Review: EPCOT’s Garden Grill Restaurant

EPCOT’s Garden Grill Restaurant is a revolving Character Dining Experience that has views of Living with the Land and some really decent food.

Garden Grill has always been very popular with TouringPlans Subscribers! It’s rated 95%, Exceptional, and ranked #6 of 92 table service locations in Walt Disney World. My family and I stopped by for lunch a few days ago and I’m happy to report the rating is accurate.

Meals, Hours, and Price

Garden Grill is a family-style, all-you-care-to-enjoy character meal hosted by Chip & Dale, Mickey, and Pluto. The restaurant rotates very slowly and offers a constantly changing view of Living with the Land down below.

Breakfast: 8:30am to 10:30am

• Adults: $49 plus tax and gratuity
• Children: (Ages 3 to 9), $33 plus tax and gratuity

Lunch: 11:30am to 3:40pm

• Adults: $62 plus tax and gratuity
• Children: (Ages 3 to 9), $42 plus tax and gratuity

Dinner: 3:45pm to 8:00pm

• Adults: $62 plus tax and gratuity
• Children: (Ages 3 to 9), $42 plus tax and gratuity

Disney Dining Plans and Discounts: 

• Garden Grill requires 1 Table Service Credit per person for breakfast, lunch, or dinner on the 2026 and 2027 Dining Plan options.
• 10% Annual Passholder Discount

The Food

The Harvest-inspired Garden Salad with tomatoes, olives, garden peppers, sliced red onion, and croutons comes already lightly dressed. The veggies were fresh, the dressing was a simple vinaigrette that was very tasty on such a hot, humid day.

The cornbread was sweet and warm and the perfect vehicle to support the fluffy honey butter.

The main course included some very creamy mashed potatoes, grilled steak with chimichurri sauce, roasted turkey, gravy, green beans, and a mix of onions, peppers, broccoli, and squash. If you like Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch or dinner, you’re going to enjoy this meal. The green beans were perfectly fresh and had a nice little crunch. We enjoyed them so much that we asked for a second helping – remember, this is all-you-care-to-enjoy!

Listen, I espouse the glories of the Citrus-cured Hamachi from Cítricos to anyone who will sit still, (shameless plug for my appearance on Reedy Geeks podcast and my love letter to Cítricos), but this pan of neon, over-cooked, plastic cheese coated pasta was delightful. The little cheddar Mickey crackers were the perfect savory sprinkle. This isn’t gourmet but it was so darn good. My 13-year old daughter said “it slapped” so that’s a pretty big endorsement.

You know those little shortcake pastry cups that you can find in the grocery store near the strawberries? That’s what this cake is, only about 4 times larger than those. The strawberries were fresh (they still had a little bite) but were macerated so they were extra sweet. Not the fanciest dessert at a character meal, but perfect for this location and menu.

The Characters

There are two levels to the revolving dining room at Garden Grill and we were seated on the top level. The tables are spread out and are all against the wall you can see behind Dale in the picture above. This makes the character interactions at Garden Grill so much more intimate than at other character meals. The characters are 100% focused on your table and don’t have other guests in all directions vying for their attention. I’ve been brining my daughter to work with me since she was 4 years old and Garden Grill remains her favorite character spot because of the slower paced meet and greet style.

Pluto was especially adorable during our visit. When he was done with our table, he was playing hide-and-seek with a booth over the wall. As for Mickey, who doesn’t love the big cheese in overalls and a plaid shirt?!?

One change I noticed during my recent visit is that the character post card, pictured above, that used to be on the table when you sat down is now at the check-in desk. Make sure you ask for a few before you leave.

Summary

I’d like to offer my full support of this highly rated location! Take a slow ride on Living with the Land before you wander back into the heat!

What do you think about Garden Grill? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!