Be Our Guest Restaurant Lunch & Dinner Review
Be Our Guest Restaurant at Magic Kingdom serves a 3-course prix fixe menu for lunch and dinner, and is themed to iconic rooms in Beast’s Castle from Beauty and the Beast. This Walt Disney World dining review features food photos, a look the inside, discounts, and everything you need to know. (Updated July 13, 2023.)
Whether you’re new to Be Our Guest Restaurant or have dined here before, there are a few things you should know before we get started. First, the set menu with an appetizer, entree, and dessert is the only meal being served at Be Our Guest Restaurant right now. It has been this way since Magic Kingdom reopened, and remains the case 3 years later.
Our expectation is that this prix fixe menu for both lunch and dinner is likely to be served through at least early 2024. If you’re planning a trip after then, you might consider also consider reading our Lunch at Be Our Guest Restaurant Review and Breakfast at Be Our Guest Restaurant Review. Those two reviews also offer basic info about the themed design of dining inside Beast’s Castle that is not covered here.
Additionally, our newest review attempts to answer the question, Is Be Our Guest Restaurant Still Worth the Money? Although less comprehensive than this restaurant review, that covers what the experience is like as of Summer 2023, cuisine quality, Advance Dining Reservation difficulty, and more. It also addresses whether Be Our Guest will be worth it on the Disney Dining Plan in 2024.
Speaking of which, Walt Disney World has revealed details of the 2024 Disney Dining Plan, including that Be Our Guest Restaurant will still be participating in the regular DDP as a 2-credit table service restaurant. Many of you are likely starting to plan 2024 Walt Disney World vacations and likely want to start narrowing down your dining options–even if ADRs can “only” be made 60 (+10) days in ahead of time now.
In any case, here are our thoughts about the all-day Be Our Guest Restaurant prix fixe menu. Again, if you’re visiting between now and early 2024 and are debating Advance Dining Reservations here, it’s likely that this will be your only option. That is, unless breakfast makes a surprise return, which is possible this fall, but don’t get your hopes up for that.
In terms of basics, Be Our Guest Restaurant offers three themed dining rooms, each Imagineered to immerse guests in the mystery and romance of the Disney animated classic Beauty and the Beast.
The main area is the Grand Ballroom. This sprawling dining hall features a domed ceiling, chandeliers, Gothic arches, and snow falling outside. It’s lovely and resplendent, but its cavernous size also means it can be loud and feel vaguely like a (very fancy) mess hall. As such, this is our least favorite dining room at Be Our Guest.
Next, there’s the Castle Gallery. This romantic library features a stunning rose chandelier, which sits just above a lovely seven-foot-tall music box of Belle and Beast that swirls about and plays actual music box music. We like this room; it’s elegant but intimate, and has a romantic atmosphere.
Finally, there’s the West Wing. This is the Beast’s mysterious and infamous West Wing study. It features his enchanted rose as well as some destruction and a moody vibe. This is our favorite room at Be Our Guest Restaurant, and we try to dine here whenever possible. It’s ominous and foreboding, which is a pitch-perfect reflection of those scenes from the film. One thing to keep in mind is that this room can be frightening for small children.
Be Our Guest Restaurant offers a 10% discount for Annual Passholders. If paying out of pocket and doing three courses, you are likely to break even or come out ahead with the prix fixe menu as compared to the old dinner menu.
In fact, both Sarah and I came out ahead with what we ordered–and I’d hazard a guess that the dishes we chose will be among the most popular going forward. Those on the Disney Dining Plan would be decidedly worse off, but that’s irrelevant for now with that suspended.
Anyway, as we said when this change was announced, we’re surprised it didn’t happen earlier. We fully expected Be Our Guest Restaurant to be Signature from day one. It has been so hard to get a table at dinner here for the last 5 years, even on the day Advance Dining Reservations open.
