Garden Grill Breakfast
We visited the Garden Grill for breakfast on our recent trip to Disney World. We have had dinner here numerous times, but this is the first time we have experienced breakfast. Check out my review below!
We had reservations at 8:20 a.m. We were at Epcot around 7:45 a.m.. We got through security, the gates, and even took a few selfies before heading towards The Land. We checked in for our reservation around 8:05, and we were seated within 5 minutes or so. Our waiter actually seated us, and he took our drink order right away.
Before we could even sit down, Dale walked right up to our table. Melody wasn't sure about him at first, but she didn't cry! Then Chip was right behind him ready for his close up with Melody and Brad! [notice all of the empty tables behind us!]
Within a few minutes, the waiter arrived with our drinks, Chip's Sticky Bun Bake, and Seasonal Fruit. The sticky bun tasted like an extra large cinnamon roll. It had plenty enough icing (which I love), and it was really moist in the center. In Brad's words, it was gooey greatness. He also ate way too much of it! The fruit wasn't anything spectacular (I mean it was just fruit), but it did taste fresh.
Not long after receiving our "appetizer", Pluto arrived. He wasn't as eager to pose with us like Chip and Dale were, but we still had some cute pictures.
About 10 minutes after we received our "appetizer", our waiter brought us the main course. It is served in a cast iron skillet. It contains eggs, link sausage, bacon, tater tots, and Mickey waffles! The waffles were served with chocolate hazelnut sauce, and the eggs were served with salsa. Both were served on the side. They also offered additional condiments if needed. We requested ketchup (for the tater tots) and syrup (for the waffles).
The eggs with salsa were delicious. We are considering putting salsa on our eggs at home now! [Side note: So if you have been following my blog for awhile, you may remember Brad wanting to add salsa to fish. He wants to add salsa to everything. And so now he feels like the eggs will be successful since it was successful at Garden Grill!]
The sausage and bacon were ordinary. The bacon was actually really crispy, and Brad seemed to enjoy the sausage. He LOVES link sausage. I dislike link sausage.
The tater tots were really good. They were not over or under cooked which tends to be a problem at a lot of places. They were really good with ketchup!
Lastly were the Mickey waffles. They were delicious! Unfortunately these were the only Mickey waffles I had the entire trip, but they were really, really good. The chocolate hazelnut sauce was really good with them. I primarily used the syrup because the sauce was so rich, but it was still really good.
Dale came back by and visited for a bit. He was so great with Melody. As you can see below, he sat down and started playing with her toys at the table. It was really special to see the characters trying to interact with her. We really want her to love the characters and not be scared of them.
The big man himself finally came by. We kept seeing him walk by, but he always would miss our table for one reason or another. Melody was playing shy at first. I think she was slightly confused by his nontraditional attire. But again she didn't cry!
Overall, we were here about 45 minutes or so. We didn't quite make the full rotation of the restaurant, but we were pretty close. I HIGHLY recommend this character breakfast. It is by far my favorite. We will be dining here during all of our future visits. Sure, it isn't your cheapest breakfast option, but there are SO many perks to this character breakfast.
- The food is good. It is just typical breakfast food, but it is good breakfast food. It is food everyone will eat. Nothing too extravagant, but I feel like you can easily get your money's worth. You can get as much food as you want as well. We were asked numerous times if there was anything extra our waiter could bring us.
- This was the least crowded breakfast I have ever been to. Granted, I haven't had every reservation-only breakfast option, but there were way fewer people trying to enter Epcot for pre-park opening reservations than I have ever seen at Magic Kingdom. At Garden Grill we were maybe one of seven families eating. As we left, it started to fill up, but getting a reservation here prior to 8:30 is ideal!
- The characters are AMAZING. This was by far the best character interaction we have ever experienced at Disney World. Because of the lack of people, we had more visits with the characters than just the one visit you are guaranteed. The characters were also great at trying to get Melody to smile and getting down in the floor playing with her. It is truly the best way to introduce kids to the characters. You aren't rushed through a line like you are at the traditional meet and greets. They really take their time with each family.
