The Food Was Not Undelicious: May 25-June 1, 2007!! Completed - Post #794
- Thread starter oybolshoi
- Start date
OKWMom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2006
Yeah!!!!! I was so excited to see this thread in the dining reviews. I LOVED your last review. Really looking forward to this one. Bonus points for you - DH was looking over my shoulder as I read your ice cream review and now wants to go there. Thank you mucho! I've been trying to get him there for two years.
Hot fudge and brownie - here I come.
winkers
<font color=blue>I was stuck in that position and
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2006
I'll join the club....Will Flash for Sundaes!
Sign me up too! Altho people would pay me not to flash, so maybe my sticker better read..............I won't flash you if you give me a Sundae!
Great start Brenda! I'm now going to the store to get some ice cream!
oybolshoi
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2004
Friday, May 25th - Good Food, Good Drink, Good Music, and How did I End Up in the Men's Room?
Am I the only person here who worries about going back to a WDW dining establishment after having had a great experience there? Jay and I were knocked off our respective butts last October by our dinner at Raglan Road and when we left we drunkenly mumbled to each other, "Wee hash gunter goombah heeee gin!"
Translation for anyone who may not be drinking while reading this: "We have got to come back here again!"
But having ensured that we were indeed going back, I started to worry that the second time around might not live up to our expectations and that we would be disappointed in some fashion. In short, I was concerned about the DWDJx (Disney World Dining Jinx).
DWDJx works like this: During vacation -xx you try a new restaurant...maybe you've read some good reviews here on the DIS or drooled over the menu in advance of your trip or perhaps you stumbled across it purely by happenstance during an intense grumbly-tummy moment. Regardless, you proceed to have one of the best meals on property in recent memory at this establishment - you are impressed with the menu selection, the promptness of the service, the tastiness of the food, and the friendlieness of the staff. As you and your party waddle happily from the restaurant you vow to return during a future WDW visit.
When vacation -yy rolls around your salivary glands kick into overdrive every time you think about this place. You can't wait to go back to a familiar environment where you know without a doubt you are going to have a terrific experience with great food. However, upon arrival at said WDW establishment the DWDJx kicks in and you are met with lackluster service, mediocre-to-awful food, and possible health code violations that you would have been happier knowing nothing about. This is one of those instances where the mouse in the kitchen is most definitely not named Mickey.
This less-than-magical dining experience, coupled with the poor food, leaves a foul taste in your mouth that no amount of alcohol can wash away and you are sad...until you find something new and the whole vicious cycle starts all over again.
I couldn't really share these concerns with Jay, because his response would have been something like this, "You think too much."
So, to best combat my worries over the DWDJx that afternoon I decided to take a nap. Considering how early we had to leave our house that morning to get to the airport and factoring in that I was taking medication for what we thought was a urinary tract infection but ultimately turned out to be a kidney infection, I think this was a good decision.
Our reservation was for 7:30PM but we left the resort early so we could have some extra time to wander around DTD. Imagine our dismay when we walked past Raglan Road and saw the sign informing the world that live music wouldn't start until 8:30PM.
Oh, no!
This won't do at all - we want to dine during the musical performance.
I approached a very nice young lady at the podium and gave her our reservation number and asked if there was any way it could be moved back so that we'd be in the restaurant during the show. With a point here and a click there she said, "No problem - come back and see me at 8PM."
Woo hoo!!!
So, with an hour to kill, we wandered over to the West Side. I'm not really going to spend much time talking about that here - for excruciating detail and prolonged commentary, please see my Day 1 update on The Shrubbery, coming soon. But, I would like to point out that there are just as many drunken revelers and gothed-out teenagers on the West Side and Pleasure Island as there are at CityWalk over at Universal / Islands of Adventure.
This doesn't bother Jay or me in the least as long as people are respectful - we only start to get annoyed when people get obnoxious, aggressive, or pukey. We were very amused however, because there is a certain mindset that seems to think that the dregs of society are all congregating at USO / IOA while all the Girl and Boy Scouts are skipping hand-in-hand through DTD, stopping to perform random heimlich maneuvers on those guests who tried to inhale, rather than chew, that Wetzel's Pretzel.
