COMPLETED**1st Anniversary, 2nd Dining Review...Updated 1/15 Final Posts

[DisneyDivaN]

Just went read your other reviews from your honeymoon, we ate at alot of the same places as you guys on our honeymoon lol

 

[Linda67]

Excellent reviews
Jiko was my fave dinner on our last trip but Yachtsman was a very close second
Looking forward to reading more

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in

 

[heatherandnick]

Great reviews!! I just found this thread- and am definitely subscribing! Can't wait for more yummy reviews

Thanks for reading. I hope to have the next one up in a couple days.

Subbing!! Congrats on your anniversary, we are at almost 3 years and going to The World to celebrate in November. Love all of you reviews so far, we love Jiko and have had Michelle as a server twice, once on our honeymoon and last Christmas with extended family, she was wonderful both times. Like you said attentive with out being to pesky.

Haven't been back to Yachtsman for a while and am always on the fence about going back..

Can't wait to read more reviews!!

Michelle was definitely awesome. We have had great service at Jiko both times.

Isn't it hard to decide where to eat?! I'm sure we will be on the fence about Yachtsman next time, too. Disney just makes it too hard to choose!

Just went read your other reviews from your honeymoon, we ate at alot of the same places as you guys on our honeymoon lol

We had such a blast on our honeymoon! I still can't believe we were there for 10 days on DxDP and didn't hit all the signatures. Major goof! lol

Excellent reviews
Jiko was my fave dinner on our last trip but Yachtsman was a very close second
Looking forward to reading more

joining in

I love, love, LOVE me some Jiko.
Thanks to you both for reading!

 

[heatherandnick]

For those of you who read my previous reviews, you probably know I LOVED Y&Y during our honeymoon. Of all the fabulous places we ate, this was the meal that I dreamed about months afterward. After a bit of coersing, I convinced DH we should go back to Y&Y for lunch instead of going to Tusker House for a late breakfast. Needless to say, I was super-stoked for this meal.

First of all, I must say (as others have said) this is one of my favorite restaurants in terms of decor. I believe this establishment has the most awesome details and decorations. I love how there is a variety of tables, chairs, lamps, etc. and I love all of the artifacts in the dining rooms. We were able to sit upstairs by the windows (my favorite tables in the whole place) and our server was Stacey. Honestly, he was just so-so as a server...not bad, not good. In fact, the best part about him was that he reminded me of one of my favorite characters from one of my favorite shows...Cam from Modern Family.

We split both appetizers. The first one was the lettuce cups.

These were divine! We both really enjoyed them. They were a great combination of tastes and flavors with the cool crisp lettuce, the warm minced chicken, and the sweet maple tamarind sauce. We would definitely get these again and had to stop ourselves from eating every bite because we also had these yummies...

The wok fried green beans. These were awesome too! I loved how crunchy they were and the sauce was sweet with a very slight kick. We had to stop ourselves from eating all of these too.

For his entree, DH ordered the Duck with Anandapur Glaze.

He didn't eat much of this. He says, "Ehhh it was alright." He compared it to chicken, which he is not a HUGE fan of. He says he wouldn't order it again. He was tossing around getting the ribs or getting the duck, and he wished he had gone with the ribs.

Even though many of the entrees sounded really yummy, I had to go with the same thing I got last time, the Crispy Mahi-Mahi.

While I really enjoyed this, I did not rave over it as I did last time. The fish was crispy and flaky and the sauce was sweet and yummy...just not quite as yummy as I had remembered. Maybe it's because I had just stuffed my face with the delicious appetizers? Maybe it's because I had it so hyped up in my head from our last trip? Either way, it was good but not "moan-while-you-chew" good. I would highly recommend others to get it. I may even get it again, but I might also venture off the beaten path and try something else next time.

For one of our desserts, we got the Fried Wontons.

These were as good as they were last time. DH ate most of them as I am not a huge cream cheese-based dessert fan (odd, I know). I can see why people like them, but I would prefer them minus the cream cheese part. I do, however, love the warm dessert mixed with the cold ice cream. Mmmmm.

We also got the mango pie.

We only ordered this because Cam (er...Stacey) recommended it. I personally dislike mango and so does DH. The first bite was horrible. But the more I ate, the more it grew on me. DH thought it was really bad. I'm glad we got it because it is one of Y&Y's specialties but I would pass on it next time. It's basically like key lime pie, only mango.

Overall, Y&Y was a good experience. Both times we have been there we had questionable service, which is a bit of a turn-off. The appetizers made the meal for us this time. They were really, really good. I would go back again strictly because of those. However, next time I hope we head over to Sanaa at AKL for lunch.

