Chef Mickey's (Breakfast Buffet)

Note:  This restaurant was visited on 29 July 2012.  The review was originally written later that afternoon.

 

Time once again for a Disney restaurant expedition.  This time, our quest takes us to Chef Mickey's for the breakfast buffet.

Chef Mickey's

My company for today's trip was my mother, Cheryl Butler, my other younger brother, Aaron Butler, and Jared.  This trip had a secondary purpose, specifically it was a bit of a birthday celebration for Aaron (who turned 42) and Jared (who turned 11).

Chef Mickey's is located in the Grand Canyon Concourse in the Contemporary Hotel.  If you've ever ridden on the monorail from the Transport and Ticket Information Center towards the Magic Kingdom, and passed through the Contemporary Hotel, you've seen the Grand Canyon Concourse.  Its the huge, central open area that takes up most of the fourth through eleventh floors of the hotel.  You could easily park the space shuttle inside this space.  The restaurant itself is on one end, tucked in beneath the monorail track that runs through the hotel.

The Grand Canyon Concourse, from the loading area of the monorail.
Unfortunately, you can't see Chef Mickey's from here.  Its on the other side of the wall with the big mural on it.

A closer view of the big mural.  This piece of artwork is almost seven stories tall.

A view of the little mural.

When we arrived to check in, there was a short line, but within five minutes we were checked in.  There was no waiting to get a table at all.  However, we were told that this immediate access is highly unusual, as Chef Mickey's is the second most popular restaurant on Disney property (after Cinderella's Royal Table, which sits at #1, and just ahead of Le Cellier at #3), and as such is usually packed to the gills.  Make sure you have a reservation when you go.

This is a busy restaurant, and by busy I don't necessarily mean crowded.  There were a lot of people dining there when we went, sure, but it wasn't crowded, despite the numbers.  Or at least it didn't feel crowded.  No, I mean its busy in that there are always people moving around, and Disney

characters showing up all the time, and the background music is a bit loud and intrusive, and there's a lot of noise.  Unlike T-Rex, though, which was similarly noisy and busy, the sound in Chef Mickey's wasn't overwhelming.  I'm guessing its just better acoustics.

The restaurant itself is wide open and brightly lit, with cheerful decorations.  There is no part of this restaurant that doesn't have easy access to the buffet line, and there's no congestion points where people might have a hard time navigating past his fellow diners.

The dining room.  Wide open, doesn't feel crowded, and is tastefully decorated.

Our table was surprisingly small for a party of four, and it was dominated by the napkin dispenser, salt, pepper, sugar/sweeterer cup, and condiment bin.  But it wasn't unworkable.  Our server, a really nice, personable guy named Nabil, was on the ball.  Before we even had sat down he had everyone's orange juice glasses filled and was offering coffee (despite my general dislike for the swill-disguised-as-coffee Disney serves at their restaurant, I had a cup) to those who wanted it.  Aaron specifically had to ask for a soda, as it didn't seem to occur to Nabil that anyone would want anything else to drink, but given the orange juice and the coffee, he barely touched the thing.

The four of us, at our table.  It was small.
That's the buffet line behind us.

The amazing Nabil, waiter supreme.
So far, Nabil has been the most skilled, efficient, and friendly server in the entire tour.

Seriously, when you go, ask if this man is working, and if he is, demand to be seated at one of his tables.

The buffet had a wide variety of breakfast foods to offer.   An impressive variety of foods, if I were to be honest.  There were four or five different kinds of fruit, including bananas, apples, oranges, grapefruit, little tangerine slices, grapes, pineapple, and two different kinds of melon), as well as several in mixed fruit salads.  There was yogurt (blueberry).  Bacon.  Sausage in both link and crumble form.  Scrambled eggs.  Croissants.  Hash with turkey, hash with sausage, and hash with corned beef.  Dilled salmon with capers.  A breakfast pizza.  Biscuits and sausage gravy.  French toast.  Cottage cheese.  Raisin bread.  Sticky buns.  Grits.  Freshly-made waffles (shaped like Mickey Mouse, no less).  Ham.  Freshly-made pancakes.  Hash browns in patty form.  English muffins.  Two different types of quiche.  Hash browns in a creamy cheese sauce.  Blintzes.  Rice crispy treats.  Donut holes.  Cinammon buns.  Oatmeal.  And four different types of cold cereal.

