Be Our Guest Restaurant Dinner Review
We finally did dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant in Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom! This review features photos of food, the restaurant when empty, and our thoughts on the experience and quality of eating here. You’re probably all familiar with Be Our Guest Restaurant by this point since it opened 4 years ago, but in case you’re not, its dinner menu offers French cuisine.
Additionally, Be Our Guest Restaurant is a 2018 Disney Dining Plan participant as a one-credit table service restaurant at dinner. It’s also really close to making our list for the best values on the Disney Dining Plan at dinner. If you’re not using the Disney Dining Plan, dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant offers a 20% discount for Tables in Wonderland cardholders, and a 10% discount for Annual Passholders.
It’s hard to believe that Be Our Guest Restaurant opened 4 years ago. It’s even harder to believe that we’ve been trying to eat here for 4 years without success. (Well, Sarah and her sister did eat here a couple of years ago, but I did not.) Perhaps I should have my Disney blogger card revoked for that, but I think it just underscores how difficult it remains to make ADRs here unless you book 180 days (or close to it) in advance.
Speaking of which, we have an article offering Tips for Making Be Our Guest Restaurant ADRs. We also have a Lunch at Be Our Guest Restaurant Review and a Breakfast at Be Our Guest Restaurant Review (which we also recommend reading to determine which meal(s) is/are right for your party–they are all very different from one another).
Unfortunately, it’s rare for us to book trips 180 days in advance, so we often can’t take advantage of our own tips. Consequently, our best strategy has been looking for last-minute cancellations. On virtually every visit to Magic Kingdom for the last few years, we’ve stopped by the Be Our Guest Restaurant podium at 4 p.m., and have also played the ‘constantly refresh’ game on the My Disney Experience app.
All of this was to no avail until our recent trip; we were able to score a post-fireworks ADR for what I assume was one of the last seatings of the night. This meant waiting longer than we wanted to eat, but at that point, I would’ve eaten a Casey’s Corner hot dog to tide me over.
Yep, I was that desperate to eat dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant. For all of the trouble booking this restaurant, you’d think Lumiere and other dancing dinnerware would set your table!
With that out of the way, let’s turn to ambiance. For our dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant, we were seated in the ballroom. In the past, I’ve lamented that this is my least favorite room in the restaurant. It has some beautiful details, to be sure, but the large, cavernous size makes it loud and lacking in intimacy.
In other words, like a dressed-up mess hall. I have other quibbles about it, but those are the main ones in turns of dinner, as this is not the type of environment I’d expect from a table service, quasi-fine dining experience.
Sarah, on the other hand, favors the ballroom. She likes the beauty and grandiosity of it, but mostly enjoys watching the falling snow. I can understand this to an extent–particularly if you get a “window” table–but we were about as far from those windows as possible.
Personally, I’d recommend requesting a table in the West Wing or Rose Gallery if you’re a couple looking for a more intimate experience.
If you’re a family with kids who will potentially be restless, the Ballroom could be appealing as it’s already pretty loud and chaotic in there, so you won’t stick out.
While I normally recommend the West Wing (by far my favorite room), Sarah points out that this could be scary for little kids since it’s dark and there’s occasional lightning. That seems odd to me, but I guess it could be true?
My dad was in the mold of Calvin’s father, subjecting me to things I didn’t like to “build character.” (I turned out fine…assuming that there’s some definition of “fine” out there that includes writing a Disney blog. 😉 )
Now, on to food. As mentioned, Sarah and her sister had dined here previously.
They both loved it that meal, and Sarah ranked this as the best Magic Kingdom table service restaurant as a result. Not that the competition is exactly fierce, but I think Skipper Canteen is a worthy contender.
As normal, bread was brought out to begin our meal. It was fine–nothing special.
For appetizers, we started with Mussels Provençal with Pernod, Tomatoes, Garlic, Onions, and Herbs. This was addictively good.
The broth was incredibly flavorful (I may or may not have lapped it up with a spoon) and pretty pungent as a result of the garlic, onions, and herbs; it would’ve been a great base for a pasta or seafood dish.
The mussels themselves were tender and delicious, and it was a perfect starter for two to split. Really high quality all around.
Other options for starters include the soups that are also available (at lower price points) for lunch. I’m a fan of the French Onion Soup, but would not recommend it over the mussels.
Following starters, Sarah ordered the Roasted Lamb Chop served with Potato Pavé, Artichokes, Tomato Salsa, and Lamb Demi-glace.
She thought that the balance of fat and lean meat was about right, and gave the meat a great, tender flavor.
