Overrated Table Service Restaurants at Disney World for 2024
Walt Disney World has many great restaurants that are very popular, and a few popular restaurants that aren’t so great. This list of overrated table service restaurants at Walt Disney World for 2024 takes a look at ones that are worse than their reputation or hype might suggest. (Updated December 20, 2023.)
It’s not easy to define what makes a restaurant overrated. In our view, Advance Dining Reservation (ADR) availability, pricing, and cuisine quality are big factors. Equally significant is uniqueness–if a particular restaurant brings nothing special to the table and is surpassed by similarly-situated counterparts that are less popular, cheaper, or serve better food, it’s more likely to be overrated.
The important thing to underscore is that “overrated” and “bad” are not synonyms. There are plenty of notorious restaurants at Walt Disney World with deservedly poor reputations. Those are just bad–not overrated. At least, that’s our perspective on what makes for an overrated Walt Disney World table service restaurant. Not all of the restaurants on this overrated list are universally beloved, but all of them aren’t as good as the consensus suggests.
Obviously, this is highly subjective and not even remotely scientific, but at least it comes with identifiable criteria considering restaurants overrated. Believe me, it was very difficult to resist my impulse to simply bash restaurants that I dislike. That’s one reason why this list was more difficult to put together than our Underrated Table Service Restaurants at Walt Disney World.
There are several restaurants at Walt Disney World that I do not like for one reason or another. While it’s tempting to pile on to Rainforest Cafe, Tutto Italia, Planet Hollywood, Rose & Crown, Paddlefish, or Crystal Palace (to name a few), I’m not sure it’s fair to call any of those overrated.
That would imply that the consensus on them is positive, and I just don’t think that’s true anymore. If anything, I might still be including a couple restaurants on this list that are no longer highly-hyped. Time has passed them by as Walt Disney World fans have moved on to greener pastures.
To that point, Be Our Guest Restaurant is not overrated over one decade after it debuted. For one thing, it is the place that Walt Disney World fans love to hate. It may have been overrated, but that’s not even remotely the case now. Advance Dining Reservations are much easier, and if you ask 100 random fans their opinion on Be Our Guest, you will get more than 50 negative responses and fewer than 25 positive ones.
If anything, Be Our Guest Restaurant is now underrated. There’s far more hate than hype for it, and people pile-on to an extreme degree that, in our opinion, is not warranted by the actual quality of the cuisine or atmosphere of the restaurant. But I know I’m not winning any friends with my defenses of Be Our Guest Restaurant, so I’ll just cut that short before I lose too many of you!
There are actually several restaurants that, contrary to popular Walt Disney World fan sentiment, are not overrated. So stay tuned for an “unpopular opinion” list of restaurants you (as a community, not you as the individual reader) think are overrated but actually are enjoyable for the ambiance, theme, or cuisine.
But even this explainer is now tangential to the topic of the post, so let’s cut to the chase and start listing some Walt Disney World’s table service restaurants that we think are overrated…
Beaches & Cream Soda Shop – This is one of two modestly priced meals we were on the fence about including, with the other being Plaza Restaurant. Both used to be recommended for having entrees at counter service prices, but are now an upwards of $20.
The difference, and why Plaza Restaurant escapes inclusion, is the competition. In Magic Kingdom, there are no good alternatives at or around that price point. You’ll spend less for something inferior or much more for something superior. By contrast, Beaches & Cream is surrounded by great dining at a range of price points. Even with that said, Beaches & Cream does have a couple of tasty entrees (and I’d happily remove the restaurant from this list if they’d just bring back the Patty Melt and Pork Belly Cuban Sandwich).
Then there’s the ice cream, which is literally just Edy’s. That’s right–the ice cream so many Walt Disney World fans absolutely adore could be purchased in bulk at Sam’s Club for like $5. Don’t get us wrong, the novelty shakes are a ton of fun, and we’re suckers for a No Way Jose or Kitchen Sink, but the hype is too much. There are superior scoop shops all around Walt Disney World, including a short walk away in Epcot’s France pavilion.
