SarahKate
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2006
Hi all!
We've been back for two weeks and I finally have a little time to start my dining reviews. So much has happened and so I know i have to get the reviews up before I start getting fuzzy about where and what we ate!!!
Here's our group
Me, DH, and DD4 (will be 5 in June)
We were on the Dining Plan - LOVED IT. This was our 2nd time using the DDP, and we loved it equally this time. We actually were able to use every single one of our credits, even though we went off site a few times!
DAY 1 - 2/1 - Pop Century Food Court
Food Quality - B
We had just arrived and got checked into our resort and it was time to grab a little bite to eat for lunch. So we headed over to the food court. I was surprised that it wasn't too terribly crowded!
DH and I both had the parmesan crusted chicken breast. It comes with a breadstick and a salad that has a kind of vinegar and oil dressing already on it. I thought it was all very good for food court fare! DH liked it too. The chicken breast was quite large, so we weren't able to finish it all. The salad dressing was great - it had a little sweet taste to it. For dessert we just had fruit, nothing exciting there!
Ummmm, I can't remember what DD had. I'm pretty sure she had mac n cheese with applesauce and grapes.
DAY 1 - 2/1 - Alfredo's at Epcot
Service - A+, Food - B (Me), C (DH)
We got there a little early for our ADR and we ended up waiting about 15 minutes, even though they were not at all busy. No big deal though, we were happy to just take a load off and relax. There was a very nice Brazilian family there next to us and their little girl really took a liking to our DD. DD just kept looking at this little girl and never really warmed up to her that much....the girl kept pinching her cheeks and speaking in her native language. It was pretty funny. I didn't really say anything because I knew DD would speak her mind if she just hated being pinched!
We were seated and ended up with two waiters, one of which was her first day! They were both very attentive and very nice to DD.
For our appetizers, DH got the lobster bisque soup and I got the buffalo mozzarella and tomato (caprese). The soup was very good, and the mozz was great too. The tomatoes left a little bit to be desired - I don't really like tomatoes when they're cold (they lose their flavor) but the mozzarella was really great, along w/ the olive oil and stuff they put on it. Yummy!
We both got that trio that comes with a penne pasta, lasagna, and a truffle and mushroom filled pasta w/ alfredo on top. The lasagna was ok, I think I honestly like the stouffer's lasagna out of the box! The penne was very good - the marinara seemed like a freshly made kind, the tomatoes had a very good flavor. The truffle pasta was very different to me, but I liked it the more I ate it!!!
At the end, I told DH that I really liked our meal for the most part. He said "really, I thought the opposite". This is really weird because usually we're pretty much on the same page!
For dessert, we had a chocolate cake that had some sort of mascarpone layer on top, and I think it was a hazelnut flavor. It was very good. DD had a bowl of ice cream.
DAY 2 - 2/2 - Flame Tree BBQ at Animal Kingdom
Food Quality - B+
I've always heard great things about this place and we really were not disappointed. First of all, the seating for this place is great. There are so many nooks and crannies. I'm glad that we walked around a bit (the place was totally empty, so we didn't have to worry about finding a place to sit) to see where seating was, because we ended up on this covered area right on the water with a fantastic view of Expedition Everest!
DH had the ribs, which came with baked beans and corn. For counter service fare, the ribs were very good! He realy liked them. They had a dry rub on them, and had a good enough flavor that BBQ sauce wasn't really needed.
I had the pulled pork sandwich, with baked beans and corn. Again, the sandwich was very good.
The only part of it that was just ok for us was the baked beans. They were almost a little too sweet.
DD had the chicken leg with applesauce and grapes, with sugar free jello for dessert. She ate most everything except the jello.
DH and I had key lime pie for dessert. Very good!
DAY 2 - 2/2 - Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge
Service - C, Food Quality - A!!!
Again, we got to the restaurant about 15 minutes early, and we ended up waiting close to a 1/2 hour. Oh well. We're getting used to it by this point!
We were seated off to one side close to some windows, so it was a little quieter than in the middle of the dining room.
First off, AKL is just beautiful. We had some time to look around, and I'd love to stay here one day. And the restaurant is very cool, too. We also got to see where Jiko is, and one of these days we'll go there.....menu looks fantastic.