It’s still difficult now, but we suspect that’s at least in part because many guests are booking based upon outdated information. Within the next year, we’d expect it to settle into the same territory as Cinderella’s Royal Table: tough, but not downright impossible. That in-castle eatery often is fully-booked inside 30 days, but seldom fills up months in advance like Be Our Guest Restaurant.
Throughout lunch and dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant, Beast roams his castle and will pose for photos and selfies.
However, Beast does not currently have a dedicated meet & greet location (as before) and does not pose with guests, sign autographs, etc. Basically, you can’t get within 6 feet of him.
Every dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant starts with bread service.
It’s very bread-like.
Sarah started with the Maine Lobster Bisque: Crème Fraîche and Poached Lobster.
We had wavered between this and the escargot for our second appetizer (while great, the French Onion Soup is an inexpensive lunch option), and I think we made the wrong choice…and that’s only in part because soup is the most boring subject for food photography.
The soup tasted good, with a rich and creamy flavor. Even though the portion looks small in the photo, it was ample, especially considering the decadent flavors. Having “lobster” in the menu’s item name twice is probably accurate, as that’s how many chunks of lobster were in the dish. I’d expect sparse lobster meat at a normal Walt Disney World table service restaurant; here, it’s a disappointment considering this is now a Signature restaurant.
For my appetizer, I started with the Charred Octopus: Citrus-laced Fingerling Potatoes, Pickled Hearts of Palm, and Red Pepper Coulis served Cold.
Presentation here was good, and red pepper coulis provided a spicy complement to the octopus. The flavors all worked well, but my octopus was too tough. I’m not sure if this was simply bad luck, because it otherwise worked. Unfortunately, as served this couldn’t hold a candle to the superlative octopus at Tiffins, or even the more tender offering at Coral Reef.
For her entree, Sarah ordered the Spice-dusted Lamb Chops with Roasted Salsify, Baby Zucchini, Charred Tomatoes, and Royal Trumpet Mushrooms with a Lamb Demi.
If you look back at our previous Be Our Guest Restaurant Dinner Review, you’ll notice this dish is nearly identical to the lamb we ordered for that meal. About that lamb, I wrote: “the accompaniments and presentation made it befitting of a fine dining meal, although the size was a bit on the small size.”
Perhaps all that speculation above about Walt Disney World analysts realizing they could increase per guest revenue at Be Our Guest, or wanting to close the ‘cupcake’ loophole was incorrect, and this really went Signature because Bob Iger is a regular reader of this blog and saw that I thought this dish was already fine dining caliber, and made it so. Yeah, that seems totally plausible and not at all conceited.
Anyway, exact same story with the new Lamb Chops. Very good dish with a portion that’s slightly too small. The spice-dusting provides a bit of flare, but also made some bites slightly over-seasoned. (There’s no kick, for those worried about that–it’s a crowd-pleaser.)
For me entree, I ordered the Grilled Filet Mignon.
I’ll admit, my expectations were low. I was expecting either a glorified strip steak or perhaps a center-cut that was really, really small. Instead, I received a generous portion of one of the best cuts of meat I’ve had at Walt Disney World in years.
Perfectly cooked, tender, juicy–I could go on and on. I was shocked and am still wondering if maybe this fell off the truck on the way to Capa at Four Seasons Orlando. Or perhaps regular reader of the blog Bob Iger handpicked this cut for me, knowing we’d be dining at Be Our Guest this evening. (If that were the case, you’d think we wouldn’t have been seated in the far corner of the Ballroom, but I digress.)
The red wine glaze underneath added a subtle twist to the steak, but I actively tried to avoid using it because the meat held up on its own. Everything about this was exquisite, and I’m still a bit flabbergasted. Despite my effusive praise, in the back of my mind I know that I had to have gotten a little lucky here. Even if yours is only 75% this good, it’s the must-order dish on the new prix fixe menu.
The meal ends with the same dessert trio for everyone. Note that this changes from time to time, so what you see here may not be what you get if you dine at Be Our Guest Restaurant this year, in 2024 or beyond.
