Thanks again to everyone for their patience. Hopefully I havent lost everyone due to the long delay in getting started with my reviews. But now finally without further ado
.
Lets Get this Birthday Party Started! 
Our direct Air Tran flight from the Central Illinois Regional Airport took a mere 2 hours and 20 minutes and we arrived at the Orlando Airport at around 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 12th. We made a beeline to the Magical Express pick-up area and were pleased to find a bus waiting there to take us to our resort, the Boardwalk Inn. This bus was shared by guests from the Port Orleans Riverside, Boardwalk Inn & Villas, Yacht Club Resort, and Beach Club Resort & Villas. As this was the order of the bus stops, we only had one stop before we arrived at the BWI. I had checked in online in advance so check-in was a breeze. We picked up our keys and took the elevator up to the top floor (which at the BWI is only the 5th) to our assigned Room 5270. This turned out to be a good location for a standard view room. It was not far from the elevator and overlooked the pretty inner courtyard. The best part was that there was also a good view of the Illuminations fireworks from our balcony. Anyway, we did just a little unpacking and freshened up before heading out. We walked to the Guest Services booth right outside of the International Gateway Entrance to Epcots World Showcase so that I could get a new Tables in Wonderland card, as mine had expired at the end of April. Although we were on the Deluxe
Disney Dining Plan for the first 5 days of our trip, I wanted the TIW card for the discount on alcoholic beverages (which we planned to have a lot of
) plus our meals for the last 2 days and OOP lunch at the Hollywood Brown Derby. Then we had a quick walk back to the Boardwalk (its amazing how much faster I move when Im at WDW than when Im at home
). Yes, we even beat the boat coming from Epcot that had left long before us!
And so we arrived at the outside podium right on time for our 6:05 reservation for
.
Dinner at FLYING FISH CAFÉ
THE SHORT VERSION
Highlights - Birthday menu and Complimentary Dessert, Crab Cake, Red Snapper, Banana Napoleon, Wine Flights
Disappointments Service, 2/3 of the Trio of Chocolate Desserts
Would we Return? Yes
THE LONG VERSION
We were given a pager and were still looking at the menu posted outside when it went off. We were starving as all we had eaten since breakfast was the small bag of pretzels that they give you on the plane, so we were quite happy to be called so quickly.
The Open Kitchen
We were seated in the very back of the room, with our table against the back wall that has the ferris wheel (see pic below).
At first we thought our waiter, who had a heavy foreign accent (sorry I cant remember what country he was from), was just very friendly. But by the time our entrees were served, he had gone from being very friendly to downright annoying. For the first part of our meal, he just kept popping by our table every few minutes to chat about random things that were totally unrelated to our meal. As the restaurant got busier, and therefore noisier, I found it impossible to understand him between the noise and his accent. So I just smiled a lot and nodded, having no idea if that was the appropriate response.
However, not long after our entrees arrived, the situation with our server took a turn for the worse. But Ill save that for later, now its time to talk (and show) food
the reason you are all here.
We wanted to start off our first meal of the trip with a bang so each ordered a wine flight. I dont recall seeing wine flights available on the wine menus from any of the other signature restaurants, so I believe they are unique to the Flying Fish. I prefer white wines so I ordered the Riesling Flight, which consisted of 2-oz. pours of three different wines, two German and Mohua from New Zealand. The first German wine was a Selbach-Oster Kabinett. It was the driest and although it was my least favorite of the three, it was quite drinkable and I enjoyed it. However, my favorite was the sweeter German wine, Gunderloch Diva. For $17 I thought this was a pretty good deal, especially since a glass of any of these wines (pours not much larger than these) would cost at least $12.
Riesling Flight
DD prefers red wines so she ordered the Pinot Noir Flight for $18. This included an Oregon wine (Argyle), an Australian wine (Coldstream Hills), and Deloach from California. She too liked all three of her wines, but her favorite was the Deloach Barrel to Barrel.
Pinot Noir Flight
The bread here is a multi-grain. It was good and we each quickly devoured a slice as we were really hungry.
Multi-grain Bread
Next came a complimentary amuse bouche, which we were given because we were guests of the Boardwalk Inn. This was a cucumber avocado soup. Although I normally prefer my soup warm, this was quite tasty and seemed appropriate on a very warm day.
Cucumber Avocado Soup (Complimentary Amuse Bouche)
For my appetizer, I of course chose the Crispy Maine Coast Jonah Crab Cake, as it was my favorite part of our meal at Flying Fish last November. I again loved this
so very good! Even though I was starting to get full, I couldnt resist eating every last bit of the crab cake and a little of the slaw too.
Crispy Maine Coast Jonah Crab Cake
For her appetizer, DD ordered the Fresh Mozzarella di Bufala (aka Tomato salad or Caprese). She fell in love with the Caprese on our trip to Italy two years ago, so she was thrilled to see it on the menu. This consisted of three kinds of tomatoes (Yellow Beefsteak, Ugly Ripe, and the small Santa Sweet grape tomatoes), peppercorns, and fresh mozzarella cheese and basil leaves with Sicilian Olio Verde (Extra-Virgin olive oil) and a Balsamic glaze. She really enjoyed this and declared it to be one of the best she has had outside of Italy.
