Can't Think of a Cute Title Just Lots of Pics

[tndisneyfan]

OK so I'm doing my reviews so my family doesn't kill me after I made them wait to eat so I could take pics.

Just to let you know a little about us. It's me,DH, and DS (16). I am a fairly adventurous eater and will try about anything. DH is a little pickier but not terribly picky. He will not eat any fish or seafood and will not eat a mushroom. DS has become more adventurous as he's gotten older. He loves steak and shrimp, and will eat some fish. We are from East TN so we are used to southern food. We eat out a fair amount but it's almost all chains like Outback and Chili's just because that's all that is here.

We were on the basic dining plan. We ate at some of the usual places like Crystal Palace, Kona cafe, and LeCellier. But we also ate at some more offbeat places like Boatwrights, Teppan Edo, and Chefs de France.

I have lots of pics and plan to do honest reviews of what we actually thought of the food. Thanks in advance to all those who come along for the ride..

Just wanted to add...... I was hoping for better pictures. Some of them are OK but most are not. I took them all with my iPhone 4s, it just goes to show that no cell camera is as good as they say. I think our little point and shoot would've took better pictures and I regret now not using it.

I also forgot to say when we went to WDW. We were there from 5/22 - 5/31. So all the reviews are very recent.

Here's a list of places we ate:

Day 1
Starring Rolls
Boatwrights

Day 2
Pecos Bill
Kona Cafe

Day 3
Sunshine Seasons
La Hacienda

Day 4
Backlot Express
50's Prime Time

Day 5
La Cantina
Teppan Edo

Day 6
Sassagoula Floatworks
Pepper Market Lunch Buffet
Raglan Road

Day 7
Crystal Palace

Day 8
Port Orlean Food Court
Chefs de France

Day 9
Le Cellier Lunch
Port Orleans Food Court part 2

Day 10
Port Orlean Food Court Breakfast version
Beaches and Cream

 

[jacksmom]

Can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[TigerKat]

Signing on!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

I'm in!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

I'm in!

 

[tndisneyfan]

OK, so onto my first review.

We drove thru the night and arrived at POR around 10:30. The plan was to check in, by then we thought it would be lunch time and we would eat at the resort. Check in took less than ten minutes so it was too early to eat lunch. So we just decided to head to DHS and eat at Starring Rolls then get a few rides in before heading back to the room. We've ate here several times and we all like it.


Black Forest Ham Sandwich

We all went with the Black Forest Ham sandwich. It's a good sandwich with a good amount of deli meat. I thought it was smaller than I remembered but that could just be faulty thinking. I especially like the bread that used. Not sure what it is, but I like the chewiness of it.

Chips

I was surprised to learn that the only option now with the DDP is the smaller bag of basic chips. I had BBQ picked out and DS had some Doritos. The CM informed us and I appreciated it. They were just chips, they seemed to be kettle cooked because they were more crunchy than crispy. DS didn't care for them because of that.

Now on to the good stuff.......DESSERTS!!!!

Napolean

I got the Napolean. I have got it a couple of times. I like it but I always forget how hard it is to eat. The phyllo dough layers (or at least I assume that's what it is) are always very tough and it's hard to cut. I like the taste but is very messy.

Eclair

DS got this. He thought it was OK. I don't think he's ever had a real eclair and isn't used to the dough. I think he was expecting a long donut.

Banana Split

Banana Split is what is was called but it wasn't much like a banana split. DH said it should have been called chocolate banana. He was expecting the all the flavors but only tasted the chocolate and banana. The bottom layer was chocolate, he wasn't sure if it was ganache or a brownie. The rest of it was a banana mousse or possibly a banana cream. It had a good banana flavor but it wasn't very sweet at all. It may be a good option for those who like less sweet desserts. DH thought the name was misleading. He was glad he got it but wouldn't get it again.

Overall Thoughts and Opinion We always enjoy the sandwiches here, it's a nice change of pace from other CS options. There are many desserts to choose from, mainly a large variety of cupcakes. We were disappointed at the DDP potato chip option, but it didn't ruin the meal. I give it two big green thumbs up.

We stayed at the park a couple of hours and got a text that our room was ready. We decided to go to the room, unpack, and rest a while before our ADR at Boatwrights. REview to follow soon.

 

[happy2012]

Great start!!!

 

[we3travellers]

Along for the ride! That sandwich looks great! Lots of meat, just the way it should be. Can't wait for more.

