Finally a restaurant in China worth going to?
Many Disney World critics have been bashing the Nine Dragons restaurant at the China Pavilion in Epcot for decades. It is one of the few, if not the only, of the World Showcase eateries that seem to be disliked by the majority of guests and Disney World fanatics. I share this opinion of Nine Dragons. You can read the review here, so that’s why a smile came to my face when I read this bit of news from touringplans.com.
The renovation of the Nine Dragons restaurant in Epcot’s China pavilion will occur January 6 - July 31, 2008. The restaurant will take on a new style of dining experience which involves the act of cooking presented on stage, sort of like a show.
This truly is great news. A six month renovation is exciting enough, but I just assumed it was for aesthetic purposes. But now we here the entire experience is going to change. Perhaps someone in Disney management finally wondered why the Nine Dragons was usually the only restaurant you can get into as a walk-up. China’s pavilion deserves of better representation of its cuisine and hopefully this will accomplish.
I think it must be said again that Disney deserves credit for the amount of time and money they have been putting into Epcot’s upkeep over recent years. Besides the many new attractions and updates to the classics, this is not the first restaurant to get some care and feeding over the last couple of years. While some online critics are going around taking pictures of bird-droppings, I think some time also needs to be spent giving credit for these efforts.
We urge you to discuss this more and leave your comment below, or feel free to come over to the Disney News Network Forums where we discuss this and many other topics in the Mouse Extra Forums.
Matt said,
September 7, 2007 @ 1:10 pm
I hope they make it better, but frankly, I’m still skeptical about it as I’m sure the prices aren’t going down and unless the food gets much, much better, I can’t picture myself going here (unless Mike Newell drags me).
Mike said,
September 7, 2007 @ 2:16 pm
This place stinks on ice. Its overpriced and typical of what you get locally. So any change is welcomed
Brian said,
September 7, 2007 @ 4:59 pm
“While some online critics are going around taking pictures of bird-droppings, I think some time also needs to be spent giving credit for these efforts.”
I whole-heartedly agree! Some sites dwell mainly on the negatives, and only begrudgingly acknowledge the positives. Thanks for pointing out that many great things are happening at Epcot right now, and I’m sure a change at the Nine Dragons can only be for the better.
Raidermatt said,
September 7, 2007 @ 6:08 pm
The restaurant is ok as is, but I do think it’s probably not a great fit. It’s actually more authentic in many ways than the vast majority of Chinese restaurants in this country, and I think that is it’s primary problem.
Yeah, it’s overpriced, but welcome to WDW.
I personally don’t think its any better to praise something based on so little info than it is to criticize based on that same info, so I’ll take a wait and see approach. My fear is that we are heading more toward trendy and Americanized, as I also fear about the Italy restaurant. With Italy, I’m basing that concern on the new owners and what they typically provide.
In the bigger picture, yeah its nice when they put a little TLC into the restaurants, but the Italy situation is simply due to a contractual change, not because of any grand plan on Disney’s part to invigorate World Showcase. There’s been a few minor updates in World Showcase in the last year or so, but really, no new countries or attractions in 20 years? How excited should I really get about Nine Dragons probably going PF Chang?
That’s not to say I don’t agree about the way some only discuss the negative, but at the same time, I do think there’s plenty of pixie dust only stuff out there to more than offset it.
I do appreciate sites like this that try to take a more balanced view and welcome various opinions.
Mike said,
September 8, 2007 @ 1:44 am
I dp agree with Raidermatt. For very site that lambasts post-Eisner Dinsey for every little thing (and many times unfairly) there is a site that just throws around the dust a little too much
Mike said,
September 8, 2007 @ 1:47 am
And, by the way, I like Raidermatt’s site even though I’m probably a pixie-duster in comparison to some other there.
David said,
September 8, 2007 @ 10:10 pm
Raidermatt, here is the list of eateries receiving refurbs recently
Le Cellier
Lotus Blossom
Mitsukoshi Tepanyaki
Alfredo’s
Rose and Crown
Teppan Kiku and Matsunoma Lounge
Nine Dragons
They have all been closed for some amount of time, either days or weeks or months. Credit needs to be given for this effort which is something we have all been waiting for.
Raidermatt said,
September 10, 2007 @ 9:09 am
Sure, it deserves some credit. No denying that. I’m just saying that restaurant refurbishments shouldn’t even be something that gets to the point where we are all waiting for it. Given Disney’s resources and the benefit it gets from its reputation, I can’t think of a good reason for them to allow things to reach a point where so much needs to be done. And all of this remains a drop in the bucket when you look at what has been done, or more to the point what hasn’t been done, with World Showcase over the last 20 years.
Mike, thanks for the kind words. Like David’s blog here, we try to promote open discussion.