50's Prime Time Cafe'
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Location:
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Disney - MGM Studios |
Reviewer's Name:
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Brian Bennett |
Reviewer's Email Address:
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brian@mouseplanet.com |
Date of Meal:
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September 1998, October 1997, November
1995 |
Number of Guests at Your Table:
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1998: 7
1997: 8
1995: 4 |
Approximate Cost:
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1998: $35 (for Barb and Allan and I)
1997: $45 (for Barb and Allan and Vicki and I)
1995: $80 (what would have cost four adults without tax or tip,
but we were on Food 'n' Fun that trip) |
Priority Seating / Reservations Comments:
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Priority seating was arranged each
time. |
Time of Wait:
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1998: Brief wait, not bad since we had
a larger group.
1997: unknown
1995: Just a few minutes, and we arrived a bit late for our
time, but it wasn't a problem. |
Food Review:
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September 1998: After the tour,
we headed over to have lunch at the 50's Prime Time Cafe.
When we arrived, we had only a brief wait for our table.
Dennis was our server, and although he was fun, he wasn't
overbearing with the "elbows on the table" and
stuff. I ordered an appetizer sampler for my
meal which included chicken strips, fried mushrooms, and fries
(substituted for the normal onion rings, which I really don't like
at this place). The malts and shakes were great as always
(and pricey, too, at $3.95 each) and we all had a nice time.
Grandma was the only one to break down for desert. She
ordered a huge banana split which she handled quite nicely by
herself.
October 1997: Anyway, for our meal, I ordered the pot roast
dinner ($13.95) while Barb had a bowl of chicken soup ($2.75) and
shared Allan's children's pot roast ($4.75). I also had the PBJ
Malt while Barb had the Cookie's and Cream shake ($3.70), Vicki
had a Burger ($10.75). Tony had the Mahi Mahi special, Kathy had
the Chicken Marsala. The girls both shared from Tony and Kathy's
meals.
November 1995: For our meal, Mike, Barb, and I all had
shakes (I had a yummy peanut butter and jelly one, Mike had a
chocolate chip cheesecake one, Barb stuck with Strawberry. They
cost $3.50 ea). As an appetizer, Stacey and I had salads ($2.75
ea). Mike had fried zucchini ($3.25), and Barb had alphabet soup
("don't make any bad words with your soup, Sis") which
came about five minutes after everyone else's appetizer, $2.75).
For the main course, Barb had a cheeseburger and fries ($10.40),
Mike had the shrimp and chicken spectacular ($16.95), Stacey had
the Acapulco chicken special ($14.95), and I had the magnificent
meatloaf ($12.95). It really wasn't all that magnificent. It
seemed to be made up of mostly cereal with a little meat added
just so they could call it "meat" loaf. We also had a
couple of sides of onion rings brought to our table, but we
shouldn't have bothered. Instead of large rings of onions, they
were like shredded onion. Still battered and deep fried, but
somehow different. All four of us pretty much skipped them. For
desert, Mike had a hot fudge sundae ($3.50) and the rest of us
passed. |
Service Review:
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The service at this place is never
fantastic. At best, you get average attention. Water
glasses often go unfilled, you wait for long periods of time
between courses, and the wait for the final bill is always a good
time to catch a nap. |
Atmosphere Review:
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But you don't come here for
service...you come here for the "kitchen-mosphere."
Here's some samples:
October 1997: Gasson, our waiter, was a little
overbearing. Worse, Mom seemed to have it out for elbows on the
table infractions. Tony got nailed several times...so bad, in
fact, that Gasson ended up giving him an "elbows on the table
pass" because he was so incorrigible. I got nailed by mom for
elbows, too. For me, she put a couple dabs of ketchup on the table
where my elbows would go to remind me to not do it. Gasson cleaned
it up after awhile apologizing for Mom's overbearing nature...At
the end of the meal, Megan became frightened that the left over
food on her plate would get her in trouble. It didn't help that I
cleaned my plate. I mean I really, really cleaned it. I used three
or four napkins to wipe it completely clean. It was virtually
spotless. In fact, Gasson held up my plate and pronounced me a
member of the "clean plate club." I was quite proud of
myself. Anyway, back to Meg. She was so concerned that she got a
napkin of her own and neatly packaged her extra food in it. A few
minutes later, I tipped Gasson off about Meg's treachery. He made
her get up, apologize to her parents for wasting food, and
generally embarrassed her completely.
November 1995: We really weren't prepared for
this...First, our waiter, "Big Brother", decided that my
wife, "Sis", wasn't happy. He called "Mom"
over and she made Barb and I switch places so I sat in the corner.
I threw down my menu as I stood up...big time mistake. From that
time on, "Brother" was on my case. "Keep your
elbows off the table", etc...After I finished my meal, I
decided to bait "big Bro" a bit. I took my green beans
and covered them up with a couple of napkins. It was like turning
on a strobe light....he called mom, and she made everyone in our
area put out their wings and pretend to fly while she
"flew" a green bean into my mouth. NO WAY....I kept my
mouth shut tight. I wasn't gonna let these people defeat me. Well,
she conceded defeat, but had everyone in the area wag their finger
at me and say "shame, shame." So what. Wave your fingers
you people...I won my little battle with "Mom." |
Other Comments:
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The fun of this restaurant is, as I've
said, the "kitchen-mosphere." The food is not
spectacular (although the sundaes and shakes and malts are tops, I
readily admit) and the service is merely average. Even so,
this is a place we'll come back to, just because it's so
unique....although I don't think I need to come back every trip to
WDW. |
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Walt Disney World Restaurant Resource
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