Do bad reviews make your dining decisions?

[Cooth]

Would you ever go to a Disney sit down restaurant knowing it had bad reviews just for the experience or atmosphere?

 

[WDWNan]

We have - not everyone has the same tastes and if it sounds good to us we will give it a try.

 

[Kenzientysmom]

Yes...if there are multiple bad reviews saying the same thing.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

We do it.

There are only a couple of review sites that we really follow. If they had a bad experience with their allergy, we would think twice before going.

But everyone has differing tastes. Ours aren't the same as anyone else.

 

[pattyw]

Sure- while we may be a little hesitant, we still go ahead with it. And we actually enjoy a few that get many bad reviews- Hollywood & Vine in particular. We have had fresh food and good service.

 

[_19disnA]

We don't avoid a restaurant (Disney or elsewhere) just due to some bad reviews. Everyone has personal preferences and reviews that say service was too fast/slow or they ran out of the bread sticks they liked or the appetizers were too large/small isn't a showstopper for us. You often don't know the credibility of those posting reviews, perhaps they complain about EVERYTHING or some glowingly positive reviews might be from paid respondents or restaurant employes.

We mostly choose a restaurant if the prices are reasonable for the type of food offered, if there is enough variety on the menu for everyone to pick from and enjoy the overall atmosphere of the restaurant. If there is a 2 hour wait to get a table, we will look elsewhere no matter how good we thought the restaurant might be.

 

[mel&me]

Unless the amount of bad reviews is over the top, I don't think too much into what a few bad reviews say.
Every ones taste is different and some time someone might be unlucky enough to get a server that is just having a bad day.
And even if it has had a lot of bad reviews and we like the place we go.

 

[Farro]

Would you ever go to a Disney sit down restaurant knowing it had bad reviews just for the experience or atmosphere?

Sure! Ohana gets ripped here. We enjoyed it! Would we go back? Probably not, but not because it was bad, just not one of our top experiences.

I really don't pay attention to people's reviews because I don't trust their taste. Just like movies - people rave and rave about a movie, I watch it and ??? - didn't think it was that great.
I find I'm usually more disappointed in the restaurants people just go crazy over because my expectations are higher and usually it doesn't live up to the hype.

 

[Simba's Mom]

For almost 30 years, we avoided Nine Dragons because it consistently gets bashed. Finally last year we decided to give it a try anyways. We really liked it and hope to go back again.

 

[KenHutch]

I do not really care about what people say about food. For example Ohana. We eat there twice every trip and have enjoyed every meal but people who reviews I love to read hate the place. What I do note is the service people get at restaurants. Same example Ohana on one of our recent meals I saw the staff starting to do the rush thing with us. I just sent them away and ate at my own pace.

 

[smiths02]

We did Coral Reef and San Angel Inn
We did not love Coral Reef-we aren't picky so it wasn't awful, it just wasn't really worth it
San Angel Inn-We really enjoyed our meal and loved the atmosphere

One thing I did do for San Angel Inn is steer the family menu choices to items that generally are given an okay review
(Coral Reef we had more limited options, though)

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I love reading reviews but generally don’t let them drive my decisions. I know I’ve really loved some places that have gotten rotten reviews (e.g. San Angel Inn, Marrakesh, Ale & Compass, Flying Fish (some HATE the newer menu) etc.) That said, I have stayed away from Tony’s and Hollywood & Vine due to volume of bad reviews.

 

[SaintsManiac]

If reviews tend to be over the top dramatic I automatically ignore them.

If a menu looks good to me and it's a place I really want to try, I book it and we see for ourselves.

 

[BadPinkTink]

I choose restaurants for menu and price, I couldnt give a crap whether other people give it bad reviews or not. Here on DIS people have a love hate relationship with Blue Bayou in Disneyland, but its my go to restaurant.

The only thing that would dissuade me from eating at a restaurant is if the local heath authority has cited the premises.

 

[im4pacers1]

We are going to both Tony’s and Hollywood & Vine this trip. To me, most Disney food is meh. I cannot think of a single meal, other than Shula’s, that I would seek out while at home. There are lots of snacks and treats that I love, but I def don’t go to Disney for the food. I know I’m in the minority.

 

[Cornish Lad]

For almost 30 years, we avoided Nine Dragons because it consistently gets bashed. Finally last year we decided to give it a try anyways. We really liked it and hope to go back again.

Went there in 2016 - our first Disney World trip since 2000 - had not read any reviews so had no pre-conceived ideas. We really enjoyed it and we have it on our list for this years visit next month. We also went to Tony's in MK and were not impressed at all and it is not on this years list. Since I started planning this trip back in April of last year I have read an awful lot of reviews and have found good and bad for most locations, however there are a few that seem to always get bad to mediocre reviews and these we are avoiding. With regard to the "experience" packages we have booked them mainly for the experience with the food being the secondary consideration.

 

[KakiGori]

We are going to both Tony’s and Hollywood & Vine this trip. To me, most Disney food is meh. I cannot think of a single meal, other than Shula’s, that I would seek out while at home. There are lots of snacks and treats that I love, but I def don’t go to Disney for the food. I know I’m in the minority.

I completely agree with this. We had a wonderful dining experience at Tony's, yet it is constantly bashed on these boards. The food at Disney isn't any better than local restaurants, but the atmosphere of the restaurants make the experience for us. If the menu looks friendly to our preferences and there is an experience we want to have, then I book a restaurant. My goal on our next trip is to dine at all the castles. I doubt the food will be spectacular, but the experience of dining in the castles is what we are trying to achieve.

 

[happy2012]

If there are excessive bad reviews I won't go. Otherwise a few bad reviews are just a matter of taste or service. I'll even give a restaurant a 2nd chance, if it didn't impress us but gets rave reviews.

 

[North of Mouse]

Would you ever go to a Disney sit down restaurant knowing it had bad reviews just for the experience or atmosphere?

If we never went to a Disney restaurant without any bad reviews, we would go to none!!! We never pay any attention to reviews - just make our own decisions. There is no way everyone will enjoy every restaurant. Reviews don't faze us.
We all have different expectations and food choices.

 

[Rich M]

I try to look at multiple reviews of the place and the person leaving the reviews. Some people just have different taste than others. If multiple people say the same thing then I try to avoid places with bad food reviews. If a review is about service I still give it a try for food purposes. There is only two places on this board that get way more bad reviews then good and that is Chef Mickey and Tony's. I did not like Chef Mickey at all and Tonys was just ok for us.