One of the most sought after dining reservations at Walt Disney World is the Be Our Guest restaurant at the Magic Kingdom. I was lucky enough to be able to attend a Disney Parks Blog meet up before Be Our Guest officially opened, which you can read about here. It has been over a year and a half since I had dinner at the restaurant, but I have had lunch there a few times over the past couple of years. Fortunately, I was able to snag a last minute reservation less than a week before the holiday weekend, so I was very excited to enjoy a nice meal with a friend at the park.
Our reservation was for 7:45pm, but we arrived at the Magic Kingdom a bit earlier than we expected, so we headed back to see if we could get in to Be Our Guest a bit early. The host said that since we were a party of two it looked like they could squeeze us in. The magic was definitely in our favor that night! We were instructed to wait for our pager to light up and then check in with the cast member at the gates to the Beast’s castle.
Once the pager illuminated, we were escorted into the castle and given a brief tour, eventually being led into the ballroom where we would be eating. Shelley and I had eaten there before for lunch, but never for dinner since Be Our Guest officially opened in late 2012. I don’t know if you are aware or not, but it can be a bit challenging to get a reservation at this very popular restaurant. 😉
Melissa was our server, who I actually remembered from the Parks Blog Meet Up as our server then, so it is nice to see the cast members sticking around from opening still. Since we have some allergies, the chef was called to come and review the menus with us to make sure we didn’t have any issues. This gave us an opportunity to just soak in the environment of the magnificent ballroom setting of Be Our Guest. I am still blown away by how gorgeous the details are, especially the ceiling chandeliers, and how much the restaurant reflects the beauty of Beauty and the Beast.
For the first time, I enjoyed a nice glass of wine with my meal in the Magic Kingdom. I think this was a nice addition to a French-inspired meal. Several French and California wines and select beers are available to be served with your meal at Be Our Guest. For our first course, I ordered the potato leek soup, which I have had several times before and enjoy quite a bit. The taste is fantastic, but this time the consistency seemed a bit off, like the soup needed to go through a strain or puree a bit more. I would still order this again every time. The entree I have heard the most about from friends and other guests is the sauteed shrimp and scallops with seasonal vegetables and mushrooms served in puff pastry with a creamy lobster sauce. Despite having had shrimp and scallops earlier in the week, I could not resist ordering this dish.
Even though Be Our Guest is not considered a character meal, the Beast is often known to parade through the castle waving at guests to welcome them to his home. He also frequently will meet with guests to pose for a picture with them in his library before they depart. We had a great time, the food was enjoyable and I’d definitely order what I had again. I also am anxious to go back and try the salmon I had before to see if it holds up to what I recall from before. The experience is so fun and the food is some of the best in the Magic Kingdom.
As we left the restaurant, we stopped on the bridge on the way out to get a few pictures of the gorgeous sky after the storms cleared for a bit. Have you been to the Be Our Guest restaurant recently? What were your thoughts? Did you order one of the desserts? We skipped out this time since we were full from our meal, but we’ve tried them all before.
