2 Old Dinks Dine Deliciously 11/26-12/04 Our last full day 12/3/07, Goodbye.

[oybolshoi]

So so sorry to hear that your pictures are gone.

Your reviews are great, though, and I was very happy to read that you enjoyed your visit to Raglan Road. Mmmmm.... the dalkey duo .... the beer flights ... the bread pudding!!! I wish we were eating it all right now!

 

[shovan]

That's really a shame about the pictures!

But I'm still enjoying your review! I have an adr for Raglan Road for Feb. and now I'm really excited about it!!!!

The concierge lounge at the Poly sounds wonderful. We love it there & stayed many many times but never concierge because we needed a handicap room & they are only in one bldg. bummer it sure sounds fun!

 

[TigerKat]

Oh my heart just aches for you losing your pics. Loving your reviews anyhoo. We're considering the Poly for our next trip since we've been at BWI twice in a row now.

 

[engle]

We were here this same time!! Great reviews...glad to hear you liked Raglan Road as much as we did!! We were there the same night as you!! Weird?!?!? And it was our Anniversary too....weird again!! Anyway, keep em coming!!

 

[Poppinsme]

I'm late with my reviews. Have been working at Children's Hosp. here in New Orleans and we are very busy. In fact I'm going in early shortly.

Third Day.....ARTIST POINT

We slept in after MVMCP Tues. night. So Wednesday started out slow but picked up steam.
Ate again our breakfast in the Concierge lounge. I had pineapple bread and fruit again. YUM! DH had his coffee with sweet roll, danish and fruit. YUM again. Once again the staff here were awesome and very friendly.
When we came back to our room Tues. night we had a beautiful towel creation of a large heart and our red leis wrapped around it. It took up almost the other bed! How neat. We had towel creations every day coming back to our room. (I had pics)

Then it was off to MK. Had a fabulous day!!
We ate snacks at MK which were very good. I bought a large unsalted pretzel which we shared. And DH got us 2 Mickey bars. It was so magical and we both really like MK the best.
Late afternoon, evening back to the resort to swim and relax and get ready for Artist Point.
Did I say that we had another delish alcoholic beverage by the pool? We did.
I had a Midori sour (which I love), DH had a tradewinds. Yum! The barefoot bar was fun and they make good drinks.
At 7:30 we were dressed and ready to go. Went to front bell service and got a taxi to take us to Wilderness Lodge. Taxi cost $15.00 with tip. We arrived in mins. so walked around the Wilderness Resort and took pics. This Resort is beautiful and we both would stay here. Once again very friendly staff.

Went to Artist Point podium to check in about 10 mins before our 8:15 ADR. They gave us a beeper and we went and sat in the lobby to soak it in. Called within 5 mins. for table.
We were seated right by the windows and there was a lady we passed on our way to seats that commented "That was what WE wanted!" to her DH.
The waiter arrived and asked us if we were on dining plan. Told him no.
He then explained the menu choices and wine flight.
Of course we ordered the wine flight.
DH and I both started with a mixed green salad. Talk about good! I love beets and the blackberry vinaigrette was delicious. We both enjoyed the freshness and flavors.
Since were both cheese nuts we ordered the Artisan cheeses. And DH got the Duck Confit. Heaven!
My screw up was not writing down the cheeses we ate with our wines. DH and I both had a glass of a white from Russian river vineyard (salad course). Good. With the cheeses I had a port and DH had a good Merlot with duck. They also brought out the bread and butter around this time. Sourdough. Warm. Oh so good.
Next was the main courses.
I love Buffalo and couldn't wait to try there version. Told the waiter I wanted it rare so rare that it squeaked.
DH ordered the Beef Tenderloin. Medium rare.
The service was outstanding and everything was clean. The table was cleared promptly and silverware replaced instantly. All the decorations were very nice. Atmosphere!!!
OK the Buffalo did not disappoint me at all. Butter tender and cooked perfectly rare. The sweet potato gratin was good but I left most of it because I was stuffed. I was served my favorite wine, Cabernet Sauvignon.
A sip of wine bite of buffalo. It was outstanding to say the least.
DH was overjoyed at the tenderloin cooked to perfection but he also left most of the potato. It was all good but we were getting rather full. His wine served with tenderloin was a red also, Shiraz blend, very good.
The wine choices they picked were all perfect for what we had.
Ah yes desert!
I picked the Hazelnut Tort with blood orange sauce and lavender ice cream.
DH wanted the Cobbler.
What can I say that hasn't already been said about these deserts in other reviews? OUTSTANDING. DH said he was full but every bite of Cobbler disappeared! I tasted as much of mine as I could. Me stuffed.
Now something interesting happened, life altering, ICE WINE!
Never tried it. SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD. Ended up buying 3 bottles of ice wine from Canada at Epcot.

