Reviews of Hollywood and Vine Dinner
Reviewed by KBrzyski Review Date: 06/25/2014
Rating: (3) Recommended
The food was ok - lots of choices. However,the mashed potatoes were "soupy." The Jedi characters were fine. They came to our table and took pictures. My major disappointment was what I paid for 3 adults - $222 with tip for the buffet, no alcoholic beverages! I paid $180 for 4 adults, 3 of which had steak dinners at the Be Our Guest Restaurant, and I felt the ambience was nicer. Perhaps it's worth it if you have a meal plan, but I would not recommend it to someone paying cash.
Pros:
Food was okCons:
CostReviewed by jose3452 Review Date: 11/22/2014
Rating: (6) Not Recommended
A lot are wondering why this place gets low scores for dinner. I suspect these people have never eaten at a non-Disney buffet before. The food was good, but as far as buffets go I would say it was "adequate" not "plentiful." I've seen at least as much variety at Golden Corral/Old Country Buffet. The food is also on par with those places as well, at least since they both revamped their restaurants and menus in recent years.
I'm used to paying more at Disney, but I'm tired of paying double the price and feeling like I got less than I could get outside of Disney. I've found the desserts at non-Disney buffets to have more variety and appeal. The service was average.
If you're trying to fill slots on your premium dining plan or really don't care about getting a good value, you might enjoy this buffet. If you're looking for a special dining experience, this is definitely not it. If you REALLY want to eat a buffet on property, try the Trail's End as it's cheaper and has similar quality food.
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—Reviewed by lb1160 Review Date: 05/09/2014
Rating: (6) Recommended
Dinner was a buffet and it was just okay. The best part of the buffet was the cooked to order pasta, that was excellent. Desserts were very disappointing and the Fantasmic special ticket didn't mean anything, no one checked tickets and there were hoards of people entering the area all at once. Don't think we would book it again.
Pros:
Service was very good, not rushed at allCons:
Food to generic, not great qualityReviewed by alfy Review Date: 12/09/2013
Rating: (6) Recommended
We would give the food an 8 and the service a 2, with a 6 overall. We were seated about 5 minutes after our reservation time, not bad. But then it was 15 minutes before a waitress showed up. She took our drinks order and came back with them more than 10 minutes later. The only thing that arrived in a timely manner was the check. The food items were of good variety, vegetables were very fresh and the meat items were tasty, even though we arrived toward the end of the restaurant's serving hours.
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The food items were good and worth the priceCons:
Service was spottyReviewed by GinaDD Review Date: 08/27/2014
Rating: (7) Recommended
We booked H&V for two reasons....Fantasmic dinner package and so our sons could really load up. There was no real value here though for our 14 year old daughter. If you are hearty eaters you will probably find an enjoyable meal. There was carved beef and turkey, salmon, a pasta station, lots of sides, but somewhat disappointing desserts. Some very nice breads with the salads. Also the tables are too small for the number of people they are set for. I don't think we'll be back.
Pros:
Lots of choicesCons:
Over pricedReviewed by jeconk Review Date: 03/12/2014
Rating: (7) Recommended
We took the dinner meal at Hollywood & Vine to take advantage of the Fantasmic Seating advantage. While you get some of the best seats for Fantasmic (center section), you do not get a "private entrance" and have to enter with the masses.
The dinner is a buffet, which I like because you can try different things. They had a varied selection of entrees and some specialty stations (pasta, etc.) but the side dishes were not that varied or exciting. The dessert selection was great and the small portions allowed you to take several different ones to try. (and then go back for more of the ones you like!). Since it was a buffet, the small dessert portions are not a big deal.
The decor is not exciting, but I don't choose or really judge my dining choices by decor...but by food, service and comfort....all of which were fine at this restaurant.
Pros:
Wide selection of entrees and dessertsCons:
Selection of sides not as variedReviewed by matt6816 Review Date: 08/29/2014
Rating: (8) Recommended
We had a 7:20 reservation and were seated within 5 minutes. The food was well prepared and our server Bing was excellent. Unfortunately some parents look at buffets as an excuse to let their children run loose while others are trying to eat. I believe this dining location deserves a much higher rating than a 6.
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selectionCons:
unsupervised childrenReviewed by hello12345 Review Date: 06/05/2014
Rating: (8) Recommended
Had an ADR for May 28. Arrived about 15 min prior to our ADR. The setup to get check-in and get in was a little confusing. We had to check-in and then get into a line immediately. The line led to pics with Chip and Dale as Ewoks. We were seated close to our ADR time. Our waitress here was far more knowledgable and friendlier than the Sci-Fi breakfast. The characters came around in a quick and orderly fashion. They were all willing to interact with the kids. We were there for about one hour and got visted by each character twice. The food was normal for Hollywood and Vine. They have the best selection for Disney buffets in my opinion. Picture taking was also a little easier than the Sci-Fi breakfast. Hollywood and Vine is well lit and there is a little more room to move around for the pics. I had to dish out this money so my kids could see these characters. In the three previous Star Wars weekend trips we have never met the Star Wars dressed Disney characters. The price was extreme, but the convenience of seeing all the characters while we ate in the A/C was close to being worth the price. I will not pay this price to do it again though. 2 adults/2 kids cost about $190 after tip.
Pros:
See all the Star Wars Disney charactersCons:
PriceReviewed by Fitzboyzmom Review Date: 05/30/2014
Rating: (8) Recommended
We ate here for the Star Wars dinner (I could not find a place to review that). It was really neat to see all the characters dressed up and is worth it once for that alone.
The food was very good...lot's of choices. The service was wonderful. Just really expensive (I never complain about that, so you know it's bad :).
I was glad we did it. It was fun, but would not probably do the Star Wars thing again. Would definitely come back for the buffet.
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—Reviewed by bellebookworm9 Review Date: 01/12/2014
Rating: (8) Recommended
I was skeptical about dining here because it has average reviews. However, we wanted the reserved seating for Fantasmic because my brother has autism and just can't wait a long time for the show. We chose this restaurant because it was the cheapest option and a buffet so I thought it would be easy to please everyone.
Our "dinner" reservation was originally for 4:55pm but when our plans changed and we had to switch it to a different day, the only time available was 3:40pm. We checked right around that time and there was quite a line. There was plenty of seating on the porch and Teri came out to get us within 10 minutes.
The table we were assigned was fairly close to the buffet. We sampled a variety of items. Standouts were the carved turkey and strip loin, and the pork. My brother had a lot of the penne pasta with meat sauce. Loved the dinner rolls, the creamed corn spoon bread, the mashed potatoes, and the fruit salad.
Desserts looked prominsing but were just okay. I liked the ice cream and mini blueberry cheesecake. The red velvet squares and strawberry cheesecake bites were very dry. Key Lime Tarts were nothing special. Cream puffs were good. They also gave my brother a cupcake for his birthday. I ended up eating it several days later and it was great!
It was kind of an expensive meal but we were able to walk into the ampitheater at 6:30 for the 7pm show and get great seats in the Mickey section-not too far back but not as close as I would normally sit because it was very, very cold that night and we didn't want to get wet.
If you're looking for a solid dinner and good seats for the show, give H&V a whirl.
