MONKEY CHOW -- 8 days of dining! **updated pg 4 - post #56 w/ pix (10/15)**

[7beasley]

MONKEY CHOW

We chowed our way around the world for eight days from Saturday September 13, 2008 through Saturday, September 20, 2008 and it was great! We were on free dining – the basic plan. In this dining report I will be reviewing the following monkey chow meals:

Table Services:
1. Ohana (pg 1, post #11)
2. Marakesh (pg 2, post #20)
3. Mama Melrose (pg 3, post #43)
4. Kona (pg 4, post #56)
5. Tusker (lunch)
6. Trails End
7. Mythos (at Universal)
8. Beaches and Cream
9. Spoodles

Counter Services:
1. China at Epcot (pg 1, post #14)
2. Wolfgang Puck’s Express (pg 3, post #36)
3. POFQ Food Court (pg 1, post #14 and pg 3, post #36)
4. Pepper Market (pg 4, post #52)
5. Columbia Harbor House
6. Backlot Express
7. Flame Tree BBQ


Introduction of the monkeys doing the chowing:

NC: Me -- wonderful wife to TC and mother of an 11 month old little girl named Izzy (Isabella) [who did not come to WDW with us -- I know -- blasphemy…] and our furbaby Porker, loves to eat, planned all my meals out in advance, super disappointed that the appetizers were taken out of the basic dining plan – ordered them anyway but paid cash, and all in all had a great week of dining!

TC: My husband – a terrific guy and father of Izzy and primary caregiver to our furbaby Porker the bulldog. Also loves to eat, did not plan out his meals in advance despite multiple proddings by me asking what he was going to order, encouraged off dining plan food eating because this was vacation and we were going “deluxe” and all in all had a great week of dining!

Before I start the reviews – I should answer the question I know you are all asking - why is my report called “Monkey Chow”? Well, while at a zoo this summer with our daughter – there was a coin operated feeding station where you could get food to feed the monkeys…and that food was called “monkey chow” and for whatever reason – that struck us as very funny. We had already been calling Izzy “our little monkey” or “the monkey” and after seeing that – food and meals in our house were renamed “monkey chow” and we carried that saying over to this trip.

My reviews will therefore be rated on the “banana system” as follows:

Zero Bananas = Gross - food not even fit for a monkey!

One Banana = Passable - better than eating dirt but not much better!

Two Bananas = Fair - you won’t get sick eating it but its not worth eating again!

Three Bananas = Good – enjoyable and would eat there again!

Four Bananas = Excellent – a wonderful meal – will definitely return!

Five Bananas = Outstanding - monkey squealing, plate licking fantastic!


Okay – enough introductions – let's get to the reviews!

Up next: Ohana.

-Nicole

[TigerKat]

Can't wait to see who rates the most bananas!!:rotfl:

[HappyCamper87]

Thanks for taking the time to review.

Looking forward to it! :banana:

[MickeyNicki]

I'm in, cannot wait to drool all over your review :thumbsup2

[MarieA]

I'm in too!!! Can't wait to read your reviews.

[HonnyDipp]

I'm in! Looking forward to it!:thumbsup2

[KatMark]

I'm in....anxiously awaiting.

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

Yum!!! Get writing!!!

[John's Mom]

I'm in! Bring on the bananas!:laughing:

[LilMinnie]

popcorn::

[7beasley]

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Breakfast: Granola bars eaten in the car on the way to the airport with a quick stop for some steaming hot delicious dunkin donuts coffee (as we knew that not another single drop of coffee would be had until we got home).

Lunch: Italian grinders on fresh Italian bread purchased at our favorite sub shop at home on Friday night and eaten on the plane with some Pringles. We were certainly the envy of many who tried to squelch their hunger with a tiny bag of cheese-its offered by Southwest while we happily tore into our sandwiches.

Dinner: OHANA – Polynesian.

This meal is our traditional first meal and it was excellent as usual. I ordered a diet coke and TC had an ice tea. The meal starts with Hawaiian bread. My DH loved it – I was not a fan because I don’t enjoy coconut.

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee183/7beasley/ohana1b.jpg

Followed by salad which I do love – I think I ate most of the whole bowl myself.

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee183/7beasley/ohana2.jpg

Then out come the potstickers – they were good.

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee183/7beasley/ohana3.jpg


Then the chicken wings – a big hit with both of us.

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee183/7beasley/ohana4.jpg


Next came the peanut noodles and stir fry vegetables (broccoli and pea pods). The noodles were just okay. I did not find them very peanuty. The vegetables were fine – a little under cooked for my liking but good none the less.

