Garden Grill Breakfast At Epcot

Disney’s Garden Grill Restaurant at Epcot is a hidden gem that I recently discovered.  I’ve always known the restaraunt was there, but it was never a priority for us to try given that there are so many terrific places to eat in Epcot.  I couldn’t decide where I wanted to eat on one of my visits so I asked my Facebook community what I should try and they voted for the Garden Grill.  It was decided – and we promptly made breakfast reservations.

Since my sister and I were staying at the Boardwalk, we decided to have a bit of a later breakfast and take our time walking over in the morning.  That’s one of the great benefits of staying at one of the Epcot area resorts like the Boardwalk, Yacht Club and Beach Club.   It was a nice walk over and entering through the International Gateway before World Showcase opens is always a great opportunity for some photos with no one in them!  It didn’t take us long before we were at the Land pavillion and walking up to the Garden Grill Restaurant.

The restaurant itslef is circular, and it rotates!  It’s very slight – you can barely notice it – but you need to watch your step when you’re walking on the the platform.

Can you spot the hidden Mickey?

The tables were all facing ‘outward’ so there was no one with their back to the characters as they came around.  We had Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale come by and they took their time.  We got to spend some quality time with them taking pictures, they came around twice!  I assume that’s not the normal practice, it might have been because it wasn’t busy when we went – but we weren’t complaining!

Mickey Mouse Slow Cooker with Dipper Official shopDisney

Mickey Mouse Slow Cooker with Dipper Official shopDisney

Mickey takes his own good time to make kitchen magic with this five quart Slow Cooker and 20 ounce dipper for all your favorite crockery cooking recipes.


Now for the food.  It was delicious.  So good in fact that I now want to go back for dinner to try that!

The server started with our drink order – there were specialty drinks we could have purchased, but I stuck with tea and water.

The fruit bowl came out and the fruit was so juicy and flavorful.

Disney’s Garden Grill Restaurant breakfast fruit bowl

The problem is they brought out the sticky bun – and then I didn’t want to eat anything else.

Garden Grill Sticky Bun

Doesn’t this sticky bun look amazing??

The skillet came out with eggs, bacon, potato barrels, waffles, sausage and a salsa.  There was a chocolate sauce and of course syrup.

Honestly it was way too much food for my sister and I – but we could have ordered more of anything.  That’s the beauty of the family style all you can eat, you can ask for more of whatever you like!  BUT – that can be an issue too… because I could have technically sat there eating all of it all day!

Garden Grill Breakfast at Epcot

There is way too much food for the 2 of us!

The restaraunt was clean, bright and comfortable.  The food was delicious and the character interaction was spot on!  The price – it was $38 USD each + tax for breakfast, in my opinion well worth it.  We had a leisurely breakfast with good food and our ‘friends’ stopped by to take pictures.  All in all, this is now on my list of one of my favorite places to eat at Epcot!

I took some video here that includes shots of the restaurant as it spins and some close ups of the food.

Have you eaten at the Garden Grill in Epcot?  Should I go back for dinner?

The Grand Floridian Cafe Review Walt Disney World

Grand Floridian Cafe SeatingDining options at Walt Disney World can be totally overwhelming.  If you’re a first time (or repeat visitor) it can feel a little stressful making sure you get those must-have reservations.  If you spend any time online in Facebook groups or reading some of the sites that create the hype – you would think that your vacation will be ruined if you don’t get the coveted Be Our Guest, Cinderella’s Royal Table or Chef Mickey reservation.  Nothing could be further from the truth!

It is incredible how many delicious places there are to eat at Walt Disney World, and some of my favourite Disney table services are the ones that you can typically get reservations for at the last minute.  These places are like the best kept secrets – and I’m now going to tell you about one, the Grand Floridian Cafe.

This overlooked restaurant sits next to the entrance to 1900 Park Fare, but it is often not even noticed in the hustle to get to the character dining.  It is elegant, yet unpretentious and you’re welcome to dine in your park attire.  It’s casual, yet classy – with the roses on the table and great views of the grounds, the atmosphere is relaxed and warm.

Grand Floridian Cafe Rose

I have eaten at the Grand Floridian Cafe a few times now, and have never NOT enjoyed my meal.  I’ve had breakfast once, but dinner multiple times and am often conflicted about booking a breakfast and dinner on the same trip at the same restaurant.  #TooManyGoodChoices

The dinner menu at the Grand Floridian Cafe has quite a variety of dishes.  From steak to meatloaf, salmon or grits, there is something for everyone.   We took our time enjoying our drinks with the bread and butter while deciding on the menu.

Grand Floridian Cafe

My friends decided on the sirloin and scallops and miso-glazed salmon

rand Floridian Cafe Steak and Scallops

Sirloin and Scallops

 

Grand Floridian Cafe Salmon

Salmon

I had to have the buttermilk fried chicken.  It just sounds delicious – buttermilk fried chicken, doesn’t it sound mouth watering?  Well – I can tell you, it WAS very tasty!  It was so juicy, but seasoned and crispy on the outside.  There was even KALE on the plate, and I ate it.. which if you knew me, you would know that it must have been REALLY good for me to eat the kale!

Grand Floridian Cafe Chicken

Buttermilk chicken

When the waiter came by to show us the dessert menu, we all said we couldn’t… but then we did.  The menu had a dessert sampler for 2 – but there were 4 desserts and 4 of us.  It worked out perfectly that we each wanted a different one!   We were stuffed, but managed to eat our individual desserts as they were the perfect size for just a little taste.

Grand Floridian Cafe Desserts

The dessert sampler

Next time I’ll make sure to leave more room for a full size dessert, because I do love my desserts!  Maybe I should cut out the salad starter?  That would help…

Looking for a hidden gem quick service?  Check out this place here.