"Do we have to eat steak at EVERY meal?" - our honeymoon dining report

[SOnotLayuh]

Welcome to my first report of any kind!

It is VERY late, so I hope you don't mind. I may be the only one, but when I get back from Disney I get so bummed out about not being there any more that I don't frequent the Dis as much as I usually do... and by the time I was over being bummed, I was in graduate school and just got so busy!

I'm mainly posting this for those of you who, like me, enjoy all of the disney food pictures. I love torturing myself and drooling at the succulent steaks

No review in this post - I'm keeping it clean to house links to each review!

Let's get started...

I. Lunch at The Mara
II. Dinner at Jiko
III. Dinner at Coral Reef
IV. Dinner at California Grill

... and more coming!

 

[SOnotLayuh]

So, we woke up at 5:30 the morning after our (evening) wedding in order to drive an hour to the airport and get down to our favorite place as early as possible. Needless to say, we were STARVING once we checked in! Since we needed to wait for that amazing text message saying our room was ready, we headed on down to The Mara.

We got the chicken tenders; my husband's favorite!

This is also when I had my first ZEBRA DOME! I've been dreaming about them ever since!

We enjoyed what we had (especially the zebra domes), but I missed all of the options PoP has to offer. I also prefer how big and open PoP's food court is, even though I know most people prefer the closed in, more intimate area of The Mara... I guess I'm just weird

We LOVED these Zebra Domes, and through the trip almost always had some in our refrigerator. I've since been diagnosed with an insulin resistance and shouldn't be eating so much sugar... but... I will definitely have to have a couple of these next months.

 

[SOnotLayuh]

Jiko... quite possibly my favorite TS ever. Also, the best steak I've ever had.

We checked in for our ressie and waited about 5 minutes for our first real meal as a married couple (because, really... what bride and groom get to eat the food they've chosen to serve at their wedding?!)

We were sat in the wine room, which we pretty much had to ourselves, aside from one large group.

Isn't he adorable?

Now... before I discuss the amazing food we had, I need to tell you something. I don't eat a lot, and I'm boderline pooh size. My husband, on the other hand, eats his weight in food and has the smallest waist you can imagine! Because of this, we both ordered different things, and he had all of his (which I tried a bite of), and then the half of mine I couldn't eat. We pretty much had steak at every meal, which I ordered, and he finished

Here is what I ordered...

And here is what he ordered...

The bread basket that they brought us is something that, 8 months later, Brian still talks about and looks forward to.

Here was mine - OMG, prepare yourselves!

My steak was cooked EXACTLY as I like it.

And his:

Since we were on the dining plan we also ordered dessert. This is what I call "the best chocolate cake I've ever had in my life"

And, of course, what hubby got... which was no where near as good as my cake!

Over all, Jiko was incredible and is my favorite place in the world. The whole world, not just The World. Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who told us we would be crazy not to go! It was worth EVERY PENNY (of the dining plan), and absolutely worth the 2 meal credits. We can't wait to take DH's best friend there in April!

 

[SOnotLayuh]

Today's meal was at Coral Reef, which we had also heard was incredible! This was the restaurant DH was the most excited about, seeing as he loves watching fish.

My first impression of this place was not so good. It smelled...well... quite frankly... like fish. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to eat anything because the stench was so awful. I've been to a lot of seafood restaurants; we lived near the Outer Banks for about 5 years, but nothing compares to how awful Coral Reef smelled. It was overwhelming. The place is also A LOT smaller than it looks in pictures!

We were sat on the uppermost level, table closest to the door.

Here is the (you guessed it!) steak I ordered.

You would never know I have an iron deficiency...

DH suprised me by not ordering salmon, which is his favorite meal.

We started, as usual, with bread.

Here is Brian's meal.

...and mine:

I slacked off on the dessert menu shots (sorry!), but here is my chocolate cake (again), and hubby's creme brule.

I'm sorry this one is so blurry! I was trying to not have my flash on as to not disturb those around us.



Overall: We were NOT impressed with Coral Reef. It was *okay*, but it's not somewhere we would probably plan to go again... at least for a long, long while.

 

[SOnotLayuh]

Let me tell you. DH is OBSESSED with "the A frame". He's not really impressed by the photos we've seen of the rooms, and doesn't necessarily want to stay there, but he just LOVES to look at it. So, I booked CG for 9:30 - just in time to sneak out onto the deck for Wishes.

We checked in, headed up, and were informed that the wait would be about 20 minutes. We sat down at the bar and ordered a couple of drinks, making friends with the awesome people around us. When it became evident that we weren't going to be seated before Wishes started, we headed on out to secure a good spot.

These photos do NOT do the view justice.

Seeing MK from this angle was breath taking.

Right before wishes started our buzzer went off... of course. Brian ran in to tell them that yes, we were here - and ask if it would be okay for us to come in after Wishes. They went ahead and showed him where we were sitting for when we headed back in.

Wishes was AWESOME. We had a GREAT viewing spot.

When we came back in, our table had cute confetti!

You can't tell from his angle, but we were sat directly next to the window over looking the water, and from my side of the table I could see MK.

Brian thought seeing the cooks was pretty cool.

He LOVED this bread - so did I! It was awesome!

No menu shots... I was so excited by the energy of this place. It was so much fun, and we had SUCH a great waitress. She was just absolutely incredible.

I got the "beef"... which wasn't even CALLED a steak... and it probably shouldn't have been, because I think it was like two inches thick.

Look how beautiful that is!

DH got the pork, which everyone recommended to us.

This was our amazing dessert, which we split. We got the same thing to take back to our room.

Since we sat down around 10 to start everything, we ended up not leaving until around 12:30am. We were the last people to leave! The entire experience was SO amazing, and sometimes I flip flop about if this was the best place we went, or if it was Jiko. Both were incredible. DH loved this a lot as well... everything was just perfect. The food, the waitress, seeing Wishes, the atmosphere... it was all great. We will definitely come back here in the future! Seeing it quiet and empty was awesome, too... it was like being in a dream-like state.

We definitely did NOT make rope drop the next morning. We were both too full and happy after this meal!

More reviews to come tomorrow

 

[weswife]

I am enjoying your review! We are eating at the Coral Reef for my b-day in April! I am not a fish eater!!!! I plan on ordering the steak, I am glad to see a pic.!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Great reviews! We have Cali Grill booked for our next trip right around Wishes too! Can't wait!

 

[janloz]

great reviews, your title got me. My DS asked just the opposite for our trip in Sept. "Can I have steak at every meal?"

 

[SOnotLayuh]

great reviews, your title got me. My DS asked just the opposite for our trip in Sept. "Can I have steak at every meal?"

Haha, I was asking my DH if we had to have steak at every meal... his answer was always yes - because "he is a man". I didn't know that having an abundance of testosterone meant that you needed to have 1 cow per vacation!

I am enjoying your review! We are eating at the Coral Reef for my b-day in April! I am not a fish eater!!!! I plan on ordering the steak, I am glad to see a pic.!

Have a great birthday! Hopefully your experience will be better than ours - maybe it was just a bad day

We will be there April 14-18! Have fun!

Great reviews! We have Cali Grill booked for our next trip right around Wishes too! Can't wait!

Have fun! It is INCREDIBLE, and was definitely the most romantic place we went

 

[Halloweenqueen]

Great reviews! I have to try Jiko next time. We had a ressie and had to cancel back in October.

 

[vinotinto]

Even though I'm not a huge steak eater, I'm enjoying the reviews ! the steaks at Jiko and CG both looked amazing.

I was thinking of getting an ADR at Coral reef since my daughter adores fishes and aquariums. Any suggestions for seat requests and best menu meals? Any menu items ordered by the tables next to yours that may have been really good?

 

[SOnotLayuh]

Even though I'm not a huge steak eater, I'm enjoying the reviews ! the steaks at Jiko and CG both looked amazing.

I was thinking of getting an ADR at Coral reef since my daughter adores fishes and aquariums. Any suggestions for seat requests and best menu meals? Any menu items ordered by the tables next to yours that may have been really good?

We had requested seating by the tank, since my husband loves fish so much, but requests are just requests! We got the row furthest away! Unfortunately I can't suggest anything else... I wasn't really looking around at other's foods, we were too busy being mushy and only focusing on each other. We're total saps - especially having just been married a couple of days before

Good luck if you do decide to go there! Hopefully it is better than my experience!



I will have more reviews up tomorrow. DH and I have both been fighting off some sort of sickness.

 

[DLo]

Enjoying your reviews. Congrats on your newlywed status. Looking forward to more.

My ds (now 15) are a steak every chance he could his last trip.

 

[mster425]

Hi! enjoying your reviews. My DH and I had our honeymoon at the WL last year, and will be going back in a few weeks to the BC!!

Quick random question- can you taste the alcohol in the Zebra domes?

Meg

 

[TigerKat]

Great reviews! JIKO and Cali Grille are two of our favorites.

 

[goldielocksraj]

Hi! enjoying your reviews. My DH and I had our honeymoon at the WL last year, and will be going back in a few weeks to the BC!!

Quick random question- can you taste the alcohol in the Zebra domes?

Meg

Oooh, good question! Although I love coctails, I'm really picky about liquor in baked goods , but I'm dying to try a zebra dome!

Congrats sooo much on being newlyweds Hubby and I are nearing nine years ourselves! I'll just say one off-topic thing: marriage advice-Never. Ever. Give. Up. We are so glad that we didn't.

Anyway, thanks for the reviews so far, and for the ones to come!

 

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

Ohh great reviews! Cannot wait to go to Jiki!

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in