We were a little disappointed in this place. I was excited to try some place new but I will probably never go back. The location is good and it has a nice view of the boardwalk. The hostess was not very friendly or informative. We went to be seated outside and the table behind us warned us that there were "love bugs" everywhere, so we opted to sit inside. Our server did not come for a long time which lead me to believe that the hostess never told her we were there. Once she saw us she did a nice job. The table was dirty, which she noticed and cleaned right away. I hadn't even seen the dirt left over until she pointed it out.Our food was not great. My son enjoyed his hot dog and cake. I ordered a cheeseburger and it was just not good. The quality was about the same as the theme park cheeseburgers but a little larger. The cheese on top was hard and cold. They also serve their sandwiches with kettle chips which are really not appetizing. If I am paying $13 for a processed park burger, I want fries. I would pay extra for fries if it was an option. Overall I would walk down to ESPN and see if they had openings before I went to this place again. I think it is a waste of good property at WDW and someone needs to go in and overhaul the place. It has the potential to be good.
nov 4 2012 we had dinner at the Big River, the meatloaf i ordered was just not recogizniable.. i wasn't sure what it was, no taste at all.. i could not eat the meal. we tried the beer sample, they were just so-so.. not worth 15 dollars for tiny shot glasses of the brew. the service as lacking, very little attention to coming back to our table to see if refills were needed. and loud, loud and loud inside. we will not eat there again..
We decided to try Big River to taste their beer selection and to see the Boardwalk resort. We loved the atmosphere at the resort, but our dining experience was terribly disappointing. The beers we tried were fine, but not impressive. The food was average at best. We found the atmosphere to be horrible. The dining area was very cramped, and we were there in the off-season. The tables were too close to one another, and the restaurant was very loud. On top of that our service was poor, and the servers were unattentive. This was a very bad experience, and unfortunately a wasted meal during our vacation. We have found this to be the case with other non-Disney restaurants that we have tried on the Dining Plan as well. I would definitely not recommend eating here at all.
My family and I had dinner there on 10/26/11. It was a spontaneous dinner choice, which unfortunately, didn't work out well. The steak was of pathetically cheap quality, which for the mid-$20 price tag, was not a good start. The vegetables seemed like something out of the freezer section of a grocery store, and the service was very lacking. Our children (4 & 5) did not like there food either, and we were all let down (and frustrated) by the length of time our server would disappear for. It was busy at the time, but c'mon .... you shouldn't go 20 minutes without seeing your server, and wait another 15 minutes for the process of paying the bill ! It's all a bit magnified -- especially when the food & experience wasn't good to begin with, and then you have to chase people down to pay them. Spontaneous decisions a lot of times have served us well, and in Disney -- those experiences (we've found) are sometimes the best & most memorable -- but not this time. Overall, would never recommend it for dinner. Lunch or a casual beer & appetizer may be reasonable, but we probably won't try to find out.
If you enjoy craft beers, you will enjoy Big River Grille. While the food isn't spectacular it is what you'd expect from a brew pub. Though there is one time I went where they had a Swordfish with pear & gran marnier reduction that was excellent. I'm disappointed this isn't a regular menu item because it would guarantee my return on every trip to WDW. The beer selection is nice with flavorful choices. My favorite is the Rocket Red but all of the others are just as good. The atmosphere inside is the only flaw IMO. Granted I've only been there during daylight but it just seemed too bright. An outside table just before sunset is much better.
I enjoyed the dinner we had at BRG. We had a large party (12) and even though the seating was crowded everyone liked there food. The beer was fun with the different options rather than just the standard choices. I would eat there again.
my wife and I have visited twice in the past two years.. for young couples such as ourselves (we are now 25) BRG is nice to go to during the day and have some drinks and a snack while its blistering hot outside and the lines are long at the parks.. The beer sampler and selection is pretty good, though some more full-flavored ales would be nice. Definitely an awesome place to visit.
If you want to chill out by the water on a hot sunny day ,then this is a great place to have a one of their many beers/ ales and have a light lunch . The food and service is great. The menu is nothing fancy and caters for all
Nothing good to say about Big River. The food quality was very poor - the burgers were right out the freezer, the home cooked chips were right out the bag. The service was lousy. Unfortunately, Big River seems to be relying on the fact that vacationers and conventioners from the nearby Swan and Dolphin will stream into the place looking for something to eat and they no longer care about quality of food or service. Based on the 3 times I've eaten here, I would never return again unless there is a big change in how they operate.
Excellent burgers. Excellent tuna steaks. Wonderful location. Seating was a little crowded, but liveable.
my parents say the beer is really good, and we love the food. its really good.
The food is disappointing but the beer is good.
When we went to this resturant it was between lunch and dinner. My mother had a New York Oscar, while I stuck with the traditional Hickory Bacon Burger. The burger was delicious, just the right seasonings and the sauce was terrific, and the chips served with it were good as well. The Oscar was delicious, I had a bite and I loved it. Our drinks were refilled promptly and food delivered within a reasonable time.
The thing Big River has going for it is it's location. Sadly, that's about all. DH likes the beer there and we both like having a relaxing place to sit and watch the scenery on the Boardwalk so Big River gets our business for that purpose. The food is pretty awful. (we've eaten here 5+ times and all times were bad. Like I said before we go here for the location alone.) We've had ribs, tough and cold. Bleah. We've had some kind of pasta dish, it was swimming in sauce and the noodles disintegrated under our fork. We've had tilapia which tasted ok but got to our table cold. The potatoes served with the meals have NEVER been warm yet. It's become a joke with us, to see if we can outwit the potato fairy and actually GET some hot ones. LOL We've had the chips and salsa, which are always said to be "fresh" somehow. These are merely stale Doritos and salsa out of a jar, tossed onto a plate and served. We ate them because we were hungry but felt disappointment with every bite we took. LOL I hope others have better experiences here but ours have been consistently bad. Go for the location or the beer but I wouldn't hope for a great meal here. Our Rating of this restaurant: 3 for the food 9 for the beer 10 for the location
Four of us ate at the Big River Grille and all agreed that foodwise it was one of the very best meals of the whole holiday. What would have been a real highlight for us was, however, spoilt to a considerable degree by surly and even downright rude service. We politely asked why we'd been waiting for almost an hour for our food while many people had been served similar meals in half the time and our server went off on one! I would give it another chance as the food was so good, but if I saw the waitress from hell approaching I'd leave quicker than I entered.
I've visited this location twice now, and both times have had poor service, which makes me think it wasnt just a one off. The first time the server was just about OK, but the second time, the server was plain rude. The food was OK, but much better can be found elsewhere on the Boardwalk. The place is in a nice location, and could be a great place to eat if the customer service standards and food can improve.
I thought the food and menu selection at Big River were both very good (burgers, grilled chicken, pasta, roasted turkey sandwich, home made kettle chips). I recommend sitting outside if the weather allows, it is unbearably loud inside. Our server was completely indifferent to us. I did notice that many of the other servers were quite friendly and chatty to their tables, so maybe our waiter was just having a bad day. Nice outdoor setting, good food, I\'d go back.
I turned 21 before my last visit to Walt Disney World with my family. Thus, when they asked if we wanted to try out the Big River Grille and Brewing Works at the Boardwalk. I had a pasta dish which was incredible, but let's get to the star of a brewery, the beer. I tried out all six beers (whether they were mine or my brothers) and I enjoyed mostly all of them. I had the seasonal beer for the time and it was definently worth trying the place out. I'm not sure if I'm gonna eat there for a while, as I'm still trying to dine everywhere, but if you haven't yet, the food is up to Disney standards. And if you like a good drink or two, definently check it out!