tinkgirl1984
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2004
Just thought I would do a quick dining review. I didn't take a single food picture the entire trip...for which I apologize, but I forgot the camera charger at home 
The cast: Me: I'm Tori
I'm 26 and I'm a nurse. I'm not at all picky, and will try pretty much anything. Food is half the fun of the trip for me.
Bff: Shannon. She's 27 and has a master's degree in HR, but can't really find a job at the moment and therefore manages a Starbucks (which is excellent for me...but not so much for her since she hates coffee
). She's much pickier than me, but is branching out more and more lately. She loves almost any kind of ethnic food, but doesn't really eat meat other than chicken and the very very occasional burger or steak.
And last, but not least, my Nana: She's 59, very southern, and very set in her ways. She's also from a very small town. Their only chain restaurants are McDonald's, Hardees, Burger King and Pizza Hut. No, I'm not joking. Her idea of a 5 star dinner is deep fried, very unhealthy, and definitely does not include strange spices (even though she's traveled the world. Literally. She's been to every continent except Antarctica.)
We were at POFQ for 5 nights, 4/8-4/13. We didn't have a dining plan (I'm an AP holder with TIW) and for a lot of reasons (the biggest two being the differences in our eating habits and the fact that Nana would have had a heart attack at the prices at the Signatures) we didn't plan a lot of sit down meals this trip. And now...onto the reviews!
4/8
Dinner - Sanaa
In retrospect...we should have probably skipped this one, but it's one of mine and Shannon's must do's and I really thought Nana would be able to find something appropriate. I even tried to help her order, and they were willing to bring her a plain fish dish, but she was determined to do things her way It also probably didn't help that we drove straight from Universal (we spent two nights there before Disney) to AKV. We didn't even go check in at POFQ first, in order to make our 8:00 ADR. None of us were really starving after a long day in a hot park, so Shannon and I decided to share. We started with the bread service with mango chutney, cucumber raita and coriander chutney and for breads...all naan. This was the first time I had tried the coriander chutney, and it was delicious. I highly recommend it. For our main course, we had the curry - chicken with red curry sauce, and a new spicy shrimp. The shrimp was new since our last visit in October though, and I can't find an updated menu with the name. We also got an extra side of basmati rice. Nana decided to go with the salad sampler with the kachumbar, chickpea, and watermelon salads. They all looked very good, and I think she enjoyed all of them, but she was very disappointed with the size/price ratio. I did try to tell her. She also got a side of the roasted potatoes that come with the kids meals, which she also enjoyed, but we had that same size/price ratio problem. For dessert, Shannon and I both had chai cream which is one of my favorite desserts anywhere. Overall, Shannon and I both enjoyed it very much (like always). The food was excellent, and we were both very full. Nana wasn't such a fan...but I think I shouldn't have tried to win her over. I still highly, highly recommend Sanaa to anyone who even thinks they might want to try it.
Beignets Almost immediately after checking into POFQ, we discovered the little pieces of heaven also known as beignets. It was purely accidental, we really only went to buy mugs
In any case...I will simply say that Shannon and I consumed a LOT of them over the course of our stay at POFQ. Neither of us are really morning people (I work night shift), so there's not a single breakfast anywhere in this dining report. Suffice it to say, where you don't see a breakfast...you can probably just insert beignets. Also, most nights before bed. And once during the middle of the afternoon after swimming.
If you've never had a beignet, on your next trip to WDW...you should meander on over to POFQ and try them. I can't really give you a good description of them, other than to say that they're heavenly...and that if a doughnut and a funnel cake had a baby...it would be a beignet. And I promise this will be the last you hear about them
4/9
Lunch - Le Cellier
I decided to go ahead and book lunch at Le Cellier (even though I really wanted to try the new dinner menu because I know Nana likes lunch. See what a good granddaughter I am
We had a lovely server who told us all about the new dinner menu, and even though I'm still a little unsure as to whether Le Cellier really deserves Signature status...she was so enthusiastic about the changes that she really sold me on it. I'm very excited to try dinner on my next trip in October. Now, onto lunch. I felt like a complete and total pig at this meal...but I wait months and months for Le Cellier...and I was going to enjoy it! So, I started with a cup of cheddar cheese soup, followed by the fillet with mushroom risotto. While they were both lovely, I will openly admit that I mostly only go to Le Cellier for that soup. Shannon decided to just have soup, so she ordered a bowl, which she finished in about two minutes...so it must've been good. Nana had the open faced Canadian cheese steak sandwich, which she enjoyed very much. All in all, it was an excellent meal, and the service was the best I've had there in a long while.