One thing that is consistent about the dessert trio is how underwhelming it is. If I were feeling curmudgeonly, I might complain that a Signature Restaurant doesn’t offer a selection of ambitious dessert options, but I can’t here. This is so adorable that it melted my cold heart. Plus, realistically everyone coming to Be Our Guest is doing it for at least in part of Beauty and the Beast coolness.
These desserts aren’t merely fodder for social media–they’re delicious and compliment one another nicely. This is a definite upgrade from the cupcakes served here before, and the mix of taste plus delightful presentation instantly places this among the best overall desserts at Walt Disney World. It’s really fun.
Part of the “fun” for me is that it’s also very photogenic, and a tricky subject. I’m not even going to tell you how long I spent taking pictures of this before eating it (the 3 edited photos in this review are a small number of my total keepers, though). Suffice to say, it’s probably a good thing we were seated in a far corner of the room.
Overall, we enjoyed dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant before and we like it slightly more now. For the most part, fan opinion seems to fall either in the “love it” or “hate it” camps, but we’d say we’re firmly in the “like it a lot” camp. It’s not on par with Signature Restaurants in the resort hotels, but it’s better than expected.
There’s also the practical planning perspective, which is that the Magic Kingdom dining lineup is the weakest in all of Walt Disney World. There’s literally only one other dining option in the entire park that stacks up to Be Our Guest Restaurant, and that has a more adventurous menu that won’t appeal to picky eaters. When considering the practicality of a Walt Disney World vacation, that makes Be Our Guest even more of a winner (and must-score ADR!) since its in-park competition is not exactly fierce.
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.
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of the prix fixe dinner menu at Be Our Guest Restaurant? Do you think it’s worth the money? Would you rather do dinner elsewhere in Magic Kingdom, or is this the best option? Does it live up to the hype? 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!
As someone who never uses the Dining Plan, this review really got me excited about going back to Be Our Guest.
Thank you!
While the food looks good, and our family usually buys the dining plan, I will pass mostly because of the 2 credits. And the wave as well as kona cafe feel like signature dining with 1 credit ( especially the wave) and rarely busy.
I’m still disappointed in their switch to tortellini for the vegetarian option. From what I gather, people get 7 pieces of pasta for their entree. I don’t mind paying for a prix fixe dinner if the option is worth it. Seven pieces of pasta is not worth $55. We’ve only gone to BOG for dinner before and have loved it. I think we’ll try lunch our next visit so I can get the French onion soup without spending $55 for it.
I plan on going to WDW for my 50th 2020 plan on bday dinner at BOG specifically to be able to meet the Beast (99% of trip to meet the Beast) if he’s not appearing I’ll just die!!!
I was really impressed with the filet mignon when I ate here in August. It was cooked perfectly medium rare, was very tender, and the portion size was much more generous than I was expecting. I enjoyed the entire meal except for the dark chocolate truffle. The dark chocolate flavor was way too overpowering and bitter.
In 2015 my husband and i had a WeddingMoon at Disney World.Planning a wedding is tough work, especially a destination wedding. As husbands go, mine was true to form and gave very little input, and help. The only thing he cared about was 1 we needed to be married at WDW, and 2 we MUST eat at Be Our Guest. Once everything was booked and scheduled (wedding, hotel tickets blah blah) then it was only about Be Our Guest. He even had a wedding nightmare, not about anything going wrong with the wedding, but we didn’t get Be Our Guest. We have a Christmas trip coming up in 3 months and guess what was the most important thing. You guest it. Do we have reservations at Be Our Guest? (we do cause I’m an awesome wife) So for us, and I’m sure many others Be Our Guest could be Victoria and Albert prices and that would still be the most important thing to my husband. He swears that his steak was the best he has ever had. My husband is from TX so that’s saying a lot. (I think the experience and his beyond controllable excitement for the restaurant plays a huge factor in this)
If I had gotten an ADR to BOG for dinner, I would have bought a full meal even before this change. BUT, all we could get was breakfast – and I was not happy with the choices, so my wife and I intentionally split one plate so we could save money while enjoying the castle. I guess that puts us in the “cupcakes only” grouping. 🙂
If we are paying out of pocket, do we pay $35 or $55 for an “adult” (11 year old) ordering a children’s meal?
