queenofhartz
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2007
Hi everyone! DH and I returned from Disney about 2 weeks ago. We weren't on the free dining plan or any dining plan for that matter (I didn't even know they offered this until recently 
). We did this the old fashioned way (i.e., we got the bill and paid with cash). I rated them Excellent, Good, or Average. We really didn't have any meals that I would consider Below Average. Also, we were on a special-first-trip-as-a-married-couple kind of trip (we didn't go on a honeymoon), so we wanted to splurge a bit. The value that I mention is relative. If you're seeking deals, you might not find all of these to be a good value. So, here's what we thought about our meals and the value:
Liberty Tree Tavern: EXCELLENT
We loved it. Admittedly, the food was nothing out of this world, but it was good, filling, hot, simple fare. You would definitely be safe taking children here with things like ham, turkey, mac & cheese, and apple pie at the table. Liberty Tree is all you can eat, and they aren't kidding. I asked for more green beans, and they brought me enough green beans for 10 people. Our waiter was great and really added to our experience (he tied his apron on Chip so that Chip could use it as a cape and pose like a superhero for everyone). Best of all, the character interaction was EXCELLENT. The characters stopped at our tables twice (it was a light crowd that evening). We saw Chip & Dale, Minnie, and Goofy. Goofy was really cutting up, playing instruments (a pot and a spoon and sometimes a cup) and getting everyone to clap. We thought this was WELL worth the money and will definitely go again.
Fulton's Crab House: GOOD
The service here was excellent, and we thought the food was yummy. I ordered the King Crab Claws and DH had the fish special. The reason I gave this a GOOD instead of an EXCELLENT is because I really did not think I received much food for the money. I kind of hesitate to mention it, because I know that Americans are used to obscenely large portions that aren't really healthy for us. But, I guess it's on my mind, so I'll mention it. My King Crab Claws were delicious, but I only received four of them for about $50.00. I also received steamed red new potatoes (which were good) with my crab claws. Our meals came with bread and a crab boursin dip (which was yummy). I am a small woman with a similarly smallish appetite, but if I spend $50.00 on dinner, I expect to be full (I usually have quite a bit leftover to be honest). I wasn't full at all after finishing my meal (maybe I was just especially hungry on this day??). DH ate his fish and loved it but also felt that his portion was a bit small. As I mentioned, I know we don't need to gorge ourselves anyways, so I don't want to sound too whiney about it. But, I just thought for the money, it would have been nice to have slightly larger portions. The server was great though. When DH inquired about the cheesecake, our server took us back into the kitchens to speak to the pastry chef (we had to have non slip shoes on for OSHA purposes & luckily, we did). We were amazed at the service.
Tony's Town Square: AVERAGE
We really liked the atmosphere here (we both love Lady & the Tramp and enjoyed dining at a restaurant on Main Street). Our food was average. I got Baked Ziti and DH got Chicken Fiorentina. DH thought his chicken was ok. I thought my Ziti was ok. I liked his chicken better and he liked my ziti better, so we switched plates. We also got Spinach and Artichoke Dip which was hot in some places and cold in others. The service was attentive and polite. Our meal totaled $50.33 (without tip) for lunch. This is pretty expensive for lunch, so if you are paying for this meal yourselves (i.e, no dining plan), I'm not sure that this is necessarily the best bang for your buck.
Garden View Lounge: EXCELLENT
I just adore this place, but I'll preface this by saying that I'm a bit of a priss pot and when asked what I wanted my babyshower theme to be, I told my friends that I wanted to have a nice afternoon tea. So, I just love tea sandwiches, scones, and fresh pot of hot jasmine tea. But, my husband is most decidedly not a priss pot, and I was worried about taking my meat and potatoes man here. So, read on if you're interested in hearing about our experience....
