Bistro de Paris in Epcot’s France Pavilion has won the Theme Park Insider’s award for Best Restaurant three years in a row. Since 2002 only three others have won this distinction: Blue Bayou at Disneyland, Mythos at Universal’s Island’s of Adventure and Chefs de France right down stairs from Bistro. (Mythos managed to win six years in a row.) Best theme park restaurant is certainly subjective. I think the best restaurant in a theme park is the Hollywood Brown Derby at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. However, the people have spoken, which meant that I needed to go eat! (You can find out more about the Theme Park Insider at http://www.themeparkinsider.com/)

Bistro de Paris is a Signature Dining restaurant at Walt Disney World. There are only a handful of them and they are supposed to have the highest level of service and the best quality of food. This also makes them small, popular, and expensive. As we will soon see, just because it’s expensive doesn’t mean it’s good. If you are going to head to Bistro de Paris and you are using the Disney Dining Plan, be aware that your meal will cost you two Table Service Credits. The only discount available at Bistro is the Tables in Wonderland card and Bistro de Paris is only open for dinner.

I absolutely love Chefs de France, so I assumed that I would love it’s big brother. We all know what happens when you assume, right? I already knew the wine list was impeccable. If you ask nicely they will let you order from the Bistro by the bottle list at Chefs. I headed into the France Pavilion quite a bit early for my reservation and found the small sign and hostess stand that barely announces that there is a restaurant to be found within. It was no problem to be seated early and I was whisked away up the stairs. It’s a good thing too, because there isn’t any waiting area down stairs. Once up the stairs I was met by another host who told me they would be able to seat me in just a few minutes. About five minutes later I was being led through an almost empty dining room to a table for two in the center area of the room.

My waiter greeted me shortly there after and I ordered a bottle of sparkling water and asked for time to peruse the wines by the glass list. My waiter explained that they only had liter size bottles of sparkling, did I want something else? I also explained to him that I had noted on the reservation that I had an allergy and since he hadn’t mentioned it, I wanted to make sure he knew. He looked vaguely confused. My sparkling water appeared while I looked at the menu, although a chef from the kitchen did not.

My waiter came back to the table to take my dinner order and I let him know what I wanted. He took the order and went back to the kitchen to talk to the chef. He was back fairly quickly to let me know that everything I had ordered had nuts in it. One of the dishes they could take them out of, but not the others. Okay then. It took three trips back to the kitchen to determine what I could and couldn’t have. I would have been a lot happier if they had just sent someone who knew the menu out to talk to me in the first place. Turns out that five of the seven appetizers on the menu have nuts in them. I was so frustrated that I didn’t even bother with asking about entrees. It would have taken another year. I decided to go with two appetizers and dessert.

After all of this happened, the glass of wine I ordered, a Pouilly Fumé appeared at the table along with a French baguette, butter and as amuse bouche of vichyssoise (cold leek soup) with a Parmesan froth. I wondered, as I ate, why there wasn’t a French cheese used for this, however it might have been the best bite I had for most of the evening!

My first course of Serrano ham with celery root remoulade and artichoke hearts arrived, after about twenty minutes. I can only assume that my waiter had to grab the dish from some crazy French chef and pick the nuts off of it himself. It looks tasty and it was. The saltiness of the ham pared well with the delicate flavors of artichoke and the celery root, which was almost a slaw, provided a nice textural balance. The dots of balsamic glaze placed around the plate added another element of both sweet and sour to the dish. Unfortunately, or not as would later seem to be the case, this dish is enormous. It is definitely big enough for two people to share if they have entrees following. I was almost full when I finished. While I was waiting for my next course I noticed fairly large sized entrees going out to other tables. I would be prepared for larger than normal French restaurant portions. Bigger, however, is not always better.

My next dish was to be a fresh goat cheese terrine with tomato aspic and zucchini salad. The dish looked lovely upon arrival, all topped with tiny micro herbs. Alas, I had two bites and sent it back to the kitchen–it was too rich to eat. Everything on the plate from the cheese to the vinegar dressing on the zucchini was acidic and altogether unpalatable. I really wanted to love this dish because I love cheese, but it was not to be. I would steer clear of this one.

I probably should have just wrapped it up there, but a French restaurant can’t possible ruin dessert. Thankfully Bistro de Paris lived up to it’s reputation when it came time for my raspberry soufflé. It was perfectly cooked with red raspberries running throughout and a warm chocolate center. The red berry sorbet that came along side it was delightfully refreshing against the chocolate. Beware, however, that this is a blond soufflé base with chocolate inside, not chocolate and chocolate. Sadly, a bad restaurant experience cannot be saved by dessert. Between the very slow service, the lack of menu knowledge of the waiter, the absence of the chef in the dining room, and an inedible course, I don’t think I’ll be rushing back to Bistro de Paris unless they change the menu. I’ll have to be content with Chefs de France.