The Last Word Dining Reviews - UPDATE 6/17 - TS SUMMARY SHEET!

[TheDWord]

** 6/17/09 - ALL TS REVIEWS ARE NOW UP. YOU CAN SEE A SUMMARY OF THE RATINGS FOR EACH RESTAURANT IN EACH CATEGORY HERE! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32318120&postcount=73)**

__________________________________________________ ________________________
ORIGINAL POST

Hello All. Well, we’re back home after 7 days in the World. It was a great trip, but an exhausting one. I may do a trip report, as I took over 850 pictures, but that may be some time coming. I did however, want to get to some dining reviews (sorry, no food pictures- couldn't get myself to take pictures of the food- I was hungry!). Before I describe the rating system, I want to let everyone know a little bit about me, so you can have some perspective when reading these reviews. First of all, I live in Bergen County NJ and work in New York City. I’ve been in the tri-state area now for over 30 years, and have dined at many New York City restaurants, ranging from low priced dives to ultra fine dining, across many ethnic food types. I’m by no means a food critic, but I‘d say I have a decent understanding of food.

In my reviews, you will get a frill free, objective review and grade for table service restaurants in the areas of décor, service, food, and value, with an overall grade at the end, and a grade for quick service restaurants in the areas of food and value, with an overall grade and comments at the end. For character meals, I include a section on the quality of character interaction (not graded), and it will contribute to the overall grade. You will notice in my ADR list below that we had three princess character meals. I will have a separate section comparing the three character experiences, and let you know which one hit the mark and which one fell by the wayside. I will also be as open minded as possible, and not let any negative things in one category spill over to another (i.e., if the waiter spilled wine on me, I will grade the service accordingly, but it won’t have any bearing on the food rating).

Here are the restaurants we dined in:

Table Service

T-Rex Cafe (D) (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=31882551&postcount=2)
Rose & Crown Pub and Dining Room (D) (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=31882709&postcount=3)
O'Hana (D) (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=31882928&postcount=4)
Tusker House - Donald's Safari Breakfast (B) (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=31909532&postcount=23)
Chef Mickey's Breakfast (B) (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=31916401&postcount=26)
Cinderella’s Royal Table (L) (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=31940560&postcount=33)
Princess Storybook Akershus Royal Banquet Hall(B) (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=31990458&postcount=47)
Sci Fi Drive In Theater (L) (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32013173&postcount=51)
The Turf Club (D) (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32022914&postcount=56)
1900 Park Fare (D) (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32111756&postcount=63)
The Spirit of Aloha (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32296890&postcount=72)

Quick Service

Seasons Food Court (L)
Electric Umbrella (L)
Casey’s Corner (L)
Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn (L)
Starring Rolls Café (B)
Mara (B)
Artist Palette (L)
Wolfgang Puck Express (D, B)

Onto the rating system:

Décor

0 What décor? There’s no front door, there’s no walls, there’s no tables, there’s no chairs
1-3 Complete dump of a place. Who decorated this place? The three blind mice? So horrible, I can barely eat.
3-5 Below average space. The décor doesn’t match the theme, and it looks drab and boring.
5-6 Average décor. It’s acceptable and doesn’t ruin the experience, but it could use a ton of work to spruce this space up.
6-7 I see what they’re trying to do, and it sort of works, but needs some work to make it much better. There are still some major faults.
7-8 Nice looking place, and fits the mold of the restaurant nicely. Could use some tweaking though
8-9 Very nice space. It’s clear they spent a ton of dough in there. Great theming, if it’s a theme restaurant.
9-9.5 Excellent looking space. Looks new, impeccably maintained, fits the theme appropriately, and high end materials used. Good music to go with as well
9.6-9.9 Absolutely gorgeous looking with no real fault anywhere. Ultra high-end finishes, perfectly themed if it’s a theme restaurant.
10 Perfect in every single regard. Doesn’t matter if the food stinks here, because the décor makes everything just perfect.

Service

0 What service? I had to kill the chicken, de-feather it, marinate it, and cook it, then go to my vegetable garden for my salad ingredients.
1-3 What is this place? Help yourself heaven? Why are the servers cursing me out?
3-5 Rude service, messed up my order, waited for hours to get a meal.
5-6 Wait staff was not friendly and seemed preoccupied with something else. Orders were botched up as well
6-7 Wait staff was not friendly, but at least they got the order right, or vice versa.
7-8 Wait staff either tried too hard and failed, or was just too overbearing. Orders were right.
8-9 Service was very good and made me feel like leaving a good tip. There may have been an honest mistake in the order, but I can clearly overlook that.
9-9.5 Excellent service. The staff all were in sync with each other and the meal went very smoothly with no mistakes. The wait staff was very friendly and knew the menu well
9.6-9.9 Impeccable service, staff nailed everything, made me feel good about myself and my experience there. Completely sold me on the food and knew the menu inside out.
10 Perfect in every single regard. Human beings this perfect should not be waiters and restaurant staff.

Food

0 What food? There were things still moving on my plate, and it wasn’t melting chocolate on my lava cake…
1-3 I had better food at the local soup kitchen.
3-5 Not even good for fast food
5-6 Like fast food
6-7 Think Cracker Barrel, Ruby Tuesdays, TGI Fridays
7-8 Respectable table service food. They clearly have a chef who knows how to cook
8-9 Very good food. Cooked to my liking and flavorful. There were a couple of things that could have been done better, but an overall satisfying meal
9-9.5 Excellent food, cooked to my liking, presented well with little or no real fault to find
9.6-9.9 Unbelievably delicious. Can’t find this anywhere else, cooked to perfection, elegant presentation, robust flavors that work well together
10 Perfect in every sense. Must be a world reknowned chef. Every bite is just heaven.

Value

0 What value? I paid $100 and didn’t eat anything
1-3 Huh? You’re charging me $50 for a stick of gum?
3-5 You’ve got to be kidding me. I could eat the same meal at McDonalds three times over for the price you’re charging me.
5-6 Didn’t think this meal should be that expensive. I feel like I got ripped off.
6-7 A tad on the expensive side for the meal I had.
7-8 I got what I paid for.
8-9 Good value. Should be spending more for what I ate. Nice surprise.
9-9.5 Excellent Value. They really need to think about raising their prices.
9.6-9.9 Unbelievable value. An absolute steal for the quality of the meal. Maybe the best kept secret around
10 How is this possible? I ate like a king and my wallet feels no pain!


Overall

0 Can’t possibly be worse. If I typed the words to describe the dining experience here, I’d be banned.
1-3 Overall a terrible meal. I would rather have gone hungry
3-5 Would not recommend this restaurant to anyone. Everything was generally subpar.
5-6 There were a few good moments, but overall a negative experience
6-7 I would neither recommend nor not recommend this restaurant. It was just OK.
7-8 It was a positive experience. Things could have been better, but I enjoyed it.
8-9 I had a great dining experience at this restaurant. I highly recommend this place. A few glitches here and there detracted the meal, however.
9-9.5 Excellent restaurant and dining experience. Great menu, great service, and décor. A must do.
9.6-9.9 One of the best restaurants I’ve ever been to. Every facet was awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment.
10 The best restaurant I’ve ever been to. There’s nothing that could have been better, just perfect in every sense.

Note that the overall grade will not be an average of the for areas sub-areas. As the days go by, I will post reviews of the restaurants listed above. Please feel free to express your thoughts, agrees, disagrees, etc. I hope you all enjoy!

[TheDWord]

Where: Downtown Disney
Date: Saturday, May 9, 2009
Time: 8:15 PM
Party Size: 4 Adults, 2 Children, 1 Infant

The T-Rex Café is Prehistoric-themed restaurant in Downtown Disney. The restaurant is sectioned into 4 main rooms, the geotech room, the ice room, the coral reef room, and a prehistoric forest room. We were situated in the geotech room. The restaurant has very elaborate theming, with gigantic automated dinosaurs, wooly mammoths, insects, etc lining the walls and columns. We didn’t know what to expect, and when we left, it was with mixed results.

Décor
In our geotech room, every 15 minutes or so would be a simulated meteor shower, and lighting would change and the dinosaurs would go crazy. Looking over into the ice room, it was just too blue and I don’t think we would have made it through dinner in a neon blue room. I got dizzy just looking over into that room. Did I mention that the restaurant is loud? Well, turn up the decibels because you have to literally shout across the table to get a conversation going. Also, the animatronic dinosaurs are large, loud, and can really frighten a little one. My daughter, who is 3.5 years old, couldn’t look up from her seat because if she did, she’d be staring right at a giant insect scaling the wall in front of her. She was absolutely terrified. I had to hold her the entire meal. For older kids and adults, it’s fun, exciting, and interesting at first, but again, constantly yelling to say something to someone got old and tired fast. My older son enjoyed the atmosphere and walked around the restaurant, but it seemed like everyone had the same idea, and thus getting around the restaurant was difficult. It was not easy to even go to the restroom, weaving by kids posing for photos, waiters and busboys doing their thing, and parents walking their kids around. Overall, the restaurant is heavy on the theming, so great if you’re into that. However, it’s just too loud and crowded with so many people wandering out of their seats and it really takes away from the experience.

Decor Grade: 6.2

Service
With the atmosphere so hectic and crazy, it almost makes sense for the service to be that as well and indeed, it was. The waiter service was just what you would get at a TGIF, Rainforest Café, etc- someone reciting the company line intros and moving on about their way. We felt rushed, like they needed our table for the next group. After the initial greet, the service was pretty robotic. I don’t think any orders were messed up, but didn’t feel like the service was anything special.

Service Grade: 6.8

Food
T-Rex has great theming (if you’re into that) but the buck stops there. A friend and I ordered the steak and cheese sandwich, the wife ordered the fish tacos, and our nanny ordered the burger. The steak and cheese was your run of the mill quick service quality. I had to pay an extra $2 for waffle fries instead of potato chips- how crazy is that? How do you not serve fries with a burger or sandwich order? You’re a burger joint for cryin out loud! The wife’s fish tacos were equally unimpressive. The fish looked processed and the cilantro overpowered the taco. Our nanny ate her burger- I didn’t taste it, but it looked like your standard fare burger, if not slightly on the small side. Again, substituting fries for potato chips added $2 to the meal. Overall, the food was your typical Landry / Riese restaurant style food, nothing special, nothing too horrible.

Food Grade: 6.5

Value
For a party of 6 (including two children), we paid $113.70, including tip and tax. That was just for four adult entrées, two children entrees and two desserts. For the quality of food, it is way overpriced, and you are clearly paying for the heavily themed décor. However, as the high decibel and crowd levels outweigh any benefit from the elaborate decorations, this is not a good value for your money. You should not be paying $15 for a bacon cheeseburger with fries, and you certainly should not be paying $9 for an ice cream sundae.

Value Grade: 5.5

Overall
The T-Rex Café is something that you probably should do once, since it is so unique, but I don’t think I need to tell anyone that this place is a one-time deal only. I walked out of there wondering why I made this reservation in the first place, but I know that if I never ate here before, I would sacrifice the subpar food to experience the dino-crazed environment, even if I was told that it was too loud and crowded. I guess this is a place you do need to do once, just to get it over with. Just be aware that it may frighten your younger ones.

The Last Word: 6.0 A notch above fast food, typical of your Ruby Tuesdays / TGI Fridays, but over the top theming. Way to loud and crowded.

[TheDWord]

Where: Epcot – World Showcase, United Kingdom
Date: Sunday, May 10, 2009
Time: 7:50 PM
Party Size: 2 Adults

Rose & Crown is an English pub-style restaurant in Epcot. The restaurant is on the lake side of the main road in the World Showcase and features indoor and outdoor seating. Ideal for watching Illuminations, the Rose & Crown delivered on a lot of question marks we had going in and made for a very nice meal at the end of a very hectic day.

Décor
Rose and Crown by no means is a fancy, upscale joint. It is a classic pub-style décor through and through. If that’s what you’re expecting, then that’s what you get. The outdoor area is nice and quaint, but it was really hot when we were there so we opted indoors. The dining room is small but the tables are spaced out nicely and the space is very kid-friendly. Everything, from the tables, chairs, benches, floors, lighting, etc was themed correctly, including the staff- the front desk check-in people, ushers, and servers were all in full English pub mode, and were all either really from England or had a great accent. I can’t stress enough how much I felt like I was not in Florida, but in an actual English pub. If you time your reservations to match Illuminations, it is probably the sbest spot to watch the show. Even if you are indoors, they have a private outdoor viewing area just for restaurant guests, right next to the water. The show was absolutely amazing! Nice job. Some may not view this as a negative at all, but the only downside for me was that the dining room smelled like ale, like it would in an actual pub, the floors were sort of sticky and the window was a little dirty. Although it hits the mark in accuracy, it would have been nice to have eaten in a slightly cleaner environment.

Décor Grade: 7.7

Service
Our waiter was very friendly, made great recommendations, and was on the mark on our orders. Some wait staff make small talk that just hinders the overall experience, but our server was actually very engaging and conversation was fluid. I didn’t find him trying too hard, or forcing anything. It was just enough to have an interesting conversation, but not overly so that it crossed the waiter/patron barrier. Refills were always there before we asked and he guided us to the viewing area for Illuminations. We didn’t feel rushed, and we didn’t wait too long for food either.

