Let me start by saying we had a wonderful trip! My dbf (now my fiancé 
) and I stayed our first night at Pop Century and the next 8 nights at Polynesian. There has been some talk that the dining plan has caused a decline in food and service at Disney restaurants. We did not find this at all. We were on the DDP and overall we had very positive dining experiences. Let me also say I come from and Italian family and we know and love our food so my standards are very high. We did unfortunately miss one of our character breakfasts bc we slept thru our wakeup call 
. Also we changed 2 ADR’s while down there which I will mention later. But first let me give a quick run down of where we ate followed by my reviews:
Table Service
LeCellier (dinner)
Kona (lunch)
O’hana (dinner twice)
Mama Melrose (FDP)
Cinderella’s Royal Table (dinner)
Coral Reef CP (dinner)
Alfredo’s (lunch)
California Grill (dinner)
O’hana (Character breakfast)
Counter Service (which will come a bit later)
Pop Century Food Court
Captain Cooks
Sunshine Season Food Court
Tusker House
Pizza Planet
And now the reviews (which are longer than I expected)
LeCellier dinner: A+
We used 2 TS credits
Service: We were told when we arrived that they were running 20 minutes past reservation times which was not a big deal at all to us. The hostesses were very nice and were even keeping guests entertained with trivia questions while we waited. Our waitress was very efficient, friendly, and helpful.
Appetizer: We both got the cheddar cheese soup: yummy yummy yummy! We both love this and would go to LeCellier just for that. We also love the pretzel bread.
Entrée: We both got the same entrée as well, filet mignon and cream cheese mashed potatoes: Again we both loved it! The filet mignon had a very light barbeque sauce which made the steak very tasty. Also it was so tender and we both agreed it was THE BEST STEAK WE EVER HAD!
Dessert: I got Blueberry Buckle which was very good. It was spongy like cake in the middle and crusty like pie around the edge. It is served warm with berry ice cream which tasted great together. My fiancé got the chocolate cake which he called “decadent”
Kona lunch: B
We paid OOP for this meal
Service: The service was very good here. The waitress was very helpful about the menu items.
Appetizer: Crab cakes: delicious but overpriced; you only get 3 mini crab cakes for about $10; each one was probably smaller than a small egg.
Entrée: I ordered the beef noodle bowl which the waitress warned me it was more like a steak soup. That sounded fine to me, though I was disappointed still when I ate it. It did not have as much beef flavor as I would have liked and kind of had a lime after taste that I didn’t care for. I eat a lot of Asian noodle bowls at home and thought it was ok.
My fiancé got the Island chicken sandwich which he really liked. I tasted it and it was very good. If I go back there I would get that. More than likely I would go back.
O’hana dinner: A+
We went twice here and used 2 TS each time for 2 of us. Both times we joined my mother and her friend who were staying at the Pop Century. It was so good the night we first went, even better than last year that we decided to try to get another ADR and cancel our meal for Jiko 3 nights later. We called Disney dining for 2 days to see if there were any cancellations which there were not. We decided to check with the concierge just on a whim and the guy there was very helpful and got us booked no problem. Since most tables are assigned as table of 4, he put us down as 3 people and told us to let them know at Ohana when we checked in it would just be 2. However, after talking with my mother and her friend they decided they wanted to join us if they could. So we went back to the concierge and they added another person no problem since it was already a table of 4 they changed it from a 3 person party to 4. We were very grateful. Anyway onto the review for both nights:
Service: The servers were very quick with bringing things out, almost too fast at some points but we just took our time and asked for more whenever we felt like it.
Breakdown by food item:
Wonton chips: They changed them from last year bc now they have a seasoning on them they didn’t before but were still very good.
Dipping sauces: We like them all. There was one that had a roasted pepper taste, the peanut sauce which was our favorite (awesome when you put on the turkey which was a tip from a bartender at the Tambu lounge) and then there was the pesto sauce which was also good but probably our least favorite of the 3.
Salad: Very good and we really liked the honey lime dressing. The salad was very fresh and crisp
Shrimp: the shrimp were even better than last time. They were piping hot when they came out. This is such a great food item there especially bc we had one vegetarian at the table so she was able to fill up on these.
Chicken wings: They were great. They had like sweet teriyaki sauce with sesame seeds on it and were very yummy. There also nice and hot when they brought them out.
Vegetables; Like the salad they tasted very fresh and were cooked very well. There were onions, peas in a pod, carrots and something else I cannot remember.
Potatoes, Potatoes, Potatoes: Oh how we love these scalloped potatoes! They are the best scalloped potatoes in the world. They also get an award for the most replenished item on the table as we requested quit a few additional servings.
