Free Dining...Le Cellier, Kona, Teppan Edo, SciFi and more...

[MinnieTink]

Though we have only been home for about 3 weeks, I am already jealous of those "Here now" posts, and wish I was planning our next trip.... THAT's not happening, so let me tell you about our dining experiences on our recent trip... About half of our dining experiences were for 11 people.... Us (me, DH, DD 13, DD 9, and DS 2 1/2) and our neighbors (DW, DH, Dfriend, DD8, DS5, DS2 1/2)....

Teppan Edo
This is our first experience with this restaurant, although we have been to many nice Japanese/Hibatchi restaurants where we live. The 11 of us arrived about 15 minutes early and checked in at the podium. It took them about 20-25 minutes to seat us. My DH and I ordered a bit of sushi as an appetizer. I think I may have gotten one piece of it, as DD13 was scoffing it down! We ordered the Filet Mignon Hibatchi dinner, and, although it is not on the menu, my DD 9 ordered a kid's steak dinner. The food was ok.... The filet and steak were pretty good. Everything was a bit too salty. The noodles.... it was more like a bunch of onions with a few noodles thrown in. Dessert was ok. The chocolate ginger cake was kind of dry. That being said, we did enjoy the antics of the chef and enjoyed our time at Teppan Edo. Service was pretty good, considering how packed the place was. I would give it a 7.

Tony's Townsquare
We checked in to the podium about 10 minutes early. It was at least 30 minutes before they sat our table of 11. (Not complaining...just FYI....) We had been here last year and remembered how much we enjoyed their calamari, so we ordered it again. Let's just say it was a "Free Dining portion." It was still tasty, but was about 1/3 of the portion that we got the last time. This was the only time we encountered this. I got the Tomato and Mozzarella salad. Very good! Very fresh! Myself, DH and DD13 got the chicken parmigian. Listen, I have an Italian mother... this is not her chicken parm, but it was quite good! Huge portion! My friend got the shrimp scampi and enjoyed hers too. For dessert, we got gelati, except for DH who got the pistachio creme brulee. It was good. DD9 devoured it. Service was very slow. Tony's gets.....an 8.

Sci-Fi
This was our second attempt at Sci Fi. The last time, we loved the atmosphere but the food was yucky! (DH and I both got the "butcher" steak. Very tough) We decided to keep it simple this time. We arrived in the pouring rain about 20 minutes ahead of our ADR time. The 11 of us were seated in about 15 minutes, in two cars, side by side. We didn't get any appetizers here. I ordered a cheeseburger. This is not on the menu, but you can get it at dinner. It was ok. Just ok. My DH ordered the Italian chicken sandwich. Again, my DH said it was just ok. Not a whole lot of flavor. My DD13 got the ribs and loved them. My DD9 got the kids cheeseburger and liked it. We all got the peanut butter chocolate cake and it was really good. Just really rich and sweet, so a little goes a long way! Sci Fi..atmosphere 10, food...mmmm....7ish?

Before I go any further....don't worry my DS is not being starved. He just picked off of our plates or got pizza every time!

Kona
Thanks to monsoon conditions, we arrived about 5 minutes late for our ADR time. It was not a problem. We waited about 10 minutes before my family..the 5 of us...were seated. (The rest of our party went to T-Rex that night) We all enjoyed the bread with the macadamia nut butter. So yummy and addictive! My DH and I ordered a couple of Lapu Lapus (a rum drink served in a hollowed out pineapple). So good! We started out with the Sushi platter and it was outstanding. We thought the sushi here was better than Teppan Edo. Then my DH, DD13 and I all ordered the Shrimp and scallops. We need to start ordering different things! This was just ok. The scallops were cooked nicely, and the shrimp was crispy and good, but it was on the bland side. My DD ended up asking for a bit of cocktail sauce to give it a little flavor. My DD9 got the mac and cheese, which she enjoyed, but wished that they offered something a little different for kids. My DH "donated" his dessert to DD9, and she got the Kona Kone...a HUGE ice cream cone with cotton candy wrapped around it. My DD 13 and I got the fondue. DELISH! I have to give Kona an 8. The appetizers and desserts and drinks were great but the entree was just eh....

