Maria & Enzo's Ristorante — Restaurant in Lake Buena Vista

I have lived in Florida since 1978. We have two children ages 16 and 17. While we did take our kids to Disney when they were little, we much prefer other theme parks as it is super expensive and we spend most of the time waiting in line or fighting crowds. We planned this dinner for my daughter’s 16th birthday. I grew up here and my mom even worked at Disney when I was in high school in the late 80’s. I have had my fill of Disney. Disney was much more enjoyable back then. Now it is crowded, annoying, and super expensive for two parents that are teachers. But this was her wish for 16th birthday to go to dinner at Disney Springs and Magic Kingdom the next day. So we planned it. And we were really not impressed, especially with the server. My husband was a server at a local French restaurant for 22 years. So he is usually very understanding from the server perspective. However there were just some unacceptable factors for this over $400 meal. My sister asked for a child’s menu for our oldest child who is 17. This was for 2 reasons - my oldest child has autism and can be a picky eater and we were going to the parks the next day. We were not trying to be cheap just smart about ordering. The waiter replied “We have a child’s menu for kids under 9” and refused to offer it. We don’t want to announce hey our kid has autism so we let it go. But how mean. Sometimes you just might not know a person’s situation. He could have taken time to ask questions and be empathetic. Our short water glasses were empty more than full and he forgot a 2nd beer but left it on the bill, so we had to point it out. The worst was adding a tip of 18% - but not indicating it on the credit slip. This is in hopes the customer will not notice and may tip again. My husband is in the industry so he noticed but we could have tipped twice, easily. We would have tipped much better than 18% had we felt the service was deserving. It wasn’t. We also noticed many managers and bus staff standing and waiting to bus tables but not filling empty water in the dining room. We get it, better to not fill waters, get rid of us and fill the next table. Like I said, I have had my fill of Disney. We will definitely not make the choice to spend the money or time at Disney Springs ever again. This was not a memorable meal we thought...

We recently moved back to Orlando and we spend a great deal of time on Disney property either at the parks or Disney Springs. We love to explore new restaurants and had high hopes for Maria and Enzo’s.

Let’s start with the food. It was mediocre at best. My husband had the chicken parmigiana, one of his absolute favorite Italian dishes. Quite frankly, we have had better at chain Italian restaurants. The chicken was tender yet everything lacked flavor. The tomato sauce tasted like they opened a can of crushed tomatoes and failed to use seasoning or put the effort into a proper sauce.

I had the seasonal special which was the Shrimp risotto. On the menu, this dish is described as a harmony of Italian and local Florida flavors captured in a dish with fine Italian vialone nano rice, succulent key west pink shrimp, rich guanciale, sweet corn, herbs and pecorino romano. I love shrimp, I love risotto. I did not love this.

The shrimp were perfectly cooked and this was the only saving grace. The risotto, as with the parmigiana, lacked flavor and the combination of flavors in the dish were confusing. The corn added nothing to the dish. The risotto lacked flavor except for a saltiness that overwhelmed. I ate the 6 shrimp and a few bites of risotto and gave up.

Now, let’s talk service. Again, mediocrity at its best. We checked in at the counter and we were promptly called for our table. The initial greeter/seater spoke very little and gave no direction other than to point us down the stairs.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, with as few words as possible, a woman indicated we should follow her. We walked and then she stopped and didn’t say anything. She was standing between two tables and I had to ask which we should take. Then she pointed to our table and walked away.

Then I sat in a wet chair.

Our waitress came, took our order and was okay. Nothing overwhelmingly negative or positive except again, she didn’t speak much or engage other than minimum order taking and delivery.

The ambiance showed promise, it has a lovely view, but this point is overshadowed by the issues.

Will we go back? Doubtful. With all the other amazing restaurants on property and in surrounding areas, why would we?

We visited this...

We recently dined at Maria & Enzo’s with a party of eight and had a reservation. Although we were waiting on two members of our group, the restaurant staff was gracious and didn’t rush us, which we truly appreciated. The ambiance was lovely and the food was delicious plus everyone in our party enjoyed their meals.

However, our experience was unfortunately impacted by the attitude of our server, Alex W. From the start, he came across as rude and condescending. I had quietly mentioned that someone in our party was celebrating a birthday and asked what the restaurant typically does for such occasions. Instead of answering kindly, Alex stated, “I don’t sing”, which wouldn’t have been a problem if he hadn’t said it loudly enough for the birthday guest to hear, completely spoiling the surprise.

Later in the evening, I asked about a dessert substitution because the birthday guest has a nut allergy. While I understand that certain desserts can’t be substituted, his tone in explaining this was unnecessarily sharp. He also insisted that he had asked about allergies, which may have been true, but his delivery was defensive and dismissive rather than helpful.

At the end of the meal, when I asked about a discount, I was told (correctly) that the employee discount only applies before 4 p.m. That was completely fine, but the way Alex responded was just weird like I should have known about it. It was uncalled for and left a poor final impression.

I’ve been to Maria & Enzo’s several times and have always had a positive experience. Unfortunately, this visit left a bad taste in my mouth; not because of the food, but because of how we were treated. It’s disappointing when one person’s attitude overshadows what could have been a great evening. I hope this was an isolated incident, but I do think the staff should be reminded that kindness and professionalism go a long way, especially in...