When I go to the Garden View Lounge at the GF for tea, I feel like I'm as far from a theme park as one could possibly imagine. The setting is so relaxing and definitely not pretentious. I was so excited to go. But, this was DH's first visit to Garden View, and to be honest, he was kind of luekwarm on the idea of going to tea. He kept saying, "maybe you should just bring your mother here when we all go as a family." I agreed that it would be great for mothers and daughters, but I told him that I thought it was also romantic and relaxing and I wanted us to go together as a newlywed couple (we've only been married for 6 months). I batted my eyes at him a few times and threw in a few "Please....I really want us to go together.", and he eventually gave in with no more complaints. Ladies-how long does batting the eyelashes and asking nicely work in marriage? tee hee. Anyways, we ordered the Fruit and Cheese plate first, and it was the first time I have tried this dish. I will never go to Garden View Lounge again without ordering this Fruit and Cheese plate. We loved it, and it had many cheeses on it that DH and I had never tried. We both agreed that the crackers were delish...very savory. We got a very nice portion of cheeses, crackers, and fruits. DH got the Buckingham Palace Tea, and I ordered the Grand Tea. DH ordered (are you ready for this???) the PRINCESS BREAKFAST TEA.
Tee hee....I just love him to pieces. You gotta love a meat and potatoes man that doesn't hesitate to order the Princess Breakfast Tea with several other people in earshot. In fact, he enjoyed it so much that he even inquired about purchasing some to take home with us. But, alas, they didn't have any for sell. I ordered the Jasmine tea which is always fragrant, naturally sweet, and yummy. My champagne was on the sweet side, and I thought it was delicious and refreshing. DH was such a good sport about all of the new foods that he encountered. He even ate the "green cheese" (after pointing at it and quietly saying "what's that?" with his nose scrunched up.) It was sage cheese and very yummy. He tried all of the dainty finger sandwiches no matter how "dainty" they looked. He enjoyed all of them except for the cucumber and watercress sandwich (which I happily took off of his hands). I loved all of the tea sandwiches. Next, we had scones. The combination of the piping hot scones with cool, creamy devonshire cream is outstanding, and we both enjoyed the scones (at this point, anytime I put my knife down, DH would ask, "are you finished with your scone?" because he wanted to eat the rest of my scone. So, being the sweet wife that I am, I let him have 1/2 of my scone). If you've never been to the tea, it's a lot of food, so admittedly, it really wasn't much of a sacrifice to give up part of my scone. 
DH and I both selected the pastries for dessert. I didn't really like the pastries all that much, because I'm not big on sweets and I thought they were very rich. So, DH traded me some of his tea sandwiches for my pastries and pate (he didn't like the cucumber & watercress sandwiches, and I'm not a fan of pate)-I know, not a very refined thing to do, trading food at high tea. 
I've had high tea in London, and comparitively speaking, I think that Disney does the tradition of tea in the proper way with the proper food and setting. Our waitress was reserved but very attentive and pleasant. Our total was $61.22, and we will definitely do this again. High Tea at Garden View Lounge is undoubtedly expensive, but it's such a unique experience for us that we think it is well worth the money. I'm sure DH & I will never forget his first tea experience. I'm planning on making this a tradition for every trip to Disney.
Rainforest Cafe at AKL: GOOD
This restaurant reminded us of restaurants like Fridays or Chilis. There was a lot of activity and a lot of noise. DH and I liked it, and we thought it was a fun, laid back atmosphere. Our food was good and hot. The server was nice. We signed up for the Rainforest Cafe restaurant card which allowed us to be seated immediately (instead of a 30 min wait). We also received a free appetizer. Our total for lunch was $37.00. We didn't think this was too bad for a table service meal restaurant at Disneyworld for lunch. Additionally, it got us out of the heat at the AK which was priceless. So, for the value and the air conditioning, we rate this as good.