Then onto the meats!! Excellent!! I love shrimp and TC doesn’t. But TC loves the turkey and pork and I don’t – so our little system is that when they come around with those things – he takes shrimp and I take turkey/pork and then we give them to the other person. I must have had about 10 shrimps. They were so good. And in addition to the shrimp I had one piece of steak. It was a little too rare for me. DH ate a ton of turkey, some pork and one piece of steak as well.

We were both stuffed and happy - as you can see from the picture of the aftermath of monkey chowing!!

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee183/7beasley/ohana5.jpg


Although not big bread pudding fans, we had the dessert. TC actually thought the bread pudding was great. I did not have any but enjoyed some of the ice cream and the bananas foster sauce. It was a nice ending to a wonderful meal.

Banana Rating:

Four Bananas :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

We had a very nice and attentive waiter named Chris. We were also given a fabulous window table over looking the castle.

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee183/7beasley/ohana6.jpg

So that was nice. This will continue to remain our traditional first night meal. I will say that the place was packed! We waited in line about 15 minutes just to check in for our ADR. Once checked in though – we were seated within about 10 minutes. There was someone checking in next to us without an ADR and they were told it was a 2.5 hour wait! Frankly, I think it would have been worth it!!

OOP cost: $12 tip.

Up next: China CS at Epcot

-Nicole

[quixoticvalue]

I agree. That salad with honey-lime vinaigrette is amazing!!

[Lynn5700]

That is the best salad ever!

[7beasley]

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Breakfast: Port Orleans French Quarter Food Court

NC: King Creole platter which was a biscuit, one piece of sausage, 2 pieces of bacon, some potatoes and scrambled eggs. A counter service meal for breakfast on the dining plan is weird. Instead of a dessert you get an extra drink. This is a change from the last time we ate breakfast CS on the dining plan. You used to be able to get a muffin or fruit as your dessert and I liked that much better. We had bought refillable mugs when we arrived and I used that for hot chocolate and used my 2 drinks for an Orange Juice (drank with breakfast) and an Apple Juice that I brought back to the room.

TC: Mickey waffles and bacon. In his refillable mug TC had coffee and got an Orange Juice (drank with breakfast) and a Cranberry Juice to bring back to the room.

Banana Rating:

Two Bananas :banana: :banana:

It was certainly convenient having breakfast at the hotel before leaving for the parks and the refillable mugs are great but this breakfast was just okay. You are severely restricted on the dining plan for breakfast because you can’t get a dessert in the form of fruit or something. Two drinks is fairly useless – especially if you have mug. But we had some counter services to spare so we figured we might as well use them!

Lunch: China Counter Service – Epcot

This was a good meal. We both had the same thing – orange chicken with rice. The meal is basically chicken fingers with sauce and white rice. The white rice is pretty flavorless and it would be better if they offered fried rice instead. But, we put some soy sauce on the rice and that made it better. We each had a large raspberry ice tea to drink and for dessert each got one of the ice creams (it comes in 2 flavors). I had strawberry vanilla bean and TC had ginger caramel. Both good. TC also had a side of egg rolls ($3.99). I tried a bite of one and they were tasty!

We like to eat at one of the countries every trip and enjoyed China. It was certainly better than a hamburger.

Banana Rating:

Three Bananas :banana: :banana: :banana:

Up next: Marakesh

-Nicole

[HonnyDipp]

The Ohana salad looks good! I can't wait to try it in November!

[exwdwcm]

enjoying your report Nicole- can't wait to read more. i am a big Ohana fan too. but man, i miss those au gratin potatoes!

[MickeyNicki]

I cannot wait for Marrakesh!

[sandybobandy]

more please!

[7beasley]

Hi all...

Exwdwcm -- I agree with you about missing the potatoes - me too!!

MickeyNicki -- see below - I don't think you are going to like my Marakesh review (preview - it stunk!)

Fellow Ohana Salad lovers -- I agree with you - the salad is awesome! Bow down to the salad...salad lover unite!

All who are in for this monkey chow journey -- Hi - glad you could join me!

Okay -- on to more reviews!

-Nicole

[7beasley]

Sunday, September 14, 2008


Dinner: MARAKESH – Epcot

Neither words nor pictures can really convey just how awful and truly disgusting this meal was!

My DH is a big fan of Marakesh. It is a must do restaurant for him. And usually, he loves it and I find it okay. So you can imagine our shock and disappointment that the meal completely and totally sucked.

We both ordered the Marakesh Feast. The menu said it was $42. We confirmed that it was part of the dining plan and were told “yes” but that there was a surcharge of $5.99 per person if you ordered the feast on the dining plan.

Now, I knew that was wrong. I just knew it.

I had not seen that information anywhere on this board and knew that there was no such
thing as surcharges on the dining plan. I wanted to complain but DH asked me not too. I did not want to fight with DH so I agreed to stay silent and we compromised that I could write Disney a letter complaining of the surcharge (and including a copy of my receipt showing same) after the trip.

