Chef Mickey’s Restaurant Review
Chef Mickey’s is a character dining experience in Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World. This restaurant review includes food photos from the dinner buffet, menu info & pricing, whether it’s worth the money, recent changes, and more.
Let’s start with the latest change to Chef Mickey’s at Walt Disney World–buffets are back for both breakfast and dinner at Chef Mickey’s. Previously, the buffet service had been replaced by a prix fixe all-you-care-to-enjoy family-style meal. That is now gone, and buffets are back, baby!
The character component of the meal at Chef Mickey’s is also now back to normal, although this is not a new development. This means that hugs, autographs, high-fives, and photos with Mickey Mouse and friends have all returned. In other words, Chef Mickey’s is now totally back to normal…
Naturally, normalcy comes at a cost. In this case, that means a price increase for the dinner buffet at Chef Mickey’s. Previously, the family-style dinner feast was $59 for adults and $38 for children, not including tax and gratuity.
That price has increased to $66 per adult and $41 per child, plus tax and gratuity. This was to be expected, as other prices have increased around Walt Disney World as those character dining experiences have returned to normal. This makes Chef Mickey’s one of the most expensive character dinners–it’s also one of the flagship ones, and most in-demand restaurants in all of Walt Disney World.
Next up, here’s a look at the new menu for the Chef Mickey’s Dinner Buffet, which includes the following:
- Tomato and Rosemary Focaccia
- Seasonal-inspired Salads with Ranch Dressing
- Carving Station featuring Chef’s Selection
- Shrimp and Grits
- Roasted Pork
- Plant-based Seasonal-inspired Dishes
- House-made Macaroni & Cheese
- Vegetable Stir Fry Noodles
- Grilled and Roasted Vegetables
- Classic Favorites for Children
- Chef’s selection of Desserts including Warm Apple Crisp
Note that this is just the official menu courtesy of Walt Disney World. It’s almost always the case that the online menus for buffets are only partial listings of what’s actually available, with many dishes varying on a daily or seasonal basis. Below you can take a look at what we last ate when we did the Chef Mickey’s dinner buffet.
Before we even get started with the Chef Mickey’s dinner buffet review, one thing to note is that this is one of the older generation character dining experiences at Walt Disney World. The buffet is not new, it’s newly-returning, and there’s a big difference in that distinction. That’s especially true as Walt Disney World has overhauled other character dining experiences, and raised the bar significantly with newer restaurants.
Speaking of newer character dining experiences, if you want to cut to the chase and read about our #1 picks for breakfast and dinner, read our Breakfast à la Art at Topolino’s Terrace — Flavors of the Riviera Review and Story Book Dining at Artist Point with Snow White Review. Those are our two favorite character meals at Walt Disney World right now.
Of course, if you’re dead set on meeting Mickey Mouse and friends in their culinary costumes, those will not be suitable alternatives. Then again, you probably aren’t in need of a restaurant review if you’re already “dead set” on Chef Mickey’s. For most families, we’d say that Topolino’s Terrace, which also features Mickey Mouse and Friends, is a great alternative to Chef Mickey’s, so be sure to check that out before booking your Advance Dining Reservations.
Turning to basics about this restaurant, the menu at Chef Mickey’s is basically just a variety of American comfort foods, almost all of which is standard fare that will appeal to picky eaters. Chef Mickey’s is popular because of this, its convenient location near Magic Kingdom, and its longstanding status as a rite of passage character meal at Walt Disney World.Â
Plus, who doesn’t want to eat a meal cooked by Mickey Mouse, the original rodent restaurateur?! The story of Remy in Ratatouille is nice, but it’s quite clear he saw the success Mickey was having and decided to rip off the idea. The only difference is that Remy can actually cook.
Mickey spends all of his time out meeting guests, and as a result of his slacking, what the kitchen produces suffers. The Mouse just doesn’t seem to care. His restaurant remains popular and difficult to book despite the cuisine, so why bother? Well, because he’s a cheerful rodent dedicated to happiness, and not a ruthless businessperson, but I digress.
Chef Mickey’s is insanely popular and difficult to book. It’s a restaurant with a ton of fans, and I suspect this review won’t sit well with those fans. So, before we continue any further, I ask the fans out there to give serious though to why they like Chef Mickey’s. I’m guessing there are a few reasons: 1) nostalgia, 2) the setting, 3) the characters, and 4) the food.
