Before I get to the review, I have to give a little bit of backstory for that evening, since it affected the meal.
Sometime earlier in the day, we were walking through the American Pavilion, and saw that they had these little prairie dog stuffed animals on clearance. Combine that with our AP discount, and I think the doll was about $5. So, I got one, and named him Eddie (after Edoardo, our awesome Tutto waiter). I carried Eddie in my sweatshirt for the rest of the night. Here's a picture of Eddie peeking out from my sweatshirt:
Then we made the horrible decision to head over to MK for a bit before going back to Epcot and our 8:10pm ADR at Akershus. It was incredibly crowded at MK, so we walked around for a bit, then left. We had about 45 mins. to get from MK to Akershus, but apparently that wasn't nearly enough time. When we walked out of the MK front gates, I saw the boat to the TTC was there, so I made the bad decision to run over to it. The boat was just about to leave, and they weren't letting anyone else on. Instead of going to the monorail, we waited for the next boat. Another mistake, since that took quite a while. We knew we'd have to make a mad dash to the Epcot monorail as soon as we exited the boat. Well, we did that, and sometime during the dash, I lost Eddie
I only noticed it when we were already on the Epcot monorail.
By that point, I was cold, tired, frustrated, and upset. I told DH I couldn't run any more, so he made the second dash from the monorail exit to Akershus. I think he checked in about 5-10 mins. late. However, the host wouldn't even officially check him in until I was there, because they do the picture with Belle (or another princess) when you enter, so the entire party has to be there. I got there around 8:25. We were in the last seating of the night.
After our picture with Belle (which turned out surprisingly nice, considering I was so unhappy), we sat down and ordered. As soon as we did that, DH left to go get me a replacement Eddie. I couldn't believe he went all the way to America and back to Norway for me! Anyway, in his absence, I had to get the cold plates.
Here's mine:
I've heard a lot of complaints about some of the fish at the cold buffet, but I really liked it. In fact, the cold buffet was really the highlight of the meal for me. I loaded up on meat, cheese, herring, smoked salmon w/capers, veggies, and a roll.
I knew what DH would and wouldn't eat, so his plate is a little more sparse:
He ate most of it...once he got back from his journey.
Despite the fact that our waiter, Joergen, assured us we would have plenty of time to eat the cold buffet before the princesses came around, they were there right when I got back from getting the plates, so DH missed a couple. He was fine with that, though. We'd met Snow White earlier in our trip, and he wasn't terribly interested in the princesses anyway. Here are the princess pics:
As you can see, DH had made it by the time Ariel came around. Some of these pics were taken by the waitstaff, so that's why the quality varies. I especially like my Pee Wee shirt in the pic with Ariel
For our main course, we both ordered the Kjottake:
This looks better than it tasted. The lingonberry sauce was good, but the rest wasn't that great. Maybe it was because we were both tired, or maybe it just wasn't good. We chose it because it was supposedly a traditional dish, and it looked like one of the better options, but it was disappointing.
And here's the dessert plate:
No complaints here. The puff pastry with marscapone filling was perfect, the rice pudding with berry topping was great, and the chocolate mousse was rich and delicious. We ate it all
Illuminations was going off right as we started dessert. A couple of groups went outside to watch, but then came back to finish their meals. DH told me he was really worried when he came back from getting my new Eddie, since the front door was open when he left, and closed when he came back, but I guess it was still unlocked.
Total w/o
DDP? $93.70 (this is estimate from the menu prices on All Ears, since I don't have a receipt with the price).
Atmosphere? We sat in one of the side rooms. The inside was castle-like, but honestly I barely noticed because of my mood. Seemed nice enough...we give it a 3.
Service? Joergen and the other staff were very polite, and the food was fast. A 4 overall.
Food? I give it a 3, DH says 2 1/2. The main course was a let-down.
Overall rating? This is a character meal, and I rarely hear anyone say they went to a character meal for the food. That being said, we won't be going back until we have kids and they want to meet the princesses.
We're staying at the YC in 11 days and I thought we could get breakfast at BC marketplace some morning, but now I don't think I'll waste the money...
I haven't eaten in the Italy pavillion since Alfredo was there, seems as though it is worth a visit!
