Reviews of Crystal Palace Lunch/Dinner
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Menus at Crystal Palace
Reviewed by pcoleman Review Date: 09/03/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
First time eating here. Loved it. our server was fabulous. On top of things all the time. Loved the food. only placed i found with that many vegetables on buffet. Can't wait to go back.
Pros:
view of castle, characters, our serverCons:
costReviewed by featheredbuddy Review Date: 09/01/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
The food was very good. Our waiter checked with us lots of times and the kids had enough time with the characters even with it as crowed as it was. Our waiter even asked if we had seen everyone and if we need more time. We have done this twice and have loved it both times.
Pros:
Great waiterCons:
noneReviewed by disneylover97 Review Date: 08/26/2014
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
The first time I tried this restaurant was in 2008 and it was one of the best in Disney World.
I went back last week and the food was horrible. I had some mac and cheese and chicken fingers. The mac and cheese was cold and tasted horrible and the chicken fingers were hard. The rest of my family also disliked the food. There wasn't much of a variety. Also, it was suppose to be a buffet but they stopped putting out new food so I only got one plate. The service was alright, I have received better. The only good part of this dinner was the characters came around and took many pictures with me and my family. Right when we were leaving wishes had started so they let us stand near the door and watch it from the porch. That was very nice.
I will never ever come back to this restaurant. I was very disappointed.
Pros:
characters, got to see wishesCons:
foodReviewed by mrtoad2015 Review Date: 07/31/2014
Rating: (3) Not Recommended
Oh, Crystal Palace, how far you have fallen!
Look, in all seriousness, this used to be my family's absolute favorite place in WDW to eat during our annual week in Disney vacation. Atmosphere: terrific, considering you have a full view of Cinderella's Castle and the (relatively) hard to find Pooh characters come to your table at least once, but often twice.
Three years ago, this place was still a smash hit, including the food. Two years ago (circa 2012) we noticed subtle changes (for the worse) in the food quality for the lunch and dinner buffets. Prime rib was replaced with a tougher cut of meat - still carved, but not quite as good. In addition, the bottomless steamed clams and mussels dish in the popular buffet line was reduced to mussels only. These weren't the only changes. As a result The place went from an A+ to more of a B+ - still worth one reservation during a week long stay.
In 2013, we found ourselves traveling to Disneyland and comparing Crystal Palace to Goofy's Kitchen, located at the Disneyland Hotel (the latter of which is now far superior) and debating which was better (the vote then was 3-1 for Goofy's Kitchen).
Back to WDW in 2014, and we had two visits scheduled for Crystal Palace. Carved meats had decreased in quality (much higher fat content) and the former bottomless clams/mussels dish (reduced to just mussels in 2012) was now an esoteric rice dish with just a few mussels sprinkled in along with a tasteless sausage companion. It was a joke how fast people in the buffet line tried to pick out just the mussels before returning to their table (they probably remembered and missed the former dish the same way I do).
Suffice it to say, if you are not picky about your food (i.e. if you are the type who thoroughly enjoys C+ chain restaurants like Applebees) you will still enjoy this restaurant if you are willing to pay $50 per person for dinner - plus a healthy tax and tip. However, for those of us who have been dining here for years, it is hard to justify the cost in light of the declining food quality.
Pros:
Pooh, Piglet and their friends / View of the CastleCons:
Food has been consistently declining in quality year to yearReviewed by manatee2420 Review Date: 07/21/2014
Rating: (8) Recommended
This was the best surprise for food quality. We went for the characters, but really enjoyed the food. The Mediterranean Chicken is great. The ice cream machine was broken when we went and the rest of the deserts were so so. Interacting with the characters got a little tricky due to space issues. Eeyore could barely move without knocking stuff over. Poor guy.
Pros:
character meal, decor, foodCons:
crowdedReviewed by ROCCOFIRE Review Date: 07/11/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
The service, and staff did a great job. The food was good, and the variety was good as well. The characters did a great job with the kids and adults. The negative aspect this place is very busy, a lot of noise, kids running around, but more than usual. The lines are long, and now days all Disney restaurants are very busy, you must make reservations.
Pros:
characters staffCons:
busy noise levelsReviewed by Dfan79 Review Date: 05/12/2014
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
I went for dinner with my family at Crystal Palace. The characters are a big reason why kids will love this place. The food is a major reason why they won’t though. I guess Disney figured they could serve anything because of the character interaction with Pooh and his gang are so great. But I wouldn’t serve this food to a dog.
Even the usually dependable ice cream had no flavor. There was also a hard cookie section, the day old ones at my local supermarket tasted fresher. The Macaroni and Cheese looked like it was left over Stouffers from the night before and I didn’t want to even go near the chicken either.
There wasn’t many choices and what they did have wasn’t good. I looked around the corner to see if there was another section that I might have missed, but nope there was just more tables.
The atmosphere is abnormally bright inside because of all the windows and the unusually large amount of round lights.
Another strike against Crystal was the price. It was the most expensive meal I have ever had at Disney and it was the worst.
Stay away.
Pros:
CharactersCons:
What they called Food, AtmosphereReviewed by elsaandannasmom Review Date: 03/24/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
This has been a favorite for over 20 years for us. We dined here when our children were small and have continued as empty nesters. The buffett is well appointed and the characters very attentive. Love Love Love it!!!
Pros:
always a favoriteCons:
charactersReviewed by kmdebree Review Date: 01/19/2014
Rating: (5) Recommended
We ate here on January 6, 2014. We last ate here 2 years ago and it has gone down since then. The tables are jammed in so that it is hard to pass to get to the buffet. The bathroom has 3 stalls total. Our waitress was very sour and even made faces while clearing other tables etc. , this was upsetting because we had a table larger than 6 so our gratuity was already included. The food was good, but some things that the girls remembered from the last time were gone. We had to have the waitress flag down two characters that totally skipped our whole seating area. I want to say that we will try again, however, I am a little warey.
Pros:
Got to see the charactersCons:
Service, automatic gratuity, Dining room was very crowdedReviewed by bosslady79 Review Date: 01/17/2014
Rating: (6) Recommended
The food was old and cold. Nothing appealing to my DD 10. The desserts were good, only found a few things I liked, and I'm not picky. Would much rather visit chacters for breakfast.
