Chef's Table At Victoria & Albert's About This Page:

[wvugrrrl]

DBF and I are going on our Honeymoon in December. As something special "to do", we decided we wanted to book the Chef's Table at V&A's. I was hoping my fellow Passporters who've experienced this magical dinner could let me know what to expect!

For example: How many courses? How big are the courses? What kind of food can we expect? Do you have to share your table with other guests (a la Benihana's?)? How does the tipping work? Is alcohol included? And please, feel free to add anything you think I should know!

And my biggest question of all - to make our ADR, is it the standard 180? Or can we book at any time?

Thanks in advance for all who take the time to reply!

[chezp]

Oh my goodness, that sounds awesome! We've not experienced the Chef's Table... yet! - I can't wait to hear from those who have.

[emtpej]

I would love to do this, too, but my DW is not a foodie...

[wvugrrrl]

I'm bumping this in the hopes that someone who's experienced the table can respond to my absolute need to be completely prepared for any possible situation.

[lauren-roxy]

From what I have read other places, if you book the Chef's Table it is all yours to yourself. I don't think the portions are gargantuan, but they do give you extra things to try if you are at the Chef's Table. When you call to make your ADR they tell you to press a certain number if you are dining at V&A so I would call and press that number if you have any questions. I think that it's 180 days for there too.

[RobDVC]

Isn't the Chef's Table in the kitchen?

[xwewhisper]

There is a sample menu and prices from 2006 here.
From what I've seen on TV, you're right off the kitchen and have the table all to yourself and it's very romantic and gormet food and very hard to get reservations for. I think it might be only a few days a week but it's definitly only one sitting a night.

[goofysdtr]

I hear it's really hard to get!

[doccoc2002]

Unfortunately we have never gone but have you checked out these sites...
YouTube - WDW - Victoria & Albert's Chef's Table - Part 1
PS Planning Guide: Victoria and Albert's
Victoria & Albert's | Restaurant Review | Walt Disney World | Frommers.com
MouseWeddings.com - Romantic Walt Disney World - Dining, Fireworks Cruises & More
wdwnews.com - Walt Disney World Resort
getting the chef's table and sorry I couldn't help with a review but hopefully these sites will help you.

[Disneydiana]

Wow ! Thanks for the Youtube link! That was pretty cool!

[krisk11]

Good luck getting the chefs table and if you do make sure you review it for us. I have wanted to do it since I saw it on one of the disney travel channel specials

[A Pair and A Spare]

The you tube link above gives you a good view of the table. Some specific answers for you...
You do not share the table with anyone else. If you book for 2 (or even 1) it's just you and the Chef. They can accomodate up to 10 if your party is that big and if you reserved for 2 but later decide to bring some friends you can expand your reservation size as long as you don't exceed 10.
The most important advice that I have for you is that you absolutly must call 180 days in advance. I just got my reservations this morning but it took me 5 days of trying 180 days out at exactly 0700 EST. If your timing isn't perfect, it's likely the reservation will go to someone else. This is even tougher to get than CRT since there is only one. Also note that Chef's table is not available on Wednesday or Saturday nights.

[A Pair and A Spare]

Originally Posted by wvugrrrl

How many courses? How big are the courses? What kind of food can we expect? Do you have to share your table with other guests (a la Benihana's?)? How does the tipping work? Is alcohol included? And please, feel free to add anything you think I should know!

I haven't eaten there yet but I've done some resarch leading up to our reservation in exactly 180 days. There are as many as 13 courses. As you might imagine the courses are French sized rather than American sized. Have you seen the credit card commercial were the diners complain about 'elf food'? Anyway, I'm told that you will leave stuffed. If you Google V&A's menu you should get plenty of hits with prior menus both for the main dining room and for the Chef's table. I think that the Chef's menu pretty much lets you have anything that is being served in the restaurant that evening. Tip is extra. Alcohol is extra. I strongly reccommend paying the extra for the wine pairing. I've done this at several other fine restaurants and it always greatly enhances the meal. If you're not heavy dinkers (5+ glasses of wine at one sitting does me in) it's often possible for 2 people to split a wine pairing.
One other useful tidbit... I've heard that if you can't get the Chef's table, but have reservations in the main dining room, you can call ahead and request to be served the Chef's tasting menu in the main dining room. This way you'd get to experience the food in what is probably a more romantic setting but you'd miss out on the intereaction with the Chef. I'd expect the price to be higher that the reglar dining room price.
Good luck getting the table and I'll try to update you after our meal Oct 23rd.