Garden Grill Restaurant Review
Garden Grill is home to Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Harvest Feast, a family-style character meal in EPCOT’s Land pavilion. This Walt Disney World dining review features food photos plus our opinion of this all-you-can-eat, rotating restaurant offering views into the Living with the Land ride. (Updated April 12, 2023.)
Just to make sure you caught all of that, we have: 1) all you can eat, 2) characters, 3) restaurant rotation, and 4) views into a Disney attraction. Does Garden Grill have ALF and dinosaurs? Because if so, with those 6 things, it would be the greatest restaurant ever!
While this review covers dinner at Garden Grill, it’s worth noting that Garden Grill also serves Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Harvest Feast for both breakfast and lunch, as well. Breakfast is particularly intriguing as a way to access Soarin’ Around the World first-thing in the morning with a pre-park opening (PPO) Advance Dining Reservation (ADR). Although your better option for a PPO ADR is undoubtedly the Princess Storybook Dining Breakfast at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, as Soarin’ doesn’t command the wait times as Frozen Ever After!
April 11, 2023 Update:Â On that above note about breakfast, the most important meal of the day (or so I learned at the Land pavilion) is finally returning! According to Walt Disney World, the Garden Grill Restaurant will resume serving breakfast on June 14, 2023.
Walt Disney World has not yet released Advance Dining Reservations for this foundational meal. The official website simply states: “Please check back soon to learn about booking reservations.”
Here’s a look at the 2023 breakfast menu for Garden Grill Restaurant:
Breakfast at Garden Grill Restaurant will be priced at $42 per adult and $27 per child (ages 3-9) plus tax and gratuity. To my knowledge, this was the exact price prior to closing, when breakfast was last offered at Garden Grill. It’s somewhat surprising that in over 3 years, the price will not increase at all.
In the meantime, input costs have soared for Walt Disney World due to inflation on food, higher wages, and other variables. As we’ve discussed previously in other posts about Walt Disney World raising food prices, it’s interesting to see where they do and do not attempt to pass along higher costs to consumers.
As we’ve said before, Walt Disney World charges what the market will bear, increasing prices not at the rate of inflation or because its costs are rising at a commensurate level, but because they can. Or in this case, presumably because they can’t. I suspect past pricing was a byproduct of the Disney Dining Plan, and the perception among those who purchased it that they were getting better bang for their buck. Without that, there’s no need to create an illusion of value, and a basic breakfast priced above $40 is more difficult to justify to people paying out of pocket.
On another positive note, it does not appear that Walt Disney World is embracing skimpflation or any other corner-cutting to maintain margins on breakfast at Garden Grill Restaurant. In fact, it would appear that the opposite is true, with the menu mostly the same save for one change: sausage links have been replaced by Grilled Flank Steak with Ranchero Sauce. If anything, this appears to be a slight upgrade, and is an addition that makes breakfast here a bit more unique. (Sausage links are ubiquitous at Walt Disney World, and the ones served here were fast food caliber.)
It feels like eons since we’ve done breakfast at Garden Grill. Honestly, I don’t even remember everything we ate. What I do recall is that it was relatively basic, with the highlight being cinnamon rolls (now called a Cinnamon Breakfast Loaf…I’m intrigued by this possible change). The Cheesy Potato Casserole was another highlight, but it was nothing special–you just can’t go wrong with cheese and potatoes for breakfast!
We’ll be doing breakfast at Garden Grill Restaurant after it returns (assuming we can score an ADR), so stay tuned for a full review! For now, here’s everything you need to know about lunch and dinner at Garden Grill Restaurant…
This restaurant has existed since The Land pavilion opened, but not always as Garden Grill. It used to be The Good Turn Restaurant, and before that it was The Land Grille Room. The restaurant has always rotated (hence its first name), but it was previously a higher caliber of restaurant before characters came onto the scene.
Back in the day when Kraft sponsored the Land pavilion, they served classy stuff…like Easy Mac! That’s not to say the character version is worse (I don’t recall our meals at The Land Grille Room, so I’m not qualified to make that judgment), it’s just different.
As far as ambiance goes, the main selling points here are the rotation and views into Living with the Land. Otherwise, Garden Grill has fairly bland ambiance, without much in the way of decor. However, rotation and the views into the attraction are two huge selling points from the perspective of ambiance.
Discounting them would be like saying “if you take away the stunning views and open air kitchen, California Grill’s ambiance isn’t so special.” The fact that it rotates and has views into an attraction is what defines the ambiance of Garden Grill. Even though it’s a character meal, this is primarily why we eat at Garden Grill. It would be difficult for it to offer much more in the way of ambiance.
My favorite part of the views into Living with the Land has to be the upstairs bedroom in the farmhouse, which looks like a “lived in” room. This room is not visible from the attraction, meaning that all of the details in there are solely for the sake of restaurant guests.