OOP cost would have been $87.92 excluding tip.

Next up: Citricos dinner.

 

[sydneysmom]

Jumping on in too !! Can't wait to read more !!

 

[librarygeek]

The Yak and Yeti is on my must-do list for next time! I've heard some really good things about it, and it looks like you had a pretty good meal too. I'm with you on the cream cheese based desserts, I'm not a huge fan either so I probably wouldn't order the fried won tons, even though others rave about them. However, I am a huge fan of mango so that pie looks absolutely delicious! Wish I could have some right now

 

[jedi jen]

Enjoying your reviews. We are going to Y&Y for the first time, and are looking forward to it. You have definitely given us some things to think about. So many options, so little time.

 

[cbg1027]

I love Yak n Yeti too. I had the lettuce cups as an entree on my last visit and they are really good.

I didn't care much for the cream cheese wontons either. From the menu description, I thought the wontons had the cheese AND pineapple inside and I'm convinced they'd be better than way.

 

[Merida]

The appetizers do look very good, especially the lettuce cups. Yak and Yeti's food has never really appealed to us (not a big cream-cheese-in-dessert fan either!) but I do want to go inside and just look around.

I agree about Sanaa, though, it looks really interesting. Especially with the bread service! Fastest way to my heart

 

[vettegirl]

Reading your review is making wonder if I should switch our ressie to Sanna?? We love Indian food.

 

[heatherandnick]

The appetizers do look very good, especially the lettuce cups. Yak and Yeti's food has never really appealed to us (not a big cream-cheese-in-dessert fan either!) but I do want to go inside and just look around.

I agree about Sanaa, though, it looks really interesting. Especially with the bread service! Fastest way to my heart

Reading your review is making wonder if I should switch our ressie to Sanna?? We love Indian food.

We actually went to Sanaa last year on our honeymoon. It was a fabulous experience! Check it out on my honeymoon reviews in the link in my signature.


Thanks to everyone for reading and for all your support!!!

 

[vettegirl]

Thanks! I will check out your review.

 

[heatherandnick]

HS is one of our favorite parks, and (as we all know) the dining options there are very limited. We ate at HBD on our honeymoon and had a great time, so going back this time was pretty much a no-brainer.

I love the ambience of this place. It's bustling and has a Hollywood "feel" to it. We got a little 2-top by a railing right inside the entrance. I have to say, our last table was soooo much better. Last year, we had a round booth on the lower level. This table was wayyy too small. Luckily, we had the ledge from the railing on which to put some of our things. Our server was Tim and he was great. Although he seemed busy, he was very attentive and made a big deal out of it being our anniversary.

For his appetizer, DH got the Cobb Salad (duh!).

We LOVE this! In our opinion, it is one of the best appetizers on property. I love the flavors of the bacon and egg, DH loves how finely chopped everything is. We will always get this when we eat at HBD.

I got the lobster bisque (I think that's what is was).

I wouldn't get this again. I think it was the corn base that turned me off. I'm not a huge corn-chowder fan, so I'm not really sure why I went for this. If you like the sweet corn flavor, I'm sure you would enjoy this, it's just not my thing.

For DH's entree, he got the fillet.

Honestly, I was a bit surprised at his selection. He's not typically a "filet" kinda guy. However, he did really enjoy this. He said it had a good flavor and he enjoyed the accompaniments (I think he left the tomatoes). He says he would get this again, but he is also open to trying something new next time.

For my entree, I got the Sterling Silver Pork Chop.

I am not normally a big pork eater, but I had read so many rave reviews about this I decided to get it. I was not disappointed. This was amazing!!! I loved the combination of the sweet apricot, the smokey bacon, and the rich gouda. I would definitely get this again. In fact, next time I will probably encourage DH to get it as he LOVES pork. Definitely two thumbs up in my book!

We had three (yes, three) desserts since Tim brought us a celebration dessert. I think it was a chocolate mousse of some sort.

It was yummy, although nothing stands out in my memory. I do remember it was all eaten!

Dessert number two was the grapefruit cake.

Now, I must put in a disclaimer...I do not like graprefruit. Why, you ask, did I get it then? Well, since it's a "Brown Derby Original" I felt I should at least give it a go. I chickened out last year, so this year I decided it was time. YUCK! I did not like this. It was terrible with a really funky aftertaste. Perhaps those of you who are grapefruit fans would enjoy it, but I will never get it again. In a weird way, I am sort of glad I did get it. At least I tried it, and I will never wonder if I am missing something spectacular. DH liked it a little more than I did, but I think there was still a lot left on the plate.

Now, the Banana White Chocolate Toffee Tower was a completely different story.