I think the first three reasons are all very valid. I’m betting many guests who visit Chef Mickey’s regularly do so because they have fond memories of it being their kids’ first character meal, maybe even the first time meeting Mickey Mouse.
Among serious Disney fans, Chef Mickey’s has almost become a rite of passage character meal. Many guests form great memories during this rite of passage experience and want to return as a result. Nothing wrong with that. We all want to go back to the places where we made great memories.
The setting is also pretty cool. There’s something to be said for dining in the Grand Canyon Concourse of the Contemporary with monorails passing overhead. Same goes for the characters. You have all of the Fab Five at Chef Mickey’s (in cool outfits, no less), making it one of the best experiences for character dining.
These three things can make it easy to overlook the faults in an experience. Namely, the food. It’s just not good, and is not a valid reason for liking Chef Mickey’s. Usually, when I have a bad meal at Walt Disney World, I try to give the restaurant the benefit of the doubt, thinking of the ways my experience might have been an outlier or just unlucky, and find a reason to give it another chance despite the meal. I just can’t give Chef Mickey’s the benefit of the doubt after our dinner.
Our meal wasn’t bad because of any issue that could be described as “variable,” like the food being cold or overcooked. It was just plain bad. Ingredients seemed cheap, most buffet items lacked flavor, and everything was just generally low-quality. The food felt like a total afterthought, as if people were there primarily for the ambiance and character interactions, and food didn’t matter.
Now, I understand that Chef Mickey’s is basically aiming for family-friendly comfort food (this is certainly no Boma or Tusker House), but it seems like there was no effort put into any of the items on the buffet. Maybe the rationale is that it’s all for kids with simple tastes (but what about their parents?), I’m not really sure.
Almost like the attitude of Rizzo the Rat when he proclaims, “they’re tourists, what do they know?” in MuppetVision, except for food.
Before we delve into particular food items, let’s take a quick look at the decor of the restaurant. Aside from the monorail overhead, the restaurant just consists of colorful designs, Mickey Mouse pop-art, and a Mickey head motif. It has a bit of a 1990s vibe to it, but not in a way that feels dated.
I like the design, especially the color and pop art. For the most part, it just feels fun–exactly how a character meal like this should feel. Plus, you absolutely cannot beat that monorail overhead. Just look at it!
This ambiance alone almost makes the restaurant worthwhile. Too bad you can have the same ambiance by just sitting in the Grand Canyon Concourse for free, or by eating at Contempo Cafe for a fraction of the price. Plus, in those places you won’t be subjected to the total chaos that is Chef Mickey’s.
Here’s one of the buffet lines. Notice that the names of the food are scribbled onto the glass. Classy.
As for the food, the silver lining is that it’s not all atrocious. There are some glimmers of mediocrity in the mix that give Chef Mickey’s some redeeming value. Let’s take a look at the various items.
Here’s a plate of various meats and mashed potatoes. Anyone familiar with our blog will instantly recognize this vegetable-free plate of food as mine.
The carved beef sirloin was low quality but above average relative to other stuff here. I liked the mashed potatoes, but they seemed like a cheap kind of instant potatoes.
The ribs aren’t always available at Chef Mickey’s (the nightly menu does change some), but don’t get too upset if they’re not there.
I’ve never met ribs I didn’t love…until Chef Mickey’s. Okay, I still ate a lot of them, but it was because it was a ‘lesser of evils’ situation.
Some carved turkey on this plate. Quality-wise, it seemed like one of the better things available, but it was prepared dry.
Some chicken, scalloped potatoes (I think), and “salmon.” I’m not entirely convinced the salmon was made of fish.
Lots of random stuff on this plate. We tried everything at Chef Mickey’s (just thinking about that gives me mild PTSD) and most of the food was completely forgettable. Actually, that should be “food with an asterisk,” because I’m not sure if some things meet the FDA definition of food. I like processed guilty pleasures just as much as the next guy, but it seemed like everything at Chef Mickey’s was processed and low quality.
When I said everything lacked flavor above, perhaps I was being too harsh. About 50% of the menu tastes like butter and/or cheese. So there’s that…I guess.
At this point, you might be thinking (like I was): “Well, at least dessert should be good. Kids love dessert!”
