2 Old Dinks Dine Deliciously 11/26-12/04 Our last full day 12/3/07, Goodbye.

[Poppinsme]

I will start reviews as soon as I can, just back yesterday.
We ate at Raglan Road, Artist Point, Kona, V&As, Brown Derby, Biergarten, Jiko and some CS joints. :) :)
Everything was beyond good. :love: :love:
V&As was so special and fabulous. OK later.
:wizard:
The Concierge lounge food was delish also. :love:

[shovan]

Can't wait to read all about it! Sounds wonderful!:goodvibes

[shortypots]

I love the title! We are leaving in 9 days and I can't wait! We are DINKs as well, and joining up with 2 more DINKs while there! HAHAHA! Not sure how much longer the couple we are meeting there are going to continue to be DINKs though.

[Minniespal]

Sounds brillant:thumbsup2

[Poppinsme]

:sad1: :sad1: :sad1: :sad1: :sad1:
Now I'm off to the camera store because we have lost over 200 pictures on our DVD(Sony HandyCam DVD). Something happened with finalizing the disk. All may be gone.
All our pics of food, resort, etc. Everything. :sad1: :sad1:
I am upset to say the least. Hope the camera shop can fix.

[shovan]

:sad1: :sad1: :sad1: :sad1: :sad1:
Now I'm off to the camera store because we have lost over 200 pictures on our DVD(Sony HandyCam DVD). Something happened with finalizing the disk. All may be gone.
All our pics of food, resort, etc. Everything. :sad1: :sad1:
I am upset to say the least. Hope the camera shop can fix.

Ooohh nooo! :scared: That's awful. I really hope they can retrieve the pics for you! :wizard:

[TigerKat]

Subscribing.....we're just back too!!

[oybolshoi]

I hope your pictures are OK. :hug:

Looking forward to reading your reviews ... you went to some yummy restaurants! :thumbsup2

[Poppinsme]

:sad1: :sad1: :sad1: :sad1: :sad1:
Bad news we lost all our pics!!!
Our resort pics, restaurant, everything!
My pics of our Anni. flowers. :sad: :sad: :sad: :sad:
And the food and alcohol drinks pics were SO good!
The CM at concierge took a beautiful pic of me in my evening gown and DH in his gorgeous suit with the castle in the background, before we left to V&As.:mad:
I cried at the camera store(Lakeside Camera) and they tried everything they could think of to save something.
So it will be a written report. DAMN!
We do have a large corny pic of us coming down splash mountain and its in a gaudy frame that we love.:rolleyes1 :santa:

[Poppinsme]

A little about us.;)
I am 51 years old and here in New Orleans we live to eat and thats me.
Was raised by parents who were both artists so the house was always filled with people. Other artists, musicians, writers, teachers, senators, rich, poor a plethora of tastes. We had wine at every meal and I could make a mean martini for guests by the age of 9.:rotfl: I guess I'm a big time foodie.

DH is 64 and grew up on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota.
He lived all over the world while in the Army so is used to different foods like me. Will try anything once. He loves watching the travel channel to see that guy eat weird things.
We are paying OOP.
So here we go.

First day Nov. 26
We arrived about 3:00 p.m. at the Poly LVC which was beautiful and the room was to die for. Had a card from Mickey and Minnie and choc. bar.:love: I'm going to do a trip report. Oh wait I forgot something...I went up to the Tambu lounge and got a Mojito!! YUM!
DH got a beer that we took a pic of and now I cant remember the name, moon something, it was very good. The drinks were very cool and refreshing and the bartender was a hoot. Great service.

Anyway we decided to go to the Concierge lounge to check it out. YUM! Had some juice (guava/pineapple I think) which was very good. And we each had a cookie. The lounge had a beautiful Christmas tree and pretty Xmas lights.:) :) The CM there was very friendly and Alohas were exchanged. We both were wearing our Anni. buttons they gave us and EVERYWHERE we went everybody said happy anniversary!:wizard:

RAGLAN ROAD 8:00 p.m.
We arrived a little early and were shown a table immediately right by the stage. Great seats! The waitress was there within about 3 mins. She asked us if we were on the dining plan. No we weren't. She smiled. :confused3
So we ordered drinks. I had the CIDER:), DH had the beer flight. Talk about good. Get outta town! I ended up having 2 ciders. :thumbsup2
We then ordered the Scallop Forest and Dalkey Duo.
She brought us the soda bread with a delicious dipping sauce. Good god was that good. DH said he could eat that all night.
Out comes the Scallops and Dalkey Duo. Well I knew what the Dalkey Duo was(thanks DIS). Dh took a bite and said "Thats sausage! Cool"!
The Scallops were cooked beautifully, tender and sweet. And the dipping sauce it came with was very good and tasty. We gobbled those down.
The sausages were also very good with the mustard dipping sauce, they even gave us a bowl full of them on the side. Really good both dishes.:thumbsup2
We ordered our main course of "Its not Bleedin Chowder" for me and DH ordered Serious Sirloin Steak.
Only about 10 mins. went by and here comes our main courses. But we were never rushed at all and the servers were fabulous.
OH MY GOD the Chowder was good. Oh so good. Drool. Drool. Must have Chowder now. Whoops sorry....:rolleyes1 Did I say good? Slap your mama good, ok. Full of Shrimp, Scallops, Salmon, Crab, Mussels. And the cream sauce, heaven.
DH loved his Sirloin Steak and I thought it was good also. DH also enjoyed the small spoon of Chowder I let him try.:rolleyes: He really liked the fried onions on top of his steak. Delish.
OK we were stuffed by now.
Waitress comes over and tells us desert is on the house. And brings out a large Ger's Bread & Butter Pudding. Oh no!!! DH says I'm so full.
Yeah right in 5 mins. or less that was history, talk about good! I know everybody raves about this, well ITS TRUE! Heavenly just delicious!!
The band had started playing and the music was so good. We were having a magical time. And the Irish dancer was great.
DH decided we needed Irish Coffees to finish with. Why not I say!
The Coffees were a perfect end to our first night of fabulous dining.
A strange interlude now..oh the pictures were so good.:sad1:

DH and I would rate Raglan Road a 10 for service and food. It was magical all the way. Please go. We were surrounded by a lot of fun people when we were dining and I think everybody was having a great time.
Cost $110.00. And a $30.00 tip from me. We will defiantly go here again.

[MOTHERGOOSE3]

So Sorry. I'm sure your trip was so wonderful your memories will guide us.

[Poppinsme]

Subscribing.....we're just back too!!

I hope your doing a dining report.:) :) :)
And I hope your trip was as magical as ours. I'm depressed and want to go back. :guilty: The food was so good! Welcome back. :wizard:

[my3disneygirls]

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your pics, but I am looking forward to the rest of your reviews.

[Shell0616]

My heart just broke for you. I am so sorry you lost your pictures. Did you do some photopass pics?

[Briarmom]

Great so far! Sorry about your pics.:guilty:

[phabric]

Enjoyed your review. Looking for more.

[John's Mom]

Sorry about your pictures. Great review so far. We're staying at the Poly, club level/lagoon view next December.

[Poppinsme]

My heart just broke for you. I am so sorry you lost your pictures. Did you do some photopass pics?

No photopass either. Thought we didn't need to get them since we had a camera. :rolleyes:

[Poppinsme]

Tuesday Nov.27

We had breakfast in the Concierge lounge and enjoyed it very much. A continental breakfast for us was perfect.
I had the pineapple bread(addicted now), fruit, and a diet Coke.
DH had 2 cinnamon rolls, danish, fruit and coffee. Everything was fresh and yummy. :)
We left for MK and just did snacks for the day as we were coming back that night for MVMCP.
Around noon we had Dole Whips. As always very good.
A little later had 2 cookies at frontierland bake shop place. They were fresh and good but we couldn't eat them all so gave to the birds.
Made our way back to the Poly at 5:30 to eat again at concierge lounge.
Bar-b-que pork ribs, hot+sour soup, pineapple with caramel sauce(drool), cheese and veg. trays, hummus and pita breads. Talk about good! It was a very good spread of food, hot and filling. We both enjoyed it.
Lots of cold drinks, coffee, tea(iced+hot).
We had a nice table by the window and watched wishes while we ate. They did 2 fireworks shows that night because of MVMCP. :santa: :santa: :woohoo: Saw them both! COOL!
Later on that night stopped into Cosmic Rays while it was raining for hot dogs, fries, and Cokes. The dogs were OK but the bun fell apart so we had to use forks. :laughing: And while we were there had the hot choc. and cookie.
A great fun day with lots of goodies to eat and we loved MVMCP even in the rain. :) Wish I was there now. :love: Met some really nice people.

[swimgalsmom]

I am so sorry to hear about your pictures. We had the same thing happen to us with our DVD camcorder. This was on our trip to China to adopt our youngest dd. Luckily we had two cameras so we still had some pictures, just no video of "gotcha day". I was so heartbroken. Needless to say I am not a big fan of dvd camcorders.

Thank you for sharing your reviews, I am enjoying them and can't wait to read more.

[oybolshoi]

So so sorry to hear that your pictures are gone. :hug:

Your reviews are great, though, and I was very happy to read that you enjoyed your visit to Raglan Road. Mmmmm.... the dalkey duo .... the beer flights ... the bread pudding!!! I wish we were eating it all right now! :thumbsup2

[shovan]

That's really a shame about the pictures! :hug:

But I'm still enjoying your review!:goodvibes I have an adr for Raglan Road for Feb. and now I'm really excited about it!!!!:banana:

The concierge lounge at the Poly sounds wonderful. We love it there & stayed many many times but never concierge because we needed a handicap room & they are only in one bldg. bummer it sure sounds fun!