 

[jacksmom]

Can't wait for more!

 

[tndisneyfan]

Noooooo!!!! Just spent 20 plus minutes doing my Boatwrights review and the when I posted it, it disappeared. Noooooooo.

Will try to post it again shortly.

 

[tndisneyfan]

OK going to try my Boatwright review again.

We stayed at POR this trip, since we drove thru the night we didn't know if we would feel like eating in a park so we decided to eat at our resort. There's not much out there about Boatwrights but I put a post out there about it and got positive reviews from the ones who replied. So we decided to give it a go.

Just wanted to add that I'm not at all pleased with my pictures here. They are either too dark or blurry or both.

We arrived about fifteen minutes before our ADR time but we were seated within couple of minutes of checking in. We had a nice server whose name I do not recall. She looked at our card to determine what we could have with the DDP, I had never had a CM do that before but it seems to be common practice now. She explained what we could have and took our drink orders and said she would be back with drinks and some cornbread. We asked for extra cornbread because well, we're southern and we like cornbread.

Cornbread

So it took a while to get our drinks and cornbread but it was worth it. She did give us extra cornbread. Not sure if you can tell by the picture but there's nine pieces of cornbread in there with two bowls of butter. It's the same bread as at Whispering canyon Cafe, yellow cornbread that's slightly sweet. It was delicous. My only slight complaint is real southern cornbread isn't sweet, but that didn't stop me from eating it.

There were several things on the menu that looked good. DH finally decided on the pork Chops.
Grilled Pork Chops w/ Cheese Grits and Onion Rings

DH liked this very much. It was a thick, juicy pork chop. He liked the sauce on it, he said it was very sweet though and may be off putting to some because of that. I was surprised to see he ate all his grits because he's not a big grit eater, but he ate them and enjoyed them. He also enjoyed his onion rings. He liked his meal, he would order it again but there are other things on the menu that he would order first.


Jambalaya

DS went witht the Jambalaya. The picture doesn't do it justice, it was a very large serving. The were only two shrimp but they were very large. It also had two or three big slices of adoullie sausage and chicken. The rice was spicy but not too hot. DH in hinsight wished he had got this instead of the chops but he was concerned about the shrimp (see first post about DH and shrimp). He was afraid it would have a strong shrimp taste or that he wouldn't be able to get the shrimp out of it. The shrimp looked to be cooked in another pan and just added right before serving, the rice didn't have a shrimp taste at all. DS went on to explain that real cajuns cook the jambalaya in three seperate pans, one for the meat on for rice one for veggies. I don't know if this is true or not but he took french this year and now knows everything about French and Cajun life. I was afraid it would be too spicy for DS but he liked it very much.

Lots of items on the menu looked good. I finally settled on the beef medallions. As I was browsing the menu I noticed they had Abita Amber beer. I rarely get abita so I ordered a glass when I ordered my meal.

Grilled Tenderloin Medallions w/Mac n cheese and Crayfish Beignet

After seeing mine I was kind of disappointed. Everyone else had a huge serving of food but mine looked skimpy. The medallions were very good, just seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked to medium as I had requested. Very tender and tasty. The mac and cheese didn't taste much like cheese, it had more of a cream flavor but was good once I mixed it with some of the red wine demi glace. It made it richer. It also came with asparagus. I don't care for asparagus, I tried to give it DH but he didn't want to take a chance on his gout flaring up. So I went ahead and tried it. To my surprise it was very good, not as thick and woody as some I have had in the past. Seemed almost like baby asparagus. The ball on the side is the beignet. It was OK but not a beignet, it was more like a hush puppy or a crayfish cake. Even though it looked skimpy it was a very filling meal and I enjoyed it very much.

As I was finishing up DH said, you know she forgot your beer. I had forgot it too. No big deal I didn't really want it now. So on to the DESSERTS.....

Pecan Pie ala Mode

DS got this. DS and DH both liked it, I didn't try it because I was too full and had my own huge dessert to contend with.

Butterscoth Creme Brulee

This is what DH ordered. This was a disappointment to end a really good meal. It wasn't bad creme brulee but had no butterscotch taste at all. None. Zero.

new Orleans Bread Pudding

This picture aggravates me. It's blurry. This was a great dessert. The photo doesn't do it justice, it was huge. It was just a normal bread pudding but it had a rum raisin ice cream on top with a banana foster sauce drizzled on it. It was very good. Everyone took a few bites and I still only finished half of it. DH said he would rather have just had some of that ice cream and sauce for dessert

Overall Thoughts and Opinions This turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The food was excellent (other than the creme brulee), and the service was decent. I would definitely eat here again and would recommend it to others.

