"We're Just Here For the Free Food"--One vegetarian & one omnivore 8/25-9/4 (w/ pics)

We were so looking forward to this meal! I had gone with my family a few years back before the menu changed and enjoyed it then, but didn’t *love* it. When GF and I went for our first trip (on free dining) I told her meat-loving self about Ohana (meat on never ending sticks) and Whispering Canyon (meat in a never ending skillet) and told her she should choose one and we would go. She chose Whispering Canyon. We went and had a fine meal there, but it just didn’t “wow” us. For the next trip we were paying OOP and trying to cut down on some costs, so I suggested we do Ohana since it was fixed price and included everything. Well it turned out we both loved Ohana. We couldn’t wait to go back. :love:

We arrived a few minutes early and checked in. The area around Ohana and Kona is a madhouse at dinner time with tons of people standing around waiting. Last time we had taken our buzzer and headed downstairs to wait. Well that was a mistake because apparently the buzzers don’t work downstairs (not that they actually tell you that!). We ended up waiting for like 1.5-2 hours; they said they buzzed us and that the buzzer must have been out of range downstairs. So this time we stayed upstairs.

We looked around at the gift shop on that level, took a peek at the Kona menu (going there later in the trip :yay:), and then luckily found an empty seat. We waited another 10 minutes or so while seated. While there we were directly in front of the check in podium where we people-watched. Mostly we just saw people bumping into each other and parents scolding their children. There was one interesting couple both GF and I noticed though. They walked over and got in line to check in and I saw that the male half of the couple kept putting his hand on the female part’s back. She would move or turn around to look at something and still his hand would be there—just resting lightly there as if he had to be touching her at every moment. I didn’t really think anything of that, but then I saw his hand start to drift downwards to her lower back and maybe even lower and press in a little. At that point I was thinking, “Is that guy groping her butt?” It was kind of hard to tell whether he was touching butt proper, or whether it was still technically her lower back. (GF: “Oh, it was definitely butt.”) She was wearing a long dark straight dress and was a bit chubby so I wasn’t able to make out exactly where her hips/butt started. I figured it must just be her lower back, though, since people just don’t grope each other’s butts while standing in line to check in at Ohana!

Well I was wrong. A minute or two later I noticed that the woman’s hand had begun to drift down the man’s back—all the way down until it was very obviously on a cheek. Then she squeezed! Hard. So hard her fingers kind of disappeared a bit between the butt cheeks. :scared1: I thought, “Wow—that was some butt grab!” Are these people honeymooners or something? Why are they groping each other in public? I also noticed a child about 10 years old who came over and talked to the man for a minute. I assume he was their son. All I can say is, geez that poor kid must be scarred if he has to watch his parents molest each other’s butts all the time. If they do that in public, I’d hate to see how explicit it is in the kitchen at home! :rotfl2:

Back to the food. The meal at Ohana is all you care to eat and includes: skewers of meat (steak, turkey, sausage, and pork), scalloped potatoes, fried wontons and dips (peanut sauce!), light dressed salad greens, mixed veggies, sweet and sour shrimp, and sticky wings. They also made me their usual vegetarian entrée—a lo mein type noodle dish with various stir fried veggies (snow peas, carrots, tomatoes, red peppers, onions), fried tofu, and miso broth that comes in a press pot that you pour on top. Dessert is a pineapple coconut bread pudding that comes with ice cream and caramel bananas foster sauce on top. GF and I also both had iced teas to drink (no specialty drinks were included).

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salad and wontons w/ dips

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shrimp

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sticky wings

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scalloped potatoes

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mixed veggies

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vegetarian entree

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Some sausage and turkey on GF's plate

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Oops--forgot to take a pic of the bread pudding until we were done with it
 
The food was just as good as last time. Our favorites :love: : GF and I both love the scalloped potatoes which are amazingly cheesy. She is a huge fan of the sweet and sour shrimp and ate the entire bowl—she kept saying she was going to induce shrimp poisoning. (GF: “fortunately, I remained hale and hearty enough to eat plenty more food the next day”) And I just love the fried wontons with the peanut sauce—I pretty much ate the entire basket of wontons myself.

