Sadly, Hollywood and Vine has become a place to avoid. On a recent visit I found the food to be poor, the ambiance is chaotic, and its just not a very pleasant place to be. For $50, you might be expecting some good food. That isn't the case here. It's a buffet, with some basic dishes on offer, not particularly fresh, and not much variety. The characters are great as always, but that doesn't take away from the feeling of chaos in the place. It is noisy and hectic. Service was poor, the server was more interested in pushing us out of the door than providing great service. $250-ish for a family of four to eat here is just madness. It isn't worth it, and there are far better Disney dining options out there. Disney needs to seriously improve the offering, or reduce the price to make me return.
We had an 8am, first seating ADR here in December. It was myself, husband and our almost 4 year old daughter. This ended up being our favorite table service meal of our entire trip! The first seating was a wonderful choice as the restaurant was not completely full, we got a great table, right on the aisle where the characters do the dance parties, and the food was hot and fresh. The breakfast choices, while standard, are delicious and plentiful. Our server was amazingly attentive, always refilling our coffees, making friendly conversation with our daughter, and offering us all juices to go before we left. The character interaction was some of the best we experienced all week. Each character took their time at our table, offering our daughter lots of hugs and picture opportunities. Our table was right at the front of the section so every time they walked past us to get to another table, they would tap her on the shoulder, wave or give her an extra squeeze. The dance parties were a wonderful feature, adding even more character interaction time. As we were leaving, my daughter desperately wanted to say goodbye to Doc McStuffins so our server actually went and found her for us. Overall, 5+ stars and we would return here without any hesitation.
Our family of 5 dined here yesterday for a late dinner and will never return. The food was decent but not worth the $32.00 per person that we paid. Our server was rude and impatient on at least 3 occurrences to both my daughter (age 10) and husband when they simply had questions re: drinks, etc. I understand how trying waitressing can be as I did this while back in college but this woman had no reason to act the way she did to us, as we were not demanding and the restaurant was not unreasonably busy. Fortunately for us, this was the only Disney restaurant that we experienced this kind of service.
Hollywood and Vine is a firm favourite! The buffet has a wide range of choice both cold and hot as well as two chef stations with meat carving and other options. The desert section has a fantastic variety for any sweet tooth. The staff are very friendly and are always willing to help. This restaurant also provides the Fantasmic package for entry to the evening show.
Not worth the cost for dinner. We were there on a reasonably busy day, but there were only 20 tables occupied for dinner. Half the buffet line was closed, and the half that was left open was poorly stocked. Several platters of food were empty and took a while to get refilled, and there was a wait for new meat at the carving station. Food wasn't bad, but was bland, with no real standouts. Left several items on my plate that pretty much had no flavor. Dessert looked promising with the chocolate fountain on premise, and the dipped items were the better selections. Service was great, no problems there. Prompt with clearing plates and bringing drink refills. Not worth the buffet prices for the food. Can't speak to the character interactions at breakfast, but spend your dinner money elsewhere.
Our kids were thrilled to see their favorite Playhouse Disney/Disney Junior characters. It was a great experience for them. However, the food and service left a lot to be desired. I would still consider it a must do for any parent with Pre-School to Kindergarteners.
The Play n Dine is a buffet with "special" choices for little ones. The food is not outstanding by any means, but the interaction with the Disney Junior characters is memorable and worth the time at lunch for little ones. Otherwise, if you do not have children, then I would not recommend this restaurant.
We have eaten at this restaurant several times for dinner - we also got the Fantasmic package, which was very convienent. There was lots to choose from on the buffet & the food quality was good. Overall, we have had good experiences at this restaurant.
My wife and I have eaten at quite a few restaurants @ WDW and this was hands down the worst. We arrived 15 minutes before our reservation. At least a dozen people arrived after us and all were seated before us. 45 minutes after our reservation (and only after making quite a fuss with the hostess) did we finally get seated. I understand if this was during the busy time of year but the restaurant was only 3/4 full so there was no reason why we should not have been seated earlier. Next disappointment, the wait staff was slow and inattentive. Finally, the food was cold, bland and uninspired. We will never go to this place.
