The Garden Grill Breakfast Review
On our last trip to Walt Disney World we took advantage of an early
breakfast reservation at The Garden Grill. Until November this
restaurant only served dinner, but in the fall they added breakfast and
lunch to their plate. He had enjoyed dinner here on our trip in the
beginning on 2015 and we just had to try something new for our short
trip at the beginning of 2016.
We started our day bright and early.. okay it was actually a really foggy day. We boarded the first possible Epcot bus, which arrived around 7am at our resort, All Star Movies. After a short bus ride we arrived at Epcot where we got our bags checked, checked in with a clipboard-wielding cast member and waited with everyone else that had an early breakfast reservation. Two table service restaurants inside of Epcot serve breakfast before the park opens, The Garden Grill and Akershus in the Norway Pavilion of World Showcase. Akershus and Les Halles are the only World Showcase locations that open before 11am.
With a park opening time of 9am the earliest reservation time was 8am, which was when our time was. At around 7:45 they opened the gates, more like moved the rope, and started letting guests in. We started towards the Land Pavilion and just before the Character Spot we were met by another cast member who made sure we were on the list and headed in the right direction.
If you're never been to The Garden Grill you may not think that you know where it is. As soon as you walk into The Land Pavilion it is straight across from you on the second floor.
Once inside we checked in and were told that it would be a few minutes. A few minutes later we were lead to our table and because we were the first ones in the restaurant we were able to get a photo with all four characters at once! More about characters later.
The Atmosphere
The restaurant has two tiers of seating, the top tier is the only one of the two which can have high chairs. It is also completely open to the outside because the restaurant looks over and into the Living with the Land attraction that is located on the first floor of the pavilion. Don't worry if you're not seated at a table that looks into the attraction, you'll be at one eventually. That's right, the restaurant slowly spins! So watch your step as you enter. Worried about motion sickness? Don't be. The restaurant spins slowly and while you're eating you won't even notice that it's moving. By the time you have finished your meal you will most likely have made it all of the way around once.
When you arrive at your table be sure to look for a hidden Mickey!
The Food
The first food to come out is a fresh fruit salad and Chip's Sticky Bun Bake.
The fruit salad was juicy, full of sweet fresh flavor and consisted of cantaloupe, honey dew, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple.
The Sticky Bun Bake was huge warm cinnamon rolls, 5-6 of them, that were soft, full of cinnamon flavor, served in a skillet, and yes, they were sticky.
Next they brought out a platter with lots of delicious food. Mickey waffles that were soft on the inside and slightly crisp on the outside are served with warm chocolate hazelnut spread for dipping. You can ask for regular syrup and they'll be happy to bring it to you. Crispy bacon, ham slices, potato barrels (tater tots), scrambled eggs, and biscuits and gravy are all included in this all you can eat affair. Three dipping sauces are also brought out, one goes best with the ham, but all three are great no matter what you dip in them.
One sauce was a chutney that had a nice sweetness, but also a bit of spice and paired well with the ham. The second sauce was a pico de gallo and the third was a green salsa. All were very good. If would prefer ketchup for your bacon, eggs or potatoes, just ask and they'll bring some out.
The eggs were fluffy and moist.
The biscuits were fluffy, flaky, buttery and were sitting on top of the gravy so that you could put as much as you want on top. The gravy was creamy and had a nice sausage flavor to it.
We really enjoyed all of the food. We put a dent in it, but we didn't come close to finishing what was on the table. Should you finish what's on your plate and still have room, don't hesitate to ask, it is an all you can eat breakfast and they would be happy to bring you more.
The Characters
We mentioned earlier that you can meet four characters at this meal. Like other character dining experiences on property the characters come around to each table to meet with guests for photos and autographs. Guests can meet
Chip, Dale, Pluto and Farmer Mickey. We meet with all four characters to start, but they all came back around again individually, too. Christian who is almost two and Chip tried to stop the restaurant from moving. Super cute.
We have enjoyed both breakfast and lunch at The Garden Grill. The food and service have both been great both times, and it's really cool to eat in a restaurant that is spinning and looks into an attraction. We have also had some of the best character interaction on property here. We recommended both meals, or even lunch to get away from the crowds for a while midday. We really liked breakfast because it was relaxed and quite and were done eating and heading out just as the park opened.
