"Hee hee hee, haw haw haw!" A vegetarian and a carnivore EAT again! COMPLETE!!!

[Libby_Darling]

Giordanos

So. We got through the airport relatively quickly and got a pre-booked towncar to our hotel, the Rosen Inn Pointe Orlando. We checked in and trekked over to Block F to our room (which was a million miles from reception haha) Our room was nice, basic but nice. Although we were both tired and we’d been up since forever, we quickly changed into Orlando gear and headed out into the mecca of entertainment that is International Drive. We were both in such high spirits knowing we had 3 whooooole weeks ahead of us…you really can’t beat that first night feeling! We wandered around a bit just taking it all in, and popped to Walgreens for some exciting American snacks We bought spinach and artichoke dip, AMAZING garlic and parmesan chips, tortilla chips, salsa, hard lemonade and Landshark beer Good stuuuuuufffff!

We then walked back to the hotel, via the reception desk so I could pick up the little surprise package I’d ordered for Benj. He is a huge Indiana Pacers fan and it’s near enough impossible to get merchandise over here. So, I ordered him a bunch of stuff and got it delivered to the hotel! Genius!

We walked back to our room (STILL pretty far! ) and before I gave Benj his gifts, we set about the important task of ordering Giordanos. This is now our ‘first night tradition’ and we were sooooo excited for the prospect of actually eating Giordanos again! When we got it in 2011 it was LIFE CHANGING. You don’t get deep dish pizza in the UK I have made them at home a few times and they were pretty good, but nothing beats genuine Giordanos!! We Googled the number and I tried to get the menu up on the ipad but it wasn’t working! We used my iPhone so it was all good and I later realised I hadn’t accepted the T’s and C’s on my iPAd, duh!

Benji rang up and placed our order, to be told it would be with us within the hour! Ahhhh that’s a lot later than we planned to stay up! Obviously, it was Saturday night though so completely understandable. We got our jammies on, unpacked a few bits and bobs and then I let Benj open his gift.

He was pretty much over the moon! He’s a pic of his haul:

He was very thankful and kept saying I shouldn’t have…silly! It’s cause I love him

Before we knew it, the room phone rang and Benj was summoned to Reception to pick up our yummy dinner.

He returned about 10 minutes later with an amazing smelling collection of goodies, we were so excited! We grabbed a towel, laid it onto the bed and then got into bed…gross! Seriously, 2 nights in a row eating in/on bed!? After like never having done it in our lives previously!?

We ordered 1 (small! ) Cheese deep filled pizza, 1 x mozzarella sticks and 1 x fried ravioli….OMG it was a cheese fest! I was pretty much in heaven. The marinara sauce they served with the sticks and ravioli was so incredible! I ate loads of the sides and only managed 1 slice of pizza before I had to call it a day! Tragic!

We were then crazy full but also crazy tired so we had no choice but to go to sleep, I couldn’t even keep my eyes open! This is a recipe for an indigestion disaster kids so I don’t recommend it but when you’ve been up 20 hours, what can you do! ?

We put our leftovers (which was most of it) in the fridge and fell asleep, dreaming of all the adventures ahead of us

The Verdict

SO GOOD. We were so hungry, and this tasted so great, that it was just perfect. And we were eating it for days afterwards so very good value!

 

[mombrontrent]

Joining in! Congrats on your engagement! That is so exciting!

I just spent the last 2 days reading your previous dining report. What a great review, I loved your writing, your pictures and descriptions as well as you and Ben. Cant wait to read the rest of this review. I am vegan and my two daughters are vegetarian so I love reading reviews of fellow veggies. Disney is great for vegans/vegetarians, I never have to worry about going hungry there. I also love that you included your non-Disney Orlando reviews. We are staying offsite next spring due to being a family of 5 and wanting the space of a condo so it's great to see reviews of other restaurants.

 

[elphie101]

Well after a pretty 'meh' meal on the flight over I have to say your Italian feast looks fantastic!! Definitely worthy of the pink dress

 

[Niki Andiokno]

So excited to see your report.

You are correct that we have good chain restaurants in the US. Giordanos is a good chain. But if you ever get to Chicago, where deep dish pizza was born, I would be happy to show you real deep dish, made by Italian Americans that blows Giordanos outta the ball park. Uncle Pete makes the best deep dish ever.

Can't wait to hear more.

 

[tluvstink]

Let me start off by saying congratulations! You are an adorable couple and I wish you all the best!

I am loving your reviews and pics. Our family is a mix of carnivores and vegetarians so I'm enjoying seeing both perspectives

Terri

 

[ach222]

Joining in, read your previous DR after seeing the link in your sig, really enjoyed it - looking forward to this one

 

[Minnesota!]

I loved your last report...looking forward to following along on this one, too!

 

[VikingInMouseEars]

Glad to see this. We loved your last dining review. Looking forward to this!

 

[Libby_Darling]

Joining in! Congrats on your engagement! That is so exciting!

I just spent the last 2 days reading your previous dining report. What a great review, I loved your writing, your pictures and descriptions as well as you and Ben. Cant wait to read the rest of this review. I am vegan and my two daughters are vegetarian so I love reading reviews of fellow veggies. Disney is great for vegans/vegetarians, I never have to worry about going hungry there. I also love that you included your non-Disney Orlando reviews. We are staying offsite next spring due to being a family of 5 and wanting the space of a condo so it's great to see reviews of other restaurants.

Thank you! So pleased you liked my previous review, thank you Reviews of vegetarian food are always good and I agree, you can't go wrong in Disney when you're veggie! I hope my off-site reviews help you too xx

Well after a pretty 'meh' meal on the flight over I have to say your Italian feast looks fantastic!! Definitely worthy of the pink dress

It was a pretty incredible feast, well worth the wait!! xxx

 

[Libby_Darling]

So excited to see your report.

You are correct that we have good chain restaurants in the US. Giordanos is a good chain. But if you ever get to Chicago, where deep dish pizza was born, I would be happy to show you real deep dish, made by Italian Americans that blows Giordanos outta the ball park. Uncle Pete makes the best deep dish ever.

Can't wait to hear more.

Thank you Oh I would LOVE to try authentic Chicago deep dish pizza! I love watching Man Vs Food and Diners, Drive In's and Dives where they go to see all the places that originated these kinds of foods! Giordano's is good but I imagine the originals are soooo much better!! xxx

Joining in, read your previous DR after seeing the link in your sig, really enjoyed it - looking forward to this one

Thank you so much! Glad to have you on board!! xxxx

Let me start off by saying congratulations! You are an adorable couple and I wish you all the best!

I am loving your reviews and pics. Our family is a mix of carnivores and vegetarians so I'm enjoying seeing both perspectives

Terri

Aww that's so sweet, thank you And thank you for the congratulations! I hope my reviews help you out a bit for your next trip! xxx

 

[Libby_Darling]

I loved your last report...looking forward to following along on this one, too!

Thank you! So pleased you're joining along! xxx

Glad to see this. We loved your last dining review. Looking forward to this!

Aww thank you! Hope you enjoy!! xxxx

 

[HeidiGW]

A. Who knew one could get exciting snacks at Walgreens?
B. Best. Pizza. Ever. (Last time we dined at the restaurant I called ahead, and they started making it. Large ones take 28 minutes just to bake, if I recall correctly.)
C. Loving your report. Can't wait to read the rest! Congrats on your engagement.

 

[Libby_Darling]

Golden Corrall

Today was a SHOPPING DAY! But first, the plan for the morning was GOLDEN CORRALL, WOOOOOOOOOO! Now I am fully aware this restaurant isn’t exactly known for its fine cuisine but we used to go here all the time when I was a kid and it holds the best memories for me Nothing like starting a 12 hour day at the parks with some plates piled high with random combinations of high-fat food! I was super excited for Benj to experience GC too; he’d been hearing me bleat on about it for 9 years.

We walked down to GC and after a few tense moments of not being sure if it was actually open due to the large amounts of building work nearby, we breathed a sigh of relief when we saw the beautiful building.

What an absolute dream.

We wandered in and straightaway couldn’t believe how cheap it was! I think like $8 each for the buffet? Bargainous! A nice lady led us to a table and then we were set loose onto the buffet. We did a complete lap of all the offerings and I was getting more and more excited at all the amazing stuff they had! They genuinely had everything you could ever want for breakfast. It was like heaven on earth. I hit the selection pretty hard first time round and although I’m slightly embarrassed to post this photo, I know y’alls won’t judge. Haters gon hate.

Clockwise from the top (ish..) Bacon, smoked sausage with cheese sauce underneath (?) hash browns (these were INCREDIBLE) biscuit with sausage gravy, grits and cheese grits and then a monstrosity known as ‘Country fried bacon’ which honestly makes me feel sick thinking about it. I was drawn in by the exciting/American sounding name but it was so gross! It just tasted like grease and I honestly felt a bit dirty eating it. I took one bite and whipped it off my plate and onto a napkin.

Benji was quite a bit more restrained than me. He had loads of scrambled eggs, sautéed onions and peppers, French toast and mac and cheese. Mac and cheese! He was made up at having mac and cheese for breakfast!

We both had a lovely mango/passionfruit juice to drink which was unlimited, yay! We went up for a couple more plates but I didn’t take photos, we just got more hashbrowns and cheese sauce and then some pastries. And a brownie. And an incredible cinnamon roll with pecan sauce. GADS, I died and went to heaven when I ate that!

Overall, it was a nice breakfast and I don’t think I can fault it for the price. I mean, it’s just so cheap. The servers were all lovely too and the general atmosphere was welcoming and friendly. I loved seeing what other people were putting on their plates, just ladling maple syrup all over their sausages. I loved it!! After we started to feel quick sick, we forcibly stopped ourselves eating anymore, left a tip for our lovely server and headed out of the restaurant.

The Verdict

Hmmm. It was SO CHEAP! I think it has to be a pink dress as although the food isn’t gourmet, it’s plentiful, hot, and tasty. And it holds many good memories for me so I was so happy to eat there.

It’s a pink dress! (I’m grading this based on just this experience, not like in comparison to Yachtsman Steakhouse, if that makes sense)

 

[Libby_Darling]

Five Guys

So, as I said earlier, today was a shopping day. We were on I-Drive for the first week so plenty time for some retail therapy The plan was to get the I-Trolley up to the Premium Outlets, which opened at 10am. It was about 9.30am by this point so perfect timing! We wandered over to the nearest I-Trolley stop and settled down to wait. And wait. And wait. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand waaiiiiiiit! We waited for 30 minutes and then an I-Trolley came up the road…slowed down…and carried on without stopping! Hahaa ohhh it was funny. Not. After two more I-Trolleys passed us without slowing down, I was getting soooooo mad! What was going on!? It was nearly 10.30, the outlets had been open half an hour and we were wasting precious Floridian time! We were going to get a taxi but we resigned ourselves to walking. Unfortunately, we had already walked all the way from Rosen Inn to Golden Corrall which was further than we’d thought, plus it was boiling hot! On reflection we should have just got a taxi but there weren’t any passing

So, we began walking. It was so hot! It felt like the scene in Fantasia where the dinosaurs are walking across the desert in the sun and they all start collapsing. We made it to the Wet ‘n’ Wild stop and were really losing the will to live. No more busses had passed us and there were loads of people waiting at all the stops we passed. We were seriously losing the will to live and we decided to get a taxi, noticing that they pulled into a nearby hotel and turned around so we could get one from there.

At that VERY MOMENT, an I Trolley pulled up at the stop and although it was super busy, we were able to get on. Yay! It was the Sunday of Columbus weekend so I guess that was why?

We met up with our best friends in the outlets who were in Florida on their honeymoon (we’d been bridesmaid and usher at their wedding!) and it was so nice to spend the day together! We hit the shops pretty hard and I spent an obscene amount in Yankee Candle (there are so many more amazing smells in the US!) and the make-up outlet shop.

We also went to Le Gourmet Chef, which is pretty much the best shop ever invented. We wandered around, sampling all the little nibbles and getting over-excited about the expensive kitchenware. We all bought some bits; me and Benj bought yummy dips for pretzels (raspberry and honey mustard FTW! ) which was such a treat to have when we got home!

We then all got a taxi to Florida Mall, where we went to the Food Court first as we were starving after our Le Gourmet Chef appetisers!! I was extremely excited for lunch, FIVE GUYS!

Because of THIS VIDEO!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcJFdCmN98s

The Food Court was super biz as it was prime lunching time so Victoria grabbed a table and the other 3 of us split up to go to our various eateries. I headed to Dairy Queen first and got a LARGE chocolate milkshake. Yum! There was method in my madness; I REALLY wanted a milkshake with my burger but FG don’t do them!! So I came up with the DQ plan!! I then joined the line for FG, behind Ian (Victoria’s husband). Benj had headed to Taco Bell to get his burrito

We then headed back to the table with our goodies in tow. I had a single bacon cheeseburger with fries and ketchup. I think I had onions in the burger too but no other toppings, I wanted to taste the burger pure and simple! It did look squished but I was totally prepared for this so it was all good.

It was really nice! Not the most amazing burger I’ve ever had but it was tasty and the fries were amazing, you got sooooo many! I only got medium but couldn’t finish them all!

Benji’s burrito meal looked a little small but he said it was lovely and good in a way because it meant he would be hungry for snacks later Good thinking! It was only $5, bargain! My FG meal was like $8 so a bit more.

My milkshake was super yummy too!

The Verdict

Overall, an okay lunch!

Now I’m afraid there is no dinner for this day. We finished up shopping (after a disasterous experience in the Mall where the power kept going out so all the shops closed at like 4pm…) went for a couple of drinks with Victoria and Ian and then went back to our room to get dressed for our evening out.

We planned a ‘bar crawl’ around various places in Pointe Orlando/I-Drive which Benj had spent many months planning. However, we were SO JET LAGGED. Like, so tired.

We went to Cuba Libre and had one drink each:

And it was about 7.30 but we were just exhausted and couldn’t face any more!!!

So guess what we did this evening instead!?!?!?!?

Seriously, guess.

Well, if you guessed ‘ate leftover Giordano’s in bed’ you’d be right! Yes ladies and gentlemen, for no less than the third night in a row we ate our dinner in bed. Just how we roll!

 

[elphie101]

Well if you ask me there is NOTHING wrong with eating in bed

I find it so funny as a local that places like Yankee Candle and Five Guys are an attraction! I'm glad you enjoyed your shopping & food day (minus the power outages )

 

[OasterP]

I love your dining report! I just had to read your previous one, and it is fantastic - you guys are so cute.


And eating on the hotel bed while watching movies is one of my favorite evening activities on vacation!!

I so wanted to try Giordanos when we were there in September. Hopefully our next trip!

 

[Minnesota!]

Quiet dinners with my family, in our room, watching some TV = vacation to me. It is very relaxing!

I have never been to a GC - I don't think we have them in MN, honestly, but I bet my kids could tear that place up!

 

[dixonsontour]

Stopping by to say hi and a great start

 

[Libby_Darling]

Friendlys

Although this isn’t about food, I feel I need to add a bit about today in order to make the meals make sense! Today was our Seaworld day. Now, we were both slightly apprehensive about this day and I think it would be fair to say neither of us were excited about visiting the park. I know, I know, we loved it in 2011, right? So what changed!?

Well, to be honest we really aren’t sure! Obviously Ben is a vegetarian and has an interest in animal activism/rights, particularly Sea Shepherds and all that jazz. I work for a company who sponsors a big animal charity. Blackfish was in the news a lot at the time too, although we hadn’t watched it. Something had just changed inside us I think and we had a few long discussions about why we had such an issue with orcas in captivity, whether that was any different from any other animal in captivity…could we go to Animal Kingdom, knowing all the animals they have there? Could we go to Discovery Cove? EPCOT!? ! All have animals in captivity but it had never bothered us before. But hey, now it did! I knew our tickets wouldn’t be refundable so we’d lose the money, although that wasn’t a huge deal. It was more that I was slightly nervous about how we’d kill two days on I-Drive (assuming we ditched Discovery Cove) especially because we weren’t loving our hotel (Rosen Inn) nothing wrong with it, just not as nice as previous hotels we’d stayed at! So yeah, we weren’t feeling as enamoured with I-Drive as we had in 2011 and we certainly didn’t fancy killing 48 hours on its cobbled streets. So, we decided to go to Seaworld and make our own minds up

We left our room about 8am and strolled up I-Drive towards our breakfast destination; Friendlys! We’d eaten here for lunch in 2011 and LOVED IT so we were excited to try brekkie.

We walked into Friendlys and were greeted by a really nice old lady and shown to a cool booth table. Ben was VERY excited about the skillet. Very excited. We were on a bit of a tight timescale here and I was slightly nervous as we needed to be at Seaworld for rope drop, if not before, to exchange our tickets. Our server took aaaages to take our order even though we’d decided what we wanted really quickly! Bless her, she was old though I loved her! We got an orange juice and lemonade and waited for our brekkies to come.

Random Friendlys interior shot!

And come they did! Benji got his veggie skillet and he was most impressed with the girth of it! It was eggs, peppers, onions, homefries and cheese altogether mmmmm And toast on the side! He absolutely loved it and demolished every last bit.

Benji got a refill on his lemonade and it was really funny when the server bought it over, she said ‘Here you go hon, wet your whistle’ so we were saying that aaallll holiday hehe.

I got the supermelt breakfast sandwich thingy with eggs, tomato, bacon and cheese and homefries. It was nice, but not amazing. Meh! Should have got the skillet as it was a bit more exciting although I did enjoy the addition of fresh tomatoes, never have them in my breakfast sammies at home!

Finished every bite

We didn’t get the food til 8.45 so it was getting slightly tense eeep! We wolved it all down, flagged her down for the check ($19, barg) and got the heck outta there. We left her a good tip as she was super cute if a little slow and I made sure we stuck our heads round the door and shouted thanks as we left, which I think she enjoyed.

The Verdict

I think Ben would give this a Wedding Dress, but I’m gonna go with a pink as it was very good, but not quite perfect

Off to Seaworld!

 

[Libby_Darling]

Sharks Underwater Grill

After a relatively pleasant morning at Seaworld going on rides, feeding dolphins and trying to ignore the uncomfortable feelings we were having, it was time for our 1pm lunch at Sharks Underwater Grill. Holy moly was I excited for this lunch! It was one of my favoruite meals last time, I had the most amazing steak!! As we were queueing, Benj warned me that we may not get a tank-side table and to ‘remain calm’ hehe I was totally cool not sitting tank side, been there done that! We were led to a lovely table in the middle of the restaurant and we noticed that the tables had been moved back from the tanks anyway so I don’t think you even could sit right next to them anymore! We were happy with our table, we had a fab view!

We had a really lovely server; very friendly and patient, went through all the specials with us and helped us choose cocktails I chose a Sharks on the beach and Benj had a bud light. We didn’t go for starters as it was lunch time and we are civilised members of society.

We devoured the bread though, mmmm! Warm and herby with nice fluffy butter

I had a bit of a mare when we came to order. The main course, the amazing steak I had been looking forward to ordering for like a year was no longer on the menu. Nowhere. Like, not even anything remotely similar. Annoyance!!!!!!!! So, I had to choose something different and pouted for a bit.

Our mains arrived really quickly though and they looked…okay. Not amazing, but okay!

Benj had the vegetarian pasta (this will be an extremely repetitive recurring theme through the holibobs) and it was lovely! It was pasta purses with pear and cheese filling and I looooved it! I kinda wished I’d got it actually (again, repetitive recurring theme! ) and Benj enjoyed it.

I opted for the Coquilles St Jacques, one of my absolute favourite things. Seafood, goood. Garlic butter, gooood. Breadcrumbs, gooooood! It came with very bland but nicely cooked veggies and dry pasta. Seriously. Just pasta with black pepper on. Goodness me that was DRY! To be fair, the scallops in the dish were delish; cooked in a lovely creamy white sauce and very succulent…although there were a lot of slimy mushrooms in there that I could have done without! I was starving though and the portion size was pretty teeny so I ended up eating it all!

It was nowhere near as life-changing as my surf and turf last visit which was disappointing but hey, that’s life! Overall it was a nice meal but not overly memorable. We didn’t want dessert so paid our bill ($70) and left the restaurant. When we got outside we realised how insanely quick our lunch had been! We’d actually been sat down just 45 minutes…how crazy is that!! Oh well, normally I hate being rushed during a meal but it was just one of those quick lunches and I wasn’t too bothered.

The Verdict

I was gutted they didn’t have my dish, and the dish I did get was only okay and Ben’s was nothing special either. Sorry Sharks, you let me down!! It’s a fins

The rest of the day

Without going in to too much detail as I’m not sure if it’s allowed, but we both got a little upset upon seeing one of the orcas in the viewing area….in fact we both cried!! Oops!! We left quite abruptly after this as we both found it quite upsetting and just that Seaworld was no longer a place we wanted to visit. However, we’ve obviously been twice before so are not in a position to be telling people what to do! Just our opinion and future plans We watched Blackfish when we got home, which only reinforced our feelings. So this day was a bit of an upsetting one…but dinner MORE than made up for it for don’t worry!