My family & I went to Hollywood & Vine for the character lunch buffet on 10/25/11. We are pretty easy going people, and our children (5 & 4) are generally easy to please (especially with characters involed!), but this experience was not good. none of us enjoyed it. The food was downright awful. Many of the foods were salty, meats were grainy, and the texture of most foods was just plain displeasing. Worth reiterating again, that we're not a very picky bunch (it's not like we're intense food critics, we just want a good meal !). To make matters a bit worse -- the kids were also upset with only 1 character visiting our table in the course of a little over an hour. Tough to explain to a 4 & 5 year old, why the characters are visitng everyone else, and not us. The server was great, however, and went the extra mile to even have the other 3 characters visit our table before we left. That was a very nice, unsolicited, gesture on his part. And was much appreciated in at least somewhat salvaging an overall bad experience. We have some friends that ate at Hollywood & Vine a few months back, and they also had a bad experience. But, we're of the opinion that we'll check it ourselves, and generate our own opinions. Well, unfortunately, we have to agree with them. Easily the worst (and frankly, the only bad) dining experience that we've had in our 3 visits to Disney over the last few years. Would not recommend
Even though there were lots of people, we got in at our reservation time. The food was very good. There were plenty of items to chose from.
We loved this place, We made a breakfast reservation at 10:30 and had the best time with the playhouse disney characters (2 of the little einstines). The breakfast is your normal stuff that is everywhere but then at 11:00 the food changed to lunch and the meatballs were out of this world. The best part for the kids is at lunch the other 2 little einstiens came out. So we got to see all 4 and the other playhouse disney characters. It is well worth using a table service for this restaurant.
We had breakfast here before the park opened so it wasn't too busy and we got seated right away. There was a good selection of breakfast foods and the entertainment was great. My husband enjoyed this resaurant the most.
Hollywood and Vine is one of my favorites in Disney World and by far the best buffet. There is a great variety of food and it is all well prepared. Most of the things on the menu aren't your typical buffet foods. The mashed potatoes are amazingly good as well. I often visit the restaurant in combination with the Fantasmic! dining package. In the past I have found that it is fairly easy to get into the restaurant without a reservation too.
I wasn't too impressed with our breakfast. The buffett line closest to our table closed, and had me thinking that both sides were closed, so I never went back for 2nds. It wasn't until we were leaving that I noticed the other side was open. DD got to meet JoJo, Goliath, and June & Leo (from Lil Einsteins), so she was happy. All these character dining experiences, though, had her eating very little of her breakfast.
The food here is pretty good. The variety is outstanding. The service is so so though. Don't let the review ratings scare you. Several people who wrote positive reviews forgot to add a rating therefor it automatically is set at 0.
We were lucky enough to get "free dining" for our last trip to DW (Mom/Daughter Trip 9/13/08-9/20/08:) and we both agreed that Hollywood and Vine was the BEST meal of our trip (we ate at Le Chef de France, Le Cellier, Garden Grill, 50's Prime-Time, & Planet Hollywood) Our waitress was wonderful! (went and got us butter because we couldn't find it :) and checked on us frequently. The food was unbeatable~excellent choices (in addition to being "all you can eat") and our wait was nearly non-existant despite folks without ADR's being turned away. We are planning to return here on our next trip!
We went for the Playhouse Disney breakfast. The character interractions were fun. Our daughter loves Jo-Jo and the Little Einsteins, so this was a must-do for us. We had an unfortunate situation where Jo-Jo kept passing by our section. The place was practically empty, but she kept visiting the same tables and skipping our area completely. We were there for an hour and expressed to our waitress that we were ready to leave as soon as we got a chance to see Jo-Jo. After several promises that she would be right over to see us, the hostess eventually grabbed Jo-Jo and sat her down in an empty booth and then brought us over. The food was about what I expect from a Disney breakfast buffet. Not bad, but there was no WOW factor. Of the character meals I have done, this is the least impressive.
Food was excellent...hot food was hot, cold food was cold. Lots of variety on all buffet tables. Service good.
great food, and awesome character experience when we do it
great for children during the playhouse disney lunch. jojo and goliath and the gang will sing and dance to entertain the children. buffet has great value and many options for all tastes. the dessert bar also has many options.
Was there December 07 I have a 2 year old 5 year old and a 9 year old we went there for breakfast i have never seen my 2 year old sit so still and eat. But then he seen jojo and the others it was party time he was dancing every where i loved it just for the simple reason of how it was for my children.The food was okay im a pickey eatter so but what i did have was good.But with all the excitment by 2 and 5 year old still had alot to eat and wasready to ride some rides and go see what else there was there.