Let me just say that those Girl and Boy Scouts were most definitely not wearing their uniforms Friday night, nor were they helping little old ladies across the bridge or reuniting lost toddlers with their parents. Some of these kids were tricked out like it was Halloween.
My point is just that it takes all kinds to fill the Disney coffers, bless their freaky little hearts.
You know what we discovered in Pleasure Island that we've never noticed before? There was a small bar set up outside the Adventurers Club...I wanted to stop for a Kungaloosh but Mr. Practical reminded me that we had other drinking obligations this evening. And then we found some small little shed that sells drink buckets! I'd read about these on the DIS, but had never been able to find them before now.
I wanted a bucket so that we could drink to Grimace (er, that's my mom for any of you who may not already be familiar with past trip reports). I could hear her voice from my childhood, "Your bucket leaks!"
I don't really know what that means but it sounds like a great toast for two people who are getting ready to drink a plastic bucket full of booze. But then the voice of practicality spoke up again and reminded me that we had all week to come back and try lots of different drinks. If I wanted something now we should just go to Raglan Road's bar and wait there for our table.
Alrighty then, let's do it!
For those of you who haven't been to Raglan Road, it is located in Pleasure Island right next door to Cookes of Dublin. Jay initially read that as "Cookies of Dublin" and was a bit puzzled since he wasn't aware that Dublin was so well known for cookies that it warranted a shop in a Disney-owned tourist trap. But then his brain caught up to his eyes and he realized his mistake.
For the rest of the week we referred to it as Cookies of Dublin and every time we passed it one of us would say, "Stay off the West Side!!" This quote is, of course, Simpsons related. Anyone else remember Cookie Kwan?
Anyway, back to Raglan Road. We checked in at the podium and were given a pager before making our way to the bar. This establishment is quite large - they have bar seating and patio seating as well as a very large dining room. If you want to enjoy the musical performance while dining then I suggest you ask for a table in the main dining room since that is where the band plays.
There are actually two massive bars in the restaurant and they are made of beautiful polished dark wood that looks like mahogany. Should you so choose you can have your entire meal at the bar.
They have a nice drink menu and several beers on tap:
And no, we did not try all of these beers although it was a bit tempting. Jay ordered a pint of Harp. At least I'm pretty sure that's Harp...I know it's not Murphy's or Guiness. Well, whatever it was, it was full of beery goodness and Jay enjoyed it.
I ordered the Celtic Sangria, which I first tried back in October. A very tasty drink that is actually listed as Jay'Gail Sangria on the bar's drink menu. It is described like this: A refreshing blend of Strongbow Cider, peach schnapps, fruit liqueurs, and squeezes.
Yummy! I want to learn how to make this drink at home it's that good, but could someone please tell me what the hell "squeezes" are supposed to be???
We had just taken a sip from our drinks when the pager started vibrating noisily and flashing its seizure-inducing lights. Upon presenting ourselves at the podium they promptly tried to seat us in...the bar! Oh no, my Gaelic friends, we most respectfully decline. I very quickly asked if there was any way that we could be seated in the main dining room since we really wanted to enjoy the band; we even offered to wait until a table was available.
Ask nicely and you shall receive...she came right back and led us into the main room with a fabulous little table for two that had a great view of the stage and the mini-table where this very pretty Irish girl pops in to randomly "Riverdance" while the band is playing.
One of the things that we like about Raglan Road is that the servers don't rush the experience. They give you time to read through the menu and enjoy the surroundings without storming the table to take your order before you've even had a chance to sit down.
Our first course of action was to decide upon a beer flight. For some reason I thought Raglan Road offered four beer flights when we were there in October, but the menu I'm looking at only shows two. Jay insists that I am wrong; he says it was always two beer flights and I'm confusing it with all the whiskey flights that are offered.
His memory is better than mine, so I'll defer to him this time.
The two flights offered are as follows:
The Four Provinces - Guiness, Black and Tan, Harp, and Murphy's Red
League of Nations - Smithwicks, Stella Artois, Boddington's, and TucherHefe-Weiss.
