Be Our Guest Restaurant Lunch Review
Be Our Guest Restaurant in New Fantasyland is the best counter service option in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World for lunch. Here, you step inside Beast’s Castle in a restaurant themed to Beauty and the Beast. In this review, we’ll share food photos, theme commentary, and more. (Last updated June 9, 2019.)
In addition to being Magic Kingdom’s best counter service, Be Our Guest Restaurant also makes our list of the best counter service values when on the Disney Dining Plan (again, for lunch) in all of Walt Disney World. It thus should go without saying that the restaurant is Disney Dining Plan participant; for lunch, it’s a one-credit counter service option.
Be Our Guest Restaurant menu features French-inspired cuisine at lunch, and the restaurant just received an update in June 2019 that we cover in our Review of the New Lunch Menu at Be Our Guest Restaurant! Although ambitious for the usually unadventurous Magic Kingdom counter service restaurants, most guests will find something that appeals to them at Be Our Guest Restaurant for lunch. It’s a real crowd-pleaser!
Note that in addition to this lunch review, we also have a New Prix Fixe Dinner Review and Breakfast Review of Be Our Guest Restaurant. Each meal here is very different, so we recommend consulting those posts to determine which is the best option for your family.
We’ve dined here a few times over the course of the last several years, and each time Be Our Guest Restaurant impresses us a bit more (we have updated this review several times since our first time eating here). During my last meal here, I finally had the chance to dine in the West Wing, which really put the experience over the top for me.
Why is Be Our Guest Restaurant so popular? Let’s take a look…
Be Our Guest Restaurant is now over 5 years old (time flies!), but there’s still a ton of demand for this new restaurant, making reservations difficult to score. When we have visited for lunch, we have encountered waits of around 15 to 40 minutes, and it usually takes another 10 minutes or so to receive our food after we complete our order.
The process for dining at Be Our Guest Restaurant continues to evolve. For a while, there was a FastPass+ booking of the restaurant, but that was eliminated and a new Advanced Dining Reservation system was introduced. This is great news for off-site Walt Disney World guests, as it allows any guests to make lunch ADRs for Be Our Guest, and also the pre-ordering of their meals. You can read some strategy for this in our Tips for Making Be Our Guest Restaurant ADRs post.
This only bears mentioning for emphasis, as I’m sure most people reading this are already somewhat familiar with Be Our Guest Restaurant, but the place is incredibly lavish and the top to bottom details and effects are stunning. People aren’t kidding when they say that this is one of the highlights of the New Fantasyland expansion.
Personally, I think Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is the crown jewel of New Fantasyland, but Be Our Guest Restaurant is a lavishly designed restaurant, and is arguably a more impressive experience (for what it is) than Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid.
I find that simultaneously cool and disappointing. It’s great that so much effort went into making this restaurant an awesome experience. It’s disappointing that a highlight of a multi-year expansion billed as the “biggest in Magic Kingdom history” is a restaurant. We highly value restaurants at Walt Disney World (probably more than the average guest), but we still see attractions as the heart of the experience.
In the grand scheme of things, New Fantasyland loses points with me for Be Our Guest Restaurant being one of the best elements of the expansion (this was especially true before Seven Dwarfs Mine Train opened when Be Our Guest Restaurant was the best part of the expansion, not that it has opened and that’s the best thing, it doesn’t bother me so much).
In the confined context of this review, which is only of Be Our Guest Restaurant, the eatery gains a lot of points for that incredible detail. If you step foot in New Fantasyland without going inside Be Our Guest Restaurant you have not had the full experience of the expansion.
The details and theming are incredible, but they largely speak for themselves. I won’t bore you by fixating on them, except by pointing out a couple of things I don’t like.
First, Beast’s Castle that sits atop the rockwork. It seems like everyone else is gushing over the amazing forced perspective here, but I don’t think it works.
To me, it looks like a toy castle perched up there. I seem to be in the minority on this, though.
Second, the ballroom is gorgeous, but because of its large size and noise level, it feels like an oddly luxurious mess hall to me. Finally, I don’t care for the lifelike look of the faces of the babies painted on the ceiling of the ballroom. This is an Imagineer tribute, but I just don’t think it works. On the one hand, having real children up there gives some character to the art.