[TigerKat]

Oh my heart just aches for you losing your pics.:hug: Loving your reviews anyhoo.:thumbsup2 We're considering the Poly for our next trip since we've been at BWI twice in a row now.:goodvibes

[engle]

We were here this same time!! Great reviews...glad to hear you liked Raglan Road as much as we did!! We were there the same night as you!! Weird?!?!? And it was our Anniversary too....weird again!! Anyway, keep em coming!!

[Poppinsme]

I'm late with my reviews. :rolleyes1 Have been working at Children's Hosp. here in New Orleans and we are very busy. In fact I'm going in early shortly.

Third Day.....ARTIST POINT :love:

We slept in after MVMCP Tues. night. So Wednesday started out slow but picked up steam.
Ate again our breakfast in the Concierge lounge. I had pineapple bread and fruit again. YUM! DH had his coffee with sweet roll, danish and fruit. YUM again. Once again the staff here were awesome and very friendly.
When we came back to our room Tues. night we had a beautiful towel creation of a large heart and our red leis wrapped around it. :love: It took up almost the other bed! How neat. We had towel creations every day coming back to our room. (I had pics) :guilty:

Then it was off to MK. Had a fabulous day!!
We ate snacks at MK which were very good. I bought a large unsalted pretzel which we shared. And DH got us 2 Mickey bars. It was so magical and we both really like MK the best. :upsidedow
Late afternoon, evening back to the resort to swim and relax and get ready for Artist Point.
Did I say that we had another delish alcoholic beverage by the pool? We did.
I had a Midori sour (which I love), DH had a tradewinds. Yum! The barefoot bar was fun and they make good drinks.
At 7:30 we were dressed and ready to go. Went to front bell service and got a taxi to take us to Wilderness Lodge. Taxi cost $15.00 with tip. We arrived in mins. so walked around the Wilderness Resort and took pics. This Resort is beautiful and we both would stay here. Once again very friendly staff. :thumbsup2

Went to Artist Point podium to check in about 10 mins before our 8:15 ADR. They gave us a beeper and we went and sat in the lobby to soak it in. Called within 5 mins. for table.
We were seated right by the windows and there was a lady we passed on our way to seats that commented "That was what WE wanted!" to her DH.:rotfl:
The waiter arrived and asked us if we were on dining plan. Told him no.
He then explained the menu choices and wine flight.
Of course we ordered the wine flight. :rolleyes:
DH and I both started with a mixed green salad. Talk about good! I love beets and the blackberry vinaigrette was delicious. We both enjoyed the freshness and flavors.
Since were both cheese nuts we ordered the Artisan cheeses. And DH got the Duck Confit. Heaven!
My screw up was not writing down the cheeses we ate with our wines. :mad: DH and I both had a glass of a white from Russian river vineyard (salad course). Good. With the cheeses I had a port and DH had a good Merlot with duck. They also brought out the bread and butter around this time. Sourdough. Warm. Oh so good. :love:
Next was the main courses.
I love Buffalo and couldn't wait to try there version. Told the waiter I wanted it rare so rare that it squeaked.:rotfl:
DH ordered the Beef Tenderloin. Medium rare.
The service was outstanding and everything was clean. The table was cleared promptly and silverware replaced instantly. All the decorations were very nice. Atmosphere!!!
OK the Buffalo did not disappoint me at all. Butter tender and cooked perfectly rare. The sweet potato gratin was good but I left most of it because I was stuffed. I was served my favorite wine, Cabernet Sauvignon.
A sip of wine bite of buffalo. It was outstanding to say the least.
DH was overjoyed at the tenderloin cooked to perfection but he also left most of the potato. It was all good but we were getting rather full. :) His wine served with tenderloin was a red also, Shiraz blend, very good.
The wine choices they picked were all perfect for what we had.
Ah yes desert!
I picked the Hazelnut Tort with blood orange sauce and lavender ice cream.
DH wanted the Cobbler.
What can I say that hasn't already been said about these deserts in other reviews? OUTSTANDING. DH said he was full but every bite of Cobbler disappeared! :) I tasted as much of mine as I could. Me stuffed.
Now something interesting happened, life altering, ICE WINE!
Never tried it. SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD. Ended up buying 3 bottles of ice wine from Canada at Epcot.:laughing:

This was one of the best meals we had at WDW. I would rate it right behind our dinner from V&As. I think DH would agree on that. It is not to be missed. Beautifully presented foods, fabulous pacific northwest wines, outstanding table service, atmosphere wonderful. What more can I say? :santa:
Cost right over $200.00. And we left a $50.00 tip. Our taxi back to Poly was another $15.00. Was it worth it? YES!!!!!
Very satisfied.
Next review will be V&As.
I'm off to work now. Thanks for reading my scattered thoughts. :love:

[TigerKat]

Sounds like a heavenly night!:cloud9:

[Ms. Heimlich]

Sooooo sorry to hear about your pics... :sad1: :sad2: :guilty:

Dh brought his laptop and we downloaded all of ours each night to avoid just what you described from happening. Maybe you can try that in 2009? :confused3

Great job on the review. We had Artist Point on the short list, but it eventually lost out to Flying Fish.
:rolleyes1

[John's Mom]

Thanks for the review. Ice Wine is one of my favorites, but very expensive.

