For many years my family had made it a point to visit the Garden Grill each and every trip. Since it had been a few years since we had eaten there and we have now added a new member to our family we decided to try it once again and we are sure glad we did!
Located in The Land Pavilion at Epcot, the Garden Grill serves a family style “Harvest Feast” along with a bunch of characters . While the menu has changed since our last visit in 2009, we were very pleased with the offerings this trip.
Our server started us off with warm rolls with a delicious maple butter, as well as a salad full of fresh baby greens and other veggies with a wonderful creamy dressing. They call this the “Living with the Land” Harvest Inspired Farmer’s Salad and with good reason since you are slowly rotating just about the Living with the Land attraction where you can catch a glimpse of the rainforest, farmhouse, thunderstorm, sandstorm and prairie scenes.
While the rolls and salad were enjoyable, we knew to save plenty of room for what was coming next! Our server brought us a HUGE platter (there were 5 of us dining!) of the filet of beef with red wine sauce, roasted turkey with lemon caper sauce and tilapia with a yummy roasted tomato and pepper compote. The tilapia was actually the sustainable fish of the day and us fish eaters at the table agreed that it was perfectly prepared. The compote served on top was simply divine! Along side the meats and fish, we had creamy mashed potatoes, fresh veggies and a bread pudding that was more like stuffing you would have at Thanksgiving. We even asked for seconds and thirds of the stuffing and potatoes because they were just that good!
We all enjoyed all the food that was offered and let me tell you it was a TON of food, but the highlight of this meal, and our main reason for booking the ADR, was meeting the characters. This is Chip ‘n Dale’s Harvest Feast after all! So, on to the characters!!!!
Since this was my daughter’s first time at the Garden Grill she was so excited to meet Chip ‘n Dale she could hardly contain herself! Chip, Dale, Farmer Mickey and Pluto made the rounds not once, but twice to our table……wait, it might have actually been THREE times! We had a 7:00 pm ADR for dinner and it was just perfect. We think that the later time gave us more opportunity to have lots of time with each one of the characters in the rotation that night. Snuggles and hugs from our pals are the best!
I must say that of all the character meals we experienced on our most recent trip that the character interaction at the Garden Grill was the BEST!!! My daughter fell in love with both Chip and Dale and continued to seek them out for the remainder of our trip.
Our pals came by our table to sign autographs, give hugs and kisses and even played some tricks on the older kids at the table! We all had such an enjoyable meal and it was made even better by the attention (and love) that we got from all the characters.
Once the characters had made their rounds and we had posed for LOTS and LOTS of pictures, we attempted to see if there was any room for dessert. Our served dropped off a yummy cake that was baked right in a skillet that was topped with some of the most delicious whipped cream we had ever tasted! She also brought us some adorable cone shaped cupcakes topped with a chocolate frosting which were yummy too!
We had a terrific meal at the Garden Grill that night and my daughter thoroughly enjoyed herself, so much so that the plate of food from the children’s menu was barely touched! That’s okay though because the memories she created that evening were PRICELESS! Chip ‘n Dale’s Harvest Feast at the Garden Grill is definitely a must do for our family from now on!!!