Hi we ate here in August and we both had the filet- it was magnificent! Truly worth it, and at local steakhouse you would not get such a cut including app and dessert for $55! You’re spot on about the two credits, we were on the DDP and still chose to pay out of pocket here for that reason.
Excellent review, Tom!
Will heed your advice for our family and only consider w/AP discount.
Thank you.
For clarification, I booked an ADR for dinner at Be Our Guest for next Wednesday, 9/26/18. When I did it was a 1 table service credit, will they honor that?
Also, I just got off the phone with Dining Reservations, and they told me there would not be any characters at the dinner time, were there characters there when you just visited? If not, I’ll be canceling my reservation for sure.
Thanks for all of your info you pass along. First time commenter, long time reader 🙂
I just got off the phone with them. They did not care that I made my reservation in March. Still will be 2 credits. Also, guaranteed that the Beast would not be there unless it was “a rare appearance.”
I booked dinner for 1 credit under the premise the Beast would be there. Now, they’re charging 2 credits or $55/adult, and removing the Beast? And that is better value for me? nah. Swing and a miss for Disney on this one. First time I’ve felt unappreciated as a Disney customer.
I was very upset. I booked in February for our trip in Sept. and even when checking in at BOG they said it was only 1 TS so no worries. Food was not worth it for my family. Beast was great, filet was wonderful but definitely not worth the 2 dining credits they charged me and I found that out with our last meal when all my TS has been used. I should have noticed upon the receipt but did not. I Notified my resort, called several people and was told “they can not guarantee and are subject to change”. It was very upsetting and very unfortunate. I just looked at it as “an experience” but won’t ever do that again. And I love Beauty and the Beast
No, they will not honor the 1 credit. I’m not sure how you booked it because they had the reservations locked out while it was moving to Signature status. The only character is the Beast who you see on your way out. No characters come to the table.
Thank you for your update on BOG, I was there end of August and was curious what you and others thought. This was the second time we had been there and while I found the food to be tasty, the portions for the main meal were so small. I hated not having the option to select my own dessert as we found out that we were not big fans of what they offered, though it looked great. We had to order a pizza at the resort as everyone was still hungry from the meal. I did not use 2 meal plans as it just didn’t seem worth it to me, so I paid out of pocket. For my bang it was not worth the $55 per meal, sadly this will be the last time I go to BOG.
How has this change impacted lunch at BOG with regard to the dining plan?
Flair, not flare.
Glad to hear the steak is still a great option! As the last time I was there, 4 of us loved the strip. (My husband and I and two teen girls) However, I have two young boys who will order off the kids menu, and I can’t believe the price has jumped from like $12 for an entree, drink and cupcake to $35!!! That seems insane!
Tom,
Assuming that this change to Signature status is already effective; can you please confirm? We are staying at WDW in December with Free dining and had made an ADR based on the 2018 Dining Plan PDF showing Dinner as 1 dining credit (but “subject to change without notice or liabilty”). Thank you for your blog updates to keep us informed. Luckily, we had also booked another restaurant for that night since our BoG reservation was for 9:10 PM and weren’t sure if we’d want to dine that late. Looks like we’ll be cancelling and trying to hit BoG for lunch as a quick service meal.