Fresh Mozzarella di Bufala
On our anniversary trip in Nov. 2010 we also had our first meal of the trip at Flying Fish Café. I wrongly guessed that DH would order the Signature New York Strip Steak, so I planned to order the other signature entrée, Potato-wrapped Red Snapper. Well, DH threw me for a loop and ordered whatever fish dish was the Chefs Special Thunder Entrée at that time. So I made a spur of the moment decision and ordered the steak. This turned out to be a bad decision. Although the steak was fine, it was nothing special.
This time though I was determined to have the red snapper and I am so glad I did because I thought it was delicious
one of my favorite entrees of this trip.
Potato-wrapped Red Snapper and Leek Fondue
DD went with the scallops for her entrée. The scallops were well-prepared and the mascarpone and pecorino cheese-laced risotto with prosciutto di parma cracklins (tasted like bits of bacon) and peas that was served with them was really tasty.
Oak-Grilled Maine Diver Scallops and Risotto
As if we didnt have enough food, I decided that I was craving asparagus and ordered the grilled asparagus with foyot sauce. Unfortunately neither of us really liked it, as the grilled preparation gave it a burned flavor. Although the sauce was good, it wasnt good enough to overcome the burnt taste of the asparagus. Not worth the $8.00 OOP price. Oh well, I guess you cant win them all.
Grilled Spring Crop Asparagus with Sauce Foyot (sorry my only pic of this came out a little blurry)
For dessert, I had the Trio of Sinful Chocolate Indulgences. This consisted of small portions of three different chocolate desserts. The first of these, chocolate bread pudding, I didnt enjoy at all. This really surprised me because I normally like bread pudding. For instance I love the ones they serve at Raglan Road and Ohana. Although I like chocolate covered raisins, the combination of the chocolate bread (cake) and raisins just didnt work for me for some reason. The second dessert was a flourless Chocolate Torta with raspberries. This was okay, for me it was better than the bread pudding but nothing special. By the time our dessert was served it had gotten dark outside and the restaurant was pretty dark without the natural lighting. Another family was seated at the table right next to us by that time (very close), so I didn't want to use the flash on my camera for the rest of the pictures. Consequently the pictures of my desserts and cappuccino came out kind of dark. I'll post them anyway, but after much editing to lighten them up they are not very good. Sorry.
Trio of Sinful Chocolate Indulgences
The third dessert of my trio, white chocolate-almond crème brulee, was by far my favorite of the three. This was fortunate because for my birthday they brought me a complimentary regular size portion of this dessert, complete with a lit candle.
White Chocolate-Almond Crème Brulee (Complimentary Birthday Dessert)
For her dessert, DD chose the restaurants Signature dessert, Caramelized Banana Napoleon. She loved the combination of the crisp phyllo pastry, caramel sauce, and banana mousse. This was definitely one of her favorite desserts of the trip, and set the bar quite high for her desserts for the remainder of our meals.
Caramelized Banana Napoleon
With our desserts, we both had a cappuccino as our non-alcoholic beverage covered by our Dining Plan.
Cappuccino and Biscotti Cookies
That completes the food portion of this segment, so now I will pick up where I left off regarding our service issues...
Soon after our entrees arrived our server went from being annoyingly chatty to being nearly non-existent. Long after we had finished our entrees, he finally reappeared with the dessert menus. Then it took quite awhile before he returned to take our orders. Then it took even longer after finishing our desserts before we saw him walking by and waved him over to ask for our bill. Consequently, as soon as he finally brought the bill I quickly glanced at it and handed him both my key and my TIW card. I explained that we were on the Deluxe Dining Plan, but the TIW card was for everything not covered by the plan. He smiled and nodded. He seemed to understand
I thought he understood
but no he didnt understand. When he returned I saw from the receipts that he had applied the 20% TIW discount to the entire meal and charged it all to our room. By this time it was 8:30ish and my DD was getting nervous that she was going to miss seeing the 9:00 fireworks from our balcony so I told her that she could leave and I would stay to get it straightened it out. When I thought everything was finally all straight and was walking toward the door with my copies of the two receipts in hand, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to add a tip for the Dining Plan portion of our meal (the 18% tip had automatically been applied to the rest of our bill). SHOOOOOOT!!!! So back to our table I go. But the good news is
I did make it back to our room shortly before the fireworks started. So I guess alls well that ends well. But seriously
nearly three hours for a meal at Disney is just a bit too long, dont you think? Well, unless you're dining at Victoria & Albert's that is.
Now for the numbers...
Total cost of meal (not including tip, wine, and asparagus) - $136.09 (or $34.02 per Dining Plan credit)
And so I can do a
DDP vs. TIW Cost Comparison at the end...
Total cost of meal (again not including tip and non-covered items) if we had used my Tables in Wonderland discount of 20% instead of the DDP - $108.87
20% TIW Discount on Wine Flights and Asparagus - $8.60
4 Deluxe Dining Plan Credits used, 20 Remaining
NEXT UP: Breakfast from the Boardwalk Bakery
I'm really enjoying your ongoing dining review. It seems that we like the same drinks...I also chose the avocado margarita (delicious) at La Cava, had the Rosa Regale (love it) at the wine bar in Italy, and the Torontopolitan (quite good) during our lunch at Le Cellier. 
: I guess in this case my ideas were bigger than my stomach! 