The accompaniments and presentation made it befitting of a fine dining meal, although the size was a bit on the small size (which seems the way Disney is trending with dishes like this).
I tried this and agreed it was delicious, and would recommend it with the portion size being my only reservation.
For my entree, I ordered the Sautéed Shrimp and Scallops with Lobster, Mushrooms, and Seasonal Vegetables in a creamy Lobster Sauce. Sarah previously ordered this when it was served in a pastry, and she loved it, so I thought I’d give it a try in its new form. It was fantastic: quality seafood in a rich (and incredible) sauce, this is one of the best dishes I’ve had at Walt Disney World in recent memory.
While the removal of the puff pastry might seem like a downgrade, it seems that the portion size of the dish has increased with the change (based on recent trends, that doesn’t sound right…so perhaps I got lucky?) and that’s a trade-off I’ll gladly take. It’s difficult to tell from the photo, but the portion here was generous. All told, a highly recommended dish.
Having filled up on glorious Casey’s Corner hot dogs (not really) before our meal, we elected to skip dessert. Actually, we decided to skip dessert because it’s all the same items that are available for lunch. Considering the high caliber of the cuisine here, it’s a bit disappointing that dessert is phoned in like this (particularly egregious at a French restaurant).
Plus, it was well after 10 p.m. at this point, meaning that we’d be having a traditional breakfast of cupcakes in only a few hours when we got up the next morning. Most people are probably going to want to try the Grey Stuff for the novelty, but we don’t think any of these desserts are particularly memorable.
After dinner, we were able to get a photo with Beast, which was a nice addition to the experience. I appreciate that Walt Disney World did not turn this into a full-blown character meal, because that would destroy any semblance of a fine dining experience the restaurant otherwise has.
BTW – Who wore it better? 😉
Before we dined here, one thing I noticed is that the guest response to dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant is fairly divided. Based on what I’ve heard, I would say 70% of guests love dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant, while 20% hate it, and 10% are fairly indifferent. Part of this is inconsistent food and service quality, something that plagues all table service restaurants at Walt Disney World.
If I had to guess, I’d say another part of the ‘hate it’ camp is at least in part due to sky-high expectations resulting from the difficulty of getting an ADR here. There’s also the possibility that some of that ‘love it’ camp is the result of confirmation bias: after doing all that work and hearing so much hype, some people probably want to love it and rate it more highly than they otherwise would have if they were able to walk-in to the restaurant without reservation. My point with this is that you should keep your expectations in check: I’d put dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant among the top 25% of restaurants at Walt Disney World, but it’s far from the best.
So…was dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant worth all of the hassle? Well, I’m glad I finally got the chance to do it, but I probably won’t go out of my way to score an ADR here again. Personally, I think Be Our Guest Restaurant and Skipper Canteen are both contenders for best table service restaurant in Magic Kingdom. Given that there’s absolutely no effort required to dine at Skipper Canteen, that’s the easy choice for me.
For the average family with kids doing their first Walt Disney World vacation (or an infrequent visit), Be Our Guest Restaurant will hold much more appeal for dinner. When viewed from that perspective, though, I think Cinderella’s Royal Table (which is underrated for its food, in my opinion) gives Be Our Guest Restaurant a run for its money. All of this is to say that I think Be Our Guest Restaurant is an excellent option; however, there are good alternatives for all demographics, so if you can’t score that elusive dinner ADR, it’s not the end of the world. Just make sure you do breakfast or lunch instead, as you’ll definitely want to see the inside of the restaurant one way or another.
Want more dining tips? Check out our 101 Delicious Walt Disney World Dining Tips. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
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 dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant? Is it worth the hassle to score an ADR? Would you rather do dinner elsewhere in Magic Kingdom, or is this the best option? Does it live up to the hype? Share your thoughts in the comments!
My husband and I finally scored an adr last year. Our total experience was awesome! We ate in the ballroom, and really, it was not too noisy. The food was very good and the wait staff kept in their roles all the time. It was fun. We peeked at the other rooms, but it seemed the Rose room had a lot of people taking pictures of the rose, which might be a bit distracting while trying to eat? The dark West Wing looked intriguing and we will try it next year. We both enjoyed it and were surprised at the great food!
I think lunch in the Ball Room gives it the noisy reputation. Dinner seems less crowded and more subdued with not as many preschoolers echoing their delights or grievances.
On a side note: It’s amazing how many large tables go unoccupied at dinner when ADRs are still so hard to obtain.
“On a side note: It’s amazing how many large tables go unoccupied at dinner when ADRs are still so hard to obtain.”