We chose The Four Provinces, since we tried the other flight on our last visit.
The nice thing about this picture is that the beers are set up in the order that I listed them in the description - Guiness on the far left and Murphy's on the far right. These were all quite good, even the Guiness which I normally don't care for. Jay has always maintained that it tastes much better when served on tap and he must know what he's talking about because this was pretty good.
Brenda drinking Guiness? That's unpossible!
Before going any further I have to tell you about my bathroom adventures.
We had just placed our food order and I decided that a visit to the facilities would be a good idea before the place got much more crowded and the band started playing. I had no trouble finding the hallway where the restrooms were located but I apparently left my cognitive abilities back at the table. I looked at one door and then at the other, saw the letter "L" and walked right in.
Imagine my surprise when I saw urinals...I actually heard my voice speaking in my head, "Huh, that's strange. I've never seen those in a ladies room before. I can't be in the..."
And then I looked to my left where an elderly gentleman had frozen over the sink where he was washing his hands. Thank God I didn't walk in while he was doing his business or he might be dead and I might be in jail awaiting formal involuntary manslaughter charges.
Brenda the brain surgeon blurted out the first thing that zoomed through her mind, "I guess this isn't the ladies room, is it?"
Frightened old guy just said, "nuh nuh nuh nuh..."
I wheeled around faster than you can say "I swear I'm not drunk" and made my way to the real ladies room. Embarrassed doesn't even begin to describe how I felt - it must have taken at least 15 minutes for the blush to leave my cheeks.
When I got back to the table I had to share the story with Jason who laughed himself silly. Once his composure returned he said, "How did you end up in the men's room? You've barely had anything to drink yet."
"I just looked at the door really fast and saw the letter "L" and assumed it said ladies. I guess it must have said lads. You can see for yourself when you make a pit stop."
Rather than make you all wait, I'll just tell you now that about 45 minutes later Jason left to use the facilities and when he came back he had a huge smirk on his face.
"The sign on the men's room door is in Gaelic and it starts with the letter "F" not the the letter "L."
I'm sure the look on my face was priceless. "I swear it was an L - are you sure?"
"Hey, I'm not the one who walked into the wrong bathroom."
I'm still puzzled and I swear to you all, even though you have no reason to believe me, that I had only taken a few sips of my drink before this happened. Maybe the lesson is that I should drink more before using the bathroom on vacation; maybe it's early onset Alzheimer's; maybe I'm experiencing a mid-life dumbening. Whatever the cause, you have to admit that the result was pretty darn funny!
So back to the food...
Our waitress brought us some soda bread with a guiness / honey infused dipping sauce. This was not being offered in October and we love soda bread and was this ever tasty!
Almost too pretty to eat...
In case you're wondering, there was more than one piece of bread. There was actually an entire basket of it but we were trying to take an "artistic" food picture.
We ordered two appetizers:
Dalkey Duo
This is described as follows on the menu: Dalkey-battered cocktail sausages with a Dalkey mustard dipping sauce.
These are so good! Lightly breaded little sausages that are deep fried, but they're not greasy...I don't know how they do it. And they are served with a tasty mustard sauce that has a nice mild kick to it - any beer washes these babies down really well.
Granny's Soup
Described on the menu as follows: Tomato basil and gin soup. That was nice and simple, wasn't it? Let me just tell you...this was great soup. Not too creamy and not too acidic, perfectly blended and totally satisfying as far as I'm concerned because there was no stuff in it. It was just good, plain soup.
I ordered fish and chips for my dinner.
I don't really need to describe this, do I? It was very good, especially the fish which was well cooked and not at all greasy. And in case you're curious, I don't do tartar sauce, vinegar, or ketchup on my fish and / or chips. I'm a cheap yellow mustard kind of girl, which absolutely horrifed the wait staff.
Jay ordered a special for the evening...lamb.
I don't really care for lamb but Jay said this was incredible and since it was his dinner that's really all that matters. I did try his mashed potatoes and they were divine.
