Within the past 24 years, our family has dined at Victoria and Albert’s on seven different occasions. Up until this past January, we considered it our #1 restaurant out of many renown places we’ve been fortunate to enjoy around the world.
Up until recently, there...were two seatings per night, each lasting @ 1 ½ to 2 hours. This approach allowed more patrons to dine here, and the time span of the 7-course dinner was perfect! Now, there is only one seating and the number of courses grew by 2-4.
In late January, right before Covid shut down Disney, our experience at V&A’s was less than exceptional.
--When I called 180 days out, I requested the table in the main Dining Room right next to the Harpist. We had that same table previously and truly enjoyed interacting with the Harpist. Was told my request would be honored. But,it wasn’t. Instead, we were seated away from the Harpist directly under the Chandelier, which surfaced another point of friction. The dang chandelier lights made our table the most lighted table in the entire restaurant, totally changing the ambience we sought. The back-up Maitre ‘d said they couldn’t dim the lights because it would take re-booting the entire lighting in the restaurant.
--The V&A reservationist who fumbled my table request also screwed up my title on my personalized menu and didn’t give me a confirmation call 1-2 weeks out, which was previously the norm. So, in order to raise my comfort level that my dinner reservation at this special place was all set, I had to initiate the call.
--Lastly, the time it took our V&A servers and the chef’s team to work through our 9-11 (?) different courses, with wine pairings, from start to finish was literally 5 hours. This is too dang long!! Throughout our meal, there were extended periods of time that we waited on the next course with no food or drink in front of us. This gross inefficiency is something new and something I find very tedious. Heck, the last hour was actually painful.
All that said, I refuse to give this wonderful restaurant less than 5 stars, because of our past cherished memories. Plus, we loved our servers (Nikki & Lazar) and the food was delicious, as usual.
Our family will now take a break from dining here in the near term, but would fully expect us to return one day.More