However, still silently stewing – after we ordered I went outside and called the Dining number and spoke to a CM who confirmed that there were no surcharges on the dining plan and if the restaurant accepted the plan they their entire menu had to be part of it and there was no extra cost. I knew it!!

I ordered an orange soda and TC ordered the mint tea – which he loved!

The feast was as follows:

Appetizers which consisted of Harati Soup --- lentil, lamb and vegetables. I did not really like it – TC did. And one Beef Brawart Roll that came on the soup plate--- very good – alas it was only one and it was the best thing we ate that day at Marakesh.

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee183/7beasley/marakesh1.jpg

And then the meal which was: Lamb Meshoui – both of our lamb shanks were all fat. Seriously – all fat. The lamb tasted spoiled almost – like it had gone bad. We both tried a couple of bites and that was all.

Lemon Chicken – the chicken comes smeared with this olive lemon sauce – it is thick and if you don’t like olives (which I don’t) – you won’t like this sauce. The chicken was okay. I did my best to scrape off the sauce and eat the inside of the chicken (not the skin) where the sauce taste wasn’t as strong.

And Cous Cous with Vegetables – I learned on this trip that I don’t like cous cous. It has a very sandy texture to it. I hated it. DH liked it and ate all his cous cous.

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee183/7beasley/marakesh2.jpg

Then for dessert you get 3 small pieces of baklava. The pieces were walnut, peanut and pistachio. I gave all 3 to TC and he was happy! He loves baklava.

I did not eat much – couple bites of lamb, chicken and cous cous – my plate remained pretty much untouched to the point that the waiter offered me something else. Which I declined. But, that was pretty nice of him to do.

Although the food was terrible – the service was very good. The waiter was attentive and nice. Right after he brought our food – my husband offered to trade chicken with me because he had a leg/thigh piece and mine was white meat and he knows I prefer dark meat. So I put my chicken on his plate and as he reached across to put his chicken on my plate, he knocked into his mint tea and ended up spilling it on his plate and pants.

He jumped up to go the restroom to clean up and I quickly moved his lamb and chicken to the bread plate to try to rescue it from the mint tea. The waiter saw what had happened and came over. I asked him if he could bring us a clean plate and some more cous cous. Instead, he brought DH a whole new platter with a new piece of lamb, new piece of chicken and cous cous. My DH was happy that they did that and of course, as soon as he brought over the new plate – I knew that I would not be able to complain about the surcharge now!!

Even with the new plate of food – the lamb was still covered in a thick piece of yellow fat and the food still tasted terrible.

Thank god for the cous cous or DH would have starved! Unfortunately, I did starve. But some snacking after dinner helped!

Unfortunately, we won’t be returning to Marakesh. The food has gone seriously downhill and was barely even edible on this trip. Again, this is usually a must do for us and generally ranks in my DH’s top 3 meals for the week…this time it was dead last. Plus, when you factor in the scam of the dining plan “surcharge” which I know is bogus – that really ticked me off.

Plus – the waiter was trying to screw us a bit with the surcharge. On the dining plan now, at the bottom of the receipt prints out a suggested tip amount based on 18% and 20%. Our meals were $43 each ($86 total) plus 2 drinks ($5) for $91 total plus tax. An 18% tip would be about $16. Instead, because of the surcharge – the waiter brought us out a bill for $103 plus tax with a suggested tip of almost $20. So basically, if we had walked in and paid cash the feast would have cost $43 a person – but because we were on the dining plan the feast costs $49 a person and we were expected to tip on the higher amount. That seemed wrong to me. In addition, the receipt listed the surcharge as a “special appetizer” which is a scam way for Marakesh to hide the fact that it is surcharging its menu items.

I guess if the food had not been so horrible this might not have bothered me as much – but it did.

OOP cost: $28 ($12 surcharge plus $16 tip based on the cost of the meal w/o the surcharge)

Banana Rating:

Zero Bananas!!!

Up next: Wolfgang Pucks

-Nicole

[Condorman]

Really sorry to hear about your experience at Marrakesh. I think it's one of those places that everyone wants to love because the pavilion manages to capture the lost magic of a mystical kasbah. I enjoyed my meal there a few years ago but the consensus is that it has gone to the bad ever since. So, no more Marrakesh for us.

As for the surcharge, I have read other reviews where people were charged extra for the feast. That's not to say the restaurant wasn't scamming them; what printed off on your receipt leads me to believe a major investigation needs to happen here. But it's not the first time I've heard about this. Anyway, it's too bad you didn't enjoy your meal. At least if it had been delicious this might have had a happy ending.

BTW, what did you end up snacking on afterwards?

[Lynn5700]

I will never eat there lol....I'm such a picky eater. Sorry you didn't like it. Yuck olive lemon sauce.