In all our years of visiting the WDW parks, we had always written off H&V in favor of places like Sci-Fi Drive In and 50's Diner. We reasoned it was "just another Disney Buffet". WE WERE WRONG! HAHA! Though simply themed as a 50's-era Cafeteria, it became obvious the REAL thought was put in to the food selections, and we werw thankful for that! The buffet line was one delicious surprise after another, and many items we had never seen at any other Disney Dining venue. To start, there was a nice selection of salads and breads. Roast pork and Pot Roast with numerous grilled vegetable selections made great entrees! We also loved the creamed corn spoon bread, as other reviewers had mentioned. It was different and delicious! We also could not resist the extra creamy macaroni and cheese and chicken selections on the kids section of the line. A nice change of pace for desserts were the apple and peach cobblers with self serve ice cream, as well as quite a few "sugarless" options. Our server was attentive and helpful, and always had a smile. Glad we tried Hollywood & Vine, as we honestly enjoyed it more than the other two places we used to dine while at MGM! ENJOY!
Last week we went here for the Fantasmic dinner package. In my opinion, the food is mediocre & WAY overpriced.
We ate at Hollywood and Vine for the first time last week and really enjoyed it. There were no characters while we were there - perhaps not character dining in the evening? But we were all adults, so we didn\'t care. Our server, Kyle, was great, and we LOVED the food. It was unusual enough to be interesting and delicious but not \"out there wierd\". We especially loved the creamed corn spoon bread. Oh, my goodness. I could have eaten that all night. Other popular choices were the pot roast, roasted vegetables, and a great variety of salads. We thought the dessert choices were a bit weak - rice krispy treats, cobblers, small tarts, etc. However, there was soft serve ice cream with a big variety of toppings, and you can never go wrong with that! As for atmosphere, I do think it was reminiscent of an old cafeteria - problem is, many of us still live in places where the \"old cafeteria\" is still in service, so it didn\'t really seem \"themed\" at all. But I wouldn\'t let that stop you from enjoying a great meal. We did the Fantasmic dining package. Our reservation was at 4:30 and then we saw Fantasmic at 8:30. It was very nice getting there just 30 minutes before the show and still having a good seat. Plus, you are in a great spot to beat the crowd out. We were on the first tram to the parking lot, and back in our room by 9:45. Woo hoo!
This is my favorite resturant in any of the parks, it is the best! I'm a passholder and I have to go to this place every couple of months, just fabulous...
There really isn't much atmosphere here. I do think you get your moneys worth for the amount of food you get. The food itself is not spectacular, but I would say it is above average as far as food found at WDW.
I ate dinner here as part of a Fantasmic dining package and it was an excellent experience. Dining is buffet style, so you can pick and choose what you'd like to eat, and control your portion sizes, go back for seconds, whatever you'd like. There is a wide variety of foods, everything from soup and salad to tasty desserts. The atmosphere is cool, too. Like something out of an old movie. It's a great place for dinner at your own pace!
If you want a meal in a park, GO HERE. If you want a character meal, GO HERE. If you want great food, GO HERE. The all you can eat buffet is great. I've eaten every meal here and will try and dine here every trip I make to the Studios. It's worth it. Breakfast is great, the only negative thing is that there is no omelets. Other than that, the food exceeds every other breakfast that I've had on Disney property. Lunch is very similar to dinner. Both are excelent. Characters aren't present at dinner, so the atmosphere is a little quieter than breakfast and lunch. Some of the best food I've had is located in this restaurant. The desert bar is one of the largest I've seen at Disney and has some of the best deserts on it. If you want a short line for the restrooms, DON'T GO HERE. Sharing with 50's Prime Time, the restrooms can be quite busy.
Although it was our fifth trip we have never taken a Character meal so we visited Hollywood and Vine for a breakfast in August. It was tremendous!! Our server Carrie was so efficient and friendly, the food was plentiful and delicious and the characters were so attentive and happy to entertain. My brother had informed the restaurant my husband and I were celebrating our Silver Wedding anniversary and my birthday. We were presented with balloons, a cake, a memories certificate and a birthday card signed by the characters. We have some great photographs and memories. We enjoyed the food so much we booked for a evening buffet later in the holiday. That was also very good although there are no characters of an evening.
we had a party of two adults and three children aged 8,10,14. We went for the character breakfast at 10am and were still eating at the buffet style (all you can eat ) at 1130.What a fab choice savoury and sweet.With Goofy, Minnie,Pluto Chip and Dale all arriving at your table for photos .The service was excellent and the more you eat the more the disney characters come round to greet you.would recommend it highly and will go again
This is my husband's fave place to eat breakfast at MGM. We loved the characters dressed in the mobster theme. The service was very good. The characters again treated us just like kids.
This is one of my favorite meals in WDW- period. I could eat here every day of the year, and still keep coming back. The Flank Steak is superb, the chicken is great. And the 1930's-40's swing motif is happening. I've loved swing and big band for years now, and this place has it. This place is a good tribute to the Hollywood that never was, and always will be