Les Chefs De France: EXCELLENT
This was kind of a surprising meal for us. We made ADRs last minute b/c it was the only ADR that was left in Epcot that evening (this was a last minute trip, and we scheduled our ADRs on the fly). We weren't expecting anything great, but it was great. We orderded the cheese plate (we were still dreaming about that cheese plate at the Grand Floridian Tea). The cheese plate was good, and we did get to try some new cheeses, but the French cheeses were much more pungent than the English cheeses that we ate at our tea, and the French cheese plate did not come with crackers. You just ate the cheese straight up. We did enjoy it, and I had a nice glass of wine which complimented the cheese plate nicely (go for the wine if you get the cheese plate; it really sets it off). DH got the salmon, and it was extremely delicious. The portion size was nice. I got a steak (I can't remember the name). It was yummy, but not as good as DH's salmon. We were also served nice crusty bread (like baguette bread) with our meal. This was DH's birthday, and they brought him a birthday dessert (it was a moussy cake thing) and sang Bon Anniversaire. Our waiter was French, of course. He was nice and attentive. The restaurant was a bit loud, but we liked the setting and we even caught some of the Illuminations fireworks from the windows. We were expecting average food here (I just didn't know anything about this place & didn't know what to expect), but we felt that the food and service was really great. Our total was $88.10 with one glass of wine, 2 entrees, and an appetizer. We felt that for the quality of our food, portion size, and attentive service, this was a good value for dinner.
Alfredo's: GOOD
This was my husband's favorite Disney restaurant because he loved the fettucine alfredo. So, of course, he ordered the fettucine alfredo and I ordered a pasta with a tomato based sauce and sausage. We were also served bread with our dinner. The bread was good, but it was cold. They serve the bread with olive oil which DH doesn't like, but I enjoyed the olive oil. Our waitress was great. She was from Italy, of course, and she told us some about her hometown (she was going home in 2 weeks). She took time to speak with us for a few moments even though I know she had many other tables. We were very impressed with the service. DH said his Alfredo was still yummy but not as great as he remembered (you know how it is...it's never as good as the first time you have it). My dish was ok. DH and I shared dishes. That alfredo sauce was no joke. It's basically all parmesan cheese and butter (we got the recipe), and it is extremely cheesy.
Boardwalk Bakery: EXCELLENT
We stayed at the Boardwalk, so this was a very convenient place for an early morning pastry or a snack. We never actually ate an entire meal here (they do have sandwiches and the like), but we did get snacks here a couple of times so I thought it was worth mentioning. The pastries were yummy. I'm not big on sweets, and I even enjoyed the coffee cake. I also ordered a cake from here for DH's birthday. It was gorgeous, delicious, fresh, and delivered just at the precise time that I requested. DH LOVED his cake. He tried so hard to eat that entire cake. He even ate it for breakfast a couple of mornings. i know, I know...not very healthy at all.
Earl of Sandwich: EXCELLENT
DH and I really liked Earl of Sandwich. We did a lot of table service meals this trip, so this was a very nice non-table service meal. For some reason, I was completely determined not to eat Hamburgers and French Fries while I was at Disney (I have no idea why...I can be kind of finicky like that). Earl of Sandwich has a lot of fresh sandwich and salad options on their menu. I got a Chinese Chicken Salad wrap, and it was very, very yummy. I ate the whole thing which is odd for me. DH got a roast beef sandwich, and he also said it was very good. It was a nice, filling meal. We spent $19.00 for two sandwiches, two sodas, and two bags of chips. We felt that this was a good value for lunch, and when we go back, I'm getting that chinese chicken salad wrap again. yum.