Service Grade: 9.3

Food
Bread was hot. That’s a great start! Both the wife and I ordered the Steak and Fish, both medium rare, with me opting for the chips as opposed to the mashed potatoes. First, the steak- the quality of the meat was not great, but good enough. It’s probably comparable to an Outback steak. However, both of our steaks were cooked perfectly. As for the fish, we were also pleasantly surprised at how well it was prepared. The fish itself was good, not great, but the batter was crispy and light, and it did not give us that “greasy” feeling that many other fish ‘n chips orders do. The chips were your standard fare french fries. Again, they were OK, not great. The green beans were fresh and cooked to perfection- crunchy, but without that raw vegetable taste. I’m not sure of the other dishes or any of the appetizers (we were on the regular dining plan), but our main dishes really hit the spot. The food quality was mediocre, but the execution and preparation was A+. For dessert, I ordered the Baileys Irish Cream Trifle and the wife had the ice cream sundae (kids menu). The sundae was not that good, but my Trifle was excellent. Call it an Irish cream chocolate parfait. Overall, we were very pleased with the food. Although the quality of the steak isn’t the best, it’s perfectly fine for what this place is- an English pub.

Food Grade: 8.1

Value
In total, our meal came out to $77.61 including tip and tax. For pub fare, it is a pretty big price in my book, but we did get the most expensive entrée on the menu, which featured a steak and a fish. The other entrees were reasonably priced, all in the $15-20 range. Not great value, but right where I think it should be.

Value Grade: 7.5

Overall
Rose & Crown was a winner for us. The food was good, service excellent, and reasonably priced. It was themed perfectly, maybe so much so to a fault (the odor, dirty windows and the sticky floors). The viewing of Illuminations really capped our night, and made it even more memorable. Overall a very good experience

The Last Word: 8.0 A very good sampling of English pub fare with excellent service. Unbelievable view of Illuminations.

[TheDWord]

Where: Polynesian Resort
Date: Monday, May 11, 2009
Time: 9:30 PM
Party Size: 2

O’Hana is a family-style all-you-can-eat restaurant serving various meats with some starters. It fell well short in our book of what we would consider a classic fire pit barbeque meal. It was a poor man’s (and I mean very poor) Brazilian Churrascaria.

Décor
O’Hana is located on the 2nd floor of the Polynesian Resort’s main building, tucked in a corner overlooking the seven seas lagoon. There is a nice lounge/bar area for guests waiting to be seated. The restaurant has a large dining floor and is definitely more suited for larger parties. The fire pit is in the middle of the restaurant floor, where the chefs are cooking meat for all to see. When we were there, the lighting was dim and there was Polynesian elevator music playing in the background. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but for a restaurant that should be exciting and lively, given the nature of the theming and food, the overall feel was a bit drab and dull. It could be because I had a late dinner, but the ambiance gave me more of a quiet, lazy, Vegas lounge-like feel than an active Polynesian theme with a wood fire pit. We did catch the Wishes fireworks show, and they did play the Wishes music while the show was on. The view wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything like being in Magic Kingdom. It’s a nice, but not spectacular, added feature that made the experience more Disney and welcoming. What struck me as sort of odd were the servers. One would think that in keeping with the theme of this restaurant, the waiters/waitresses would be “in character” or native pacific islanders, but our server looked more like someone who would serve us a country farm meal in Kansas. There were a few others that fitted the latter mold as well. Otherwise, the décor overall struck me as “quasi-themy” if not a bit dull, and outside of the fire pit, which did not look too clean, it was well-organized and tidy

Décor Grade: 6.3

Service
Aside from our server looking like she was mistaking Perkins for O’Hana, she was very friendly and sweet. The person who was walking around with the meat skewers was however, quite bland, with no personality, looking like someone who couldn’t wait to get off duty. Mind you it was 9:30 and he may have had a long day, but good service should last through the entire dinner service. The food came out rather quickly and it was hard to keep up. One big annoyance I noted was that our server never changed out our plate for a new one. When you’re taking about all-you-can-eats with different types of foods, meat sauces, shrimp peels, salad, etc, you do need a clean plate once in a while. Our server also got our drink orders wrong. DW ordered a club soda and got a sprite, and I ordered a diet coke and got a regular coke. Honest mistake, and one that probably doesn’t happen too often, but it contributed to an overall negative experience.

Service Grade: 5.9

Food
This is where O’Hana falls off the cliff. We started out with pineapple bread, which was dry and cold. It may have tasted better if it was right out of the oven, but it was obvious that it had been a while since that piece of bread saw any heat. Then came the salad, which actually was pretty good. I don’t recall the name of the dressing, but it was the tastiest part of our meal. We then got a large bowl of chicken wings and fried dumplings. The teriyaki sauce on the wings was so thick and gooey, we were sure they were pre-made frozen wings that were microwaved. Honestly, you could go to Costco and buy teriyaki wings that taste far better. The dumplings were of the same frozen ilk. The batter was heavy, hard to chew, and the sauce on top of it literally tasted like caramel. The batter really dominated the taste, and the flavors did not go well together at all. Next came a large bowl of broccoli that was so mushy and watery that we may have gotten the “bottom of the barrel” on that one. Our serving was clearly the fresh batch made at 6pm, not 9pm. Up next was yet another large bowl of lo mein noodles. The noodles were clearly of the instant variety that was boiled, then stir fried, except that part of the noodles were soggy, and another part was still crunchy and hard. The marinating tasted like soy sauce with sugar/starch. That was it. No veggies, meat, just instant noodles that wasn’t prepared correctly, soy sauce, and sugar. Then came the meats. When I saw servers walking around with skewers, it reminded me of those Brazilian Churrascarias, except that the selection of meat at O’Hana was the following: One type of beef, turkey, pork and shrimp. The beef was a low quality cut, as it was very stringy and dry. I am not a well-done eater, but even well done steak that is good steak is tender and juicy. I asked for a medium rare piece, and twenty minutes later, when we were done with our meal, the server came back and said “Here’s your medium rare piece” and it was just as well done as the first one. Considering the quality, I wasn’t about to wait another 20 minutes to be disappointed again, so I left it at that. The pork tenderloin was about as hard as my briefcase and lacked any flavor whatsoever. Inedible. The turkey was average- Definitely on the dry side, but it was edible and actually had a bit of flavor. The shrimp was overly well done and soggy. Again, it had little to no flavor. To boot, it still had the shell on it so we had to peel them manually. Not horrible if they would change out my plate once in a while. Well, onto dessert. The bread pudding tasted stale and bland. Again, maybe it’s because we had a later dinner reservation, but stale?? The pudding part was good, and the ice cream on top was good was well. Actually, that ice cream was probably the second best part of the meal, after the salad. Even if the bread was warm, and the beef came out medium rare, the food still would have been poor, as it is obvious that the quality of the meats themselves is of a subpar grade, the chefs are not that good as the marinades and flavors are also subpar, and they use a lot of frozen, pre-packaged foods. The sheer amount of food was enormous for two people. It could easily have fed 6-8. I hope they donate leftover food to local charities, because it would be a monumental waste of food not to.

Food Grade: 4.9

Value
For two, the meal came out to $72.19 (including tip and tax). Considering the overall dining experience, this price is way too high, as there are many quick service counters with better food than O’Hana, and the service was in general mediocre. Seeing Wishes was a nice touch, but not worth the price of entry.

Value Grade: 5.3

Overall
In summary, we had a terrible meal at O’Hana. The quality of the food was poor and the execution of the dishes was horrible. Service, although the server was friendly, was poor as well. Missing one drink order is bad enough, but both of our orders? That’s inexcusable. Not changing out our plates throughout the meal was also a big blunder in my book. The meat skewer guy was basically a robot who did not want to be there, and made us feel like we didn’t want to be there as well. Ambiance is OK if you like heavy theming, but the music did start to get annoying after a while. Wishes was a nice break in the middle of an otherwise forgettable dining experience.

The Last Word: 5.2 A lot of hype going in, but disappointed heavily. Awful food prep and quality killed this meal.

[KatMark]

Great start. Can't wait to read the rest. So glad you liked Rose & Crown--it's been one of our favorites for years.

[TigerKat]

Great start, so far looks like we have similar tastes!:thumbsup2

[CrabbyPatty]

Great informational reviews - keep 'em coming!

[frdeb1999]

Great start! And love the detail!! Even without pics! :)

[jenbear123]

Too bad about O'hana. I hope it's a better experience at breakfast time since we have an early ADR coming up in July :scared:

[pennyplanner]

I like your rating system. I'm ready in for the duration! popcorn::

--penny

[BriarRosie]

I'm a fan of snipping out stuff. :)


Décor

0 What décor? There’s no front door, there’s no walls, there’s no tables, there’s no chairs
1-3 Complete dump of a place. Who decorated this place? The three blind mice? So horrible, I can barely eat.
3-5 Below average space. The décor doesn’t match the theme, and it looks drab and boring.
5-6 Average décor. It’s acceptable and doesn’t ruin the experience, but it could use a ton of work to spruce this space up.
6-7 I see what they’re trying to do, and it sort of works, but needs some work to make it much better. There are still some major faults.
7-8 Nice looking place, and fits the mold of the restaurant nicely. Could use some tweaking though
8-9 Very nice space. It’s clear they spent a ton of dough in there. Great theming, if it’s a theme restaurant.
9-9.5 Excellent looking space. Looks new, impeccably maintained, fits the theme appropriately, and high end materials used. Good music to go with as well
9.6-9.9 Absolutely gorgeous looking with no real fault anywhere. Ultra high-end finishes, perfectly themed if it’s a theme restaurant.
10 Perfect in every single regard. Doesn’t matter if the food stinks here, because the décor makes everything just perfect.

Service

0 What service? I had to kill the chicken, de-feather it, marinate it, and cook it, then go to my vegetable garden for my salad ingredients.
1-3 What is this place? Help yourself heaven? Why are the servers cursing me out?
3-5 Rude service, messed up my order, waited for hours to get a meal.
5-6 Wait staff was not friendly and seemed preoccupied with something else. Orders were botched up as well
6-7 Wait staff was not friendly, but at least they got the order right, or vice versa.
7-8 Wait staff either tried too hard and failed, or was just too overbearing. Orders were right.
8-9 Service was very good and made me feel like leaving a good tip. There may have been an honest mistake in the order, but I can clearly overlook that.
9-9.5 Excellent service. The staff all were in sync with each other and the meal went very smoothly with no mistakes. The wait staff was very friendly and knew the menu well
9.6-9.9 Impeccable service, staff nailed everything, made me feel good about myself and my experience there. Completely sold me on the food and knew the menu inside out.
10 Perfect in every single regard. Human beings this perfect should not be waiters and restaurant staff.

Food

0 What food? There were things still moving on my plate, and it wasn’t melting chocolate on my lava cake…
1-3 I had better food at the local soup kitchen.
3-5 Not even good for fast food
5-6 Like fast food
6-7 Think Cracker Barrel, Ruby Tuesdays, TGI Fridays
7-8 Respectable table service food. They clearly have a chef who knows how to cook
8-9 Very good food. Cooked to my liking and flavorful. There were a couple of things that could have been done better, but an overall satisfying meal
9-9.5 Excellent food, cooked to my liking, presented well with little or no real fault to find
9.6-9.9 Unbelievably delicious. Can’t find this anywhere else, cooked to perfection, elegant presentation, robust flavors that work well together
10 Perfect in every sense. Must be a world reknowned chef. Every bite is just heaven.

Value

0 What value? I paid $100 and didn’t eat anything
1-3 Huh? You’re charging me $50 for a stick of gum?
3-5 You’ve got to be kidding me. I could eat the same meal at McDonalds three times over for the price you’re charging me.
5-6 Didn’t think this meal should be that expensive. I feel like I got ripped off.
6-7 A tad on the expensive side for the meal I had.
7-8 I got what I paid for.
8-9 Good value. Should be spending more for what I ate. Nice surprise.
9-9.5 Excellent Value. They really need to think about raising their prices.
9.6-9.9 Unbelievable value. An absolute steal for the quality of the meal. Maybe the best kept secret around
10 How is this possible? I ate like a king and my wallet feels no pain!


Overall

0 Can’t possibly be worse. If I typed the words to describe the dining experience here, I’d be banned.
1-3 Overall a terrible meal. I would rather have gone hungry
3-5 Would not recommend this restaurant to anyone. Everything was generally subpar.
5-6 There were a few good moments, but overall a negative experience
6-7 I would neither recommend nor not recommend this restaurant. It was just OK.
7-8 It was a positive experience. Things could have been better, but I enjoyed it.
8-9 I had a great dining experience at this restaurant. I highly recommend this place. A few glitches here and there detracted the meal, however.
9-9.5 Excellent restaurant and dining experience. Great menu, great service, and décor. A must do.
9.6-9.9 One of the best restaurants I’ve ever been to. Every facet was awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment.
10 The best restaurant I’ve ever been to. There’s nothing that could have been better, just perfect in every sense.

Note that the overall grade will not be an average of the for areas sub-areas. As the days go by, I will post reviews of the restaurants listed above. Please feel free to express your thoughts, agrees, disagrees, etc. I hope you all enjoy!

This has got to be the most thoroughly entertaining ratings guide I've ever seen! Just the first part of the Service ratings make me think you were going to dine at the Plimoth Plantation! :rotfl2:

Somewhere out there, I thought the Soviet judge must be smiling at the minutiae. ;)

Where: Downtown Disney
Date: Saturday, May 9, 2009
Time: 8:15 PM
Party Size: 4 Adults, 2 Children, 1 Infant

The T-Rex Café
Overall
The T-Rex Café is something that you probably should do once, since it is so unique, but I don’t think I need to tell anyone that this place is a one-time deal only. I walked out of there wondering why I made this reservation in the first place, but I know that if I never ate here before, I would sacrifice the subpar food to experience the dino-crazed environment, even if I was told that it was too loud and crowded. I guess this is a place you do need to do once, just to get it over with. Just be aware that it may frighten your younger ones.

