So, you know about the 'I will update every two days or so, I promise' deal?
I decided that didn't apply if one was in a car crash.
As you guys can, er, see (??), I am fine, and mom is fine. (The car is not, but the car will live.) As she's been posting happily despite being more hurt then I was, this was probably my blame. But couple the crash with a family health emergency, and I was sort of in complete panic mode for a while and just not up to really doing anything but writing angsty journal entries, panicking and downtiming by playing bad video games. Everyone is AOK right now, though, so no worries and no fuss. Still, that's where I've been. Pretty scary!
There is a review in this post, but it's down at the bottom after my replies to all you lovely people. If you're not interested in that, scroll down until you see the bold font.
Wow. Your Tokyo dining experience looks simply amazing. We had a true Japanese meal in Vegas one time that was a little similar to what you all did and I still remember how amazing it was. Nothing like strip mall sushi and steakhouse places.
I"m going to have to try that sake place sometime. As much as I like to drink, I've never really tried sake other than a sip here and there. Seems the sake bar would be a good place to try some different selections.
Think we may hit up 50's for the first time in a long time next trip. My hubby usually prefers SciFi but I think I can lure him there with the promise of a PB&J milkshake
Ooo. We were in Las Vegas once- never put a coin in the machine, but had a great time. Do you remember what place your experience was at? Even if it's a rare special event, that sounds like something mom and I should keep an eye on. Las Vegas has cheap flights and cheap rooms, so it's a good idea for a vacation.
As mom did say, the sake bar outside (it sells the ichiban beer with the foam on it and a variety of mixed drinks with next to no alcohol in it) has a three sake flight. I'd recommend just going to the sake bar and telling the girls (it always seems to be girls) working there what kind of wine and beer you enjoy, though, as they have a bigger selection of things to taste and also tend to be less busy. In my experience, they are extremely happy to help you find something to try and are eager to have people try sake so they're very friendly about it without being pushy. The prices range from six to ten dollars, and you get around a shot, so it's not bad. I would recommend against trying an extra dry sake for your first big drink, but anything else can be good. If you want to start with something unique and different, see if they have the yuzu flavored sake for tasting. It's basically like limocello ala sake, only smoother then limoncello (er, if you like lemon flavored stuff, obviously). It's one of my favorites. For something else different, the Hana Awaka is a sparkling sake with light sweet flavors without being overwhelming. Er, but just a regular sake without any gimmicks is good, too!
As for the SciFi, mom likes it, but I just wasn't born in the era of those old horror films and thus don't have much interest. Now, when they do the Star Wars breakfasts with the Star Wars films showing, I'm totally there.
Hello! Glad you are back! Enjoyed reading your Japanese lunch but it would not be for me. Sushi rolls are as far as I go!
So disappointing that the Smores are no longer at 50s! DH does enjoy the fried chicken and I like the pot roast so we will probably go back at some point. But its not a must do for me any longer. And I definitely agree about the alcoholic milk shakes! Seems like a natural there!
The waitress told us that the staff wanted to keep the smores on the menu, as they were a good seller, but the higher-ups said the Menu Must Change, so they got cut. That leads me to hope that maybe a letter writing campaign could bring them back. I'm too lazy to write letters in this day of email, though! And yeah, an alcoholic pbj milkshake... mmm.
I hear you on the no good fried chicken places in PA. I swear my favorite place to get chicken is Redner's which is a grocery store
I am not a milkshake person but the desserts looked great and I have to agree with Redwitch on the no vanilla ice cream
Aww, I love vanilla ice cream. The crumble was really good, though, and chocolate wouldn't have gone with that!
As mom said, we get ours from Stauffers, which is a grocery store, too. I occasionally pick some up at the local fast food Popeyes, but it's ridiculously expensive. Fast food always is, I guess.
It was! Thank you for posting!
You're very welcome! Thank you for reading!
Looks like it is time to start threatening Mikka so she finishes this.... What dastardly deed can I hold over her this time?
You couldddd... buy me things! Yeah, bribes! Much better then dastardly deeds.
Only they cost money, while dastardly deeds don't. Darn.
Mikka's reviews are always so interesting; I'll be avidly reading when she resumes.
Thank you so much! And I saw you went back and read my old post, too; I hope you enjoyed it!
Alright, here we are at...
THE BROWN DERBY (AND LOUNGE)
This review is somewhat hard to make, mainly because the Brown Derby has always been a hit for us. We've never had a bad meal there. Our meal this time wasn't bad, either, but circumstances sort of made it iffy- mainly, we had absolutely horrible service. I'm not naming the waiter because it wasn't 'So Horrible That I'd Advise You To Run Screaming If He Was Your Waiter', but you'll notice I usually try to name waiters as a shout out to how wonderful they are. This... no. Not.
We start with bread service. Brown Derby's bread is nothing to write home about: it's relatively simple rolls that any family restaurant in the US would serve, with the advantage of the butter being decent and salted. Still American butter, though, not that lovely European stuff.
