Violet & Chernabog Do Disney Dining: Veggies and seafood abound!

[TillyMarigold]

Thanks for the Kouzzina review! There have been so many mixed reviews about it... Still, it looks like just a "modern" greek restaurant like there are so many popping up here in Germany that it still isn't very high on my list. And your galaktoboureko looks just like what I would get here in Germany, and I never had a lemon involved in it at all...

Your new trip sounds very exciting (including the fact that you get to speak at a neational conference! ). So they now have dine with an imagineer at Flying Fish? That sounds exciting!! I need to check out the restaurant board more often again...

Yes, they moved the Dinner with an Imagineer from Artist Point to Flying Fish as a test, but only during March and April, so doing it in May is really uncertain and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they offer it. There's a Lunch with an Imagineer at the Brown Derby that we might do if the dinner doesn't open up, but we actually wanted to eat at Flying Fish and we're not into Brown Derby. (Actually we're not into the Studios at all, we were planning to do a half day there at the most.)

It is pretty standard Greek food--better than some I've been to, but mostly not as good as the little taverna across the street from my old apartment (home of the aforementioned galaktoboureko) where Grandma was the head chef, her kids were the sous chefs and her grandkids were the servers. So if you really like Greek food (and we do), it was definitely worth trying, but not if you get it all the time (we didn't have any Mexican food on our vacation, for example!). BTW it seemed like both of Kouzzina's desserts had more filling and less pastry than would be normal.

We're definately Omnivores, esp. my DH and 21 yo DS. I could eat alot less meat and be perfectly happy, but they are not even close to Veg. Eating out is a real challenge for DH, he isn't as committed as I am tho, so he is pretty flexible.

I saw that WPE had Niman bacon, I didn't realize their other pork and beef was also Niman. I was plannng to go there for that breakfast pizza you had. It looks yummy.

Congrats on your presentation. That's exciting.

I don't know about all their pork, but the beef in the sandwich and salad that we had on Saturday night was from Niman Ranch. But we were there before they changed the menu, so I don't know if it still is.

Thanks for the congratulations! Now I just need to get into writing it.

 

[TillyMarigold]

So, Monday, September 14 was our last day, and we were pretty much done with vacation, frankly. Doing nothing for ten days is harder than it sounds!

We had wanted to finish off our trip by doing morning EMHs at AK, but even though we got to the bus stop at 7:15 (after dropping off our luggage at Bell Services and getting our boarding passes at RAC), we didn't get on a bus to the AK until 8:10. So we missed the only rope drop we'd really wanted to do.

By the time we got to AK, the security line was really long, so we didn't get into the park until almost 9:00. We made a beeline for the safari, and had the worst safari experience yet (and we'd done it a total of 4-5 times), because the person on the other end of the row was very spent the whole time holding the camera above his head and waving it wildly. Every one of my shots out that side of the vehicle has his camera in it.

By the time we got off the safari, we were absolutely starving and made a beeline for Pizzafari for breakfast, where we used up our last QS credit on my breakfast and bought Chernabog's OOP. We had to go through the register separately, but that was okay, because the CM offered to let us sub extra hash browns for the meat that comes with the breakfast platter, which was awesome of him (remember POFQ had refused to allow this earlier in the week). So we had scrambled eggs, a biscuit, 2 hash browns, an OJ, and a coffee each. We hung out in the very back room of Pizzafari (the camouflage room) and then made sure to check out each of the other rooms on the way out. While Chernabog was in the men's room, I became obsessed with taking pictures of the bats in the cupola of the upside-down room--I'll have to see if I can find and post some, because there will be no pictures of the food in today's review. By the way, the eggs and biscuits were both very good, but the hash browns (the large flat kind like you'd get at McDonald's) were a little too much and neither of us finished the second one.

That day was both insanely crowded at AK and also hotter than Hades. We stopped at Royal Anandapur Tea Company, where I paid OOP for an iced tea that I no longer see on their menu. It was a black tea with raspberry in it and it was delicious, but I didn't really appreciate it because it was too. darn. HOT.

We went over to the EE gift shop and I celebrated having ridden EE (on Friday) by buying an EE t-shirt that I love and wear all the time. Frankly by that time we were so hot we decided to give up. We skirted around the eastern side of the park, missed Nemo by 5 minutes, rode Dinosaur again just because it had A/C, stopped at the front of the park for our free 5×7 (and the guy was a real jerk, he was standing with his arms crossed and practically tapping his foot, and he sighed every time we asked him to click to the next page of Photopass pictures). And then we got to the bus ... and waited.