[DisneyLunaTics]

Oh! I can't wait! I am going to Ragland Road on the 28th and can't wait! My hubby and 2 teens have NEVER been to WDW and I haven't been in 22years. A long.....awaited vacation for us. We live in Denham Springs! Can't wait to read all your reviews. Thanks and so sorry for your loss of pics.

[Poppinsme]

I'm late on this review and am sorry been sick this week with Bronchitis. UGH!:sick:

This was our big day.........Victoria and Albert's for Anni. dinner. :hug: :hug:

We got up early because I had booked the Wildlife Excursion for 10:00 a.m.
Ate breakfast in the Concierge lounge again with fruit, pineapple bread, and diet coke for me.
DH had sweet roll, coffee, and fruit. Good as always, great service, beautiful view. :santa: (Boy do I miss it.) :sad1:

Off to the Wildlife Ex. It was the best! One of the big highlights of our trip.:love:
So after this we stayed in the Animal Kingdom and had a blast. Really, really enjoyed this park. I must do a trip report.

Had a late lunch at Flame Tree BBQ.
We both love BBQ and really enjoyed this meal.
I had the beef sandwich with beans, coleslaw, key lime pie, and diet coke.
I thought the sandwich was delicious and the coleslaw was perfect with it. The beans were a little strange so I didn't eat these. And I love beans.:upsidedow
DH had the beef sandwich, beans, onion rings, and a coke.
DH also thought the sandwich was delicious and the onion rings were also very crunchy and hot. He didn't like the beans either. Odd beans.
We sat in a beautiful spot and it was very clean and everybody around us was having a good time. Another magical relaxing moment at WDW. :thumbsup2
Would rate this as a very good counter service meal. Served quickly and everything hot and fresh. All the CMs told us happy anniversary. :hug:
Just don't expect good beans. :lmao:

[TigerKat]

I agree about the beans, we didn't like them either. The cole slaw was really good! Hope you're feeling better.:hug:

[Poppinsme]

And now for V&As.
I booked the late dinner at 9:30 so we had some time to kill at the Poly. Enjoyed wishes again from our patio, room 1517, which we thought was the best. Dressed in our finest duds. DH was so handsome! The ladies at the Concierge desk took pics of us with the castle as a backdrop. :hug: Losing these pics was the hardest. :mad:

Arrived by the monorail at the Grand Floridian. Strange interlude: All the people we encountered on the monorail and walking to V&As told us how happy and beautiful we looked. :love: We got to the podium and were a few minutes early so they asked us to wait out in the lobby just for awhile. So we looked at all the pretty decorations at the GF. What a lovely resort.:)
I do not remember our waiters names sorry (senior moment).
We were seated right in the center close to the harpist but with perfect view of surroundings. Fabulous! It smelled wonderful with fresh flowers and XMAS decorations. The harpist was really good and the ambiance perfect.
We were presented with our menus personalized for us. Welcome, our names, Happy 32nd Anniversary, date. It was covered in black and written on white paper with gold. Very nice. We of course ordered the wine flight.;) Hot rolls were brought to the table. Drool!!! And served with fresh Vermont butter. God these were good.

First Course:
Our waiters presented us with a Amuse Bouche on the Chef with a happy anniversary from him! 2 glasses of Heidsieck Monopole "Blue Top" Brut Champagne NV and The White Truffle.
Oh my god was the truffle good!:thumbsup2 We both like truffles so this was just perfect to have with champagne. (I had pics) :sad1: Served beautifully and the crystal was gorgeous. We both really liked this.

Second Course:
We both had the Walnut Seared Duck with Hearts of Palm, Huckleberry Vinaigrette and Fourme D'Ambert Fondue. Our wine was Lynmar Pinot Noir, Russian River 2004.
Enjoyed this very much. Just delicious! The Duck was cooked perfect and sweet with the hearts of palm and huckleberry. And the wine matched it spot on. We ate each course very slowly and drank our wines carefully so we had no problems alcohol wise. Both of us are used to eating with wine. :) Once again presentation and china, crystal perfect. My DH is almost deaf and they were very accommodating to this and explained everything to him so he could hear. Wonderful!

