50’s Prime Time Cafe Review
50’s Prime Time Cafe is a table service restaurant in Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World that specializes in American comfort food the way mom would have made it in the 1950s. The menu isn’t the only part of the restaurant themed to the 1950s–the restaurant itself looks like a 1950s home, and “mom” and your other relatives are actually on hand to serve your meal to you. The kitschy ambiance of the restaurant and the “show” put on by the Cast Members at 50’s Prime Time Cafe are truly the stars here, and they make 50s Prime Time Cafe one of Walt Disney World’s best unique dining experiences.
When you walk into the restaurant, you find yourself transported to a 1950s living room. Right down to the black & white television, “wood” paneling, and gaudy animal knick-knacks. You go through Mom’s Kitchen to get to the seating areas, which look like time capsules from kitchens of the 1950s.
Although I wasn’t alive in the 1950s, for decades my great grandma’s kitchen was also a time capsule of a 1950s kitchen, so I know the look. The level of theming in 50’s Prime Time Cafe is very impressive, and this nostalgia trip alone would make for great ambiance even without Mom around to make you mind your manners (don’t rest those elbows on the table or leave food on your plate!).
50’s Prime Time Cafe has always been a special place for me. Growing up, 50’s Prime Time Cafe was my parents’ favorite restaurant (my mom dealt antiques so she appreciated the decor and design) and we visited the place every year on our annual trip.
Once I finally understood that the Cast Members were putting on an act and I didn’t really have long lost relatives in Florida, I loved our annual visits there, too. It became my mission during each of these meals to eat everything on my plate so I could join the “Clean Plate Club” and receive a sticker for my accomplishment. It was always a highlight of our trips for me, so my view of this restaurant is undoubtedly a bit biased.
Let’s take a look at what makes this such a fun place…
When Sarah and I started going to Walt Disney World together, we went to 50’s Prime Time Cafe on our very first trip. Unfortunately, the food was disappointing and the whole experience left something to be desired. We have made periodic stops at the Tune-In Lounge for milkshakes and Dad’s drinks since then, but didn’t head back to the restaurant until 2013. We are both incredibly glad that we did, as it was one of our best experiences at Walt Disney World on the trip.
Drinks at 50’s Prime Time Cafe might be the star of the show, and by drinks, I mean milkshakes. The mixed drinks are okay, but they’re pricey and the ones we’ve tried are glorified sugar water with alcohol splashed in. You’re mostly paying for “Dad’s Experimental Electric Ice Cube,” which is cool looking, and has proven a great gimmick to convince guests to buy drinks. I know I have ordered these drinks on more than one occasion because I have seen one illuminating another table. Perhaps I’m part raccoon, but the shiny drink is too much of a temptation for me to resist. If you are not part raccoon, I recommend resisting, as the mixed drinks are nothing special.
However, the milkshakes are the stuff of legends, with the chocolate being my favorite prior to our most recent visit. Although the milkshakes can be ordered at the Tune-In Lounge, in our experience it takes a long time to get one at the bar (which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense as the Tune-In Lounge is in the same building as the restaurant and they clearly share a kitchen–maybe we’ve just had bad luck). When we discovered the PB&J milkshake, I knew I had to have one, and figured a return to the restaurant would be a good plan.
When I ordered the PB&J milkshake, our server asked if I wanted a Chocolate PB&J milkshake, which she described as tasting like a Reese’s cup. This seemed like a silly question to me–sort of liking asking if you’d like a free $100 bill or a free robot dinosaur. Uh…OF COURSE I’D LIKE CHOCOLATE ADDED. Who wouldn’t?! Perhaps a communist who doesn’t like awesome things, but I can’t imagine our server mistaking me for a communist. I don’t have that look or odor.
In any case, the Chocolate PB&J milkshake was as awesome as she described it, and definitely tasted like a Reese’s cup (but with jelly). The best milkshake I’ve ever had. Even Sarah, who thought the idea of a PB&J milkshake sounded disgusting, loved it. Although I tried to get Sarah to order her own, I was “reminded” by Mom about the importance of sharing, so I let Sarah have my blender cup full of extra shake. I would strongly discourage anyone else from making this mistake. That milkshake is so good that everyone should order their own. No joke.
For appetizers, we started out with Uncle Gary’s Blue Crab Salad and Fried Herb and Garlic Cheese. Sarah really liked the Blue Crab Salad, although I thought it was a little sparse (it did taste good). At around half the price of an average entree, it didn’t offer a whole lot of value for money.