Chef Mickey’s (Dinner Only) – Chef Mickey’s is overrated for its dinner buffet–meaning it’s fine for breakfast. If you’re fine with quantity instead of quality, you should be fine. To be clear, that’s not quantity over quality–it’s instead of, as there’s no quality to speak of. The ingredients are cheap, dishes are bland and flavorless, and just generally low-quality. It’s among the worst food you’ll find anywhere at Walt Disney World–even by buffet standards–almost inexplicably bad. Adding insult to injury, it’s really expensive.
The normal breakfast buffet at Chef Mickey’s is a different experience. To be sure, it’s still not the pinnacle of the culinary arts, but it’s perfectly satisfactory. The kind of quantity over quality breakfast you’d expect from a buffet. Our memories of Chef Mickey’s at breakfast are fond; it’s generally a good experience that also costs less. Both meals are overpriced given the cuisine, but there’s something to be said for the experience of these characters in their culinary costumes before a day in Magic Kingdom.
Le Cellier Steakhouse – How the times change. A decade ago, this would have been a highly controversial pick. Then, Le Cellier was a great value on the Disney Dining Plan, while offering some excellent appetizers and good (albeit slightly over-buttered and over-salted) cuts of meat. It was almost impossible to land an Advance Dining Reservation at Le Cellier.
Over time, buzz increased and reservations became more difficult to land. Disney made changes to the Dining Plan and, eventually, to Le Cellier’s status at dinner. Finally, Le Cellier became a two-credit restaurant for lunch, too, making it a full-time Signature Restaurant. It also moved to a lunch/dinner menu, removing many cheaper options that were popular with those paying out of pocket.
By now, I think the perception of Le Cellier has soured with many Walt Disney World fans. Nevertheless, it remains a difficult ADR even as many steakhouses in or around Epcot have ample availability. On that basis, Le Cellier remains overrated despite not being as overrated as before. It’s still a good restaurant with some solid options, just not deserving of its enduring popularity or price points.
Chefs de France – Another World Showcase entry joins Le Cellier on the list of overrated restaurants. Although Chefs de France never had the same buzz as Le Cellier, it has had high price points and enjoyed popularity thanks to relatively approachable and crowd-pleasing cuisine.
The only problem? It’s overpriced, pedestrian, and like the fourth best dining option in the France pavilion. Actually, it’s the fifth best if there’s a festival happening that has a moderately-good menu–so pretty much always! It doesn’t help that the restaurant is always chaotic and there’s no atmosphere to speak of–it’s a get people in and out as quickly as possible kind of place that focuses on efficiency over experience.
This is probably going to be a controversial pick, but we just don’t think Chefs de France lives up to the hype, and we’ve had eerily similar meals from Costco’s premade bulk meals. (In fairness, those were very good, but frozen food shouldn’t compare to one of World Showcase’s most popular restaurants.)
Hollywood Brown Derby – There are two restaurants from Disney’s Hollywood Studios that we routinely see Walt Disney World fans call overrated: Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater and 50’s Prime Time Cafe. Neither of them made this list. This comes down to both not really being rated that highly (if so many people hate them, it’s tough to say they’re overrated) and, frankly, fans missing the point. Disney is best at atmosphere and theme, so if a restaurant excels at those things, it’s deserving of praise.
Instead, our first of two picks for overrated restaurants at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is the Brown Derby. This is a tough one, and even as I write this, I’m ready for it to have a redemption arc. It pains me to see Brown Derby, a restaurant we once loved, on this list. However, our last couple of meals here have been bad. Low quality dishes poorly prepared in small portion sizes at astronomical prices.
It seems like Brown Derby’s reputation as the “fancy” restaurant at Disney’s Hollywood Studios has made it more popular and is resting on its laurels as a result. Regardless, we’d rather dine at any of the the table service restaurants at DHS–including the next entry–before overpaying for another mediocre meal at Brown Derby.
Toy Story Roundup Rodeo BBQ – Two years from now, Roundup Rodeo BBQ probably won’t make this list. But as of 2024, it still will due to having that new toy-restaurant smell. Reviews among Walt Disney World fans haven’t exactly been glowing, and word has already gotten out that Roundup Rodeo BBQ is not great.
There are a number of reasons Toy Story Land’s new restaurant doesn’t live up to the hype. For one, it’s not a character restaurant nor is it Pizza Planet–two things just about every Toy Story fan would’ve preferred. Beyond that, it’s essentially a windowless warehouse, with atmosphere that’s loud and chaotic (unsurprisingly, given the target audience).