Well…you’d be wrong. Above is a brownie-like thing. It was not good.
Unfortunately, “taste” is not something they had much of.
On the plus side (possibly), I think preparation might have been the issue here. So you might have better luck with these.
The bread pudding was actually halfway decent.
The other desserts probably made it seem better than it was, but either way, it wasn’t bad.
The character interactions were generally good. In all of our experiences at Chef Mickey’s, the place has been a zoo, but that’s absolutely to be expected of a restaurant like this. Kids get excited, parents let them run around…it happens. Don’t eat here if you’re not keen on the idea of someone else’s rugrat jumping around your table. We loved the outfits that each of the characters had. For how busy Chef Mickey’s is, the character interactions are all surprisingly good. This was a real relief given the food quality.
Characters are good about spending time and having fun with each table; it’s not just a matter of posing for photos and moving along. One downside was that it was difficult to get photos without other guests or Cast Members in the background, but that’s a problem at all character meals. It’s just exacerbated at the popular ones, especially when tables aren’t spaced out (as is the case at Chef Mickey’s).
Another issue for us is that not many character attendants were around. For most guests this probably isn’t an issue because it’s parents wanting photos of their kids. Sarah and I don’t have much use for photos of one or the other of us–but not both of us–in the shot. I wish character attendants trailed each character at every character meal.
Before start thinking I’m just a curmudgeon who hates fun, classic Walt Disney World experiences, wait until you read our upcoming Cinderella’s Royal Table review. To give you a brief synopsis, our expectations were far exceeded and we absolutely loved it. See? Not all negative!
Overall, Chef Mickey’s is one of the worst restaurants at Walt Disney World when it comes to food. The thing is…that probably will not even matter to many of you. Many families understandably want the Chef Mickey’s experience. The ambiance is fun and the character interactions are undeniably good at Chef Mickey’s, and as odd as it might sound, that’s the most important component quality of Chef Mickey’s.
So, maybe the Mouse is right when it comes to the food being an afterthought for many guests. The only other mouse-operated restaurant I’ve visited was Chuck-E-Cheese, and it was pretty much the same way. Yet, I still loved that place as a kid, and I suspect many families will love Chef Mickey’s despite the food.
Personally, Chef Mickey’s would be low on my list of character meals to revisit in the future because of its high price and poor food. If I’m being honest, though, and we had kids, I’d still make sure they experienced Chef Mickey’s once. (We’d probably do breakfast, though, as our last breakfast at Chef Mickey’s was good. Granted, that was about 5 years ago.) This really speaks to the draw of Chef Mickey’s as a place where families make memories, even if it should not even technically be allowed to call itself a restaurant.
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Your Thoughts…
Have you done Chef Mickey’s at Walt Disney World? What did you think? Worthwhile for the characters, for the food, or for both? Is this meal something you’d like to try? Any specific recommendations from the buffet? If you have any questions or thoughts to share, please post them in the comments. We love hearing from readers!
This post is EXACTLY why you have the best Disney blog. It’s completely honest and fair. But maybe I just ABSOLUTELY agree with you. I enjoyed the post.
We really enjoyed Chef Mickey’s on our WDW trip, BUT it was the first thing we did after landing in Orlando. The setting and characters were fantastic, and they helped start our trip off on a fun note. The food was edible, and we were hungry after traveling all day. Finally, we had free dining and did not pay the big price tag for eating there! I’m not planning to eat there when we return to WDW without free dining.
Love your post and agree. We are taking a risk however, and made reservations for Christmas Brunch at Chief Mickeys on Christmas morning. Breakfast there is generally better and we do have 2 little kids that would love to see Mickey on Christmas morning… Do you think this might work out for us or should we try to get something else?
I had read that the buffet wasn’t that great during dinner and so we decided to do breakfast. We had a great time except for the fact that Goofy pretty much dissed every high five I tried to give him…he gave the kids big time high fives, but totally left me hanging…until at the very end when we were walking out of the restaurant…Goofy came running over and tapped me on the shoulder, I turned around and he had his arm raised ready to accept my high five, I obliged and just as we were about to make contact he lowered his arm!! It was hilarious!!
