Maria and Enzo's Restaurant was a disappointment

[mh916]

Maria and Enzo's restaurant was disappointing. I had the spaghetti and meatballs. For $23, the dish should have been outstanding! First of all, it was obvious that the pasta had been cooked earlier in the day, and then served later. The marinara sauce was nothing special. While the meatballs were OK, they should have been incredible. Also, my daughter ordered pizza from the children's menu. I expected a whole pizza, but all she received was one slice. And they charged $19 for that! The pizza came from the pizzaria next door. After leaving the restaurant, I noticed the price of a slice from the pizzaria was only $7. Maria and Enzo's simply increased the price to $19. Also, the service was slow. I cannot recommend this restaurant.

 

[fla4fun]

Maria and Enzo's restaurant was disappointing. I had the spaghetti and meatballs. For $23, the dish should have been outstanding! First of all, it was obvious that the pasta had been cooked earlier in the day, and then served later. The marinara sauce was nothing special. While the meatballs were OK, they should have been incredible. Also, my daughter ordered pizza from the children's menu. I expected a whole pizza, but all she received was one slice. And they charged $19 for that! The pizza came from the pizzaria next door. After leaving the restaurant, I noticed the price of a slice from the pizzaria was only $7. Maria and Enzo's simply increased the price to $19. Also, the service was slow. I cannot recommend this restaurant.

I guess we have been lucky. We have eaten there twice, and the food and service were good both times. Of course, I wish the prices were lower, but I feel that way about nearly all of the table service restaurants at Disney.

My main complaint about Disney table service restaurants is that they are so inconsistent. I believe you when you say you were disappointed.

For example, I was on a trip prior to Le Cellier becoming a signature restaurant. They used to have a burger there for lunch that I liked, so I made two lunch ADRs a few days apart. The first one, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The food was cold and tasteless, my server kept disappearing and I had to wait 45 minutes just to get the check. I seriously considered cancelling the second ADR. But I didn’t. I went back, and the second experience was flawless. The food was hot and cooked the way I requested, the server was attentive without going overboard, and it was one of the best dining experiences I have had on property. The fact that these two experiences were less than a week apart really brought home to me the reason why we see so many posts where some people hate a restaurant and some people love it.

I would love for Disney to work on a more consistent dining experience. I am sorry your experience was not good.

 

[Disneylover99]

Maria and Enzo's restaurant was disappointing. I had the spaghetti and meatballs. For $23, the dish should have been outstanding! First of all, it was obvious that the pasta had been cooked earlier in the day, and then served later. The marinara sauce was nothing special. While the meatballs were OK, they should have been incredible. Also, my daughter ordered pizza from the children's menu. I expected a whole pizza, but all she received was one slice. And they charged $19 for that! The pizza came from the pizzaria next door. After leaving the restaurant, I noticed the price of a slice from the pizzaria was only $7. Maria and Enzo's simply increased the price to $19. Also, the service was slow. I cannot recommend this restaurant.

The DW website says kid’s meals are $16. It mentions the kids pizza as being a slice of cheese pizza. The kids meals also include a starter, drink and dessert. It sounds reasonable to me.

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

The DW website says kid’s meals are $16. It mentions the kids pizza as being a slice of cheese pizza. The kids meals also include a starter, drink and dessert. It sounds reasonable to me.

$7 for the slice of pizza, $3 for a starter, $3 for a drink, and $3 for a dessert = $16. Sounds pretty consistent with park pricing. So often you hear reports about fixed price meals being so expensive, but the extra courses and drinks all add up.

Sorry that the OP had a bad experience. M&E isn’t on our radar for the next park visit, but if anyone thinks about going, we’ll definitely include this in our decision making. I’m not sure I ever expect “incredible” from an average meal at a theme park (sadly, $23 for an entree qualifies the price as average these days), but
there’s also plenty of options - no need to ever settle for pre-cooked pasta in my opinion.

 

[BlovesC]

Sadly, $23 is not the hallmark of an exceptional meal nowadays, not even outside the disney bubble. I don't think that means you should expect everything in this price range to be bad, however! There are many affordable restaurants on property that have consistently good reviews, but M&E is just not a particularly well-liked restaurant and it's generally empty for a reason.