My husband and I ate at Be Our Guest on 9/8/18. We had a 4:00 reservation, but they let us in about 10 minutes early. Our first course was served in a nearly empty ballroom (we were pretty close to the center of it too). He ordered the filet and I got the pork chops, and we both thought they were really good. I thought the dessert plates were beautiful and was ready to shove one into our bag to take home before we found out the stained glass rose was actually sugar paper, and it was really just a plain blue plate. The desserts were fantastic though, and we got some extra grey stuff for celebrating our anniversary. We hadn’t eaten there before, so I can’t compare to the previous menu, and we paid out of pocket with gift cards. I think because we had such an early reservation, there was also no line to meet the Beast, even though he didn’t come out until we were about ready to leave. As soon as we left though, we both said we would both do that one again.
We just experienced the new dining at BOG during our recent stay.
It absolutely was not worth 2 dining credits or the $199 it would have cost had we paid out of pocket.
Also we felt the quality of the food has gone down since our last visit.
I would definitely pass on this if you’ve already been to BOG and use your credits on another dining experience.
I do the same thing when dining!!! Well anywhere other than a fast food but definitely when traveling! I look nuts with my camera plate level, but I don’t care!!! Thanks for the updates!
I’ve read the “cupcake only” theory a lot over time, and I struggle to believe it. We’ve eaten at BoG several times and everyone around is always had a table of food. I’m sure it happens here and there, but I have a hard time believing it’s enough so seriously impact per-table revenue. (That said, Disney definitely has the data while I’m just guessing.) I’d think it’s more about getting everyone to order apps and desserts (at a higher profit margin).
I think the bigger losers than those using the Dining plan are people like my family who don’t eat 3 courses at a meal. As a general rule, even in the real world we don’t do appetizers and desserts at restaurants. So although you can get equivalent value to a pre-change meal here, it’s more food than I want.
I didn’t mean to imply that the cupcake-only people caused this. That’s highly unlikely. They maybe–MAYBE–represented 1-2% of the overall number of guests at Be Our Guest Restaurant. It was hardly a mainstream practice; more a thing clever minds on message boards developed as a way to meet Beast and get inside the restaurant.
The increased per table revenue comes from doubling the “cost” on the DDP and forcing out of pocket guests to do 3 courses. As you point out, even some guests who pay out of pocket but wouldn’t order 3 courses (or wouldn’t do meat) will come out behind this way.
While it happens at other Walt Disney World restaurants, I can’t say I’ve ever left a Signature feeling “stuffed.” Then again, I’m a pig. So I guess that puts us in the ~25% or so who are unaffected by this change–or come out ahead.
Good point about the DDP. We don’t use it, but judging by the comments on your blog and talking to non-Disney fanatic friends it seems to be very commonly used. I’m curious what % of guests are using the DDP on a given day (when “free dining” isn’t being offered).
I also tend to be a pig at WDW, but for the equivalent monetary price I’d rather spend my calories on some ice cream or something from the confectionary than most TS desserts.
They probably would not have had the cupcake only eaters if Beast still appeared with Belle in Epcot. Taking away any chance of seeing the Beast except for BOG dinner probably caused some of that to happen.
Rachel, unfortunately, I got off the phone with Disney Dining Reservations earlier today and they told me that the Beast does not appear at the BOG dinner either. They do not guarantee that he will ever be there and will only make “rare appearances.” Bummer for sure.
I so agree with everything you stated. Also, I have a 12 year old who has always been a light eater and to fork over the money for an adult priced fixed menu is probably not going to happen. Don’t even get me started on the topic of how most reastuarants anywhere are 12 and under and Disney puts the screws to us with the children 9 and under garbage. On a positive note, we had an absolutely lovely meal back I June before this changed.
Good point as well – I cannot imagine anyone with a child (of nearly any age, really) wanting to eat here. $35 for a kid’s meal is insane. And $55 for a 10-year old is worse.
Absolutely! Our daughter will be 9, and we have BOG reserved for dinner. I’ve never been able to get it before. Now I’m debating whether or not to keep it, but if we wait until another time she will be in the over 9 bubble, and I doubt we would get anywhere near our money’s worth.