Garden Grill Dinner
We ate at Garden Grill on our recent trip to Disney World. It was not on our original agenda when planning our trip. My mom got sick eating here two years ago (from the motion not the food). So I have always been hesitant to book it again. However, we were ahead of "schedule" on our third day (last full day), so we looked into restaurants that had availability that night. It was between Garden Grill and Cape May Cafe. Mom said she thought she could handle the motion better because she felt like it as a fluke the time before. She also knew how much I love eating here, so we opted to go it.
Our reservation was for 6:10 p.m. (I believe), but we checked in early at 5:40 p.m. They were able to seat us within about 10 minutes. We arrived to a table already decorated with Mickey Mouse! We sat on the "top" level. I have never sat up there before. It was actually kind of nice because you didn't have as much foot traffic as you do sitting on the bottom level. I felt like we had plenty of room to move around since we were at a table instead of a booth. And when we took pictures with the characters, I didn't feel like I was going to bump into someone. In the near one hour meal, we almost made one full rotation.
The characters are a lot of fun here. The one thing I am not a huge fan of though is the lack of PhotoPass. I really wish they had the photographers here too. Unless you catch a waiter nearby that can take your pictures, you are left doing what my mom and I did. We each took pictures individually but none together. Mom and I aren't big character people when we are on trips together, so this wasn't a huge deal to us. However, if you love characters and want your whole party in the pictures, you have to ask someone to take it for you. Regardless, the characters are really great here and really take as much time as they can with you. Sometimes they even come back around later if you are still eating on their next loop.
Since our last visit here, the food changed.
Thankfully the salad and rolls stayed the same. I absolutely love both of these. The salad is made with fresh ingredients from the greenhouse there (ride Living with the Land to hear all about it!). This is literally one of my favorite salads. The sole reason I love this restaurant is both the salad and the rolls. The rolls are great, but the butter served with them is amazing. It has a touch of honey mixed in with it, and it is super soft which makes it easy to dip.
Next up was the main course. This is what has changed. Before the main course was served on a plate and it contained turkey, fish, and beef tenderloin. Now you get turkey, roast, and italian sausage in a cast iron skillet. I personally preferred the old entrees. I am not a fan of italian sausage at all. I have never really liked it. The turkey was ok, but that was on the old menu. Lastly was the roast. It was really good, and it was actually the best of the three entrees.
The side items consisted of sweet potato fries, macaroni and cheese, green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. So I honestly did not try the sweet potato fries. My mom liked them, but I throughly dislike sweet potatoes. The green beans and mashed potatoes were both good. Nothing to call home about, however. The stuffing and cranberry sauce were not good to me. I personally prefer my cranberry sauce from a can, and I like dressing over stuffing. Those are personal preferences. The best of all the side dishes was the macaroni and cheese. I am so happy they still have this. We tried it before and it was SO yummy. It is really creamy, and they add Goldfish crackers for a nice crunch.
Last up was the dessert. It too has changed. It is now a pound cake with fruit. It was really good though. I liked that it is a really light way to end dinner. The fruit was really refreshing and the whipped cream is really good. The cake was just ok, so I mainly ate fruit and whipped cream.
Overall, I would eat here again, but I am not certain it is worth the money for me. I never really get my moneys' worth from buffets, but I don't love enough from this buffet to really pay for this meal and feel like I didn't spend too much. However, I love the salad, rolls, butter, and macaroni and cheese so much...I will defintely be back!