On the food front, there’s both bad and good at Roundup Rodeo BBQ. Quality is generally about on par with Regal Eagle Smokehouse, a counter service restaurant at Epcot. Even with the good items, you’ll likely notice that Roundup Rodeo BBQ is more about quantity than quality. All in all, Roundup Rodeo BBQ is an enjoyable restaurant in Toy Story Land for families wanting a place to eat unlimited crowd-pleasing cuisine while immersed in characters from the movies, and having fun in the process. Anyone without young children should stay far away.
Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ – We’ve enjoyed every meal we’ve had at Homecomin.’ We’ve met Chef Art Smith there on several occasions, and he seems like a great guy who really cares about his guests and the quality of the food being served to them. From those experiences, I can understand why Homecomin’ routinely ranks as the #1 restaurant at Disney Springs in fan polls.
But c’mon. In a place with Jaleo, The Boathouse, Morimoto Asia, STK, and Raglan Road, it’s very difficult to crown a comfort food spot #1. There is just so much ambitious and envelope-pushing cuisine at Disney Springs, whereas Homecomin’ is serving up fried chicken, doughnuts, country fried steak, short rib, and other such specialties.
Don’t misinterpret this: Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ is very good for what it is, and we enjoy it! Again, “overrated” and “bad” are not synonyms. We’re not trying to troll or stir up controversy…we’re just saying that maybe Homecomin’ is not best-of-class and its legion of diehard fans make it out to be more than it actually is.
If this selection made you mad, you probably aren’t going to love our choice for this list’s final entry, either…
‘Ohana – Our most recent review of ‘Ohana encapsulates the emotional highs and lows of a meal at this beloved restaurant far better than a couple of paragraphs in this run-down. In a nutshell, ‘Ohana is a Walt Disney World institution for good reason–but that reason is not the food. It’s also not the prices. Or its ease of booking.
For many longtime Walt Disney World fans, revisiting ‘Ohana is an emotional experience evoking all sorts of nostalgia and fond memories. There’s also something to be said for the actual atmosphere, with the fireworks, views of Cinderella Castle, and Electrical Water Pageant. Then there’s the communal energy and vibe that yes, in fact, ‘Ohana does mean family.
Given all of that, we can hardly fault Walt Disney World fans who love ‘Ohana. We love ‘Ohana! However, our love for ‘Ohana is based more on the idea of the restaurant as it exists in our hearts and fond memories of past experiences. Trying to untangle that from today’s actual ‘Ohana experience is messy, but to the extent that we can, our perspective is that present-day ‘Ohana is overrated. If we were first-timers visiting Walt Disney World, booking ‘Ohana based on all of the recommendations, we’d leave scratching our heads, wondering what all the hype is about. Walt Disney World first-timers, eat at Sebastian’s Bistro instead of ‘Ohana. Trust us on that.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Which Walt Disney World table service restaurants would you consider overrated? Do you agree or disagree with our list? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
We’ve eaten at Brown Derby twice and although we really liked the food (Cobb Salad* in particular for me, $$ burger for him), we’ve never been thrilled with the service. The atmosphere is very nice for adults and/but does not feel at all “Disney” inside. It’s a classy place, a leisurely meal, and pricey but I would definitely eat there again.
*I strongly recommend NOT having your server mix the bleu cheese into the entire salad. Try it alone and determine just how much you want to spread it around (or not). It was VERY strong but very tasty.
We struggle with Ohana and just dined there about three weeks ago for dinner. Very slow to be seated – almost 30 minutes beyond our time. Service was awesome, though. Very polite. The authentic, live music is always amazing. The view! BUT…the food has taken a turn. Bring back the shish kabobs. There something authentic about having the various proteins and grilled vegetables on long metal sticks. It’s just fun. I also think they are trying to compensate with the “fancy” dressings. A good piece of meat does not need heavy dressings. So…hoping that Poly management takes an opportunity to review Ohana and help it reclaim its fame.