Dinner - Yakitori House
No one was in any mood to have another sit down meal after lunch at Le Cellier and snacking around the world showcase (we had to stop at Karamell Kuche) so Yakitori House won the battle for CS dinner spot...mostly because we were standing in front of it when we were hungry...and Shannon and I both wanted an after dinner kaki gori
Nana and Shannon both had teriyaki chicken, which they both enjoyed. I had the sushi/udon combo with spicy tuna rolls. This is probably one of my favorite CS meals actually. I never come close to finishing the udon (it's a lot of food!) but it's nice to have something different. And as I previously mentioned, it was followed up by two cherry kaki gori's.
4/10 - A.K.A the day we lost our minds
Lunch - Yak & Yeti Local Foods
We started the day of at AK. It's my least favorite park, and for some reason, it always feels 15 degrees hotter than anywhere else to me. It was already 91 degrees outside when we got there around 11, so by the time we were ready for lunch, I was miserable and don't really think I would have enjoyed anything. I caved and went to the Y&Y CS because Shannon wanted to. It's not really my favorite. We both had honey chicken. She really enjoyed it. I was much more fond of my large Sprite than I was of the chicken. I don't think it was actually bad, because she really liked it...but it was just so hot and miserable the last thing I wanted to do was eat hot food (temperature wise, not spicy). I ate about 5 bites and we moved on to the rides so we could get out of AK. I drank a large Sprite and three bottles of water in the 4 hours we spend in that park. Nana went off on her own while we were riding EE, and stopped at Restaurantosaurus for a kid's hot dog meal, which she was absolutely thrilled with
Dinner - 50's Prime Time
I'm not going to lie, this is one of my all time favorite Disney restaurants. I've never had anything that was bad there. I find the food to be very consistent (not spectacular, but very good) and I love the theming. Shannon and I had a couple of pre-dinner drinks at the Tune In Lounge while Nana watched American Idol, and then we all sat down for dinner. My favorite server Sarah wasn't there although her bff Sara was...but we didn't get put in her section. Our server was very good though. Really into character. She called Nana "elbows" the entire meal because she had her elbows on the table
. Nana and Shannon both had the fried chicken. If you've never tried the fried chicken at 50's, you should. We're all southern, and think it's very good fried chicken. If you can please us, you can please anybody. Nana had hers with the greens, Shannon substituted them for corn. I had the Grilled Tuna Casserole (my favorite). It's more like a pasta dish with a grilled tuna steak on top. Very good. And I also had a PB&J shake. I don't think a trip to 50's would ever be complete without one of those shakes...but Nana and Shannon don't like PB Oh well, just means I didn't have to share
Very late night snack - Dole Whip
After the 10:00 Fantasmic at DHS, we headed to MK (which was open til 3am). We got there around 11, and the park was pretty much dead. Ilove MK at night. We literally rode every ride in the park between 11pm and 3 am with absolutely no wait! We walked onto Dumbo, and it was running half full
In all my trips to WDW, I've never seen Dumbo without a line. At 2:45, we realized Aloha Isle was still open on our way out of the park and HAD to stop. Nana and I both had vanilla/pineapple swirl floats, and Shannon had a regular pineapple in a cup. It was the perfect way to end the perfect MK night.