This was one of the best meals we had at WDW. I would rate it right behind our dinner from V&As. I think DH would agree on that. It is not to be missed. Beautifully presented foods, fabulous pacific northwest wines, outstanding table service, atmosphere wonderful. What more can I say?
Cost right over $200.00. And we left a $50.00 tip. Our taxi back to Poly was another $15.00. Was it worth it? YES!!!!!
Very satisfied.
Next review will be V&As.
I'm off to work now. Thanks for reading my scattered thoughts.

 

[TigerKat]

Sounds like a heavenly night!

 

[Ms. Heimlich]

Sooooo sorry to hear about your pics...

Dh brought his laptop and we downloaded all of ours each night to avoid just what you described from happening. Maybe you can try that in 2009?

Great job on the review. We had Artist Point on the short list, but it eventually lost out to Flying Fish.

 

[John's Mom]

Thanks for the review. Ice Wine is one of my favorites, but very expensive.

 

[DisneyLunaTics]

Oh! I can't wait! I am going to Ragland Road on the 28th and can't wait! My hubby and 2 teens have NEVER been to WDW and I haven't been in 22years. A long.....awaited vacation for us. We live in Denham Springs! Can't wait to read all your reviews. Thanks and so sorry for your loss of pics.

 

[Poppinsme]

I'm late on this review and am sorry been sick this week with Bronchitis. UGH!

This was our big day.........Victoria and Albert's for Anni. dinner.

We got up early because I had booked the Wildlife Excursion for 10:00 a.m.
Ate breakfast in the Concierge lounge again with fruit, pineapple bread, and diet coke for me.
DH had sweet roll, coffee, and fruit. Good as always, great service, beautiful view. (Boy do I miss it.)

Off to the Wildlife Ex. It was the best! One of the big highlights of our trip.
So after this we stayed in the Animal Kingdom and had a blast. Really, really enjoyed this park. I must do a trip report.

Had a late lunch at Flame Tree BBQ.
We both love BBQ and really enjoyed this meal.
I had the beef sandwich with beans, coleslaw, key lime pie, and diet coke.
I thought the sandwich was delicious and the coleslaw was perfect with it. The beans were a little strange so I didn't eat these. And I love beans.
DH had the beef sandwich, beans, onion rings, and a coke.
DH also thought the sandwich was delicious and the onion rings were also very crunchy and hot. He didn't like the beans either. Odd beans.
We sat in a beautiful spot and it was very clean and everybody around us was having a good time. Another magical relaxing moment at WDW.
Would rate this as a very good counter service meal. Served quickly and everything hot and fresh. All the CMs told us happy anniversary.
Just don't expect good beans.

 

[TigerKat]

I agree about the beans, we didn't like them either. The cole slaw was really good! Hope you're feeling better.

 

[Poppinsme]

And now for V&As.
I booked the late dinner at 9:30 so we had some time to kill at the Poly. Enjoyed wishes again from our patio, room 1517, which we thought was the best. Dressed in our finest duds. DH was so handsome! The ladies at the Concierge desk took pics of us with the castle as a backdrop. Losing these pics was the hardest.

