“Farm-Fresh Food with a Vision.” This is a quote from Disney World’s website used to describe the flagship restaurant of Epcot’s The Land pavilion, The Garden Grill. For decades, The Land has proven unique among Disney pavilions in not just providing guests with unique dining but making us stop and think about what we eat and where it comes from.
Through its thirty-year evolution from “The Good Turn Restaurant” to “Chip n’ Dale’s Harvest Feast”, The Garden Grill has carried this torch as a mainstay for sustainable comfort food and farm-fresh eating. However, recent changes have raised a worrisome question…
Is there actually any “garden” left in The Garden Grill?
Though resort literature still touts the Garden Grill as a healthy, sustainable dining experience, something has shifted at Epcot’s rotating restaurant. Gone is the educational vision. Gone is the farm fresh element. Remarkable food has been replaced with heaping skillets of cafeteria starches and gravy-drowned meat, and the worst part is that the prices have not adjusted with the change.
This article is part review and part lament, exploring just why it appears Epcot’s Garden Grill has lost its sustainable soul.
A step back in time…
I was just a kid when we first ate at The Garden Grill, easily one of my favorite meals every Disney World visit. The rotating restaurant was enough of an experience itself with the novelty of its changing scenery, but the food stood out on a level all its own. Baskets of warm bread and butter preceded bowls of fresh green salad harvested from the greenhouse downstairs. I remember the cucumbers in particular—juicy, crispy, and big as footballs.
Steaming baskets of sustainable fried catfish kicked off the main feast —not particularly healthy, but oh-so-tasty and unique in demonstrating The Land’s educational vision. From a kid’s perspective, it was fascinating to learn that fish could be “farmed”. Next came plates of succulent chicken or turkey, rich marinated flank steak, creamy mashed potatoes, and mouth-watering vegetables. The menu varied each time, but the result was always a stunning family feast.
Finally, the meal would end with hot steaming cobbler for the adults and—a personal favorite— gummy worms and cookie dirt in chocolate pudding for the kids.
Was it healthy? Not really, but it was rich, sustainable, delicious, and an excellent value both for the price and the character dining experience (particularly considering The Garden Grill is one of the only locations in Epcot to see Mickey Mouse).
Image: JeffChristiansen, Flickr (license)
If the restaurant didn’t impress us enough, in 2014 we visited with two family members who were vegan (some of our favorite recommendations can be found in our recent article about vegan dining at Disney). We were concerned the meal would prove a poor value for them, but the incredible vegan spread the chef produced left everyone at the table salivating-- a massive platter of roasted veggies, healthy grains, and grilled tofu that proved to be even more delicious than the meat-eaters' version. It was such an impressive experience, it became one of our number one recommendations for guests with special diets visiting Epcot.
We came back in February 2017 expecting that not much would have changed. We were wrong.
Comments
It's no secret that Disney hasn't made drastic changes to just about everything in the recent years in order to make Moreno money. Even their quick food establishments have cut portions and downgraded their quality yet keep raising their costs. They even removed their large drink cups and are now calling the medium cups "large" along with keeping the same pricing. It seems they have aimed their sights at attracting guests in higher income brackets now in order to help with the overcrowding issue rather than building more open areas for guests to spread out. I really don't like their business decisions to take advantage of their guests but they know that some people are still going to pay for it because it's "Disney Magic."
Not to be harsh, but just because they went through an ecoweenie stage doesn't mean they've always been that way or are obligated to stay that way. We used to eat there back before they started the character dining, and while there were farmstyle offerings, there was a lot that wasn't. I couldn't quote you chapter and verse on what we ate every time, but I do remember being comped for dessert because they dropped my husband's pizza and we had to wait longer.
The goodies you got at the end sounds like they are trying out a new menu and they are getting bad feedback. Quality vs. price is always an issue with Disney, and nobody likes being overcharged for mediocre food. I have to admit, though, you bringing up the word sustainable repeatedly flies in the face of that, since in my experience restaurants that flaunt how 'responsible' they are flagrantly overcharge.
I agree with you're article about the food quality. Disney is definitely trying to cut on everything and raise ticket prices for maximum profits. I think in the long run this will hurt Disney and the average family will start looking for other theme parks and vacations spots. I personally had a miserable time this year at the Christmas party because of the $30 ticket increase and 45min-1 hour wait time on every ride (waste of money for being in the park only a few hours). We stayed in Disney with the dining plan but in the future will probably stay off the resort and only visit a couple parks when we go back in the future.
This has become the new norm. Disney restaurants have really fallen in quality and prices continue to increase. Who can blame them. The Disney sheep keep coming in masses and keeps clamoring for the horrible meal deal. You pay top notch for sub-prime food and you smile about it. World Showcase is the best example. It used to have unique offerings with top-quality ingredients. Now, everything is boil-in-a-bag and the meat is all the same. Only the sauce is different and it all varies in price! Wow, whoever thought of this is an accountant not someone focused on customer service. Disney has truly lost its way and only care about the almighty dollar. More and more folks are refusing to pay this and are going elsewhere. I know I did just that. Very sad...
As a Annual Pass Holder I have been found g to the parks for several years now and I would agree whole hardly with this article but it isn't just the Garden Grill, its "World" wide! Just today we are at Animal Kingdom and got lunch in Dinoland Reaturant, YUK! Our "All Breast meat". Chicken nuggets were no different then the ines we get at the grocer and they are cold! My Bacon burger was cold as well! Didn't complain, it seemed it would do me no good as all the food around us looked the same. But there has been a Monumental shift in the food quality I the parks over the last year or so and it is Veda's to see the prices go up and things are Not getting better!