The Last Word: 6.0 A notch above fast food, typical of your Ruby Tuesdays / TGI Fridays, but over the top theming. Way to loud and crowded.

I knew I'd want to stay far away from this place because I've been warned about the loudness and mediocrity by people I know who've been there. Sorry you had to endure that. :headache:

Where: Epcot – World Showcase, United Kingdom
Date: Sunday, May 10, 2009
Time: 7:50 PM
Party Size: 2 Adults

Rose & Crown is an English pub-style restaurant in Epcot.

Everything, from the tables, chairs, benches, floors, lighting, etc was themed correctly, including the staff- the front desk check-in people, ushers, and servers were all in full English pub mode, and were all either really from England or had a great accent.

No, they are really from the UK. All the countries have cast members who sign up for a year's stint in the International Program. It's always fun to chat with cast members about their countries.

I can’t stress enough how much I felt like I was not in Florida, but in an actual English pub.

Disney really got that right in Epcot. The level of detailing is amazing. You'll find similar depth of detailing in every World Showcase country.

Food
Bread was hot. That’s a great start! Both the wife and I ordered the Steak and Fish, both medium rare, with me opting for the chips as opposed to the mashed potatoes. First, the steak- the quality of the meat was not great, but good enough. It’s probably comparable to an Outback steak. However, both of our steaks were cooked perfectly. As for the fish, we were also pleasantly surprised at how well it was prepared. The fish itself was good, not great, but the batter was crispy and light, and it did not give us that “greasy” feeling that many other fish ‘n chips orders do. The chips were your standard fare french fries. Again, they were OK, not great. The green beans were fresh and cooked to perfection- crunchy, but without that raw vegetable taste. I’m not sure of the other dishes or any of the appetizers (we were on the regular dining plan), but our main dishes really hit the spot. The food quality was mediocre, but the execution and preparation was A+. For dessert, I ordered the Baileys Irish Cream Trifle and the wife had the ice cream sundae (kids menu). The sundae was not that good, but my Trifle was excellent. Call it an Irish cream chocolate parfait. Overall, we were very pleased with the food. Although the quality of the steak isn’t the best, it’s perfectly fine for what this place is- an English pub.

Food Grade: 8.1

If you wanted those same fish and chips and didn't have an ADR, the Yorkshire County (Harry Ramsden's) take out window is attached to the pub, and it's a fraction of the cost of the menu item in the dining room. Just something to keep in mind next time. Oh....sticky toffee pudding. Heavenly. Although the trifle you had sounds good to me, too. Next time, try the pudding.

Where: Polynesian Resort
Date: Monday, May 11, 2009
Time: 9:30 PM
Party Size: 2

O’Hana is a family-style all-you-can-eat restaurant serving various meats with some starters. It fell well short in our book of what we would consider a classic fire pit barbeque meal. It was a poor man’s (and I mean very poor) Brazilian Churrascaria.

Bingo. I would have described it as similar in concept to one of those Brazilian places.


Food
This is where O’Hana falls off the cliff. We started out with pineapple bread, which was dry and cold. It may have tasted better if it was right out of the oven, but it was obvious that it had been a while since that piece of bread saw any heat. Then came the salad, which actually was pretty good. I don’t recall the name of the dressing, but it was the tastiest part of our meal. We then got a large bowl of chicken wings and fried dumplings. The teriyaki sauce on the wings was so thick and gooey, we were sure they were pre-made frozen wings that were microwaved. Honestly, you could go to Costco and buy teriyaki wings that taste far better. The dumplings were of the same frozen ilk. The batter was heavy, hard to chew, and the sauce on top of it literally tasted like caramel. The batter really dominated the taste, and the flavors did not go well together at all. Next came a large bowl of broccoli that was so mushy and watery that we may have gotten the “bottom of the barrel” on that one. Our serving was clearly the fresh batch made at 6pm, not 9pm. Up next was yet another large bowl of lo mein noodles. The noodles were clearly of the instant variety that was boiled, then stir fried, except that part of the noodles were soggy, and another part was still crunchy and hard. The marinating tasted like soy sauce with sugar/starch. That was it. No veggies, meat, just instant noodles that wasn’t prepared correctly, soy sauce, and sugar. Then came the meats. When I saw servers walking around with skewers, it reminded me of those Brazilian Churrascarias, except that the selection of meat at O’Hana was the following: One type of beef, turkey, pork and shrimp. The beef was a low quality cut, as it was very stringy and dry. I am not a well-done eater, but even well done steak that is good steak is tender and juicy. I asked for a medium rare piece, and twenty minutes later, when we were done with our meal, the server came back and said “Here’s your medium rare piece” and it was just as well done as the first one. Considering the quality, I wasn’t about to wait another 20 minutes to be disappointed again, so I left it at that. The pork tenderloin was about as hard as my briefcase and lacked any flavor whatsoever. Inedible. The turkey was average- Definitely on the dry side, but it was edible and actually had a bit of flavor. The shrimp was overly well done and soggy. Again, it had little to no flavor. To boot, it still had the shell on it so we had to peel them manually. Not horrible if they would change out my plate once in a while. Well, onto dessert. The bread pudding tasted stale and bland. Again, maybe it’s because we had a later dinner reservation, but stale?? The pudding part was good, and the ice cream on top was good was well. Actually, that ice cream was probably the second best part of the meal, after the salad. Even if the bread was warm, and the beef came out medium rare, the food still would have been poor, as it is obvious that the quality of the meats themselves is of a subpar grade, the chefs are not that good as the marinades and flavors are also subpar, and they use a lot of frozen, pre-packaged foods. The sheer amount of food was enormous for two people. It could easily have fed 6-8. I hope they donate leftover food to local charities, because it would be a monumental waste of food not to.

Food Grade: 4.9

Wow. Had I been served that food, I'd have talked with a manager. I've asked for medium-rare before, and it had taken a while for some reason. But I was lucky enough to get a nice bowl full of meat cooked correctly. And FYI, ever since I'd first tried this place in 1996, the shrimp has always been the peel it yourself variety. I don't think I've ever gotten a plate change at any visit, now that I think about it.

I'd say you'd have gotten a better meal at Kona Café, but it wouldn't have scored high on décor. The food is on the better side of decent, though.

Very nice reviews so far! I give them an 8.6149563. :laughing:
(Hope you don't mind my snarky responses. :flower3:)

[webcreatrix]

about T-Rex. I have no desire to repeat last year's Rainforest Cafe experience and hold my 3 yo son through lunch!

[princessbride6205]

Loving your reviews, and completely agree with you so far.

[MickeyNicki]

Wow, loving the detailed reviews.

Thanks for the T-Rex one....we were going to eat there on our arrival day in June but I think we will stick with WPE instead.

[TheDWord]

I knew I'd want to stay far away from this place because I've been warned about the loudness and mediocrity by people I know who've been there. Sorry you had to endure that. :headache:

If I didn't have to tend to my daughter the whole time, I think I might have enjoyed it a bit more, but you sum it up pretty well- loud and mediocre.

No, they are really from the UK. All the countries have cast members who sign up for a year's stint in the International Program. It's always fun to chat with cast members about their countries.

Well that makes a whole lot of sense! No wonder! And I was thinking "the hiring process must be pretty stringent.." :rotfl2:

If you wanted those same fish and chips and didn't have an ADR, the Yorkshire County (Harry Ramsden's) take out window is attached to the pub, and it's a fraction of the cost of the menu item in the dining room. Just something to keep in mind next time. Oh....sticky toffee pudding. Heavenly. Although the trifle you had sounds good to me, too. Next time, try the pudding.

I'll definitely try that next time- thanks for the tip :thumbsup2

Very nice reviews so far! I give them an 8.6149563. :laughing:
(Hope you don't mind my snarky responses. :flower3:)

:rotfl: is that pi squared?

[TheDWord]

Great start. Can't wait to read the rest. So glad you liked Rose & Crown--it's been one of our favorites for years.

We really enjoyed it. I can see why it can become a favorite for someone

[ChelleinNC]

I'm in :goodvibes

[chrisw127]

Great reviews. I can't wait to read more.

[TheDWord]

Great reviews. I can't wait to read more.

Thank you. I'll have a couple more tomorrow.

[TheDWord]

I'm in :goodvibes

Welcome!

[BriarRosie]

Take your time. I know it's got to take a while to write all those posts! And since I'm a procrastinator, it took me a few months to complete my own food reports, so beggars can't be choosers. :rolleyes1

[fizz13]

Wow, these are possibly the most detailed well explained reviews I have read on the DIS so far, you absolutely explain the reasoning behind the marks given and i am really enjoying every one. Thankyou so much for posting and look forward to more:goodvibes

[TheDWord]

Where: Animal Kingdom, Africa
Date: Sunday, May 10, 2009
Time: 10:20 AM
Party Size: 4 Adults, 2 Children, 1 Infant

The Tusker House character buffet breakfast is located in the Africa region of Animal Kingdom. We were really looking forward to this breakfast having heard so many good things about it from here and from other people we know, and I must say it did not disappoint!

Décor
From the outside, you would never know this was a restaurant, just another building in Africa. There is a Tusker House sign on the building that looks more like a bus depot sign than anything else. There is a large outdoor waiting area with tables and chairs (the Dawa Bar) and when your name is called, you are led to the back of the building to a photo-op spot, then into the restaurant. It was extremely hot that day, and I remember thinking that they should have had people wait inside, but just then, a group of African dancers in full native gear started to put on a show- I imagine a traditional dance of some sort. :rockband: It was great and I thoroughly enjoyed it, though I couldn’t get to see the whole routine as our names were called relatively quickly (gotta love ADR’s!). Once we took our family photo, we went inside. There are two main dining rooms, one on the left and the other on the right, with a central buffet room. The space is themed very nicely, from the floors, to the worn down stone walls, to the fabrics hanging from the ceiling (very nice tough). The tables were distanced well so it was very kid friendly. The buffet area is expansive so you never really run into other people and get what you want relatively quickly. I did spot a few dislikes however with the space. You enter the restaurant right into the central buffet room, which has a feel of one of those large rest areas off a major interstate. It felt more like a busy lobby than a restaurant. You make a left once you walk in and there is a very wide alcove with the restrooms, like it was intentioned for high traffic, not a restaurant. The buffet tables and settings looked older and tired, though I’m sure it was intentional in maintaining the safari village motif, but it made me believe the food was going to follow suit. The glass over the tables were stained in need of some windex and the plates that had the food in it looked like they came straight out of the $0.99 store. I understand trying to keep up with a particular theme, and here, it is supposed to be the Harambe marketplace, but in my opinion, certain things need to look new and fresh, like the place where the food is being taken from, and the flow of the restaurant needs to remain like a restaurant. The tables and chairs also seemed quite ordinary and something you would find anywhere. There were also too many artifacts and “stuff” hanging on the walls, and even though they were all appropriate for the setting, it was too much and made it look less authentic and more touristy. A great theme restaurant should really immerse you in that environment and Tusker House did deliver, but there were a few things that needed some more attention.

Décor Grade: 7.2

Service
While we were still settling down, getting the baby in the high chair, etc, our server was already filling up our juices and the coffee pot was on the table. As soon as we were completely settled, she explained very nicely what Tusker House offered, then we were free to go get our food. It was very impressive how quickly they were able to get us settled in and off to the buffet tables. The server was very friendly, and although she wasn’t much of a conversationalist, she always had a smile on her face and made us feel very welcome. We never came back from the buffet area to old plates still on the table, and our juice cups were always full. Even though there wasn’t much interaction, we knew she was on the ball and that we were taken care of. Since this was a character meal, the wait staff may be instructed to let the characters do the interacting, so it may have been intentional anyways. Also, with three small children, we were sort of a high maintenance table, and that morning, there was unusually more beverage spillage than normal, and we had to make several separate requests for more napkins, more straws, more kid cups, etc. I never got the feeling that she was getting fed up with us and really appreciated her willingness to understand and help- all with a genuine smile on her face. Our youngest (nearly 2) also is allergic to dairy, eggs, nuts and shellfish. A chef came out quickly and recommended a dish for her, and her food came out shortly thereafter. Totally seamless. Our server did forget to bring us an extra coffee cup and we actually had to ask another server, but I’m sure it was an honest mistake. All in all, we had a fantastic server. I never understood why the mandatory 18% gratuity for large parties also applied to buffets, but here, it was much deserved.

Service Grade: 8.9

Food
First off, the juice, which had a passion fruit, guava-like taste, was superb. I must have downed 4 to5 glasses! My first plate was a biscuit and gravy, some bacon and a sausage patty, a veggie frittata, some corned beef hash, and the beef quiche. My next plate was the scrambled eggs, yam casserole, ham and cheese frittata, honey glazed ham and another sausage patty (Yes, I was very full). The breads and danishes were all fresh and soft. The items that stood out were the sausage patty, which was delicious, the frittatas, which were seasoned perfectly and the quiche. Highly recommend. A couple of items that didn’t hit the mark for me were the scrambled eggs (a bit on the watery side), and the bacon (they were very thin strips and a little too stringy and chewy). I must say that for a buffet, the food was excellent and there was a good variety. It’s hard enough that it’s a breakfast, but a buffet to boot? It far exceeded our expectations, and they were pretty lofty considering all the good things we heard. Again, for a buffet breakfast, we couldn’t have asked for better food.