Arrived by the monorail at the Grand Floridian. Strange interlude: All the people we encountered on the monorail and walking to V&As told us how happy and beautiful we looked. We got to the podium and were a few minutes early so they asked us to wait out in the lobby just for awhile. So we looked at all the pretty decorations at the GF. What a lovely resort.
I do not remember our waiters names sorry (senior moment).
We were seated right in the center close to the harpist but with perfect view of surroundings. Fabulous! It smelled wonderful with fresh flowers and XMAS decorations. The harpist was really good and the ambiance perfect.
We were presented with our menus personalized for us. Welcome, our names, Happy 32nd Anniversary, date. It was covered in black and written on white paper with gold. Very nice. We of course ordered the wine flight. Hot rolls were brought to the table. Drool!!! And served with fresh Vermont butter. God these were good.

First Course:
Our waiters presented us with a Amuse Bouche on the Chef with a happy anniversary from him! 2 glasses of Heidsieck Monopole "Blue Top" Brut Champagne NV and The White Truffle.
Oh my god was the truffle good! We both like truffles so this was just perfect to have with champagne. (I had pics) Served beautifully and the crystal was gorgeous. We both really liked this.

Second Course:
We both had the Walnut Seared Duck with Hearts of Palm, Huckleberry Vinaigrette and Fourme D'Ambert Fondue. Our wine was Lynmar Pinot Noir, Russian River 2004.
Enjoyed this very much. Just delicious! The Duck was cooked perfect and sweet with the hearts of palm and huckleberry. And the wine matched it spot on. We ate each course very slowly and drank our wines carefully so we had no problems alcohol wise. Both of us are used to eating with wine. Once again presentation and china, crystal perfect. My DH is almost deaf and they were very accommodating to this and explained everything to him so he could hear. Wonderful!

Third Course:
I chose the Pan Roasted Foie Gras with Fugi Apples and Mostarda di Cremona. The wine was Royal Tokaji Azsu' 5 Puttonyos, Mad Tokai-Hegyalja 2003. THIS was the best dish I had at WDW!! Melt in your mouth good. I just love Foie Gras and this was fabulous! So buttery and cooked perfect. And the apples supporting the Foie Gras delish. DH tried it and agreed. The wine was a great tasty pick, the sommelier there was good for sure! AH heaven.

DH ordered the Minnesota Elk Tenderloin with Stewed Petite French Lentils and Corn. His wine was Prior d' Scala Dei, Priorat 2003.
He thought it was outstanding and cooked perfect and very tender. The lentils and corn served with it was delicious. When I tasted it I had to agree very, very tasty. The wine was robust but not over powering. Good choice for Elk.
A most fabulous and special course served perfectly and with joy. The harpist playing in the background how magical!

Fourth Course:
I ordered the Big Eye Tuna with Bamboo Rice and Tamari Beurre Blanc. My wine served was Domaine Hippolyte Reverdy, Sancerre 2006.
Once again what can I say. Lip smacking good for sure. Tuna perfectly cooked, rice with the Tamari accent oh so good. OH SO GOOD. And the wine with this, YUM. I just love raw Tuna and even though this was seared it was so yummy. DH also loved this dish and wine choice.

DH ordered the Nantucket Scallops with Roasted Beets and Pomegranate Reduction. His wine served was Caymus Conundrum, Calif. 2005.
HE LOVED IT! (So did I). It was so good. OH my scallops with beets who would have thought? Perfect all the way. And he really enjoyed his wine choice, dry and just the right bite. Another outstanding course! Served again with perfection.

Fifth Course:
We are getting full.
I ordered the Kansas City Angus Beef with Candied Yukon Gold Potatoes. Rare. My wine choice was Sequoia Grove Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa 2004.
AHHH!!! A bite of beef a sip of my Cabernet, heaven! It was cooked rare and very tender. A very, very good dish and wine served correct. This Cabernet was my kind, dry and Smokey. YUM. DH also gave a big thumbs up.

