'Ohana!
Now I had been really, really looking forward to eating here! The food just sounded really good. We arrived at the Poly after an eventful trip by boat, and went on upstairs to check in. There was a bit of a queue at the podium, and we heard the CM tell some people that it would be a 3 hour wait without ADRs!! Anyway, we got our beeper, looked around the merchandise store, and eventually got a table at the Tambu Lounge:
We were beeped, and were quite excited when we were led near one of the windows, but no such luck - we were seated kind of in the middle of the floor in the back of the restaurant, not in the main seating area, and at a table where Els seemed so far away from me. Oh well, not the end of the world. Our server came by and was quite pleasant, and explained to us how 'Ohana works. Soon we were brought our drinks and the parade of food soon started.
First up was the Mixed Green with Honey Lime Dressing, and the Fried Wontons with 3 dips: Peanut, Chimichurri and Harissa.
As I've said before, we're really not salad people, but it was good. We really liked the wontons and the dips however! I think my favourite was the peanut, as it tasted like a satay dip. As you can see from the photo, this was a LOT of food for 2 people, especially when there was a load more on the way.
Soon after came Shrimp and the Honey-coriander chicken wings:
It's only me that eats shrimp so I had that bowl to myself. They were quite good, naturally would've been better if they'd have been peeled for me, but there ya go
They weren't hot nor were they cold, so I would say they were just warm. I didn't notice too much of another flavour on them, just shrimp! The wings looked so good, and Els took a bite first since I was attacking the shrimp. He declared he didn't like them too much - I must point out that he hates coriander, so this could have been the reason. However when I took a taste, I didn't like them either. They just tasted really funny and they were more skin than anything. I went back to the shrimp! Again, these 2 appetizers were too much for just 2 people - we noticed that we were getting the exact same portion sizes as a table of 4 nearby, so there was a lot of waste.
So what was next in the plethora of food? We were given stir fried vegetables and Maui scalloped potatoes. You can see the veggies in this photo, above Els' 2 wing bones!
And you can see the scalloped potatoes here, along with a better photo of the dips:
I think I may have had a few veggies, like the mangetout, but they must not have been memorable as I can't really remember. Again we felt the portion was too big for us: Do you fill up on veggies or shrimp?! Tough call! The potatoes however were by far the best thing I'd had to eat that night - they were absolutely awesome! Between us we demolished that plate and wished we had some more, although we knew there was more food to come. They were just soft and so cheesy!
Now, I'm afraid I don't have a photo of the skewers, so I'll give you another food parade photo:
Els got a bit of everything I think. I got everything except for the sausage.
Sausage - Els really liked the sausage, he thought it was lovely.
Turkey - I felt this was undercooked, it felt as if it had kind of a jelly texture in the centre, when it hasn't cooked all the way through. I did start eating but when I reached the middle I was done with the Turkey.
Steak - I was so looking forward to this skewer, I love steak, and I asked for 2 or 3 pieces. I was totally disappointed when my knife cut into it, it was completely riddled with fat. Not just at the edges where you can cut off, it was all inside too. IMO this was not a good cut of meat. I didn't even take a bite, it just turned me right off.
Pork - The biggest surprise of the night. I won't usually eat pork anywhere outside of home as it can be quite fatty, plus I much prefer steak - however this wasn't fatty at all, and was properly cooked. This was by far my favourite meat of the bunch.
Our plates were cleared away and we were brought a bowl of bread pudding and a small jug of sauce on the side. We were really, really full by now so I just spooned a small amount of bread pudding onto my plate. I didn't put the sauce on as I hate bananas and hate alcohol flavoured food. The bread pudding itself was just meh. It was quite dry and not a patch on Raglan Road. However once I finished my dessert, Els tried a bit of the sauce and told me I had to try it. I tried a bit on my spoon and was so gutted - the sauce was really good and tasted NOTHING like bananas or alcohol, it just tasted like a toffee/caramel sauce. But I was far too full to eat another piece of the pudding with the sauce on so I just left it.
Ambience: I guess the view could be really nice, but our table wasn't really in a good location. It was in the middle of the floor right by the walkway, where people kept passing, waiters coming and going with food and right in the path of the child conga line, complete with parents trying to get as many photos as they could of their kidlets. I appreciate that they wanted to get some photos, but when people crowd around your table when you're trying to eat, it's just not nice. That's all we saw of the 'entertainment'.
Overall: Some aspects of the meal were good, some not so much. I felt the food came out too quickly, and the portions were just way too big for just 2 people. I was suprised by the things I liked and the things I didn't - the stuff I thought I would like didn't happen for me.
H RATING: 5/10 - Liked the wontons, shrimp, potatoes, pork and dessert sauce.
E RATING: 5/10 - Liked the wontons, potatoes, sausage, pork and dessert sauce
WOULD WE EAT HERE AGAIN? Unless they change some of the menu, then we won't give it another try. There weren't enough things that we were crazy about to return. They should really improve the quality of their meats. Even though it wasn't a horrible meal, I did feel that compared to the quality of other places we ate at at WDW, this was our worst meal. Next year, we are going to try for breakfast instead.