The other stuff: The salad was good—a light but flavorful dressing and just greens which is nice because there is so much food at the meal there is no need for a heavy salad. Both GF and I had just a few bites of this—no need to waste room in our stomachs on lettuce! The fried wontons were more oily than I remembered, but still yummy. They come with three sauces—the peanut sauce, one orange sauce, and one green. I believe the green one has parsley in it (GF: “it tastes like oil-heavy salad dressing”) and I’m drawing a blank on the orange one (GF: “I liked this one the best – it is a kind of spicy curry thing”). Neither GF nor I particularly loved the orange or green, but like I said, I’m all about the peanut sauce. (I actually have tried to make it at home based on a recipe I found online, but it never came out that close to Ohana’s. :sad1: )

Next out came the sticky wings and sweet and sour shrimp. Obviously I didn’t taste these, but GF reports being very happy with both of them. (GF: “I like the wings, but love the shrimp. Both are very messy – lots of finger licking is necessary – but really delicious. I don’t really get why people complain sometimes about the peel and eat shrimp on Ohana’s menu, want them to be pre-peeled or on skewers or whatnot – don’t they know that shrimp are most tender and perfect and juicy when cooked in their shells? Plus you get the carnivorous thrill of ripping off their shells and pitiful dangling legs.”) The shrimp, sticky wings, and potatoes are what formed most of GF's meal. She really didn’t care much about the meat on skewers because she likes the shrimp so much. Next out were the potatoes and mixed veggies. We went straight for the potatoes but, of course, ignored the veggies. (GF: “this time, the potatoes seemed kind of overcooked – more like mashed potatoes than scalloped potatoes, but still good.”) No point in wasting room on vegetables I say ;) !

Time for the main courses. My vegetarian entrée came out. It was a little different than I remembered from last time—more noodles and less broth I think (which is exactly what I would have changed about it the last time). It came with a press pot of miso broth to pour over it. The broth wasn't the most flavorful, but still I enjoyed it a lot. I ate up all the noodles and tofu and left a lot of veggies—there were just so many of them!

This was the point in the meal when we started noticing the lack in service. Our server had taken our drink orders and then someone else had dropped off all of the food we’d gotten to that point. It was our server, though, who brought me my vegetarian dish. I guess she was carrying too much at the time because she had already walked past me on the way to another table, but then came back and said, “Hon, here’s your vegetarian meal” and began to unceremoniously slide it down on the edge of the table. I scrambled to make room for it to fit and then picked it up and put it in front of me. She mumbled something like “Sorry this was all just too heavy to carry. He’s killing me” and gestured to the man standing next to her. I’m guessing she had already had a tray of stuff with her when one of the cooks brought my meal out to her and gave it to her and she had too much to carry. Okay, well that’s understandable.

Around that time we had finished off our first glasses of iced tea and were ready for refills. Our server wasn’t really around to offer us any though. GF was still happily chowing down on shrimp and sticky wings, but I noticed that she hadn’t once been offered any skewered meat yet. (GF: “I began to wonder how many visitors to Ohana somehow ended up getting no meat at all and went away deeply unsatisfied.”) A few minutes later someone came around and gave her a piece of sausage and turkey. GF doesn’t really like sausage, but figured she might as well try it. She didn’t end up eating it, but she liked the turkey. (GF: “It was surprisingly juicy.") I finished off my entrée soon after. We remarked again about the lack of meat on skewers that was available. Someone came by a few minutes later with steak and pork. GF made sure to ask for two pieces of steak since she figured she wouldn’t get another chance to have some at this rate. (GF: “the person with the meat kind of balked at giving me TWO tiny little pieces! I think its pretty obvious that Ohana tries to save money by not offering much meat to customers and encouraging them to fill up on cheaper food.”) She liked the steak but it was somewhat charred and she doesn’t really like charred meat. The lack of meat on skewers wasn’t a problem for us since I’m a vegetarian and GF actually likes the shrimp and sticky wings better than the meat on sticks. (GF: “I think I’d love Ohana just as much if they didn’t have the meat on sticks at all!” :love: ) But I can see that for anyone who was really into the meat there would be a problem. They just didn’t come around often enough. We were 90% done with our meal before GF was even offered a piece of steak.