Third Course:
I chose the Pan Roasted Foie Gras with Fugi Apples and Mostarda di Cremona. The wine was Royal Tokaji Azsu' 5 Puttonyos, Mad Tokai-Hegyalja 2003. THIS was the best dish I had at WDW!! Melt in your mouth good. I just love Foie Gras and this was fabulous! So buttery and cooked perfect. And the apples supporting the Foie Gras delish. DH tried it and agreed. The wine was a great tasty pick, the sommelier there was good for sure! AH heaven.:hug:

DH ordered the Minnesota Elk Tenderloin with Stewed Petite French Lentils and Corn. His wine was Prior d' Scala Dei, Priorat 2003.
He thought it was outstanding and cooked perfect and very tender. The lentils and corn served with it was delicious. When I tasted it I had to agree very, very tasty. The wine was robust but not over powering. Good choice for Elk.
A most fabulous and special course served perfectly and with joy. The harpist playing in the background how magical! :love:

Fourth Course:
I ordered the Big Eye Tuna with Bamboo Rice and Tamari Beurre Blanc. My wine served was Domaine Hippolyte Reverdy, Sancerre 2006.
Once again what can I say. Lip smacking good for sure. Tuna perfectly cooked, rice with the Tamari accent oh so good. OH SO GOOD. And the wine with this, YUM. :cloud9: I just love raw Tuna and even though this was seared it was so yummy. DH also loved this dish and wine choice.

DH ordered the Nantucket Scallops with Roasted Beets and Pomegranate Reduction. His wine served was Caymus Conundrum, Calif. 2005.
HE LOVED IT! (So did I). It was so good. OH my scallops with beets who would have thought? Perfect all the way. And he really enjoyed his wine choice, dry and just the right bite. Another outstanding course! Served again with perfection.

Fifth Course:
We are getting full.
I ordered the Kansas City Angus Beef with Candied Yukon Gold Potatoes. Rare. My wine choice was Sequoia Grove Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa 2004.
AHHH!!! A bite of beef a sip of my Cabernet, heaven! It was cooked rare and very tender. A very, very good dish and wine served correct. This Cabernet was my kind, dry and Smokey. YUM. DH also gave a big thumbs up.:thumbsup2

Dh ordered the Australian "Kobe" Beef Tenderloin with Smoked Garlic Puree'. His wine of choice was Château d' Armailhac, Pauillac 2004.
What can we say? Again fabulous! (I keep using that word) Tender and cooked perfect. DH is a big meat eater and he really enjoyed this with the good wine. I liked it very much also.
We were pacing ourselves and couldn't finish everything on this course because we wanted to save room. The service again was outstanding!

[Poppinsme]

Next.
Sixth Course:

We both had the Pierre Robert, 5 Year Aged Parmigiano Reggiano and Monte Enebro. Our wine choice served was Quinta do Crasto Late Bottled Vintage Porto 2001.
Very good as a break before dessert. Light and refreshing. Not to filling just perfect. Cheese was good and tasty with the Port. As before served perfectly and with humor and fun. Our waiters were very good and attentive throughout the service.

Seventh Course:

I chose the Tanzanian Chocolate Pyramid, Hawaiian Kona Chocolate Soufflé, and Peruvian Chocolate Ice Cream and Puff Pastry. (Whew) The "Celebes" Coffee was brought out at this time and was brewing nicely. Chocoholics rejoice!!! What a dish! And they brought out hot fudge sauce for the Soufflé! :upsidedow :upsidedow OH My GOD was this good. I loved the Soufflé the best, so yummy! The ice cream I took a bite of and left the rest. It was good. The Pyramid was cool to look at and good to taste. But left most of it as I was pretty full.:scared: DH thought it was all good and he gave it high marks.

DH ordered the Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee. Another hit!! Perfect dish. It was served very artfully with a large piece of caramelized sugar on the side. Crunchy and soooo good! I loved it also. We both wish we were eating this right now. YUMMY!!!

The Coffee was a fabulous ending. We both love pressed pot coffee and this was so much better! And cool to watch.

It WAS the best meal and dining experience we had at WDW. :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 :) :) Took us 2.5 hours to finish and we were never rushed. The service was excellent. DH and I have eaten at some really great restaurants, Commanders Palace, Emerils, Bayona, Galatoires, etc. here in New Orleans. V&As is right up there with the best. This is not to be missed! A real magical and beautiful experience. Will definitely dine here again. We want the Chefs Table. :rolleyes1
At the end I got my red rose and they gave DH a loaf of nut bread. :santa:
We thanked Chef Hunnel for such a glorious meal.

The cost....Priceless! But I will tell. Oh, almost $600.00 with tip and worth every penny.

Thanks for reading and any questions?

Next up...Brown Derby Fantasmic Package.

[Poppinsme]

I agree about the beans, we didn't like them either. The cole slaw was really good! Hope you're feeling better.:hug:

AWWWW thanks!:hug: Feeling much better just in time to get back to work tomorrow. This weather is making everybody sick. Hot or cold? :confused3

[TigerKat]

Looks like we're the only ones home today.:rotfl:

I loved your V & A review!!! That is my dream one day to be able to go there.:cloud9:

[shovan]

I wanted to post my comments on Artist Point before reading & becoming overwhelmed with your V&A review.


Wow Thanks! That sure sounds excellent! Although I'm now feeling pretty sad that we canceled an adr at AP during our last trip. (F&W trip with food overload) The buffalo still kicking sounds delish to me! And the wine flight seems to have made that a perfect meal!:goodvibes

Now on to read all about V&A!!!!

