First off, if you want to eat at a fancy sit down place, GRAB YOUR RESERVATIONS YESTERDAY! Already Le Cellier (located in Epcot, in the World Showcase) has ZERO reservations available for the entire time I'll be at The World. Ohana (located in the Polynesian resort), a new favorite of mine, isn't much better.
For recommendations, I haven't been to Le Cellier yet. But I have yet to hear anything but glowing reviews from it, everyone else has talked me into trying it this year. The fact that it's booked solid only backs up the concept of its popularity.
I only went to Ohana last year. But I loved it. The food could be dismissed as the standard mass produced all you can eat fare. But there's one detail. I universally dislike turkey. The holidays are generally not a time of great feasting for me because I hate turkey. But Ohana serves some variety of turkey, served on a skewer, that I absolutely love. And I enjoyed most of the rest of their food as well. So maybe it's not fine dining. But it was still tasty.
The real beauty of Ohana is not the food, though. It's a dinner event. To start off with you enter the dining area and see the massive window looking out over the lagoon side of the Polynesian Resort. Ideally it should be night already, and as you look out you see the stunning architecture of the Polynesian, lit by tropical looking torches. I absolutely love the visuals you get from within the dining room.
Then, to top it all off, they've got a guy playing what I jokingly call an electric ukulele. It's not accurately described as that, it's an acoustic instrument that is then amplified and broadcast over a wireless speaker system. If you watch Lilo and Stitch and find yourself getting into the island music played within it then you'll enjoy the music at Ohana. The thing that I got a kick out of was that the performer explained the meaning of a traditional hula dance. Surely you've heard the old line that the motions in hula dancing tell a story. Well at Ohana I got to learn what one of those stories actually WAS, and how to follow it. They have events for the kids, they try to get diners to come out and participate in the hula in front of everyone, it's, dare I say, fun for the whole family.
I also dig both of the sit down options at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, but unless you're staying there that can be rather out of the way. Jiko is very much a fine dining establishment, with excellent service and a varied menu which contains the most exceptional macaroni and cheese I've ever had as a an accompaniment to filet mignon (I don't go for the bland variety they serve to the kiddies, I like a stronger cheese presence). Boma is a buffet that has, the last few times I've been there, shown a tendency to develop very long lines despite being designed to prevent lines from building up. It's a fun place to go if you possess an adventurous palette, although the truth is none of the flavors offered therein are all that unusual. The food is derived from African recipes, but it's all been modified to be acceptable to American tastes. I like to look for a curry soup, then I have some carved steak with some of the flavored sauces that they offer to go with the meat. Even though they serve the kid friendly macaroni and cheese that I tend to like less, I still habitually get some in honor of my childhood favorite. It's my Disney buffet ritual.
And the desserts are to die for. Some of the same things that you can find served in small bunches in plastic containers in the counter service area are also to be found in Boma in bulk form.
I guess what I'm saying is, you don't go there if you're on a diet.
In Epcot I have to put in a word for Akershus, now known as the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. They've turned it into a princess character restaurant since the last time I've been there, and that's been keeping me away. But I always enjoyed it for a very different food option. Yes, if you haven't noticed I like the different options. And I have a particular fascination with Scandinavian culture. The truth is the entire buffet component of the dinner is simply cold food. Meat, cheese, veggies, and, yes, pickled herring. I believe this is actually an authentic cultural tradition, it just seems unimpressive to a culture accustomed to hot buffets. I did try one of the many varieties of herring on offer, but was seriously disturbed when I found that it resembled apple pie in flavor and texture. What I'm saying was that it was good, but it's still not a flavor that you want to find in fish. But they have a specific type of Norwegian cheese that I'm a fan of, called gjetost. Let's be honest, if you don't like odd stuff you may not want to follow in my footsteps. But this stuff is a very unusual kind of cheese that seems to be either goat's milk cheese, or a mixture of cow and goat's milk. It tastes curiously like chocolate, which can also be disturbing at first, but I've grown used to that. For a while I couldn't find it in any local store so I was thrilled to find it in Epcot.
Wikipedia entry on the cheese
Akershus is more than just a cold buffet, though. They also have a small list of hot items that you can order, one at a time but still ultimately all you can eat. When I first went to Akershus I absolutely loved what I got from the hot menu. The second time I was less enthusiastic, they had changed the menu and the replacements were a pale shadow of what I'd had before. The current menu looks better, but I still haven't had the items on offer so I can't comment on them from experience.
Recent menu from Akershus
What I'm trying to get at is that, especially if you prefer more standard food items, Akershus may not be the best option. I probably won't be going back this year because I'm on a mission to try a bunch of new stuff, like Le Cellier, but I have to put in a good word for the Norwegian option. They may no longer be a favorite of mine, but it still has a special place in my heart. I can't explain it, I just have a thing for the whole Scandinavian region. I walk briskly by Italy in the World Showcase, the same for France, but I always linger in Norway. Even though the bakery area is haunted by the recorded sound of a bird in severe distress (used to try to scare birds away, it doesn't work though, and although it's said to not be noticeable, I hear it only too well) I like to stop by and pick up a cold smoked salmon and scrambled egg sandwich. You're just going to have to trust me here, the combo works. It's a tasty snack, and the fact that it's not hot makes it all the more refreshing if you're having it for lunch and the day's turned out to be a scorcher.
For MGM.. er.. Hollywood Studios.. I don't have a lot to love. But I've recently discovered that I enjoy the Sci-fi Dine-in. The food that I've had there wasn't fantastic, except for a steak sandwich that's disappeared from the menu (my curse, the same thing happened at Jiko and in too many local restaurants for me to mention), but the ambiance they've created is fantastic. It's really amazing to go in there at lunch time and go from the blazing Florida sun to simulated night. And I love the cheesy classic sci-fi trailers they show on the movie screen. I recommend the "Orbiting Oreos" milkshake, which is an Oreo milkshake plus Godiva chocolate liqueur.
For Animal Kingdom, all of my hopes are on Yak and Yeti. I don't know what will be on the menu yet, but as they're clearly theming it to go along with Expedition Everest I'm hoping for at least some unique ethnic cuisine. I don't know if I can hope for authentic Nepalese food (they have to appeal to too wide an audience to be able to do such niche food, I suspect), but I'm at least hoping for some more generic Indian items. I'll be crushed if there's no curry in sight.
I'll leave it to others to recommend the sources of more traditional American food.