None of that was the server’s fault since the servers don’t do the bringing the skewers around anyway. But our server was still MIA for quite awhile leaving us with no iced tea. In that time period GF also decided that she needed to have more of the yummy potatoes. There was no one around to ask for them though. Eventually our server did reappear and we got our drink refills and more potatoes. (GF: “the server actually poked fun at me for being so excited about the potatoes. What a jerk! Especially when she wasn’t around the whole time to see if we might want anything else.”) We also noticed that our server just didn’t spend much time talking to us or asking us if things were okay. There was a table with a larger family behind us and I tried to judge whether they were getting more attention (I think they were). We also noticed that other server’s tables got hot towels in between dinner and dessert I think, but we didn’t get any—and GF could have used them after all those sticky wings. I don’t think our server brought them out to anyone. I wondered if the difference in service was a matter of us being on the DDP. I had asked about specialty drinks on the DDP in the beginning of the meal, so I knew that our server was aware that we were on it.

Once GF was finished our table was cleared and out came dessert. A different person presented the dessert to us. The bread pudding was in a large bowl with ice cream. The person set it down and said he’d be right back with the bananas foster sauce. It looked different than last time and we realized that last time it had come with the sauce already on it. GF was happy that it was unadulterated this time since the sauce is a bit too sweet for her. When the server got back we expected he would just set down the sauce, but instead he dumped about half of it onto bread pudding first. GF and I were both realized what was happening too late to say anything; fortunately she was able to eat from the side that had the least sauce on it.

Personally I dumped even more sauce on mine—as I said, I *love* sugar! The dessert was yummy. A good bread pudding, though I didn’t really taste the pineapple or coconut. Probably because I dumped so much caramel sauce on it. GF finished eating before me. At one point I had a spoonful of the bread pudding in hand on the way to my mouth when our server suddenly appeared and asked for our room key “so that we could get on our way and wouldn’t be held up.” (GF: “in other words, so she could get on her way and not be held up.”) I put my spoon down and dug out my wallet and gave her the card. We thought it was odd that she came over to ask for our card, but she did the same to the family behind us who wasn’t on the DDP and all our servers at other meals did so as well (but much more politely than she did and not when I had a spoon about to enter my mouth). Maybe Disney is encouraging the servers to ring people up during dessert in order to free up tables quicker during the busy time of free dining?

Buffet: 25.99
Buffet: 25.99
Subtotal: 51.98
Tax: 3.38
Tip: 9.36
Total: 64.72 --> 2 TS


Food: 4.5 out of 5.
Atmosphere: 4 out of 5.
Service: 2 out of 5.

We love it here—it’s definitely still on our “must do” list for every trip regardless of the bad service.
 
There was one interesting couple both GF and I noticed though
Call me stupid, but I can't figure out what the GF stands for in this case.


Oh wait, I just figure it out. The "both GF" doesn't belong to the "couple" but to the "and I" :)
Ugh, it's Friday, I need my weekend to begin!
 
Love, love love, reviews with pictures. Like your rating system, too. Looking forward to the rest. How does a veg. eat at LeCellier?
 


Call me stupid, but I can't figure out what the GF stands for in this case.


Oh wait, I just figure it out. The "both GF" doesn't belong to the "couple" but to the "and I" :)
Ugh, it's Friday, I need my weekend to begin!

:) Yep. GF = girlfriend
 
How does a veg. eat at LeCellier?

Surprisingly well actually! I wasn't really looking forward to it because I figured "eh, it's a steakhouse" but it was actually one of the best meals of the trip.
 
