12 days of Disney and Universal food....nom nom nom LOTS of PICS

[TheTravelingCarters]

HEY! I am back

We had a wonderful trip. Obviously, because we added two more days while there. Anyways, we had LOTS of food. Pretty much all are table service and signature spots...it was just adults and we don't do much fast food. No complaints and only one disappointment with any meals!!!

So here's the LIST:
The Kitchen - lunch
Wolfgang Puck Cafe - dinner
Contempo Cafe - dinner
Tokyo Dining - lunch
Drinks around the World
Emeril's at Citywalk - dinner
Kouzinna - breakfast
Beaches and Cream - lunch
California Grill - dinner
Innkeepers Lounge - breakfast and snacks
Sanaa - lunch
Jiko - dinner
Hollywood Brown Derby - lunch
Artist Point - dinner
Grand Floridian Cafe - lunch
Jiko - THE last meal

be prepared to get hungry

Overall Ratings will be scored as followed:
= not good, would not eat there again, very disappointing
= not horrible but not good, would not eat there again
= average,okay food. may or may not eat there again
= great food, will eat here again
= wonderful food, memorable meal! will definitely eat here again

 

[TheTravelingCarters]

we stayed the first 4 nights at The Hard Rock, so we dined at the kitchen twice. Once for breakfast, which was just standard to us. And also lunch! Lunch was so YUMMY!

The Kitchen-
they start serving lunch promptly at 11am. We were headed to the park and wanted to eat before we went to avoid the standard park food...and we thought we might have an adult beverage to get the day going....I mean it is vacation, right?!

So first things first= drinks!

I had the yummy Turkey and Brie Melt with side salad and house dressing

Hubby got a delicious Roast Turkey Club on multigrain bread with side salad with ranch dressing

OVERALL: we were impressed and it was a very memorable lunch. I would definitely recommend it and eat there again!

 

[mimi'sgirl]

Yummy..I'm in. You are such a cute couple! Looking forward to the rest of your review

 

[TheTravelingCarters]

Yummy..I'm in. You are such a cute couple! Looking forward to the rest of your review

Thanks! I think he is a cutie We had a blast and I think I got a picture of most of the food! So my review will be full of tempting images

 

[TheTravelingCarters]

Wolfgang Puck Cafe - late night dinner
We went to Downtown Disney for some shopping the decided to be kids at Disney Quest until they closed, by then we were hungry!
So we walked into Wolfgang puck Cafe and sat at the sushi bar.

Since it was late ( approx 10:15pm), there were only a few tables filled. Our server was Michael and he was very friendly and quick.
The sushi chef was nice and funny. He took this picture of us...

We ordered drinks and edamame to begin. Then three rolls: All very tasty!!!

We got the special roll which had smoked salmon on top of a Cali roll with chile sauce,the rainbow roll and the broiled eel which was our favorite.

Overall: Great service and excellent sushi. We actually preferred this sushi over the two selections we had at California Grill

 

[maiziezoe]

I cannot wait to read more! You two are adorable!

 

[TheTravelingCarters]

Contempo Cafe- dinner
we left very hungry and disappointed. Plus it was the worst $35 spent on food in a long time!
Luckily it was the ONLY bad meal we had during our 12 day trip

Steak flatbread - good, great flavor combination

Turkey, brie and apple sandwich - very disappointing because there was ONE piece of turkey. Flavors were good but for a $10 sandwich I expect alot of meat.

Chicken salad - again disappointing because hardly no meat; like 2 bites of chicken

Overall: I had more expectations after reading some positive reviews BUT we were majorly disappointing

 

[amw]

Welcome back - did you end up ordering a cookie cake or special birthday dessert? I remember your posts on the restaurant thread.

 

[wdwfanatic316]

Great start! I can't wait to read more, especially about Emeril's. We're deciding between there and Margaritaville for our dinner at Universal. It's hard to decide though because there are hardly any Universal restaurant reviews!