Perhaps I’m easily impressed, but I think that’s pretty awesome. I wish I had captured some decent photos of it, but I guess it’s something you’ll just have to check out when you dine there. Every time I look in that room I smile–to me, this is a prime example of Disney going that extra mile with details.
There are two tiers of seating at Garden Grill: a lower level closer to the attraction and an elevated upper level closer to the inner column. In the past we’ve eaten on the lower level, but on our most recent visit, we were seated in the upper level.
It’s difficult to see into the attraction from the upper level without standing up (I found myself standing up a lot!). Like Coral Reef, this is an ADR to which you want to arrive a little early to request a seat on the lower level.
The official name of the character dinner at Garden Grill is “Chip ‘N’ Dale’s Harvest Feast,” so it should be no surprise that two of the characters present are Chip and Dale. Farmer Mickey Mouse is also present, as is Pluto with a country-ish handkerchief tied around his neck.
Mickey’s outfit is unique here and stands out from what he’d normally wear, so he’s definitely the main draw. Note that it can take characters a long time to get to your table at Garden Grill, but this is because they seem to spend a decent amount of time at each table.
On each of our visits to Garden Grill, we’ve had ample time for interactions with the characters, including some spontaneous mischief with Chip and Dale. Granted, we usually eat early or late, so this type of experience should not be expected if you’re there during the dinner rush. It’s definitely a much better option for interactions than a large and popular restaurant like Chef Mickey’s.
As far as food goes, well…it’s an all you can eat restaurant. It’s also a family style restaurant, so the options are limited as compared to a buffet. It’s also somewhat on the pricey side.
This is not to say that the food is bad–we enjoyed the bread, the salad, the filet of beef, the fish, and the dessert–but there is only 1 starter (salad), 3 entrees (filet of beef, turkey, and sustainable fish), 3 sides (veggies, potatoes, rice), and 1 dessert (cobbler).
This means if you don’t like one or two things, you’ve potentially eliminated a lot of what you can eat. By contrast, most buffets have so many options that not liking a couple of things really makes no difference. Some of this food is supposedly sourced from The Land pavilion, although I’ve never been told which items.
I think the only change in the meal from the last time we were at Garden Grill a couple years ago was the fish, which was breaded last time (I preferred the breaded variety, Sarah preferred this meal’s Mahi Mahi).
Despite the limited menu, we felt the food was solid for an all you can eat meal. Not the best, but not the worst, either.
We enjoyed most of the options, so the menu being limited wasn’t a huge drawback for us. The bread and salad were both surprisingly good.
The filet of beef was the highlight for me, and it was surprisingly tender and flavorful. Sarah preferred the sustainable fish, which was very good for all you can eat fare, but not as good as an average plate you’d order from a standard table service restaurant.
The sides were all okay, but definitely could have been better. They were nothing that really knocked your socks off. The cobbler was the surprise hit of the meal, and it was very good.
In the past, when we’ve dined at Garden Grill, I was really impressed by the restaurant. From the views into one of my favorite attractions (yes, I’m a geek), to the rotation, to the food, to the fun character costumes, it’s always been one of my favorite restaurants at Epcot. This time, when reflecting on it after the trip, I wasn’t quite so “high” on it, and I think this is in part due to other experiences on the trip.
Unfortunately, Garden Grill doesn’t quite compete with newer character meals like Storybook Dining at Artist Point or Breakfast a la Art with Mickey and Friends at Topolino’s Terrace. Nor is it quite as ambitious (or delicious) as Tusker House or Boma.
I still really like Garden Grill, but relative to these other experiences, the standout part of the meal was the ambiance and the superb character interactions. This, obviously, is just a personal anecdote based on our other dining experiences, but everything at Walt Disney World is relative–after all, you can easily forgo a meal at one restaurant in favor of another.
Overall, Garden Grill still gets reasonably high marks, especially if you want an all-you-can-eat character meal with approachable and crowd-pleasing cuisine. From that perspective, Garden Grill beats its direct competitors. While we prefer other character meals with more ambitious cuisine, that won’t be the case for everyone.
Regardless, Garden Grill is a winner thanks to its great ambiance in a rotating dining room with views into Living with the Land and solid character interactions. The food is pretty good to above-average for character dining, but we think it could stand a menu with a few more options. If high quality cuisine is your primary concern, there are a number of better options at Epcot. However, if you’re a fan of Living with the Land/classic EPCOT Center, character dining, or family style dining, Garden Grill is a strong option that we recommend.
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
How do you think Garden Grill rates as compared to other character meals? What about its food and ambiance, in general? Planning on dining here? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? 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!