During all this feasting the band was playing and the dining room was hopping and people seemed to be having a toe-tapping, head-bobbing good time. We did notice that a lot of the songs in the "set" were the same as those we heard in October, but we still enjoyed every bit of their show. It's just a great Irish folk band with some good singers and a mean fiddler.
The band is actually selling a CD of one of their live performances at Raglan Road which can be purchased in the restaurant's gift shop. We bought one on our way out later that evening and it's quite good.
The only thing left to order is dessert...we don't need it and I'm not even sure we're hungry enough to eat it but by God we're going to order it anyway.
The decision-making process was thoughtfully taken out of our hands. Raglan Road has changed their menu since our October visit, and now they offer...
A Dessert Sampler!!!!!
Three in One Sampler
What have we here? Ger's Bread and Butter Pudding, with butterscotch sauce and creme anglaise; The Dunbrody Kiss; and Raspberry Riot.
The bread pudding speaks for itself...it was wonderful. The Dunbrody Kiss is all chocolate...I'm not really sure how to describe it...it was almost like a chocolate mousse covered with a thin dark chocolate shell and it was very good! And the Raspberry Riot is served with fresh vanilla ice cream inside a light cookie shell. I can't eat raspberries but the ice cream was great and Jay said the berries were extremely fresh.
Two things really jumped out at me with this dessert - the first is the portion sizes which were full-sized even though the menu described them as samples; the second was the price which was $16 for the sampler compared with $8 for a single dessert. Talk about a bargain!
This was so good and so appealing that people around us in the restaurant were coming over to ask what we were eating and whether or not they should order it.
All in all a most satisfying meal and we avoided the DWDJx!! I stand by my recommendation of this restaurant - we've had two exceptional dinners at this establishment and both times the service and the entertainment have been top notch. I hope if any of you try Raglan Road you have as good a time there as Jay and I do.
Just for reference, if anyone is curious I do have the information on the whiskey flights Raglan Road offers - if you're interested just let me know and I'll be happy to post it.
Also, we were not on the dining plan on this trip so all the food we ordered was paid for out of pocket. We were lucky enough to have the Disney Dining Experience card which is available to annual passholders and provides a 20% discount on food and alochol at participating restaurants - woo hoo!!
Thanks for reading... Chef's de France and Jiko are next on the agenda!
Am I the only person here who worries about going back to a WDW dining establishment after having had a great experience there? Jay and I were knocked off our respective butts last October by our dinner at Raglan Road and when we left we drunkenly mumbled to each other, "Wee hash gunter goombah heeee gin!"
Translation for anyone who may not be drinking while reading this: "We have got to come back here again!"
But having ensured that we were indeed going back, I started to worry that the second time around might not live up to our expectations and that we would be disappointed in some fashion. In short, I was concerned about the DWDJx (Disney World Dining Jinx).
DWDJx works like this: During vacation -xx you try a new restaurant...maybe you've read some good reviews here on the DIS or drooled over the menu in advance of your trip or perhaps you stumbled across it purely by happenstance during an intense grumbly-tummy moment. Regardless, you proceed to have one of the best meals on property in recent memory at this establishment - you are impressed with the menu selection, the promptness of the service, the tastiness of the food, and the friendlieness of the staff. As you and your party waddle happily from the restaurant you vow to return during a future WDW visit.
When vacation -yy rolls around your salivary glands kick into overdrive every time you think about this place. You can't wait to go back to a familiar environment where you know without a doubt you are going to have a terrific experience with great food. However, upon arrival at said WDW establishment the DWDJx kicks in and you are met with lackluster service, mediocre-to-awful food, and possible health code violations that you would have been happier knowing nothing about. This is one of those instances where the mouse in the kitchen is most definitely not named Mickey.
This less-than-magical dining experience, coupled with the poor food, leaves a foul taste in your mouth that no amount of alcohol can wash away and you are sad...until you find something new and the whole vicious cycle starts all over again.
I couldn't really share these concerns with Jay, because his response would have been something like this, "You think too much."