The Meats: None of use really care for the type of sausage they served. We each tried a bite but pretty much passed. The rest of the meats were fantastic! Much better when we were there last year! They had more of that grilled flavor and better seasonings and were also very tender. The pork and steak were great and the turkey was outstanding. Again the turkey with the peanut sauce was so yummy!
Bread Pudding Dessert: again even better than last year! It had more flavor and seemed to be cooked better. Some of us left the bananas foster sauce off as we do not like bananas and it still tasted great! The second night was quit amusing though bc my mother is one of the people that does not like bananas. When one of the servers brought out the bread putting he started pouring the sauce on right away without saying anything. Well my mother without realizing yelled out an OH NO! ANd she actually scared the server at first. But everything was fine bc he brought I second one out for me and her to share.
Mama Melrose: B+
We used 2 TS credits
Service: Much better than last time we came. Last year we were there forever. This time the waiter was much more efficient though not the friendliest waiter in the world. He wasn’t rude or mean, just did not say a whole lot.
Appetizer: We split fried calamari which we thought was pretty good but we eat a lot of fried calamari around home at our favorite restaurants and it did not compare to those places. We also split bruschetta which was ok. The bread was kind of chewy, though overall it had a great flavor.
Entrée: The name on the menu of the entrée I ordered was Wood Grilled Chicken with Pipette Pasta, however even though I was on the dining plan they did let me select the option to have it with shrimp. I thought this was very tasty. I ate around the peas bc I do not like peas but the sauce was great. I thought it might be too heavy bc it was a cheese cream sauce but it was rather light so I really liked it. My fiancé got the Chicken Parmesan which he said was pretty tasty but there was nothing special about it. He felt it was something he could have gotten at any chain restaurant.
Dessert: We had the gelato which was very creamy and a refreshing end to the meal
The Fantasmic Dinner Package: We actually did not end up using our voucher for the vip seating unfortunately. Mainly bc it had been raining off and on that day. We really wanted to see the Osborne lights which we were going to do after Fantasmic but we were afraid we would get stuck in rain again and not be able to see the lights after. So we went right to see the lights after dinner. We were going to go home but decided very last minute to go see the second showing of Fantasmic. We got in right as it started and were able to get a seat on the left side of the amphitheatre. But we have done the package before and it definitely can work to your advantage when the crowds are a bit higher.
) and I stayed our first night at Pop Century and the next 8 nights at Polynesian. There has been some talk that the dining plan has caused a decline in food and service at Disney restaurants. We did not find this at all. We were on the DDP and overall we had very positive dining experiences. Let me also say I come from and Italian family and we know and love our food so my standards are very high. We did unfortunately miss one of our character breakfasts bc we slept thru our wakeup call . Also we changed 2 ADR’s while down there which I will mention later. But first let me give a quick run down of where we ate followed by my reviews:Table Service
LeCellier (dinner)
Kona (lunch)
O’hana (dinner twice)
Mama Melrose (FDP)
Cinderella’s Royal Table (dinner)
Coral Reef CP (dinner)
Alfredo’s (lunch)
California Grill (dinner)
O’hana (Character breakfast)
Counter Service (which will come a bit later)
Pop Century Food Court
Captain Cooks
Sunshine Season Food Court
Tusker House
Pizza Planet
And now the reviews (which are longer than I expected)
LeCellier dinner: A+
We used 2 TS credits
Service: We were told when we arrived that they were running 20 minutes past reservation times which was not a big deal at all to us. The hostesses were very nice and were even keeping guests entertained with trivia questions while we waited. Our waitress was very efficient, friendly, and helpful.
Appetizer: We both got the cheddar cheese soup: yummy yummy yummy! We both love this and would go to LeCellier just for that. We also love the pretzel bread.
Entrée: We both got the same entrée as well, filet mignon and cream cheese mashed potatoes: Again we both loved it! The filet mignon had a very light barbeque sauce which made the steak very tasty. Also it was so tender and we both agreed it was THE BEST STEAK WE EVER HAD!
Dessert: I got Blueberry Buckle which was very good. It was spongy like cake in the middle and crusty like pie around the edge. It is served warm with berry ice cream which tasted great together. My fiancé got the chocolate cake which he called “decadent”
Kona lunch: B
We paid OOP for this meal
Service: The service was very good here. The waitress was very helpful about the menu items.
Appetizer: Crab cakes: delicious but overpriced; you only get 3 mini crab cakes for about $10; each one was probably smaller than a small egg.