4/11
Lunch -POFQ food court
This was really my only meal at the resort, but after the longest day ever the day before, we were ready for a lazy day. Nana headed to Downtown Disney. Shopping is her favorite hobby. Shannon and I headed to the food court, followed by the pool, followed by another trip to the food court for more of those things I said earlier I wouldn't mention again
For lunch, we both had shrimp po' boys with chips. They chips were homemade and very good. The sandwiches were huge! We definitely should have split one. They come with lettuce, tomato and remoulade sauce, topped with fried shrimp. The shrimp was very good, and very fresh. They bread was kind of hard, and kept falling apart. Eventually, we both totally gave up on the bread and ate the shrimp. Next time, I would be really tempted to see if they'd give me just the shrimp and chips. But it was definitely worth the $7 it cost using the TIW card
Dinner - Tangierine Cafe
Tangierine Cafe is probably my favorite CS in the World Showcase, and I was very excited about this meal. Shannon and I both had wraps. She had chicken, I had lamb, and they were both very, very good. And very filling.
Many, many snacks
We spent the rest of the afternoon/night literally eating and drinking our way around the World Showcase. I thought I was going to explode by the time we got back to the room. We stopped for pastries in France. I had a cream puff (delicious) and Shannon had a beignet (totally not the same as POFQ, and neither of us would recommend it) followed by grey goose and grand marnier slushies. After that, we made another stop at Karamell Kuche (mostly so that Shannon could speak German to the CM's (she was an undergrad German major and lived in Austria for a year) although, you really can't go wrong with anything in the store. We followed all that up with a stop by the bakery in Norway *insert "Velcome to Norvay" in a cool Norwegian accent here* for another snack to keep us occupied while we waited for Illuminations. I had to have a rice cream...and Shannon had a cloudberry horn. All in all, a very productive day
4/12
Lunch - Earl of Sandwich
I love this place! I was very excited to get to stop here, because we didn't make it in October (even though I desperately wanted a Holiday sandwich), there just wasn't enough time. This time, I went with my old favorite, the tuna melt (with cheddar instead of swiss). It was delicious. The cheddar was perfectly melted without the tuna salad being too hot...and their bread is delicious. Shannon had the chinese chicken wrap, which she enjoyed very much. We both had chips. Nana had the Earl's club and potato salad. She enjoyed hers very much also.
Snack - Ghiradelli
I don't know what to say about this place other than it's heavenly. I don't think any trip to WDW is complete without a cookie bottom sundae (which is exactly what I had). It's warm chocolate chip cookies covered by vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce, all topped with mounds of whipped cream. Om nom nom!. Nana had a banana split, which she said was delicious. I'll take her word for it, because I don't really like bananas. Shannon had gotten tired of shopping by this point, and headed back to the room. I later learned that she drank dinner in the Tambu Lounge at the Poly, followed by a funnel cake at MK during Wishes.
Dinner - Raglan Road
My Aunt and cousin drove up from Tampa to have dinner with us, which was lovely, since we don't see them that often. I decided this would be a perfect opportunity to try Raglan Road since I've been dying to. It's so hard to work new places into a trip when you have so many old favorites...Anyway, I was able to get a 6:30 ADR and we were seated pretty much immediately. I have to say, dinner was much better than I had expected, honestly. Everything was absolutely delicious! Now that I've discovered this place, I'm going to have to find a way to work it into future trips. I had the "It's not bleedin' chowder" which was excellent! All the seafood was cooked just right, and the broth is delicious. Nana had the scallop forest and a side salad which she really enjoyed. Those scallops were fantastic! My aunt and cousin (he's an 18 year old boy a.k.a. a bottomless pitt) shared the "Appetiser D'Lirrah", which I didn't try, but they really enjoyed it. It was huge! It had battered sausages, the scallops from the scallop forest, guinness glazed ribs and chicken skewers. My aunt also had a side salad, and my cousin had the Goats Town salad, which is a huge mixed greens salad with a goats cheese terrine that was to die for! For dessert, we ordered a bread pudding and a dessert sampler to share. It was probably the best bread pudding I've had anywhere. It beat 'Ohana's hands down. And the entertainment is phenomenal. We were seated right next to the stage, so we had an excellent view of the dancers. I absolutely can't think of a thing that could have made this meal any better
Well folks, that's it for my dining review! Thanks so much for reading. This is the first one I've done, and I'm so sorry for the lack of pictures, but if there's anything I left out that you have questions about, feel free to ask!
