip for one in our party and a first visit for the other 4 of us. We will have already seen Toy Story 3 in Downtown Disney- the cost and time was simply too much of both to include it in a Hollywood/LA day. We will give the Fountain a chance and already know it has a limited menu.

 

[eatmypixiedust]

Wow! I'm so sorry you had an unpleasant visit there. I would have been disgusted too if I experienced what you did. I've been there a couple of times and it seems like a hit & miss. The first time I went it wasn't as great as I hoped it would be and they really didn't have much on their menu at the time. :-/ I went there a couple of months ago and got the pin trader sundae. It tasted good and I loved the Stitch pin that came with it. Their ice cream seems better than the food in my opinion. I had a roast beef sandwich and it wasn't that great. Hopefully they will improve the service and I hope you have a better experience should you ever decide to go back in the future.

 

[Funball]

i was just in the "gone hollywood" store in the backlot in DCA on saturday, bought this cute multi colored stripe spaghetti striped tank by roxy, anyhow i noticed that the store itself has a weired smell..i think they store could benefit from a little febreze!