Fruit, fruit, and more fruit.  Plus yogurt, cottage cheese, and salmon.

The rest of the fruit/salad line.

A breakfast pizza, hash brown patties, and french toast.

Croissants and english muffins.

Quiche, more quiche, sausage, more sausage, ham, and bacon.

Yet another quiche, plus sausage and gravy.  Sticky buns to the right.

Blintzes with either blueberry or cherry sauce.

Rice crispy treats, cinammon buns, and raisin bread.

Fresh fruit, rice crispy treats, and donut holes.

I kept looking for an omelette station that wasn't there.  They just didn't have one!  Sure, there was a nice, smiling young woman pumping out fresh pancakes all morning long in the place where an omelette station would be logically located, but no actual omelette station.  This was disappointing.  I mean over at 1900 Park Fare, where I work occasionally, we have an omelette station and its the belle of the ball.  These folks didn't have that, choosing rather to supply an endless supply of fresh pancakes and waffles.  (Mickey waffles!)

See!  Told you!

I've got to be honest and tell you that for all the variety, the quality of the food was pretty basic.  I'm not saying it was bad (at least not overall).  But what I am saying is that there wasn't anything special about it.  If you've been to any Shoney's or Golden Corral for their breakfast buffet, all you have to do is imagine yourself surrounded by Disney decor and characters while you're eating there and you've pretty much arrived at the heart of Chef Mickey's.

There were some high spots, of course.   The Mickey waffles were fresh made right in front of you, as were the pancakes.  Those creamy hash browns with the cheese sauce were just fantastic.  The Italian sausage hash (substituting the sausage for corned beef, and including red pepper, diced potatoes, mushrooms, and sauteed onions) was sublime.  And the blintzes were to die for, I'm telling you.

But overall, it was the same food you'd get at Golden Corral.  The sausage was sausage; tasty, but a bit greasy and overall just sausave.  The eggs were typical buffet scrambled eggs; edible, and somewhat tasty, but not worth writing home about.  And so on.

Both Jared and Aaron received birthday cupcakes, along with candles, as I had notified the restaurant ahead of time that we were having a special occasion.  Luckily, there was no horde of happy-birthday singing servers, which was a good thing.

Aaron's birthday cupcake.
Jared sucked his up like a vacuum cleaner sucks up dust and I had no chance to take a picture of it.

Of course, this is a Disney restaurant, and Disney offers things you just can't get at a Golden Corral.  Specifically, we were visited by the Disney characters.

Jared with Donald Duck.

Aaron and Jared with Goofy.

Aaron and Jared with Mickey Mouse.

Aaron, Jared, and myself with Pluto.

Mom, Aaron, and Jared with Minnie Mouse.

Now for the bad news.

Other than the lack of omelette station, there were two things that really, really disappointed me.  The first was the biscuits and sausage gravy.  The biscuits were a bit mealy, and the gravy was a steadily hardening lump that I couldn't eat more than one bite of.  The other disappointment was the coffee, since it was the usual Disney World swill.  But then, I am a self-admitted coffee snob, and if the coffee isn't Sumatran, Kona, or Jamaican Blue Mountain, then to me its just going to be undrinkable.  This stuff was no different.

Perhaps my standards are a bit high, but I stand by my judgment about the coffee.  Your mileage may vary.

Jared wants me to make sure to mention that they keep the air conditioning way, way up, making the entire restaurant chilly.  I didn't notice, but I did promise I'd mention it.