[catne]

enjoying your review so far.

We originally had ADR's for Marrakesh...but after reading other reviews similar to yours, I changed our dinner that night to The Wave (and loved that place.) I've seen reference on numerous occasions that people try to order the Feast and will be told they cannot do it on the DDP because of the appetizer; if they insist they want it they're told they can only do it with a charge for the appetizer.

We did have good experience with Morocco's counter service, though (and no "surcharge" although we did not get choice on dessert-they just serve you the regular baklava. But that was o.k., we knew that in advance.)

We had the shawarma platter and the meatballs & rice.

[Evan&Kimberly]

this had me lauging my bum off:rotfl2:
quote"Neither words nor pictures can really convey just how awful and truly disgusting this meal was!"

[cymbaldiva]

Surcharge? That sounds like something a car dealer tacks on to bring in extra $$ - decidedly less than magical :mad:

[MickeyNicki]

Oy that is not what I wanted to hear expecially since DH wanted to order the lemon chicken.

I appreciate your honesty, review and pics....especially since I will be paying OOP for this meal! Time to scour the menus and find a replacement dinner.

Thanks again and I cannot wait for more!

[7beasley]

BTW, what did you end up snacking on afterwards?

Hi

Nothing too exciting or adventurous after that meal...just a bucket of popcorn purchased from the Candadian popcorn stand and some munchies in our room when we returned!

-Nicole

PS: How do you quote from more than one post at a time?

Thanks!

[MickeyNicki]

At the bottom of each post there are "

You click on each persons post where the " are and it will turn red.

On the last post that you want to respond to you click the " and the click the QUOTE and then all of them will show up

[adsrtw]

I love your rating system. Sorry about your trip to Morocco. Sounds really bad.

[7beasley]

MickeyNicki -- THANKS!! I never knew that.

Adsrtw -- glad you like the banana rating system. Thought it was appropriate for a report named Monkey Chow. Instead of having a zero banana rating - I wanted the worst one to be called "monkeys throwing feces" but my DH thought that was not Dis-appropriate!! He is probably right.

-Nicole

[Moeluv4u7]

Nicole,
Cute report so far- I, too, am eager to see how you rate the other restraunts

[aribelle]

I'm really sorry you didn't enjoy your meal...and of course everyone has their likes and dislikes, but I think you kinda set yourself up for the disappointment....and perhaps your belief before the food arrived that you were being scammed didn't help matters any. I know when I'm angry like that often the person/object I'm angry at can't do anything right no matter how hard they try, lol.

The upcharge has been reported on DIS, though I wouldn't say it's one of those tips that is general knowledge, but then this restaurant is not generally spoken of much either. Originally they didn't allow the feast because of the appetizer that was included.....I can only surmise that enough people complained about being excluded that they came up with a way to include it. Disney only reimburses them based on entree/dessert/drink....so they should of course either charge for it or not allow it, otherwise they'd be giving it away. They told you about the upcharge before you finished ordering, so it's not like they were hiding it. If you didn't want to pay the upcharge, you could have ordered any of the other items separately. It's not like you had to order the feast in order to get a particular item....it's no special foods, just a combo of all of them. I think the scam would be not telling there was an upcharge so that you could make an informed choice....but you were told and agreed to it. The fact that one CM on the phone said it wasn't allowed......well we all know that if you call again and another CM will tell you differently and third will tell you something else too. I would suggest that you write to Disney management for a final policy answer, but again, you agreed to it even though you did not have to, so I'm sorry but I disagree with you about it being wrong.

And as for being charged gratuity on the upcharge.....of course you would be, just as you would have been charged the price and gratuity on it had you ordered it separately as an appetizer. And that's really what they told you that you would be doing....they weren't able to give you the feast on the dining plan because of the appetizer, so they compromised and had you pay for the part of the feast that wasn't allowed on your dining plan...and charged you gratuity on it as well. It sounds correct to me. What if you had ordered the $43 feast and the Jasmina Salad as an extra appetizer ($6.95) would you have felt that you should have been charged for that salad and a gratuity on it? I'm sure you would agree that you should. I do sort of see what you're saying that somehow they should have discounted the feast because you technically didn't get everything in it (since you paid for the appetizer separately). But I'm sure that's simply not an option in a computer run restaurant. In fact, I'd say they didn't even think of it that way....they simply input what you are to be charged for and the computer calculates the tip on those numbers. If you disagreed with it, though, you certainly could have made your point at the time, or not paid the gratuity on the extra. 18% of $12 is $2.16, so while I know your anger is really fueling this not the $2.16, its really probably not worth so much upset! I'm sure a quick word to the manager and it would have been removed. I can recall a time that we ordered an appetizer, despite asking for it a few times and getting excuses, it didn't appear until we were almost done eating.....when I pointed out that we really didn't want it now as we were about to have dessert...they left it and said to enjoy it with their compliments and it wasn't on the bill. We did try a bite, but didn't finish it, because by then we were in dessert mode. Management does want to please you if they can...but of course, they couldn't do anything about your disliking olives, lamb and cous cous. I'm sure they would have done something on the tip.