We decided to have breakfast at Main Street Bakery after hearing good things about the French toast loaf on the DIS. We arrived and GF grabbed a table while I got in line. We had stood on the bus which had hurt GF’s feet (she has plantar fasciitis—a heel spur and pain in her foot), so she got some needed rest time for her feet.

There was a bit of a line at the bakery but it moved pretty quickly. In line I’d seen smoothies on the menu and I asked if they had yogurt in them. They didn’t, but there was an attractive looking yogurt parfait so I chose that to go along with the French toast loaf. I had to wait a bit for the French toast loaf since they were out by the time I got to that part of the line. While I was waiting I was very tempted to change my order to a cinnamon roll. These were huge—the size of my head! But the French toast loaf arrived before I could ask the person I’d given my order to change it so I went with that.

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GF had brought a mug of coffee and I had the refillable mug with hot chocolate. We had a great breakfast. The yogurt parfait was better than I expected. This yogurt definitely had sugar added, as well as strawberries, blueberries, bananas and granola. I think I especially liked the bananas; I like how it kind of tempers the more acidic flavors of the other fruit. The French toast loaf was sort of what you’d expect from the name. It was the kind of texture and cut of a loaf of banana bread, but was the flavor of French toast. We enjoyed it and will probably get it again. (GF: “not too sweet! Just perfect.”)

French toast loaf—3.99
Yogurt parfait—3.79
Tax--.51
Total—8.29  2 S

Food: 4 out of 5.
Atmosphere: 2.5 out of 5.
Service: N/A.
 


Keep it coming! I'm leaving on Monday! Your reviews are great! I'm not a veggie, but trying to eat healthier and your meal choices are helping a lot! Can we have a pic of you and your GF eating some of these things?
 
Great reviews! I remember enjoying reading your last set of reviews as well. DD and I are veggie and DH is not, so we're in the same boat as you and your GF.

Ohanas is one of our favorites too. I am happy with just the salad, potatoes, and dessert. I don't care for the miso broth on the tofu dish, but like you, I really like the peanut sauce. The last time we were there, I asked for an extra bowl of the peanut sauce and dumped that on the tofu dish. I thought it was about a 1000x better than the miso. Just something to keep in mind the next time you are there....
 
It only took us a bit over two hours to hit our heat breaking point. Even just after getting soaked on Splash Mountain it was just too hot for us, so we decided to get some lunch and go back to the hotel. We headed over to Columbia Harbor House. We’ve eaten here before and liked the vegetarian choices and enjoyed that it had some non-fried options.

This time GF decided she wanted something fried and opted for a fried fish basket. (GF: “I really should have gone for my usual tuna on wholegrain which is delicious and unique, rather than the usual generic fried fish.") I went with the lighthouse sandwich which has hummus and broccoli slaw on whole wheat and came with chips. I figured we didn’t need two desserts, especially since there were so many good snacks in MK—like a dole whip and an ice cream sandwich (which we actually never ended up getting on this trip :sad1: )! So I asked if I could have coleslaw for dessert, thinking that since coleslaw costs $.99 and chocolate cake costs $3.59, it shouldn't be a problem. However, the CM told me the only options for dessert were just chocolate cake, apple pie, yogurt, and grapes. So we asked for grapes and chocolate cake. And GF got a coke and I got an iced tea.

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Lighthouse Sandwich (hummus and broccoli slaw)

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Grapes and Fried Fish Basket w/ Fries

We realized when we got to our table that we had not been given the chocolate cake. I figured we didn’t really need it anyway since we were planning to get a dole whip and ice cream sandwich on the way out of the park :sad: . Indeed, by the time we were done eating what we had, we didn't have much room left. GF went back up to the counter anyway and told them we didn't get the cake; she asked if we could have yogurt instead to bring back to the room and the obliged. (We never did eat it.)