Anyway, in general we all had fun with our meal.  Despite the fact that the background music was loud and intrusive, it was fun watching the kids dancing around and having fun with the characters.

The bill for me and Jared (Mom and Aaron were paying their own way) was $52 and change.  I'll give Chef Mickey's breakfast buffet three stars.  If you've got kids and are looking for a fun experience with the characters, go for it.  If you don't have kids?  There are probably better (or at least less expensive) places to go for the same food.  Like Golden Corral.

The tour will be coming back to Chef Mickey's at a later date, for the dinner buffet.

Next up:  The Grand Floridian Cafe, at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa.

The Whispering Canyon's Cafe

Note:  This restaurant was visited on 15 January 2012.  The review was originally written later that afternoon.

So...the first stop on the Walt Disney World Restaurant Tour is Whispering Canyon Cafe at Disney's Wilderness Lodge. 

Whispering Canyon Cafe

The first thing you should know about the Wilderness Lodge is that its hard to find and not all that easy to get to if you've never been there, or if you're not that familiar with driving around on the "back roads" found on Disney World property.  The easiest way to find the Wilderness lodge is to head to the Magic Kingdom.  When you approach the Magic Kingdom gate, stick to the right-hand traffic lane (as close as you can get to the lane the busses use), as if you're heading for the Contemporary Resort.  Then just turn right at the next stoplight (not at the next right... at the next stoplight).

Disney's Wilderness Lodge, from the approach.

The hotel itself is impressive to look at and very cool, as far as design goes.  Its done up in Pacific northwest fashion, with lots of totem poles and carved animals and woodwork.  Jared, who was my companion for the day, said it looked like it was made out of giant Lincoln Logs.  There's even an artificial river out back that starts in the lobby, goes over a man-made waterfall, and ends up dumping into the resort's swimming pool.

There's even an artificial geyser that blows off into the air every half hour or so.

The aforementioned geyser.  Its out back behind the swimming pool, which it also dumps into.

Whispering Canyon Cafe is located in the hotel's main lobby, and takes up most of the left-hand side of the lobby as you come in through the front foor.  The right side is taken up by check-in, guest services, the bell captain's desk, and the consierge desk, plus a small gift shop, so you're not going to have any trouble at all finding this place.

The welcome mat just inside the door.  I thought it was adorable.

Lobby, right side.

Lobby, left side.  The area at the bottom is the restaurant proper.

Jared and I arrived about half an hour early for our reservation, but given that the dining room was visibly empty (I counted three tables that had people eating when we arrived), I was surprised when we weren't seated.  Rather, we were given a buzzer and told that we'd be seated when it went off.  Which it did... at our exact reservation time.  During out half-hour wait, I saw exactly four other parties seated; the dining room was still very empty, but apparently the gentleman at the check-in desk was going to enforce those reservation times come Hell or high water!

The delay in our getting a table did give Jared enough time to have a little fun.  In the very, very small lobby/landing where you check in for your reservation is a pair of chairs and a table filled with Lincoln Logs.  Jared, like most little boys, found the Lincoln Logs utterly irresistable, and why not?  They're a lot of fun, and to tell you the truth I got a kick out of watching him play.  He managed to put together a couple of houses in the time we were waiting for our table, and a good time was had by all.  He's since asked for a set of Lincoln Logs for Christmas.  He might just get them, too.

Jared and the Lincoln Logs.

At the appointed time, our buzzer went off and we were seated.  We ended up at a round table that clearly was meant for a party of six, but Jared and I were the only people there.  This meant we had plenty of room, and made looking around easy.  The Pacific Northwest/Cowboys and Indians theme continued inside.  Jared, specifically, noted a painting hanging over our table that featured the image of a puppy jumping through a lariat, and a wall lamp that seemed to be made out of a drum.  It was pretty good, and suited the feel of the restaurant.  Jared, for one, thought it all very cool.