The description of Lemon Chicken says it contains olives, so that should have been a warning that you'd not like this dish if you didn't like olives. Most cuts of Lamb are always very fatty, especially the shank, so that's typical too. And cous cous, well it's an aquired taste.

The food at this restaurant is very different from American food....so it's one that many avoid because they don't want to risk trying something and not liking it. The spices and flavors are much different and many American palates don't like the food. That doesn't however mean that the food is poor quality...it means that you did not like the flavors. You said almost all the way through that your companion enjoyed it. So had he written the review it would have been positive where yours was negative. I totally appreciate people writing reviews and I most definitely appreciate your review because you said WHY you didn't like it....you don't like olives, I do, therefore your review wouldn't be the same for me as I do like olives and the lemon chicken description clearly says it has olives and preserved lemons (which create a very strong flavor)



I hope that others who perhaps do like some of the flavors mentioned will give this restaurant a try....it's definitely a repeat for my family.
THis is a favorite restaurant of ours but we would never take friends who weren't familiar with the food to such a place because of the foreign flavors.

[7beasley]

AIRBELLE --- Thank you for your long and reasoned response to my dining report. That is what makes the Dis great -- people of differing opinions can share those opinions in a friendly enviornment!

Actually, my companion was disappointed with the meal as well - he enjoyed the cous cous very much however! We have eaten at Marakesh consistently for the last 5 trips and have always loved it and I always order the Lamb Shank. I can tell you it was never as fatty as this one was - the one from Sept 14th was covered with fat -- think of the skin on a chicken - this had a skin of thick yellow fat. Perhaps it is not clear in the picture but it was gross.

As for the chicken, my husband usually orders the chicken so I knew what it looked like and what to expect and this was different from years past. While again, you are right that I knew it had olives and that some people like olives and therefore would not be at all bothered by the fact that olives were smeared all over the chicken -- this report is really just a report of my opinions about where I dined last week.

As for the surcharge - the point, as you rightfully point out, is not the $2.16 tip on the surcharge -- the point was actually that those paying cash paid $43 for the feast while those paying with the dining plan paid $49 for the feast. That seemed wrong to me. Maybe I am alone in that thinking but it seemed wrong to me.

As I pointed out in my report - the service we received at Marakesh was excellent. And again, this has always been a must do restaurant for us. Perhaps that is why it was so disappointing to have a once great restaurant fall so far to the depths of a terrible restaurant that we probably won't return to. Again however, that is just my opinion and not a personal attack on anyone else who happens to love Marakesh or who has recently had a great meal at Marakesh.

And while you are also correct that Moroccon food is different than American food -- that was one of the problems with this place on this trip -- it was trying to hard to be "more americanized" and in doing so - it not only failed miserably but wrecked the fact that this place - when it was serving Morocon food is great - but when it was serving Americanized Morocan food was not great.

Having actually eaten the Feast however as little as 10 days ago - I must disagree with your point about the food not being of poor quality and instead my issue being not liking the high quality food.....my issue was two fold -- I did not like the food and the food - in my opinion - at this meal - was not high quality food. Lamb, which I love and eat often, is not supposed to be covered in a thick skin of fat. Perhaps if you look at the picture again you can better see the thick skin of fat...

I too hope that people won't rule out an entire restaurant based on my dining report. I am sure that I don't have that kind of power though to influence the masses of where to eat and where not to eat via my dining report...I am sure those who love Marakesh (like we used to - again, we have eaten there for the last 5 years and it has always been DH's favorite -- in fact, it was DH who declared that this restaurant is no longer a must do for him - that was not my decision) will continue to dine there.

I wish you happy dining there on your next trip to WDW and I look forward to reading your dining report!

-Nicole

[susieq76]

Nicole,

Thank you for the reviews. I hope you continue them and know how appreciative most of us are.

People- when someone reviews it is their opinion. It is truly rude to contradict an opinion in a report that someone is writing out of the goodness of their heart. I have mine, she has hers, you have your- ahhh... the joy of freedom of thought. A simple "Wow- it was great last time we went, sorry to hear it wasn't for you" is most appropriate if you feel you must respond.

Just my 2 cents.

Susan

[tinkandonaldfans]

Nicole,

Thank you for the reviews. I hope you continue them and know how appreciative most of us are.

