The last time we’d had dinner at Be our Guest was in 2016 and at that time you still had the flexibility to order as much or as little food off their regular menu as you wanted. But then in July of 2018 they changed to a Prix-Fix menu at a set price of $62. I remember I made a reservation to go there for dinner in Fall of 2018 but ended up cancelling it. I again thought about going there in 2019 but ended up switching to breakfast. Remember when they used to serve breakfast? So on this trip I decided it was time to give the Prix Fixe meal here a try.
And so on Sunday, October 24, 2021 we checked in about 10 minutes early at the desk in front of the Beast’s castle for our 4:05 dinner reservation at Be our Guest and were immediately led inside…
And passed the knights in “not so” shiny armor…
We were seated in the beautiful Grand Ballroom with its high ceiling and lovely chandeliers…
From the tall windows at one end of the ballroom you can view the snowy scene outside…
First food brought to our table was a basket of rolls accompanied by rose-shaped whipped butter…
Shortly after, the Beast walked through the center of the ballroom bowing and waving to the guests…
He did this twice during the 1 hour and 20 minutes that we were dining. I think I read somewhere that he walks through the three dining rooms once every hour. Once upon a time here the Beast would do a Meet & Greet in separate area of the restaurant in between his walk throughs of the dining rooms. As far as I know though the Meet & Greet has not returned.
Our meal included an appetizer, which was chosen from the following five options…
Andrew’s choice was the…
Only two of the three cheeses in the menu description were on the platter he received. The small square in the lower left corner was the Pleasant Ridge Cheddar. This was the only thing he liked. The other cheese in the opposite corner was Truffle Tremor. Missing was the Stilton Blue, which he would not have eaten but I would have enjoyed. The ball in the upper left was the Chicken Rillette, which was basically minced chicken. The other two meats were Shaved Serrano Ham and a few slices of Chorizo Sausage. Then there were two flat tasteless crackers . Overall he rated this only a 1 out of 5, so it was pretty much a complete fail for him.
I was very disappointed to see the meat and cheese platter that he was served, as I had seen photos of it online so was expecting something that looked like this…
My appetizer choice was the…
This tasted pretty much like regular tomato soup. It was a good tasting tomato soup but the only lobster I tasted was the dollop of poached lobster at the top. I gave this a rating of 3.
While I wouldn’t recommend either of our appetizer choices, I should add that neither is available on the current menu (February 2024). It looks like the charcuterie was replaced by Duck and Pork Terrine and the Lobster Bisque by Potato-Leek Soup. Also they replaced the Octopus with Escargot. While they still have a Mixed Greens Salad on the menu, it now has goat cheese mousse so is no longer plant based. Even the French Onion Soup has been changed a bit, as (per the menu) it is no longer topped with provolone cheese along with the gruyere.
Moving on to our entree selections, from which we had five to choose from…
Andrew surprised me by choosing this instead of the filet mignon…
I was again disappointed when I saw this because I had seen a photo of this exact entree in a Disney Food Blog review and there was nearly twice as much meat on their plate. But perhaps what Andrew’s entree lacked in quantity would be made up for in quality? Sadly though it wasn’t. While he greatly enjoyed the two small pork tenderloin medallions he received, the pork belly was so fatty that it was inedible. Oddly the DFB reviewer was the opposite, declaring her pork belly to be awesome (and it did look much less fatty than Andrew’s in her photo) but the pork tenderloin to be tough and flavorless. The seasonal vegetable which she received was a generous portion of sweet potato puree, which looked really good and apparently tasted as good as it looked. Whereas Andrew got a few slices of carrots, which weren’t cooked enough and still hard. So though he really liked the tenderloin it wasn’t enough to give this entree more than a rating of 3.
As for me, I was convinced that Andrew would be ordering the filet mignon so when he didn’t I had to make a spur of the moment decision and ordered it for myself…
Now I had not intended to have steak twice in one day (I had had the Beef Tenderloin for breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table that morning), but I felt like it was the entree on the prix fixe menu which provided the most “bang for the buck”. Plus I had had it recommended to me by a friend.
