Foodie Friday: Garden Grill Review

  An all you can eat? Sounds good to me! A child at heart, I’d always wanted to book a character meal for myself and so when our trip rolled around I knew it was time! Head over to the Land Pavillion in Epcot and you'll find Garden Grill. I was excited as I watched Chip and Dale, Mickey, and Pluto run about the twirling restaurant, visiting children and adults alike while we waited to be seated. I had noted on our reservations that I was a vegetarian and our server kindly asked if I would like the vegetarian plate when taking our drink orders, I quickly said yes and she was off.

 A salad and bread bowl was brought out not long afterwards. The salad was decent but the bread was heavenly! You have plenty to choose from and pretty much ate one of each kind! Finally it was time for the real food. My parents had the usual mix of bread pudding, beef, mashed potatoes, and some fish. If I were to be honest, I can’t remember exactly what my meal was. I believe it was some sort of baked vegetable or grain with a vegetable sauce and zucchini. My parents loved their meal and ordered seconds of a few things. I’m not a big fan of zucchini and the sauce was a little different than what I’m used to, a little too rich. The meal did not stand out to me, but it was decent enough to keep me happy and satisfied.

The usual adult dessert is a fruit cobbler with vanilla bean whipped cream. My parents each ordered one, while my server suggested the “Life’s a Bug Cake” for me. I did taste a bit of the cobbler and it was fabulous! The vanilla bean whipped cream was very flavorful and the berries were great! I did not feel childish at all as I dug into my red velvet ladybug cupcake from the kids menu. Wow, this was one of the best desserts I had the entire trip. I hadn’t had red velvet much in anything, but this was so good!

   Mickey and the gang didn’t come to visit us much during our meal, they usually waved and moved on, which I was actually a little grateful for, because I probably looked ridiculous stuffing my face! After our meal was finished and we were getting desserts, each character stopped by our table and took some pictures with us and messed around, which got a few laughs. I felt like a kid again! I was a little disappointed that Mickey, Pluto, Chip, & Dale are the only characters at Garden Grill, although I knew that going in.

   One of the most interesting things about this restaurant is that it actually revolves and has different scenes as you move around the restaurant. By the time we’d finished our meal we had made it around about once, so don’t worry about getting too dizzy! If I were to give it a rating I would go with a 6/10. I had read some not-so-great reviews about the restaurant and the food before the trip which made me nervous. I can understand their points and some are valid. The food was not as great, as I was hoping, and it is very expensive. While I loved the character interaction, I don’t know if the price was worth it. Despite this, I enjoyed my time there but I think we will pick another character meal the next time around.