I live four hours north of Disney, so I drove down on Saturday December 11th and met Mark at our resort. He had to fly in from Missouri, so he took the ME.
After we settled in to our room, we took the bus over to the MK because I had to buy a new TIW card before we went to a TS restaurant! I used guest services at MK and then with my crisp new 20% discount card in hand, we hopped the boat over to WL. This was the only deluxe resort I have never set foot in, so I was extra excited for the evening because I would finally know first hand what all the deluxe resorts are like.
The WL as seen from the back (lake) side:
We were still quite early for our 5:45pm ADR ar Artist Point so we took the opportunity to explore WL a bit. Around 5:15 I noticed they had begun seating people for Artist Point so we went ahead and checked in. They seated us immediately even though the serving time is officially listed as 5:30.
I tried to a photo of the inside of the restaurant but it didn't come out so well:
But you get the idea. AP has a nice rustic elegance to it. The feel I get from it is 'romantic candle-lit dinner in the woods". But with climate control.
Our server Kristen greeted us as soon as we sat down. As we were her first and only table for a good half our meal, we had fantastic service from her since she was free to focus most of her attention on us. She was eager to help with suggestions and was good at anticipating our needs. I would highly suggest asking for her if you go to AP.
Neither I nor Mark had ever been to AP before so we took a long time to decide what to order. Mark, being the drinker in our report, had to start with a glass of wine.
The receipt listed this as 'K Smith Merlot'....but I cannot find anything similar to that name on the current wine list. So I'm sorry, I'm not sure what it is, but Mark liked it. (What a surprise!
)
After we placed our orders, Kristen brought us out Artist Point's
Bread and Butter with Black Sea Salt:
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think this was a sourdough. While decent, it wasn't as good as the sourdough at California Grill.
I chose to get an appetizer and went with the
Roasted Baby Beets with Fine Herbs Goat Cheese, Blood Orange Vinaigrette and Petit Greens:
This dish was very good. There were red and yellow roasted beets on top of yummy soft goat cheese mixed with herbs. I loved getting a bit of beet and cheese and then dragging it in the vinaigrette. There was also some very unusual salt on the dish. The crystals were large and transparent metallic silver in color. It had a mineral-like taste that went well with the earthy beets. I loved the crouton on top - delicious dipped in some of the goat cheese.
After I finished the beets, Kristen arrived with our entrees.
Mark went for the
Char-Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Idaho Potato-Gruyere Bar, Seasonal Roots, and a Pinot Noir Reduction:
I thought this was a very good, but not great steak. It was tender and cooked to a perfect medium like Mark ordered it. But I've had better steaks at Flying Fish, Citricos, and California Grill. The Pinot Noir reduction was a particularly tasty sauce for the meat - sweet and earthy. The root veggies were good, but nothing to write home about. I didn't really care for the potato dish - it was like a gratin, but the potatoes weren't cut thinly enough. Overall an OK dish, but nothing I would really recommend ordering. Mark seemed more impressed by it than I did, but he really only judges by the meat!
After much deliberation where I strongly considered the Cedar Plank Salmon, I finally chose the
Char-Grilled Buffalo Striploin Steak with Black Diamond Mac n Cheese, Cider-Glazed Brussel Sprouts, and Syrah Gastrique.
(Sorry, food porn sin committed - I took a bite before I took the picture!)
Unfortunately, I made a poor decision on this one. The buffalo had a great flavor, but it was tough, I think, because it's buffalo. They are very lean and don't have the fat content that beef does, so the meat doesn't work well as a steak. I didn't think about this fact when I considered picking this as my entree. It was cooked very nicely to the medium rare I ordered and the Syrah Gastrique was great with the meat, but it was just too tough of a meat to enjoy as a steak. I think I'll keep my buffalo meat in burgers from now on.
The other disappointment was the Mac n Cheese. The cheese sauce was very thin and watery and lacked much of a flavor. It was also just lukewarm in temperature. I ate a few bites and then ignored it.
The brussel sprouts in the cider-glaze were quite good, but there only about four pieces of them on the plate.
Overall, this was a disappointing dish.
We talked a bit with the table next to us through the night. One person had ordered the Cedar Plank Salmon and it looked and smelled fantastic. She told us it was excellent so I really wished I had gone with the salmon.
I decided I wasn't done with AP yet and tried a dessert. Mark went for another glass of the same 'K Smith' Merlot as his finisher.
While I was deciding on my dessert, Kristen brought us a little surprise:
Little glasses of 'Magicale Brachetto' (aka Rosa Regale) with a raspberry, a red sparkling wine from Italy. It is very sweet, but delicious if you like a sweet dessert wine. Mark tasted it and let me drink the rest of his since he doesn't like sweet wines. The wine went very well with the dessert I ended up with.
I had a cappuccino (in the photo with the wine) along with my dessert that was very tasty. I needed some caffeine for MK evening EMH that night!
As I'm not that big on fruit based desserts (and three of the four desserts on the menu at AP were), there was no contest on what I wanted:
Valrhona Chocolate Terrine with Amarena Cherries and Salted Hazelnut Brittle:
AP got back in to my good graces with this. It was sooo rich - just the the way I like my chocolate, coffee, and men.
The terrine was so thick and fudgy with a strong, deep chocolate flavor. I loved it! The cherries were delcious with a bite of the chocolate - really tart and sharp. I liked the salted hazelnut brittle with some of the chocolate as well. It made another flavor contrast option in eating the dessert - salty and nutty with the chocolate.
Overall AP was good, but not great. There were some very good ups in the appetizer, dessert, and service, but the entrees lacked a bit to me. While it's not at the top of my list to recommend to anyone, I would return and give them another chance to really shine.
Grade: B-