On the other hand, using real people instead of generic babies draws too much attention to each individual baby and looks a little creepy. I think that “generic” babies would convey the “feel” of the art they’re going for, without causing unduly visual fixation. I’m generally all for Imagineer tributes and others seem to like this, so again, maybe this is just me.
This brings me to the question of “where to dine.” As you might know, Be Our Guest Restaurant has three very different dining rooms: the Ballroom, the Rose Gallery, and the West Wing. For the reasons discussed above, I’m not a fan of the Ballroom. However, it is by far the easiest place to grab a table, and kids might like this location best.
Above is the Rose Gallery. It’s much more intimate, has some pretty details (like the dancing Belle and Beast music box pictured above), and some pretty paintings and tapestries on the wall. This room has the most relaxed and quiet feel of the three rooms.
Then, there’s the West Wing. You know, the West Wing. The place you’re not supposed to go. Apparently, no Walt Disney World guests have actually seen Beauty and the Beast, that, or they refuse to heed the warnings repeated throughout the movie. 😉
The refusal to heed these warnings is absolutely understandable, because the West Wing is totally awesome. Lightning and thunder reverberate through the room. The decor is shredded. Lights are low and foreboding. There’s a glowing rose with petals slowly falling…
It’s by far the best-themed of the rooms, and has a truly ominous feeling to it. Our first 3 times dining at Be Our Guest Restaurant, we couldn’t eat in here because it was so packed, with other guests waiting for tables. It took me visiting by myself and just hovering in the corner like a creep for 15 minutes before I was finally I able to dine here. Totally worth it.
(As a bit of an aside–we don’t have kids, but I could see younger children potentially be frightened by this room. YMMV.)
Be Our Guest Restaurant uses an RFID ordering system. Basically, you tap this rose before ordering your meal from a touchscreen, and take the rose to any table that strikes your fancy.
Cast Members then bring your food to you based on where the rose “says” you are. So if you really want to punk someone good, deposit your rose below their table after ordering and watch them get flustered and upset as your food is given to them. I highly suggest you try this prank on us if you ever see us at Be Our Guest Restaurant! 😉
One motif of Be Our Guest’s lunch menu seems to be ambitious, but slightly undersized entrees. This isn’t such a bad thing, as you’ll probably want to get a soup (French Onion!) plus another entree plus dessert, which will be expensive, but a delicious experience.
The restaurant actually feels like it’s striving for an experience somewhere between counter service and table service in terms of quality. We view this as a good thing, as it’s a serious upgrade over much of the forgettable dining in the Magic Kingdom. However, if you’re on a budget, have a huge appetite, or are a really picky eater, this may be a problem.
(Pictured above are the two new salads that we cover in our new menu review update. Both are solid options, as is the new Corn Bisque Soup.)
Here’s the Tuna Nicoise Salad. Sarah liked this even more than the Quinoa Salad, which is saying something. Here, you get warm seared tuna steak with chilled green beans, potatoes, olives, roasted bell peppers, tomatoes, and a poached egg.
This isn’t your typical, half-hearted Walt Disney World salad. The salad is fresh and features quality ingredients, and the seared tuna steak gives it a great flavor and some protein. I’m not a salad guy, and even I would consider ordering this in the future. This is definitely a solid choice.
Here’s the French Dip Sandwich, served on a Baguette with Au Jus and Pommes Frites.
You can order it cooked to your preference (a nice touch) and the meat is fairly high quality, as is the baguette on which it’s served. Horseradish Sour Cream ties the whole thing together, making this one of the best counter service entrees in all of the Magic Kingdom.
I’ve also had the Croque Monsieur — Grilled Sandwich with Carved Ham, Gruyere Cheese, and Bechamel with Pommes Frites. It was a good sandwich, but small for the price (even by Walt Disney World standards).
It’s not something I’d order again, nor would I recommend trying it unless there’s nothing else on the menu that interests you. Not that it’s bad, it’s just nothing special.
One final item for the “entrees” is the French Onion Soup. I’m not normally big on soups, but this is delicious, with the melted cheese and slightly salty broth being a lethal combination.