 

[TheTravelingCarters]

Welcome back - did you end up ordering a cookie cake or special birthday dessert? I remember your posts on the restaurant thread.

That will be for my March trip with the family....but I have decided to get one of those really big Mickey Rice Krispie for that!

 

[TheTravelingCarters]

Great start! I can't wait to read more, especially about Emeril's. We're deciding between there and Margaritaville for our dinner at Universal. It's hard to decide though because there are hardly any Universal restaurant reviews!

We loved Emerill's...2 app's and three entrees, with no complaints. Wonderful flavors and great service. I have eaten at that Margarittaville (last year) and I must say that the food is not bad but it is the typical touristy chain atmosphere and food one expects, plus the service seemed so rushed. I definitely recommend Emerill's over Margarittaville. But you could walk to Kitchen at the Hard Rock as an atypical choice

 

[TheTravelingCarters]

California Grill
I had read tons of wonderful reviews on here about the Cali Grill, so it was the restaurant that I was most looking forward to on this trip.
We had a late reservation for the night of the MNSSHP- because I wanted to have a few drinks at the bar then watch the Halloween fireworks
on the observation deck then have dinner. (which btw, were the best fireworks of the trip) We arrived about
20 minutes early, they sent us upstairs and sat us immediately. I thought, "Awesome!, no wait. But will this mess up my plan to see the fireworks?"
No worries because I informed the server immediately that
we wanted to watch the fireworks before we got any food. Not a problem! We got drinks then ordered two sushi dishes to be served
right after the fireworks!

Tuna three ways and Snack in the grass roll: The sushi is very fresh and yummy. But I have had much better sushi here
in Birmingham- priced about the same. Maybe that is just great compliments to the sushi chefs here. Don't get me wrong, it was
good but not overly impressed because I eat such great sushi weekly.

For entree, I had the filet cooked medium and substituted garbanzo beans for the loaded
potatoes(not a big potato fan). My steak was cooked PERFECT and it was a wonderful cut of meat.

My husband ordered the pork tenderloin with goat cheese polenta....another great dish with a good cut if meat- not fatty
like alot of dishes are. And the polenta was delish!

The view is amazing! The service was ok. She seemed to not be as
friendly to us as she was the table next to us...don't know why but
she did her job efficiently just not excellent in my mind.

Overall: the food is very good, especially considering it is surrounded by a mass of cliche theme park restaurants. Was it our
best meal ever? Not by a long shot. As far as meals on this trip it doesn't compare to Jiko or Sanaa.
I actually even liked Wolkfgang Puck Cafe's sushi better. The atmosphere of the restaurant is pretty bland. Definitely, a good meal.
With all the wonderful restaurants in Disney I may not go back unless we can get reservations during fireworks again...

 

[Linda67]

Count me in
Great reviews so far.
The sushi at WP looks really good.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Great reviews so far, cannot wait to get to Cali Grill next month...the pork dish is fantastic!

 

[dizneeat]

Love your reviews so far - can't wait for more!

 

[Krissalee]

Love your reviews so far! Thanks!

 

[Schoolbread]

Loving your report! The garbanzo beans looked especially good. Looking forward to more...

 

[cdsmom]

Subscribing to your entertaining TR!

 

[TheTravelingCarters]

Great reviews so far, cannot wait to get to Cali Grill next month...the pork dish is fantastic!

He loved his Pork dish....I however, did not want to share my filet, so I didn't ask to try it

Count me in
Great reviews so far.
The sushi at WP looks really good.

That sushi was so good. The best we had on the trip. And we had sushi 4 times

 

[TheTravelingCarters]

​

Love your reviews so far! Thanks!

Subscribing to your entertaining TR!

YAY! I am not alone and only entertaining myself! Thanks for reading my reviews. They are fun to write BUT do make me miss Disney and make me sort of hungry

Loving your report! The garbanzo beans looked especially good. Looking forward to more...

my husband questioned my garbanzo bean substitution BUT they were fantastic with the steak. He should learn that I'm rarely wrong But seriously, they were cooked perfectly and went really well with the meal