So my family just got back from 5 days in the parks and I will freely admit that I am about to take out my overall Disney food frustration out on the poor ol' Contempo Café. Not that what follows is unwarranted, but I will caveat up front as follows: Disney wants to make you feel full - very full - at every opportunity. And my disdain isn't purely based on the usurious prices and the fact that 10 year old girls MUST order off the adult menu, which averages about $13/dish, although price is a factor. But hey, if you lust after Monte Cristo sandwiches and the alfredo sauce at Cheesecake Factory, you might like Contempo. Or if you view vacations as opportunities to become a total glutton for three full meals a day, plus a few churros, who am I to judge? I just resent the lack of options and the lack of value.
Bottom line: Contempo Cafe is dreadful.
Like many "quickservice" Disney restaurants, the food is barely above High School cafeteria quality.
We didn't eat at the Wave when we stayed at the Contemporary. We ate at the Contempo Café, and I regretted it each and every time, and will again when I get my final credit card statement.
The burger is a hockey puck topped with three hateful onion rings and fries that are cooked in pure liquid rage ($12.99).
The "flatbread pizza" is a frozen slab of gummy breadstick dough, thoughtlessly topped with sauce from a can, and cheese from....outer space, maybe ($11.49)? My daughters skipped dinner rather than finish it. And that's pizza. It is really, really hard to produce bad pizza.
The breakfast sandwich ($7.59) is so heavy that I, a relatively fat man, could only stomach half of it, and only then because my wife was trying to bring me something I'd like and I didn't want her to feel bad. It is served on brioche toast - and grilled to boot. I feel my gout flaming up just thinking about it. My kids rejected the French toast, which meant another $6.79 straight into the garbage can.
My wife, in a fruitless effort to stay on her healthy eating track, tried the salads - specifically the chicken Caesar ($11.49), which, if actually served to Caesar, would have resulted in a long walk down the Via Dolorosa. Limp, freezing cold lettuce and a few shards of purple cabbage reluctantly supporting bland, cold, sliced chicken breast. I mean, if this is the typical healthy option in Florida, no wonder the stores all run out of XXXL t-shirts and there are so many 40 year olds on scooters down here.
If traipsing the parks in the heat all day makes you feel like a beer, no worries, they have some, for $7 a can (!). For reference, the highest cost for a beer in all of baseball is $7.75 at the new Yankee stadium - so after tax, congrats Walt, you are at parity.
I get it, overspending, and overeating, are an essential part of the Disneyworld experience, so I try to just go with it. But why can't there be a nice light sandwich option? The turkey sandwich is "griddled", which means coated with butter and fried, and is covered in lousy bacon and "aioli" which, in Disney speak, is flavored mayo, and certainly NOT a carefully handmade emulsion of olive oil, garlic and egg yolks.
And the thing is, I know they can do better. Disneyland, in health-conscious California, has healthy snacks like fruit and yoghurt, and great salads, nearly everywhere. So at least you can have one meal or snack a day that doesn't make you feel like doubling up on your Lipitor. Why can't they just do one lighter entrée in every location? I had a fabulous Tuna Nicoise salad at Be Our Guest, so I know they have it in them. There were even green beans - A VEGETABLE!! - both on my salad and my daughter's braised pork dish.
I'm not asking Disney to change their very profitable and popular formula of treating patrons like foie gras geese, heck, everyone likes to indulge on vacation. But, I raise my voice in hopes that Disneyworld starts catering, if only a bit, to a more health-conscious crowd. They do so much else right, I am sure they'll eventually come around. read more