I far preferred my appetizer, which was also a bit expensive in comparison to the entree menu, but was a unique combination of flavors and more typical of the “comfort food” style of the restaurant. The fried cheese tasted amazing, and the raspberry sauce was a surprisingly good compliment. The bread also made it a more substantial appetizer than the Blue Crab Salad. If you’re going to order an appetizer, this should probably be it. It was really good. 50’s Prime Time Cafe could be an inexpensive meal if you skip the appetizers, and with the milkshakes, you don’t really need appetizers, anyway.
Sarah ordered the 50’s Prime Time Cafe Blue Plate Special, which was Mahi Mahi. Billed as a “healthy seasonal alternative,” it wasn’t what you’d expect from 50’s. Sarah was very pleasantly surprised by this entree. I don’t think her expectations were too high since fish clearly is not this restaurant’s specialty, but the Mahi Mahi was excellent. Flavorful, tender, and cooked to perfection. I was impressed with it, too. Her entree was definitely the surprise hit of the meal.
I stuck with a more traditional entree: Aunt Liz’s Golden Fried Chicken. 50’s Prime Time Cafe is “renowned” amongst Disney fans for its fried chicken, and although mine was definitely good, I still don’t think it beats The Plaza Inn fried chicken at Disneyland. It was still pretty good, though.
The chicken is served with mashed potatoes and greens with bacon. I’m a fiend for mashed potatoes, but these didn’t do a whole lot for me. I think that’s pretty typical of their mashed potatoes. Since I didn’t want to be admonished my Mom (and who doesn’t want to be in the Clean Plate Club?!), I ate everything on my plate.
Sarah was not so successful in her quest to finish all of her food. So Mom came over to help her out. The interactions with the Cast Members and the general environment of the restaurant, with the televisions on and little touches (like ViewMasters!) all around are truly what make 50’s Prime Time Cafe a winner for us. However, this is not for everyone. Our sets of “cousins” (the people seated at the tables on either side of us) were stark contrasts. On one side was a couple of older locals who got in on the fun, asking us how their cousins were, and telling us that they come to the restaurant once a month.
It was easy to see that they “got it” and loved the restaurant. On the other side was a family of 4 on (I’m guessing) their first visit to 50’s Prime Time Cafe. At first they seemed puzzled by why their waitress was their aunt and why we were their cousins. When it finally did click, they seemed to ignore the schtick, and always got down to brass tacks with ordering. Nothing against them, my point is that 50’s Prime Time Cafe clearly is not for everyone.
If that part of the experience of the restaurant is not for you, it’s probably a much better idea to just drop in the Tune-In Lounge at some point for milkshakes and forgo the restaurant itself. While we had an excellent meal at 50’s Prime Time Cafe, it still is mostly just comfort food, and there are plenty of places with much better menus at Walt Disney World if all you care about is food. If reviewed from only the perspective of the menu, it’s a decidedly average restaurant. Of course, that should only be done if you’re introverted or feel you won’t enjoy the experience of the restaurant. For everyone else, reducing 50’s Prime Time Cafe to only the menu makes absolutely no sense, as whole package is heavily enhanced by the ambiance and experience, both of which I’d say are arguably more important to the experience than the food.
Overall, 50’s Prime Time Cafe is incredible fun, and one of the most enjoyable dining experiences most guests will have at Walt Disney World. Themed dining is where Disney excels, and there are few better options than 50’s Prime Time Cafe (the only restaurant I’d rank above it in this regard is Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater). The milkshakes are incredible, and the menu has some pretty good comfort food, too. 50’s Prime Time Cafe can become very crowded in the lobby during prime dining times, so we recommend an early lunch for the least waiting and best experience.
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Your Thoughts…
What do you think of 50’s Prime Time Cafe? Which dishes are your favorites? Planning on going? Share your thoughts in the comments!
I’ve just returned and this was by far the best dining experience I’ve ever had, let alone in Disney World!!! I dined there twice! Make your reservation here as soon as you can!
In response to your chocolate makes everything better
Except lettuce and cabbage. lol just kidding
While I think the restaurant sounds like a ton of fun and I hope to visit someday, I can almost guarantee my kids would be truly freaked out by it at their ages and stages. They are really uncomfortable with people they don’t know trying to strike up conversation with them when we are out.