). We did this the old fashioned way (i.e., we got the bill and paid with cash). I rated them Excellent, Good, or Average. We really didn't have any meals that I would consider Below Average. Also, we were on a special-first-trip-as-a-married-couple kind of trip (we didn't go on a honeymoon), so we wanted to splurge a bit. The value that I mention is relative. If you're seeking deals, you might not find all of these to be a good value. So, here's what we thought about our meals and the value:Liberty Tree Tavern: EXCELLENT
We loved it. Admittedly, the food was nothing out of this world, but it was good, filling, hot, simple fare. You would definitely be safe taking children here with things like ham, turkey, mac & cheese, and apple pie at the table. Liberty Tree is all you can eat, and they aren't kidding. I asked for more green beans, and they brought me enough green beans for 10 people. Our waiter was great and really added to our experience (he tied his apron on Chip so that Chip could use it as a cape and pose like a superhero for everyone). Best of all, the character interaction was EXCELLENT. The characters stopped at our tables twice (it was a light crowd that evening). We saw Chip & Dale, Minnie, and Goofy. Goofy was really cutting up, playing instruments (a pot and a spoon and sometimes a cup) and getting everyone to clap. We thought this was WELL worth the money and will definitely go again.
Fulton's Crab House: GOOD
The service here was excellent, and we thought the food was yummy. I ordered the King Crab Claws and DH had the fish special. The reason I gave this a GOOD instead of an EXCELLENT is because I really did not think I received much food for the money. I kind of hesitate to mention it, because I know that Americans are used to obscenely large portions that aren't really healthy for us. But, I guess it's on my mind, so I'll mention it. My King Crab Claws were delicious, but I only received four of them for about $50.00. I also received steamed red new potatoes (which were good) with my crab claws. Our meals came with bread and a crab boursin dip (which was yummy). I am a small woman with a similarly smallish appetite, but if I spend $50.00 on dinner, I expect to be full (I usually have quite a bit leftover to be honest). I wasn't full at all after finishing my meal (maybe I was just especially hungry on this day??). DH ate his fish and loved it but also felt that his portion was a bit small. As I mentioned, I know we don't need to gorge ourselves anyways, so I don't want to sound too whiney about it. But, I just thought for the money, it would have been nice to have slightly larger portions. The server was great though. When DH inquired about the cheesecake, our server took us back into the kitchens to speak to the pastry chef (we had to have non slip shoes on for OSHA purposes & luckily, we did). We were amazed at the service.
Tony's Town Square: AVERAGE
We really liked the atmosphere here (we both love Lady & the Tramp and enjoyed dining at a restaurant on Main Street). Our food was average. I got Baked Ziti and DH got Chicken Fiorentina. DH thought his chicken was ok. I thought my Ziti was ok. I liked his chicken better and he liked my ziti better, so we switched plates.
We also got Spinach and Artichoke Dip which was hot in some places and cold in others. The service was attentive and polite. Our meal totaled $50.33 (without tip) for lunch. This is pretty expensive for lunch, so if you are paying for this meal yourselves (i.e, no dining plan), I'm not sure that this is necessarily the best bang for your buck.Garden View Lounge: EXCELLENT
I just adore this place, but I'll preface this by saying that I'm a bit of a priss pot and when asked what I wanted my babyshower theme to be, I told my friends that I wanted to have a nice afternoon tea. So, I just love tea sandwiches, scones, and fresh pot of hot jasmine tea. But, my husband is most decidedly not a priss pot, and I was worried about taking my meat and potatoes man here. So, read on if you're interested in hearing about our experience....
When I go to the Garden View Lounge at the GF for tea, I feel like I'm as far from a theme park as one could possibly imagine. The setting is so relaxing and definitely not pretentious. I was so excited to go. But, this was DH's first visit to Garden View, and to be honest, he was kind of luekwarm on the idea of going to tea. He kept saying, "maybe you should just bring your mother here when we all go as a family." I agreed that it would be great for mothers and daughters, but I told him that I thought it was also romantic and relaxing and I wanted us to go together as a newlywed couple (we've only been married for 6 months). I batted my eyes at him a few times and threw in a few "Please....I really want us to go together.", and he eventually gave in with no more complaints. Ladies-how long does batting the eyelashes and asking nicely work in marriage? tee hee. Anyways, we ordered the Fruit and Cheese plate first, and it was the first time I have tried this dish. I will never go to Garden View Lounge again without ordering this Fruit and Cheese plate. We loved it, and it had many cheeses on it that DH and I had never tried. We both agreed that the crackers were delish...very savory. We got a very nice portion of cheeses, crackers, and fruits. DH got the Buckingham Palace Tea, and I ordered the Grand Tea. DH ordered (are you ready for this???) the PRINCESS BREAKFAST TEA.
