Woody’s Roundup Rodeo BBQ

Apr 23

When we first learned that Hollywood Studios would be adding Woody’s Roundup Rodeo BBQ to their table service line-up, we were pretty excited. Not only were we excited for a new BBQ restaurant, but we were also happy to see another addition to Toy Story Land. So, as soon as reservations became available for the restaurant, we jumped at the opportunity to have dinner. Unfortunately, it was much less than we had hoped for.

The Theme

Let’s start by talking a little bit about the restaurant itself. As expected from Disney, the theming is cute and detailed. You could spend hours combing through the restaurant to find fun and quirky details referencing Toy Story and toys in general. In fact, the entire restaurant looks like a makeshift play set made from miscellaneous pieces of cardboard and whatever else Andy could get his hands on. This is cute, but it’s not unlike what you’ll find in the queue of Toy Story Mania or Slinky Dog Dash. While it was cute and detailed, it left us wanting more.

The restaurant also has what can be best described as “interactive elements” including voices from Toy Story characters coming over the loud speaker and lighting effects when certain characters are introduced. While this adds to the atmosphere of the restaurant, because you feel like you’re one of the toys, it makes the restaurant seem like a character dining experience when it’s not. In fact, we even noticed lots of people trying to see what was happening during these special moments of the meal, some even standing to get a better look at what they were unable to see while sitting down. Unfortunately there was nothing to see.

Despite knowing that this wasn’t a character dining experience, or anything similar, we still felt like we were missing something throughout the duration of the meal. It seemed like something was happening, always out of view.

We also felt like we were missing out because some of the fun little details, like riding hobby horses to your table or signing the check with a giant pen, were not available during our dinner. While this isn’t something that would make or break the dinner on its own, it did added to the feeling that the overall experience wasn’t entirely available to s during our visit.

The Menu

Woody’s Roundup Rodeo BBQ has a family style prefix menu. Guests are served Cheddar Biscuits with Sweet Pepper Jelly and a selection of side salads, but will have the ability to select four sides as well as one entree to share with the table. Finally, dinner wraps up with 1 desert per person.

The menu itself isn’t all that out of the ordinary, but what really had us scratching our heads were the options themselves. Guests can choose either smoked meats or the plant-based option to share with the table; not both. At least not according to the menu. This seems like an odd decision that is going to leave families, some of whom have differing tastes, with a predicament of who exactly they want to cater to.

The Food

Walt Disney World has been dishing up some delicious BBQ around the Walt Disney World Resort in the past few years, so it was exciting to have the opportunity to eat what some might imagine would be better options at this new table service restaurant. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

We found the food at Woody’s Roundup Rodeo BBQ to be subpar at absolute best. Both the smoked meats and sides were, for the most part, fine. Though, the fried pickles were soggy and the mac & cheese was gritty. We did enjoy the biscuits and the salads, but that’s not really saying much.

Probably the worst part of the meal, however, were the desserts. Not only were the portions very small, but they tasted overly sweet with no distinct flavor other than an artificial/chemical taste that lingered in the mouth. It was so bad, in fact, that we left the restaurant feeling sick after our meal, despite not having finished.

The Cleanliness

Now, I’ll be the first to say that “cleanliness” isn’t really something you hear us talk all that much about when we do dining reviews. This is usually because they’re not much to say. Unfortunately, Woody’s Roundup Rodeo BBQ is the exception. While the restaurant and the tables themselves were clean enough, the cutlery was not.

When arriving at the table I noticed that my fork and knife looked as though it had residue on it. I passed it off as soap residue, but when we were given serving spoons to dish up the sides there were pieces of food stuck to each of them.

This is unacceptable.

Cleanliness is very important in a restaurant setting in general, but I think it’s safe to say that attention to detail in some areas can arguably be more important than others. The fact that the cutlery was dirty and was allowed to be put on the table dirty tells me that attention to detail is lacking in this restaurant. If it was possible that 2 separate sets of cutlery made its way, what else isn’t up to par in this restaurant?

Quite frankly, I don’t even want to think about it.

The Price

The cherry on top of this disappointing experience was the price. Coming in at $122 [including tip] for the two of us to eat, we felt that the meal was not worth the high cost. We could have had a much better meal for less money elsewhere to include Regal Eagle Smokehouse or Flame Tree BBQ. For the price, we could have ordered the entire menu at both restaurants and had a better overall experience.

All in all, I was left disappointed by Woody's Roundup Rodeo BBQ. While the theming is cute and the atmosphere is fun, the food and cleanliness of the restaurant left much to be desired. If you're a diehard Toy Story fan, you may want to wait until some kinks are ironed out before you check it out, but even so I would recommend managing your expectations.

Have you dined at Woody's Roundup Rodeo BBQ? What was your experience like? Let me know in the comments below!

All of this aside, we think it’s also very important to realize that the experience you may have heard about at this restaurant is not guaranteed. Fun little touches like taking hobby-horses to your table or signing the check with an oversized pencil is only available for a very limited number of guests. That said, I don’t think you should expect to experience this at the restaurant during your visit. It’s also important to know that this is not a character meet and greet, though it might sound like it at times based on the way cast members talk and announcements are made thought the restaurant. Little ones, or guests who don’t know this ahead of time, might feel like there’s something they’re missing because of the way certain characters are announced on the speakers. This is something we noticed during our visit too as people looked around the restaurant searching for Rex and Sarge.

The cherry on top of this disappointing experience was the price. Coming in at $122 for the two of us to eat [including tip], we felt that the meal was not worth the high cost. We could have had a much better meal for less money elsewhere at Walt Disney World to include at Flame Tree BBQ or Regal Eagle Smokehouse.

All in all, we were left disappointed by Woody's Roundup Rodeo BBQ. While the theming is cute and the atmosphere is fun, the food and cleanliness of the restaurant left much to be desired. If you're a diehard Toy Story fan, you may still want to check it out, but I would recommend managing your expectations.