^This seems to happen with regularity at Disney restaurants, and it’s usually due to staffing issues, either in terms of kitchen or servers. It’s actually better to let those tables go empty and not stretch servers or the kitchen too thin, and as a result have an overall decline in quality. Disney has cut some corners lately, but this is actually one thing for which, I think, they should be applauded.
Are there table clothes at dinner? I had dinner in the West Wing last year, and I think I remember no table clothes–which kinda ruins the “fine dining” ambiance. I find it hard to believe Mrs. Potts would be ok with this. I also felt that the service was rushed. But my 9 year old loves the place, and I like being able to enjoy a glass of wine with dinner.
My husband and I had dinner there in January, marathon weekend. We loved it. We took the kids when we back as a family in June but I opted for lunch…big mistake. It was much more crowded and noisy which completely distracted from the experience. The door to outside was open the whole time, shining bright light into the ballroom, completely ruining the intended atmosphere. Looking back I should have booked lunch at Crystal Palace or opted for a dinner reservation. Never again. They really need to do something about the noise level in that place (not sure what) because I think that is the main distraction. Changing it from quick serve to a table restaurant all day might help. Have the Beast there all day. I’d say if you’ve booked lunch there, request to NOT be in the ballroom for a better experience.
It is true about the West Wing scaring kids. My girls are 3 and 5 and really didn’t like it at all. I had wanted to be seated there but didn’t want to wait the extra 20 minutes so we settled for the Ballroom. Seeing how they reacted when we stopped in the room just to look, I was glad I didn’t get a table. It would have ruined an otherwise great experience. It is too dark and spooky and they didn’t like the lightening. Something for parents to be aware of.
Otherwise we loved BOG. And don’t give up hope on getting an ADR. I got ours the day before we left for WDW after continuous stalking. People always change their plans so keep trying!
We are dinner here on the last night of our trip in March. It was perfect. I liked eating in the ballroom because it was just like being in the movie and as a huge Beauty and the Beast fan that is incredible. I would like to eat in all of the rooms at some point but that will take a while as we do not go to WDW frequently.
We only managed to score lunch ADR on our last trip. We had turkey sandwiches and they were okay. The decor looked like it might look nice during dinner, but felt very cafeteria-like during lunch. If we have the chance to go back for dinner, we might- but there are other places I’d like to get to first.
Last time I was here for dinner the “Grey Stuff” was served on a long cake, not the same cupcake as breakfast and lunch. There were a few other desserts as well which were different from lunch. Has this changed at this point to be the same as lunch?
We’ve had several ADR’s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at Be Our Guest. We’ve loved every meal and every room! Well, by “we” I’m not including my 6-year-old son; he is terrified of the West Wing! This kid isn’t afraid of Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion or Tower of Terror, but he insists that he’ll never go in to the West Wing again! Our 3-year-old son on the other hand, likes the West Wing the best!
I always get the vibe that this was designed purely as the Great Hall from Hogwarts when they were pitching the idea to get Harry Potter and never really deviated from it.
I found the food okay. We were sat in the banquet hall, but up against the windows, which was the saving grace. I don’t think I would have cared to be sat anywhere else in that space.
We’ve had all three meals at BOG: dinner twice, lunch once and breakfast twice. I have to say, breakfast was our least favorite meal! Both times, the food was ice cold when it was delivered to our table. Not lukewarm…just plain cold. The first time, we thought maybe it was *supposed* to be cold? The second time, we knew something wasn’t right. We couldn’t flag down our waiter for the life of us, so we just ate it. I spoke with a manager on the way out, and she was apologetic and said that many guests have complained about the food being cold. She went on to say that they were “trying out new ways of holding the food in the warming carts” to improve the temperature by the time it reaches the guests. She offered to comp us our meal credits and give us Fast Passes, but she was so nice, we declined.
Dinner was wonderful both times and lunch was good as well! I agree, it is chaotic for lunch, the Ballroom is LOUD and the West Wing may be scary for little ones (still my fave room though), but overall, BOG is a pretty awesome place to dine!
Sarah is correct. The West Wing traumatized my newly 3 year old daughter on our first visit to wdw. We were there twice for breakfast 14 months later and I would have loved to eat in the West Wing again, but she wouldn’t hear of it. Hoping that on the next trip she is willing to give it another try I loved lunch at BOG, but I think I prefer breakfast just for the experience of walking through an empty MK and finishing up breakfast in time to be among first in line for you favorite fantasyland attraction. Would love to try dinner some time !
We had dinner here on our first night of my first ever trip to WDW and loved it. My husband and I are annual pass holders for Disneyland but there’s nothing like this there. We sat in the West Wing, our service and food was excellent (charcuterie, lamb, fish that was a special for the evening, grey stuff), and the big thing you didn’t mention at all, they have wine! We splurged on an expensive, themed and unique to the park bottle of red wine, which was wonderful, and they gave us a copy of the label.
