That skinny girl can eat! A dining review for Marseeya's June WDW trip.

[Marseeya]

Page 1, Post 1: 'Ohana
Page 1, Post 11: Mama Melrose Fantasmic Dinner Package
Page 2, Post 20: Boma
Page 2, Post 24: 1900 Park Fare -- Cinderella's Gala Feast
Page 2, Post 27: The Mara
Page 3, Post 32: Tangierine Cafe
Page 3, Post 36: California Grill

June 3-June 12, 2006

Marcia: 39
Dennis: 35
Rhiannon: 10
"Sunshine" 9 (DD's friend)

June 3, 2006
'Ohana

Having already eaten at 'Ohana on our 2005 trip, DH, DD and I knew what to expect with the skewered meat. We weren't too sure, however, about DD's friend Sunshine, as her mother had warned me that she was a bit of a picky eater. Well, my family of chubbies just isn't used to that, so I wasn't sure what to expect. We figured on eating at the TS restaurants, and if Sunshine wasn't satisfied with the dinners, we'd find other ways to fill her up.

Our dinner was timed right smack dab in the middle of Gay Days. Now, normally I'm not a bit worried about the environment because we're a very liberal family. But with an extra child on board whose family is much more conservative, I found myself wondering the dreaded question, "How will I answer her questions?" We decided on the most simplistic route of "Well, sometimes boys just like boys, and girls just like girls," and just let her parents deal with the rest.

We arrived for our 5:30 ADR at 5:00, hoping to beat the rush. When we arrived at the Poly, the lobby outside 'Ohana was a chaotic madhouse of people! The girls and I found seats while DH waded his way through the crowd towards the podium. As I scanned the crowd (admittedly looking for lime green Mickey Heads), I noticed a group of people wearing bold purple shirts with bright red hats. Oh great, I thought, a meeting of the red hat society. Granny central. Um. No. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that the grannies were actually men. What a hoot! The men were all dressed up in purple outfits and ostentatious red hats. They were all so cute. I watched the girls, waiting to see their reactions, but I needn't have worried, because they either didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, or they just took it all in stride.

Within just a minute or two of Dennis signing us in, we were called to our table. I walked in, expecting the same chaos inside as out, but the whole restaurant was only about a quarter full, as you can see from this picture:



We started getting served right away, and I ordered an 'Ohana Colada, which was delicious. Our server started us off with the mixed greens. The girls wouldn't touch them, but Dennis and I liked them just fine. I was a bit disappointed in the new starters and the lack of shrimp skewers. The girls attacked the fried wontons, but I wasn't blown away by them. Sunshine ate ALL of the honey-coriander chicken wings and thought they were great, while the rest of us picked at the sweet & sour shrimp. I wasn't too fond of having to peel and eat sticky gooey shrimp, so I only ate one.

On to the skewers. While both girls loved having the waiter come to the table and slide the meat off the skewers, neither one of them wanted any of the offerings. The steak was fairly tough, but the Asian BBQ pork loin was delicious, as was the turkey and Hawaiian pork sausages.

The skewers were served with Maui scalloped potatoes and stir fried veggies. Nobody really cared for the potatoes, and frankly, I didn't find them any different than the boxed, dehydrated Ore Ida potatoes you find in the grocery store. The stir fried veggies were good, but a little too soggy for my liking.

Then came the dessert -- bread pudding with bananas foster sauce. That itself was worth the entire meal. The bread pudding was soft on the inside and just a bit crisp on the outside, and the bananas foster was delicious. Everybody but Sunshine enjoyed that dessert, but even she picked at the ice cream.

Overall, we'll probably cross 'Ohana off our list for our next trip. None of us were blown away by this meal, and the girls are getting just a tiny bit too old for the coconut races and hula dancing. Sunshine wasn't interested, and Rhiannon was pushed to the side and ignored in favor of the younger, "cuter" kids.

More reviews to come later.

[jo28501]

Great review - keep them coming!!

[bluejasmine]

Oh boy..Im not crazy about peeling sticky shrimp either..Well I will still give it ago Im so disspointed about the grilled shrimp but looking forward to the bread pudding..
Oh let me ask you was it wonton chips or filled wontons??

[nluvwithmickey]

Too bad you didn't enjoy it. I love everything BUT the skewered meats. The meat is too filling and I love all the other offerings better than the big chunks of meat. Idon't mind getting my hands sticky from the chicken and shrimp....so good!

Great review, can't wait for the rest of your report.

