Feasting in the Fall - Chefs de France

[Guest]

For the first time in over twenty visits we were seated in the smaller, conservatory type room, off to the right hand side of the entrance. Initially we didn’t mind as it made a change to eat in here and we’ve always wondered if the general feel of Chefs de France is any different in this part of the restaurant.
Whenever we’ve walked past on our way to the Boulangerie, I’ve had a nosey glance through the windows and everyone has seemed quite happy in there.
We however weren’t at all keen. We found it rather too stark and the tiled floors and all that glass in such a small space made it very echoey.
We both felt very cut off from the bubbly lively atmosphere we’ve always loved in the main dining room.
I don’t think it helped that we had the worst food we’ve ever had encountered Chefs de France since our first of many visits in 1990………

Paul began with the cheese plate and was disappointed to find that for the first time ever there was no blue cheese served. The cheeses were still good though, they were the same as we had in May but a very mild goat cheese had replaced the tasty blue. It was of course enhanced by the delicious warm crusty rolls.



I had the Tartare of Salmon with cucumber, dill and honey mustard sauce - allegedly!
I’ve had it a few times before and enjoyed it greatly.
The finely minced smoked salmon, flecked with fragrant dill was lovely and light and it tasted just fine, but where was the sauce?
There was a drizzle of something on the plate but it didn’t look like the tasty sauce I’d had previously.
Imagine my amazement though when I quickly discovered that the red and cream coloured cheffy drizzles were none other than plain old tomato ketchup and mayo!
Quelle Horreur!
Why on earth would anyone serve tomato ketchup with smoked salmon?
Thankfully there wasn’t much of it so I could avoid it – but really!
What culinary clown thought it would be acceptable to serve up that nonsense!
(I didn’t send it back to the kitchen along with my opinion, as I was determined not to be so anally retentive about my Disney dining this visit.)



First rant over, let’s have the main course.

Paul had the Vegetable Lasagne which had plenty of roasted veggies and cheese, although he thought the tomato sauce was reminiscent of Campbell’s soup.
He ordered some fries and a side salad to accompany the lasagne – these were paid for using our DDE card along with our wine.
I had a couple of glasses of George Duboeuf Chardonnay and Paul had a glass of Pinot Noir, Santenay, Joseph Drouhin 2004. I was happy with mine but Paul wasn’t keen on his choice, he thought it was dull and dreary – certainly not worth $11.25!





I chose the Grilled Flank Steak with Sautéed Shallots and French Fries - allegedly!
Flank steak isn’t one of the better cuts of beef, but it was the only option and I was in the mood for meat! Sadly it was rather stringy and tough and the taste reminded me a bit of school dinners, but at least the fries were good - hot and crispy as always.
Imagine my amazement though when I tasted the sauce I could tell immediately that it was the French Onion Soup!
It had been reduced so had the robustness and correct consistency of a sauce, and sure enough there were sautéed shallots used in the base of the soup – but all the same, it was indeed the soup.
Sacre Bleu!
I know the French Onion Soup here is actually pretty tasty, but I was very much taken aback at the cheekiness of it.
The evident penny pinching policies were becoming quite farcical and I was actually giggling a bit by now.
You see, I’m determined I’m not going to be anally retentive about my Disney dining during this visit.

Second rant over, let’s have dessert.

Paul chose Rhubarb Tart but on probing fruitlessly for the fruit quickly realized he’d been served the Chocolate Tart instead!
He didn’t mind too much as he was wavering between the two anyway and I thought he was quite enjoying it, but then some unfavourable comparisons to the reduced items in our local Waitrose bakery section were made.



I had Profiteroles. I’ve loved the profiteroles at Chefs de France for years and years.
They can’t possibly have messed with the profiteroles – can they?



The first thing I noticed was that there were only two of them instead of three. But there have always been three!
Oh well I’m not going to stress about it, I always struggle to finish them anyway.
Further disillusionment was ahead though.
Instead of the warm, rich, dark chocolate sauce I’d anticipated, my taste buds were traumatized by a cold, chalky, insipid, watered down version of the chocolate sauce I loved.
Tres Mauvais!
And wait! Where were the warm, toasted almonds that were previously strewn over the top of my preferred pud?
In their place had been dumped some cheapo dried fruit and nut mix.
Noooo! Make it stop!
The whole dish was now an unpleasant impostor of my former favourite.
Can you even begin to imagine my amazement?

We’ve eaten here at least once on every visit – it’s a long standing tradition - and we’ve and had some lovely meals and built up some wonderful memories, but it seems that Chefs de France are obviously on a rather extreme economy drive at present and we won’t be returning next visit.
We agreed that service had been good overall and we hadn’t felt rushed at all - that at least had not changed since our last visit.
It was the very evident cost-cutting that resulted in a lower standard of food quality that we found so unacceptable.
Had we not been on the Dining Plan we’d have walked after the sorry Smoked Salmon situation.
We sincerely hoped that the rest of our Disney dining experiences were not going to be anywhere nearly as crushingly disappointing as this one.

We have plans to eat at Coral Reef, Kona Café (we actually eat there twice), Flying Fish, Citricos and Yachtsman’s Steakhouse whilst on the Free Dining Plan.
We’ll also be eating at Seasons52, Bluezoo and Jiko.

Whatever transpires I shall remain relaxed - for I’m determined I’m not going to be anally retentive about my Disney dining on this visit

[Clare]

OMG Sue, I cannot believe you had a bad meal at Chefs - you always rave about it I think you remained very calm and composed, despite the obvious disappointment.

[peter+lynne]

i think its because of the stupid ddd the standards have gone down

[gala]

Things have certainly changed there Sue, havent they? The food doesnt look as good as it was before either. Disappointing as it was one of your favourites.

Margaret

[Sue]

Oh Sue - tres tragique n'est pas?
Hope your other reports are better!

[truesdpr]

Oh waht a shame Sue - it's sad when a tried and trusted favourite lets you down.

Gald to see Seasons52 on your list though - we had a fab time there last month - food was wonderful and will be detailed in due course in my under construction trip report! Yachtsman's was great too!

Pam.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by soozicue

Oh Sue - tres tragique n'est pas?
Hope your other reports are better!

See more...

Indeed it was true tragedy Sue - I couldn't even bring myself to watch Off Kilter afterwards
Too busy muttering about changes...

It does improve though

[Guest]

Seasons52 was fab
Did Olivia have her steak Pam?

[truesdpr]

She certainly did Sue! She shared our starters then laid into the beef and blue cheese flatbread followed by the fillet with asparagus and all rounded of with a mini chocolate dessert!

A few nights later in the holiday we asked her where she'd like to eat and she said Seasons 52! I think it's now firmly on her favourites list!

Pam.

[Guest]

How disappointing to have a bad meal at a place you normally enjoy. I have to say Paul's veggie lasagne looks very unappetising.