We started our day bright and early.. okay it was actually a really foggy day. We boarded the first possible Epcot bus, which arrived around 7am at our resort, All Star Movies. After a short bus ride we arrived at Epcot where we got our bags checked, checked in with a clipboard-wielding cast member and waited with everyone else that had an early breakfast reservation. Two table service restaurants inside of Epcot serve breakfast before the park opens, The Garden Grill and Akershus in the Norway Pavilion of World Showcase. Akershus and Les Halles are the only World Showcase locations that open before 11am.
With a park opening time of 9am the earliest reservation time was 8am, which was when our time was. At around 7:45 they opened the gates, more like moved the rope, and started letting guests in. We started towards the Land Pavilion and just before the Character Spot we were met by another cast member who made sure we were on the list and headed in the right direction.
If you're never been to The Garden Grill you may not think that you know where it is. As soon as you walk into The Land Pavilion it is straight across from you on the second floor.
Once inside we checked in and were told that it would be a few minutes. A few minutes later we were lead to our table and because we were the first ones in the restaurant we were able to get a photo with all four characters at once! More about characters later.
The Atmosphere
The restaurant has two tiers of seating, the top tier is the only one of the two which can have high chairs. It is also completely open to the outside because the restaurant looks over and into the Living with the Land attraction that is located on the first floor of the pavilion. Don't worry if you're not seated at a table that looks into the attraction, you'll be at one eventually. That's right, the restaurant slowly spins! So watch your step as you enter. Worried about motion sickness? Don't be. The restaurant spins slowly and while you're eating you won't even notice that it's moving. By the time you have finished your meal you will most likely have made it all of the way around once.
When you arrive at your table be sure to look for a hidden Mickey!
The Food
The first food to come out is a fresh fruit salad and Chip's Sticky Bun Bake.
The fruit salad was juicy, full of sweet fresh flavor and consisted of cantaloupe, honey dew, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple.
The Sticky Bun Bake was huge warm cinnamon rolls, 5-6 of them, that were soft, full of cinnamon flavor, served in a skillet, and yes, they were sticky.
Next they brought out a platter with lots of delicious food. Mickey waffles that were soft on the inside and slightly crisp on the outside are served with warm chocolate hazelnut spread for dipping. You can ask for regular syrup and they'll be happy to bring it to you. Crispy bacon, ham slices, potato barrels (tater tots), scrambled eggs, and biscuits and gravy are all included in this all you can eat affair. Three dipping sauces are also brought out, one goes best with the ham, but all three are great no matter what you dip in them.
One sauce was a chutney that had a nice sweetness, but also a bit of spice and paired well with the ham. The second sauce was a pico de gallo and the third was a green salsa. All were very good. If would prefer ketchup for your bacon, eggs or potatoes, just ask and they'll bring some out.
The eggs were fluffy and moist.
The biscuits were fluffy, flaky, buttery and were sitting on top of the gravy so that you could put as much as you want on top. The gravy was creamy and had a nice sausage flavor to it.
We really enjoyed all of the food. We put a dent in it, but we didn't come close to finishing what was on the table. Should you finish what's on your plate and still have room, don't hesitate to ask, it is an all you can eat breakfast and they would be happy to bring you more.
The Characters
We mentioned earlier that you can meet four characters at this meal. Like other character dining experiences on property the characters come around to each table to meet with guests for photos and autographs. Guests can meet
Chip, Dale, Pluto and Farmer Mickey. We meet with all four characters to start, but they all came back around again individually, too. Christian who is almost two and Chip tried to stop the restaurant from moving. Super cute.
We have enjoyed both breakfast and lunch at The Garden Grill. The food and service have both been great both times, and it's really cool to eat in a restaurant that is spinning and looks into an attraction. We have also had some of the best character interaction on property here. We recommended both meals, or even lunch to get away from the crowds for a while midday. We really liked breakfast because it was relaxed and quite and were done eating and heading out just as the park opened.
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