I completely agree with your assessment of Ohana’s. I got reservations & we all couldn’t wait to return to the restaurant that had such wonderful food 12 years ago & we were now introducing 2 new family members to this treat. We were all disappointed. The menu wasn’t the same, the food was mediocre, the price was still high. We found ourselves filling up on the noodles because we didn’t care for most of the protein options. What a waste of money & a major disappointment. We will never return. Thanks for an honest article. I’ll heed your advice on the other restaurants.
Much of the table service restaurants at DISNEYWORLD are mediocre. You pay for location and ambiance. I did however find the servers have improved greatly since Covid, nice to see workers from foreign countries back again. They really are so much more enthusiastic and want to be working there .
Since we are sharing opinions, I will have to disagree on some, however, I’m not disagreeing on the ones picked as overrated (although Brown Derby has been good to us as recently as September 2023). I disagree with mentioning the Boathouse as a good one. It was horrible when we went there, overpriced, bad service and awful food.
Something to think about is that Homecoming for out of town guests it is a stellar example of the local cuisine. It’s something that would hard to find outside of the South. Plus I think not everyone wants something as challenging as places like Morimto or Jaleo. After a day of over stimulation in the parks a lot of people would want comfort food.
This is definitely a fair point, and perhaps I’ve been spoiled by other similarly-styled restaurants in the South. (Also – I know they’re technically different types of cuisine, but I think a lot of diners in the Midwest do this type–or an adjacent style–of cooking pretty well.)
Regardless, both Olivia’s and Grand Floridian Cafe do fried chicken better than Homecomin’ IMO.
As a foreigner I agree with this! Homecomin’ was my favourite meal from my last trip and I still think about those chicken and doughnuts because we just don’t have anything like that locally – there are places here that try to emulate Southern fried chicken but they all just taste like KFC. Though on my next trip to WDW I am definitely looking forward to trying out the other recommended restaurants!
We’re staying away from Roundup Rodeo BBQ, just because if you bring us a big plate with four (?) different kinds of meat, half is probably gonna go to waste. Just let us order what we like, Disney!
Definitely agree that Homecomin’ is overrated. The last time we at there, I had a chicken sandwich that was twice the price of a Chik-Fil-A sandwich, and not as good.
Hi Tom. The Patty Melt is back on the menu at Beaches and Cream, and it is delicious. I ordered it off-menu in May 2023. The server warned me they did not have sauteed mushrooms (which did not matter to me). It was officially on the printed menu in November 2023. It’s not on the online menu or the menu outside of the restaurant.
thus list is missing the greatest offender – Be Our Guest. the noise levels take away the charm, and the food isn’t worth the price. CRT is more authentic and the food is better
I think we addressed that pretty well at the beginning of the post, but in case not, browse through past comments. The overwhelming consensus is that Walt Disney World fans do not like Be Our Guest Restaurant. On top of that, ADRs are now increasingly easy for Be Our Guest–nothing like even 5 years ago.
If it’s easy to book and the consensus is negative, how can it be overrated?
Via Napoli in Epcot. Lovely atmosphere with Italian servers with wonderful accents , but undercooked crust thick doughy pizza . For $45 for a large pizza , maybe they should think about hiring some pizza chefs from Italy ! We did have a wonderful meal at California Grill. The fish was awesome .
We are great fans of Be Our Guest in general but the menu choices are really lacking these days. Am I the only person who hates the grey stuff? The dessert (I know, I’m going backwards) is disappointing and there just aren’t enough choices for lunch or dinner. We’ll stick with breakfast/brunch which has never been less than spectacular in my opinion. LOTS of food and the noisiness isn’t as bothersome in the morning for some reason. I think it’s because lunch and dinner feel like more sedate meals?
Great list and you’re SO right about Ohana. The food is bad. We went for the last time in the fall. So many good meals over the past 20 years. I don’t know what happened.
A little air came out of my tires because it will be our first time eating at Ohana and Roundup in February and now I am planning on being disappointed. Ugh!
@Jill… don’t worry everyone has different tastes. Ohana was always a must for us but they no longer stand by the huge fire pit cooking the meat. It’s not the same as it once was. Try it once and if it’s a good thing for your family then fantastic. If not , then you can say you tried !! Good luck and enjoy!
@jill keep your plans and stay excited about them. Everyone has different opinions. They are definitely both worth going to and then you can decide for yourself!
Enjoy!!