The food here is just so unique. There was nothing on the buffet that I have really ever had before. And there wasn't anything on it that I just hated. Everything had a unique flavor.
I don't remember the names of everything I tried so I'll just describe the things that stand out as really GREAT.
They had a few different kinds of rice, one of which had golden raisins in it. They also had a cous cous that was very good.
The prime rib was great, and they had strips of grilled sirloin steak that were just sitting in a bath of some sort of marinade (kind of sweet tasting)....YUM.
There were 3 different kinds of soups....one was butternut squash, one was a vegetable soup with sausage, and I can't recall the other one. The first two were EXCELLENT. Very fresh.
And they had these little things that looked like dinner rolls, but actually you cracked them open and they were to be used to put soup in - they had a cracker consistency.
Nice selection of food for DD - chicken strips, mac n cheese, you know, all the boring stuff!!!
We tried the FAMOUS watermelon rind salad and that was one of my lesser favorite things.....it had a weird taste to it.
For DESSERT....we had the zebra domes (NOT a big deal, like others talk about, in my opinion). They had a chocolate mousse which was fantastic!
I would definitely want to go back to this place again next time around.
A NOTE ABOUT THE KIDS MEALS! It did become quickly apparent at the counter service places that DD would quickly tire of the offerings. For the main food it was fine. But the dessert is ALWAYS sugar free jello, which she wouldn't touch. And the side was ALWAYS a choice of 2 of carrots, applesauce, or grapes. So we always got her grapes and applesauce, because she won't do carrots. She ate the stuff pretty well on most days. But we always ended up throwing the jello away. We would just have her share our dessert, which was totally fine because you got so much anyway.
My advice to those of you who are nervous about the kids meals. Just go with it. If you need to order a little something out of pocket, just do it because it will make your lives easier. Don't be a "prisoner to the plan" and think you shouldn't have to order something off plan since you paid big money. You're STILL going to come out ahead so it's really not a big deal!
And this was a NON issue at table service restaurants.
I will post more days later, right now I have to get to work!!!
We've been back for two weeks and I finally have a little time to start my dining reviews. So much has happened and so I know i have to get the reviews up before I start getting fuzzy about where and what we ate!!!
Here's our group
Me, DH, and DD4 (will be 5 in June)
We were on the Dining Plan - LOVED IT. This was our 2nd time using the DDP, and we loved it equally this time. We actually were able to use every single one of our credits, even though we went off site a few times!
DAY 1 - 2/1 - Pop Century Food Court
Food Quality - B
We had just arrived and got checked into our resort and it was time to grab a little bite to eat for lunch. So we headed over to the food court. I was surprised that it wasn't too terribly crowded!
DH and I both had the parmesan crusted chicken breast. It comes with a breadstick and a salad that has a kind of vinegar and oil dressing already on it. I thought it was all very good for food court fare! DH liked it too. The chicken breast was quite large, so we weren't able to finish it all. The salad dressing was great - it had a little sweet taste to it. For dessert we just had fruit, nothing exciting there!
Ummmm, I can't remember what DD had. I'm pretty sure she had mac n cheese with applesauce and grapes.
DAY 1 - 2/1 - Alfredo's at Epcot
Service - A+, Food - B (Me), C (DH)
We got there a little early for our ADR and we ended up waiting about 15 minutes, even though they were not at all busy. No big deal though, we were happy to just take a load off and relax. There was a very nice Brazilian family there next to us and their little girl really took a liking to our DD. DD just kept looking at this little girl and never really warmed up to her that much....the girl kept pinching her cheeks and speaking in her native language. It was pretty funny. I didn't really say anything because I knew DD would speak her mind if she just hated being pinched!
We were seated and ended up with two waiters, one of which was her first day! They were both very attentive and very nice to DD.
For our appetizers, DH got the lobster bisque soup and I got the buffalo mozzarella and tomato (caprese). The soup was very good, and the mozz was great too. The tomatoes left a little bit to be desired - I don't really like tomatoes when they're cold (they lose their flavor) but the mozzarella was really great, along w/ the olive oil and stuff they put on it. Yummy!
