BearcatsFan
<font color=green>we finally had a minute to breat
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 18 - Dinner at Boatwright's Dining Hall at Riverside
This dinner was a last-minute substitution. We originally had plans to go to MNSSHP tonight, and had an ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern before the party. It rained heavily today, so we decided to skip MNSSHP, cancelled the LTT ADR and made one for Boatwright's instead.
First Impressions: The waiting area to be seated for the restaurant is quite small, and there is precious little parking for strollers or ECVs inside. The podium staff are all friendly. It's a much larger restaurant than I first thought, and there are a lot of empty tables. The decor is charming, and we are seated in front of a small, cozy fireplace upstairs.
Once seated, our waiter greeted us immediately with menus and a basket of cornbread. He explained the dining plan to us, then seemed quite impatient for our orders. I let him know I would need to speak with the chef to see what modifications could be made, and he walked off wordlessly to get him.
Chef James came out a few minutes later. He was nice and offered several suggestions, including providing steamed broccoli for my vegetable (which is not on the menu), and making a substitution of potatoes for the mac & cheese. He was easy to work with.
Once Chef James walked away, our waiter came back and took our entire order all at once ... entree and dessert. Nowhere I've eaten has this ever been done. Maybe this is the norm for Boatwright's, but it's very off-putting. We barely had time to look at the entree menu and consider the choices, much less figure out what we wanted for dessert. The pressure was ON and applied heavily to order quickly.
For my entree, I chose a modified version of the Grilled Tenderloin Medallions, medium-well. As suggested, I substituted yukon gold potatoes for the mac & cheese, steamed broccoli for the asparagus, and had the red wine demi glace on the side. Chef James also suggested I not get the crawfish beignet, so I did not order it. I ordered tea as my drink.
The tenderloin medallions was a very small portion, but cooked just right. They were tender and juicy. The yukon gold potatoes tasted quite salty to me, and I only ate a few small bites. I wondered at the time why this suggestion for substitution had been made when the seasoning on them is obviously full of salt. The broccoli was quite good - steamed crisp-tender and not at all mushy. I did not care for the red wine demi glace and was glad I had requested it to be on the side.
Rating for Special Order Grilled Tenderloin Medallions:
My husband also ordered the Grilled Tenderloin Medallions medium-well. He substituted yukon gold potatoes in place of the asparagus, but somehow was served asparagus anyway and did not receive the mac & cheese. We're not sure where the confusion was - with the way he ordered it or the way the waiter wrote it down, but the waiter did bring out a crock full of mac & cheese when my husband mentioned it. He ordered the red wine demi glace on the side. He ordered Coke to drink.
He thought the serving size for the tenderloin medallions was awfully small. His were cooked properly, and were tender and juicy as well. He, too, thought the yukon gold potatoes were way too salty, so he did not eat them. On the other hand, he loved the red wine demi glace, and thought it really enhanced the taste of the tenderloin medallions. He did not eat the asparagus. He attempted to eat the crawfish beignet, but it was rock hard and dry. He thought the mac & cheese had a unique taste - this was not your average mac & cheese. Whatever cheese they're using definitely makes it the stand-out side dish for the meal.
Rating for Grilled Tenderloin Medallions:
Remember, the waiter had taken our dessert order at the same time as our entree order, so it came out immediately after we were finished with the main meal.
I ordered the No Sugar Added Lemon Pound Cake with Seasonal Berries. I have to say, this is easily the worst dessert I've ever eaten anywhere, not just in Disney. It honestly tasted like the pound cake had been frozen and thawed. There were two layers of the cake with thin slices of strawberries and smears of whipped cream in between. The cake was dry and tasteless. The smears of whipped cream had no flavor at all - no sweetener or vanilla in it, just plain heavy cream, whipped and smeared on the bottom layer of cake. I think there may have been a total of two strawberries, sliced very thin, in the whole dessert. In a word, it was yucky. I wished I had ordered a full-sugar dessert and just eaten a couple of bites of it instead.
Rating for No Sugar Added Lemon Pound Cake with Seasonal Berries:
My husband ordered the Chocolate Cake with Fresh Cream and Raspberry Sauce. It came out in a HUGE slab! He said it tasted freshly-baked. It was soft and very chocolatey. He loved the raspberry sauce, but thought there could be more of it instead of just a smear on the plate. I was so jealous - this cake looked so good and he devoured it in record time.
Rating for Chocolate Cake with Fresh Cream and Raspberry Sauce:
Along with our bill, our waiter brought out one plastic hurricane-style glass with Mardi Gras beads inside and said, "Happy Anniversary." One glass as a souvenier for two people? He also brought a to-go box for our leftover cornbread as requested by my husband.
Total Cost of Meal: $80.02 (2TS Credits Used)
Rating of Quality of Service:
Final Thoughts: Boatwright's Dining Hall has a neat, cozy atmosphere. It was very easy to get a last-minute ADR. This is a convenient TS restaurant if you are staying at either of the Port Orleans resorts; that being said, I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to eat here if I wasn't.
This was the most rushed meal we had - we definitely felt rushed to order, to be sure. Our waiter had a large table he was catering to - once we got our food, he mostly left us alone until it was time to deliver the bill. I have his name, but I won't list it because I think it's unfair to call someone out on the carpet who cannot defend themselves.
The portions of the Grilled Tenderloins was small, but we saw plates of the Slow-Roasted Prime Rib going by that were positively huge, so if you want to try this restaurant and have a large appetite, that may be the better choice. My husband said he wished he had ordered that instead. He said perhaps if he hadn't felt so rushed to order and given more time to consider it, he would have.