People- when someone reviews it is their opinion. It is truly rude to contradict an opinion in a report that someone is writing out of the goodness of their heart. I have mine, she has hers, you have your- ahhh... the joy of freedom of thought. A simple "Wow- it was great last time we went, sorry to hear it wasn't for you" is most appropriate if you feel you must respond.

Just my 2 cents.

Susan

here here! i second that bring on more

[7beasley]

Monday, September 15, 2008

Breakfast:

NC: Bagel with cream cheese and grape jelly and hot chocolate in the refillable mug.

TC: Bagel with cream cheese and coffee in the refillable mug.

Used snack credits to purchase both bagels.

Banana Rating:

Two and One Half Bananas :banana: :banana:




Lunch: Wolfgang Puck’s Express – DTD

Loved this meal! It was surprising how good it was and how nice the place was. We went to the Express but I might consider returning to the sit down and using a Table Service credit on our next trip.

Only “gripe” was there was no inside air-conditioned seating except for a small counter that held about 5 people. We originally sat outside and then the counter freed up so we moved inside before our food came.

You order at a counter and then a waiter brings your food out to you!

NC: I enjoyed a rootbeer soda and a Chicken Caesar Salad. The croutons were to die for – crusty and flavorful and really good. And I loved the salad. It had the perfect amount of dressing on it – it wasn’t swimming in dressing but it was not too dry either – it was just right! I really enjoyed my meal. And the chicken was kind of shredded chicken – not big pieces of chicken and the lettuce was like a chopped salad – again not big pieces – only a fork was needed to eat this salad (no knife). Dessert for me was carrot cake. Very good all around.

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee183/7beasley/wgp1.jpg

TC: DH had a spicy chicken flatbread pizza. He pronounced it outstanding. He loved it. He gave me a piece to try and it really was great. It had chicken, tomatoes, leeks and I think peppers on it. He really enjoyed it. It had a good amount of cheese on it too! Dessert for TC was a key lime pie that he liked.

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee183/7beasley/wgp2.jpg

Banana Rating:

Three and One Half Bananas :banana: :banana: :banana:

We really enjoyed WGP and we would definately return. I think if you have a rental car/car its a must do! It might be difficult if you had to take Disney Transportation to DTD just for lunch but I am not sure how that would work. But if you can manage the trip - go!! We were happy with the lunch and will definately return.

Up next: Mama Melrose

-Nicole

[frdeb1999]

Love the reviews so far!! Great rating system!! We love Ohana's....it's a must do for us! Looking forward to the rest of your reviews! :)

[jess20k]

I am loving your reviews so far. We aslo dislike Marakesh! We only dined there once, but vowed to never return, it was terrible!

[TigerKat]

We're staying a boat ride away from DTD and plan on checking out WGP's!! Thanks for the review.:flower3:

[disnut1149]

Hi
Your reviews are great!! Thanks for sharing.

[CanadianPaco]

So far so good! THX!!popcorn::

[Minniespal]

Excellent:thumbsup2

[7beasley]

Monday, September 15, 2008


Dinner: MAMA MELROSE – MGM

We loved this meal. The lovefest for this meal was proportionate to the hatefest for our Marakesh meal! I would recommend this place. We have been several times and it always ranks high up there for me!

There were very few negatives – but alas – there were some. Those were:

1. we were only a party of 2 so we were given a very small table in a very bad location. It was the first table closest to the kitchen and the door. We would have preferred something actually in the dining room but the table location certainly did not detract from our enjoyment of the food!

2. our waitress was a little bit inattentive. Not rude or anything – but we just felt like she forgot about us.

3. the service was a bit slow. Our dining experience lasted over an hour and a half. That is a long time at a Disney restaurant in a park! We were trying to make the Fantasmic show after dinner (and did not have a fantasmic package) – our ADR was at 6:00pm (and we were seated pretty much immediately) but did not get out till after 7:30pm. We rushed to get to Fantasmic and made it! (originally we were told it was standing room only but eventually some seats opened up a the far right [near the Ursula/handicap section] and we were able to sit!

But now on to the positives – of which there were many!

I love appetizers – for me they are the best part of the meal. I was super bummed when the appetizers were taken off the dining plan but my wonderful DH to the rescue said not to worry we would order them anyway and just pay OOP for them – which we did! Yeah!

We shared an order of calamari to start with. It was great – a big favorite of mine. And no tentaticles just calamari rings – which is how I like it! The dipping marina sauce was very good as well and the hot pepper relish had quite a kick.

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Next, I ordered a ceaser salad and TC had a bowl of minestrone soup. Both very good! I loved the ceaser salad there. The crostini bread that is served though in place of croutons is very hard/crispy. So I did not really eat that. TC enjoyed his soup as well.