The cast: Me: I'm Tori
I'm 26 and I'm a nurse. I'm not at all picky, and will try pretty much anything. Food is half the fun of the trip for me.Bff: Shannon. She's 27 and has a master's degree in HR, but can't really find a job at the moment and therefore manages a Starbucks (which is excellent for me...but not so much for her since she hates coffee
). She's much pickier than me, but is branching out more and more lately. She loves almost any kind of ethnic food, but doesn't really eat meat other than chicken and the very very occasional burger or steak.And last, but not least, my Nana: She's 59, very southern, and very set in her ways. She's also from a very small town. Their only chain restaurants are McDonald's, Hardees, Burger King and Pizza Hut. No, I'm not joking. Her idea of a 5 star dinner is deep fried, very unhealthy, and definitely does not include strange spices (even though she's traveled the world. Literally. She's been to every continent except Antarctica.)
We were at POFQ for 5 nights, 4/8-4/13. We didn't have a dining plan (I'm an AP holder with TIW) and for a lot of reasons (the biggest two being the differences in our eating habits and the fact that Nana would have had a heart attack at the prices at the Signatures) we didn't plan a lot of sit down meals this trip. And now...onto the reviews!
4/8
Dinner - Sanaa
In retrospect...we should have probably skipped this one, but it's one of mine and Shannon's must do's and I really thought Nana would be able to find something appropriate. I even tried to help her order, and they were willing to bring her a plain fish dish, but she was determined to do things her way
It also probably didn't help that we drove straight from Universal (we spent two nights there before Disney) to AKV. We didn't even go check in at POFQ first, in order to make our 8:00 ADR. None of us were really starving after a long day in a hot park, so Shannon and I decided to share. We started with the bread service with mango chutney, cucumber raita and coriander chutney and for breads...all naan. This was the first time I had tried the coriander chutney, and it was delicious. I highly recommend it. For our main course, we had the curry - chicken with red curry sauce, and a new spicy shrimp. The shrimp was new since our last visit in October though, and I can't find an updated menu with the name. We also got an extra side of basmati rice. Nana decided to go with the salad sampler with the kachumbar, chickpea, and watermelon salads. They all looked very good, and I think she enjoyed all of them, but she was very disappointed with the size/price ratio. I did try to tell her. She also got a side of the roasted potatoes that come with the kids meals, which she also enjoyed, but we had that same size/price ratio problem. For dessert, Shannon and I both had chai cream which is one of my favorite desserts anywhere. Overall, Shannon and I both enjoyed it very much (like always). The food was excellent, and we were both very full. Nana wasn't such a fan...but I think I shouldn't have tried to win her over. I still highly, highly recommend Sanaa to anyone who even thinks they might want to try it.Beignets Almost immediately after checking into POFQ, we discovered the little pieces of heaven also known as beignets. It was purely accidental, we really only went to buy mugs In any case...I will simply say that Shannon and I consumed a LOT of them over the course of our stay at POFQ. Neither of us are really morning people (I work night shift), so there's not a single breakfast anywhere in this dining report. Suffice it to say, where you don't see a breakfast...you can probably just insert beignets. Also, most nights before bed. And once during the middle of the afternoon after swimming. If you've never had a beignet, on your next trip to WDW...you should meander on over to POFQ and try them. I can't really give you a good description of them, other than to say that they're heavenly...and that if a doughnut and a funnel cake had a baby...it would be a beignet. And I promise this will be the last you hear about them4/9
Lunch - Le Cellier
I decided to go ahead and book lunch at Le Cellier (even though I really wanted to try the new dinner menu because I know Nana likes lunch. See what a good granddaughter I am
We had a lovely server who told us all about the new dinner menu, and even though I'm still a little unsure as to whether Le Cellier really deserves Signature status...she was so enthusiastic about the changes that she really sold me on it. I'm very excited to try dinner on my next trip in October. Now, onto lunch. I felt like a complete and total pig at this meal...but I wait months and months for Le Cellier...and I was going to enjoy it! So, I started with a cup of cheddar cheese soup, followed by the fillet with mushroom risotto. While they were both lovely, I will openly admit that I mostly only go to Le Cellier for that soup. Shannon decided to just have soup, so she ordered a bowl, which she finished in about two minutes...so it must've been good. Nana had the open faced Canadian cheese steak sandwich, which she enjoyed very much. All in all, it was an excellent meal, and the service was the best I've had there in a long while.Dinner - Yakitori House
