Chef de France

I've eaten there three times and never had a bad meal there. I've had the following. All were very good.

Gratin de Macaroni - Macaroni baked with cream Gruyere cheese

Plat de Cote de Boeuf au Cabarnet avec pates - Beef short ribs braised in Cabernet with pasta, pearl onions and mushrooms

Demi poulet fermier roti, pommes rissolees et broccoli - Half of an all-natural roasted chicken, rissole potatoes and broccoli

That is our favorite! The goat cheese salad makes me do the happy snoopy dance! My husband loves the beef short ribs. He actually requested we eat there twice on our upcoming trip.

We have been here three times now and have enjoyed all our selections. My mom is a very picky eater and raves over the French onion soup. The short ribs are delicious but my favorite is the duck. The crab salad is amazing as well.

We've eaten there once, hubby and I and two semi-regular travel companions. It was good, but not great, and since we were expecting great we were a little disappointed. Still, I think you can safely eat there and not worry about getting a bad meal.

Is Chefs the upstairs restaurant? We've eaten downstairs a couple of times. Good food, big bill, and paper placemats.

Chef de France is down stairs. Great use for dining plan or it's not the cheapest meal of your trip.

It's the downstairs restaurant. Upstairs was Bistro de Paris; now called Monsieur Paul.

Great to see all the positive reviews! This is also on our list for the next trip. We ate a Bistro De Paris two years ago and it was outstanding!

order the orangina and trust me.

we enjoyed it despite my meal being cold. i'd def go back and try something else. paper placemats are in keeping with French restaurants

Great food, never had a bad meal, very charming servers. My one complaint would be that as nice as it is, it's pretty Disney-crampy in there. Pretty tight. If you like your dining neighbors, it'll be no problem.

Really, they use paper place mats in France? In nice restaurants? Really? It's been about 20 years since my last visit to France, the real France. What is the civilized world coming to? Sachrebleu!

We go to France a lot, just looked through some old pics to find examples.... The pics were from all different trips lol.

Not sure why they have paper places but they are usually the slightly nicer places

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not a fan...at all.

We've only eaten there once and I liked the food, but I wasn't feeling the best when we sat down, so it was a bit wasted on me. DH enjoyed it immensely. We had just watched the French movie and I was a little thrown off by it equilibrium-wise and I was just feeling kind of weird before dinner. I don't usually have a problem with that sort of thing, but it definitely impaired my dining experience. So if you have any motion sensitivity issues, you may want to reconsider pairing dinner & a movie.

Macaroni & Cheese $20 - bon appetit!

I ate there for the first time with my parents back in December. We all really enjoyed our meals and we loved our server. My parents were celebrating their 46th anniversary and though we were stuffed to the gills, our server brought out profiterols on the house to help them celebrate. It was really sweet!

Oh Colonel you paid for the ambience. C'est la vie!

I didn't mind paying for the awesome French staff, but I wasn't too keen on paying to be within elbow distance of the next table.

Excuse me waiter, is this correct, Macaroni & Cheese $20 - doesn't that sound a bit ridiculous?

But Monsieur, it's Gruyere!

I don't care where it grew. A box of Kraft is 99 cents at the Piggly Wiggly. Now fetch me A Perrier and Water from the bar and bring me some more ketchup.

Before we even argue about the difference in taste, texture, and flavor of a gruyere versus the fake cheese that we call "velvetta" or "american cheese" that are commonly used in supermarket marcaroni and cheese, you could say the same about every single thing you buy at Disney. An 8-dollar hamburger when I can make one for less than $1? Have you ever bought the onion rings at Sci-Fi Dine-In cafe? They cost more than $1 a ring!

So why pick on Chef de France alone? We ALL are aware (aren't we?) that we will be paying a premium for food and drinks within WDW.

Now, having said that, if you can't tell the difference between the 99-cent Kraft Mac&Cheese, versus the Mac&cheese they serve there, or even the one that used to be served at Jiko, then by all means, you should not get it. It will be wasted on you. I will not buy a $60 bottle of wine, because with my untrained palette, I probably can't tell the difference between that, and a cheap bottle of wine from Trader Joe's. So that $60 bottle of wine will be wasted on me. But I certainly would not argue that there is no quality difference between the two just because it is beyond my perception.

I would not have bought a $20 mac&cheese, mainly because I don't like Mac&cheese. But I can easily tell the difference between Gruyere versus melted velvetta, or those fake parmesan cheese in those green containers versus the real parmigiano-reggiano grated fresh off the cheese wheel. There IS a difference! It is just a matter if one is willing to pay for it, and the service/ambiance of the place.

Zz.

Looks damn good to me! I'd buy it.

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I pick on Chefs of France because that's what this thread is about. I pick on Disney restaurants alot. I think many of the Disney table service restaurants are pretentious and this one probably leads the pack. But that's just my humble opinion. If you like it, then by all means enjoy it.

And Gruyere really isn't all that. It's not exactly a gourmet item. You can buy it in the supermarket. It's on the shelf right next to the Velveeta.

But that's the whole point, isn't it? There ARE people who do like this place (I'm not one of them). But to criticize it because of it is overpriced is puzzling considering that the whole WDW is "overpriced"!

Did you check the difference in price? That ought to tell you something. I didn't argue about it being a "gourmet" item.

Zz.

Yes you can buy Gruyere cheese in the supermarket, you can buy wine and beer in a supermarket also. Doesn't mean they are all the same. There are differences and it can be a gourmet item. Comte Reserve is an exceptional Gruyere.

I thought $20 for Mac and Cheese was exceptional even by Disney standards.

Mac & Cheese, French Onion Soup, Ham and Cheese Sandwich- I'm surprised they don't have French Fries or French toast.

But don't get me wrong, I wish I had a ADR to eat there tonight.

Please, please, guys, let's cut the cheese tension.

Whenever I go to a French restaurant I am reminded of the words of Steve Martin from the movie The Jerk:

"You would think that in a fancy restaurant at these prices you could keep the snails off the food!"

LOL!!!

Oh, this is rather timely 'cause look what's for dinner tonight!