Food Grade: 8.2

Character Interaction
At Tusker House, we met Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, and Mickey Mouse. Each character spent about a minute with us, and did what you would expect them to do- be in character, take pictures, sign autographs, then move on to the next table. After making their rounds, Goofy led a human congo line to some upbeat music, which was fun and a nice added touch. My two older ones loved the characters, but my baby was screaming in fright when Goofy got close to her. It was hilarious. One negative thing I noticed was that after the congo line was finished, and Goofy was leaving the room, one of the kids in the room had not gotten a photo with Goofy and the mom and the kid went after Goofy, but he totally ignored them. He was off duty, and that was it. Needless to say, mom and child were not happy campers. It’s one thing if there are a lot of kids around you and at some point you have to draw the line, but there was only that one kid and it would not have taken longer than a few seconds. Bad job by Goofy in my book.

Character Interaction: Good

Value
Our breakfast came out to $121.94 for 6 people plus the baby, who got her own special plate of dairy/egg-free food, free of charge. $19+tax/tip per adult is not a cheap breakfast by any means, but considering the great food, that it’s a buffet, and the good characters interaction, I think we paid a fair price. If they threw in the photo-op picture for free then it would have been a good value deal.

Value Grade: 7.8

Overall
We had a splendid breakfast at Tusker House, and I would recommend this place to anyone. The food was very good with a lot of variety, the service was stellar, and the character interaction made for a great Disney experience for the kids. I feel bad for the kid that got stiffed by Goofy, and left me with a somewhat bitter taste when I left, but aside from that and a couple of other little things, I thought this was a worthwhile dining experience that should be on everyone’s ADR list.

The Last Word: 8.3 An excellent character breakfast buffet with better than expected food, top-notch service (even for a buffet), all in an immersive atmosphere.

[natalielongstaff]

Great review of Tuker house, ive never been but it sounds fab :thumbsup2

[MelanieC]

Great reviews. Sorry you didn't care for Ohana - we love it there. Although on any given day a restaurant can be off or on. We are giving T-Rex a try this year too. I'm going in with an open mind. I've eaten at RFC and really don't love it - so I'm going in with that kind of expectation and just know that I"m doing it because my son wants to eat there.

[TheDWord]

Where: Contemporary Resort
Date: Monday, May 11, 2009
Time: 8:30 AM
Party Size: 4 Adults, 2 Children, 1 Infant

Chef Mickey’s breakfast is a buffet style character breakfast served in the grand concourse level of the Contemporary Resort. We had called over and over again to get this ADR to no avail, until about a week before our arrival. We were ecstatic to secure the reservation and expectations were high. Was Mickey’s breakfast worth the ADR stress? Read on!

Décor
Chef Mickey’s is on the eastern end of the Contemporary Resort main floor. If you know the CR, then you know that the grand concourse is the ground floor of a huge atrium, with the hotel rooms lining the sides of the atrium. There is a curved wall that separates Chef Mickeys from another restaurant adjacent to it. Upon entering, there is a photo-op area before you are situated. The layout of the restaurant is a bit awkward. We were situated all the way around the bend, right next to the kitchen doors. There were steps leading up to another small dining room behind us. There is one main, winding walkway, with the buffet area on one side and the tables on the other. Think of the walkway as one big backwards “S”. There are images on the walls of the characters, which made the space more fun, but with the open ceiling, you couldn’t escape the fact that you were in a hotel concourse area, as you could see the rooms and the monorail from inside the restaurant. It felt like a part of the concourse was sectioned off, temporary walls were put up, paint and carpet added, and finalized with some Mickey Mouse paraphernalia. The furniture also looked very 1980’s with clashing colors, and didn’t really excite me too much. The buffet area size was adequate, but there were times when it seemed too crowded there. Table spacing was also adequate, I did observe some cramped areas in the corner, and in the small room behind us. Overall, I was not impressed at all with Chef Mickey’s décor, and thought that much more could be done to make this place more in line with what the name would suggest.

Décor Grade: 5.5

Service
The service was what you would expect to get for a buffet. We were seated relatively quickly. My youngest one is allergic to dairy and eggs among other things, and I had that noted when I made the ADR. There were other places that already knew of our situation and one of the chefs came out to meet us before we had to tell them about the allergies, but not Chef Mickey’s. I had to alert the server, who then promptly brought out a chef, who then had a special plate prepared for my daughter. The server wasn’t neither friendly nor rude, just did her job, and did an admirable job. Old plates were always cleared away before we came back, and coffee and juice refills were timely. For a buffet, we got exactly what we would expect in terms of service.

Service Grade: 7.0

Food
I started out with the three-cheese omelet, a couple of sausage links and bacon strips, and the corn bread over corn beef hash. Wow. The corn beef hash was just right- not too salty, yet salty enough that it went perfectly together with the corn bread, which was hot and fresh. My second plate featured the vegetable lasagna, breakfast pizza, and a Mickey waffle. The lasagna was awesome. The veggies in the lasagna were still crisp and fresh, like it was just made. It really was restaurant quality. Can’t say enough about that lasagna. The breakfast pizza was also very good, as was the Mickey waffle. What didn’t do it for me was the sausage links (very bland and rubbery), the bacon (small, stringy, too chewy) and the three cheese omelet (more like scrambled eggs with a slight coating of cheese on top- no flavor). By then, I was completely stuffed, but after another helping of the lasagna, I went for some fruit to top off my meal. The grapes were sweet, perfectly ripe, the melons were also very sweet, especially for this time of year. I was so stuffed, but I wanted to keep going on. Thankfully, my wife’s “What?! You’re for more? How disgusting!” staredown got the better of me and I called it a meal. Overall, the food was better than expected, and certain dishes, like the lasagna and the corn beef hash really hit the spot.

Food Grade: 8.4

Character Interaction
Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto came to visit us. They all were very attentive and made sure every person had an opportunity to take a picture with them. They were also in full character, as you would expect, and really made the atmosphere lively and entertaining. I just love seeing the faces of kids shine as they see their favorite character approaching. Minnie Mouse spent a lot of time at our table, maybe because my 3-year old daughter wouldn’t let go of her. She had her in that deep, intimate hug, with the eyes closed and everything, for a good 30 seconds. I’m thankful Minnie obliged for that whole duration. It was super sweet. Overall, I’d say we got what we expected, with the exception of Minnie, who was extra special that day.

Character Interaction: Very Good

Value
The total meal cost $146.84 for 4 adults and two children, plus a special plate for my baby who has the allergies (at no cost). At $22.99 per adult, it is a very expensive breakfast. The food was great and the character interaction was good, but I think this is a tad too hefty for breakfast. They didn’t even throw in the photo-op picture. Maybe there’s a Contemporary Resort premium or something but I think you could find cheaper alternatives that’ll give you better value for the experience.

Value Grade: 6.8

Overall
All things considering, we had a good time at Chef Mickey’s. The food was better than I would have expected for a breakfast buffet, and the character interaction was lively and fun. The restaurant space itself was not impressive at all, and looked tired and probably needs a lot of 21st century upgrading, but I don’t believe that factor detracted that much from our experience.

The Last Word: 7.7 Really unique breakfast foods with a taste to match is a bit pricey and the space could use a makeover, but overall a solid experience

[princessbride6205]

Again, stellar reviews. Love your level of detail and style of reviews.
Chef Mickey's has the best character interaction we've had at a meal (with Playhouse Disney Breakfast a very close 2nd). But I have to agree with you about the decor needing an update.
Tusker House breakfast - agree with you on this one, however I was less happy with the adequate service. As a waitress, our server was fine, but I had read in the Disney Dining Guide (a few years ago now) that the servers do all kinds of funny antics, and ours didn't do any. :confused3 I wonder if they've taken it out of the guide book by now...

Looking forward to more!

[BriarRosie]

Oooh, you're making me hungry for breakfast! I've never had Tusker House or Chef Mickey's breakfasts. My favorite breakfast buffet is Boma.

It sounds like Tusker House has similar juice to Boma. At Boma, it's called Frunch, and it's a juice blend, too. But the press-pot coffee puts Boma over the top for me. Well, same with Kona Cafe. They also have a signature juice blend (Lilikoi) and press-pot coffee.

And I'm a sucker for corned beef hash. The breakfast lasagna sounded very appealing. The most surprising item I ever found on a breakfast buffet was at Disneyland. Well, the Grand Californian resort (Storyteller's Cafe). They had broccolini on the buffet, and I went to town on it. (Yes, I'm strange, but hey, it was great!)

[SereneOne]

I'm in!:surfweb:

[kimgof]

I am loving your reviews. They are very informative. And I love your rating system! We were thinking of trying TRex but maybe just going for dessert. I heard that is extremely pricey but the atmosphere sounds interesting. My kids love the Rainforest Cafe but I can go to that here, no reason to hit it at Disney. I thought TRex would be different. Can't wait to read the rest of your reviews. I'll be waiting.popcorn::

[Schminston-Mo]

Great reviews so far! Thank you for taking the time! I love the rankings.

[JadeOfTheJungle]

Awesome reviews :thumbsup2 Amazingly detailed. Can't wait to read more. popcorn::

[TheDWord]

Where: Magic Kingdom, Cinderella’s Castle
Date: Monday, May 11, 2009
Time: 2:20 PM
Party Size: 3 Adults, 2 Children

Cinderella’s Royal Table is a character meal featuring Cinderella and a few other Disney princesses (only for breakfast and lunch- Cinderella fairlygodmother only at dinner). It is located inside Cinderella’s castle in Magic Kingdom, I believe in either the second or third floor. Considering that this was 2 TS credit meal and the fact that this was one tough ADR to secure, we had some pretty lofty expectations going in.

Décor
As soon as you check in, the experience begins. You are officially guests of Cinderella and are led to a photo-op with Cinderella herself. I really liked the décor in the first floor- knights, stone walls, large medieval banners, spiral stone staircase with a balcony, a big fireplace, etc. It really does set the mood and takes you to a fairytale land. But, it was really crowded in there, and there was a long line to the photo op. I think it was a mistake to have that many people in the photo-op room. Once the experience begins, people should be able to start soaking up the atmosphere. Instead, waiting on a winding line for the photo was like waiting on line for a ride, and took away from the immersive feeling you got when you first walk in. Once we took our photos with Cinderella, we were told to wait on the side until our names were called, which contributed to the crowded feeling. Then, all of a sudden, I hear someone call out our name in a loud voice, saying that the royal family is inviting us to dine with them in their royal banquet hall, and proceeds to give us an invitation. From there, we head on upstairs via the spiral staircase. The dining room does look alike a medieval banquet hall, and the cathedral-like windows add a lot to the atmosphere. All the servers are dressed like they are servers at a royal castle, the tables have runners with a royal-like emblem on them, the light fixtures, chandeliers, and sconces are fairytale/rustic and fit very nicely with the overall décor, and the room felt very open with nice high ceilings with ornate wood trim and high arching columns. The main dining floor is a multi-level room, with the center part sunken in a couple of steps, which added some depth to the space. Table spacing was also nice and roomy, great for kids to pose with the characters without bothering the next table. One thing I would change out are the chairs- didn’t seem too castle-like at all. Would have been nice to see the wooden chairs with the high backs and fancy woodwork- instead, they were quite ordinary. Overall, however, I was impressed with the decorations and it felt engaging and absorbing.

Décor Grade: 8.3

Service
When we first walked in for the photo op, there was a line usher who was totally out of character, who was more interested in making sure the line was moving with optimal efficiency than putting a smile on her face and being a true squire of the court. I understand it’s crowded and you need to keep the line moving, but can you at least do it with a smile? Isn’t that the Disney prime directive? Do everything with a smile? In any event, once we were seated, our waiter immediately said “Welcome to the royal banquet my lord,” which kind of caught me off guard. Did he just call me “my lord??” He was very friendly, explained the menu very well, was always pleasant in his demeanor, and nailed our order to a tee. The only negative, and this is not his fault, is that it started getting a bit too weird for me when he constantly would refer to me as “my lord.” “More diet coke, my lord?” “Are you still working on that, my lord?” “My lord, princess Snow White is approaching.” I started feeling uncomfortable. I even told him, “Hey- you don’t have to call me that.” He said “Sure thing, my lord.” Another positive thing of note was that it just so happened that in one of our photos with Cinderella, our daughter had her eyes closed. Mind you, these pictures are included in the meal. Well, the photo person came to our table, told us our daughter’s eyes were closed, and offered to retake a new photo with Cinderella. We did just that, and the second picture came out great. Cinderella was very gracious as well, as her photo op time was over, and she actually went back to the photo op place to retake the photo with my daughter. They did not have to do that, especially since the pictures were already covered, so I really appreciate the gesture. So, other than the creepy salutation from the waiter and the non-smiling, semi rude usher, I thought the service was great.

