REVIEW – Chefs de France is Disappointing
It’s a restaurant at Walt Disney World that some people have on their Disney bucket list. Les Chefs de France is an iconic table service restaurant at the France Pavilion of EPCOT. Chrissy and her family headed to this classic restaurant for an early dinner earlier this week, and sadly they were let down.
The atmosphere of Chefs de France is an idolized French restaurant setting that isn’t fully authentic, but generally satisfies any craving for a French affair. One drawback of this venue in the current times we’re in, is the lack of any outdoor dining. However, the dining room itself is very airy with lots of natural light. Once seated, the server brought out a small baguette and a large pat of butter. The good news is, they will keep bringing it throughout your meal upon request.
What Chrissy and her party ordered:
- Soupe a l’Oignon Gratinee – French Onion Soup topped with Gruyere Cheese – $9.99
- Plateau de Fromages de France Charcuteries – Imported Cheese Board with Raisin and Walnut Bread – $15.99
- Boeuf Bourguignon – Braised Beef in Cabernet with Baby Onions and Carrots, With Linguine Pasta – $29.99
- Vegetable Lasagna – Vegetarian option, off menu – $20.99
To start, the French Onion soup had a wonderful, traditional covering of Gruyere Cheese that was delicious and well broiled, but that’s where the good news ends. The soup was warm, but was seconds away from being lukewarm. (We think soup and baths should always be steaming hot!) Also, it needed salt. Chrissy, and our team, has tried lots of Disney World food, and we rarely, if ever, complain about lack of saltiness.
The charcuterie plate was fine, but nothing special. The presentation was far from spectacular and was a little sloppy. There was a decent Swiss cheese and a basic Brie. The walnut bread was good, but nothing spectacular. The good news is the cheese and bites were so great with the baguette! The difference in the prosciutto here and compared to Via Napoli is shocking. It wasn’t as fresh as Via Napoli, at all. The walnuts were just walnuts chucked on a plate. Definitely not worth the $16. We could have made something better with fixings from the Publix deli counter. Spend the extra money and go to Via Napoli if you’re looking for a good charcuterie plate in EPCOT.
The Vegetable Lasagna is not listed on the menu. Chrissy’s party asked for a vegetarian option and this is what the server recommended. It was the prettiest of all of the dishes, but it was barely warm and not very good. It tasted fine, but bland. There was nothing impressive about the dish other than the presentation.
Beef Bourguignon is a standard dish that you should probably order if you see it on any French restaurant’s menu. This was the best tasting item of the meal. Yet, it too was just warm and not worth the reservation and price of $29.99. The pot roast at 50’s Prime Time Cafe is just as good and cheaper by $5.00.
We have surveys from our 500,00 subscribers and currently Chef de France has a 90% thumbs up rating and is ranked #27 out of 105 table service restaurants at Walt Disney World. Here’s hoping things improve and we can provide a more positive review down the road.
Have you dined at Les Chefs de France? What did you think?
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This is so disappointing as Chefs de France was always our family’s favorite restaurant in Epcot. We dined there every trip. I can’t believe that’s the new charcuterie portion!! They used to have an amazing charcuterie board that we all loved! This makes us really sad, and therefore, for the first time in many trips, we are not dining here. Hope it can return to its former glory. Sadly, a lot of the menus of our former favs are no longer very enticing.
We just returned from 5 days in the park. Our CDF visit was definitely the low-light of our visit. This was our 4th time dining there and it left us pondering if we’ll ever return.
The Maitre d’ was very nice and personable; I tried my stumbling French on him and he was very gentle with his replies, lol. However, our waiter didn’t even introduce himself or make any attempt at pleasantries. The first words out of him were “Do you know what you want?” – not even a drink order or appetizer inquiry – we had better service at Denny’s.
I had hoped that the ratatouille would at least pretend to have been updated to look like the dish from the movie, but alas it was just a pile of sludge with a cup of quinoa on top…
I hope we’re seeing a temporary decrease in quality that goes away post-Covid as things return to normal.
We ate there for the first time last night and were equally unimpressed. They actually seated us in the space that is Monsieur Paul’s upstairs which they are apparently utilizing for the time being. Our waitress was, well, adequate, but barely. No enthusiasm, didn’t offer more bread (we didn’t need it, but,,), didn’t clear the plates as the meal progressed. etc. I ordered the goat cheese salad, and while the portion was large, it was just blah. This is a salad that has the potential to be great, but it was not. The goat cheese was a measley little round breaded morsel that was barely warm. The dressing was uninspired and the walnuts could have been toasted but were not. I asked for black pepper as I like it on my salads. We were brought little paper salt and pepper packets! The salmon was also unimpressive, and again, with a bit of finesse, this could be a great dish. It was extremely bland. My husband got the filet, and while the flavor was good, it was a bit fatty. The chocolate tarte was the standout of the meal and a nice finish with good texture and taste.
Ate there two nights ago. Bland is putting it mildly. Best thing there was the bread. I had the tenderloin and while it was good, it should have been better. Definitely made via the sous vide method – which is fine. But when they went to mark it with a sear, it was done on a grill instead of a hot pan. So the grill marks looked fine, but the rest of it looked like it was still fresh from the sous vide water.
And salt. Salt, salt, salt. Everything was just bland, bland, bland. I wished I had brought out my MSG and salt and pepper shakers to the park…
The veggie lasagna had a scoop of rice on top?
Trimmed down menu, no TIW accepted at lunch, no mac and cheese (guess the margin isn’t high enough). Food arrived no later than five minutes after we were seated. Disappointed.
We were there Saturday night and I thought it was just me. Glad we only ordered one meal to share and tried some other treats.
If we can get a post to warn people about the “lobster” roll at Rosie’s that would have helped, too.
I had the same thoughts about the lasagna and the Beef Bourguignon. Not what I would be expecting at all. I would truly expect better at the prices they are asking.
Chefs de France is one of a handful of restaurants that we haven’t ever visited, but it’s been on the list. This has quite put me off. Also, that’s a strange set of meals for a French Restaurant – Given the huge range of authentic French cheeses, they serve a Swiss cheese along with the Brie. Then Vegetable Lasagne, a traditional Italian dish with layers of pasta and sauce, doesn’t have any pasta, it has rice. Then the Beef Bourguignon is served with linguine, again Italian, when you would expected creamed potato of some variety. Maybe there was a stand in Chef who hails from Italy!? 😀
My husband and I were not impressed with this restaurant at all. The baguette and lobster bisque were fantastic, but the rest was just ok. Nothing special, and extremely overpriced. Save some time and money and get the soup and bread at the bakery instead of at Les Chefs.
That’s too bad. CdF was one of the places that really impressed me on my first trip a few years ago – that Disney World had restaurants the equal of any city. I wonder if during the shutdown they lost the talent pool that made all of it work to deliver quality meals in large numbers.
I completely agree. This is the epitome of the WDW restaurant that jacks prices up, while failing to live up to its prior standards at the same time. I hope there are some changes made prior to the 50th anniversary, but I am not optimistic.