[swankybeth]

Great review, looking forward to more!

[tinkerbeth]

Thanks for the review. We actually loved that shrimp in the sauce. For me, the sauce made up for the peeling. We had 3 helpings when we were there in March!

Looking forward to more reviews.

Beth

[ufgator]

Thanks for the review. Looking forward to more.

[sugarpie]

Awesome review!

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reviews ~ Thanx for sharing.

[NMW]

Thanks for the review! I really liked the taste of the shrimp, and ate several of them, but I admit they were very messy to peel. I would have eaten a lot more if they had been peeled. Maybe that's why they do it!

[Marseeya]

June 4, 2006
Mama Melrose

After spending the earlier part of the day at Animal Kingdom, we were tired, but excited to go to MGM to have the Fantasmic dinner package at Mama Melrose. I was fortunate enough to secure a 6:00 p.m. ADR for this dinner, but we were so hungry after our long day of park touring and swimming that we decided to get to MGM early to try to get an earlier seating. We arrived at the entrance to MGM just as thousands upon thousands of people were lined up for the Stars & Motorcars parade. Yikes! We hoofed it down the boulevard, trying to beat the parade. Mama Melrose is towards the back of the park near Star Tours and Muppet Vision 3D, so we had quite a walk ahead of us. Somehow we managed to battle our way through the crowds and get to the restaurant before the parade started.

The hostess was more than happy to take us early, and we had about a 5 minute wait before we were seated. The restaurant wasn't overly crowded, and the atmosphere was cool with dark wood and a comfortable decor, as you can see from this picture:



One thing that was really working well with us so far with the girls was the child's credits and adult's credits on the dining plan. Rhiannon, being 10 was considered an adult, while Sunshine at 9 was considered a child. Typically, though, Rhiannon ordered off the child's menu while Sunshine wanted an adult menu. Nobody had a problem with that, and in the cases where both girls wanted a child's meal, the server recommended we pay out of pocket for them to save their credits for a signature meal. We actually did that twice for our upcoming California Grill meal. I'll get into that later, but Rhiannon and I ended up missing a meal while she was sick, so we had a few extra credits saved up.

On to the meal! We started out with the field green salad, which had a balsamic vinaigrette and crumpled gorgonzola cheese. Unsurprisingly, neither girl touched the salad, but Dennis and I liked it a lot, with the exception of the cheese for me. I'm just not ready for stinky cheese! (stolen from an episode of Yes, Dear).

For the starter, we got the grilled pepperoni pizza. The pepperoni tasted smokey and very good, and was cut rather thick. The pizza was great -- a bit too spicy for the girls, but Dennis and I liked it a lot, especially with the onions and peppers.

For entrees, the girls got spaghetti -- Rhiannon got buttered spaghetti (yipee), and Sunshine got hers with a red sauce. This is where we discovered Sunshine's love of spaghetti. Let me tell you, Sunshine weighs about 85 pounds soaking wet, and she's just a skinny little thing, but we found out that night that SHE CAN EAT! She ate her entire plate of spaghetti and practically licked the plate clean.

Dennis got the spicy Italian sausage, and he said it just wasn't flavorful enough for him, but I tried it and thought it was fine. He and I just don't quite agree on what's spicy.

I got the penne alla vodka, and I thought it was fantastic. The pasta could have stood to have more sauce, but I ate almost the whole dish! The pancetta and onion were sliced really small, but they added a good bit of flavor to the dish. This is something I'd love to try to make at home, but only for a special treat -- it's made with real cream. Mmmmmm.

For dessert, the girls got vanilla gelato and Dennis and I got the tiramisu. To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't get the tiramisu again. The mascarpone cheese was light and fluffy -- very delicious, but the lady fingers were too dry. Very nice presentation, though:



I wish I would have taken pictures of all the food, but I honestly didn't give it much thought this year!

Overall, we really enjoyed this restaurant and will try to make an effort to go back next year, although without being on the Fantasmic package. Frankly, we thought Fantasmic wasn't all that it was hyped up to be, but that's for my trip report.

Thanks for reading!

[jj1403]

Love the reviews... keep em coming!

[richard_andmel]

Really enjoyed your reviews so far, looking forward to more.

[Tanya90210]

Love the Melrose review... have been wanting to hear/see more about it and yours was exactly what I was hoping for....

Keep em coming... loving your reviews

[wilma-bride]

Thanks for the reviews. Looking forward to more. Incidentally, Rhiannon is a lovely name (my youngest daughter is a Rhiannon )