[shovan]

Oh my goodness!!!!! I don't even know what to say, it all sounds so unbelievably fabulous!

I find it really interesting that they pair the Royal Tokaji with the Foie Gras! It's a sweet dessert wine, right? Seems like an unusual pairing to me, I guess I'll have to do some more reading on f&w pairings. Or better yet get out more & try some fancy food & wine pairings!!! ;)

The whole meal sounds so wonderful. Thanks for sharing!

( and come drop in more often on our Nola thread, we've been missing you over there.)

[Poppinsme]

And finally our fifth day. Sorry I'm late. 11/30/07
This was a Friday and our fantasmic package.
Once again we ate concierge for breakfast. I had my pineapple bread and fruit with a diet coke. DH had sweet rolls and fruit with a nice cuppa joe. :thumbsup2 Yum again. Boy do I miss that bread.

Off to MGM. We waited the longest this time for the bus to MGM but still only about 20 mins. Met some nice people at the bus stop. :)
We were stopped by a dream team guy when we were getting Cokes around noon. He wanted to buy us lunch but we declined saying we were eating at Brown Derby and didn't want to spoil our appetite. He seemed disappointed and said we were the first who turned a meal down. :rotfl: So he bought us our Cokes. I thought it was cool to get anything for free. COOL!

BROWN DERBY

ADRs were for 4:30 and we were seated promptly. Nice seats and very comfortable surroundings. Our waiter was Adner and he was very nice and attentive. Since we had the fantasmic package it was $46.99 a person. But of course we strayed a little. :rolleyes:

I had the the Mixed Field Greens to start and it was quite good and fresh.
Delish!
DH had the Goat Cheese Cremini Mushroom Tortelloni which he thought was very good. I agreed. Yum again. Goat cheese is so good.:)

Next course we both had the Grilled Filet Mingon. Mine was rare, very rare please. DH had medium rare. They were both cooked perfect. The Bearnaise sauce with butter was delicious. :thumbsup2 We enjoyed this course very much.

Last deserts. I had the Banana White Chocolate Toffee Tower. DH had the Grapefruit Cake. We enjoyed both. Mine was decadently delicious. Two big thumbs up.
This is when we strayed from the menu and ordered ICE WINE. A glass for each of us. $20.00 a glass and worth every drop I say. :laughing:

OK total for dinner was $142.69 and I gave a $40.00 tip. It was all worth it and we would eat here again because its one of our favorite WDW restaurants. Atmosphere, service and food can't be beat. :cheer2:

Next up Kona and Biergarten.

[Poppinsme]

Saturday 12/1/07. Sixth Day.

Started off eating at KONA for breakfast not concierge for once. We asked concierge if they could get us a table and we got right in at 10:00 a.m. Ted was our server and he was nice and attentive. Good service.

I ordered Tonga Toast. Boy is this the bomb or what? Talk about good. Good grief I could eat this right now!!! Bananas stuffed in bread and then fried....it would make Elvis proud. I ate it up with a side of crispy bacon. DH also thought it was very good.

DH had the Big Kahuna. Talk about a spread! And he couldn't finish it all. I thought the Macadamia-Pineapple pancakes were to die for. He had his with ham. Ham for a ham.

We had the Kona pressed pot coffee with our meal. So good. So darn good. This really got us going for Epcot and doing some drinking around the world.

Cost $32.46 and a $15.00 tip. Yes we would both eat here again. Very nice and relaxing after a night at MGM and the Osborn lights.
AAAHHHH.

[Poppinsme]

Off to Epcot! :3dglasses :woohoo:
First stop in the world was of course a Mango Tea slush with alcohol. All righty then that was good. DH had a Tsing Tao beer and that was good also.
A little later we went and got a Fiesta Margarita from Mexico and that was cool and delicious.
Made our way to Noway around 3:00 p.m. and had open face sandwiches of beef and onions on a hard delicious roll with mustard. We also had a Carlsberg Beer and School Bread, Fruit Tart and Pretzel to go. All very good and fresh. We enjoyed sitting out by the water and watching the people go by munching on our pretzels later. And of course School Bread is so good. We love Norway!
OK we both decided we had enough alcohol for now.:rotfl:
And then I walked toward France saw the little wine area inside and of course ordered a Lemon-cello.;) YUM.

BIERGARTEN. 7:00 p.m.