Le Cellier
Our first experience with the restaurant of Disney restaurants! The 11 of us arrived and were seated promptly for lunch. We dug right in to the pretzel bread and ordered some cheese soup for dipping. Excellent! We asked for more pretzel bread because it was disappearing fast. Our friends ordered the spicy chicken and sausage over polenta as an appetizer, and really enjoyed that too. Our filets arrived shortly after that. Cooked perfectly, so tender. The risotto was very good too. Very flavorful and creamy. We all loved it. My DD9 got the kid's steak and loved it. It, too, was very tender and flavorful. For dessert, about half ordered the "Moose" and half the smores. The "moose" was sooooooo good. I'm not into marshmallows, so I don't know about the smores, but none of the kids were complaining! We thoroughly enjoyed our visit here. We didn't feel rushed at all, and the food and service was outstanding. A 10!

Ohana Breakfast
We had to wait quite a while for this, although not all tables were full. I guess it was a wait-staff issue. Our ADR was for 9, but we weren't in our chairs until about 940 am. The juice (yum) and breads arrived very quickly. All of the food did. The eggs, potatoes, and waffles were so good. The bacon and sausage just ok. The character interaction was ok with Mickey, Pluto and Lilo....but Stitch is the BEST. He had my DS laughing and playing. (When Mickey had scared him under the table. LOL) We did feel somewhat rushed here. I'll give it another 8...

Coral Reef
We arrived at our ADR time for lunch on our last day. WHY? WHY must we ever go home? We had been here before, and like Sci Fi, loved the atmosphere, not so the food, but we'll give it another try. We arrived at the first wave of lunch guests and it took a while before they sat us......at the same table we sat at 2years prior. Weird. We were on the 3rd tier in a large booth. It was nice. We had a decent view of the fish and turtles, etc. On to the food..... I ordered the salad with bleu cheese dressing. So good! Very fresh and not too much dressing. It was just right and a lovely beginning to what turned out to be a great meal. My DH and DD 13 ordered the lobster ravioli. They both enjoyed it. The ravioli was tender and yummy and there was a good amount of lobster meat in the sauce served with it. I ordered the Blackened catfish over pepperjack grits. This was my second favorite entree of the trip. (Hey, you can't beat Le Cellier filet) It was a bit spicy,in a good way, and the fish was flakey, and the grits were creamy and full of flavor. It was soooooo good! Coral Reef gets a 10 from me this time! I know, can you believe it?

As far as counter service...what can you say? We tried Columbia Harbor house for the first time and we enjoyed the Tuna Sandwich....a welcome change from the burgers and chicken nuggets and lousy pizza. We also enjoyed the food court at POFQ. The cheese steak and chicken quesedilla we tried were very good. However, the beignets? I guess I'm just not a fan. The zeppoles at any street fair in NJ will kick beignets butts any day. Haha! Oh, we also tried the CS in "Japan" @ Epcot. My DD13 again with the scoffing of sushi, but it was not made fresh, right there, so it was just ok to DH and I.

Hope you enjoyed my mini review..I love reading the reviews when deciding where to eat!.....let me know if you have any questions....

[movie77]

Great reviews! So sad about Sci-Fi. They've had this issue for years. Why is it so hard from them to improve?

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Great mini review. Thanks for sharing.

[natalielongstaff]

great review, i love lapu lapu's

[MinnieTink]

Thank YOU all for reading! Regarding Sci Fi, I did want to add that both our "cars" had GREAT servers. The shakes and "adult" drinks were good too.... If they could just get it together with the food.

Oh and Lapu Lapus are my faves too!!

[pumba]

thanks for your reviews....I love the pretzel bread and soup too!! Could make a meal of that alone...........thanks again