So, to best combat my worries over the DWDJx that afternoon I decided to take a nap. Considering how early we had to leave our house that morning to get to the airport and factoring in that I was taking medication for what we thought was a urinary tract infection but ultimately turned out to be a kidney infection, I think this was a good decision.
Our reservation was for 7:30PM but we left the resort early so we could have some extra time to wander around DTD. Imagine our dismay when we walked past Raglan Road and saw the sign informing the world that live music wouldn't start until 8:30PM.
Oh, no!
This won't do at all - we want to dine during the musical performance.
I approached a very nice young lady at the podium and gave her our reservation number and asked if there was any way it could be moved back so that we'd be in the restaurant during the show. With a point here and a click there she said, "No problem - come back and see me at 8PM."
Woo hoo!!!
So, with an hour to kill, we wandered over to the West Side. I'm not really going to spend much time talking about that here - for excruciating detail and prolonged commentary, please see my Day 1 update on The Shrubbery, coming soon. But, I would like to point out that there are just as many drunken revelers and gothed-out teenagers on the West Side and Pleasure Island as there are at CityWalk over at Universal / Islands of Adventure.
This doesn't bother Jay or me in the least as long as people are respectful - we only start to get annoyed when people get obnoxious, aggressive, or pukey. We were very amused however, because there is a certain mindset that seems to think that the dregs of society are all congregating at USO / IOA while all the Girl and Boy Scouts are skipping hand-in-hand through DTD, stopping to perform random heimlich maneuvers on those guests who tried to inhale, rather than chew, that Wetzel's Pretzel.
Let me just say that those Girl and Boy Scouts were most definitely not wearing their uniforms Friday night, nor were they helping little old ladies across the bridge or reuniting lost toddlers with their parents. Some of these kids were tricked out like it was Halloween.
My point is just that it takes all kinds to fill the Disney coffers, bless their freaky little hearts.
You know what we discovered in Pleasure Island that we've never noticed before? There was a small bar set up outside the Adventurers Club...I wanted to stop for a Kungaloosh but Mr. Practical reminded me that we had other drinking obligations this evening. And then we found some small little shed that sells drink buckets! I'd read about these on the DIS, but had never been able to find them before now.
I wanted a bucket so that we could drink to Grimace (er, that's my mom for any of you who may not already be familiar with past trip reports). I could hear her voice from my childhood, "Your bucket leaks!"
I don't really know what that means but it sounds like a great toast for two people who are getting ready to drink a plastic bucket full of booze. But then the voice of practicality spoke up again and reminded me that we had all week to come back and try lots of different drinks. If I wanted something now we should just go to Raglan Road's bar and wait there for our table.
Alrighty then, let's do it!
For those of you who haven't been to Raglan Road, it is located in Pleasure Island right next door to Cookes of Dublin. Jay initially read that as "Cookies of Dublin" and was a bit puzzled since he wasn't aware that Dublin was so well known for cookies that it warranted a shop in a Disney-owned tourist trap. But then his brain caught up to his eyes and he realized his mistake.
For the rest of the week we referred to it as Cookies of Dublin and every time we passed it one of us would say, "Stay off the West Side!!" This quote is, of course, Simpsons related. Anyone else remember Cookie Kwan?
Anyway, back to Raglan Road. We checked in at the podium and were given a pager before making our way to the bar. This establishment is quite large - they have bar seating and patio seating as well as a very large dining room. If you want to enjoy the musical performance while dining then I suggest you ask for a table in the main dining room since that is where the band plays.
There are actually two massive bars in the restaurant and they are made of beautiful polished dark wood that looks like mahogany. Should you so choose you can have your entire meal at the bar.
They have a nice drink menu and several beers on tap:
And no, we did not try all of these beers although it was a bit tempting. Jay ordered a pint of Harp. At least I'm pretty sure that's Harp...I know it's not Murphy's or Guiness. Well, whatever it was, it was full of beery goodness and Jay enjoyed it.
I ordered the Celtic Sangria, which I first tried back in October. A very tasty drink that is actually listed as Jay'Gail Sangria on the bar's drink menu. It is described like this: A refreshing blend of Strongbow Cider, peach schnapps, fruit liqueurs, and squeezes.
