Tasty Tuesday - Be Our Guest

Be Our Guest  - 7/10 

Dinner

Is Be Our Guest worth all the hype?  You be the judge. The atmosphere inside is fantastic. The choices in castle seating gives you the opportunity to sit in the "West Wing", experiencing thunderstorms, and the Beast torn portrait, and fading rose.  The ballroom dining area, with a animatronic B&B dancing in the ballroom, or the main dining room, which is the least favorite, but still quaint.  The disappointment lays in the quality of the food, and the high price demanded for lackluster items.

The Food: 8/10

The  pan-seared chicken breast was well seasoned and cooked properly, but the price tag with the European style portion and lack of vegetable sides make it less of a value. One fingerling potato as garnish with a small salad.  The salad was flavorful, but would have preferred more toppings to go along with it other than “braised” tomatoes and what looked to be bok-choy. Salads are easy to make and easy to improve so I think this salad could have used some extra work. The garlic Aioli was very good, so good I wish they would bottle it and sell it. I love garlic. The dessert tray is adorably displayed and are reasonably priced for Disney. The famous Grey Stuff is worth getting once then I would venture out and try some other desserts.

The Service: 8/10

The host that took us to our seat was very nice and professional. The added touch of holding Lumiere as you walk to your seat is fun and whimsical. Our server Alyssa was polite and efficient. Not necessarily the most magical experience, but that is not always easy to do when you are serving so many guests.   She was fast, informative and got everything right. She didn't ask if we wanted one check or two (2 couples), so that added some time to the process, but we could have told her that at the beginning—whoops. 

 The service was a bit lacking at the Beast meet and greet. The Beast was engaging and was looking spiffy in some new threads since the last time I saw him; but line jumping was a problem due to the inefficient setup of the queue.  Once you finish your meal you enter the line but on the other side of the wall (unbeknownst to us) others can enter the line from the restaurant entrance (that is where we had people jump in line). Additional cast members should be at both sides of the line directing people or a rope should section off line properly so people who enter the castle just to look don’t hop right in line to see the Beast.

The Price: 4/10

The price is where they lose me.  It doesn't feel like a true table service, especially since during breakfast and lunch it is a quick service. The prices are on par for other table services, but the portions and overall options at Be Our Guest don’t match the price of the meals. On a less active day, the meal may have been filling but we left feeling hungry. This is one of the restaurants where you are paying for the experience more than the food. I would rather get better quality food at a full time table service than a quick service that masquerades as a table service at night.

P.S. We were still hungry afterwards so we went to Food & Wine at EPCOT.