I should point out here that we only had four very long waits for buses the entire trip ... but three of them were in the last 24 hours! Grrr.

Anyway, so we eventually got back to our resort and split a veggie burger and fries at Sassagoula, which took absolutely forever to make. If it hadn't been so hot, we'd probably have walked over to POR just to have something to do. As it was, we sort of just sat around the lobby.

Chernabog used one of his remaining snack credits for beignets, and then I paid OOP for an ice-cream cookie sandwich, which the CM couldn't figure out how to make and I had to wait forever for a manager to come and I was tempted to give up, but darn it, I was determined to have one of those things! And then he argued with me about whether I really wanted the sugar-free vanilla/chocolate swirl ice cream! I did--none of the regular flavors seemed like they'd go well with chocolate chip cookies.

The sandwich was, of course, enormous, and between me and Chernabog we ate about half of it.

With our 1 remaining snack credit, we picked up some chocolate-covered coconut patties on the way out, which we ended up eating on the plane because the airline didn't provide any food at all.

So overall, a disappointing last day food-wise. The iced tea and the coconut patties were probably the highlight.

 

[TillyMarigold]

So, here is my overall breakdown of our TS restaurants. A line represents the difference between excellent and good, and between good and bad.

Best food (7 excellent, 2 good):
1. Jiko
2. Kouzzina
3. Boma
4. Akershus
5. Narcoossee's
6. Mama Melrose
7. Cape May
--
8. Kona
9. Sci Fi


Best Service (4 excellent, 4 good, 1 bad):
1. Narcoossee's
2. Kouzzina
3. Sci Fi
4. Jiko
--
5. Boma
6. Akershus
7. Cape May
8. Kona
--
9. Mama Melrose


Overall best experience:
1. Jiko
2. Kouzzina
3. Narcoossee's
4. Boma
5. Cape May
6. Akershus
7. Kona
8. Sci Fi
9. Mama Melrose

And here is Chernabog's breakdown, which is mostly the same but he has higher standards for where to draw lines. I've bolded the parts that are different from mine.

Best food (5 excellent, 4 good):
1. Jiko
2. Kouzzina
3. Akershus
4. Boma
5. Narcoossee's
--
6. Mama Melrose
7. Cape May
8. Kona
9. Sci Fi

Best Service (exactly the same):
1. Narcoossee's
2. Kouzzina
3. Sci Fi
4. Jiko
--
5. Boma
6. Akershus
7. Cape May
8. Kona
--
9. Mama Melrose

Overall best experience:
1. Jiko
2. Kouzzina
3. Narcoossee's
4. Akershus
5. Boma
6. Cape May
7. Kona
8. Sci Fi
9. Mama Melrose

 

[TillyMarigold]

* Four servers got a tip of 20% or more,... (Narcoossee's, Jiko, Sci-Fi, Kouzzina)
...of whom one also got a Guest Service Fanatic card from us. (Narcoossee's)
* One server got a tip of less than 15% and his manager spoken to. (Mama Melrose)
* Two restaurants were absolutely outstanding, among the best we've ever eaten at (and we eat out a *lot*). (Jiko and Kouzzina)
* Two restaurants we thought were good (perhaps even very good) and we're glad we had the experience, but it's probably an experience we won't repeat. (Sci-Fi and Cape May)
* Two restaurants that we were expecting to be so-so surprised us by having absolutely wonderful food. (Akershus and Mama Melrose)

 

[TillyMarigold]

Overall, I think this shows that our rankings are partly based on what we ate (he ranked CHH higher for the Lighthouse Sandwich, and Sunshine Seasons for the tofu noodle bowl and the key lime pie; I ranked Liberty Inn a tad higher for the awesome mousse cup) and also that I'm more willing to cut the food some slack based on the atmosphere.

Overall, there's certainly nowhere we would refuse to eat again if we happened to be nearby and be hungry, but we might be less likely to stay at POFQ again in the future (split stay at CBR and AKL in May!), and I think Starring Rolls and Liberty Inn are both in the "let's try to think of another option next time" category. I might go to Starring Rolls for lunch if they had the veggie sandwich, but won't have breakfast there again, and certainly not in the rain!