And by lethal, I mean that this is something you’ll find yourself craving after your trip, causing you to start thinking about booking another trip, which would be “lethal” to your finances. A bit of a stretch, but we go for the dramatic here! 😉
For dessert, first up is the Grey Stuff Cupcake. We thought it was pretty good, but not as great as the hype led us to believe. More than anything, this is a novelty dessert offered so that people can say, “try the grey stuff, it’s delicious” and post photos with “clever” captions on Facebook and Instagram.
It will not go down as one of the best snacks in the Magic Kingdom, even if it is really popular. There’s nothing wrong with a little novelty and it’s worth a try for that reason alone, but it’s a bit of a stretch to say “it’s delicious” about this dessert.
For dessert, we have also had the Lemon Meringue and Strawberry Cupcakes.
Sarah liked both of these, I only liked the Strawberry cupcake (I don’t care for lemon meringue in general, though, so my opinion is worthless on that cupcake).
For some reason I was expecting these to be cheesecake (my bad–they’re clearly labeled as cupcakes on the menu). I don’t know if it was just my expectations for a cheesecake or if this was actually the case, but I found them to be a tad dry. Still fine and worth the price.
Before heading out, make sure to wander around a bit to explore the rest of the restaurant, especially the West Wing, if you didn’t get a chance to dine there. If you want good photos of the rose and snowfall effects, be sure to turn off your flash, as flash sort of ruins the effect.
Overall, Be Our Guest Restaurant gets high marks in this review. Very high marks. From the ambitious menu to the ambiance and theming, Be Our Guest Restaurant is a winner that will be popular for years to come. I still think I slightly prefer the overall experience at Gaston’s Tavern in New Fantasyland, but that’s just personal preference. Regardless, both are very good, and each bring something unique to the table.
Be Our Guest Restaurant is right up there with Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater as one of coolest and best-themed restaurants at Walt Disney World, despite some thematic misfires. The restaurant also scores points with us for trying more inventive cuisine, which should be lauded given that this is a restaurant located in the kid’s haven of New Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom. It is worth noting that Disney has tinkered with the menu here a lot, so you should check a current menu before you get your heart set on any of these items when planning.
It’s clear that you’re paying a premium for the location, as menu prices seem higher than the Magic Kingdom norm, and entrees are slightly smaller for some items, but we think it’s worth it for what amounts to a premium counter service restaurant. All things considered, after a few meals here over the course of the last couple of years, Be Our Guest Restaurant has slowly grown on us and taken the crown as our favorite Magic Kingdom restaurant. It’s a must-visit for lunch, especially if you’re unable to score the elusive Be Our Guest dinner reservations.
Want more dining tips? Read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. Planning other aspects of a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts…
What do you think of Be Our Guest Restaurant? Is it worth the time, money, and effort? Does it live up to the hype? Which meal—breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner? Did you enjoy the meal? What was your favorite part of the experience? Want to eat at Be Our Guest Restaurant? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
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I agree that lunch is the right option if you are on the dining plan. We have done both (dinner 2 weeks after it opened) and lunch twice. The Braised pork is superb. The experience is about the same for lunch or dinner as The Master (beast) as he is called is available during dinner. Better to save your table credit and try a different restaurant, maybe one you haven’t tried before, which I what we try to do.
I ate here summer of 2013! I plan on going back! I thought it was great! I did feel like I was in a Castle! We took pictures and walked around looking at the different rooms. Is the experience as good as Cinderellas Castle! NO! But.. I saw several children dressed for the occasion just like they do at Cinderellas castle! Even if your doing Cinderellas Castle I would recommend this, too! This would be a far better choice for counter service than sitting at at Pecos Bills or Casey’s with a hot dog with a little girl dressed up! If you can not afford Cinderellas castle this would be a good second choice. Then see the Princess and take pictures with the fast pass later and for free! I thought it was neat that Disney had created a castle allowing parents to bring their children without spending a $100 or more for a meal! Wonder how long that will last? LOL! I did not wait long to eat because we arrived before it opened for lunch! As far as the brew at the Tavern I hated it! To sweet for me! I shared one with my daughter and I took a few sips and she drank the rest! She obviously liked it! LOL! I could walk past Gaston’s without ever stopping! LOL!