Like usual the lighthouse sandwich was very good. Nice and light but not just unflavored veggies like some vegetarian dishes tend to be. GF enjoyed her fish and fries, but missed the tuna sandwich she’d had the last time. When asked how it was, she shrugged her shoulders and said, “it was a fish basket,” and that the ratio of batter to fish was a bit too high. The grapes were a nice change since we ate mostly junk food.

Fish basket—7.09
Lighthouse sandwich—6.49
Coke—2.09
Iced tea—2.09
Grapes—1.29 (estimated)
Choc cake (yog)—3.59
Tax—1.47
Total—24.11 --> 2 CS

Food: 3.75 out of 5.
Atmosphere: 3 out of 5.
Service: N/A.

We'll definitely be back here, but GF will be getting her tuna sandwich next time! :thumbsup2
 
I second that.
I will be going there in Oct and I've been wondering what I'll have.

I should have the Le Cellier review up in the next couple days, but I don't think you will be disappointed. The dish I had (a spiced black bean cake--black beans/red onions/corn stuffed red peppers smothered in cheese with a side of lo mein with a light peanut sauce) was very good. It doesn't sound like the two things would go together, but they really did. I actually thought it was the best vegetarian dish I had at the 1 TS restaurant. Unfortunately, I think Le Cellier rotates the vegetarian options on the menu so I don't know how long this option will be sticking around.
 
Can we have a pic of you and your GF eating some of these things?

I don't actually have many pictures of us in the restaurants--to busy taking pics of the food and then scarfing it down I guess! :)

But here's one of us a few hours after arriving at POR our first day.

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Ohanas is one of our favorites too. I am happy with just the salad, potatoes, and dessert. I don't care for the miso broth on the tofu dish, but like you, I really like the peanut sauce. The last time we were there, I asked for an extra bowl of the peanut sauce and dumped that on the tofu dish. I thought it was about a 1000x better than the miso. Just something to keep in mind the next time you are there....

I read your comment to GF and she and I both looked at each other and said, "Why didn't we think of that?!"

I'm so doing this next time! :woohoo:

Thanks for the tip :thumbsup2
 
I am enjoying your reviews.

Although I am not a vegetarian, I appreicate your views on the food choices at WDW! It really broadens my horizons for our upcoming trip.

Keep up the good work.

Ms. H
 
We were too full after lunch at Columbia Harbor House to eat our dole whip and ice cream sandwich at MK. Instead we stopped at Pop when we got back to the hotel for a snack. I chose carrot cake again which was a big surprise to both me and GF. I had complained when she chose it the other night (I’m more of a chocolate person), but I actually really liked it because the cream cheese icing was sooo sweet. We had split it the other night, but this time I ate it solo and it was just too much. It was too sweet and that’s not something I ever say—I’m a sugar fiend. GF chose a hot fudge sundae w/ vanilla ice cream—so boring . (GF: “this from the woman who can’t just have oh say … a chocolate bar or a scoop of ice cream (god forbid)… but needs it topped with chocolate sauce, sprinkles, caramel, peanut butter sauce, butterfinger, snickers, twix, whipped cream, and manna from heaven to find it even edible”) She said it was a typical hot fudge sundae—they had the right kind of hot fudge, but tasteless whipped cream.

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Carrot cake—3.59
Hot fudge sundae—3.99 (estimated)
Tax--.49
Total—8.07 --> 2 S

Food: 3 out of 5.
Atmosphere: 3 out of 5.
Service: N/A.
 
Enjoying your reviews!

Just chiming in to say we ate at Ohana's for the first time a few days after you did. After all the negative reviews here I was a bit concerned- but the food turned out to be great! I was amazed at how juicy the turkey, in particular, was-- that's what I expected to be the driest (actually the sausage and pork were kinda dry but I wasn't that interested in them anyway.)

They gave me the recipe for it- it marinates for a few days, which I guess helps keep it juicy. Feel free to ask if you'd like me to post it- it's around here somewhere....

And just to fill in the tiny bit of missing info, the orange sauce was harissa- a peppery Mid-Eastern condiment; and the green was chimichurri, which is kind of like a cilantro pesto.
 

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