Daughter (age 11) and I are going to Garden Grill in October. It has been several years since we have been. Now that she is an “adult” she will not get the mac and cheese (her favorite). Will they let us substitute the mac and cheese for the fish without charging extra?
Mac and cheese was one of the sides when we were there in April. Along with lovely sweet potato fries!
Would you recommend this over Chef Mickey’s for a first time visit??
For wider food selection – Chef Mickeys
For higher quality food, more character interaction, and better atmosphere – Garden Grill
I really enjoyed Garden Grill. Like you said, the little details on the ride that you get to see are really cool. We were seated on the upper level, but I could see that wasn’t going to bode well for photographs, so luckily we were able to be moved to the lower level. I also appreciated that they made a special vegetable dish for me since I’m a vegetarian and couldn’t eat the main dish.
I have been to Disney World 6 times in 12 years, I would have gone more if my funds permitted. I have been to at least 30, maybe more, different restaurants through out Disney World. I have eaten in ever park to downtown disney to resort restaurants, dinner shows and character breakfasts, just to name a few. I have to agree with Andrew Dominick, the Garden Grill is the WORST! Out of every restaurant I have eaten in at Disney this is the very worst! The food wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t good, I could almost get over the food if I didn’t find the place so DISMAL! This is a restaurant in Disney World and I am calling it dismal, hard to believe. Even with the character dining I still found it dismal. The rotating did nothing for me. They really need to spruce this one up!!
PS Lacey… if you should see this DON’T cancel Cinderellas Royal Table for the Garden Grill!!
Nice review Tom! I’ve never even thought twice about Garden Grill, but after reading your reviews, I really think my family would enjoy it. We are going in the fall and have FD. Im seriously thinking of canceling CRT and doing Garden Grill and Akershus instead!
Lacey… if you should see this DON’T cancel Cinderellas Royal Table for the Garden Grill!! Garden Grill was the worst!
The Garden Grill is the worst Restaurant in Walt Disney World I went to. The food was bad and the characters were not funny. We had to wait for Chip the character for after we were done eating, we almost left. so don’t go to the Garden Grill.
We have been to the Garden Grill on two trips and have enjoyed our meals. We went there for our 22nd Anniversary dinner and Farmer Mickey conducted a vow renewal ceremony during Dinner for us.
We visited the Garden Grill when we were at WDW over the Thanksgiving holiday 2012. It was very busy when we arrived and a little crazy but we were seated not long after our reservation time. We actually sat on the top level and honestly it was not bad. I thought I would be disappointed but honestly it was easier for the kids with the characters. We still were able to view plenty of the landscapes. We ate late in the evening as we were staying for EMH which ended past 12 midnight. This worked out really well as the restaurant was clearing out towards the end of our meal and we got to spend lots of extra time with the characters. We were able to walk right over to the night show and we were golden for the rest of the night.
As for the food, our family enjoyed it. I am a foodie and eat very healthful. I thought the fish was great. My 2 little boys (9 & 5) and my husband pretty much shared everything else provided on both the adult platter and the kids platter. Having both platters was quite a nice deal and it really just added to the meal. Additionally, when we asked for more then never questioned it. Dessert was great that evening. Warm and moist and again we shared all of the dessert between the four of us.
The best part of the meal was our server helping us find the “hidden mickey” in the mural. That is a really hard “hidden mickey” to find and I am pretty sure there are many people who don’t even know it exists there. That was fun as my boys were totally into looking for “hidden mickeys” on this trip.
I’m glad you enjoyed it. How was dessert? 😉
I think it is awesome. Really love to visit there one day 🙂
Does the spinning of the restaurant make you queasy?
I think it turns at something like 1 revolution per hour, so not enough to make even the most motion sensitive stomachs notice.
I had to take my daughter to the restroom during hte meal and it was fun to have to “find” the table again after we got back since it wasn’t in the same place.
The restaurant did make our son queasy (he gets motion sickness) and he actuly couldn’t eat but we did not enjoy the food at all, loved the characters but left and got snacks elsewhere to fill us up won’t be going on our next trip.l
We just ate here April 14th with my 2,4,& 6 year old, and I am very torn about it. We were seated on the lower level, and by far, this was my favorite character meal interaction. And we have eaten at the castle, akershush, crystal palace, tusker house, etc. I loved that every picture I took of my kids with the characters here was frame worthy due to the land scenes and there not being tables, people eating, and kids peeking in the background. (this of course would not be true on the top tier). The characters spent such great time with my kids, and they absolutely loved it. Chip and Pluto actually sat down with us to get a better picture with my son. Being a half circle booth made it easy for the characters to do this. I’ve never seen a character sit down at the tables at other meals.