Tee hee....I just love him to pieces. You gotta love a meat and potatoes man that doesn't hesitate to order the Princess Breakfast Tea with several other people in earshot. In fact, he enjoyed it so much that he even inquired about purchasing some to take home with us. But, alas, they didn't have any for sell. I ordered the Jasmine tea which is always fragrant, naturally sweet, and yummy. My champagne was on the sweet side, and I thought it was delicious and refreshing. DH was such a good sport about all of the new foods that he encountered. He even ate the "green cheese" (after pointing at it and quietly saying "what's that?" with his nose scrunched up.) It was sage cheese and very yummy. He tried all of the dainty finger sandwiches no matter how "dainty" they looked. He enjoyed all of them except for the cucumber and watercress sandwich (which I happily took off of his hands). I loved all of the tea sandwiches. Next, we had scones. The combination of the piping hot scones with cool, creamy devonshire cream is outstanding, and we both enjoyed the scones (at this point, anytime I put my knife down, DH would ask, "are you finished with your scone?" because he wanted to eat the rest of my scone. So, being the sweet wife that I am, I let him have 1/2 of my scone). If you've never been to the tea, it's a lot of food, so admittedly, it really wasn't much of a sacrifice to give up part of my scone. DH and I both selected the pastries for dessert. I didn't really like the pastries all that much, because I'm not big on sweets and I thought they were very rich. So, DH traded me some of his tea sandwiches for my pastries and pate (he didn't like the cucumber & watercress sandwiches, and I'm not a fan of pate)-I know, not a very refined thing to do, trading food at high tea. I've had high tea in London, and comparitively speaking, I think that Disney does the tradition of tea in the proper way with the proper food and setting. Our waitress was reserved but very attentive and pleasant. Our total was $61.22, and we will definitely do this again. High Tea at Garden View Lounge is undoubtedly expensive, but it's such a unique experience for us that we think it is well worth the money. I'm sure DH & I will never forget his first tea experience. I'm planning on making this a tradition for every trip to Disney. Rainforest Cafe at AKL: GOOD
This restaurant reminded us of restaurants like Fridays or Chilis. There was a lot of activity and a lot of noise. DH and I liked it, and we thought it was a fun, laid back atmosphere. Our food was good and hot. The server was nice. We signed up for the Rainforest Cafe restaurant card which allowed us to be seated immediately (instead of a 30 min wait). We also received a free appetizer. Our total for lunch was $37.00. We didn't think this was too bad for a table service meal restaurant at Disneyworld for lunch. Additionally, it got us out of the heat at the AK which was priceless. So, for the value and the air conditioning, we rate this as good.
Les Chefs De France: EXCELLENT
This was kind of a surprising meal for us. We made ADRs last minute b/c it was the only ADR that was left in Epcot that evening (this was a last minute trip, and we scheduled our ADRs on the fly). We weren't expecting anything great, but it was great. We orderded the cheese plate (we were still dreaming about that cheese plate at the Grand Floridian Tea). The cheese plate was good, and we did get to try some new cheeses, but the French cheeses were much more pungent than the English cheeses that we ate at our tea, and the French cheese plate did not come with crackers. You just ate the cheese straight up. We did enjoy it, and I had a nice glass of wine which complimented the cheese plate nicely (go for the wine if you get the cheese plate; it really sets it off). DH got the salmon, and it was extremely delicious. The portion size was nice. I got a steak (I can't remember the name). It was yummy, but not as good as DH's salmon. We were also served nice crusty bread (like baguette bread) with our meal. This was DH's birthday, and they brought him a birthday dessert (it was a moussy cake thing) and sang Bon Anniversaire. Our waiter was French, of course. He was nice and attentive. The restaurant was a bit loud, but we liked the setting and we even caught some of the Illuminations fireworks from the windows. We were expecting average food here (I just didn't know anything about this place & didn't know what to expect), but we felt that the food and service was really great. Our total was $88.10 with one glass of wine, 2 entrees, and an appetizer. We felt that for the quality of our food, portion size, and attentive service, this was a good value for dinner.