Service Grade: 8.1

Food
I was a bit disappointed when I saw the menu because it only had 5 entrée choices and a tasting plate. The tasting plate was essentially a cheese plate with prosciutto, olives and some salad. Generally, it was pretty forgettable and wasn’t very good at all. The cheese was a bit too hard, like they had left it in the refrigerator without an airtight seal. For our entrée, I had the pan seared salmon and the wife and our friend had the major domo pie, which was supposedly their specialty. The salmon itself was fresh and tasted OK, but I think they may have cooked it at too high a temperature, or left it in the pan too long. Good salmon should taste like it was cooked just beyond rare, where it’s still juicy and it nearly melts in your mouth. Also, the seasoning and sauce is an absolute key to good salmon, and CRT missed the mark here as well, as the sauce was just too bland. I see where they were trying to go with it, a creamy, lemony sauce, but as the fish by itself is bland, the sauce needs to be a bit overpowering to compensate. It’s really a fine line, as a sauce too overpowering takes away from the natural flavor of the fish. CRT really missed the boat on the preparation front which did not do justice to good piece of fish. Also, the side was a cole slaw-like salad concoction that just did not go with the salmon. It also had too much celery in it. The major domo pie is essentially shredded beef inside a light, flaky pastry. My wife enjoyed it, but I have to say that it could’ve been a lot better. My question was: Where’s the beef? There was some meat crowning the top of the pastry, but for the amount of bread, there was way too little meat. To make it worse, the little beef that was there was too tough, and not juicy enough in my opinion. The sauce was good however, and it went well with the bread and the mashed potatoes. The sauce definitely saved the dish from being a complete disaster. The kids had the chicken strips, which were OK, but clearly of a frozen, pre-packaged variety. For dessert, we all had some ice cream with fruit, nothing out of the ordinary neither good nor bad.

Food Grade: 5.7

Character Interaction
The rundown of princesses were: Cinderella for the photo-op, then at the lunch itself was Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Jasmine and Belle (blue/white outfit). The princesses were not overly engaging, and did what they were supposed to- say hello, pose for pictures, sigh autographs, then move on. They all pretty much had their plastic smiles on. However, that was enough to make a difference in the experience and brighten the day for my 3.5 year old daughter. I also especially appreciated Cinderella for going back to the photo-op place to retake the picture with my daughter. Very classy move.

Character Interaction: Very Good

Value
For 3 adults and 2 children, we paid a total of $204.12, based on $37.99 per adult and $24.99 per child. For the quality of food, it was a total ripoff. $38 bucks for some hard cheese, bland and overcooked salmon or a piece of bread with a little beef in it, and ice cream is way too much. Also, $25 bucks is also way too much for a couple of chicken fingers, fruit and ice cream. Thank goodness CRT is not just a restaurant. The real castle-like environment, 2 free photos with Cinderella, and the pictures/autographs/interaction with the other characters made the price much more palatable. If you go in to CRT looking at it as a princess experience in a castle with some food on the side, I guess the price is OK. However, if you’re on the DDP, this is definitely not worth two TS credits. We had meals in 1 TS credit restaurants for 5-6 people well over $150 so $200 here is not worth 2 TS credits. If this is a must on your ADR list, I would suggest going OOP on this and using your TS credits elsewhere, like true signature dining places.

Value Grade: 7.0

Overall
Despite a poor meal, we had a good experience at CRT. Again, I must stress that if you go to lunch here for the food, you will be disappointed. Aside from the food, which was for the most part terrible, the character interaction is good and the setting is very nice. You’re in Cinderella’s castle for pete’s sake! There could be some things done to the experience to make it better, like the logistics of the first few moments after you check in (the photo-op room is too crowded, line too long), better food, etc, but overall, it was a winner.

The Last Word: 7.5 Total captivation in fairytale land aside from a couple of hitches make up for a small menu selection and poor food.


One side note about the princess hair and makeup. I am by no means an expert on what good hair and make up is, but I can sure tell you just by observation what isn’t. Across the board, maybe with the exception of Jasmine, the hairpieces covered their foreheads too much, and the hairstyles themselves could’ve been done better- maybe introduce some modern styling techniques while maintaining the historic charm of the cartoon character. Their makeup was also so heavy it looked like it was just caked on and blowdried. Up close, you could see the layers upon layers of foundation. I guess since they do this so often, those elements become just part of the ordinary routine and may be overlooked, but a fresh makeover of these princesses would help a lot. Now don't misunderstand, I am not knocking the person behind the character at all! They were all fine and beautiful. I'm just talking about the hair and makeup.

[TheDWord]

Oooh, you're making me hungry for breakfast! I've never had Tusker House or Chef Mickey's breakfasts. My favorite breakfast buffet is Boma.

It sounds like Tusker House has similar juice to Boma. At Boma, it's called Frunch, and it's a juice blend, too. But the press-pot coffee puts Boma over the top for me. Well, same with Kona Cafe. They also have a signature juice blend (Lilikoi) and press-pot coffee.

I did hear about the juice at Boma. Maybe the same one. DW is a coffee connoisseur as well, so next time we'll be sure to try Boma.

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Thanks so much for your reviews. Your details and explanations really explained your opinions well. I have to agree with your assessment of CRT. For that price the food should be better. Can't wait to try Donald's Breakfast and your review was great encouragement.:goodvibes

[BriarRosie]

I always say that character meals are really about the character interaction first and foremost, and the food is just background. Once in a while, you'll hit a character meal that has good food options, so that's just a side benefit.

I typically don't do character meals much anymore because I'm an adult without children, often solo. If I'm with others who want a character meal, and I haven't been to one in a few years, I probably would go back to one again.

Because the Adventures by Disney tour of Hollywood and Disneyland usually has kid-friendly activities and meals, the majority of the inclusive meals at Disneyland were character meals. And I must say that I had been happy with the meals at the three character breakfasts we did....on the adults-only trip date. :laughing: I guess that filled my character meal quota for a while. ;)

[dd50]

Loved reading your reports. We are going to the CRT for the first time and not expecting good food but my daughter who is 15 and my granddaughter want to go. The 15 year old has wanted to go there since she was 3 but we never did. We also doing Chef Mickey and Tuker House. It's all about the characters this time.

[mickey2minnie1]

Love your reviews!

[ragtopday]

I'm in!
Enjoying the reviews, as well as your very detailed financial analysis in the other thread. Keep 'em coming!

[copperbrick]

Wow -- yours is an exceptionally smart series of posts -- I am so enjoying all you have to say. Thank you most dearly! :banana:

[Busymom85]

Great reviews! I love the all the details. Looking forward to more.

[disnut1149]

Hi
Great reviews!! Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to read more!!

[Maybelle]

Love your reviews so far!!!:goodvibes

[catho72]

I am enjoying your reviews! I totally agree with your review of Chef Mickey's decor.....we sat by the "temporary" wall (that's what I called it in my dining review, too) but after seeing recent pics, I think it's a permanent wall! I agree, since it's in a deluxe resort and is one of the most popular restaurants at WDW, the decor should reflect that. I was disappointed as well and feel it should get a makeover.

[JenniVamp]

Love the reviews!

Thanks for the info on how the infant handled the different restaurants. We're taking our DD to WDW for the first time and she's only been to restaurants a handful of times. At 1 year-old, who knows what fun we'll have! I'm nervous about 10+ days of daily restaurant visits, but feeling better as I hear how other infants handle WDW restaurants.

Thanks!

JenniVamp

[TheDWord]

Love the reviews!

Thanks for the info on how the infant handled the different restaurants. We're taking our DD to WDW for the first time and she's only been to restaurants a handful of times. At 1 year-old, who knows what fun we'll have! I'm nervous about 10+ days of daily restaurant visits, but feeling better as I hear how other infants handle WDW restaurants.

Thanks!

JenniVamp

Our little one is as vibrant as they come (both in good and bad ways)- she knows how to put a smile on people's faces, yet she also manages to time her meltdowns perfectly (for her, not us!). I've found that no matter which Disney restaurant you go to with your baby, people are for the most part expecting there to be small children and do not mind the typical antics of a small child (although there was a time our baby was so cranky I had to take her outside for a bit). Plus, there are usually others in the restaurant with infants so you never really feel like a stranger. I'm sure you'll do fine.

[TheDWord]

Where: Epcot, Norway
Date: Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Time: 8:50 AM
Party Size: 4 Adults, 3 Children

The Princess Storybook Breakfast in the Akershus Banquet Hall in Norway is a princess character breakfast, similar to the one at Cinderella’s Royal Table. As a 1 TS credit meal, we were curious to see what the differences would be between this and the CRT lunch we had experienced just a couple of days previously. When we planned these ADRs, my wife insisted that we have all three princess character meals in the itinerary, when I thought that one would be enough. I was definitely feeling like going somewhere else that morning, as I thought a) the meal would be subpar and b) this possibly couldn’t top the atmosphere at CRT, but being outnumbered 6-1, we forged ahead.

Décor
When we stepped into Epcot, which was about 8:15AM, I split off from the rest of the crew to collect fastpasses for Test Track. As a result, I took the side entrance into the World Showcase (the walkways to the right of Test Track over the water near the baby station) and immediately felt a strange sense of serenity as I peered over the waters with America and Italy in the far distance. The water was spotted with flower arrangements, which had the appearance of colorful water lilies as it spread out into the distance. What was particularly strange was that what was normally robust with life, activity and noise was quiet, empty, and almost lonely. The quiet serenity afforded me the opportunity to pause and just breathe in the atmosphere. I didn’t realize just how beautiful the place really was. The vast expanse that is the WS seemed even bigger that morning and without the distraction of crowds and noise, it made me appreciate even more just what Disney had done here. Something you won’t find anywhere else in the world. In any event, after I was done reflecting and taking a few pictures, I headed on over to Norway. The Akershus Royal Banquet Hall (“ARBH”) is a modest, stone structure, nothing too fancy on the outside. The inside, once you get by the princess photo-op area and into the restaurant, is bland, stale, and cheap. The walls are white brick and concrete, the floor was is a basic pattern carpet, and the furniture is a plain and ordinary, like what you would find in your typical diner. The continental buffet area is also outdated and tired. They accented the space with some apropos paraphernalia, but the space did not feel like a royal banquet hall in the least. If the intent was to spend as little as possible on the space, they could at least have gone all the way and made it look like a Norwegian peasant marketplace or some of that ilk. However, the feeling you get here is like they put “lipstick on a pig” and the space is a sorry excuse for interior design. The space also felt crowded as the continental buffet was off in a side room and the main dining room was a sea of tables relatively close to each other. It’s a shame to the country of Norway that the historic representation of a royal banquet hall could be so lame.

Décor Grade: 4.0

Service
The breakfast here is an all-you-can-eat family style meal where the server brings you hot breakfast foods in a large plate. You can also help yourself to a buffet area with cold foods like muffins, danishes, fruit and yogurt. Our server was for the most part devoid of a personality, reciting the scripted introduction, then not speaking another word the entire duration of the meal. He brought over one plate of food, then disappeared for the next 20 minutes or so. Mind you there were six of us eating and the one plate was probably enough for about 3-4 people. So we rationed out the food and waited for another one, thinking that they would give a table of 6 two plates of food, but it would not come. When we finally sighted the waiter twenty minutes later, we asked for more food. About ten minutes after that the food came out. Now my kids are really into sausage links, and almost exclusively ate that one item during this meal. As a result, we ran out of sausages but had a lot of potatoes and eggs left over. We hailed the waiter and asked him for just more sausages. Ten minutes later, he shows up again with a whole new plate of food with all the foods in it. When we told him we had only wanted more sausages, he looked at us like we were crazy and had that “what’s the big deal” look. We are really not into wasting food, and were disappointed that he had not listened to us properly the first time. He then proceeded to take a knife from the table and scrape off just the sausages from the plate, plunk them onto an existing plate on the table, then walked away with the new plate. We thought it was very rude and obnoxious of him to do that, and we never interacted with him again from that point on. Since the buffet area was self serve, there was no service there to comment on.

Service Grade: 3.6

Food
The breakfast food at ARBH consisted of cold foods like breads, danishes, yogurt, fruits, etc in a buffet area off to the side, and family-style hot foods in a platter served at the table. The hot foods were sausage links, bacon strips, home fries, and scrambled eggs. I found the food to be generally subpar, with absolutely no variety on the hot foods. The lineup of hot food is as basic as it gets when it comes to breakfast, and they could surely mix it up a lot more. The food itself I found generally subpar. The eggs were ok, but it was just scrambled eggs with nothing else in it. The bacon was thin, chewy and dry, and the sausage was a bit bland. The potatoes were also nothing home to write about. As for the cold food, nothing really stood out, except the yogurt. It was absolutely horrible. It was sour and chunky. Yuck. This was probably the worst breakfast we had during our time there, including all counter service restaurants.

Food Grade: 5.3

Character Interaction
For the photo-op, we took pictures with Belle in her yellow gown. During the meal, Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel (turquoise dress) and Sleeping Beauty worked the room. Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty were both OK, not overly in character, but friendly and talkative. We all agreed that Snow White was most in character, as her voice was just like the movie, in that high pitched, squealy inflection in every word. Her comments were also very cute and what you would expect Snow White to say. Ariel was also very much in character. She would say how she loved to collect things and even referenced a fork on the table as a dinglehopper. It was actually very funny. Overall, the characters were very good, took their time at each table, and were quite talkative. It even got my son (almost 5), who is not a big fan of Disney princesses, involved and laughing. The moment of the breakfast came when my daughter asked my son “Where is Prince charming, prince eric, prince philip, beast, and prince snow white?” and my son answered “They all went out to hunt for food. What would we eat if they didn’t go out hunting?” We all had a big laugh out of that.

Character Interaction: Excellent

Value
For 4 adults and two children (plus an infant who got a dairy free plate free of charge), the total was $185.93. $28.99 per adult for breakfast is an extraordinarily high price for breakfast, even if the food were fantastic! Considering the average tasting food with no variety, subpar décor, and horrible service, the price seems even more expensive. The great character interaction mitigates the price somewhat, but comes nowhere close to being a place of any value, even with the two free photo-op pictures.

