The Good, the Bad and the YUMMY..10 days of free dining... Updated 9/26 Kona Cafe!

[familydisney]

So we got back Monday night very late due to the emergency landing of our flight...a whole different thread! So now I wanted to post my thoughts on our restaurants and food choices on our trip. For the most part we were pleased, but there were some disappointments and some things we learned that we want to pass along to others.
Here's who we are:
Woody (DH) loves most foods and prefers a true table service to a character meal or a buffet. He loves steak, and he got his share this trip!
Ariel (me) is very picky eating almost no vegetables...truly. I do love tomatoes and corn and I've never met a potato I didn't like. Otherwise, I prefer starches to meats (no flames on my future health, please)and will always take double mashed and leave part of my steak. Well, not at one of the restaurants....It was too good to leave.
Tigger (DS10) takes after his parents, but not in the best of combinations. He's picky like mom and a meat lover like dad. This is his first Disney trip as an "adult", so he got to order a filet every night. Surprisingly, he started to get sick of them after awhile...
Buzz (DS8)- is picky not just on what he eats but when. At breakfast, he could devour 6 eggs; by dinner, he's nibbling. Some of the foods he found too adventurous. I general, Disney kids' meals don't have much variety anyway.

So here's where we ate:
Day 1:
Pop food court
Pecos Bills
Day 2:
Chef Mickey's breakfast (Buzz's birthday)
Cosmic Rays
Whispering Canyon
Day 3:
Starring Rolls
Catalina Eddie's
Pop food court
Day 4:
Sunshine Seasons
Lotus Blossom
La Boulangerie Patisserie
Teppan Edo
Day 5:
Flame Tree Barbeque
Tutto Italia
Day 6:
Columbia Harbor House
Aloha Isle
Ohana
Day 7:
Sunshine Seasons
Cantina de San Angel
Kringla bakery
Le Cellier
Day 8:
Wolfgang Puck Express
Earl of Sandwich
Kona
Day 9:
Crystal Palace breakfast
Starring Rolls
Catalina Eddies
The Wave
Day 10:
Pop food court
La Boulangerie Patisserie
Harry Ramsden's fish and chips

I'll start posting day 1 this afternoon. I sure wish I were there now...

[gracie1]

Yum! Can't wait to hear these reviews

[milmore104]

I'm in can't wait. We leave in 17 days!

[TigerKat]

Signing on!

[natalielongstaff]

Count me in ! ( i would love to hear about the flight tho )

[familydisney]

Pop food court:
So day 1 we didn't get to Pop until 3:00 but hadn't eaten since breakfast. After we checked out the room (great, by the way), we went to the food court to fill up before we hit the parks. Woody and Buzz shared a bacon double cheeseburger. Woody tried to pay OOP for an extra bun, but the guy just gave it to him. Overall, they said it was a "typical burger".
Tigger had an order of chili cheese fries (snack credit). He didnt care for these. Of course I assumed it was his pickiness, but Woody didn't like them either saying they were too green pepper heavy and a little sweet...
I had chicken alfredo. This was not at all what I expected. It was a chicken breast that reminded me of Black-eyed Pea's chicken fried chicken, though not quite as much breading. It cam with pasta and both were in alfredo sauce. The noodles were very watery, but the chicken was WAY above expectations. As a result, someone in the family ordered it two more times.
Overall evaluation of Pop food court:
Food: B
Atmosphere: C
Amenities: A -(loved drink refills)
Pecos Bill's
So this is where we learned our first lesson. We're not new to Disney, nor are we new to the dining plan, but we ARE new to a 10 year old "adult". At Pecos Bill's we ordered one meal each. BIG mistake. Tigger's appetite had grown, yes, but not that much. Here's what we had.
Woody had, you guessed it, a bacon double cheeseburger. He loves the toppings bar here and had mushrooms, onions, cheese sauce, etc.
Buzz and I both had pulled pork sandwiches. These were great as well, and I got lots of cheese sauce for the fries. I also love pickles, so I got plenty of those from the toppings bar.
Tigger got a special item not normally on the menu, I think it was a trial run. It was basically a chicken fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy and an ear of corn on the cob. He plowed through the chicken, but stalled on the rest.
We all tried each other's and agreed it was all good. We just couldn't do enough damage, and neither Woody or I are "dainty". We SHOULD have ordered 2 meals. It was nice to try several things, but it was a waste.
Overall evaluation of Pecos Bill's
Food: A-
Atmosphere: B
Amenities: A+ (love that toppings bar)

Day 2 will include our first 2 TS credits...Some of the good and the bad...