I recently went there on my first trip and manage to score all three meals. My fave was dinner; the atmosphere, food and the Beast was fantastic. I went with my mum who loved her steak and I had chicken which I thought was great as well.
We finally got an ADR here on our last trip in December. We had eaten lunch here twice before and I wasn’t very impressed. On this same trip in December, we also did breakfast at BOG. The breakfast was pretty good. The main reason I wanted to do dinner at BOG was because I wanted to meet the Beast. He is my absolute favorite Disney character. Therefore, I did not really care about the dinner so much. I ended up have steak and fries which was really good, especially the dipping sauce for the fries. I don’t remember what my daughter ordered, but they brought her the wrong thing. They said they would bring the correct thing, but they never did. Thankfully she ended up liking what they had brought her. Overall the food was pretty good, but meeting the Beast was the best!
I had the same seafood & pasta dish last May. I’ve had better pasta at the Olive Garden. Overall our meal was just “okay”. Service was good but the value for us just isn’t worth it. It’s unlikely we’ll be returning.
We ate a late dinner here the week after Thanksgiving, 2012. (This might have been during a soft-opening, or just after official opening…I can’t recall.) We were seated in the West Wing (the lightning and darkness did NOT make a fan out of my 3.5 year old at the time – so I agree with Sarah’s assessment). It was so dark, that I did not notice the remnants of a previous guest’s chocolate cake in my chair until it was too late – and you can imagine what the rear of my jeans looked like the remainder of the night. Our server was unapologetic, and acted as if we were inconveniencing him greatly by delaying the placement of our order while attempting to clean up! We were a party of 7, and three of the entrees had to be sent back for not being properly cooked (two fish, one steak). By the time the corrected entrees came back out, the other four of us were finished with our meals. It was a birthday dinner for one of the children, with dessert promised. But given the delays, dessert came at the price of missing Wishes, which we “heard” overhead as we ate (and which we did not have the opportunity to view again during that trip.) Then my husband and 7YO (partakers of the fish entrees) both got very sick during the night, which caused us to miss our Tusker House ADR the next morning. It was another 3.5 years before we ever got to Tusker House – and BOG still leaves a bad taste in my mouth (the root of all things EVIL during that trip!) ALL of that to say that we secured a post-Wishes (not taking any chances this time) ADR for our post-Thanksgiving trip this fall. Going to give it another shot, and hope for a much better experience this time! Your review has left me feeling more optimistic about our decision. Thank you.
Oh, and we have a much earlier ADR that evening for apps at Skipper Canteen to “tide us over”…so apparently I’ve done something right! 🙂
Here’s the really important question, where did Sarah get that fabulous dress?
I just came down to the comments to say the same thing, KC!
We had dinner here late Sept. and I fall in the ‘underwhelmed’ camp. Food was ok. I had the steak and it was fine. Neither the best nor worst I’ve had at WDW. We were in ballroom and it was very loud. Our waitress was easily the worst I’ve had at a ‘fine’ dining experience. She was a total flake. I don’t care that it’s MK, if I’m paying these prices I expect good service. I’d give it another go for lunch.
We also snagged the 9:30pm reservation time after refreshing the website for hours on end before our trip last year. And we too sat in the ballroom, I have to agree with your comparison of the cafeteria, we ate lunch at BOG on our last day and it was such a different atmosphere in the library. We ordered a bottle of champagne with dinner (we were celebrating getting engaged the day before) and by the time we finished the bottle we were the last people in the restaurant, we didn’t get to see the beast but we did get to walk around the restaurant with no one in it which was pretty cool! And all the waiters came by our table to talk, and no one rushed us out. While 9:30 is pretty late for dinner we loved the experience and are looking to book the same reservation on our trip next year.
My family and I ate here in about three weeks ago. We needed to buy chairs for our group and they were already at the table by the time we were seated. We were seated in the rose gallery, and with all things considered with our small kids this was probably the best place to sit. I got the seafood pasta, the shrimp and scallops were cooked perfectly and everything else about it was great. We also got the steak, which was probably one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. And the pork, which I did not have much of what the bite I had was really good as well. Everyone in our party was thoroughly impressed, and I would love to go back again soon. The desserts were all great, but I do agree if there is one thing I would like to see improved it would be some more ambitious French desserts. I think there may be a few decent French desserts out there right?
*buy chairs was supposed to be “high chairs”
Whew! I was trying to figure out this new Disney profit center.