Value Grade: 4.3

Overall
Although everything about the meal was poor, the character interaction made it a fun time and somewhat alleviated an otherwise horrible experience at an outrageous price. The restaurant could use an extreme makeover in both the space and the menu. What made the food at places like Chef Mickey’s and Tusker House so great was that there was a wide variety and creativity in the dishes- it just pleases a wider audience than just your run of the mill bacon, sausage, potato and eggs. As for the service, I can only grade based on what we experienced, but I have to assume here our level of service was the outlier, as it typically cannot be this bad. As I’ve iterated before with CRT, you certainly cannot do breakfast here looking for good food or an immersive atmosphere. It really is ALL about the princesses in Norway.

The Last Word: 5.5 A fun character interaction saves this from being an utterly dissatisfying experience across the board.

[DeeCeeSW]

'OHANA 'OHANA 'OHANA:headache:

Perhaps you were expecting Irish fare at O'Hana, and that's why it was a disappointment?! :upsidedow

[TigerKat]

The water was spotted with flower arrangements, which had the appearance of colorful water lilies as it spread out into the distance. What was particularly strange was that what was normally robust with life, activity and noise was quiet, empty, and almost lonely. The quiet serenity afforded me the opportunity to pause and just breathe in the atmosphere. I didn’t realize just how beautiful the place really was. The vast expanse that is the WS seemed even bigger that morning and without the distraction of crowds and noise, it made me appreciate even more just what Disney had done here. Something you won’t find anywhere else in the world.

You described, so very well, my favorite place in the world.:cloud9:

[TheDWord]

'OHANA 'OHANA 'OHANA:headache:

Perhaps you were expecting Irish fare at O'Hana, and that's why it was a disappointment?! :upsidedow

:rotfl: I knew there was an apostrophe in there somewhere! Sadly, I don't think the missplaced ' had anything to do with just plain old bad food...

[TheDWord]

Where: Disney Hollywood Studios
Date: Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Time: 2:40 PM
Party Size: 4 Adults, 3 Children

The Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater is a theme restaurant centered around a 1950’s drive in movie theater. We had heard this was more of a burger ‘n fries type of place and thought that it wouldn’t be worth the 1 TS credit, so we went out of pocket on this one. The thought of eating in a classic car was appealing, especially for my son who is very much into cars, so like every other meal, we were also looking forward to this one.

Décor
The check-in area is right when you walk in, behind the main dining room. It’s like they started with a large empty warehouse, and inserted 4 movie scenery props as the four walls of the main dining room, because from the check-in desk, which is outside of the dining room, the walls were just large wooden frames, like the other side of movie scenery backgrounds. Maybe this was intentional, maybe not, but it did not look good at all. They really should think about updating this front area. The usher took us down the hall and into the dimly lit main dining room, which is a very large open room with a huge movie screen on the front wall, a high black ceiling, dotted with white specks to make it look like a starry night and some other props, like painted trees, hills, etc that gave it the appearance of an outdoor drive-in theater. For the most part, the atmosphere is immersive and you truly do feel like you are in a giant movie theater for cars. Very well done there. The cars themselves were 50’s style, with a myriad of bright colors, and fit the theme very well. Spacing was also good, so it did not seem too crowded. There were two types of seating- 1) row seating with three rows, and 2) table seating. The table seating did not really give you the car feel, as you basically are sitting across from each other at a regular table. The car hood and trunk is attached to either ends of the table. The table and chairs look like a rectangular cafeteria table and chairs you’d see in an elementary school. They could’ve made this option much more like a car, maybe like the inside of a limousine, but it is clear that the table option is just a cheap alternative to people who don’t want to sit in the rows. We opted for a more truer sense of drive-in dining and took one car with three rows. While this felt more like eating in a car, there was no conversation going on, except with the person I was sitting next to. We quickly realized that we should have opted for the table, as plain as it was, as we had to constantly get in and out of the bench to attend to the kids. Now this would not have been so bad if there was anything decent going on in the movie screen, but this is really where Sci-Fi falters. The show, which is just short clips of black and white 1950’s science fiction movies, is just plain boring, cheesy, uninteresting, dull and quite honestly, dumb. I just don’t find it entertaining in the least bit to watch a guy in an insect costume wreaking havoc on a fake countryside, or aliens with jetson’s-like laser guns walking around looking for humans to shoot. My attention span was less than 10 seconds to this, and even less so for my kids. They do put in some sporadic old cartoon clips in between the movie clips, but it looked like stick figures on a screen compared to cartoons of today, so even that was uninteresting to the kids. I understand that this is a 1950’s drive-in theater, but c’mon already- this is Disney! The creative minds there need to come up with something else here that will keep someone at least partially engaged to what’s coming up on the screen. Maybe add in real world previews of upcoming Disney movies or some interviews of the cast of Hannah Montana or HS Musical for the pre teens / teens or air mini episodes of popular Disney shows- something that infuses more of today’s Disney to keep things current and interesting.

Décor Grade: 6.0

Service
Our server at Sci-Fi was polite, friendly, and got everything in our order right. It was what you would expect from good service, though he wasn’t much for words (which is fine). He also knew in advance that our baby had dairy allergies, and had the chef come out to meet us before we even asked about that. That shows good coordination in the staff, from the reservation people all the way down to the server serving us. Although he didn’t really anticipate our needs, he was responsive and quick. Overall, we were very satisfied with the service.

Service Grade: 8.1

Food
I ordered the cheeseburger with swiss cheese, onion rings for two, and the cookies ‘n cream milkshake. The wife also went for the burger. Our friend had the Reuben, and the nanny ordered the grilled chicken sandwich. The onion rings were very good. Not too greasy, which is what I find with most onion rings, yet still crispy on the outside. The burger was a bit on the small side, but otherwise was your classic diner-esque cheeseburger. The french fries were also your typical notch above fast food french fries. I had heard that the food was so-so, but that the milkshakes here were the bomb. Well, that bomb must have been a dud because my oreo shake tasted like it was made with skim milk and had a slight watery taste. Great if I were trying to count the calories, but when you’re expecting the shake to be as fattening and calorie-filled as the entire meal itself, it was a letdown. Baskin Robbins shakes were far better. I guess the over hype going in made it even more disappointing. I wound up giving the shake to my kids, who didn’t want to finish it either. Our friend wrapped up her Reuben, and later said it was very good after she ate it that night. Our nanny mentioned that the chicken sandwich was just OK, and that the chicken was a bit dry and tough. The kids ordered the pizza, the mac and cheese and the hot dog meals. They were OK, your standard Disney kids food menu. For the most part, we expected diner-like food, and that’s exactly what we got, except for the milkshake.

Food Grade: 6.1

Value
The total bill came out to $107.82 for four adults and three children (including one with dairy allergies). Everyone ordered a meal, including the baby. It was our cheapest TS meal of the trip (on a per person basis), and our decision to go OOP on this one I think was a good one. Although the drive-in theme added to the experience, I’d have to say that the flaws mentioned above totally offset any benefit. For the caliber of food, $15+ per person all in is probably acceptable.

Value Rating: 7.4

Overall
We made this ADR for the ambiance and the feel of eating in a drive in theater, in a classic 50’s style car. For the most part, it did deliver, but the row seating cars, which is where you really get the feel, did not lend to a lot of communicating in a larger group setting. It also proved to be more of a hassle for us, as we were getting in and out of the row quite a few times to tend to our children. On top of that, the entertainment on the screen was outdated, boring, and cheesy. We weren’t necessarily expecting much in terms of food so its mediocrity didn’t really let us down too much. In conclusion, despite the major flaws at Sci-Fi, just going through that unique experience made this a good one-time only thing to do.

The Last Word: 6.5 Boring and dull on-screen entertainment mars an otherwise fun atmosphere with diner quality food.

[NWOhioAngela]

On top of that, the entertainment on the screen was outdated, boring, and cheesy.

Outdated and cheesy. Isn't that the point?!?!

I'm never impressed with the food there either, but we enjoy the cheesy old movies. I think this is one of those love it/hate it places.

[PookieB]

'OHANA 'OHANA 'OHANA:headache:

Perhaps you were expecting Irish fare at O'Hana, and that's why it was a disappointment?! :upsidedow

:rotfl: This is what I'm hoping! Or that it's a hit or miss experience. I'll find out next month.

Great DR BTW!

[ChelleinNC]

Outdated and cheesy. Isn't that the point?!?!

I'm never impressed with the food there either, but we enjoy the cheesy old movies. I think this is one of those love it/hate it places.

Yes, it's supposed to be cheesy :thumbsup2 Those movies are/were SO BAD that they're good :lmao::lmao:

TheDWord: sorry it wasn't to your liking. I do think that it is a love or hate it kind of place. When our kids were young, we split up so there was an adult with each kid. Made life easier, but no making out at the drive-in ;)

[TheDWord]

Yes, it's supposed to be cheesy :thumbsup2 Those movies are/were SO BAD that they're good :lmao::lmao:

TheDWord: sorry it wasn't to your liking. I do think that it is a love or hate it kind of place. When our kids were young, we split up so there was an adult with each kid. Made life easier, but no making out at the drive-in ;)

We didn't hate it there, we just didn't enjoy the entertainment :duck: I see the intention and I guess there could be an appeal, but I just can't help but think how much better it could be.

[TheDWord]

Where: Saratoga Springs Resort
Date: Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Time: 9:00 PM
Party Size: 3 Adults

The Turf Club is a restaurant located on the far side of the main building at Saratoga Springs, abutting the Buena Vista golf course with views of Downtown Disney. We originally had an earlier ADR at Biergarten, but due to timing issues, we had to cancel. We were disappointed, as we were very much so looking forward to Biergarten, and we had no other backup. We called to see if some other places (Le Cellier, San Angel, Yachtsmen Steakhouse, Turf Club), had an immediate ADR available, but there were none. Since we were staying at SSR, we just decided to go to the Turf Club and see if they could take a walk-on that night, fully expecting to be turned away. If not, it would have to be a QS night.

Décor
The waiting area is a nice, comfortable lounge with some chairs, tables and sofas and a flat screen TV. There’s also a pool table for guests to enjoy. The inside of the restaurant is what you would expect from a nice golf / country club restaurant, with ornate wood trim along the walls, partitions and the coffered ceiling, and a glass wall overlooking the lake. The tables are your standard wooden restaurant tables and the chairs are your standard wooden chairs with the fabric cushion seat. The place would have looked a lot nicer if they added some simple, clean white tablecloths, as the wooden tables give it more of a pub feel than a restaurant feel. There is an outdoor dining area for guests who want to eat outside, with views of the golf course, water and the peaks of Downtown Disney in the distance. If you came here for Disney theming, this is certainly not the place to go, as there really was nothing Disney about this place at all. For us, since it was three adults, it was actually rather refreshing to eat at a place with no crazy theming or characters. It was our oasis away from the Disney hysteria, and provided quite a relaxing atmosphere.

Décor Grade: 7.5

Service
When we arrived at the check-in desk, we were expecting to be turned away, as I had just called Disney dining to see if they had anything immediate available (none were). Well, when I asked if we could come as walk-ins, the receptionist asked someone in the back through her headset, and then cordially asked us to wait at the lounge for a few minutes. Within a couple of minutes, they were able to fit us in, no problem, to a very nice table next to the window, towards the rear. Our server was already waiting for us at the table, filling our glasses with water, and greeted us with a great big smile. He was absolutely a great waiter in every regard. He was friendly, attentive, and made us feel comfortable. We engaged in great conversation, but not so much so that it took away from our dinner- just enough to fill in the gaps. He was also knew the menu inside out, describing every dish in colorful detail. He made us want to order everything from the menu! He also anticipated our needs very well and had them ready before we even asked. For example, I ordered a diet coke. I usually ask for dc with lime, but this time, I forgot to ask for the lime. Well, anyway, when he comes back with our drinks, he brings with him with a plate of lemon and lime wedges! Awesome! Another example of this was when we got our entrees. Normally, when my wife and I go out to eat, we taste a little of each other’s dish. I normally cut a piece of my dish and place it on her plate, and vice versa. Well, we did the same here at the Turf Club. Soon thereafter, our waiter comes by with three small plates and says “here’s a few plates so you don’t have to mix the meat with the fish” (DW ordered a fish, me the steak). Very nice! Well, I have to say that from the initial accommodation of our last minute walk-up, to the transition from hostess to waiter, to great personality of the waiter, and to the waiter’s knowledgeable insight on the menu, it was overall the best service we received during our stay at WDW.

