Be Our Guest Restaurant: Our Dinner with the Beast

Top photo of Be Our Guest Restaurant by Jason Moseman.  All others by Katie Moseman.

Be Our Guest Restaurant

Having been both a Disney cast member and an off-and-on annual passholder over the years, I’ve learned quite a few things about Walt Disney World.

One of the things I’ve learned is that you often have to adjust your expectations.  Yes, you might like to go on Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and Splash Mountain all in one day, but without careful planning you won’t pull it off- or you’ll exhaust yourself trying.  Similarly, you may wish to dine on gourmet food inside a theme park, but you’re usually going to have to settle for a lackluster meal.

When I made a reservation for Be Our Guest Restaurant, what I really wanted to know was this:  Did they pull it off?  Did they actually manage to make a real, honest-to-goodness fine dining experience in the heart of the Magic Kingdom?

Yes, by George, they surely did.  You can certainly quibble over the loudness of the dining room, or the large quantity of children, or the t-shirts, and the flip-flops; but frankly, I couldn’t care less about that.  Bring me a stellar plate of food, that’s all I ask.  And if you are keeping my kids entertained with incredible sets to look at, so much the better.

After a basket of bread served with a small dish of butter, I was ready for the main course.  I ordered the Roasted Lamb with Herb Goat Cheese Polenta, Seasonal Vegetables, and a Pomegranate-Pear Gastrique, recommended to me by our server.

The lamb was cooked (as the chef suggested) to a perfect medium.  The combination of flavors worked so well that I never wanted to take a bite of any one element alone.  For each taste, I dragged a bit of lamb and polenta together through the roasted squash puree and the pomegranate-pear gastrique so I could experience all of them at once.

My husband ordered the Grilled Strip Steak with Garlic-Herb Butter and Pommes Frites.  He placed his dish in utter peril when he left the table to snap some pictures, as it was hard to resist snapping up the fries one by one and dipping them in their accompanying truffle mayo.

For dessert, I may have gone a little overboard.  I think I ordered four desserts for the four of us, and then we ate three of them before I remembered to stop and take a picture.  So the only proof of our rampage through the dessert menu is this picture of the famous Chocolate Shell and Cookie Crème topped with Lumiere’s special “Grey Stuff.”

Quite tasty, although we equally enjoyed the Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcake, Éclair à l’Orange,  and the Chocolate Cream Puff.

If you forced me to choose on my next visit to Be Our Guest Restaurant, I’d probably pick the Éclair à l’Orange.  Or maybe the Chocolate Cream Puff.

Actually, I’d probably just save time by asking the server to just leave the entire dessert cart at the table.

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