We both got that trio that comes with a penne pasta, lasagna, and a truffle and mushroom filled pasta w/ alfredo on top. The lasagna was ok, I think I honestly like the stouffer's lasagna out of the box! The penne was very good - the marinara seemed like a freshly made kind, the tomatoes had a very good flavor. The truffle pasta was very different to me, but I liked it the more I ate it!!!
At the end, I told DH that I really liked our meal for the most part. He said "really, I thought the opposite". This is really weird because usually we're pretty much on the same page!
For dessert, we had a chocolate cake that had some sort of mascarpone layer on top, and I think it was a hazelnut flavor. It was very good. DD had a bowl of ice cream.
DAY 2 - 2/2 - Flame Tree BBQ at Animal Kingdom
Food Quality - B+
I've always heard great things about this place and we really were not disappointed. First of all, the seating for this place is great. There are so many nooks and crannies. I'm glad that we walked around a bit (the place was totally empty, so we didn't have to worry about finding a place to sit) to see where seating was, because we ended up on this covered area right on the water with a fantastic view of Expedition Everest!
DH had the ribs, which came with baked beans and corn. For counter service fare, the ribs were very good! He realy liked them. They had a dry rub on them, and had a good enough flavor that BBQ sauce wasn't really needed.
I had the pulled pork sandwich, with baked beans and corn. Again, the sandwich was very good.
The only part of it that was just ok for us was the baked beans. They were almost a little too sweet.
DD had the chicken leg with applesauce and grapes, with sugar free jello for dessert. She ate most everything except the jello.
DH and I had key lime pie for dessert. Very good!
DAY 2 - 2/2 - Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge
Service - C, Food Quality - A!!!
Again, we got to the restaurant about 15 minutes early, and we ended up waiting close to a 1/2 hour. Oh well. We're getting used to it by this point!
We were seated off to one side close to some windows, so it was a little quieter than in the middle of the dining room.
First off, AKL is just beautiful. We had some time to look around, and I'd love to stay here one day. And the restaurant is very cool, too. We also got to see where Jiko is, and one of these days we'll go there.....menu looks fantastic.
The food here is just so unique. There was nothing on the buffet that I have really ever had before. And there wasn't anything on it that I just hated. Everything had a unique flavor.
I don't remember the names of everything I tried so I'll just describe the things that stand out as really GREAT.
They had a few different kinds of rice, one of which had golden raisins in it. They also had a cous cous that was very good.
The prime rib was great, and they had strips of grilled sirloin steak that were just sitting in a bath of some sort of marinade (kind of sweet tasting)....YUM.
There were 3 different kinds of soups....one was butternut squash, one was a vegetable soup with sausage, and I can't recall the other one. The first two were EXCELLENT. Very fresh.
And they had these little things that looked like dinner rolls, but actually you cracked them open and they were to be used to put soup in - they had a cracker consistency.
Nice selection of food for DD - chicken strips, mac n cheese, you know, all the boring stuff!!!
We tried the FAMOUS watermelon rind salad and that was one of my lesser favorite things.....it had a weird taste to it.
For DESSERT....we had the zebra domes (NOT a big deal, like others talk about, in my opinion). They had a chocolate mousse which was fantastic!
I would definitely want to go back to this place again next time around.
A NOTE ABOUT THE KIDS MEALS! It did become quickly apparent at the counter service places that DD would quickly tire of the offerings. For the main food it was fine. But the dessert is ALWAYS sugar free jello, which she wouldn't touch. And the side was ALWAYS a choice of 2 of carrots, applesauce, or grapes. So we always got her grapes and applesauce, because she won't do carrots. She ate the stuff pretty well on most days. But we always ended up throwing the jello away. We would just have her share our dessert, which was totally fine because you got so much anyway.
My advice to those of you who are nervous about the kids meals. Just go with it. If you need to order a little something out of pocket, just do it because it will make your lives easier. Don't be a "prisoner to the plan" and think you shouldn't have to order something off plan since you paid big money. You're STILL going to come out ahead so it's really not a big deal!
And this was a NON issue at table service restaurants.
I will post more days later, right now I have to get to work!!!