Alfredo's: GOOD
This was my husband's favorite Disney restaurant because he loved the fettucine alfredo. So, of course, he ordered the fettucine alfredo and I ordered a pasta with a tomato based sauce and sausage. We were also served bread with our dinner. The bread was good, but it was cold. They serve the bread with olive oil which DH doesn't like, but I enjoyed the olive oil. Our waitress was great. She was from Italy, of course, and she told us some about her hometown (she was going home in 2 weeks). She took time to speak with us for a few moments even though I know she had many other tables. We were very impressed with the service. DH said his Alfredo was still yummy but not as great as he remembered (you know how it is...it's never as good as the first time you have it). My dish was ok. DH and I shared dishes. That alfredo sauce was no joke. It's basically all parmesan cheese and butter (we got the recipe), and it is extremely cheesy.
Boardwalk Bakery: EXCELLENT
We stayed at the Boardwalk, so this was a very convenient place for an early morning pastry or a snack. We never actually ate an entire meal here (they do have sandwiches and the like), but we did get snacks here a couple of times so I thought it was worth mentioning. The pastries were yummy. I'm not big on sweets, and I even enjoyed the coffee cake. I also ordered a cake from here for DH's birthday. It was gorgeous, delicious, fresh, and delivered just at the precise time that I requested. DH LOVED his cake. He tried so hard to eat that entire cake. He even ate it for breakfast a couple of mornings. i know, I know...not very healthy at all.
Earl of Sandwich: EXCELLENT
DH and I really liked Earl of Sandwich. We did a lot of table service meals this trip, so this was a very nice non-table service meal. For some reason, I was completely determined not to eat Hamburgers and French Fries while I was at Disney (I have no idea why...I can be kind of finicky like that). Earl of Sandwich has a lot of fresh sandwich and salad options on their menu. I got a Chinese Chicken Salad wrap, and it was very, very yummy. I ate the whole thing which is odd for me. DH got a roast beef sandwich, and he also said it was very good. It was a nice, filling meal. We spent $19.00 for two sandwiches, two sodas, and two bags of chips. We felt that this was a good value for lunch, and when we go back, I'm getting that chinese chicken salad wrap again. yum.
(been married over 13 years) Of course, as I spout he's downstairs drawing my bath water. I better go. 
Well, I'll start with the easy part....we were just 2 adults (no children). I lost my receipt for Alfredo's, but I checked out their menu online and came up with this ballpark figure for Alfredo's: $70.95 with a tip (I had to guesstimate my glass of wine at $8.00; I think it was actually $7, but I went with $8 just in case.) I also didn't have the receipts for our snacks at the Boardwalk, but I think we spent about $11 for pastries in the morning, and we did this twice. Liberty Tree was $67.98 with tip. Fulton's was $92.30 with tip. When I gave the totals in my review, I did not include tip, but tip is included in my grand total. We tipped at least 20% at each restaurant. So, our grand total was $555.88 (I hope I did the math correctly). I did not include DH's birthday cake in my total. I also didn't include snacks (We both got ice cream bars one day and we shared a turkey leg another day. I can't remember what these cost. We also purchased one drink per person at the parks each day. Sometimes it was a fountain drink, and sometimes it was a bottled drink. If I had to guess, I would say we spent $40 total for drinks and snacks in the parks. 
)
