REVIEW: Shhh! This Is the BEST Character Meal in ALL of Disney World

Character meals are some of Disney World’s most popular dining offerings, and for good reason!

There are several character meal options at the parks and resorts, from breakfasts with Mickey and friends to dinner with princesses. And each meal offers its own unique cuisine and menu. So how do you know which one to choose? Recently, we stopped by a popular character meal in EPCOT … and we’ve got some hot takes to share!

First, though, we made a video of our visit, and you can watch it right here!

Now on to that review.

Background

Garden Grill Restaurant is located upstairs in The Land Pavilion at EPCOT, right next to the Awesome Planet show. We highly recommend getting a reservation if you want to dine here because it can be popular!

If you’re a fan of Living with the Land downstairs, then this restaurant should be on your must-try list! They use some of the produce grown in the greenhouses at EPCOT on the menu at Garden Grill.

And during your meal, the restaurant slowly rotates. Since it’s situated above Living with the Land, you’ll be able to look down into scenes from the ride as the tables turn.

Now let’s head inside!

Atmosphere

The restaurant is made up of a mix of booths and tables, and as we mentioned above, it’s a circular dining area that rotates slowly throughout your meal.

You can check in for your meal digitally (in the My Disney Experience app) or at the restaurant’s podium. Once we were seated, we were given menus that explained all the items in the all-you-care-to-eat feast.

The food here is served family style in skillets, so everyone pays the same price. The meal is $62 per adult and $40 per child for lunch and dinner. That price doesn’t include tax and gratuity, but select beverages are included. (Not alcohol or specialty beverages.)

While you dine, you’ll get to meet Mickey and some of his pals! They come around to each table individually and pose for photos and do autographs. Mickey’s dressed in his adorable farmer costume!

You’ll also see his faithful pup, Pluto!

And the other characters who make an appearance here are Chip…

…and Dale! This is the only character meal in Disney World where you can meet the chipmunks.

We had some great character interactions throughout our visit — they’re one of the highlights of the meal!

Food & Drinks

Now it’s time to talk about the EATS. First up, you’ll get the bread service brought to your table. These rolls were DELICIOUS. Soft, fluffy, and served with butter on the side, they’re the dinner roll of our dreams and we wanted to eat the whole basket.

After that, our server dropped off the Harvest-inspired Garden Salad. This salad is made with ingredients from the Living with the Land greenhouses, and it was very fresh and light! The ratio of dressing to lettuce was perfectly portioned as well.

Finally, the main course! Because we had someone with a vegan diet in our group, we ordered both the regular and plant-based skillets.

The regular skillet comes with Grilled Beef with Chimichurri, barbecue-roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, seasonal vegetables, and southern-style spoon bread.

We were big fans of both the meats in the skillet. The beef was our favorite, with a texture that wasn’t too chewy or dry. The chimichurri added a nice garlic flavor to the rich meat. The barbecue chicken was also a winner — moist and savory.

The potatoes were pretty basic. On the chunky side, they had a little bit of garlic flavor and were rather buttery. However, the green beans ASTOUNDED us. They were salty and buttery and paired perfectly with the corn succotash.

One of the BEST items in the skillet was the spoon bread. It was semi-sweet with lots of corn flavor and very moist — we could eat it by the…spoonful!

The mac and cheese here has been a fan favorite for a while, and we’re glad to report that it still lives up to the standard! It was cheesy and creamy, and we honestly ate so much of it that it was embarrassing.

Moving over to the plant-based skillet, this dish comes with a veggie loaf with chunky tomato sauce, rice pilaf, and garden-fresh vegetables.

The vegetables were the same as the ones that came with the regular skillet, and just as delicious. The rice pilaf was a real winner for us as well — very buttery-flavored despite being plant-based, and filled with vegetables as well. We shoved spoonfuls of this in our mouths.

But the real top dog for plant-based eaters? The veggie loaf! This lands as a top 3 plant-based dish in Disney World for us! The inside is rice and vegetables, but the outside is fried, which makes it feel both healthy and naughty.  As far as sauces go, there’s both a chunky tomato sauce on the bottom and also a white gravy-like sauce. There are so many well-thought-out flavors and textures in this entree that we’re still raving about it.

And finally, we came to dessert! Both plant-based and regular diners get a Berry Shortcake, although they’re two different versions. The regular version was moist and light with very fresh berries, and it was topped with whipped cream. The whipped cream was definitely Cool Whip-adjacent, so be warned if you’re not a fan.

However, the plant-based version of the shortcake didn’t impress. It’s gluten and dairy-free, and in a word, it tasted like “science,” if you know what we mean. The berry compote was fine, but we would’ve loved a plant-based whipped cream served on top.

Okay, now that we’re stuffed, let’s discuss!

Should You Go?

Ultimately, Garden Grill still ranks as one of our favorite character meals in Disney World! The character interactions were fun and charming, and the atmosphere is very unique.

The food here is consistently delicious, and there are some things that definitely stand out. The beef, macaroni and cheese, spoon bread, and vegetables were all highlights for us.

And for plant-based eaters? The menu was shockingly good and definitely on the upper end of options for character meals and family-style feasts. We think you might want to give it a try, especially if you’re a vegetable lover!

So the next time you’re in EPCOT, check out Garden Grill! We definitely plan to go back in the future. It’s a great choice for families, Living with the Land fans, or character meal lovers.

Stay tuned to AllEars for more dining reviews and updates from Disney World!

The Best Character Dining at Disney World — Click Here!

Have you ever been to Garden Grill? Let us know in the comments!

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