Bon Voyage breakfast thoughts

[IrishNYC]

We did the Bon Voyage breakfast ladt week. The food wasn't bad, but based on service, this is a "never again" for us.

1. We arrived at 9:15 for a 9:30 reservation and checked in. We were a party of three. Several other parties of 3 or 4 arrived after us, and continued to be seated before us. After 25 minutes of waiting I spoke to the hostess who told me the were just starting to seat 9:15 reservations. It was 9:40. A few more minutes passed and we were the only ones left waiting. The manager came out to speak to the hostess and I spoke up. She insisted that they seat in order of reservation time, and I replied that they shouldn't be seating people that were late for reservations before people on time.

2. Once we were finally seated, service was painfully slow. Painfully. It did seem like it was only us, though, as tables near us turned over twice before we were even served. Even Flynn was a bit surprised to see us still still there, just staring to eat, when he came by on his second trip around the restaurant. (He was awesome, by the way.)

We left the restaurant more than 2.5 hours after we arrived, throwing off the rest of our day. We didn't miss park time, but we had no time for pool time, as we no longer had time to shower after, then get into makeup and costumes for the Halloween party.

 

[SaintsManiac]

That sucks! Sounds like bad luck. I definitely would have complained to the manager.

 

[IrishNYC]

That sucks! Sounds like bad luck. I definitely would have complained to the manager.

We did, and she came to visit us again at the end of the meal.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We did, and she came to visit us again at the end of the meal.

That's good at least. We had a similar issue at a local steak house and they comped our meal completely. Disney should have done that.

 

[czmom]

We have this scheduled for departure day...now I'm a bit nervous!

 

[disneyvoice]

We have it scheduled for our departure day as well. This is the kind of thing that is making me think about cancelling it.

 

[nkereina]

This a YMMV situation. We were there a few weeks ago with my in-laws. We didn't go to the Bon Voyage breakfast but they did, as a party of 7, around 10am on their departure day. They had no issue with service or things moving slowly and were out of there relatively quickly. But the one gripe they did have was about the food - they didn't love the options and some of the food was just mediocre. For instance, tangled eggs - eggs with "sunday gravy". They were picturing a white sausage gravy, but Sunday gravy is apparently just marinara sauce. Their fault for not clarifying that before ordering, but I feel red sauce on eggs is not typical!

 

[IrishNYC]

We have this scheduled for departure day...now I'm a bit nervous!

We have it scheduled for our departure day as well. This is the kind of thing that is making me think about cancelling it.

Maybe our experience was not typical, but unless Boardwalk is where you are staying and you can make a quick getaway if necessary, I wouldn't do it. I expect to wait at any Disney restaurant where we don't have a first seating, but this was ridiculous. It was infuriating to see parties that arrived way after us be seated, and then told that they had ADRs before us so were seated before us.

This a YMMV situation. We were there a few weeks ago with my in-laws. We didn't go to the Bon Voyage breakfast but they did, as a party of 7, around 10am on their departure day. They had no issue with service or things moving slowly and were out of there relatively quickly. But the one gripe they did have was about the food - they didn't love the options and some of the food was just mediocre. For instance, tangled eggs - eggs with "sunday gravy". They were picturing a white sausage gravy, but Sunday gravy is apparently just marinara sauce. Their fault for not clarifying that before ordering, but I feel red sauce on eggs is not typical!

It's an italian restaurant, and "Sunday Gravy" is red sauce, and the entire menu is Italian themed. White sausage gravy is very southern, and while "gravy" is typically a northeastern US term for "sauce," the menu definitely suggests an Italian theme, and southern sausage gravy is generally served with biscuits, and there aren't any on this menu.

 

[BuzzyBelle]

We had a similar experience in August. We weren’t there quite as long as OP, but we waited in the lobby while multiple groups breezed past us. Then, it seemed to take forever for our food to come. Service was friendly but slow; we were the last family left in the restaurant but weren’t the last ones seated by far.

The food here was good with large portions, but like a PP mentioned the combinations were a little unusual- especially for “adult” aged children. Our interaction with Flynn and Eric was awkward at best but Ariel and especially Rapunzel were very good.

The atmosphere is strange for the characters/event. I can’t say anything was really bad, but none of us are looking to go back anytime soon.