As for dinner choices, we always pick table service and avoid the buffets…one of our favorites is the Whispering Canyon Cafe…love that place!
we have never done the Chef Mickeys breakfast, but have done the one at cinderellas castle and were very pleased with both the food and the way the characters took time with our granddaughters, and we have been at a few others which were ok, although I don’t like having to make certain times for things such as meals and the fast passes. I feel they are a pain and what if I am in the middle of enjoying something elce at the park? I don’t want to have to leave because I HAVE to go eat . I don’t think I will ever do a character breakfast, lunch or dinner again. Good food or not
We chose Ohana on our last WDW trip and loved it; and since Pluto is our favorite (followed by Mickey and now a surprise favorite Stitch) we could avoid Chef Mickey chaos. However against my better judgment we went to an arrival night late dinner at Goofy’s Kitchen on a recent Disneyland trip. The food looked exactly like the pictures you posted above. I must have had 4 or 5 plates to try little bites of everything to find something I liked. The soft serve ice cream was about it. The best breakfast buffet that I have had in the US parks is Hollywood Vine and Dine. What a pleasant surprise!
thank you for this, I was considering chef mickey over ohana breakfast because everyone makes such a big deal about it. we’ve never been to either, but ohana seems much better, and the mouse is at both places!
I could not disagree with you more if I tried. Sort of. Chef Mickey’s is the absolute best character event on Disney property. BUT….only for breakfast.
While the dinner food is so so — the breakfast buffet is wonderful — lots of fresh fruit, the usual eggs, bacon, sausage etc. Then there’s a whole cereal bar and the pancakes and waffles are awesome.
As character breakfasts go — this is far and away the best one there is. The food and access to the characters is plentiful and it’s a great way to start your Magic Kingdom day.
But I am SO glad that you posted this review. It will make getting reservations a little easier!
Drew McLellan
My husband and I absolutely love Disney! A co-worker of mine told me that we had to go to Chef Mickey’s for breakfast. I finally got the reservation. The atmosphere was terrific! The characters couldn’t have been any better. Now, as for the food, it was ok with us. Nothing to write home about, but good. We basically had the mickey waffles and some fruit – some eggs as well. I encourage people to at least give it a try once (if they don’t mind paying the price). Luckily, we were on the dining plan. It was a “good” overall experience. We’ve been back once but probably won’t go again. We have reservations for Cinderella’s castle in October. Can’t wait to read your review on that. I would have to say that my most favorite character breakfast would be Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. Keep up the great work! I’m new to our blog and love it!
We went to Chef Mickeys last August for breakfast and it was a lot of fun! My cousin (5) was afraid of the characters when we went to the parks. Even Buzz and Woody, who he’s obsessed with! I’m so glad we came here! The characters came one by one to our table. The character interaction with the kids ( Considering that there were 6 kids ) was great. They enjoyed seeing them all. The food is great too! I love my Mickey waffles…
We were disappointed with Chef Mickeys, but we still had fun. I’m glad we did it though, I think it is something that guests should experience at least once.
Garden Grill and The Crystal Palace = our FAVORITE character meals. Delicious food and wonderful character interactions (Chip and Dale had me in tears because of their hilariously crazy antics).
I mostly agree. You go to Chef Mickey’s for the location, the atmosphere and the characters. You don’t go for the food. Typically, if we go for dinner, I can find at least one entree and one side dish that I like enough to fill up on. The desserts look better than they taste. But they are good enough that I end my meal with a little sweetness. I definitely don’t overindulge on desserts here.
The food is besides the point which is kind of crazy given the price. But we have had a lot of fun with the kids here. And when are kids are old enough to stop caring about dinner with the Fab 5, we will never go back. I’m hoping you only went as research for this review. There’s really very little reason to go if the kids aren’t dragging you.
Going for “research” was part of it, but when I saw the “rare” ADR available at the (relative) last minute, I snatched it up without really thinking.
I had read a fairly glowing review of the dinner last summer in a different blog, so I was a bit blind-sided by the poor food quality. That’s why there’s such a rambling preface here about why I think people *actually* like Chef Mickey’s…
We did every character breakfast last month on our vacation. I was scared of trying Chef Mickey’s because of your reviews. However, we were pleasantly surprised and happy with our meal.
Chef Mickey’s wasn’t the best, but it was near the top. 1900 Park Fare and ‘Ohana tied for best character breakfasts for us. Chef Mickey’s and Cape May Cafe were tied for 2nd. Tusker House was good, but of all the breakfasts, their tables were closer together and our server was one of the worst we had while on the trip.