No one was in any mood to have another sit down meal after lunch at Le Cellier and snacking around the world showcase (we had to stop at Karamell Kuche) so Yakitori House won the battle for CS dinner spot...mostly because we were standing in front of it when we were hungry...and Shannon and I both wanted an after dinner kaki gori
Nana and Shannon both had teriyaki chicken, which they both enjoyed. I had the sushi/udon combo with spicy tuna rolls. This is probably one of my favorite CS meals actually. I never come close to finishing the udon (it's a lot of food!) but it's nice to have something different. And as I previously mentioned, it was followed up by two cherry kaki gori's.4/10 - A.K.A the day we lost our minds
Lunch - Yak & Yeti Local Foods
We started the day of at AK. It's my least favorite park, and for some reason, it always feels 15 degrees hotter than anywhere else to me. It was already 91 degrees outside when we got there around 11, so by the time we were ready for lunch, I was miserable and don't really think I would have enjoyed anything. I caved and went to the Y&Y CS because Shannon wanted to. It's not really my favorite. We both had honey chicken. She really enjoyed it. I was much more fond of my large Sprite than I was of the chicken. I don't think it was actually bad, because she really liked it...but it was just so hot and miserable the last thing I wanted to do was eat hot food (temperature wise, not spicy). I ate about 5 bites and we moved on to the rides so we could get out of AK. I drank a large Sprite and three bottles of water in the 4 hours we spend in that park. Nana went off on her own while we were riding EE, and stopped at Restaurantosaurus for a kid's hot dog meal, which she was absolutely thrilled with
Dinner - 50's Prime Time
I'm not going to lie, this is one of my all time favorite Disney restaurants. I've never had anything that was bad there. I find the food to be very consistent (not spectacular, but very good) and I love the theming. Shannon and I had a couple of pre-dinner drinks at the Tune In Lounge while Nana watched American Idol, and then we all sat down for dinner. My favorite server Sarah wasn't there although her bff Sara was...but we didn't get put in her section. Our server was very good though. Really into character. She called Nana "elbows" the entire meal because she had her elbows on the table
. Nana and Shannon both had the fried chicken. If you've never tried the fried chicken at 50's, you should. We're all southern, and think it's very good fried chicken. If you can please us, you can please anybody. Nana had hers with the greens, Shannon substituted them for corn. I had the Grilled Tuna Casserole (my favorite). It's more like a pasta dish with a grilled tuna steak on top. Very good. And I also had a PB&J shake. I don't think a trip to 50's would ever be complete without one of those shakes...but Nana and Shannon don't like PB Oh well, just means I didn't have to shareVery late night snack - Dole Whip
After the 10:00 Fantasmic at DHS, we headed to MK (which was open til 3am). We got there around 11, and the park was pretty much dead. I
love MK at night. We literally rode every ride in the park between 11pm and 3 am with absolutely no wait! We walked onto Dumbo, and it was running half full In all my trips to WDW, I've never seen Dumbo without a line. At 2:45, we realized Aloha Isle was still open on our way out of the park and HAD to stop. Nana and I both had vanilla/pineapple swirl floats, and Shannon had a regular pineapple in a cup. It was the perfect way to end the perfect MK night.4/11
Lunch -POFQ food court
This was really my only meal at the resort, but after the longest day ever the day before, we were ready for a lazy day. Nana headed to Downtown Disney. Shopping is her favorite hobby. Shannon and I headed to the food court, followed by the pool, followed by another trip to the food court for more of those things I said earlier I wouldn't mention again
For lunch, we both had shrimp po' boys with chips. They chips were homemade and very good. The sandwiches were huge! We definitely should have split one. They come with lettuce, tomato and remoulade sauce, topped with fried shrimp. The shrimp was very good, and very fresh. They bread was kind of hard, and kept falling apart. Eventually, we both totally gave up on the bread and ate the shrimp. Next time, I would be really tempted to see if they'd give me just the shrimp and chips. But it was definitely worth the $7 it cost using the TIW cardDinner - Tangierine Cafe
Tangierine Cafe is probably my favorite CS in the World Showcase, and I was very excited about this meal. Shannon and I both had wraps. She had chicken, I had lamb, and they were both very, very good. And very filling.