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For the entrees I ordered the penna ala vodka. My favorite! I was going to branch off and try something new but in the end I went back to my old standby reliable favorite penne ala vodka – and I am sure glad I did. It was excellent! My only “complaint” is that I was so full from the calamari and salad that I did not have room to eat much of my dinner! Mama Melrose makes the best vodka sauce ever – I have tried it elsewhere at home and it is no where near as good.

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TC had the Eggplant Napolean which he thought was good but not great. The eggplants on the bottom were not that crispy. Plus – the worst offense was that the eggplant did not come with macaroni/pasta! We are Italian and have never ordered an Italian entrée which did not come with pasta. So that was a bummer for my husband. I think that if he was not stuffed from the calamari and soup he probably would have ordered a side of macaroni. But the eggplant was good. He probably wouldn’t get that entrée again but he would still return to Mama Melrose.

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Although stuffed – we decided to have a few bites of dessert. I had the spumoni gelato – good! And TC had the lemon custard with berries. Also good! To drink we both had sodas (diet and ginger ale).

We will definitely eat here again!

There was a small “dispute” as the banana rating between me and DH. I thought 4 bananas he thought 3 bananas – so we have compromised!

Banana Rating:

Three and One Half Bananas :banana: :banana: :banana:

OOP cost: ~$32 (appetizers and tip).



Up next: Pepper Market

-Nicole

[wahoostampingirl]

I'm enjoying your reviews! We had the same type of experience at Mama Melrose's where the food was good (loved the vodka penne!), but the service was indifferent. It also made us late for Fantasmic and we ended up in standing room only. My dh's memory of that night is holding our then 60 lb. ds on his shoulders for the whole show so he could see. :scared1:

We would still go back to Mama Melrose, but would definitely get an earlier ADR.

Can't wait for some more great reviews.

[jeminni]

Great reviews, WPE is my most favorite CS . :goodvibes

[Sawyer]

AIRBELLE --- Thank you for your long and reasoned response to my dining report. That is what makes the Dis great -- people of differing opinions can share those opinions in a friendly enviornment!

Actually, my companion was disappointed with the meal as well - he enjoyed the cous cous very much however! We have eaten at Marakesh consistently for the last 5 trips and have always loved it and I always order the Lamb Shank. I can tell you it was never as fatty as this one was - the one from Sept 14th was covered with fat -- think of the skin on a chicken - this had a skin of thick yellow fat. Perhaps it is not clear in the picture but it was gross.

As for the chicken, my husband usually orders the chicken so I knew what it looked like and what to expect and this was different from years past. While again, you are right that I knew it had olives and that some people like olives and therefore would not be at all bothered by the fact that olives were smeared all over the chicken -- this report is really just a report of my opinions about where I dined last week.

As for the surcharge - the point, as you rightfully point out, is not the $2.16 tip on the surcharge -- the point was actually that those paying cash paid $43 for the feast while those paying with the dining plan paid $49 for the feast. That seemed wrong to me. Maybe I am alone in that thinking but it seemed wrong to me.

As I pointed out in my report - the service we received at Marakesh was excellent. And again, this has always been a must do restaurant for us. Perhaps that is why it was so disappointing to have a once great restaurant fall so far to the depths of a terrible restaurant that we probably won't return to. Again however, that is just my opinion and not a personal attack on anyone else who happens to love Marakesh or who has recently had a great meal at Marakesh.

And while you are also correct that Moroccon food is different than American food -- that was one of the problems with this place on this trip -- it was trying to hard to be "more americanized" and in doing so - it not only failed miserably but wrecked the fact that this place - when it was serving Morocon food is great - but when it was serving Americanized Morocan food was not great.

Having actually eaten the Feast however as little as 10 days ago - I must disagree with your point about the food not being of poor quality and instead my issue being not liking the high quality food.....my issue was two fold -- I did not like the food and the food - in my opinion - at this meal - was not high quality food. Lamb, which I love and eat often, is not supposed to be covered in a thick skin of fat. Perhaps if you look at the picture again you can better see the thick skin of fat...

I too hope that people won't rule out an entire restaurant based on my dining report. I am sure that I don't have that kind of power though to influence the masses of where to eat and where not to eat via my dining report...I am sure those who love Marakesh (like we used to - again, we have eaten there for the last 5 years and it has always been DH's favorite -- in fact, it was DH who declared that this restaurant is no longer a must do for him - that was not my decision) will continue to dine there.

I wish you happy dining there on your next trip to WDW and I look forward to reading your dining report!

-Nicole

You TOTALLY validated my concerns and decision not to eat at this heinous restaurant! My DSIL and DB's family are always trying to get us to eat there. Have studied the menu and the reviews and have always thought that it would be G-ROSS!! :crazy2: I am SO glad I went with my instincts and will hence avoid this horror! :scared1:

[7beasley]

Bumping...page 2 - cmon guys!!