I have debated on how to do my TS reviews. I thought about a 1-5 scale of smiley faces or mickeys but I think I'll just stick with my thoughts and opinions and leave it at that. I'll stick with the green thumbs for CS though

 

[disneyquilter]

The eclair and the banana split sound awesome! Enjoyed your first review. I'm in!!

 

[gabzee]

Count me in! I can't wait to read more!

 

[Sappermont]

Very cool. I'm in!

 

[tndisneyfan]

So the date here is 5/23, it was our MK day. I also should add here that we mostly ate breakfast in the room. We brought cereal, pastries, and such. We are rope droppers so after eating a light breakfast we are usually ready for an early lunch around 11-11:30. We occasionally eat a little later but that is our usual time.

So today was MK day and we decided that we'd like to do Pecos Bill. We eat there every trip and it's a family favorite. There was already a fair sized line so we decided we would do the electronic ordering (not sure what it's called). We've used it before without problems and went for it again. Not a good choice this time. It took FOREVER to get our food. We sent DS to get a table, he actaully texted to check on us because we took so long. We got our drinks right off no problem, then we waited. A young foreign man who spoke little English shoved a taco salad at us and we took it. We thought the burgers would soon follow. We waited more and more. Finally I saw our food coming up, two burgers and a taco salad on one tray. I told DH that was our food, I didn't know who's taco salad we had but that was our food. Sure enough it was. They shoved the tray at us. I said what about our desserts, the young man who spoke little English finally sorted out our desserts and finally gave us another tray to put our drinks on. Not a real positive experience. So onto the food.

1/3 lb Cheeseburger

I should have taken this picture different because you really can't see anything but the bun. It's just a basic cheeseburger, the no frills one. DS said the meat was good but his bun was cold. The fries were fine.

1/3 lb Angus Cheeseburger

This is what DH ordered. I guess the difference is the onion rings, bacon, and BBQ sauce. He said it was good but again his bun was cold, almost like it had been in the fridge. The meat was warm and the toppings were good, it's just the bun in both cases that were cold. Very odd.

Taco Salad

I forgot to take a picture until after I had dressed the salad. All it comes with is shell and some meat. I have ordered this 3 or 4 times over the years and I swear ever time I get it there's a little less meat. I'm pretty sure if I order it 3 or 4 more times there'll eventually be no meat, just some juice and seasoning from the meat. I put too much topping on it, which was my own fault of course, so I coldn't hardly even taste the meat at all. The shell seemed a little stale too, I didn't enjoy nibbling on it while I ate my salad.

Chocolate Cake

yep, there it is, chocolate cake in a cup. DH and I both got this but I didn't bother eating it. I wasn't feeling it. It's just basic cake in a convenient plastic cup.

Strawberry Yogurt

DS decided on a healthier dessert option, he went for the yogurt. Go figure. He liked it and requested that we buy some when we got home.


Overall Thoughts and Opinions I found Pecos Bill to be just so-so this go around. The bad experience getting our food was bad enough. Then cold buns and disappearing taco meat didn't help matters. I'm sure we will go back eventually but we won't hurry back. No thumbs up here, I'll just give it a confused guy because I was a little confused when I left.

 

[CanadianPaco]

Wow! Great start! I love your pics! Thx for sharing!

 

[Disney_Mama]

Thanks for sharing. Can't wait for the rest.

 

[taylor3297]

Thanks for sharing. I am glad yogurt is an option, but it seems like all the yogurt offered has aspartame. After studying that stuff I won't touch it.

I had never considered Boatwrights, but now I am going to put it on my list.

 

[emmysmommy]

Thanks for sharing your reviews! Thus far I've learned that I would go to Boatwrights for cornbread and bread pudding! I'm not in any danger of getting food at Pecos Bills so thanks for your honest review there.

BTW: Your photos are totally fine.

 

[disfencer]

Hey, great reviews! Your pictures are great.

Btw, we're neighbors, hello from Knoxville (campus area). Hope you all are enjoying the nice weather this weekend--I'm stuck inside studying, haha.