Oh this was really good!!!
And fun!!!!! You betcha!!! ;) ;) :lovestruc :lovestruc :worship:
We both really enjoyed everything very much. DH couldn't wait to eat here because he lived in Germany. Neither of us were disappointed. Had great pics!!! Damn again damn.:guilty: :guilty: :sad1:

We sat next to a party of 3 from Boston and a party of 2 from Orlando. I being me tried to chat up the Boston group. :) Asked them all kinds of questions about Boston. They were very reserved. And we REALLY loosened up after drinking our beer flight. They were the first to leave and we were the last. I'm from New Orleans and like to have a good time what can I say. :confused3 Why sure captain I'll do the chicken dance. :banana:

So we started with the beer flight. Beck's Regular, Franziskaner Hefe Weisse, Beck's Dark, and Spaten Optimator. I really liked the Beck's Regular and Dark. Yum. DH liked the Spaten Optimator best. They all went with everything we ate quite nicely.:)

We bellied up to the buffet and WOW! I had German potato salad(yum), Wurst salad(ok), Sauerbraten(Love it), Salmon, Red cabbage(yum), Herring(3 servings of this,YUM!), Beet salad(yum), Pork Schnitzel(yum), Spatzle, Carrots, Pretzel bread(yum), Meatballs. Whew. All very good and so yummy.

DH had the same thing minus the Herring. AND he had 5 servings of the Pork Schnitzel!!! 5 SERVINGS.....:scared1:
DH said it was the best Schnitzel he had ever had and couldn't help himself.:lmao:

Well we didn't really have any room for desert :rolleyes: BUT had to try the Apple Strudel. Of course it was good.:hug:

The entertainment was so much fun! And they announced our Anni. and we did a special toast, what fun we had. :cloud9:
Just cant say enough good things about it. The food was really good and our server was great.

Cost was around $75.00 and we left a $25.00 tip. Well worth every penny. Would go again in a heart beat.:)

Next up JIKO.

[Poppinsme]

Oh my goodness!!!!! I don't even know what to say, it all sounds so unbelievably fabulous!

I find it really interesting that they pair the Royal Tokaji with the Foie Gras! It's a sweet dessert wine, right? Seems like an unusual pairing to me, I guess I'll have to do some more reading on f&w pairings. Or better yet get out more & try some fancy food & wine pairings!!! ;)

The whole meal sounds so wonderful. Thanks for sharing!

( and come drop in more often on our Nola thread, we've been missing you over there.)

Thank you so much it WAS so fabulous. I am having Disney withdraw syndrome! I want to go back now. :guilty: :guilty:
Oh cant wait for 2009. :)

[oybolshoi]

Love love love the V&A review, even without pics. We also really enjoyed the foie gras paired with the Mad Hungarian as we like to call it. Who would have thought that it would work that well?

And ... we found a store here in Stinktown that actually carries it and were able to buy some right before the holidays! Yummy good drinks indeed!

I've enjoyed catching up on all of your food reviews - it sounds like you had a lovely anniversary trip. :goodvibes

[Ron from Michigan]

Thanks for the fantastic reviews. We ate at V&A for our 10th anniversary and it was the highlight of our trip. Well worth the $$$$$.

[TigerKat]

BIERGARTEN. 7:00 p.m.


We sat next to a party of 3 from Boston and a party of 2 from Orlando. I being me tried to chat up the Boston group. :) Asked them all kinds of questions about Boston. They were very reserved. And we REALLY loosened up after drinking our beer flight. They were the first to leave and we were the last. I'm from New Orleans and like to have a good time what can I say. :confused3 Why sure captain I'll do the chicken dance. :banana:


Next up JIKO.

You've got me :rotfl2: !!!!!!! Can't wait to hear your thoughts on JIKO!

[Ciciwoowoo]

Fantastic review! Your descriptions are so good, I can see everything in my head, even without the pictures!

I too am suffering from missing photos of my Dec. 4-14 vacation. I came home to look at them and they were gone! My disc was erased somehow.

I'm sad about it, but I decided I'll just have to go back and get more pictures. :goodvibes

I look forward to reading more!

[romck]

Reading about your lost photos jogged my memory on a recent article about photo recovery services that I read in the NY Times online. I don't know how to post a link but was able to find the article quickly by searching 'lost photos'. The article ran on January 10, 2008 and is titled "Deleted But Not Erased: Photos Reborn".

Loved reading your reviews and fingers crossed that there's a way to recapture your photos.

Ro

[bigbabyblues]

I'm really enjoying your report, keep it coming!!! So sorry about your lost pics :sad1:

[swankybeth]

Sorry to hear about your lost pictures. :sad1:
I am really enjoying your reviews and quite fittingly, I think, am listening to Buckwheat Zydeco at the same time.
Looking forward to more!

[Poppinsme]

I'm late again. :headache: Seventh Day Sunday 12/02/07

Thank you for all your kind words.:cloud9:
Romck thank you for the article in the NY times. I am going to see if a computer specialty service can save something.:hug:

We started off our day with breakfast in the Concierge lounge again.
And I had pineapple bread, fruit , diet Coke. Never bored with this. :lovestruc
DH had coffee, danish, and fruit. Yum.

This was another day in Epcot so we would be snacking around the world. We got a late lunch from France. Both had the cheese plate. The cheeses and fruits were very good and fresh. A most excellent buy we thought. :thumbsup2
Also got fruit tarts and a napoleon. They were OK. Not as good as whats here in N.O. but OK. We liked Norway's pastries better.:laughing: Had a glass of white wine with our picnic but I forgot what.:rolleyes: It was good.

