What restaurant surprised you?

[mrswillson]

San Angel Inn in the Mexico Pavilion. If I had to choose my all-time favorite restaurant at Disney, it would be here all the way.

I have heard so many mixed reviews about SAI (specifically the authenticity of the food), and yet every single time I've visited, I've been blown away. Not just by the ambiance either, which is magical in and of itself, but also with the quality of the food.

To note, my husband is from New York and prides himself at being an excessively picky food snob... any food that doesn't come from the city is subpar to him. I took him here a few years back and he LOVED it. Ranted and raved about how good the food was and how neat it was dining in a little Mexican town watching the boat sail by for days!

 

[Minnesota!]

Splitsville sushi. Yes, seriously

yes!!! We are constantly amazed at the quality sushi they put out!

 

[Tangled Pink]

I didn't want to start a new thread on a similar topic so I am tagging off of this one! Le Cellier is one of our go to steak places but I wasn't in the mood for steak so instead I got the scallops. I never had such awesome scallops anywhere else. I was reluctant to try them since they are known for great steaks, but do they really know how to make great scallops? The answer is YES!! I am stiIl dreaming about that awesome dinner! Strange, but I could still taste scallops when we left the restaurant!

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

Satuli Canteen! Even though it’s QS, it was one of the best meals we had on our last trip. I really wasn’t sure if the rest of my family would like it before we went, but they agreed to try it for my sake. Everyone liked it and it’s now on our must have list.

 

[Sara_H]

Satuli Canteen! Even though it’s QS, it was one of the best meals we had on our last trip. I really wasn’t sure if the rest of my family would like it before we went, but they agreed to try it for my sake. Everyone liked it and it’s now on our must have list.

We love Satu'li!! Those desserts...mmmmm!

 

[Alli1988]

Coral Reef. I don’t eat seafood so I’ve never been interested. But on our February 2018 sister trip our flight was canceled, we were in Epcot and starving. Coral Reef had an adr within 15 minutes. We both got a slow cooked beef with polenta dish that was amazing. It doesn’t seem to be on the menu anymore so I don’t plan to go back.

5 Disney Trips and all my mother talks about is the "beef square" at the "fish restaurant" that is probably what you are referring too. I think many of the restaurants have this same thing.

 

[JodyLynC]

Boma in AKL. I wasn't sure we would like African food. Some of the buffet items sounded weird. We tried it and loved every single thing we tried.

 

[Octoberbaby]

Maya Grill all the way. I wasn't expecting anything great because you never really hear much about it. It is now one of my favorite places to go at Disney. The margaritas are just as good as la cava and the salsa and guacamole we awesome. It tasted homemade and was very fresh. We will return even if we aren't staying at CSR.

 

[winnieofpooh]

San Angel Inn! Booked an ADR for our honeymoon because my husband wanted to try it and I think the atmosphere is cool. But I had read a lot of bad reviews and I don't particularly like Mexican food, so I didn't have high expectations. It's now one of my must-do restaurants, our dinner blew us away!

 

[saving our pennies]

YAY - Chef Mickey's surprised me in a good way - I had heard the food was not great, but we had a large group and thought we'd go for the fun character interaction. I was very happy with the food (the pot roast and a pesto mac & cheese especially!!). Service was awesome and character interaction too!!

NAY - Be Our Guest was beautiful, but a let down food wise. I got the Coq Au Vin chicken. Literally *1* spear of asparagus and *3* cherry tomatoes, and I just didn't like the flavor of the chicken. My family got the French Dip and the Turkey sandwich and both were good, but not stellar. Glad we went for the experience, but will likely not go back.

 

[Lizgistix]

Grand Floridian Cafe. Pricey but worth it imho.
Big River Grille and Brewing Works. Wasn't sure what to expect and had a really great lunch.

 

[MelissaBee]

TS: I’ve been disappointed more often than I’ve been pleasantly surprised, but the one that comes to mind is Cape May Cafe breakfast. Way back in 2013, we snagged a last-minute ADR to try a character meal with DD when she was a toddler. She hated the characters; it was true terror, lol! But she loved her first Mickey waffle, we coffee lovers enjoyed whatever brew they were serving (we still talk about it!), and the service and character interaction was great! Plus it was cheaper than most other character meals and the food was perfectly sufficient.
QS: We have always enjoyed Backlot in DHS, but that may be mostly because of the refillable drinks

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Mine are QS because I generally have low expectations.

The QS place in Mexico at Epcot. I think it’s La Cantina San Angel. We were not expecting anything more than fast food quality but it was flavorful and good. We were also able to sit in LaHacienda at lunch so had a great view and AC.
Capt Cooks at Polynesian is very good and has some different options. I loved the pulled pork sandwich there.

 

[mickeymom22]

The Wave! We went with our extended family. Everything was super...the atmosphere, the service and the food.

I could kick myself for not trying it sooner!

 

[disneybliss2]

1900 Park Fare I anticipated that while the character interaction might be great, I was worried the food would just be okay. I didn't expect to walk away really loving our meal. While the character interaction was top notch, the food was delicious and we enjoyed it a lot as well. I was afraid the food would be too similar to Chef Mickey's, and thankfully, it was far from it!

 

[Carolyn Louise]

Cinderella's Royal Table. Definitely had low expectations for the food after reading reviews, but we (2 adults) ended up really enjoying everything--food, interactions, ambiance etc. I don't feel a need to do it again any time soon but I was glad we tried it.

 

[kiramay]

5 Disney Trips and all my mother talks about is the "beef square" at the "fish restaurant" that is probably what you are referring too. I think many of the restaurants have this same thing.

This is it

 

[Boopuff]

Sanna - the bread service was fantastic! We liked the unique food choices and never felt rushed.

 

[Tiki_Sara]

Nine Dragons. Got a walk up when it started raining, expected run-of-the-mill food and it was great!

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

We really liked Nine Dragons, and wished we had tried it before.