Le Cellier - Hype or worth it?


Overview:

Le Cellier is a steakhouse in the Canadian section of Epcot.  It's a very beautiful section of the park with the waterfalls and walkways.  There are some signature dishes that it is known for, such as the Canadian cheese soup and the the filet mignon with mushroom risotto and truffle butter.  Le Cellier is VERY popular, so getting reservations can be difficult to get without advanced planning.
We ate there for lunch this past June (2017), but this review will also incorporate our experience from past trips as well.

Location:

The location, as mentioned above, is in Epcot.  This means that you will need a ticket into the theme park to dine there.  It's about a 10-15 minute stroll from the front gate to the restaurant.  It can be done in less time (speaking from experience) but it's much more enjoyable if you show up for dinner without sweat dripping from you!  It's even better if you have time to take the scenic route and stop in Mexico for a margarita at The Cave of Tequila and then hop over to Canada!
The Le Cellier entrance is set back from the main World Showcase walkway. Depending on how busy they are, they sometimes have Castmembers set up at a hostess kiosk on the main walkway to assist.  I've seen this, but never used it.  We always check in at the main door.

Look and Feel:

Once you are seated, you'll notice that the setting is somewhat dark.  I always have the feeling that I am eating in a basement....probably because my mind knows that I am.  It's funny like that!  It's not so dark that you can't read a menu, but dark enough to notice the candles on the table.
As with any of the World Showcase places, the servers are from the country that you are visiting.  In Le Cellier, our servers are always from Canada and have always been very good to excellent.

Dining Experience:

In June, we ate there for lunch.  We mixed things up by trying some new dishes, along with some of our favorites.
We started with Le Cellier Signature Poutine.
Tab and I are suckers for almost anything with truffles in it.  Add the red-wine reduction and we thought it had a lot of potential.  It was good, but not great.  I thought the red wine reduction was much more powerful, perhaps too powerful to let the truffle flavor come through enough for me.  We both would have gone with the Montreal Poutine if we had a do-over.

The cheese soup was as good as usual, and we ALWAYS love the pretzel bread sticks.


I had a burger, which was a special offering that day.  It was very good and I was not disappointed.


My Take:

The question that I go back to, pretty much any time that we have dined here for the past few years is, "Is it worth the price?"  In my opinion, it is not.  The food is very good.  The service is usually excellent.  Ten years ago, this was my favorite place to eat at WDW.  It wasn't much more expensive than similar offerings at an Outback steakhouse.  It was a standard option on the dining plan vs. a Signature (costing you two dining meals instead of one).  The prices have gradually gone up and even lunch is a Signature option on the dining plan.  For the money, Yachtsman steakhouse is a much better bang for my buck.
If you've never been and have an opportunity to make a reservation, you could do much worse.  Perhaps, not having the same nostalgia and memories of "the good ol' days", you will love Le Cellier.  But I would steer you toward the Brown Derby or Yachtsman first.  Check out all of our pics from June at the link below and give us your opinion!






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