Monday, June 25, 2012

Disney Dining Review: 50s Prime Time Cafe

One of the great things about living close to Orlando is having the ability to go up and meet my parents for lunch.  It's nice to see them more frequently than I have the past few years.

So my Mom and I recently decided to head up and have lunch together at Hollywood Studios...after all, it was the one park I had yet to visit!  We debated whether we should just get counter service or if we should sit down for lunch.  Well...I'm not a huge fan of the Studios' counter service options, so sit down it was!  We're both big fans of 50s Prime Time, so I checked if there were any openings and there were a few for lunch (just 2 days before.)  

For anyone who hasn't been, as suggested in its name, 50s Prime Time Cafe is set in the 1950s.  The decor matches the time frame and all the staff are cousins, brothers, sisters...some kind of relative.  And Mom does the cooking.  The drink menu is referred to as "Dad's Liquor Cabinet" (which I love!)  My Mom gets a kick out of the decor since it looks identical to the house she grew up in.  My Aunt & Uncle live there now and no joke, if Disney ever needs to replace something, I know where they can get it!  
We had gone to 50s Prime Time back in the 90s when we did a trip with my Mom's extended family, there were 10 of us in total.  Then in 2003, we took my Dad's Mom (my Grandma) with us on a trip to WDW.  It was a no-brainer that we would be stopping at 50s Prime Time with her!  That visit produced one of my favorite Disney memories.  Our waiter decided that she looked like his Grandmother, and kept calling her that.  We had such great service and loved the interaction.  Every now and then when I read the DIS someone will mention how great their waiter was, and it'll be him!  On this trip, he was still there, and he had the section next to us. 

Back to the present...we arrived about 5 minutes before our reservation (or ADR for those in the know.) I heard the hostess tell the group ahead of me that they were taking walk-ups at about a 35 minute wait.  I didn't think that was too bad considering it's now a Peak season and it was at a prime-lunch time!  We didn't wait long before our cousin was calling us to our table, he said Mom was cooking up a storm that day!

We were seated next to a huge family that must have had 8 kids...luckily, our waitress didn't have that table too!  This is definitely not a restaurant you'll want to go to for a romantic evening.  It's loud, it's fun, and it's interactive.  After being asked to set the table, we placed our drink orders.  My Mom had a Coke Float and I had a Berry Smoothie.  Yum!  

My Mom decided on the fried chicken, always a good choice:
As you can see, it's a LOT of chicken!  It's all very moist too.  My Mom had it with the standard sides: collard greens and mashed potatoes.  My Mom likes collard greens, but you can sub out the sides if you want (they have green beans for example.)  If you don't like the collard greens, I would recommend subbing something else because they'll be sure that you eat all your greens!!  If not, and you're willing to play along, your waiter or waitress will play airplane to get you to eat them.  ...I speak from experience!

My Mom kept putting her elbows on the table, so she kept getting scolded by our waitress.  I was being extra cautious not to do it!  I also tried not to pull out my phone as they'll scold you for playing with your new walkie-talkie at the table.

I decided to get the pot roast.
Served over mashed potatoes.  I love pot roast, but Geoff isn't a big fan, so I don't make it at home.  I enjoyed my meal, but I actually wish it had MORE veggies on top!  

Neither my Mom or I finished our entire meals, so unfortunately we didn't get to join the clean plate club.  Your server will hand out stickers for you to proudly wear if you do join the club!  

We passed on dessert as we both had sweet drinks before our meal.

Finally, I also picked up this little beauty before leaving the park (not at 50s Prime Time):
An R2 D2 with a frozen Coke/Cherry mix.  It was a nice treat on a warm day!  Geoff now has a R2 D2 cup holder at work!!

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