Wow, now it seems like all we did was eat. I went down with an old college roomate for just the weekend and we had a great time.
We started with Tea at the Grand Floridian. It was nice, the food was pretty good and there were a few men there, although one talked on his cell phone THE WHOLE TIME. Poor lady with him. Anyway, we had the Tea for Two and had the Cinnamon Spice Tea. It was very strong but felt good on my scratchy throat. Our server offered to add more hot water if it was too strong, but we never took her up on it. The sandwiches were just a bit dry (we had to supplement our tea with glasses of water and saw many other people doing the same) and not our favorite part, but the scones - Oh boy. Put both the devonshire cream AND the raspberry preserves on those! My friend had strawberries and cream and I had trifle and those were both good. We all sang Happy Birthday to a young lady celebrating her 13th, which was sweet. The only real downside was that there was a huge extended family having their portraits made just behind us and there was a lot of noise associated with trying to get the small children to smile. Just as we finished up, the pianist began to play in the lobby and we thought that they should schedule the playing to begin when the tea begins because that was very nice. Oh, and I have to say how stunning all of the flower arrangements in the GF were.
Late that night we had dinner at the Californa Grille. We arrived about 5 minutes before our PS and waited about 30 minutes for a table. People without PS were being told about a 1 hour wait at 8pm on Friday night. We shared the goat cheese ravioli appetizer and liked it. I had the filet with the tamarind barbeque sauce and liked it and my friend had the fish with the mushroom risotto and liked it too. Neither of us was just overwhelmed by the food, but we thought it was all good. For dessert she had carrot cake and I had the Hazelnut crunch pyramid and those were both also good. There were lots of young kids there, some sleeping and all well-behaved. One thing that I have never heard mentioned before was how our clothes smelled after that dinner. I guess it's from the open kitchen, but yuk, and we were not sitting at the counter, but over by the windows. It was kind of that greasy, old food smell you sometimes get at a teppan place. Wierd. Anyway, I'm glad I finally went, but it is not my favorite restaurant - I like Artist Point, V&A and Teppanyaki better (Oh, and Bahama Breeze - see below!)
On Saturday, we only ate at the Food and Wine Festival. We shared everything. I will never remember it all, but here's a try:
Ireland - root vegetable cake - yuk - threw it away.
Norway - Lefse - bland - threw it away (it gets better - we're not that picky
South Africa - Durbin Spiced chicken - wonderful - very spicy and served hot also Meatloaf - excellent. This was our favorite booth.
China - Chicken Sha Cha - one of my friend's favorites - it was good
Spain - potato and octopus salad - we tried it to be adventurous and it was fine, but I wouldn't want to make a meal of it. Seared scallop - it was OK, almost forgot about it.
US - crabcake - not our style - low on crab and lots of filler or mayo or something, but still good enough to eat
France - onion tart - good, but crust was a little tough, escargot - another of our favorites, served very hot and very garlicky - Coq au Vin - not hot enough and very bland, but not terrible
Canada - cheese soup - excellent, salmon - very good and hot, fudge - very sweet, Eiswine - too sweet really, I've had German Eiswines that were more enjoyable.
I may have forgotten something, but all in all, we enjoyed this day very much and would definitely do it again.
Finally, last but not least Bahama Breeze. We ate here on our way out of town on Sunday and it was our best meal. We had a wonderful server and the food was perfect. We started with the coconut prawns - shared - yum. Then I had the half portion of the jerk chicken pasta and my friend had the half portion of the jamaican grilled chicken breasts served with spiced yams, a squash medley and black beans. Her plate was beautiful, huge and delicious. I had eaten here before and knew it was good, but this restaurant is a great off-site choice.
We started with Tea at the Grand Floridian. It was nice, the food was pretty good and there were a few men there, although one talked on his cell phone THE WHOLE TIME. Poor lady with him. Anyway, we had the Tea for Two and had the Cinnamon Spice Tea. It was very strong but felt good on my scratchy throat. Our server offered to add more hot water if it was too strong, but we never took her up on it. The sandwiches were just a bit dry (we had to supplement our tea with glasses of water and saw many other people doing the same) and not our favorite part, but the scones - Oh boy. Put both the devonshire cream AND the raspberry preserves on those! My friend had strawberries and cream and I had trifle and those were both good. We all sang Happy Birthday to a young lady celebrating her 13th, which was sweet. The only real downside was that there was a huge extended family having their portraits made just behind us and there was a lot of noise associated with trying to get the small children to smile. Just as we finished up, the pianist began to play in the lobby and we thought that they should schedule the playing to begin when the tea begins because that was very nice. Oh, and I have to say how stunning all of the flower arrangements in the GF were.
Late that night we had dinner at the Californa Grille. We arrived about 5 minutes before our PS and waited about 30 minutes for a table. People without PS were being told about a 1 hour wait at 8pm on Friday night. We shared the goat cheese ravioli appetizer and liked it. I had the filet with the tamarind barbeque sauce and liked it and my friend had the fish with the mushroom risotto and liked it too. Neither of us was just overwhelmed by the food, but we thought it was all good. For dessert she had carrot cake and I had the Hazelnut crunch pyramid and those were both also good. There were lots of young kids there, some sleeping and all well-behaved. One thing that I have never heard mentioned before was how our clothes smelled after that dinner. I guess it's from the open kitchen, but yuk, and we were not sitting at the counter, but over by the windows. It was kind of that greasy, old food smell you sometimes get at a teppan place. Wierd. Anyway, I'm glad I finally went, but it is not my favorite restaurant - I like Artist Point, V&A and Teppanyaki better (Oh, and Bahama Breeze - see below!)
On Saturday, we only ate at the Food and Wine Festival. We shared everything. I will never remember it all, but here's a try:
Ireland - root vegetable cake - yuk - threw it away.
Norway - Lefse - bland - threw it away (it gets better - we're not that picky
South Africa - Durbin Spiced chicken - wonderful - very spicy and served hot also Meatloaf - excellent. This was our favorite booth.
China - Chicken Sha Cha - one of my friend's favorites - it was good
Spain - potato and octopus salad - we tried it to be adventurous and it was fine, but I wouldn't want to make a meal of it. Seared scallop - it was OK, almost forgot about it.
US - crabcake - not our style - low on crab and lots of filler or mayo or something, but still good enough to eat
France - onion tart - good, but crust was a little tough, escargot - another of our favorites, served very hot and very garlicky - Coq au Vin - not hot enough and very bland, but not terrible
Canada - cheese soup - excellent, salmon - very good and hot, fudge - very sweet, Eiswine - too sweet really, I've had German Eiswines that were more enjoyable.
I may have forgotten something, but all in all, we enjoyed this day very much and would definitely do it again.
Finally, last but not least Bahama Breeze. We ate here on our way out of town on Sunday and it was our best meal. We had a wonderful server and the food was perfect. We started with the coconut prawns - shared - yum. Then I had the half portion of the jerk chicken pasta and my friend had the half portion of the jamaican grilled chicken breasts served with spiced yams, a squash medley and black beans. Her plate was beautiful, huge and delicious. I had eaten here before and knew it was good, but this restaurant is a great off-site choice.
PS have to agree about the scones they are the BEST!
