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The first time I ventured into this themed restaurant at Disney's Hollywood Studios, I did not have reservations: A big no-no. We sat one of the living room style waiting areas and watched some black and white TV. It was almost Christmas and I was amazed at the decorations that were in sync with the 50s theme.
After about a half an hour, we decided eating at the bar would be our best bet. Like hawks, we scouted out the people that were finishing up and got ready to pounce on the empty seats. While eating my delicious tuna casserole, I was envious of the people that actually mad reservations and were able to enjoy the whole experience. I made it my mission to come back here on my next trip.
And we did... with reservations. We were seated at one of the good tables, complete with a black and white tv, formica tabletop and gawdy 50s decor. Our waitress (or cousin) was completely in character the whole time and made the experience first rate. This time I had the chicken pot pie with a malted milkshake. It was delicious!
This has become a staple for me and I will visit every time I'm at Hollywood Studios. I would recommend this place to everybody, especially those with children as they would probably get a kick out of the waiter/waitress participation. Just make sure you have reservations well in advance.
Ok...At times, I am sucker for theming. And it was my birthday. And my roommates treated me for dinner. We all worked at Disney.
This restaurant has a REAL 50's feel to it, whereby you are sitting in your OWN 50's kitchen.
Appetizer...Crab Cake. Very good.
Drinks...Tanq and Tonic...with lime.
Entree...Meatloaf...I was impressed with the tastiness and juiciness of this American tradition.
Dessert...A cobbler...it was MY birthday...LOL
We decided to come here while at the park and were prepared to wait. However, two seats opened up fairly quickly at the bar and we were soon anxiously awaiting our meal. The theme is definitely someone's home in the 50s, complete with little setups of family dining tables and mom-esque servers who yell your name when it is time to sit.
Because it was hot and we were sick of kids, my husband ordered a beer and I got a lovely root beer float. We both got the fried chicken and a side of onion rings. The onion rings were crispy and had a great spicy dipping sauce. The fried chicken didn't have the breading I love but it was still good. The mashed potatoes with gravy were buttery and creamy. I also think the bitter greens were the best I have ever had and made sure to eat them all. It was a bit pricey for the food but we were so hungry that it didn't matter to us.
Highly recommend a reservation.
Get your elbows off the table and put your napkin on your lap! Don't make Mom come out of the kitchen...
This is a very good restaurant at Disney if you want to sit down but not spend a fortune. The theme is unique that you will not find just about anywhere. The food is nothing spectacular for the price but is worth the Disney 50's experience. They always know how to do it right.
We made our third visit to this restaurant at the request of my boyfriend's mother as she has never eaten here. We told her we hadn't been impressed but she wanted to go anyway so we did. I think after this meal she'll take our word for it, but some people need to see to believe.
Atmosphere: The crew at the front desk were spot-on - ready with the back-in-your-mom's-kitchen-in-the-50s banter. But that was where the party ended. Perhaps it's just dumb luck but in all three visits to this establishment, none of the wait staff has played along with the "family" schtick. Everyone we've ever encountered has been of the "it's just a job" variety while we sit and envy the other tables where everyone is having a great time. We even tried to involve Uncle Patrick in our fun, but he seemed not to notice.
The food: My boyfriend and I weren't terribly hungry (the heat was getting to us) and opted to share one of the always-too-big-for-one-person meals that Disney is famous for. We ordered the pot roast on the recommendation of our friend. What a disappointment - there was a small mound of mashed potatoes in the center of the plate (at least 2 inches of bare plate all around) and a small pile of roast beef with some julienned veggies of questionable origin on top of that. The flavor of the meat was delicious; the mashed potatoes were meh; the veggies we just pushed off to the side not willing to investigate further.
My boyfriend's mother and our friend both ordered the fish sandwich. The buns looked great but they said the fish was only lukewarm and the french fries were cold. At least their meals covered their plates!
Since we'd sung happy birthday for other celebrants several times during our meal and my boyfriend was wearing his birthday button (and we'd told the front desk it was his birthday), we expected some sort of similar acknowledgement. Apparently Uncle Patrick wasn't into that either because he just brought him an ice cream sundae on the house.