 

[JerseyJanice]

I did not dine there, but I know three parties who went last week. Two were unhappy with both the food and the character interaction--or rather, a lack there of. The third party enjoyed their food and said that their server was exceptional.

The two groups who disliked the character interaction said it was because they didn't spend much time at their tables. They felt it was more like a show.

 

[IrishNYC]

I did not dine there, but I know three parties who went last week. Two were unhappy with both the food and the character interaction--or rather, a lack there of. The third party enjoyed their food and said that their server was exceptional.

The two groups who disliked the character interaction said it was because they didn't spend much time at their tables. They felt it was more like a show.

Flynn was great. Rapunzle was good, Ariel was a complete dud, especially after the Ariel we saw earlier in the week at Akershus. Prince Eric also had zero personality.

 

[JerseyJanice]

Flynn was great. Rapunzle was good, Ariel was a complete dud, especially after the Ariel we saw earlier in the week at Akershus. Prince Eric also had zero personality.

Were you there on the 14th? What you just wrote is almost exactly what my relative said except he compared their Ariel to a female canine.

 

[IrishNYC]

Were you there in the 14th? What you just wrote is almost exactly what my relative said except he compared their Ariel to a female canine.

Yikes! No, this was on Friday, 9/22. Sounds like a similar crew, though.

 

[BellaBaby]

We were there in June with similar experiences. Arrived early and waited and waited while others quite a bit after our ADR time were seated before us. Service was fine, food was meh. Totally agree with character interaction. Ariel and Eric...need personality upgrades.

So it's a one and done for us.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

We were there in late August and also felt that Eric and Ariel had no personality. Eric seemed so nervous, like he didn't know what to say, and Ariel just basically said hi, we snapped a picture, and she left. We didn't mind too much, because we saw a different Ariel at CRT and she was great. Both Rapunzel and Flynn were awesome, with Rapunzel tickling DS to get him to smile, and Flynn teaching the kids his smolder and showing them where he hid the crown.

We didn't have to wait long for anything. We were in and out in just about an hour. We didn't care too much for where we were sat though. We had 4 adults, a 7yo, and a toddler and they crammed us into a semi-circle booth with a highchair at the end. It was really cramped and we eventually asked to pull a chair over. We thought the food was really good, especially since breakfast food tends to be rather plain at Disney. The guys loved the calzone (though I did warn them about the Sunday gravy), and they had no problem subbing out the meat for potatoes with my pancakes (I'm vegetarian). The potatoes were incredible! DS was also given a free kids meal of our choice and bowl of fruit. Our server was really nice, although she never gave us options on drinks and just brought a carafe of OJ, and she was also the only server at Disney who commented that she couldn't charge the tip to my band (we purposely didn't set up charging privileges, and she was the only one who tried to just charge it without asking).

Overall, we thought it was a nice meal, and DD ranked it as her 2nd favorite after CRT. Honestly, I think almost every meal is YMMV and dependent on so many factors.

 

[nkereina]

It's an italian restaurant, and "Sunday Gravy" is red sauce, and the entire menu is Italian themed. White sausage gravy is very southern, and while "gravy" is typically a northeastern US term for "sauce," the menu definitely suggests an Italian theme, and southern sausage gravy is generally served with biscuits, and there aren't any on this menu.

I know it's an Italian restaurant. That doesn't mean I expect red sauce on my eggs. We live in the Northeast and none of us in our party have ever heard the term "gravy" for red sauce. As I said, it's my in-laws' fault for assuming and not inquiring. But even if they did know gravy is red sauce, I still find it odd to put it on eggs.

Regardless of the sauce vs gravy thing, they did find the character interaction to be great. So IMO, it's just a trade off of average food for above average characters.

 

[Bob Dolewhip]

It was infuriating to see parties that arrived way after us be seated, and then told that they had ADRs before us so were seated Before us.

This is my pet peeve too! I would lose it.

And if anyone starts a gravy vs sauce debate I will start a sneakers vs tennis shoes discussion

 

[nkereina]

And if anyone starts a gravy vs sauce debate I will start a sneakers vs tennis shoes discussion

LOL! At least I've heard of both terms to describe the same thing