[DLo]

good start. looking forward to your reviews. have 2 picky eaters in my group so waiting to see what yours ordered. (my ds 11 will be surviving on hamburgers and chicken fingers and french fries)

[Bluenoser]

Thanks for the reviews. These will help.

[minniebeth]

Mmmm... your dining review is making me hungry! Can't wait to hear more!

[bluejasmine]

Im in! Ohh the new entree at Pecos Bills sounds great but will I be able to NOT order the bacon double cheeseburger just to be able to add the yummy grilled onions and mushrooms, pickles and tomoatos from the bar?? Cant wait to read more!

[familydisney]

Thanks for all the replies, guys.

Day 2:

Chef Mickey's:
This was Buzz's birthday breakfast at an ungodly 7:00 AM. Got there early, and was seated at about 7:10. As we were among the first, the buffet was fresh and characters were moving in our direction quickly. Woody describes the ambiance as "cafeteria-like". Everyone found something to eat here. Buzz loved the fruit and cottage cheese, Tigger liked the bacon (though I don't see why!), I thought the hashbrown casserole was mostly edible...Woody, on the other hand, said all the food was horrible and there wee too few hot dishes to choose from. Obviously since it was his son's birthday, he played along but said only the characer interaction was worthwhile. I actually found the characters, though fun (Mickey, Donald, Minnie,Goofy and Pluto), to be a major problem with the timing of the meal. We'd get food, a character would come, and the food would get cold. Mediocre food served cold really shows its flaws. None of us ate enough to make it through the day.
Overall evaluation of Chef Mickey's:
Food: C (Woody gives it a D)
Ambience: C (Again, Woody gives it a D)
Service: C
Characters: B+

Cosmic Ray's:
Since we didn't eat enough breakfast, we needed a small mid-day pick me up. Knowing portions are huge, we hit Cosmic Ray's for a rib/chicken combo and a snack of fries with cheese sauce from the toppings bar. The chicken was moist, as usual, and the ribs were surprisingly good. It also came with mashed potatoes. Everyone just shared what we had and nibbled to tide us over to what we knew would be a huge meal later that night.
Overall evaluation of Cosmic Ray's:
Food: A- (portion size, quality and variety)
Ambience: C- (we weren't in the room with Sonny Eclispe)
Amenities:B (There is a toppings bar, but it's harder to negotiate than at Pecos Bill's)

Whispering Canyon:
We got there early as we had never been to WL before. It's beautiful, similar to home as we are from Wyoming, now Colorado.We were called pretty much on time and were near the back of the restaurant. We had "Marshall Law" as our server and he was really low-key. Maybe too low-key if you're going there for "antics". We were all allowed, on the dining plan, to order milkshakes...here's the next thing I learned: just say no! Yes, they're a good value. Yes, they're bottomless. Yes, it's cool their flavor of the day is usually wacky (cotton candy when we went). But they fill you up and tend to leave you feeling lethargic. Tigger was so miserable he could hardly eat his food, and this place was his choice...

On to the food. The corn bread was great. Woody said the salad was good as well, but I only picked out the tomatoes. Dressing was tasty. We all had the skillet, incuding Buzz, who chose ribs as his meat. When it came, I was amazed. It was enormous. There were brisket, pulled pork, ribs, and chicken along with mashed potatoes, coleslaw. and corn on the cob. I didn't try the chicken since that's Tigger's domain. Woody dove into the ribs, and I enjoyed the pork and brisket. It was fantastic! I loved the food here. Others on the boards have said it was greasy...well, maybe it was, but BBQ is supposed to be greasy. I ate until I thought I'd burst. To me, this was some of the best food on the trip.

Another downfall to the milkshakes: we couldn't handle dessert. We took them to go instead. Woody got Smores cheesecake, Tigger got chocolate caek with Kahlua, I ordered the apple caramel pie and Buzz got chocolate chip cookies. They put them in a bag for us and we carted them with us to Fantasmic, where we did our best to at least sample them. We decided they were all good (though the cookie was just that). Mine would have been better hot, but they were a casualty of the milkshakes...

Overall evaluation of Whispering Canyon :
Food: B+ (I'd give it an A)
Ambience: B
Service: B- (lack of "fun")

[familydisney]

Natalie, the plane was the one that had an emergency landing in Tampa. It was all over the news and the internet. There's even a video of it. There's a whole thread about it on the tranportation board started by my husband. Basically, we had to go down the plane slides, etc. They compensated us VERY handsomely, but it was still a lot of hassle and anxiety. I'm just glad we got home!

[Pooh&OurHunny]

joining in and enjoying your food reviews. Can't wait to read more.

[bizeemom4]

[disnut1149]

Hi
Great reviews!! Can't wait to read more. Thanks!!