So let’s start with the filet. I had ordered the beef tenderloin at CRT cooked medium well and it was served medium, which was actually quite good. So I decided to do the same here…it was a mistake. The filet came out well done, with not even the faintest hint of pink. While the red wine glaze gave it good flavor, I think it would have been so much better if it had been cooked to a medium or medium well temperature. As for the mashed yukon potatoes, they were delicious. From the name I assume that they were a copy of (or made in the style of) the late French Chef Joel Robuchon’s signature dish. They were so creamy and buttery! I only wish there had been more mashed potatoes on my plate instead of the pile of other random vegetables…spinach, green beans, cooked grape tomatoes and a few pieces of shredded carrots. Overall I gave this entree a rating of 3 1/2. Oh, and in case you were wondering, I thought the beef tenderloin at Cinderella’s Royal Table was better than the Be our Guest filet. Out of the five steaks that Andrew and I had on the trip, the Be our Guest filet mignon rated second to last.
In looking at the current BoG menu (Feb. 2024) there are now 6 entree choices instead of 5. The pork tenderloin & pork belly entree were replaced by a pork chop. While the Filet Mignon still remains, they have somewhat changed the accompaniments. They still have a vegetarian entree, a seafood dish (now trout instead of scallops), and poulet rouge chicken. The additional 6th entree choice is a Beef Short Rib that actually sounds pretty good. Also of note is that the price of this meal has gone up from $62 (the 2021 price) to $70 now in February 2024.
Moving on now to dessert, which came in the form of a trio platter…
The Dessert Trio (a Lemon? Jam Macaron, a White Chocolate “Chip” Cup with Grey Stuff, and a Dark Chocolate Truffle)
I really enjoyed two out of three of these. My favorite was the Grey Stuff dessert in the very cute (and edible) white chocolate “Chip” the teacup…
In case you have never had The Grey Stuff, it a sweet mixture of crumbled cookies and cream cookies, vanilla pudding and heavy whipped cream. And just as the song says, “It’s delicious!” If you’ve never tried it, I recommend that you do. Unfortunately though it doesn’t seem to be a part of the Dessert Trio at Be our Guest anymore (per the February 2024 menu it has been replaced by a chocolate tart, while the other two desserts remain unchanged). However you can currently get The Grey Stuff Cupcake, which is a chocolate cupcake topped with the grey stuff. I might just have to try it out on my next trip.
ETA: I just discovered that the Chocolate Tart is actually a chocolate tart filled with The Grey Stuff. But, while they are still serving The Grey Stuff as part of their dessert trio, I don’t think the tart is as unique or cute as the white chocolate “Chip” teacup. Plus the edible white chocolate teacup was tasty.
The other dessert I enjoyed was the Macaron…
While the menu indicated that this was a lemon jam macaron, the flavor tasted more like raspberry to me. I normally don’t care for lemon desserts but I really liked this.
The third dessert was a Dark Chocolate Truffle filled with Grand Marnier (orange flavored) ganache. For me this had two strikes against it, as I don’t care for dark chocolate and I don’t like chocolate and orange flavors together. Andrew liked it though. Overall we both gave our dessert trios a rating of 4.
So I would have to say that for me, dining at Be our Guest is more about the theming than the food. I would not consider it a signature dining experience worth using 2 dining credits for if using the newly reinstated Disney Dining Plan. Having dined at the two most expensive Magic Kingdom restaurants in one day, I would say that I preferred Cinderella’s Royal Table. Cinderella’s castle is not just the centerpiece of Magic Kingdom but the icon of all of Disney World. So I feel like dining inside the castle is sort of a right of passage for Disney World fans. But if you want to save some money (CRT prix fixe dinner is currently $14 more than BoG for adults and $8 more for children) then dining in Magic Kingdom’s other castle is a good alternative, especially with a family.
Taste of Disney 