Many, many snacks
We spent the rest of the afternoon/night literally eating and drinking our way around the World Showcase. I thought I was going to explode by the time we got back to the room. We stopped for pastries in France. I had a cream puff (delicious) and Shannon had a beignet (totally not the same as POFQ, and neither of us would recommend it) followed by grey goose and grand marnier slushies. After that, we made another stop at Karamell Kuche (mostly so that Shannon could speak German to the CM's (she was an undergrad German major and lived in Austria for a year) although, you really can't go wrong with anything in the store. We followed all that up with a stop by the bakery in Norway *insert "Velcome to Norvay" in a cool Norwegian accent here* for another snack to keep us occupied while we waited for Illuminations. I had to have a rice cream...and Shannon had a cloudberry horn. All in all, a very productive day
4/12
Lunch - Earl of Sandwich
I love this place! I was very excited to get to stop here, because we didn't make it in October (even though I desperately wanted a Holiday sandwich), there just wasn't enough time. This time, I went with my old favorite, the tuna melt (with cheddar instead of swiss). It was delicious. The cheddar was perfectly melted without the tuna salad being too hot...and their bread is delicious. Shannon had the chinese chicken wrap, which she enjoyed very much. We both had chips. Nana had the Earl's club and potato salad. She enjoyed hers very much also.
Snack - Ghiradelli
I don't know what to say about this place other than it's heavenly. I don't think any trip to WDW is complete without a cookie bottom sundae (which is exactly what I had). It's warm chocolate chip cookies covered by vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce, all topped with mounds of whipped cream. Om nom nom!. Nana had a banana split, which she said was delicious. I'll take her word for it, because I don't really like bananas. Shannon had gotten tired of shopping by this point, and headed back to the room. I later learned that she drank dinner in the Tambu Lounge at the Poly, followed by a funnel cake at MK during Wishes.
Dinner - Raglan Road
My Aunt and cousin drove up from Tampa to have dinner with us, which was lovely, since we don't see them that often. I decided this would be a perfect opportunity to try Raglan Road since I've been dying to. It's so hard to work new places into a trip when you have so many old favorites...Anyway, I was able to get a 6:30 ADR and we were seated pretty much immediately. I have to say, dinner was much better than I had expected, honestly. Everything was absolutely delicious! Now that I've discovered this place, I'm going to have to find a way to work it into future trips. I had the "It's not bleedin' chowder" which was excellent! All the seafood was cooked just right, and the broth is delicious. Nana had the scallop forest and a side salad which she really enjoyed. Those scallops were fantastic! My aunt and cousin (he's an 18 year old boy a.k.a. a bottomless pitt) shared the "Appetiser D'Lirrah", which I didn't try, but they really enjoyed it. It was huge! It had battered sausages, the scallops from the scallop forest, guinness glazed ribs and chicken skewers. My aunt also had a side salad, and my cousin had the Goats Town salad, which is a huge mixed greens salad with a goats cheese terrine that was to die for! For dessert, we ordered a bread pudding and a dessert sampler to share. It was probably the best bread pudding I've had anywhere. It beat 'Ohana's hands down. And the entertainment is phenomenal. We were seated right next to the stage, so we had an excellent view of the dancers. I absolutely can't think of a thing that could have made this meal any better
Well folks, that's it for my dining review! Thanks so much for reading. This is the first one I've done, and I'm so sorry for the lack of pictures, but if there's anything I left out that you have questions about, feel free to ask!
We are also doing Ohana as well so I feel a bread pudding showdown coming on! Thanks for the great reviews!
Considering POFQ for my trip in October with my Sister. She has bad knees and even though I think CBR would be right up her alley, I'm not sure if the walking there would be all that good for her.