Mine:
1. Wolfgang Puck Express (DTD)
2. Picnic in the Park (AK)
3. Restaurantosaurus (AK), which gets this ranking mostly for theming
4. Columbia Harbour House (MK)
4. Riverside Mill (POR) (tie ... CHH wins for theming and RM for food)
6. Liberty Inn (good food, but meh atmosphere)
7. Pizzafari (AK) (another restaurant that gets moved up the list due to its awesome theming)
8. Sunshine Seasons (Epcot) (pretty good food that didn't quite live up to the promise, even meh-er atmosphere)
9. Sassagoula Food & Floatworks (POFQ)
10. Starring Rolls (Studios) (which we might have liked more if we'd had something other than bagels and if we hadn't been huddled under an umbrella in the pouring rain)

Chernabog's:

1. Wolfgang Puck
2. Picnic in the Park
3. Columbia Harbor House (I like it, and the lighthouse hummus sandwich thing is really, really awesome which is why it's so high.)
4. Restaurantosaurus
5. Sunshine Seasons (I liked the food, agree on the meh atmosphere, though)
6. Riverside Mill
7. Pizzafari
8. Liberty Inn
9. Sassagoula
10. Starring Rolls

 

[TigerKat]

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your reviews with us!

 

[Leota]

Thanks for the reviews. I really enjoyed them. I esp. like your recap at the end with your overall impressions.

 

[Flossbolna]

Thanks for the final thoughts! I will be looking out for your new dining review after your May trip!!

 

[TillyMarigold]

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your reviews with us!

Better late than never, huh? Thanks for reading!

Thanks for the reviews. I really enjoyed them. I esp. like your recap at the end with your overall impressions.

Thank you! It was mostly a way to arm-twist Chernabog into taking some of the responsibility!

Thanks for the final thoughts! I will be looking out for your new dining review after your May trip!!

I can't wait for May! I've been reading your sisters' report too.

 

[GaPaige]

I've spent my entire day reading your report off and on. I have really enjoyed it as a mostly veggie girl that eats seafood on vacation. I'm especially pleased to hear about the options for picnic in the park. I think we'll try that on our next trip.

 

[TillyMarigold]

I've spent my entire day reading your report off and on. I have really enjoyed it as a mostly veggie girl that eats seafood on vacation. I'm especially pleased to hear about the options for picnic in the park. I think we'll try that on our next trip.

It's seasonal now, but if you're going in the summer I'd guess you have a good chance. We absolutely loved it, plus we got a grocery bag out of it.

Honestly, eating veg + seafood at Disney was so easy. Ridiculously so. I always felt like there were more different things I could eat than I could possibly eat in the time I was there! I think it might be because Disney menus are pretty limited compared to regular restaurants ... so they'd have 8 entrees and 3-4 of them would be things I would eat, compared to having 20 entrees but only 1-2 being things I would eat in some places here at home.

I think I'm going to come back and do a "design the perfect meal" out of things we ate, but then I'll really be done, I promise.

 

[TillyMarigold]

Table service:
Best non-alcoholic beverage - pomegranate lemonade at Kouzzina
Best wine - Coranation Sauvignon Blanc at Kouzzina or South African chenin blanc at Narcoossee's
Best bread - sourdough at Narcoossee's
Best appetizer - tomato mozzarella salad at Mama Melrose
Best entree - Swahili shrimp curry stew with coconut rice at Jiko, by a landslide
Best dessert - Key lime creme brulee at Narcoosee's or possibly Meyer lemon curd at Jiko

Quick service:
Best beverage: Fuze Iced Green Tea with Ginseng and Honey
Best lunch/dinner entree: Roast beef sandwich, Wolfgang Puck Express,although I admit to loving the veggie burgers
Best side: tandoori tofu and zucchini, Picnic in the Park
Best dessert: Rocky Road Mousse at Liberty Inn
Best QS breakfast: make your own omelet at Riverside Mill

Best on-dining plan sweet snack: Hot fudge sundae, Mrs. Potts' Cupboard, MK
Best on-dining plan savory snack: jalapeño cream cheese pretzel, Asia pretzel cart, AK
Best non dining plan snack: Royal Anandapur Tea Company iced raspberry black tea

Chernabog says that if I want to do this, next time I should ask him no more than 2 months after we get back, because he can't remember anything for most of them, but here's what he could think of.

Table Service:
Best bread - sourdough at Narcoossee's
Best appetizer - Akershus buffet ("It's the interesting Norwegian stuff that no one else eats, but they should because it's awesome")
Best entree - Seared maize cake at Jiko, "easily--that was amazing"

Quick service:
Best beverage: "I think I just had soda."
Best lunch/dinner entree: Lighthouse sandwich, Columbia Harbour House
Best side: tandoori tofu and zucchini, Picnic in the Park
Best dessert: carrot cake (available lots of places, he had it at Restaurantosaurus)

Best on-dining plan savory snack: "Sometimes you just need a pretzel."
Best non dining plan snack: Green tea plum wine bao bing, China, Epcot