The theming of this restaurant is everywhere.  Its trying very hard to be rustic and western, and for the most part it succeeds.  There were some odd touches, like the fact that the drinking glasses were mason jars (as were the salt and pepper shakers), but overall the decor wasn't as oppressive as it could have been when it comes to shoving the theme into your face.

The painting that impressed Jared so much, featuring the rope-jumping puppy dog.

The equally impressive wall-lamp.  Jared insisted I show you folks what it looked like.

There was about a five minute delay between our being seated and our server showing up.  The guy we ended up with (a gentleman named Paul) seemed distracted and in a hurry, and in general acted as if talking to us was taking up too much of his afternoon.  He refilled drinks and got Jared and myself what we asked for only after a delay, and it was hard to catch his attention.  To be fair, I did notice that he was treating all of his tables like this.

The problem was, I was watching the other servers interact with their tables, and in comparison, Paul was a let-down.  The other servers were having conversations with their tables, and interacting with the kids seated there, and generally were making sure that their guests were not just enjoying their meals, but actually having fun while dining there.  Paul, it seemed, couldn't be bothered.

After ordering drinks, Jared and I perused the menu for a bit.  We discussed the pro's and con's of the various kid's menu options for a bit before Jared settled on a cheeseburger, french fries, a side salad, and cookies for dessert.  I, on the other hand, chose the canyon skillet, which was an all-you-care-to-eat sampler of the various barbecue items offered at the restaurant.  I figured I might as well take in an overview, since barbecue is Whispering Canyon's stock in trade.

The canyon skillet:  three barbecued ribs, a barbecued airline breast (meaning a chicken breast with the wing still attached), a link of smoked sausage, corn on the cob, "cowboy beans", and potato salad.  Not pictured:  the basket of sweet cornbread and the cole slaw.

Jared's choice from the kid's menu:  a cheeseburger, french fries, a small salad, and cookies.

The barbecue was sublime. The chicken was tender and juicy and tasty without a hint of the greasiness that can happen sometimes. The ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender.  The sausage was sweet and amazing and had just the right hint of spice. The corn was crisp, the cornbread just sweet as a baby's kiss and just moist enough to not be gummy, and the cole slaw was exquisite. I don't know what they were flavoring the mashed potatoes with, but I'm going to find out.

They even served the barbecue sauce (which was of the "brown sugary and hickory" variety) warm.  It was a truly, truly glorious meal.  And if you wanted more of something, you had bt to ask.  Paul was a bit slow, but when you got his attention he did bring you what you wanted.

Jared's opinion of the cheeseburger (which he finshed completely), the salad (which he ate half of), the french fries (which also disappeared), and the cookies (of which he ate one and saved the other for later) was that it was all "Good."  Which is high praise from the laconic eleven year old.  He did give the place a thumb's up, and admitted he wouldn't mind coming back some time.

The only complaint I had at all about the meal, other than Paul's not being personable or friendly that day, were the "cowboy beans".  Now, I've had a lot of baked beans in my time, and let me tell you folks, most of the time they are just "okay".  You know what I mean... not bad, just not anything memorable.  I've had memorable baked beans before (anyone whose eaten the beans at a Sonny's Barbecue can recognize the taste of excellent baked beans).   Honestly, given the amazing quality of the food, I expected great baked beans.

Boy howdy, was I disappointed.  These were not great beans.  These were not even good beans.  These were lousy beans.  They tasted like the kitchen staff prepared them by opening up a can of pinto beans, then squirting a touch of ketchup into the mix.

But as I said, that was the only bad part of the experience.  Overall, this was a great meal, and Jared and I had a good time eating it.

All told, I'd give the place four-and-a-half stars out of five and recommend it.

Now for the damages.  The canyon skillet was $18 and change, while the kids cheeseburger meal was about $9. With drinks, total cost for the entire meal was $32 and change.

Not too shabby for a Disney restaurant.

Next stop:  Le Cellier, in the Canada Pavillion, Epcot.