Service Grade: 9.6

Food
We decided to order an appetizer here (the server’s description convinced us) and got the mussels for two for the three of us. Wow- some of the best mussels we’ve ever had. The broth, or sauce, was a garlic-white wine sauce with some bacon bits, which complemented the mussel flavor very nicely. Now we are very picky with our mussels and clams, and quite honestly, the sauce can really destroy the dish. Well, this sauce was not too overpowering, yet stern enough to make the mussel conform to the chef’s intent of the dish as opposed to the other way around, as sometimes, a weak sauce makes the mussel dish taste like mussels in hot salt water. It’s a fine line here, and the Turf club nailed it. For main courses, our friend and I ordered the NY Strip steak with the crabmeat topping and the wife ordered the seared tuna. The steak was prepared perfectly (medium rare). Our server told us when we ordered what to expect from a medium rare steak (cool reddish center) and it came out exactly as it was described. The tuna was also cooked perfectly, with a rare red center. The steak was very good meat- not what you would get from elite steakhouses, but for a casual restaurant, much better than what you would expect. Not a lot of fat on the strip, very juicy, tender and full of flavor. The sauce on the steak was also very tasty, not too strong, and in fact, probably a bit weak, as it didn’t really enhance the flavor- However, the seasoning on the steak was just right- not too salty or peppery, so the weak flavor of the sauce was not a downer. The crabmeat topping was also great. Fresh crabs, with plumpness and density- not the stringy variety. The tuna was good piece of fish, bright red color, tender, and very tasty. It was a light dish, complemented very well by a chili oil dressing, and a potato concoction that was creamy, yet light. For dessert, I had the apple pie with ice cream and the wife and our friend had the chocolate lava cake. The apple pie was hot, crispy on the outside, and very sweet and full of apples on the inside. It was a bit heavy on the dough, but unlike a lot of apple pie ala modes where the filling is more syrupy and soggy than fruity, this one had a lot body and the apples were still somewhat firm. The ice cream was your standard vanilla ice cream. Overall a very nice dessert. The wife’s lava cake was absolutely superb. The dough was fluffy, yet very rich in chocolate flavor. The inside just oozed the melted chocolate, and made for just a chocolate lover’s dream come true. The raspberry sauce was sharp, yet sweet, and harmonized the rich chocolate flavor with the sweet berry tart-like tang. The vanilla ice cream that came with it probably wasn’t necessary, but it didn’t take away from the cake. We were impressed with how good the food was here, far better than the weak expectations we had going in.

Food Grade: 9.0

Value
For three adults, the total came out to $152.81, including tax and tip and included two appetizers (we ordered the mussels for two- it was the price of two appetizers), three entrees, three desserts, and two soft drinks. The NY strip was the most expensive item on the menu at $29, and I can tell you that for a dish of that quality, it could easily have been a $35-$40 entrée. The mussels for two were plentiful enough for three, and worth the $15 price tag. To top it off, the lava cake at $6 is an absolute steal. Although it was a pricey meal in total dollars, considering the quality of everything in the meal, we thought it was a good value. Also, an excellent choice and value for DDP'ers for a 1 TS credit restaurant.

Value Grade: 8.4

Overall
We were very surprised at how great this spur of the moment meal turned out to be. I am also shocked at how unnoticed this place goes, as I never really read anything about the place on the disboards. I assume this is the case because there really is no Disney theme here and it’s more like a regular restaurant than a Disney restaurant. However, for those of you who appreciate great food and great service, the Turf Club is truly a hidden gem in WDW, and one I highly recommend you add to your ADR list.

The Last Word: 8.9 Not your typical Disney atmosphere, but just a fantastic restaurant tucked away in a hidden corner of WDW.

[ChelleinNC]

Where: Saratoga Springs Resort
Overall
We were very surprised at how great this spur of the moment meal turned out to be. I am also shocked at how unnoticed this place goes, as I never really read anything about the place on the disboards. I assume this is the case because there really is no Disney theme here and it’s more like a regular restaurant than a Disney restaurant. However, for those of you who appreciate great food and great service, the Turf Club is truly a hidden gem in WDW, and one I highly recommend you add to your ADR list.

The Last Word: 8.9 Not your typical Disney atmosphere, but just a fantastic restaurant tucked away in a hidden corner of WDW.

SHHHHHH!!!! We don't want everyone to know how wonderful the Turf Club is!

You'll find that many of us list it as a hidden gem. I think the reason it doesn't get talked about by the "masses" is because unless people stay at SSR, they're not going to go there to eat.

The decor & theme of the Turf Club go with the theme of SSR, which many people don't "get". For those unfamiliar with the real Saratoga Springs NY, it is a Victorian town known for it's horse racing and spring water & spas. :goodvibes

[BriarRosie]

I had only eaten there during a stay I had when SSR was still in first phase construction. Back then, the Turf Club was just the lounge with the pool table, and I did order some "pub grub" from there.

I thought it was good for what it was back then, and now...I'm hearing nothing but great things about it. Your descriptions definitely convinced me to give it a go sometime soon.

But why was your server only a 9.6 if he was that good? :laughing:

[dismagiclover]

Just wanted to say that the thing we love the most about the Sci Fi diner is that you don't have to make conversation with the whole table:rotfl: My 3 kids sit in front of us and watch the movie clips and my husband and I can actually have an adult conversation. It's almost like a date:lovestruc

[TigerKat]

Now I find myself trying to fit in a meal at the Turf Club since we're staying at SSR.:idea:

[CrabbyPatty]

I've been enjoying your thoughtful well written reviews - kudos!

Can't wait to read your take on 1600 Park Fair. We have ADRs there but are wondering it's going to be a loud loud screaming exciting kid evening with mediocre food. Waiting on bated breath for your review ......

[TheDWord]

I've been enjoying your thoughtful well written reviews - kudos!

Can't wait to read your take on 1600 Park Fair. We have ADRs there but are wondering it's going to be a loud loud screaming exciting kid evening with mediocre food. Waiting on bated breath for your review ......

Thank you for your kind words. I will have the 1900 review up either today or tomorrow. Thanks for your patience!

[TheDWord]

Where: Grand Floridian Resort
Date: Thursday, May 14, 2009
Time: 4:45 PM
Party Size: 3 Adults, 2 Children, 1 Infant

1900 Park Fare is a character buffet off the lobby of the Grand Floridian Resort. With 2 princess character meals under our belt, I was not really looking forward to this one at all, having been “princessed-out” by that point. However, DW and DD just couldn’t get enough of these gals (I think it’s more because DW wanted to meet Prince Charming than anything else), so we trekked through the rain into the GF. As we approached the GF, DW says “why don’t you just drop us off and self park? No sense wasting money on parking.” Mind you it was POURING at that moment in time, but I figured that the self park would be adjacent to the valet park area, and I had a poncho, so that’s exactly what I did. Well, little did I know that guest self parking is across the street, probably a good 5-7 minute walk from the nearest self park space to the GF lobby. Basically, it’s use their valet, or be prepared for a hike. So, in the pouring rain, I hiked it over to the GF in my poncho. By the time I was at the restaurant, I was pretty much soaked, as the poncho doesn’t help you too much in gale force winds and driving rain going sideways. Needless to say, I wasn’t too excited about dinner.

Décor
Upon entering the restaurant, there is a photo-op at the end of a hallway after you check in, but there are no characters with this photo-op. There are four doors in the hallway that lead into the main dining room The dining room fits well with the rest of the classic Victorian GF motif, except for the center of the restaurant, which is sprinkled with child-like paraphernalia like horses from a carousel, colorful trimming around the walls, a large colorful organ with figurines affixed to it, and colorful hot air balloons as table centerpieces, giving it a seaside carnival-like feel. For a princess character meal, there was nothing in the décor that would lend itself to a princess-like setting. The dining room is split into a main dining area, a smaller dining area, and the buffet area. The buffet area is spacious and the buffet tables look elegant and is kept up nicely. The main dining area is large, and save for a couple of wide walkways, the tables are close together and crammed. The secondary dining area is located in the rear of the restaurant, in an alcove. At the end of the alcove is a set of double doors that lead back to the lobby of the GF. Clearly, this was formerly an anteroom leading into the space, maybe used by a bridal party as a back entrance, to make their way into the reception floor, before this was converted to the restaurant. As such, it is pretty tight quarters in there and you really can’t see anything else going on in the restaurant, except what’s specifically going on in that particular section. This is not good, as there are many unique and ad-libbed interactions between the characters themselves that is part of the entertainment that people in this area simply miss out on. When we were there, the restaurant was completely full, and we felt cramped, crowded, and closed-in, as there were simply too many tables, too many chairs, and too many people. In my opinion, there are a few major things that the restaurant could do to improve the flow and spacing. Firstly, they should move the main entrance to the double doors off the secondary dining room and use that alcove as the waiting area/lounge. Secondly, they should eliminate the photo-op, as there are no characters to take the photo with anyways, and utilize the existing entrance hallway an additional dining area. They should remove the wall in the existing main hallway with the doors leading into the main dining room out completely, so that this new dining space is opened up and can be integrated seamlessly into the main restaurant space. That space is much larger than the alcove and has windows to boot, so patrons sitting there won’t feel like they’re in a cave, like it feels now in that secondary room. Also, since the area is much bigger in the main hallway, they could redistribute tables in the restaurant and make more room to walk in the main dining area without a lower overall table count. With the added space in the restaurant now that the tables are more spread out, there should be ample room for families with a lot of stuff, like strollers and such, and better character interaction as well. Overall, the restaurant looks nice and inviting, but there are some major flaws that detract from the experience.

Décor Grade: 5.5

Service
For the sheer amount of people in the restaurant, I felt that they could have used a couple of more servers. Our server was for the most part friendly and competent, but there were occasions where old plates were not taken away in a timely manner. It was really through no fault of our server, as she was always busy and running around, but when old plates start stacking up on the table, they really need to be taken away. That’s probably a big pet peeve for people at buffets regarding service, and 1900 was guilty as charged. Otherwise, drink refills were prompt, and the people behind the buffet areas were friendly as well. They did miscalculate my bill and there was a bit of an issue with the DDP, but it was corrected rather quickly.

Service Grade: 6.3

Food
Mt first plate consisted of medium rare prime rib, sausage and peppers, mussels, tomato & mozzarella salad, and sweet potatoes, along with a bowl of the strawberry soup. The prime rib was very good, juicy, tender, with a nice red center. The sausage and peppers was also good, but was not as hot as I would have liked- it was rather lukewarm. The mussels were just OK- they were on the small side, a bit chewy, and the marinara sauce was a bit bland. The tomato / mozzarella salad was just OK as well- like it came out of a pre-made package (the cheese was little balls with cheery tomatoes that didn’t seem too fresh). The sweet potatoes were good- not too soggy, not too hard. The strawberry soup here gets a lot of print and acclaim, but I have to say that it was not that good. I’m not sure if this was supposed to be an appetizer or a dessert, and it was just too tangy for me. It could have worked better if they made it sweeter, but overall, I just don’t think this dish works. I was also in need of a toothpick immediately after eating the soup. For my second plate, I had a little lasagna, corn, and Caesar salad. All items were good, but I must say the corn was excellent. It was in the children’s section too. A lot of corn in buffets taste like it came out of a can, but the corn here tasted like it was picked right off the cob. Very sweet as well. For dessert, I had a little bread pudding, apple cobbler, and soft serve ice cream. I really enjoyed then bread pudding here. At that point in the meal, I could almost feel every calorie going down and it did make me feel quite bloated and disgusting, but I had to finish the plate- it was that good. For a buffet, I’d have to say 1900 was a little better than average. Some dishes were really good, but overall, it was pretty much what I had expected.

Food Grade: 7.0

Character Interaction
The characters there were Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drizella. What really makes this character meal different from others is the level of interaction among the characters themselves. Imagine you’re in the house of Lady Tremaine, and imagine what the characters would be doing there- that’s pretty much what you get here. Anastasia and Drizella trying to act like they’re “all that” with cheesy pick up lines to male adults in the restaurant, Lady Tremaine being bossy to everyone, including children, etc. One funny moment was when Drizella was at a table, and the stepmother was walking by and Drizella yells “Mother! I want him! I want him!” pointing to a guy at the table, and the stepmother just gives her that look like “Oh grow up you imbecile!” When the stepmother was at our table, our youngest was holding a a dinner napkin and the stepmother quips to me “Good. Get her started early.” Then tells my 1 year old “Make sure the table’s spotless before you leave.” Then when my oldest (DS4) stands next to her to take a picture, she says “And what do you do around the house? Nothing I hope. That’s what you have her for hahahah” pointing to my youngest again. Mean, but funny. The stepsisters were also very funny. Drizella even led a dance with some of the kids in our area, and began singing in that awful, squeaky, loud voice. When she was singing, you could hear the stepmother shouting in the distance “Oh shut up Drizella.” It’s that kind of interaction that really made the character experience better. Instead of the traditional come over to the table, sign the autograph, say a couple of words, pose for a picture, then move on, it was just more immersive here and almost like you were part of a story. Actually, Cinderella and Prince Charming, aside from a dance they did together, didn’t really add much to the experience. It would have been FAR FAR better to have Cinderella in her raggedy clothes instead of the blue gown and play the part when she’s a slave at her stepmother’s. It really would have added to the theme. Prince Charming was probably not even necessary. He was boring and stale, and not to mention, he had a 21st Century hairstyle, and not what you’d expect from a fairytale. Nevertheless, 1900 Park Fare dinner was by far the best character experience we had at WDW.

Character Interaction: Superb

Value
For 3 Adults and 2 paying children, the total came out to $159.30, including tax and tip. The meal was $31.99 per adult and $15.99 per child. Comparatively speaking, the cost is a slightly higher than other buffet dinners across WDW. The food was what you’d expect from a buffet dinner, if not a bit better, and the service was also par for the course. What takes this place over the top and actually makes it a good value for your money is obviously the great character experience. Without it, it would not have been a good deal, but you can’t replicate that experience anywhere else, which is what makes 1900 truly unique.

