Be Our Guest Restaurant
For years I have been saying that the Magic Kingdom was in dire need of more table service restaurants. So when they announced the opening of Be Our Guest Restaurant in the New Fantasyland, I could not have been happier.
The Be Our Guest Restaurant is located inside of Beast’s Castle and opened in December 2012. It marks the first time a restaurant inside the gates of Magic Kingdom would sell wine and beer. It is unique in the fact that lunch is quick service and dinner is table service. The pictures of the restaurant were simply amazing. It truly seemed like you were stepping into Beauty and the Beast.
With all of the buzz generated by the Be Our Guest Restaurant, and the New Fantasyland in general, you can only imagine my excitement when we secured an advanced dining reservation for our most recent trip!
On the day of our reservation we entered the Magic Kingdom and headed straight to the New Fantasyland to check it out. Lunch had just started at Be Our Guest Restaurant. The line was so long we didn’t have a chance of going in to check it out. So we enjoyed the rest of the park and returned for our 5:10 pm reservation almost 15 minutes early, as we were worried that it would be crowded. But the line at the hostess stand was fairly short. We were given a pager and we waited near the front of the castle.
Before long we were seated in the Ballroom. The interior of the restaurant was breathtaking. We were seated near windows with “snow” falling on the other side. The room was massive! I snuck a glance in the West Wing too and all of a sudden I felt like Belle sneaking around the castle (with 550 of my closest friends).
Beast walked through the Be Our Guest Restaurant periodically to wave at his guests. He would quickly retreat to the study where he bid au revoir to his dinner guests as they left. We tried to go visit Beast before our meal, but the Cast Member standing guard was adamant that we must finish our meal before greeting the master of this house.
We ordered the assortment of cured meats and sausages as an appetizer. It was served with cornichons, pickled onions, and toasted baguette*. Our only complaint was that our server did not explain what everything was. Since the offerings on this platter often changes, this would have been helpful. Thankfully one of my dining companions is a true foodie, and was able to guess what everything was.
For the main course, I had the pan-seared salmon on leek fondue which was served with creamy saffron-crushed potatoes*. Ordering salmon is often a risk. It is usually either really good or really bad, depending on how it is prepped. This had a subtle taste and was pretty good. But the fondue and potatoes were fantastic!
One of my friends ordered the grilled strip steak served with garlic-herb butter and pommes frites*. The steak was good, but the pomme frites (the French word for french fries) were fantastic.
My other friend ordered the sautéed shrimp and scallops, which was served with seasonal vegetables on a puff pastry with a creamy lobster sauce*. It looked wonderful and my friend said it was excellent.
For dessert, a display case with selections was rolled to our table. It was hard to choose! We finally decided on strawberry-cream cheese cupcake which was a vanilla sponge cake, strawberry mousse filling, and cream cheese icing* and the triple chocolate cupcake which was chocolate sponge cake, chocolate mousse filling, and chocolate ganache*. Decadent and rich, these were the perfect ending to a great dining experience.
I will return for lunch on my next visit as the menu has more of a French bistro feel. MickeyTravels agents Kristin Vamvakitis and Sarah Curtis were at Disney World during the same week and they were so impressed by their lunch at Be Our Guest Restaurant they went back for a second visit. They told me that while the line was long, it moved very quickly. After your order is placed you are given a rose with GPS, so they can find you when your meal is ready. Your meal is brought to you in the same cart they use for desserts during dinner. Both Sarah and Kristin highly recommend the grilled steak sandwich. I can’t wait to go back to the Be Our Guest Restaurant and try it for myself!
To find out more about the Be Our Guest Restaurant contact any of the MickeyTravels agents! They can help with all your dining reservations for this and other restaurants and also assist with all your Disney vacation planning.
Devene Godau, CPDT-KA
MickeyTravels Guest Blogger
www.mickeytravels.com
Making Magic One Vacation at a Time…
*All food descriptions were taken from the menu located on Disney’s website