Chef James was easy to work with, so if you have special requests don't hesitate to ask to speak with him ... no matter how much pressure there is to order quickly.
This dinner was a last-minute substitution. We originally had plans to go to MNSSHP tonight, and had an ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern before the party. It rained heavily today, so we decided to skip MNSSHP, cancelled the LTT ADR and made one for Boatwright's instead.
First Impressions: The waiting area to be seated for the restaurant is quite small, and there is precious little parking for strollers or ECVs inside. The podium staff are all friendly. It's a much larger restaurant than I first thought, and there are a lot of empty tables. The decor is charming, and we are seated in front of a small, cozy fireplace upstairs.
Once seated, our waiter greeted us immediately with menus and a basket of cornbread. He explained the dining plan to us, then seemed quite impatient for our orders. I let him know I would need to speak with the chef to see what modifications could be made, and he walked off wordlessly to get him.
Chef James came out a few minutes later. He was nice and offered several suggestions, including providing steamed broccoli for my vegetable (which is not on the menu), and making a substitution of potatoes for the mac & cheese. He was easy to work with.
Once Chef James walked away, our waiter came back and took our entire order all at once ... entree and dessert. Nowhere I've eaten has this ever been done. Maybe this is the norm for Boatwright's, but it's very off-putting. We barely had time to look at the entree menu and consider the choices, much less figure out what we wanted for dessert. The pressure was ON and applied heavily to order quickly.
For my entree, I chose a modified version of the Grilled Tenderloin Medallions, medium-well. As suggested, I substituted yukon gold potatoes for the mac & cheese, steamed broccoli for the asparagus, and had the red wine demi glace on the side. Chef James also suggested I not get the crawfish beignet, so I did not order it. I ordered tea as my drink.
The tenderloin medallions was a very small portion, but cooked just right. They were tender and juicy. The yukon gold potatoes tasted quite salty to me, and I only ate a few small bites. I wondered at the time why this suggestion for substitution had been made when the seasoning on them is obviously full of salt. The broccoli was quite good - steamed crisp-tender and not at all mushy. I did not care for the red wine demi glace and was glad I had requested it to be on the side.
Rating for Special Order Grilled Tenderloin Medallions:
My husband also ordered the Grilled Tenderloin Medallions medium-well. He substituted yukon gold potatoes in place of the asparagus, but somehow was served asparagus anyway and did not receive the mac & cheese. We're not sure where the confusion was - with the way he ordered it or the way the waiter wrote it down, but the waiter did bring out a crock full of mac & cheese when my husband mentioned it. He ordered the red wine demi glace on the side. He ordered Coke to drink.
He thought the serving size for the tenderloin medallions was awfully small. His were cooked properly, and were tender and juicy as well. He, too, thought the yukon gold potatoes were way too salty, so he did not eat them. On the other hand, he loved the red wine demi glace, and thought it really enhanced the taste of the tenderloin medallions. He did not eat the asparagus. He attempted to eat the crawfish beignet, but it was rock hard and dry. He thought the mac & cheese had a unique taste - this was not your average mac & cheese. Whatever cheese they're using definitely makes it the stand-out side dish for the meal.
Rating for Grilled Tenderloin Medallions:
Remember, the waiter had taken our dessert order at the same time as our entree order, so it came out immediately after we were finished with the main meal.
I ordered the No Sugar Added Lemon Pound Cake with Seasonal Berries. I have to say, this is easily the worst dessert I've ever eaten anywhere, not just in Disney. It honestly tasted like the pound cake had been frozen and thawed. There were two layers of the cake with thin slices of strawberries and smears of whipped cream in between. The cake was dry and tasteless. The smears of whipped cream had no flavor at all - no sweetener or vanilla in it, just plain heavy cream, whipped and smeared on the bottom layer of cake. I think there may have been a total of two strawberries, sliced very thin, in the whole dessert. In a word, it was yucky. I wished I had ordered a full-sugar dessert and just eaten a couple of bites of it instead.
Rating for No Sugar Added Lemon Pound Cake with Seasonal Berries:
My husband ordered the Chocolate Cake with Fresh Cream and Raspberry Sauce. It came out in a HUGE slab! He said it tasted freshly-baked. It was soft and very chocolatey. He loved the raspberry sauce, but thought there could be more of it instead of just a smear on the plate. I was so jealous - this cake looked so good and he devoured it in record time.
Rating for Chocolate Cake with Fresh Cream and Raspberry Sauce:
Along with our bill, our waiter brought out one plastic hurricane-style glass with Mardi Gras beads inside and said, "Happy Anniversary." One glass as a souvenier for two people? He also brought a to-go box for our leftover cornbread as requested by my husband.
Total Cost of Meal: $80.02 (2TS Credits Used)
Rating of Quality of Service:
Final Thoughts: Boatwright's Dining Hall has a neat, cozy atmosphere. It was very easy to get a last-minute ADR. This is a convenient TS restaurant if you are staying at either of the Port Orleans resorts; that being said, I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to eat here if I wasn't.
This was the most rushed meal we had - we definitely felt rushed to order, to be sure. Our waiter had a large table he was catering to - once we got our food, he mostly left us alone until it was time to deliver the bill. I have his name, but I won't list it because I think it's unfair to call someone out on the carpet who cannot defend themselves.
The portions of the Grilled Tenderloins was small, but we saw plates of the Slow-Roasted Prime Rib going by that were positively huge, so if you want to try this restaurant and have a large appetite, that may be the better choice. My husband said he wished he had ordered that instead. He said perhaps if he hadn't felt so rushed to order and given more time to consider it, he would have.
Chef James was easy to work with, so if you have special requests don't hesitate to ask to speak with him ... no matter how much pressure there is to order quickly.