We started with drinks, too: a Rusty Nail for mom, and a Whiskey Sour for me. These, oddly, were specialty drinks at the Brown Derby that day/week/month. I'm not exactly sure why. The Rusty Nail is one of mom and I's favorites, though (and really, where would you drink a Rusty Nail if not at the Brown Derby?) and I like sours. Don't judge me. ;;
This is where our waiter made his first, and probably for him, stupidest mistake- we told him straight out we'd like wine with our entrees, please. Yet someone else brought out our appetizers and entrees, and he never came to check on us till after our entrees were half done. Two glasses of nice wine at Disney prices is a pretty nice tip, dude. Especially as knowing us, if we were happy with the entree and drinks, there might have been dessert drinks as well. Sigh.
My appetizer was Beef Carpaccio. Yes, that is raw beef. It came with a little salad, lemon-mustard aioli, capers, that bread you see there, and... ceaser ice cream. Yes. Really.
If you can get over the idea of eating raw meat (which to some people is just too ACK- I can understand that), this is actually good. Yet even this small appetizer portion is almost too much. It's a very rich meal. I'll give a fair warning that I ended up feeling sick to my stomach for the rest of the night, and ended up finally throwing up around midnight: however, I do not think it was food poiosining (timing is all wrong) or that the beef was wrongly prepared. It was just that both this and my entree was rich, and my stomach had yet to adjust to eating such rich food yet. Still, I figure fair is fair: I doubt you want to know about me being sick, but it probably should be said to give full picture.
(Again, though, the timing is wrong for it to be food poisoning or anything unless I had some super special snowflake version that I and only I alone ever got. Which could be fairly interesting, but unlikely. Also, mom tried all the food I did and was fine.)
Mom's appetizer, which I may have prodded her in to getting, was Togarashi-Pumpkin Seed-crusted Ahi Tuna. Just seared at most, it was served with house made kimchi (ymmy) and then rice and a sake-ginger-soy glaze. It was simple and tasty. For a non-seafood place, Brown Derby tends to do excellent on it's fish dishes. I think it was the best dish of the night.
Mom's Lamb Two Ways, one with the Apple-Balsamic sauce being poured, and one with it already soaking in. It was a lamb shank and a lamb chop, and it was good enough... but you know what? The lamb at Morocco (which admittedly was done different) was just so much better. This was good; that was great. The butternut squash risotto underneath the lamb was on par with the couscous over at Morocco, though, if not better. Yum.
I almost always end up ordering the grouper at the Brown Derby, but this time I had an extra reason: LOBSTER. Pan Seared Black Grouper on an orzo salad, with... half a lobster tail. It was a pretty decent sized lobster tail, though, so that was something. There was also tomatoes and spinach, and the sauce was cognac=mushroom beurre blanc. It was again, alright: probably better then the lamb. But other meals throughout the week were definitely better, so a bit disappointing from the Brown Derby.
After dinner (non-alcoholic) drinks. The cappuccino is one thing: fair enough. The tea is taken mockingly. The Brown Derby used to have a lovely selection of twelve or so varieties of loose leaf teas, and when I asked the waiter at the start of the meal if they were still there and I could use my drink from the package on it, I was told yes. Come tea time, and all they have is twinings. Four different types, and four utterly uninteresting ones, too. I was very unhappy.
The cappuccino also lead to it's own drama. We were on the Fantasmic Package (using our dining plan credits for it), and mom asked if it was included. She was told yes. However, it turned out the answer was 'kind of maybe': it was included on the Dining Plan, but not on the Fantasmic Package, which meant she had to pay an extra tax and tip on it when we were under the impression that as we had been told it would be covered by the package due to him saying it was. /phew I think that's how it went, anyway.
Dessert was another disappointment. Last time we were here, they had switched to the mini-desserts, but allowed you to pick any three. This time, they just gave you three: a chocolate something that I have no idea what it was as no one explained it to me or could be flagged down for a menu (it didn't taste very interesting, anyway), the standard grapefruit cake (...I don't really like grapefruit, and I think this spongy thing is not worth the hype even if it was lemon or another citrus I enjoyed more), and what I think was supposed to be creme burlee due to the slight brown on the top but was not caramelized and thus was actually pudding. None of them were very pleasant, and the fact that mom and I went to a signature and didn't eat dessert (rather just sort of prodded at them) is another thing on the list of sads.
So, in summary: 50's was better then Brown Derby this trip. Yeah. And that does sort of suck.
On a happier note, we then just headed outside to the bar/lounge, and...
...We got more drinks. She had another Rusty Nail, and I had a Manhatten. And we talked to the bar tender for a while, who was cool and nice but whose name I didn't note. Drinks were decent, at least.
(Did you know that Disney banned Marlyn Merlot wine after years of it being a feature at Brown Derby from their property one year because the picture on the bottle was too risque? Interesting!)
...On an unhappy note, skies opened up during Mickey getting chased by snake Jafar during Fantasmic in an absolute downpour that destroyed both our shoes (mine, to this day, still feel damp no matter what I do) and kept mom in a brace the rest of the week and ended up with me buying new shoes. I've seen it downpour at Disney, but never for so long: it just poured and poured and poured, and there was no place to hide or avoid it as it stuck past our ankles on the ground everywhere in a gigantic puddle that never dried up. If I had been somewhere dry, it might have been delightful to watch. But I so would have not wanted to be on a
scooter in that. Scary!
More reviews coming... um, sometime soon! I actually don't remember where we ate next. Huh.