Hey - where is everyone?

New review coming today. Pepper Market -- stay tuned!!

-Nicole

[tinkandonaldfans]

bring it on!

[estewart0901]

can't wait for the Pepper Market update they have fajitas and my hubby wants to go there in December...

[DSNY4ever]

Thanks for all the reviews. We are planning on eating at WGP express on our upcoming trip and your review made it sound pretty good! Looking forward to it :)

[sarehm]

Thanks for the great reviews! I agree, Mama Melrose is awesome!

[7beasley]

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

We had a great and enjoyable meal. This place is a great deal on the Dining Plan. We arrived just after the lunch rush around 1pm and we seated right away with no wait. We were surprised at how empty the place was!


Lunch: Pepper Market – Coranado

NC: I enjoyed the Rib Eye Steak. It was cooked to perfection a nice medium and it came with delicious steak fries (and lots of them!) and excellent roasted vegetables (squash, eggplant, peppers and mushrooms). I really enjoyed my meal – it was great! I had a diet coke to drink and got a cinnamon roll (which was huge) as my dessert which I took back to the room for breakfast the next day.

TC: DH had the Chinese sampler platter which was fried rice, an egg roll and 2 entrée choices – he had kung pow chicken and some kind of pork and vegetables entrée. He loved it as well and ate it all. Coke to drink and a pecan roll for dessert which also came back to the room with us for breakfast the next day.

Banana Rating:

Three and One Half Bananas :banana: :banana: :banana:

I really can’t say enough good things about the Pepper Market. We try to do it every trip. It takes a bit of planning to fit it in because its not in a theme park and you have to actually travel to another hotel to basically eat at their food court. But I highly recommend trying to fit it in. This is not a typical food court. It really is delicious and there are so many options. Go – you will be glad you did!!

Up next: Kona

-Nicole

PS: Sorry - no pictures from this great meal -- we were heading to the water park after lunch so I did not bring my camera.

[HappyCamper87]

Thanks so much for the reviews!

I am going to Mama M's this coming Sunday and you just made it harder to wait! :banana:

[raftislander]

Signing On....popcorn:: Keep the reports coming!

[TPCShauna]

Great reviews. I'm in!

[7beasley]

I'm back...sorry for the long absence...on with the reviews!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Dinner: KONA - Polynesian

This restaurant is fabulous! How is it that I have been to Disney so many times and have never eaten here before? My husband and I routinely dine at Ohana and every year we say to ourselves, we should try Kona some time but “some time” just never came – that is until this trip! The timing was perfect, we were going to MNSSHP this night and we knew we wanted to eat somewhere close – there was no where in the MK that jazzed us so we started thinking about the monorail resort restaurants and then it hit us – Kona!! It would be perfect!! And it was…

We were seated relatively quickly (about 10 minutes) and took our place amongst the many other costumed dinners that evening. We were given some bread with delicious macademina nut butter. It was the softest bread I had ever had. Every morsel was delicious!

You can order a non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiri or pina colada with your meal as your beverage choice on the dining plan. While the strawberry drink was calling my name – I knew it would fill me up to much so I passed and opted for a diet coke instead. DH however got the pina colada and loved it.

As previously mentioned, we are all about the appetizers. I love appetizers. I ordered a Kona Salad hold the onions and DH had the soup. Both enjoyable and filling.

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For dinner, we both ordered the same thing. The teriyaki sirloin. It came with garlic mashed potatoes and brocollini. It was excellent. We ate every single bite with glee.

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Unfortunately, by the end of the meal we were totally and completely stuffed!! So we skipped dessert. I know – terrible – but we did!

This meal was wonderful. Kona has now become a must do for us! I can’t believe it took us so long to try Kona but now that we have – there is no going back.

Banana Rating:

Four Bananas :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:


Up next: Tusker House

-Nicole

[Michelle_and_Aaron]

nice update! I can not wait to read more!

[SunnieRN]

Love your banana rating scale! Very cute! Sorry to hear that your Marakkesh meal didn't please. My daughter wanted to go there in December, I voted for Teppan Edo instead. Thank goodness she agreed!
Looking forward to more.

[MousekaMaddi]

thanx for reviewing, your rating system is very "appealing" :rotfl2: !!

[Rebelmom67]

Loving your reviews!:banana: I totally agree with you about The Marrakesh, it sucks. It used to be a favorite of ours but it has consistently gone down hill EVERY year. The portions have been reduced in size and the food quality leaves something to be desired. I think they have gone to serving mutton, not lamb!! Yes, it was that bad the last time we went.

Thanks for taking the time to type out these great reviews!

[janloz]

Glad to hear good review of Kona, we are eating there in Dec before MVMCP. :santa:

[frdeb1999]

Great reviews! We love Kona! :)