We didn’t realize what we were getting into during our meal at Whispering Canyons, and oh man it would have been nice to know there was a little extra fun going on. You have to be either aware in advance or have a dining party that will roll with it.
Sometimes a meal after a busy day in the parks needs to just be quiet without having to cart bottles and bottles of ketchup to another table ;). That’s why it’s great that there are plenty of wonderful dining options!
Hi Tom,
I’d read a couple of posts on other sites that the 50’s PT had changed and that there was no longer any interactions with guests. I panicked as its on my list for our first visit in October. After reading the latest post on this site (above dates March 2015) this doesn’t seem the case. Have you heard anything about this?
Our first experience at 50’s Prime Time left much to be desired- especially after all of the hype built up around it! This was late 2012, and we’d been to WDW 5 times in 9 years to that point.
The server was definitely NOT into his role that night, and we were disappointed in the lack of interactivity that we saw at the next table, who’s aunt was fully committed to harassing every cousin at the table. Where as we barely got some cursory lines about mom and cleaning out plates.
Not only that, but the wait for the food (and then the check) was incredibly long, causing us to miss our FP window for Tower of Terror! We had to go to guest service to get that dealt with…
HOWEVER! Undaunted, we went back again on our trip last month. After a drink at Dad’s bar in the Tune-In Lounge, we were called into the kitchen and seated next to our cousins, who were just finishing up. This time, we were treated to the full show- berated about not visiting often enough, if we were okay staying in grampa’s basement after moving to California, finishing our meal, and my wife’s drinking problem (last time she ended up swimming in Echo Lake, remember?).
The meal was excellent as well- up to that point, it was the absolute best I had ever had on WDW property (I say up to that point, because we had dinner at Be Our Guest for the first time later that week).
This is hands down our favorite restaurant at DHS. I’m only sad that I did not get the PBJ milkshake. I did want one, but after Dad’s Tom Collins, it wasn’t in the cards that night.
Good to hear that you had a much better experience that second time! Not to defend that first experience, but I’d hazard a guess that it’s pretty tough for those Cast Members to be “on” all the time. Good to see that you went back despite that experience and had a good meal!
We made a reservation online today (11/20/2017) at 50″s Prime Time Cafe around 11:25 am. When we arrived, we needed to wait about 25 min for our table. I went to the bar and stood there for 15 min. The bartender did not pay any attention until I waived my hands at him. I asked for a glass of red wine. He then told me I was standing at the wrong location and did not serve me. I asked for his name. He did not hesitate to tell me his name is “Tony”. Tony was extremely rude and condescending. I had to speak to the manager. The manager was a good guy. He brought me a glass of wine.
The environment was adequate. The food was OK. The restaurant was very crowded at lunch time and I definitely would recommend making a reservation ahead of time. The worse experience is the rude bartender named Tony. The manager was trying hard and came back to our table and asked us if we were satisfied.
I was a LTC in US Army and have been in a leadership position for decades. In every work place there is a bell curve. Tony is one of these at the very tail end of bell cure. It is such a shame that the rude bartender Tony became the only impression I had at the end of my experience at this very fine restaurant in Disney (I could have rated it 3 star or 4 star without this bad apple bartender Tony).
I’m sorry, what was his name? Geez Louise!
We are coming to HS during spring Break March 14th thru March 21st. We have dining plans other places but we would like visit this restaurant and try the PB`J Milk shake. It should not be a problem to make ADR for just a milkshake right? Thanks
Mark- you can get the milkshake at the Tune-In Lounge as well, I believe. That is a walk up, no ADR needed.
Is this restaurant a good use of dining plan credits?
We plan to use TS credits here. It’s not one of the best values, but decent. I plan to order Mom’s Favorites ($22), PBJ Shake ($6) & Apple Crisp ($8) equaling around $38 tax adjusted.
The experience adds value for us, along with pricing & interesting menu options. We already booked a few more expensive meals, so I’m pretty sure we’ll surpass the DDP cost anyway.
This is one of the less expensive ADR restaurants so you could certainly get better value by using your credit at another restaurant. We are going to use a dining credit here for our upcoming trip because we really like the food and the atmosphere. I would still say it is worth using a credit here as there are limited dining options in Hollywood Studios.
I ate here when I was 8 on more then one occasion and I can’t wait to go back here at the age of 24, this year.
My mum still has our prime time plastic cups.
Oh wow, when did you get those? I have a saved napkin, of all things, with the logo on it from back in the 1990s!
1998!