I ate here summer of 2013! I plan on going back! I thought it was great! I did feel like I was in a Castle! We took pictures and walked around looking at the different rooms. Is the experience as good as Cinderellas Castle! NO! But.. I saw several children dressed for the occasion just like they do at Cinderellas castle! Even if your doing Cinderellas Castle I would recommend this, too! This would be a far better choice for counter service than sitting at at Pecos Bills or Casey’s with a hot dog with a little girl dressed up! If you can not afford Cinderellas castle this would be a good second choice. Then see the Princess and take pictures with the fast pass later and for free! I thought it was neat that Disney had created a castle allowing parents to bring their children without spending a $100 or more for a meal! Wonder how long that will last? LOL! I did not wait long to eat because we arrived before it opened for lunch! As far as LeFou’s brew at Gaston’s Tavern I hated it! To sweet for me! I shared one with my daughter and I took a few sips and she drank the rest! She obviously liked it! LOL! I could walk past Gaston’s without ever stopping! LOL!
I am absolutely shocked. Our trip starts on May 26th and I was able to get a dinner reservation to BOG on May 27th this morning for 2. Don’t know how it happened, but I am extremely excited to try it. These pictures are gorgeous (as are all of your photos) and I can’t wait to see it in person.
What time does Be Our Guest open? And what time do you suggest getting into line for lunch?
I am planning a trip for September of this year and trying to reach up on all the comments I can. Need to make ADR tomorrow. lol After reading here, it is my understanding that the BOG isn’t even in a castle? Is that correct? I thought this would be a great alternative to the CRT, but now that might not be the case. We are taking out 6 year old to WDW for the 1st time. I am planning her BBB makeover prior to dinner and wanted to jump and get a dinner res at one of the “castles”. What are your thoughts between the 2 (BOG and CRT)? Thanks!
*trying to research
The setting is supposed to be inside Beast’s Castle, but it does not feel like a castle, nor are you actually inside one.
If you are looking for a castle experience, Cinderella’s Royal Table is absolutely the way to go.
Had dinner at be our guest the other night and it was a mixed evening of good and bad. It seems its best to get a fast pass for lunch this way you see the rooms pick your table and not pay to much for the experience. Glad i went once but would not likey return.
We ate in at BOG in Dec. We ate in the West Wing. Our 6 year old chatted the entire dinner explaining all the stories she saw around her. WOW Upon leaving the castle, she looked back and said “We weren’t really in the castle”. Now, that didn’t tarnish the experience for her, but, out of the mouths of babes!!!!
Haha, that’s great. I probably would have just tried to play it cool and been like, “What do you mean? We were in the West Wing!”
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Can you just tour the castle? Food doesn’t look too tempting for the little ones. Is there a breakfast?
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We dined here for a 9pm dinner in October and a lunch the week of Christmas. I agree with everything you said, especially the forced perspective of the castle.
We ate so late that I didn’t really enjoy the evening meal. I think it was just too late to eat but the ambience was great. Our lunch visit was very nice. I ordered the kid’s meal braised pork and it was a nice sized serving. My husband had the adult entree of the same item and also found it to be a good value for the amount of food. My Mother ordered the kid’s meal turkey sandwich and it was way too small. She was hungry soon after eating.
Thanks for your continued great reviews,
A fellow Hoosier!
I’m not sure how long it will last, but for the past few months, you can skip the line entirely at lunch with a Be Our Guest fastpass reservation. You can even pre-order and be escorted directly into the ballroom to select your table. We ate there January 2. These opened up for our dates about three weeks before our trip and do not conflict with the 3 FP+ you get in the parks.
https://beourguestlunch.disney.go.com/Login.asp
They aren’t using the roses for guests with Magic Bands, so we didn’t get the rubber rose.
The West Wing was my favorite room to visit, but would be my last choice to actually eat. The number of guests letting loose with their flashes in the very dark room just the few minutes were looking around was enough for me.
My son had the turkey sandwich and really liked it. There is currently no steak sandwich available. The rest of us had the braised pork and found it delicious and just the right amount, as long as you have a cupcake afterwards!
Awesome tip, thanks!