Value Grade: 8.1

Overall
1900 Park Fare dinner was a great experience for us. I had very little expectations going in, since this was my third princess character meal of the week, but the stepsisters and stepmother really made this a unique experience and fun for not just the kids, but the adults as well. The food was good buffet food and filled us to the gills. A major drawback is that secondary dining room, which is a pathetic excuse for a dining room, and where you actually miss out on a lot of the fun character interplay which goes on in the main room (we actually missed Cinderella’s dance with Prince Charming). In addition to changing the layout, the restaurant could really use an interior design makeover, as the way it currently flows, it’s too crowded and you kind of get that closed-in feeling.

The Last Word: 7.8 Highly entertaining and amusing character interplay overshadows a crowded restaurant with serious design flaws.

[mcrabeck]

Really enjoying your reviews- Looking forward to more :)

[meanmom121]

loving the thoroughness of your reviews. I also appreciate the candor with which you discuss the food. I'm glad to hear that this one got a 7.8 because we are doing it not once but twice :eek:(dinner and breakfast buffets). Hopefully the DH won't kill me for all the character meals :scared1:but this is our kids first trip and I was trying to avoid standing in line at the parks for character autographs.:rolleyes1

[ragtopday]

I loved your report of the character interaction at 1900 PF. It sounds like something our family would enjoy a lot. I really like when the characters "get into" their roles!

Looking forward to more! (and I think you should be about done with the princess meals, right? ;) )

[kimgof]

Thanks for the PF review. We are looking forward to trying it out during our next trip! :cool1:

[dd50]

Glad you liked the 1900 house. We are going there with my grandchildren and think they will love it. My teens may be harder to please.

[Grumpygmy]

Thanks for the great reviews... I now have excitement and worry as I go on my next trip in August... (I already booked my resaurants):lmao:

[Dizneydaz]

Loving your reviews and rating system so far!

I couldn't agree with you more about 'Ohana for dinner. We ate there just once and haven't been back. :confused3However, we do like the breafast there and have done it twice now. DD9 has said that's one of the ones she wants to do again this year on our last day (our tradition).

I'm glad to hear you liked PF. We haven't been there since they removed the mice (Suzy and Perla) and added the Steps. The reviews have been mixed but yours makes me want to give it a try.

I'm supposed to be making my ADRs today but I never thought of the Turf Club Bar & Grill at SSR. Based on review on the boards before we have tried the Artist's Point and weren't disappointed. We always have our own (rental ) vehicle so getting to resort restaurants isn't an issue. (In fact I make most of our ADRs outside of the parks in case we don't use a park ticket that day).

I just looked at the menu on allears.net and it 's looks promising. DD(then 10) would probably want to order off the kid's menu so I would pay OOP and save that credit for a signature meal.

Can't wait to read more....:listen:

[teentoddlermom]

Absolutely wonderful, helpful, and completely accurate reviews! Thank you!:worship:

[TheDWord]

Where: Polynesian Resort
Date: Friday, May 15, 2009
Time: 5:15 PM
Party Size: 3 Adults, 2 Children

This was our final night at WDW and the wife was really looking forward to this one. I, on the other hand, wanted to cancel and do something else, maybe go offsite, as the reviews of SoA I was reading on the DIS were at best mixed. I had actually convinced my wife to cancel, but when I called, I was told that there was a 48 hour cancellation policy on this one, and that if I did not show up, I would still be charged. Well, there went that idea. So, in hopes that it would be a good dinner show, we trekked it out to the Polynesian after a fun filled day at Magic Kingdom.

Décor
The Spirit of Aloha luau is located in Luau Cove at the Polynesian Resort. It is tucked away in a nice, private corner of the resort, and actually takes a few minutes to walk from the main building to the cove. We were greeted in the walkway leading to the area by a receptionist who confirmed our reservation and gave each of us some leis. There was also a photo-op there as well. The Polynesian Resort is a great setting to begin with, and the restaurant fully takes advantage of its surroundings. I was pleasantly surprised at how serene and remote the place felt, even though I knew we were in the heart of WDW. The restaurant itself is partially outdoors, with open air at the stage area. We were sitting in a Category 3 section, which is supposed to be the worst, but our view of the stage was unobstructed at a 45 degree angle from center. All the seating areas are within I’d say 20-30 feet from the stage, so I don’t think it really matters too much what category of seating you’re in. The setting was like a large hut, exactly what you’d expect from a luau. The servers were also in their Hawaiian shirts and leis. Overall, the setting was great, and I felt as if I was really in a tropical island luau. Definitely exceeded my expectations there.

Décor Grade: 8.3

Service Grade
We had a bit of an issue at check-in, as we did not pick up our luau tickets in time at our hotel (this is a dinner/show that needed to be prepaid upon pickup of the tickets). We also initially had a reservation for 7 including an infant and our baby was too cranky to go with us so we left her and the nanny at the hotel. I was certain I’d be charged for all 7, but I decided to plead my case because one never knows. Well, when I explained the situation, they initially said that we’d be charged for all 7. I thought I’d give it one final try to make a case, and lo and behold, the CM at check-in spoke to another CM, who promptly came to us and said that they would only charge us for 5. The CM who told that to us was also very sweet and understanding. I totally would have understood and closed the matter if this new CM told me I was too late, but it was a nice gesture on their part and left me feeling giddy as I walked into the restaurant. Our server was very friendly and talkative, whenever he was around- there were quite a few times when we needed him for something and he just simply was not around. After a couple of times, it became annoying, as this is a family style buffet and we were all waiting for more food.

Service Grade: 6.9

Food
The buffet consisted of pineapple bread, salad, roasted chicken, ribs, rice, and vegetables. The meal also included beer and wine. The beer was your regular watered down tap beer, and the wine was horrible cheap wine. If they just did some research, they could have gotten cheap wine that actually taste decent, but it’s clear here that they opted to just get whatever was first on the list of cheap wines. The bread was cold, but otherwise tasted OK. I think it was the same bread we had at Ohana. The salad was a mix of seasonal greens, pineapples and tangerines in a mango-like dressing. It was very good, crisp, and fresh. The chicken was tender and juicy, but lacked flavor. The seasoning was quite bland. Ribs on a menu can really go either way, as a lot of places serve ribs that are just too tough, and have a serious lack of meat on the bone, or braise it so much that the meat is too soft and just falls off the bone. I like my ribs to have a lot of meat on it, to be tender and soft albeit with some texture, but not gooey and mushy either. The ribs at SoA did not disappoint, but flavor was lacking and there wasn’t too much meat on the bones. Otherwise, it was prepared well and the meat was tender. On a side note, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten that many ribs in one sitting before. It was embarrassing to look at my plate- nothing but rib bones. It wasn’t necessarily because the ribs were so good, but more because a) it was the best part of the meal, and b) once your fingers are covered in BBQ sauce, there’s no going back. I also enjoyed the steamed vegetables. Not soggy, crisp, and flavorful. The rice was your run of the mill yellow rice with diced carrots and peas- it was fine. For dessert, they brought out a chocolate pyramid with raspberry ooze flowing from the top, ala a volcano. I just had one bite because I was too stuffed from all those ribs. It was ok. Overall, I’d say that the food was what you would expect from a family buffet style meal, where everything is produced in bulk in the kitchen.

Food Grade: 6.2

Dinner Show
I had very little expectation of the show, partly because it received lukewarm reviews here and also because I thought the kids would be too young to enjoy something like that. The first part of the show was centered around a guy and a girl who meet after a long time apart, and the story line if you could even call it that, the acting, the singing, etc, were all just excruciatingly cheesy and painful to sit through. The second part of the show features dances from different Polynesian islands- Tonga, Samoa, Hawaii, and one other I can’t recall. They were all entertaining and the costumes were fabulous. The show was capped by a guy dancing with lit torches. I must admit, it was very good, but the guy was just starving for attention and applause. Every 15 seconds, he’d lift his arms and celebrate himself like he had just won the US Open or something. He’d constantly urge the crowd to cheer, which in and of itself is fine, but must he do it after every twirl? The ironic thing is, his performance was great, but his absolutely overbearing love for himself diminished the performance for me. Overall, I’d say the show was disappointing. We did enjoy the dancing part, but the first half of the show was such a time-filling waste, that I have to consider the real show just the second half, which then makes the show too short.

Show: Below Average

Value
The total for 3 adults and 2 children came out to $212.95. As this is a dinner show, the majority of the value should be attached to the show itself, and this is where the Spirit of Aloha fails. Again, the first half is just too lame to even consider it a show, and the second half, which is good, is too short probably no longer than 15-20 minutes. For that price tag, you would expect a better and longer show. The food wasn’t more than your standard fare buffet food, which is what you’d expect anyway, so it neither hurts nor helps the value grade. For DDPers, it certainly is not worth 2 TS credits, even with the free beer and wine.

Value Grade: 5.0

Overall
We had mostly negative feelings about the Spirit of Aloha. On one hand, just getting away in the tropical atmosphere made it somewhat worth it, as this is something truly unique in WDW, but the actual dinner and show was a letdown. It also left a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth knowing that we could’ve just enjoyed the atmosphere for free without the dinner and show, yet we spent 2 TS credits for basically the ambiance. I am glad I did the show, because now I know what not to do again. For the kiddies, it will be hit or miss. My daughter enjoyed the dancing, but my son was bored out of his mind the whole time and was constantly asking if we could go back to MK. My advice for those on the fence about SoA would be to skip this one.

Overall Grade: 5.4 For a price tag of $50+ per person, if the food is your standard fare buffet food, the show HAS to be amazing, and the Spirit of Aloha simply was not.

[TheDWord]

So, here's the breakdown of each TS restaurant we ate in, as well as the corresponding grade for each category.

The Last Word
8.9 The Turf Club (D) Not your typical Disney atmosphere, but just a fantastic restaurant tucked away in a hidden corner of WDW.
8.3 Tusker House (B) An excellent character breakfast buffet with better than expected food, top-notch service (even for a buffet), all in an immersive atmosphere.
8.0 Rose & Crown Pub and Dining Room (D) A very good sampling of English pub fare with excellent service. Unbelievable view if Illuminations
7.8 1900 Park Fare (D) Highly entertaining and amusing character interplay overshadows a crowded restaurant with serious design flaws.
7.7 Chef Mickeys (B) Really unique breakfast foods with a taste to match is a bit pricey and the space could use a makeover, but overall a solid experience
7.5 Cinderella's Royal Table (L) Total captivation in fairytale land aside from a couple of hitches make up for a small menu selection and poor food.
6.5 Sci Fi Drive In Theater (L) A fun atmosphere with diner quality food, but may not be worth it for larger parties. Boring and dull screen entertainment.
6.0 T-Rex Café (D) A notch above fast food, typical of your Ruby Tuesdays / TGI Fridays, but over the top theming. Way too loud and crowded.
5.5 Princess Storybook Akershus (B) A fun character interaction saves this from being an utterly dissatisfying experience across the board.
5.4 Spirit of Aloha (D) With a price tag of $50+ per person and your standard fare buffet food, the show HAS to be amazing, and the Spirit of Aloha simply was not.
5.2 O’Hana (D) A lot of hype going in, but disappointed heavily. Awful food prep and food quality killed this meal.

Best Decor
8.3 Cinderella's Royal Table (L)
8.3 Spirit of Aloha (D)
7.7 Rose & Crown Pub and Dining Room (D)
7.5 The Turf Club (D)
7.2 Tusker House (B)
6.3 O’Hana (D)
6.2 T-Rex Café (D)
6.0 Sci Fi Drive In Theater (L)
5.5 1900 Park Fare (D)
5.5 Chef Mickeys (B)
4.0 Princess Storybook Akershus (B)

Best Service
9.6 The Turf Club (D)
9.3 Rose & Crown Pub and Dining Room (D)
8.9 Tusker House (B)
8.1 Cinderella's Royal Table (L)
8.1 Sci Fi Drive In Theater (L)
7.0 Chef Mickeys (B)
6.9 Spirit of Aloha (D)
6.8 T-Rex Café (D)
6.3 1900 Park Fare (D)
5.9 O’Hana (D)
3.6 Princess Storybook Akershus (B)

Best Food
9.0 The Turf Club (D)
8.4 Chef Mickeys (B)
8.2 Tusker House (B)
8.1 Rose & Crown Pub and Dining Room (D)
7.0 1900 Park Fare (D)
6.5 T-Rex Café (D)
6.2 Spirit of Aloha (D)
6.1 Sci Fi Drive In Theater (L)
5.7 Cinderella's Royal Table (L)
5.3 Princess Storybook Akershus (B)
4.9 O’Hana (D)

Best Value
8.4 The Turf Club (D)
8.1 1900 Park Fare (D)
7.8 Tusker House (B)
7.5 Rose & Crown Pub and Dining Room (D)
7.4 Sci Fi Drive In Theater (L)
7.0 Cinderella's Royal Table (L)
6.8 Chef Mickeys (B)
5.5 T-Rex Café (D)
5.3 'Ohana (D)
5.0 Spirit of Aloha (D)
4.3 Princess Storybook Akershus (B)

Best Character Interaction / Show
1900 Park Fare (D) - SUPERB
Princess Storybook Akershus (B) - EXCELLENT
Cinderella's Royal Table (L) - VERY GOOD
Chef Mickeys (B) - VERY GOOD
Tusker House (B) - GOOD
Spirit of Aloha (D) - BIG DISAPPOINTMENT

Hope you all enjoyed!

[MelessaG]

Hope you all enjoyed!

I certainly did! Thank you for all the work you put into this.

[kmartin555]

Great reviews. Thanks so much for posting them and putting in so much work!

[TigerKat]

Thanks for taking the time to share your reviews with us!:goodvibes