Yummy! I want to learn how to make this drink at home it's that good, but could someone please tell me what the hell "squeezes" are supposed to be???
We had just taken a sip from our drinks when the pager started vibrating noisily and flashing its seizure-inducing lights. Upon presenting ourselves at the podium they promptly tried to seat us in...the bar! Oh no, my Gaelic friends, we most respectfully decline. I very quickly asked if there was any way that we could be seated in the main dining room since we really wanted to enjoy the band; we even offered to wait until a table was available.
Ask nicely and you shall receive...she came right back and led us into the main room with a fabulous little table for two that had a great view of the stage and the mini-table where this very pretty Irish girl pops in to randomly "Riverdance" while the band is playing.
One of the things that we like about Raglan Road is that the servers don't rush the experience. They give you time to read through the menu and enjoy the surroundings without storming the table to take your order before you've even had a chance to sit down.
Our first course of action was to decide upon a beer flight. For some reason I thought Raglan Road offered four beer flights when we were there in October, but the menu I'm looking at only shows two. Jay insists that I am wrong; he says it was always two beer flights and I'm confusing it with all the whiskey flights that are offered.
His memory is better than mine, so I'll defer to him this time.
The two flights offered are as follows:
The Four Provinces - Guiness, Black and Tan, Harp, and Murphy's Red
League of Nations - Smithwicks, Stella Artois, Boddington's, and TucherHefe-Weiss.
We chose The Four Provinces, since we tried the other flight on our last visit.
The nice thing about this picture is that the beers are set up in the order that I listed them in the description - Guiness on the far left and Murphy's on the far right. These were all quite good, even the Guiness which I normally don't care for. Jay has always maintained that it tastes much better when served on tap and he must know what he's talking about because this was pretty good.
Brenda drinking Guiness? That's unpossible!
Before going any further I have to tell you about my bathroom adventures.
We had just placed our food order and I decided that a visit to the facilities would be a good idea before the place got much more crowded and the band started playing. I had no trouble finding the hallway where the restrooms were located but I apparently left my cognitive abilities back at the table. I looked at one door and then at the other, saw the letter "L" and walked right in.
Imagine my surprise when I saw urinals...I actually heard my voice speaking in my head, "Huh, that's strange. I've never seen those in a ladies room before. I can't be in the..."
And then I looked to my left where an elderly gentleman had frozen over the sink where he was washing his hands. Thank God I didn't walk in while he was doing his business or he might be dead and I might be in jail awaiting formal involuntary manslaughter charges.
Brenda the brain surgeon blurted out the first thing that zoomed through her mind, "I guess this isn't the ladies room, is it?"
Frightened old guy just said, "nuh nuh nuh nuh..."
I wheeled around faster than you can say "I swear I'm not drunk" and made my way to the real ladies room. Embarrassed doesn't even begin to describe how I felt - it must have taken at least 15 minutes for the blush to leave my cheeks.
When I got back to the table I had to share the story with Jason who laughed himself silly. Once his composure returned he said, "How did you end up in the men's room? You've barely had anything to drink yet."
"I just looked at the door really fast and saw the letter "L" and assumed it said ladies. I guess it must have said lads. You can see for yourself when you make a pit stop."
Rather than make you all wait, I'll just tell you now that about 45 minutes later Jason left to use the facilities and when he came back he had a huge smirk on his face.
"The sign on the men's room door is in Gaelic and it starts with the letter "F" not the the letter "L."
I'm sure the look on my face was priceless. "I swear it was an L - are you sure?"
"Hey, I'm not the one who walked into the wrong bathroom."
I'm still puzzled and I swear to you all, even though you have no reason to believe me, that I had only taken a few sips of my drink before this happened. Maybe the lesson is that I should drink more before using the bathroom on vacation; maybe it's early onset Alzheimer's; maybe I'm experiencing a mid-life dumbening. Whatever the cause, you have to admit that the result was pretty darn funny!
So back to the food...
Our waitress brought us some soda bread with a guiness / honey infused dipping sauce. This was not being offered in October and we love soda bread and was this ever tasty!