I had the sampler and it was all very good, very hearty, very filling food. Make sure you bring your appetite to this place. I ordered a shake for my drink…after the entree, I had no room for the dessert that was included in my meal credit. I didn’t feel like it was a waste though. Our waiter boxed up some fruit and sent it with us…this turned into a refreshing snack later in the day. Speaking of the waiter, he was all kinds of fun, just hilarious. He was very personable, introduced us to the people at the other tables he was waiting, never broke character, and just did all kinds of little things that made this a truly unique and entertaining dining experience.
Man, 50’s is a must. The fried chicken is always so good along with the mashed potatoes and gravy. Dad’s Brownie Sundae is awesome as well. The texture of all the different toppings is outstanding. The cracker jacks mixed with brownie is awesome.
We went to Prime Time years ago when our boys were 9 and 5. I went in ahead of my husband and kids and asked the hostess if they could call the kids to dinner. I gave her their names and we waited near the restaurant. She came outside and called their names and the look on their faces was priceless. The whole experience was so special. Our 5 year old stood in the corner at one point and it was all in fun. They loved it. We are looking forward to going next year with our grandchildren.
We have been to Disney World 7 times. The first trip was our honeymoon (almost 20 years ago). We have eaten at 50’s Prime Time Cafe every time, except one (and we regretted that). We will never forget the first time we ate there…this family was sitting across from us. Their son was very disrespectful (almost to the point of making us not want children). The server (“mom”) was great, trying to stay in character in spite of how this young man was talking to his parents. Finally, she had heard enough, as well as the rest of us in ear shot. She asked the boy to stand up and gently led him to the wall next to their table, she placed a quarter on the wall and told him to put his nose on it, which he did. Then she sad, “now, you stand there until you can be respectful to your parents.” His parents applauded and we never heard another peep out of the boy the rest of the meal! Not sure if they could get away with that now, but ohhhh the memories!
We were just there in Dec 2013! It was our 5 year old’s bday and they definitely delivered with their rendition of “Happy Birthday” (cha cha cha!). I had the pork chops with apple salad and mashed potatoes and it was pretty good. Our daughter had the turkey meatloaf and it was one of the only meals at Disney that she ate ALL of! I think she was pretty hungry though…We will definitely go back again! (PS I had a margarita or two and they were not bad, but not spectacular if that helps at all :/ )
Great review! We love PrimeTime!
They were so awesome with my 4 year old nephew. Our waiter had him help set the table after he came in with an attitude because we wouldn’t let him go on Toy Story Mania a 2nd time. She got on him (playfully of course) every time he’d put his elbows on the table or whine. It was hilarious! He caught on quite quickly, liked the attention and started putting his elbows on the table every time our waiter walked by.
I got picked on for using my phone a few times during dinner after my partner called me out on it. I was told that I was grounded from my “new-fangled walkie talkie.” She took my phone and gave it to my partner to hold on to! Lesson learned for me!
We are going in May and all 5 of my family members have INSISTED that we go back here again! My nephew is 5 now, so we will see how he likes it at this age! 🙂
That’s hilarous about the walkie talkie. That’s what I enjoy about restaurants like this and Whispering Canyon. It’s a new entertainment experience each time!
We have reservations for our upcoming trip in May and I’m so excited. This will be our first family trip to Disney. I have one question about 50s. Will they pick on our kiddos if they don’t finish their food? We have a 4 year old (just turned 4 this past Friday) and an almost 2 year old. I’m afraid they won’t understand if a stranger is feeding them green beans. haha
Just let them know that your kiddos won’t want to participate in on the fun. We asked them not to with my grandpa who is a nice guy, but after a long day in the parks had the potential to be a huge jerk.
We ate here way back in 2009. My daughter who was only 4 at the time still rhea is up because the waitress kept yelling at her grandpa and calling him elbows for putting them on the table-a big no no of course. We really enjoyed the food too. After a long day that had been a bit trying on us the comfort and comfort food hit the spot!
Still cracks up…stupid fingers…she still cracks up!
My wife and I absolutely loved this restaurant, our server, and the ambiance. I had the fried chicken and she had the pot pie and both were as good as you can get. Of course we had malts as well. We will absolutely be going back to Prime Time the next time to Disney World!
Forgot to mention that the shake I had was the Chocolate PB&J, and like you said, amazing.
One of our favourite restaurants- a must every time we go. Love the quirky servers who always make the meal an event. Love Disney!!
It’s a shame that the food does not live up to the themeing.