Last Feb 2 friends and I waited in line, mostly outside in the cold wind and rain under one of those super tiny collapseable totes umbrellas that you could fit in your back pocket, for at least 50 minutes to eat lunch at be our guest. All 3 of us agreed it was worth it. Would we choose to go early to lunch in stead of late to lunch next time? Of course! But all agreed, totally worth it. Also try the cream puffs. The passion fruit one is to die for.
Two observations: 1) I wholeheartedly agree that the castle is way too small for the forced perspective effect to work. Maybe, since it’s so small and presumedly easy to remove, they’ll replace it at some point with one that has a better effect.
2) From the pictures, those cupcakes seem kind of small. Regardless, I think they demonstrate just how good of a deal School Bread is. If those cupcakes are a good deal at $2.99 (which, considering prices at WDW, they are), then $2.69 for School Bread is the deal of the century.
By the way Tom, thanks for turning me on to that. It’s delicious.
My family and I ate here for dinner and lunch on consecutive days the last of Aug. We loved it, especially the 2 women (my DD and DW). The babies did not elicit much of a response from either of them but that may be due to the fact that everything (almost) else was so overwhelming. I tried to get an ADR here for 6 months after making our hotel ressies, trying every day. It was not until 3 days before our trip that there was an opening. The wait for lunch was about 15 minutes at 11:15, and then another 10 minutes or so once inside. Our waitress was great, explaining everything about the restaurant, and encouraging us to explore. She even told us when Beast would make his entrance and where. I don’t remember what the girls ate, but I had the steak, and it was perfect. We had the chocolate cupcake for dessert, and that was also delicious. The only negative we could find was the restrooms are woefully small for a restaurant of this size. Overall, we are glad we got the opportunity to dine here, twice in fact, as my DS arrived the next day from college and we did lunch here with him and 2 of his CM friends (DS did the CP program a year ago). I had the ruben, and it was waaay too much food for me. My DS had the roast beef sandwich, as did his 2 friends, and the 3 of them declared it delicious. We all left very full. Overall, a very nice time.
I agree with some of this review, but heavily disagree with other parts. The wait is pretty accurate, you are dead on with the creepy babies, and also the idea of it being a gargantuan space. That aside, I liked the entire look of the castle. It was well in perspective, the theme was overall perfect, and the attention to detail was there.
As for the food, I had the braised pork which was very filling. I eat a decent amount of food, and I thought it was a very tasty and nice size portion for the 11.99 price. As for the strawberry cupcake, I did not find it dry as there was some sort of cream toward the bottom and icing on top. My wife had the tuna salad, which was also delicious, but she said it was not as good as my lunch after having tasted a bite of it.
Overall, I don’t understand the giant lines for this restaurant, but the food and scenery were worth the thirty minute wait or so.
I ate at BOG for lunch in April and really enjoyed the experience and the food. The only downside was the long wait, 30 to 45 minutes to get through the line and place our order. I don’t know if anybody else likes the automated screens used to order food in BOG, but I think it took much longer than ordering from a cast member. As my daughter pointed out, what would you do if you wanted to customize your order, as “hold the mayo” or something? Anyway, we ate in the ballroom, as we wanted to get seated quickly and didn’t see any tables in the west wing. There might have been some, but it was fairly dark, and we just wanted to find a table and sit down. We were lucky to be seated by the huge windows and could look out and see the “snow” gently falling. It is an interesting effect. I didn’t even notice the faces of the cherubs, as it wasn’t very bright in there. Once seated, we enjoyed having the food delivered right to our table (a step up from most quick-service meals), and we also enjoyed the ambiance. We all thought our meals were delicious and substantial. I had a healthy portion of the pork and thought it was quite good. It was an enjoyable experience, but next time I would consider getting a dinner reservation, and I would try to find a table in the west wing. Finally, I think the castle on top helped set the mood and looks quite real in my photos, although I know it’s small. It doesn’t really make sense to see it up on top, then walk in the door and be in the castle, but I still think it looked fine, as though it is far off, and my photos of a waterfall also look as though we are in the mountains, so I thought all of that helped set the scene. We didn’t go into Belle’s cottage, but we did enjoy LeFou’s brew at Gaston’s Tavern later in the day.