This was one of my favorite desserts of the trip (Are you sensing a pattern here? I think I am saying that at least once a meal.) It was fabulous. We ate every bite even though we were filled to the brim. Along with the Cobb Salad, this has been added to my "must get" list at HBD.

After our meal, we got turned on the the idea of expresso. Although the taste is putrid in DH's opinion (I didn't mind it as much), it definitely gave us an energy boost to have a great rest of the evening. It sort of became a "thing" for us as the trip went on.

HBD was another fantastic experience. I think this will always be one of our go-to restaurants, expecially since it is in HS. I'm not really sure it is comparable to the other 2-credits, but I think it is because it's in a park, not at a resort. On the other hand, it should be more credits than 50's PT of Sci Fi (which we love, BTW, just saying). So, go figure. We will definitely be back and encourage others to go.

Our total bill came to $124.38, excluding tip. We used 4 DxDP credits.

 

[librarygeek]

Good to see your review of HBD. I agree that there aren't many great TS options in HS, so for the next trip that we're planning we're considering this one. Either that or we may venture out of the park for dinner, thinking about hitting up the boardwalk or something. I do have to admit that I think that grapefruit cake looks delicious, but then I absolutely adore grapefruit! And I would love to try that cobb salad, I've heard so many good things.

 

[heatherandnick]

Good to see your review of HBD. I agree that there aren't many great TS options in HS, so for the next trip that we're planning we're considering this one. Either that or we may venture out of the park for dinner, thinking about hitting up the boardwalk or something. I do have to admit that I think that grapefruit cake looks delicious, but then I absolutely adore grapefruit! And I would love to try that cobb salad, I've heard so many good things.

If you love grapefruit, then I say go for the cake. I have seen many great reviews of it.

Definitely go for the Cobb salad. It's HUGE but only counts as one appetizer credit if you go DxDP. Plenty for two! Plus, they are more than happy to leave off an item if you so choose (we opted for no blue cheese). Have fun!

 

[heatherandnick]

My favorite breakfast on property is Crystal Palace. I think this is one of those things that I will always insist upon when we travel to D-World.

Here is why:
1.) I love, love, love walking down an almost empty Main Street before the park is open.

2.) It's great to be already in the park, ready to go, with full bellies by the time the park is officially open.

3.) I think the food here is far superior to the other breakfast buffets on property. I especially enjoy the puffed french toast and the vegetable frittata.


I'm sorry I have no pictures, but I'm not one to take photos of my plate from the buffet. It never really looks all that appealing once I have it all scrunched up on my plate.

There is nothing that really stood out for us this trip to CP...except the OJ was good and the food was yummy. The service was nothing spectacular, but then again, it's a buffet. I agree with other posters and suggest asking for your check at the beginning of the meal. When I'm ready to get out of CP, I'm ready to get out...I didn't care much for having to wait 10 minutes or so for the check.

DH pretty much just goes along with me on this one (He's a good sport.)...He's not a huge breakfast fan. Also, I think he could do without the characters. Actually, we both could do without them. I don't see the appeal unless you have kids (just my opinion, sorry). To us it is awkard to interact with them and it disrupts the meal. We either dodge them by taking a trip to the buffet when we see them coming or by just giving a friendly wave as they walk by.

Characters or no characters, this is, and always will be, a must do for me...unless we find a better option. For those of you who decide to go for it, just make sure you don't have an ADR on a day of early EMH...that would be such a waste unless you don't care about the whole walking-down-Main-Street "thing."

Our total OOP would have been $48.97 (plus tip).

 

[cbg1027]

My favorite breakfast on property is Crystal Palace. I think this is one of those things that I will always insist upon when we travel to D-World.

Here is why:
1.) I love, love, love walking down an almsot empty Main Street before the park is open.

2.) It's great to be already in the park, ready to go, with full bellies by the time the park is officially open.

3.) I think the food here is far superior to the other breakfast buffets on property. I especially enjoy the puffed french toast and the vegetable frittata.

I completely agree! CP is my fav breakfast at Disney too. I would go for the Puffed French Toast alone.

 

[librarygeek]

We have done CP for dinner but never for breakfast. But dinner was great too!

 

[Merida]

The pork at the Brown Derby looks delicious! I love pork but we don't make it very often so it's a very "special occasion" food now. The grapefruit cake looks very pretty but I'm really only a fan of grapefruit in small doses so I guess I'll skip that one.

Yay! I'm glad you rec Crystal Palace - that's our one buffet/character meal reserved just to get into Magic Kingdom early. Do you ask for the characters to skip you? We aren't big character people either (I never know what to do with them!) and I would rather have a quicker breakfast/more empty park time than a meet and greet with Tigger.