Garden Grill at EPCOT

[ablair10]

I am taking my sister to lunch at the Garden Grill during our trip in June. I booked it mainly because of the characters and the fact that the restaurant rotates and you can look into one of our favorite rides, but how is the food here? How much time should we plan to be there for lunch? And is there a bathroom located in the restaurant or nearby?

 

[holden]

We've eaten breakfast there so I can't comment on lunch. The meal should take about an hour. I think that's how long it takes to complete the rotation. There is a bathroom downstairs outside Soarin. Not sure if there is one upstairs where Garden Grill is but there could be.

 

[KrazeeK120]

I just ate lunch there last week!

There is a bathroom literally right outside the restaurant. Like, the waiting area for the restaurant is right in front of the bathroom. The Land pavilion has bathrooms both up and downstairs, which is convenient for all attractions located inside the pavilion.

I, my husband, and our 18 month old son enjoyed the food very much! It's not in the category of "most amazing food I've ever had," but I doubt anyone expects that. However, we all left completely satisfied.

We had an 11:30 AM reservation, which is when they open. It worked out great for us.

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

The food isn't "amazing", but it's certainly good, coupled with strong character interaction makes it an easy win in my book.

 

[MSPeeler]

We enjoyed the food a lot. It is family style, so you don't get to order certain dishes. The dessert was great too!

 

[gobosox00]

My family loved the food there, I liked the family style a lot. It is a nice break from the typical character buffet.

 

[Barbydoll8]

Food for lunch is good IMHO. I've done breakfast and lunch and much prefer lunch. The character interaction was one of the best I've experienced at a character meal on property. I'd plan for about an hour depending on how much you want/care to eat. Service is fairly quick and the characters come around and stay with you a while so be sure to have your cameras/phones ready.
I would do lunch here again in a heartbeat. Breakfast....meh. lol

I believe bathrooms are also available just by Sorin which is directly below the restaurant via escalator.

 

[Duck143]

We took my kids there for dinner and we thoroughly enjoyed everything about this restaurant. Our character time was great and fairly private, so we got some fantastic photos. The food was delicious and fresh. The bathrooms are right outside the area where you check into your reservation.

 

[KrazeeK120]

Food for lunch is good IMHO. I've done breakfast and lunch and much prefer lunch. The character interaction was one of the best I've experienced at a character meal on property. I'd plan for about an hour depending on how much you want/care to eat. Service is fairly quick and the characters come around and stay with you a while so be sure to have your cameras/phones ready.
I would do lunch here again in a heartbeat. Breakfast....meh. lol

I believe bathrooms are also available just by Sorin which is directly below the restaurant via escalator.

I mentioned in my post above, but there are bathrooms right outside the restaurant. I know because I used it right before our meal.

 

[jvz82]

I thought the food was really good! I still remember the sweet potato fries being pretty delicious. I barely got to eat though because we had so many character interactions and my kids were hyped up! They LOVED seeing the Living with the Land ride from the restaurant though.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

We love eating here.

I'd have to vote for breakfast though. Lunch and dinner menu is good, but selection is less than it used to be. I still miss the fish!

Breakfast gets you early access to Soarin. Very easy to get 1 ride in before rope drop crowds get there, and some people have time for 2 rides (not a guarantee you can get 2 before crowds).

Character interaction is GREAT here. When DS was under 2, he fed Pluto a French fry. Pluto ate it!

*note, I had to hide the doggy waste that was left on the floor before DS saw it.

 

[jwfla422]

I am taking my sister to lunch at the Garden Grill during our trip in June. I booked it mainly because of the characters and the fact that the restaurant rotates and you can look into one of our favorite rides, but how is the food here? How much time should we plan to be there for lunch? And is there a bathroom located in the restaurant or nearby?

I agree with another poster regarding the food not being "amazing"...it has changed over the years and unfortunately the quality is not what it once was so we have many experiences there to compare it to. That all being said if you've never "been" I would recommend having lunch here at least once. (lunch is a little bit less expensive than dinner and primarily the same food is served)

Food does change from time to time. Not sure if they are still doing the sausage in place of the fish (which I found very strange?) but that was one of our disappointments as there was no fish option the last time we dined there however if you like sausage, well that might be a plus for you

The desserts also change and my dd is not a big fruit fan which is what most of their desserts tend to be fruit related. My dd is a definite chocoholic. We told the server and he came out with the chocolate cake with Mickey sprinkles which was really really GOOD! I think they use if for birthdays so it was a nice magical touch for him to come out with that for a "non" birthday...

Characters are fun ESPECIALLY CHIP & DALE (they are our favs and are not easy to find anymore!)- They will sit with you and goof around which makes it fun. The meal usually takes about an hour. We find that the revolution of the restaurant takes about that amount of time (we seem to finish up at the same place we started) and there is a rest room right outside the restaurant that is very convenient.

Feel free to check my review from a few months back with photos-

GARDEN GRILL LUNCH WITH PHOTOS

 

[Oneanne]

GG is a favorite: the food is consistently good and the character interaction is great. The time my (adult) Sister made Pluto cry by repeatedly calling him Goofy was a standout (we kept telling her Goofy wears the pants, but what can you do? )

 

[jsternad]

It's a breakfast must-do for us! I haven't been for lunch or dinner, but bfast is delicious and it's a super fun character meal.