Be Our Guest Restaurant is a counter-service (for lunch) option in Magic Kingdom that serves a mix of French and American food.  Be Our Guest is a one of a kind restaurant in Disney World in that it serves counter-service meals at breakfast and lunch and table-service meals at dinner.  The restaurant is themed to Beauty and the Beast, if you couldn’t guess that by it’s name.  Be Our Guest does take part in the Disney Dining Plan as counter-service credit for lunch.  We’ve dined at the restaurant many times over the years and this review will cover our thoughts on the food and value along with photos of Be Our Guest.

Even with Be Our Guest Restaurant being a counter-service option, they do take reservations at the 180-day mark like a table-service restaurant.  That means there will likely be no walk up availability for lunch.  When you make all of your reservations 180 days out make one for lunch at Be Our Guest Restaurant.  Honestly, we usually make a couple of lunch reservations here for each trip and then cancel all but one of them once we have more of our itinerary set.  It’s an easy way to go and won’t cost you anything provided that you cancel 24 hours (or more) in advance of the reservation.

After checking in, a cast member will either take your order or a queue will take you to a screen to place your order.  The process is typically pretty fast and easy.  There’s generally a chance to place your order ahead of time (as in when you make your reservation) at Be Our Guest.  I don’t really see the point in that as I have a hard time deciding what I want to eat the day of, much less months in advance.

A plastic rose (if you are lucky!) will be handed to you so that they can deliver the food to where you choose to sit.  Choosing where to sit can be a touch choice at Be Our Guest Restaurant as there are three major options – the ballroom, the castle gallery and the west wing.  Each of these rooms are incredibly themed and well done.  The ballroom is on the verge of being a large cafeteria as it’s so crowded.  The chandeliers are impressive and there are some cool features but I’d pick one of the other two rooms.  The castle gallery is more interesting with paintings around and several nods to the film.  It feels less like a cafeteria although it can still be fairly crowded.

The west wing, our favorite room, is much darker than the other two rooms.  On occasion, lightning flashes in the room and thunder crackles.  Somehow, this isn’t overly distracting during the meal.  The volume and lighting are just quiet and bright enough to where it doesn’t affect eating.  The real attention-grabber of this room is the rose on display in the corner.  If you’ve seen Beauty and the Beast, you know the west wing holds the all-important rose.  If you haven’t seen Beauty and the Beast, go buy it and you might as well pick up the soundtrack while you’re at it.  The rose is recreated in this room and it truly immerses you and puts you in the film.

Recently, the menu has changed slightly, you can view the menu here.  The main change is a move from Braised Pork to Braised Chicken. The dish really isn’t that big of a change except for the swap of pork for chicken. Frankly, I like pork better than chicken but I still found this to be very good. The chicken was juicy and tender. This is a slightly smaller dish than the Braised Pork was but it’s still hearty and filling. I’d recommend the Braised Chicken over anything else on the menu.

Melissa ordered the carved turkey sandwich and she enjoyed it.  I liked my entree better than hers.  In the past, I’ve had the carved roast beef sandwich.  It was also good but I prefer the Braised Pork.  All of the sandwiches are somewhat pedestrian in my opinion, although the Croque Monsieur has more flavor than others we’ve tried.  There are also a good amount of salads offered, although we haven’t tried one here.

As an appetizer, we’ve also tried the French Onion Soup and enjoyed it.  I’ve had better French Onion Soup but this had good flavor and it’s hard to resist a dish that has melted cheese on top.

The dessert at Be Our Guest Restaurant isn’t as much of a standout as the entrees.  I like the cream puff pretty well and a few of the cupcakes are solid.  I do think you can find better options than the $5 desserts here but ordering one to share to top off the meal isn’t a bad idea.

I prefer the cream puff but don’t find it to be amazing. We’ve also tried the Lemon Meringue Cupcake and it’s decent. There just isn’t a standout among these dessert choices, although we haven’t tasted anything that we truly dislike either.

Be Our Guest Restaurant has seen it’s prices rise over the last few years, although so have most other Disney World counter-service options.  Compared to breakfast, lunch here is a steal with entrees falling between $13-$17.  The Braised Pork is $17, which is a little expensive for a counter-service meal but the quality still warrants the price at this point.  Whether you are paying out of pocket or on the Disney Dining Plan, I think lunch at Be Our Guest is a solid value.

Be Our Guest is the best counter-service meal in Magic Kingdom.  It may be the best counter-service meal in Disney World.  The food is delicious and while the prices continue to rise the entrees are all under $20.  Be Our Guest’s atmosphere ties it all together and makes this an excellent place for a meal.

Restaurant Rating:  9.5/10

Have you eaten at Be Our Guest Restaurant?  Let us know your questions or thoughts in the comments.  Planning a trip to Walt Disney World?  Check out our Disney World Trip Planning Guide.  If you enjoy what you’re reading here on Wandering in Disney, you can subscribe to the blog via WordPress or email.  All of those links are on the right side of this page.  Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!