Considering that the tiny pile of roast beef was somewhere in the neighborhood of $12-14 and the fish sandwiches were nearly as much, we won't be spending any more money or time at this restaurant. There are plenty of better places in and around Disney that we enjoy more.
This 50's kitchen themed restaurant offered us good food reminiscent of a mom's home cooked meal. I had the meatloaf (recommended by our waiter over the steak) while my girlfriend had the poached salmon. These were followed up by the excellent bread pudding and the double fudge brownie. However, while the food was enjoyable, the biggest draw for this restaurant is their cast members.
The waiters take on the roll of your big brother or sister and their performance is quite realistic. Upon sitting down at your table, our big brother instructed us to study our homework (menu) while he had a few chores to do. After taking our orders and noticing our elbows on the table, he gave us a stern lecture about proper manners. Later on in the meal, my forgetful girlfriend forgot the lesson about elbows on the table and was caught. At this point our waiter had her stand up, go over to the doorway and stick her nose to the wall. The rest of the restaurant was instructed to then hold up a finger and shout "shame, shame, shame." At least for me, this was the highlight of my day. Other such "brotherly" advice he gave was feeding the moms who did not finish their vegetables one big bite of veggies or reprimanding various "tattletales" at other tables.
My advice: sit up straight, use the dining plan and for the love of Mickey don't put your elbows on the table.
Hands down, the best fried chicken I've ever had anywhere, and two of my friends agree with me (the third likes thick dry batter, so he doesn't really count :-P). If you prefer greasy, thin-yet-crispy batter hiding amazingly moist pieces of chicken , this is the place to go. The mashed potatoes and collard greens (with bacon! yum!) are less good, but who needs them when you get four pieces of fried chicken?!
My friends and I came here late one night after having made a reservation for 10:10 (after the park closes, since they seem to keep the restaurant open later). It's an incredibly quaint place, actually decked out to make you feel like you are in the 50's-- complete with old TVs and retro waiters. The restaurant itself is divided into small movie kitchen "sets", each with its own unique character. Though it took us awhile to get seated, it was definitely worth the wait as food and drinks came out incredibly fast.
In addition to the fried chicken, I had the "Year of a Million Dreams" martini thing and the Electric Blue Lemonade, both of which were well-made with just the right amount of alcohol (and a cool glowy ice cube). My friend had Grandma's Punch, which tasted like the awesome adult version of Kool-Aid. Another friend had a chocolate malt which was apparently amazing. And the only person who didn't get the fried chicken greatly enjoyed his pot roast. I'm drooling right now just thinking about the fried chicken.
Prices were actually incredibly reasonable for a Disney theme park restaurant-- the drinks were around 8-10 dollars, and the fried chicken was $14.99, and you do get your money's worth. I definitely recommend reservations, especially during the busy season.
My only complaint was that the waiter wasn't surly enough for our taste (maybe because we didn't have any kids in the party since we're all in our twenties), but I saw the waitress next to us give plenty of lip (i.e. "Go wash your hands, kids!") to other tables.
The theme of this restaurant is great, the food and service are good, but the prices a little high. We've been here for lunch and for dinner, and I definitely think it is a better value for lunch. The fried chicken is a half-chicken making it one of the better values on the menu, so you better be hungry otherwise your server will be giving you a hard time about not finishing! For dinner, the "Char-grilled Butcher Tender Steak" was good (though I'm still scratching my head as to what cut it was supposed to be), accompanied by flavorful scalloped potatoes with cheddar cheese and Green Beans, and the "Grilled Tuna Casserole" was interesting in that it was almost "deconstructed" with the tuna cooked medium and served over the noodles and vegetables rather than mixed in with them. The desserts were just okay, nothing spectacular and they seemed like they were just churned out like in factory.