Now the food… The bread, okay, the salad great, every thing else? Eh. The stuffing was gross (I actually spit it out), my hubby won’t eat fish and it was a bit spicy for me, and I didn’t like the beef. So I was really looking forward to the dessert. It was just okay. If I hadn’t been so hungry, I probably wouldn’t have eaten it. It’s like a berry heavy muffin with whipped cream that you wished with all your heart was ice cream. Because of the food, I would never want to eat here again. But because the character interaction was so great and the pictures some of the best character pictures all trip long, we may go again while my kids are little. But after that, I think this will just be checked off our list of ‘tried it’.
Glad we aren’t the only ones who felt this way! Granted, I didn’t dislike the food, but I am a bit surprised to see so much praise for it. I just thought it was okay, at best!
Our last two trips to Garden Grill we’ve had our little guy with us – and even though he’s under 3, the CMs provided the kids platter each time also! Added bonus of chicken drumsticks, Mac & Cheese and my fave…sweet potato fries! Made a meal we already enjoyed even better. And I have to say our character interactions have always been great here. Thanks for the review!
Garden Grill was our family’s first character meal ever. My son was 4 at the time. We were such newbies – we didn’t even have an autograph book, and the characters signed and drew pictures for him on paper towels (which I remember being on the table as napkins.) It was such a magical experience for us, and very much a part of the reason we have returned so often since then. That was in 1998. We have been to GG every trip since then (9x) – the most recent in 2011 with our now 19 year old! We love the characters and the meal, although I think the quality and choices have declined over the years. Our next trip in December 2013, we have decided to skip it. I’m a little sad because it has become a tradition, but we had a family vote and I was outvoted 2-1. We are taking the girlfriend this time and decided on a princess meal for her, which will also be fun for me since I don’t get to do the “girly stuff” very often. Thank you for your detailed and personal reviews for all of us “geeks” out here!
We are looking forward to going on one of our future trips. My 11 year old LOVES Living with the Land (after Spaceship Earth and Journey into the Imagination with Figment). Since we ride the rude at least 5 times when we go, I figured it would be a nice treat for her. Thanks for the review!
Definitely would be a good restaurant for her!
We ate at the Garden Grill in 2007. Our daughters had their own build-your-own sundae. It came with different toppings (candy) on the side. I don’t know if this had changed. Hope this helps.
I miss that dessert. Since then there has been worms and dirt, red velvet ladybugs, Mickey mousse, and kids cake cones. Those are just kids desserts
We love the Garden Grill. It is where we normally dine our very first night. With kids and without. The food is good, we really enjoy it. The character interactions have been amazing every time! All the characters came by twice, spending quality time with us. I had the kids dessert this past summer for an do not like cobbler. It was soooo good and so cute! It was a red velvet cake with chocolate chips inside shaped like a bug. I have a picture of it.
During our most recent visit, we had numerous visits from each of the characters–the restaurant sort of cleared out towards the end of our meal! It’s definitely great for interactions.
That dessert sounds great. If you could post a link to your photo, that would be awesome!
http://pinterest.com/pin/196821446187847171/
Here a picture is the kids red velvet cupcake.
My daughter got this on her birthday. She also got a card signed by all 4 characters there. That was a great surprise too.
Just a quick off topic question. For the monstrous summer all nighter, are you going to Disneyland or Disney world?
Just a quick off topic question. For the monstrous.summer all nighter, are you going to Disneyland or Disney world?
Disneyland.
I have fond memories of some kind of cheesy bread being served here in the 80’s when I came as a kid. I also loved the concept of a spinning restaurant.
We ate for the first time since then this past January. I’d agree with your assessment – the food was good but not spectacular (which is tough in Epcot where there are so many great food choices). They separate options for children is a nice touch, although my non-typical 4-year-old eschewed those choices and ate mostly the blackened tilapia. I appreciated being able to eat the kids’ dessert since I don’t like cobbler.
The character interaction was great – possibly the best fur characters we have had at a meal.
What was the kid’s dessert? It wasn’t offered to us.
Is was some type of chocolate mousse, if memory serves. Nothing exotic, but I like chocolate and can’t eat fruit so it worked!
It wasn’t specially offered to us – I just traded with my daughter since she isn’t particularly fond of chocolate and wanted the cobbler instead. (One of the many benefits of children!)
The kids dessert is currently a kids cake cone. It’s a cupcake shaped like an ice cream cone. If you have kids you’ll get them. If you’re kids at heart just ask and they’ll bring them.
We ate here food the first time in March. We felt the food was good, but what we really liked was that our son got his our plate with more kid friendly options. He ate from his and ours. I also felt that the food wasn’t has heavy as other meals that we have had at Disney. This would be a nice option for a lighter meal in the summer.
We also had great interactions with the characters. My son enjoyed seeing Chip and Dale and their interactions.
We will go back here again.