Dining Review: Be Our Guest

One of the things I have been anxious to do is to check out Be Our Guest.  My Mom and I finally were able to get that chance this past week.  Be Our Guest is located in New Fantasyland and when you enter, you're transported into the Beast's Castle (which you can see high above you as you cross the bridge.)

The line wasn't nearly as bad as when Geoff and I went in December.  We waited about 15-20 minutes to place our order.  As you walk in, you're split into two lines.

Those lines turn to the right and you walk down the hall way with the knights in it.  The knights spend their time chatting and snoring while you wait.  There are menus placed in the center, so you're able to check things out and decide what you want before ordering.

When you reach the front, there's a cast member who will give you your magic rose and another that asks how you're paying.  If by Credit Card, Key to the World Card, or Dining Plan, you're directed to a number that corresponds with a kiosk.

The bright white light is the menu board, so if you haven't decided yet, you can look up while the people in front of you place their order!

Of course, what the Cast Members really should be asking is how comfortable you are ordering via a touch screen.  Apparently it's a difficult concept for some people.  The couple in front of us called the Cast Member over at least 3 times while we were behind them to ask questions.  It's really not that hard - you click on the item you want, chose your side, and then click "add item."  Ta da! Done.

Anyway, before you order, you need to tap your magic rose to the payment thing to associate it with your order.  (Tip: make sure the Mickey's line up.)  Once your order is complete and paid for, you'll get your receipt.  From there, you take your magic rose, and find a table!

The enchanted rose & mirror located in the West Wing

The ball room is quite loud, so we opted for the wing on the right, the "Rose Gallery."  The West Wing looked interesting, but it was a little dark.  The Rose Gallery has beautiful tapestries on the walls and Beauty and the Beast dancing in the center of the room on top of a music box.  It's much quieter than the ball room.

Once you find your table, you put your rose down on the table so the Cast Members can bring you your food.  (Spoiler alert: we saw the cast members placing down a phone-like device on the tables after they cleared them and it appeared that they were re-setting the table.  Geoff said that they probably have RFID readers embedded in the tables, which is how they know where you're sitting.)  Just like magic, the servers will find you and bring you your food on carts.

If you ordered a regular fountain drink, you can go up to the beverage counter to get it before your meal arrives.  (Tip: there are beverage stations in all of the rooms...we stopped at the one in the ball room because I was not aware of that.)  You can also get your silverware (real, not plastic!) and napkins at stations located near the beverages.

Now for the food!

My Mom and I each got a sandwich and we split them.  Like most locations, there's a lot of food here, so we could have easily split one of them and each gotten a little dessert and been satisfied.  Neither of us really touched the fries.

First up, my selection.  I chose the carved turkey sandwich with a dijon mayonaise.

I was much more impressed with this than I thought I would be.  There's also onions on the sandwich and arugula.  It was very flavorful!  The turkey was moist, the flavor was spot on, and the roll was delicious.  Seriously, whoever Disney uses to supply their bread is doing a great job.  The fries were alright.  The other side option was something with green beans.  I wished I could have gotten apple slices instead.  There also wasn't any other condiments available and I prefer mustard to ketchup (I'm sure I could have asked for some, but I had enough to eat!)

My Mom chose the Croque Monsieur...essentially a grilled ham & cheese sandwich.

Again, I was pleasantly surprised.  The bread (again) was super flavorful and delicious.  It was a delightfully sinful option - as anything slathered in butter and cheese should be!  I think I would go for the turkey sandwich over this, but this was better than I expected.

For dessert, there are 6 options to chose from: 3 cupcakes, and 3 cream puffs.  I've heard that they're the same options for dinner.

My Mom got the Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcake.

The strawberry on top was beautiful (you can tell it's strawberry season!) and the flavor on the cake was outstanding.  But the plastic surrounding it was ridiculous to try to take off.  I mean, it's pretty, but very impractical.

I decided on the Lemon and Raspberry Cream Puff.

I just discovered that this was a sugar free & gluten free option.  Hmm, couldn't tell while I was eating it!  I really liked it.  I thought the flavor was excellent and it was definitely easier to eat than the cupcake!  It definitely oozed filling once open, which was good.  Going back though, I would probably opt for the cupcake.

Overall, I was very happy with our meal.  It was a little on the pricey side for sandwiches, but it was nice to eat on real plates, use real silverware and be totally immersed in theming.  I am definitely going to return!