So my girlfriend (who became my fiance) and I during our most recent Walt Disney World Trip last week had a nice dinner reservation set up for 50's Prime Time Cafe during our day we planned to visit Hollywood Studios. First off we made our reservations for around 5:45 pm and I made it about 2 months in advance. Depending on the season you visit you may or may not need to make your reservation this early, but I do recommend using the early dinner time because it allowed us to get seated with a very minimal wait for our table (less than 5 mins).
Anyway we went with the Disney Deluxe Dining Plan for our trip so we ordered everything. Milk shakes, Caesar Salad, Crab Cake, two fried chicken dinners and two orders of smores for dessert. The Caesar salad was pretty normal but it was a nice crisp break from the normal greasy food you eat at Disney. The crab cake sadly is very passable. As for the fried chicken dinner...OOOOH YUMMY-NESS! crispy, slightly greasy, tender, juicy, good seasonings. I could have used a little more mashed potatoes. And just enough vegetables (by the way they are willing to substitute green beans for those who do not like collard greens) that it's easy to finish if you're not a veggie eater so you won't get in trouble by Mom. ;). As for the smores it's quite large, and definitely one order is plenty to share for 2-3 maybe even four people. I ended up giving an entire order to my "cousins" at the table next to us. Very good, very filling. Who doesn't like Smores?!? Weird people that's who.
Okay so how's the environment? It's pretty cool, and definitely more cool if you get a table with a TV on it so you feel like you're in an old school 50's household. Hopefully you get a good area of the restaurant with cast members who really take their roles seriously. We lucked out and got to see a lot of singing, facing the corner, yelling, and etc. It was good for laughs. Sadly my fiance and I were a little too afraid of being embarrassed we didn't misbehave lol.
The only other restaurant in Hollywood Studios with a possibly cooler theme than this restaurant is Sci Fi Diner, but I will say the food is much better at 50's Prime Time Cafe. Especially for those of you who love Fried Chicken like me. I mean seriously they give you an entire half chicken. Don't worry you only get yelled at if you don't finish your veggies, but it was funny watching my little fiance try to finish an entire half chicken to herself because she didn't know that and didn't want to get yelled at.
Anyway I won't let you in on all the rules cus it'd ruin all the fun. But to make this place more fun, go with a good group, hopefully a group with a few people who won't mind being bad on purpose and also won't mind being embarrassed for the fun of your group and your cousins around you. Have fun!
~G
Great Disney food as always... Similar menu to other Disney restaurants with a little extra homestyle foods. Fun 50s kitchen décor, animated servers - your "cousin" who tells you Mom's in the back cooking and scolds you for poor manners. One of the most fun Disney restaurants.
We had lunch here today. I've been here before and it's alwayys been alot of fun.
It's set in the 50's (I know, we did all that in the 80's) but it's from Disney so they really put thought into it.
The food is really good, and the service great.
You're supposed to feel like you're having dinner at home with Mom serving you, and you're surrounded by all your cousins.
I had the pot roast-sooo tender. Came with mashed potatoes and some veggies.
My mother-in law ordered the fried chicken- out of this word!
We also had onion rings for starters. Good, but a little too greasy.
The funny thing about this place is they don't serve burgers here.
Meat loaf, pot roast, chicken, succotash-these they have.
They also have a full bar where you wait that's designed like a family room.
TV's all around the restaurant, and at almost every table play snipets of sitcoms from the 50's and 60
s, but usually from shows that aren't as well known: " I Married Joan", "The Real McCoys", "Dennis the Menace", etc.
It's a fun place to have lunch.
This place is amazing...it's worth coming once, solely for the experience. While the food is pretty standard fare, real meat and potatoes stuff, the atmosphere can't be beat. The restaurant is styled like a 50s era kitchen, and the servers stay in character as your 'mom' the entire time. And boy, do they have attitude. Clean your plate, eat your veggies, keep your elbows off the table, and for heavens sake, don't ask for ketchup. This is definitely not the place to go if you have problems with authority, or a strained relationship with your parents, but if you're with small children, they'll love seeing daddy be chided for slouching in the seat.
Orlando, FL
Category: Restaurants
Read some of the stuff I did the last time I was…