As far as ribs go, I was generally not impressed with any of the traditional ribs served at WDW. The only ones I liked were the Braised Short Ribs from CRT, and I’m not really a braised or short ribs kind of guy. The worst ribs, by far, were the Spirit of Aloha. They just didn’t cook them right. Or it was the Teriyaki sauce. Either way, I felt sick after eating them.
A lot of your articles from your May trip seems that you are burned out on WDW. I hope that changes. 🙂
I could see how it might come across that we’re burned out on WDW given the tone of this article and some of my comments on MagicBands in the trip report, but that’s really not the case. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train exceeded my expectations, the Star Wars meals were fun (albeit pricey), and we mostly had a blast during the 24-hour day. As you’ll see in our Cinderella’s Royal Table and Restaurant Marrakesh reviews (and the update to our Plaza Restaurant review), we have amazing experiences at those restaurants.
My perspective on Disney theme parks definitely has changed in the last year, but I’m not burned out on any of them, and I had an absolute blast on this recent trip.
I’m glad to hear that you had a blast.
I’ve tried Chef Mickey’s a few times just be fair and it’s always the same, horrible. I enjoy 1900 Park Fare, much nicer selections and the quality is higher.
As usual, an honest and thoughtful review. Much appreciated.
And think you’re spot on about the better experience (and value) at Contempo Cafe. Been meaning to give that a shot. Though would be remiss if I didn’t say how much we miss its predecessor, the Concourse Steakhouse. We were big fans of getting the whole concourse/monorail experience while also have a quieter table service experience.
So nice to know I’m not the only one that feels this way. Went to Chef Mickey’s for breakfast a few years ago. I was so excited since the last time I went was when Chef Mickey’s was still at the Village (now known as Downtown Disney). What a disappointment. The food was underwhelming and we felt rushed with the characters. I’ll stick with Cape May next time I want a good character breakfast.
We (family of five) went to Chef Mickey’s for breakfast during our first ever trip to WDW two years ago. After two trips with ‘free’ dining and therefore a decent variety of TS meals under our belts, I can safely say Cef Mickey’s ranks near the very bottom of the list for us. Between the ‘meh’ food and the total chaos, I would take a character meal at Tusker House over CM any day.
Thank you for this review!! We had booked 180 days out for our trip in October, but were really sort of not super excited, other than feeling like we “checked the box” of going to Chef Mickeys. We will be three generations, spanning from 2 to 71, and the idea of total chaos with bad food is more than we can handle. We have a Tusker House lunch and an Ohana breakfast planned — I think that will be plenty. Got ourselves a reservation at Raglan Road for that night instead. Instead of neutral, we are now excited about that meal. Thanks for the brutal honesty; it and the terrible humor is why I keep coming back.
I’ve eaten at Chef Mickey’s on every trip since 1980. And it really is cool to eat at the Contemporary with the monorails whizzing overhead. However, I think I’d only do Chef Mickey’s for breakfast because your review says it all, you’re really only there for the ambience. The food is not what it once was, but the kids love those Mickey Mouse waffles!
I agree entirely with your review and many of the comments above. In 2012, we began our first trip to Disneyland with dinner at Goofy’s Kitchen and had a wonderful meal; great food and characters really set the scene for a terrific visit to DLR. So it seemed only natural to us that when we visited WDW in April of this year that we would do the same thing and visit Chef Mickeys for dinner on our arrival day. What a mistake. We were 3 adults and 2 kids and apart from the joy for two small people (ok and a couple of large ones too) at seeing their favourite Mouse and his friends, the meal was extremely disappointing. It was noisy bordering on chaotic – and I tolerate noise better than most – messy, expensive, and the substandard food was the icing on the cake (or not, in this case). Tom, like you I thought that the desserts would be my salvation and that only made things worse.
Luckily for us, we had read your reviews on the Contempo Cafe so all was not lost. Those flatbreads were amongst the best things we ate in 11 days. Also, I agree that Cinderella’s Royal Table shouldn’t be considered similarly. We were very nervous when we arrived given our first experience at Chef Mickey but the whole meal couldn’t have been more different. It was everything we had hoped for.
Thanks so much for your blog. Great insights and images here that we used extensively in our planning. It also helps to keep the magic alive once we have returned home…..