Almost too pretty to eat...
In case you're wondering, there was more than one piece of bread. There was actually an entire basket of it but we were trying to take an "artistic" food picture.
We ordered two appetizers:
Dalkey Duo
This is described as follows on the menu: Dalkey-battered cocktail sausages with a Dalkey mustard dipping sauce.
These are so good! Lightly breaded little sausages that are deep fried, but they're not greasy...I don't know how they do it. And they are served with a tasty mustard sauce that has a nice mild kick to it - any beer washes these babies down really well.
Granny's Soup
Described on the menu as follows: Tomato basil and gin soup. That was nice and simple, wasn't it? Let me just tell you...this was great soup. Not too creamy and not too acidic, perfectly blended and totally satisfying as far as I'm concerned because there was no stuff in it. It was just good, plain soup.
I ordered fish and chips for my dinner.
I don't really need to describe this, do I? It was very good, especially the fish which was well cooked and not at all greasy. And in case you're curious, I don't do tartar sauce, vinegar, or ketchup on my fish and / or chips. I'm a cheap yellow mustard kind of girl, which absolutely horrifed the wait staff.
Jay ordered a special for the evening...lamb.
I don't really care for lamb but Jay said this was incredible and since it was his dinner that's really all that matters. I did try his mashed potatoes and they were divine.
During all this feasting the band was playing and the dining room was hopping and people seemed to be having a toe-tapping, head-bobbing good time. We did notice that a lot of the songs in the "set" were the same as those we heard in October, but we still enjoyed every bit of their show. It's just a great Irish folk band with some good singers and a mean fiddler.
The band is actually selling a CD of one of their live performances at Raglan Road which can be purchased in the restaurant's gift shop. We bought one on our way out later that evening and it's quite good.
The only thing left to order is dessert...we don't need it and I'm not even sure we're hungry enough to eat it but by God we're going to order it anyway.
The decision-making process was thoughtfully taken out of our hands. Raglan Road has changed their menu since our October visit, and now they offer...
A Dessert Sampler!!!!!
Three in One Sampler
What have we here? Ger's Bread and Butter Pudding, with butterscotch sauce and creme anglaise; The Dunbrody Kiss; and Raspberry Riot.
The bread pudding speaks for itself...it was wonderful. The Dunbrody Kiss is all chocolate...I'm not really sure how to describe it...it was almost like a chocolate mousse covered with a thin dark chocolate shell and it was very good! And the Raspberry Riot is served with fresh vanilla ice cream inside a light cookie shell. I can't eat raspberries but the ice cream was great and Jay said the berries were extremely fresh.
Two things really jumped out at me with this dessert - the first is the portion sizes which were full-sized even though the menu described them as samples; the second was the price which was $16 for the sampler compared with $8 for a single dessert. Talk about a bargain!
This was so good and so appealing that people around us in the restaurant were coming over to ask what we were eating and whether or not they should order it.
All in all a most satisfying meal and we avoided the DWDJx!! I stand by my recommendation of this restaurant - we've had two exceptional dinners at this establishment and both times the service and the entertainment have been top notch. I hope if any of you try Raglan Road you have as good a time there as Jay and I do.
Just for reference, if anyone is curious I do have the information on the whiskey flights Raglan Road offers - if you're interested just let me know and I'll be happy to post it.
Also, we were not on the dining plan on this trip so all the food we ordered was paid for out of pocket. We were lucky enough to have the Disney Dining Experience card which is available to annual passholders and provides a 20% discount on food and alochol at participating restaurants - woo hoo!!
Thanks for reading... Chef's de France and Jiko are next on the agenda!
rentayenta
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
Triple cheer for this review! DH and I are pawning off the kids on good friends and are planning to get silly drunk here! I am so glad your report was favorable. I called DH earlier and told him I waiting for a review from Brenda. He asked who the &%@* is Brenda? I told him the girl who hates wind and will show her girls for ice cream! I think he loves you! 
The beer sampler looks great and I am SO trying that Sangria; I lurve Sangria!
The lamb looks so good too. I really like lamb! 