JIKO 8:30

We got ready in our finest duds (suit+dress):) at 7:30. Got a taxi to AKL from the Poly. Cost $15.00 with tip. Arrived a few mins. early. So were given a beeper. We walked outside and isn't this a neat Resort? Within 10 mins. we were back and sitting at our table by a window. Great seats. Our waiter was Michael. The atmosphere was heavenly. The smells!! Yum!
It is a beautiful restaurant.
We wanted a bottle of African wine for dinner. Michael went over the wine choices with us and recommended a Kanonkop(sp) red. That became our choice and was it wonderful. Full bodied and flavorful. Delightful bouquet.

We started with the "Taste of Africa". And were brought bread also. OK it was so GOOD! Oh so good. Hummus was really tasty. DH also thought it was great. :)

Next I ordered the Roasted Golden Chanterelle Soup. OH MY GOD! The best. Creamy and so tasty. DH agreed. Now I'm hungry just thinking about this. Nuts.:rotfl:
DH ordered the Cucumber, Tomato, and Red Onion Salad. He loves onions and this did not disappoint. Very fresh and tasty. I agreed.

On to the main courses. I had the Berbere Braised Lamb Shank. Once again very, very good. Love Lamb and this was cooked perfect. And the portion was Huge! Couldn't eat it all.
DH had the famous Oak-Grilled Fillet Mignon medium rare. He ate every drop so it must have been good. I liked it very much also but was glad to eat the Lamb. DH really enjoyed the red wine sauce.

Dessert you may ask? Of course they did something special for us!:hug: :hug:
We got a beautifully presented Pistachio Creme Brulee with candles and a card signed by all the staff! And Michael took our picture. :love: (Which we lost of course.):sad1:

The service was outstanding. We would highly recommend Michael as server. The ambiance wonderful. Noise didn't bother us in the least. AH magical. This was our 3rd favorite restaurant of the trip. It gave Artist Point a run for the money Ill tell ya.
Cost? $165.00 And I left a $50.00 tip. So it was $215.00 total. Worth it? You bet!!!:thumbsup2 We got another taxi back to Poly for $15.00.
By the way taxis are the way to go. Talk about quick!

Next up our last eating day.

[TigerKat]

So glad you enjoyed JIKO as much as we did!:goodvibes

[PrincessAurora]

Wonderful reviews. I've done V&A in the dining room a few years back and did Chefs Table this year (review still being worked on in my current thread). It was amazing. I am making sure I go back on my solo trip. Chef Scott is God.

[shovan]

Wonderful review! I'm hungry now!

Happily we'll be back at Jiko on Feb. 18th! After reading your review, I really can't wait. Will I be able to try the chanterelle soup & pass on the Taste of Africa? Or get the lamb & not the filet? Oh decisions, decisions! ;)

[brunnerdiane]

When you stay on the concierge floor or level, is the food enough so you can use it for the majority of your meals? WOuld also doing the dining plan be overkill? I am staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge hopefully in fall and am thinking about how to plan. Thanks for any info you can give me.

[Poppinsme]

Our last full day.
Monday Dec. 3rd 2007.

And yes you can just eat at the concierge lounge during your stay if you want.:)
We again ate at the concierge lounge for breakfast. I had my favorite pineapple bread with fruit and DH had danish,fruit and coffee. This I'm sure sounds boring to have every day but we didn't think so. The scenery was wonderful in the lounge with Xmas decorations and view of MK. The staff was VERY friendly and pleasant. And the breakfast foods were just enough for us, not to heavy.

We had planned on going to DTD for our last day but decided at the last minute to go to MK and Epcot. We had 8:30 ressies for Boma and were really looking forward to this.

Well. DH started to not feel well by 6:00 p.m. and then got sick.:sad1:
I think it was just to much for him and it all caught up at 6:00 p.m. at the Tambu lounge where we were having drinks. So I canceled the Boma ressies and he went back to the room to lie down. He felt a little better later so I went to Captain Cooks for yummies.

Dinner from Captain Cooks at the Poly.:thumbsup2

I bought us Aloha Pork Sandwich, 2 Flat breads(Hawaiian and Traditional). The sandwich was very good and tasty. It was served with Hawaiian chips that were fresh and crunchy. DH had a few bites and liked it also. The bread it was served on was pineapply good.:p Both the flat breads were fresh and tasty. DH ate the Hawaiian and really liked this.
And I went to the concierge lounge and got us cold fruit drinks.

Our last night was very, very, special even with DH not feeling well. We sat on our patio and just soaked it all up. The fireworks from MK were spectacular!:cheer2: And we talked to a few guests staying there about how much we fell in love with the Poly, they all loved it too.:thumbsup2

To sum up our eating experience at WDW.

FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2: pixiedust:

We did not have a bad meal any where. The service from CS to V&As was great.
Would we eat at every restaurant we went to again? You bet.

Our favorite: Victoria and Albert's

Thank You for reading my reviews. Now when am I going back?:beach: