It's Time To Eat Again?!? 10 days of free dining with pics! **COMPLETE!**

[MrsB1228]

I want to start out by saying that this is my first attempt at posting any kind of report, so I hope it doesn’t disappoint. I found the dining reports so helpful when planning our vacation; I thought I’d like to “pay it forward” in the hope that it will benefit someone else. I took lots of pictures, but occasionally forgot to photograph the appetizer or dessert course before it was devoured … so I apologize in advance for some of the slip-ups. I’d never photographed our food before, but once I got into the habit of it, it was easier to remember.

Now on to the details …

Our cast consists of DH Frank, 52; a great guy and good sport with my obsessive planning. He enjoys Disney but not to the same degree as I do. He’s not a big fan of the rides; Big Thunder is about the wildest one he’ll attempt. He patiently indulges us by going through endless gift shops while DD and I look for the perfect souvenirs. His favourite Disney movie is Aladdin. When it comes to food, he’s a “meat and potatoes” kind of guy and is most definitely not an adventurous eater at all.

DD Cheryl, whose 19th birthday we were celebrating on this trip. She’s a Disney fanatic like her Mom, she loves to ride all the roller-coasters and can’t decide if her favourite ride is Rock n’ Roller Coaster or Test Track. Her favourite Disney movie is Lady and the Tramp and she has a soft spot for many of the Disney villains (especially Scar and Hades.) As far as food goes, she loves to try new things and was looking forward to visiting restaurants we’d never been to before.

DS Neil, 15; he’s a wonderful kid who is very much like his Dad (although not quite as patient in the stores ) He also likes to try new foods and particularly enjoys anything spicy. He enjoys Disney very much, and happily rides all the coasters with his sister. His favourite ride is the Rock n’ Roller Coaster, favourite movie is Aladdin, and favourite character is the Genie.

Finally, there’s me, Carol, 48; Disney fanatic and chief planner for all our holidays, Disney or not. I love the rides as well, and I enjoy trying new restaurants and different foods. My favourite ride is Pirates of the Caribbean; it was the first ride I ever went on at Disney so it will always hold a special place in my heart. I love Eeyore and Goofy and my favourite movie is Beauty and the Beast.

Now that you know a little bit about us, I’ll get to the part I know you’re really interested in … the places we ate!

Our trip was for 10 days, August 26th to September 5th, and we were on the DDP (free food!!) My reviews will cover the following CS locations:

Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory (POFQ food court)
Sunshine Seasons
Wolfgang Puck Express
Earl of Sandwich
Pecos Bills
Columbia Harbor House

And the following TS locations:

Liberty Tree Tavern
Nine Dragons
Sci-Fi Dine-In
Raglan Road
Rose & Crown
Kona Café
Tony’s Town Square
Spoodles
Le Cellier
Boma

I’m going to include everyone’s impressions of their meal, and I’ll be rating each location in the following manner: Food quality, atmosphere, and general enjoyment will be rated on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the absolute best of the best. Service at the TS locations will be rated separately, and will be assigned an A, B, C, D or E rating. A is the best and E the worst.

Just arrived and ready to have some fun!!

First installment coming soon, stay tuned!

 

[Matthews4Disney]

Great start - now I can't wait to read more!!!!!!

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Where in Ontario are you from? I'm from Guelph, and heading to WDW in 20 days!!

Looking forward to reading your reviews!!

Teresa

 

[lisaj]

Subscribing, I'm surviving my pre-Disney diet by feeding off other people's dining reviews by proxy.

 

[DLo]

Looking froward to your reviews and pics. Thanks in advance for including eveyones opinions. We have picky eaters and adventerous eaters in our group. Is is sometimes hard to find a place that satisifes everyone. We have missed out on some great places because of this!!!

 

[mcrabeck]

You are off to a great start! I can't wait to hear more!

 

[disneyeeyorefan]

Subscribing

 

[Swimnoid]

Can't wait for more!!

 

[MrsB1228]

Where in Ontario are you from? I'm from Guelph, and heading to WDW in 20 days!!

Looking forward to reading your reviews!!

Teresa

Hi Teresa! We're from the Newmarket area, so not too far away from you at all! Wow, 20 days, you must be a busy lady right now! We had a terrific time, it was sunny and very hot while we were there. This northern girl isn't used to 98 degree heat coupled with a humidity level that makes the air feel like you're walking underwater. LOL! I hope you have a wonderful holiday!!

To everyone else, welcome and thanks for joining me!

 

[Tiggeye]

Can't wait to read your reviews. Subscribed to your thread

Thanks

 

[MrsB1228]

LIBERTY TREE TAVERN

This is our traditional first-night dinner. We love this place and always have a wonderful time here. The character interaction is terrific and the food is delicious. While it’s true that I could make a better Thanksgiving dinner at home, there’s something so special about enjoying it with Goofy, Minnie, Pluto, and Chip & Dale! Plus, I’m not stuck in the kitchen all day!

I want to apologize for the lack of pictures for this meal. The battery in my digital camera died just after we got to the restaurant. I was taking some pictures of the family while we were waiting to be called to our table when it gave up the ghost. It was a bummer because I really wanted to get pics of the characters as well.

For those who’ve never eaten here, dinner is a fixed menu that includes the following (description taken from AllEars):

DECLARATION SALAD - Tossed Mixed Greens, served with our special Tavern Strawberry Vinaigrette Dressing

PATRIOT'S PLATTER - A generous serving of roasted turkey breast, carved beef, and smoked pork loin, with mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables, herb bread stuffing, and Stouffer's Macaroni and Cheese.

Dessert was warm apple cobbler with vanilla ice cream. You also get a beverage, which includes sodas, iced tea, milk, chocolate milk, tea, coffee or lemonade.

We all enjoyed the salad, the dressing is delicious and just the right amount. So many places either skimp on the dressing or drown your salad with it, but LTT uses just the right amount. We devoured this very quickly.

We were disappointed with the rolls this year. They tasted like the standard crusty-type rolls you can purchase in any supermarket and weren’t as fresh as they could be. Last year they were warm, fresh, and tasted like homemade. We each tried a bite and left the rest.

DD: enjoyed the turkey, pork loin, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans and the mac & cheese. She didn’t try the beef because she rarely eats red meat. Rating: 8/10

DS: enjoyed the turkey and pork loin but wasn’t thrilled with the beef. He had seconds of the mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans and mac & cheese. Rating: 8/10

DH: really enjoyed everything (except for the rolls) and had seconds of all the meats, the mashed potatoes and gravy, and the green beans. Rating: 9/10

Me: I loved the turkey and the pork loin, which had a sweet mustard-type glaze that was very tasty. The mashed potatoes and gravy were delicious and I have to admit I love Stouffer’s macaroni and cheese. <g> I also really enjoy the green beans they serve here, they’re always cooked just the way I like them … tender, but not limp. Rating: 8/10

Dessert was delicious and enjoyed by all. As a birthday treat for my daughter, they also brought a chocolate cupcake with a vanilla glaze and red, white and blue Mickey sprinkles. They brought it out while ringing a bell and announcing to the whole restaurant that it was Cheryl’s 19th birthday. Everyone sang Happy Birthday and applauded while she made a wish and blew out the candle. She also received a birthday card signed by all the characters.

Service was solid, we never had to ask for refills and the food was brought out promptly as it was piping hot.

Would we return? Most definitely!!

Overall Rating: 8 ¼
Service: B+

Coming up next: Sunshine Seasons and Nine Dragons

 

[kokotg]

Enjoying the reviews so far! You have 5 of our 7 table services covered, so I'll be reading more with great interest!

 

[MousekaMaddi]

nicely done, yummy, where is the rest?? keep it comin

 

[TigerKat]

Subscribing....

 

[my3disneygirls]

Great reviews. My children and I are suckers for Stouffer's mac and cheese. I know LTT is not gourmet(I do like gourmet), but I like to have some comfort food on a vacation also.

Thanks for the reviews. Can't wait for more.

 

[Schucraig]

Great start! Can't wait for more!

 

[MrsB1228]

SUNSHINE SEASONS

We had lunch here after a busy and very fun morning in Epcot. We arrived around 11:30 and found a table easily. It got very busy during the next 30 minutes though! Here’s what we had:

DD: Caesar Salad with Oak-fired Chicken, Key Lime Pie and Diet Coke.

Cheryl really enjoyed this, she said the chicken was very tasty and the salad greens were crispy and fresh with lots of dressing. She found the cheese a little overpowering though, and pushed most of it to the side.
Rating: 8/10

DS: Roast ½ Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Carrots, Chocolate Mousse Cake and Chocolate Milk.

The only part of this entrée Neil enjoyed was the potatoes, which he said were very good. He said the chicken had very little flavor and the carrots had a sickly-sweet glaze that turned his stomach. He said the chocolate cake was delicious and very moist.
Rating: 5/10 (for the potatoes and cake)

DH: Black Forest Ham and Salami Grinder, Chocolate Mousse Cake, Chocolate Milk

Frank really enjoyed this. He said the bread was very fresh and the sandwich very flavorful. He also thoroughly enjoyed the cake.
Rating: 8/10

Me: Turkey and Muenster cheese on Foccicia with Chipotle Mayo, Key Lime Pie, Chocolate Milk.

This was delicious, the bread was very fresh and the chipotle mayo gave it a bit of a kick. The key lime pie was tasty and very light, but a little too sweet for my taste. I like the lime filling a little on the tart side. It was also much too big. I could only eat about a third of it.
Rating: 8/10

Overall Rating: 7 ¼

Just a note: This place can be very busy and rather confusing if you’ve never been here before. It has separate stations for different types of food (sandwiches, salads, Asian, grilled, desserts, etc.) which can pose a problem if you have small children and everyone wants something different. On the other hand, having a wide variety to choose from is terrific as everyone can usually find something they like.

Would we return? Yes, but Neil will avoid the roast chicken next time.

Nine Dragons coming in the next post!

 

[MrsB1228]

Nine Dragons

I was a little concerned about this meal since this restaurant receives so many bad reviews here, but this turned out to be one of our favourite meals of the trip! The restaurant is beautiful, with lovely examples of Chinese art throughout. The colour scheme is very striking in black and red and the tables and chairs are bold and regal-looking. Like most Disney restaurants, the tables are close together and the room can be noisy, but it didn’t detract from our enjoyment of the meal or intrude on our ability to talk to one another without having to raise our voices. Our server was a very efficient if somewhat impersonal young woman who kept our glasses filled and timed the courses perfectly. I have to apologize again for the small number of photos since I forgot to take pictures of the appetizers. We were very hungry when we arrived and all the delicious smells in this restaurant only served to further whet our appetite. As a result, when the appetizers were served, we pounced on them and they were inhaled before I remembered to take out the camera.

Here’s what we had:

DS: Split the Tri-Star appetizer with me (A delightful combination of three favorite dim sums: pot sticker, shrimp and pork spring roll, and Chicken and Shrimp Shao Mai) There were two servings of each selection, and all were delicious!! Our favourites were the pot stickers and spring roll. Neil’s entrée was the Honey Sesame Chicken, which was served with steamed white rice. He chose Iced Tea for his beverage.
Rating: 9/10

DD: Cheryl had the Pot Stickers for her appetizer (Traditional wok-sautéed dumpling filled with pork and vegetables) and also chose the Honey Sesame Chicken for her entrée. She absolutely loved the pot stickers and could have made a meal out of them alone. She had Diet Coke to drink.
Rating: 9/10

DH: Frank had the Sweet and Spicy Cucumber Salad for his appetizer (Beijing style pickled cucumber with ginger flavor) along with the Honey Sesame Chicken for his entrée. He really enjoyed the salad, and it truly lived up to its name. It started out sweet but finished with a spicy kick which was surprising but very, very good. Frank chose Coke for his drink.
Rating: 10/10

Me: As mentioned above, I had half of the Tri-Star appetizer and I decided to be different and ordered the Canton Pepper Beef (Beef stir-fried with onions, green and red peppers and served with steamed white rice on the side.) This was absolutely delicious!! The beef was melt-in-your-mouth tender and the sauce complemented it perfectly. I mixed the rice with it and it was soooo good! I had the Jasmine Green Iced Tea for my beverage and I really enjoyed it. It was very refreshing.
Rating: 9/10

The Honey Sesame Chicken was given an enthusiastic thumbs up by everyone! I tried some of Franks and agree that it was phenomenal. I was quite happy with my selection though, because even though the chicken was delicious, it was also quite rich and very sweet. My beef was very satisfying and didn’t leave me feeling stuffed.

Desserts were this restaurants only negative. The selection is quite limited; we were offered Caramel Ginger Ice Cream, Chocolate Ice Cream or Cherry Cake for dessert. Frank passed on dessert but Cheryl, Neil, and I decided to try the cherry cake.

This looked and tasted exactly like a jelly-roll you can buy in any supermarket bakery. It was rather bland and tasteless and certainly wasn’t presented with any kind of flair. It looks like they just chopped off a slice, threw it on a plate and then tossed on a few sprinkles as an afterthought. <g> We each took a bite and left the rest, it wasn’t worth the calories.

All in all though, this was a wonderful experience and we’ll definitely return!!

Overall Rating: 9 ¼
Service: B

Up next: Sci-Fi Dine-In and Wolfgang Puck Express

 

[chia92]

Loving your report!!

 

[MedCruise07]

Thanks especially for your review of Nine Dragons. We're trying a few new places this next trip and Nine Dragons is one. I'm glad you (mostly) liked it. I'm a little concerned about the desserts (not that we really will need dessert!) but on the allears site it lists a rasperry chocolate cake as being available at lunch (not dinner). But the lunch menu is a few months out of date so I'm wondering if it's still available . . .