Best food at Cedar Point

I like the Midway Cafe, which is all you can eat, air conditioned, and has good food at a reasonable price. It is located by the Raptor.

Also reasonable is the Panda Express on the Frontier Trail. It is located by M-Force. If you like chinese food you can get an entree with egg roll and a drink for around $9.00. Way cheaper than Subway which is almost $20 for a footlong sub, chips, and a drink.

I usually eat at the Cafe, so do not have any other recommended park eateries.
However, eat before you go to the park. There are tons of fast food and sit down eateries in Sandusky. That way you will not go to the park hungry, wich is a big no no.

I second Panda but there’s no way you can get a meal for $9 considering that one entree is $11-ish not including egg roll or overpriced drink.

Here’s a fun fact: the single entree+side at Kings Dominion is $14, which is more expensive than the two entree plate at CP, KI, or Carowinds. They’re also the only park of the four to only offer a single entree with the meal plan instead of the two entree plates. Cheap bastards.

Tommytheduck said:

(To me, drinking and coasters are not a good match.)

Oh, come on, drinking and coasters are a perfect match, very much like eating and placemats...

(Couldn’t resist. Goes back to the collector who used to post monthly in rec.roller-coaster looking to expand his stash of beer-mats)

—Dave Althoff, Jr.

Rec.roller-coaster, now there is a blast from the past Dave. Used to read it at work but sometimes forced to log in from home using my 300 baud modem. Times sure change.

I stand by my assessment of the wrap place CJ Provisions, but won't debate it further - different tastes, maybe different days, so we can just say reviews are mixed.

I will say, ignoring the question of price (which will always be high), CP and probably parks in general have a long way to go to catch up to modern eating styles. From Magnum through Frontier Town and all the way down Frontier Trail, the salad at CJ's was the least unhealthy thing i could find, and it consisted mostly of cheese, fried chicken, and iceberg lettuce. The only vegetarian options were basically cheese. I'm sure there was someplace with a more varied menu, but it shouldn't have been that hard to find it in covering roughly half the park.

I'm not trying to be unreasonable about it and as I said above, it's way better than the options we had when I was a kid. I like a good funnel cake as much as the next guy. But it seems like there's a decent part of the market they're leaving unsatisfied.

Please God, don’t have me go to an amusement park and make me eat at Panda, Subway, Chick-fil-A, or anything I can get any day of the year at the mall. Even there, it’s a distant last place.

As for Melt, my two experiences there last season were abysmal. They made me not want to go back, and once again, I don’t particularly care for the “real” ones we have here in Columbus. And I’m surprised Johnny Rockets is still in business anywhere.

We don’t have a Famous Dave’s anywhere near where I live. I went there once last season when bad weather approached and held my breath. And truth told, I didn’t mind it and actually thought it was pretty good. But now we have quite a few really great, authentic BBQ places in Columbus, starting with City Barbeque, that have ruined me for anything else. Miss Keats was ok, my serving was small. It looked and tasted like the brisket you can get from GFS.

Friday’s Lite has a bar, so it’s good for cocktails. Service can be sketchy.

Pinks has good onion rings, but the Californian’s idea of a chili dog is missing a couple of crucial marks. Say no to Kraft singles laid across the bun, please.

Midway Market is a gut-busting food trough, but sadly I’ll admit it gets more of my business than most places at the park. I figure I can pick around on what looks good and if it isn’t I can start over. And I can make myself a salad, too.

I guess I sit with Tommy on this one. I’m used to saying “Let’s go to Cedar Point for some great rides” but never once have I said “I can’t wait to get back to Cedar Point for more of that awesome park food.” Which is a shame. If some of you could see and taste the delicious food out of real restaurants in the parks across Europe you’d be as embarrassed for us as I am.

And to the o.p. , Double Dip, if I’m not too late with this, good luck to you.

hambone said:

ICP and probably parks in general have a long way to go to catch up to modern eating styles. From Magnum through Frontier Town and all the way down Frontier Trail, the salad at CJ's was the least unhealthy thing i could find, and it consisted mostly of cheese, fried chicken, and iceberg lettuce.

I've found this hard too. I thought the rotisserie chicken with a side salad at Crystal Rock Cafe in the water park was a pretty good choice, but it's one of the few inside the gates of either park. Over the past year, I've made a bunch of lifestyle changes, including a much healthier relationship with food. If I'm going to splurge on a cheeseburger, the ones in the park are NOT worth it.

We do the same thing with ice cream. If we’re gonna have it it ain’t gonna be from the Dairy Queen or the gas station.

MDOmnis said:

In addition to the two zoug68 mentioned, the Frontier Foldovers near the exit of Snake River falls are pretty good too.

I keep forgetting about those. Maybe I'll try one tonight.

As far as Panda Express goes, I've given that place 2 chances. In one dish, I couldn't tell which pieces were chicken or the mushrooms. The other dish was ok (being generous) but the noodles were disgusting. My friend insists on eating there for his meals, but shortly after, he needs to spend a bit of time, several times, using the restrooms. Gross food.

You must not eat fast food Chinese much. At worst it’s the same as in every mall in America, though I actually find it to be a step above China Max and similar outlets.

I get my fill of mall Chinese food by taking free samples of the ubiquitous Bourbon Chicken.

Chicken on a Toothpick. My absolute favorite thing about the food court. And no need to bring disguises, walk by as many times as you want.

Coming from someone who lives in NC and is surrounded by amazing BBQ...I don’t hate Famous Dave’s. It can’t compare to what I can get here (and there is now one by Carowinds owned by Bart Kinzel), but I don’t think they have bad food. It’s very mediocre chain BBQ.

I hope you find something you like! IMO Cedar Point and Kings Island both are in competition for worst theme park food. I guess they figure if you are already there, you will pay $15 to eat anything regardless of quality. I don’t Understand why they don’t put more into offering actual good food that you anticipate instead of dread. that may have to do with lack of staff that can actually cook

Where Kings Island “excels”, for lack of a better term, is in local brands. Cincinnatians will line up for LaRosas, Skyline, and Graeter’s, not give it another thought, and be perfectly happy.

...and that's awfully smart.

Just made a quick trip to CP on Sunday. The chopped pork at Miss Keats was good, and a reasonable portion. Includes a small corn muffin and a side for $11-$12. In more interesting news, I finally checked the Dragster rollback bucket list item.

Tried LaRosa’s pizza, it was high school cafeteria quality. Skyline spaghetti chili didn’t even look appealing. Neither did the blue ice cream...

At least there’s an Outback Steakhouse just outside the Kings Island parking lot.

That's why there are different restaurants. I prefer Skyline over Outback (Skyline is something I have a couple times a year and avoid Outback whenever possible). And I like Graeter's (though I have never had blue ice cream -- there or anywhere else that I can recall).

I’m a fan of Cincinnati chili, but I’m not paying park prices for it. Besides, there’s a few up this way now so I don’t have to travel all the way there to get it.

I don’t care for Skyline, LaRosa’s is okay (there is no such thing as bad pizza). I live blue ice cream tho.