Entrée: I ordered the beef noodle bowl which the waitress warned me it was more like a steak soup. That sounded fine to me, though I was disappointed still when I ate it. It did not have as much beef flavor as I would have liked and kind of had a lime after taste that I didn’t care for. I eat a lot of Asian noodle bowls at home and thought it was ok.
My fiancé got the Island chicken sandwich which he really liked. I tasted it and it was very good. If I go back there I would get that. More than likely I would go back.
O’hana dinner: A+
We went twice here and used 2 TS each time for 2 of us. Both times we joined my mother and her friend who were staying at the Pop Century. It was so good the night we first went, even better than last year that we decided to try to get another ADR and cancel our meal for Jiko 3 nights later. We called Disney dining for 2 days to see if there were any cancellations which there were not. We decided to check with the concierge just on a whim and the guy there was very helpful and got us booked no problem. Since most tables are assigned as table of 4, he put us down as 3 people and told us to let them know at Ohana when we checked in it would just be 2. However, after talking with my mother and her friend they decided they wanted to join us if they could. So we went back to the concierge and they added another person no problem since it was already a table of 4 they changed it from a 3 person party to 4. We were very grateful. Anyway onto the review for both nights:
Service: The servers were very quick with bringing things out, almost too fast at some points but we just took our time and asked for more whenever we felt like it.
Breakdown by food item:
Wonton chips: They changed them from last year bc now they have a seasoning on them they didn’t before but were still very good.
Dipping sauces: We like them all. There was one that had a roasted pepper taste, the peanut sauce which was our favorite (awesome when you put on the turkey which was a tip from a bartender at the Tambu lounge) and then there was the pesto sauce which was also good but probably our least favorite of the 3.
Salad: Very good and we really liked the honey lime dressing. The salad was very fresh and crisp
Shrimp: the shrimp were even better than last time. They were piping hot when they came out. This is such a great food item there especially bc we had one vegetarian at the table so she was able to fill up on these.
Chicken wings: They were great. They had like sweet teriyaki sauce with sesame seeds on it and were very yummy. There also nice and hot when they brought them out.
Vegetables; Like the salad they tasted very fresh and were cooked very well. There were onions, peas in a pod, carrots and something else I cannot remember.
Potatoes, Potatoes, Potatoes: Oh how we love these scalloped potatoes! They are the best scalloped potatoes in the world. They also get an award for the most replenished item on the table as we requested quit a few additional servings.
The Meats: None of use really care for the type of sausage they served. We each tried a bite but pretty much passed. The rest of the meats were fantastic! Much better when we were there last year! They had more of that grilled flavor and better seasonings and were also very tender. The pork and steak were great and the turkey was outstanding. Again the turkey with the peanut sauce was so yummy!
Bread Pudding Dessert: again even better than last year! It had more flavor and seemed to be cooked better. Some of us left the bananas foster sauce off as we do not like bananas and it still tasted great! The second night was quit amusing though bc my mother is one of the people that does not like bananas. When one of the servers brought out the bread putting he started pouring the sauce on right away without saying anything. Well my mother without realizing yelled out an OH NO! ANd she actually scared the server at first. But everything was fine bc he brought I second one out for me and her to share.
Mama Melrose: B+
We used 2 TS credits
Service: Much better than last time we came. Last year we were there forever. This time the waiter was much more efficient though not the friendliest waiter in the world. He wasn’t rude or mean, just did not say a whole lot.
Appetizer: We split fried calamari which we thought was pretty good but we eat a lot of fried calamari around home at our favorite restaurants and it did not compare to those places. We also split bruschetta which was ok. The bread was kind of chewy, though overall it had a great flavor.
Entrée: The name on the menu of the entrée I ordered was Wood Grilled Chicken with Pipette Pasta, however even though I was on the dining plan they did let me select the option to have it with shrimp. I thought this was very tasty. I ate around the peas bc I do not like peas but the sauce was great. I thought it might be too heavy bc it was a cheese cream sauce but it was rather light so I really liked it. My fiancé got the Chicken Parmesan which he said was pretty tasty but there was nothing special about it. He felt it was something he could have gotten at any chain restaurant.
Dessert: We had the gelato which was very creamy and a refreshing end to the meal
The Fantasmic Dinner Package: We actually did not end up using our voucher for the vip seating unfortunately. Mainly bc it had been raining off and on that day. We really wanted to see the Osborne lights which we were going to do after Fantasmic but we were afraid we would get stuck in rain again and not be able to see the lights after. So we went right to see the lights after dinner. We were going to go home but decided very last minute to go see the second showing of Fantasmic. We got in right as it started and were able to get a seat on the left side of the amphitheatre. But we have done the package before and it definitely can work to your advantage when the crowds are a bit higher.
