Had ADRs. Did Eat. . .Well! Part I

[sleepydog25]

Here's the scoop. If you want to hear about Brown Derby, Le Cellier, 1900 Park Fare (dinner), and Artist Point, then this is your thread. If none of these strike your fancy, then run away as fast as you can! Seriously. Go. Go away.

You know, part of the joy I have in visiting Walt's World is sampling the food. But, I gotta tell you that I was a bit apprehensive about a couple of the ADRs we had made based on comments by a few, primarily regarding Le Celar. . .umm, La Cellar. . .no, er, Le Silly. . .no, no, no. . .well, that place in EPCOT's Canada and (Party Like It's) 1900 Park Fare (or Fair, Faire, Fairy, take your choice). Bear with me, oh ye of little faith, as I extol the virtues of all our dining pleasures.

Day 1: This is a bonus review. We stayed at VWL, per our usual desires, and this was our "travel to" day. We opted to check out the newly refurbished Roaring Forks grill. The eat-in area is much the same, but the food selection/purchase side was much cleaner, more efficient, and more organized than the previous RF incarnation. We tried two of their sandwiches: the roast beef on foccacia w/bleu cheese and the turkey on a honey oatmeal, whole grain bread with brie. First off, someone slipped a "mickey" to the pricing czar as these two cold sandwich entries weighed in at a mere $6.79 and $6.49, respectively. Now, we're not talking itty bitty sandwiches here, folks. My roast beef sandwich was round and the size of a dessert plate, piled high with medium-cooked roast beef and lots of bleu cheese. The turkey choice was even taller (maybe 4"-5") and was the size of a quarter slice of a pie plate. Both were tasty, and by Disney standards, dirt cheap. Slap those together with the magic wells of the endless mug o' soda, and you had an excellent meal for a decent price. Oh, and our 5-yr old daughter gives a huge thumbs up to the chicken nuggets which actually came with carrot sticks for a bit of healthy eating. Roaring Forks: (Three "YO-HOs" out of a possible four)
Day 2: Good lord! Could Disney-MGM have been any more crowded? But, I digress (full report on the parks for our trip forthcoming in a different forum). We had decided to do FANTASMIC! this night and made our Brown Derby ADR accordingly for 5:50 p.m. We arrived 15 mins early and waited perhaps 10 minutes beyond our ADR before being seated. Overall, BD remains a place we enjoy a lot. The service was a bit slow at first (we weren't even approached for five minutes), but was good once our server got into the swing of things with us. No, we weren't swinging with her. I mean, she didn't even dance on the table or anything. Oh, never mind. . . Let's see. Wifey ventured out with the mixed field greens salad which was quite fresh and good, while I opted for the crabcake which was excellent. The mini-mom (DD5) started with chicken soup which, to be fair, wasn't as good as I make at home. Too much celery, not enough chicken.

Course two consisted of the filet for the love of my life, the ever present mac and cheese for the other love of my life, and the grilled ahi tuna (medium rare) for me. The filet was fork tender and perfectly cooked while my tuna was likewise perfectly seared and served with a wonderful soy reduction sauce and fresh ginger. Miss Curly Sue gave an enthusiastic thumbs up to the M & C. Big surprise. As for dessert, the pint-sized princess did the treasure hunt and thought the gummy worms were to die for. Mom had some sort of chocolate sailboat thingie that was very good and very cool to look at. I had not tried the signature grapefruit cake before, so did this night. I liked it, but was a bit perplexed that it didn't actually taste much like grapefruit. It was light, not too tart, not too sweet, but not too grapefruity, either. Coffee and tea were afterthoughts and both were above average. In sum, wifey thought the filet was of melt-in-your-mouth quality and the tuna was very good. Brown Derby:

Coming in Part II: The dish on Le Cellier, 1900 Park Fare, & Artist Point, plus a deconstructionist's view of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. . .

P.S. I failed to mention that the sesame-seared tuna came with wasabi mashed potatoes. My only complaint regarding the tuna dish is that it didn't actually come with wasabi, the sinus opening ambrosia of the gods. K and K's Mommy has an excellent pic of the dish in her own review of BD.

[swankybeth]

Great reviews so far! Looking forward to more.

[K and K's Mommy]

Great reviews! We ate at Roaring Foarks, Brown Derby and Artist Point also! Yes, MGM was crowded! We were there for a Star Wars weekend so I expected it! and yes again, the sandwiches at Roaring Forks are huge! My DH and I split a tasty ham one.

[Aimeedyan]

Enjoying your reviews so far!

[Bay in TN]

Thank you so much for the lengthy Brown Derby review! My mouth was watering until I got to the part where you compared wasabi to "sinus opening ambrosia of the gods." Snort! ROFL!!!

--Bay

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your review ~ Thanx for sharing.

[tinkerbeth]

Thanks for the reviews.

Beth

[thedears]

Thanks for the reviews

[TigerKat]

Can't wait for part two!!

[3princesses4us]

I love a good funny review~ thanks! Keep 'em coming.

[DonnaDuck]

I also am loving your reviews. I needed the laugh today. Thanks for sharing.

[Disfan3]

I like your reviews and look forward to Lesilly and 1900!!

thanks!!

[ufgator]

Great reviews so far!

[sleepydog25]

Part II is posted and Part III will be following in the next 24 hours. Thanks for all the kind comments so far.

My mouth was watering until I got to the part where you compared wasabi to "sinus opening ambrosia of the gods." Snort! ROFL!!!

But it's true, is it not!?

[lovesdumbo]

Great review!

I completely agree with your review of the child's chicken noodle soup-way too much celery (and onion). My DD loves chicken noodle soup but wouldn't touch this stuff. She did however LOVE the Mac & Cheese-a really nice homemade version - not the overly cheesy stuff you find most often at WDW.

Going to read part II....