DISNEYDUET
Will sing for Mickey Bars and Dole Whips! Oh and e
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2006
Ok, So you couldn't PM me nad let me know you had started!! I had to be poster 47!!!! Yeah, I see what kind of friend you are!! Glad to see you have started. Beware of those people over at shrubbery central. They are animals!!
Glad to see you have started. Beware of those people over at shrubbery central. They are animals!! Ragland Road looks so good. I have a feeling that I may be rearranging some of my ADRs for Sept.
And I thought that I was the only one who ever walked into the mens bathroom. At least you realized it before you actually used the bathroom.
That desert sampler looks delicious.
And I thought that I was the only one who ever walked into the mens bathroom. At least you realized it before you actually used the bathroom.
That desert sampler looks delicious.
cocowum
<marquee><font color=deeppink>Have <img src=http:/
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2004
For the rest of the week we referred to it as Cookies of Dublin and every time we passed it one of us would say, "Stay off the West Side!!" This quote is, of course, Simpsons related. Anyone else remember Cookie Kwan?
DD, a big simpsons fan shrieked "Marge sold the Murder House" when she read this and cracked up
She is a huge fan of your reports.
OKWMom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2006
Brenda, I would love to see the whisky flights if you don't mind. We are taking my parents to RR on our November trip and I think this is the restaurant I think my Dad will like the most. He is more of a whisky type of guy than beer and I want to be able to tell him sort of what to expect.
TIA
TIA
Cdn Friends of Pooh
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2006
Just found your trip report/dining review ... can't wait for more!
Disneyolic
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2002
I haven't been drinking tonite but I did translate it quite well! I guess I'm well versed in drunken mumble!
Been there!
They have a nice drink menu and several beers on tap:
Okay...about the bathrooms...even with the "F" in Gaelic, I would have probably mistaken that for "Female". Were they labeled better than that? I may end up in the wrong one! That would be me!
eliza61
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2003
punkin413
feel the magic, dang it!
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2007
too funny about your bathroom mishap! but what i'm wondering is.....why in the world did you break the seal so early when planning a night of drinking????
by the way, what is that little yellow baggie thing on the plate with your fish and chips?
by the way, what is that little yellow baggie thing on the plate with your fish and chips?
lawyergirl
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2004
YIPPEE!!! Brenda has started her dining review!!
Am looking forward to all of your reviews, Brenda - especially the Chef's Table! Did you manage to find any formal wear for Plankton?
Am looking forward to all of your reviews, Brenda - especially the Chef's Table! Did you manage to find any formal wear for Plankton?
winkers
<font color=blue>I was stuck in that position and
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2006
I was wondering the same thing!
ruthma
WISH I WAS TINK
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2006
I think it's lemon...
Brenda, I actually can eat sundaes (so I'll definitely go to Ghirardelli's on our next trip...whenever that is), just no nuts. Me+nuts=bad. And now it seems I'll have to drag the parental units to Raglan Road (dad is of Irish descent and mom loves Irish pubs). By the time we go in the indeterminate future, I'll be over 21 and can enjoy some of that Celtic Sangria.
Thanks so much again...can't wait for Chefs de France and Jiko.
Kiki
Thanks so much again...can't wait for Chefs de France and Jiko.
Kiki
cmp1111
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2006
Got it immediately. I have had a little wine this evening, maybe that helped?
Of course!For the rest of the week we referred to it as Cookies of Dublin and every time we passed it one of us would say, "Stay off the West Side!!" This quote is, of course, Simpsons related. Anyone else remember Cookie Kwan?
OK, here's what freaked us out about the bar - the area behind the bottles is mirrored, but there are blank areas that look through to the bar on the other side. DH kept trying to figure out why he didn't look like he remembered, and I, in a slightly tipsy state, tried to "mirror" him when I went to the ladies' room. Mind you, I DID go to the ladies' room!
And then I looked to my left where an elderly gentleman had frozen over the sink where he was washing his hands. Thank God I didn't walk in while he was doing his business or he might be dead and I might be in jail awaiting formal involuntary manslaughter charges.
Thanks for the great review, Brenda!
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