Dh ordered the Australian "Kobe" Beef Tenderloin with Smoked Garlic Puree'. His wine of choice was Château d' Armailhac, Pauillac 2004.
What can we say? Again fabulous! (I keep using that word) Tender and cooked perfect. DH is a big meat eater and he really enjoyed this with the good wine. I liked it very much also.
We were pacing ourselves and couldn't finish everything on this course because we wanted to save room. The service again was outstanding!

 

[Poppinsme]

Next.
Sixth Course:

We both had the Pierre Robert, 5 Year Aged Parmigiano Reggiano and Monte Enebro. Our wine choice served was Quinta do Crasto Late Bottled Vintage Porto 2001.
Very good as a break before dessert. Light and refreshing. Not to filling just perfect. Cheese was good and tasty with the Port. As before served perfectly and with humor and fun. Our waiters were very good and attentive throughout the service.

Seventh Course:

I chose the Tanzanian Chocolate Pyramid, Hawaiian Kona Chocolate Soufflé, and Peruvian Chocolate Ice Cream and Puff Pastry. (Whew) The "Celebes" Coffee was brought out at this time and was brewing nicely. Chocoholics rejoice!!! What a dish! And they brought out hot fudge sauce for the Soufflé! OH My GOD was this good. I loved the Soufflé the best, so yummy! The ice cream I took a bite of and left the rest. It was good. The Pyramid was cool to look at and good to taste. But left most of it as I was pretty full. DH thought it was all good and he gave it high marks.

DH ordered the Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee. Another hit!! Perfect dish. It was served very artfully with a large piece of caramelized sugar on the side. Crunchy and soooo good! I loved it also. We both wish we were eating this right now. YUMMY!!!

The Coffee was a fabulous ending. We both love pressed pot coffee and this was so much better! And cool to watch.

It WAS the best meal and dining experience we had at WDW. Took us 2.5 hours to finish and we were never rushed. The service was excellent. DH and I have eaten at some really great restaurants, Commanders Palace, Emerils, Bayona, Galatoires, etc. here in New Orleans. V&As is right up there with the best. This is not to be missed! A real magical and beautiful experience. Will definitely dine here again. We want the Chefs Table.
At the end I got my red rose and they gave DH a loaf of nut bread.
We thanked Chef Hunnel for such a glorious meal.

The cost....Priceless! But I will tell. Oh, almost $600.00 with tip and worth every penny.

Thanks for reading and any questions?

Next up...Brown Derby Fantasmic Package.

 

[Poppinsme]

I agree about the beans, we didn't like them either. The cole slaw was really good! Hope you're feeling better.

AWWWW thanks! Feeling much better just in time to get back to work tomorrow. This weather is making everybody sick. Hot or cold?

 

[TigerKat]

Looks like we're the only ones home today.

I loved your V & A review!!! That is my dream one day to be able to go there.

 

[shovan]

I wanted to post my comments on Artist Point before reading & becoming overwhelmed with your V&A review.


Wow Thanks! That sure sounds excellent! Although I'm now feeling pretty sad that we canceled an adr at AP during our last trip. (F&W trip with food overload) The buffalo still kicking sounds delish to me! And the wine flight seems to have made that a perfect meal!

Now on to read all about V&A!!!!

 

[shovan]

Oh my goodness!!!!! I don't even know what to say, it all sounds so unbelievably fabulous!

I find it really interesting that they pair the Royal Tokaji with the Foie Gras! It's a sweet dessert wine, right? Seems like an unusual pairing to me, I guess I'll have to do some more reading on f&w pairings. Or better yet get out more & try some fancy food & wine pairings!!!

The whole meal sounds so wonderful. Thanks for sharing!

( and come drop in more often on our Nola thread, we've been missing you over there.)

 

[Poppinsme]

And finally our fifth day. Sorry I'm late. 11/30/07
This was a Friday and our fantasmic package.
Once again we ate concierge for breakfast. I had my pineapple bread and fruit with a diet coke. DH had sweet rolls and fruit with a nice cuppa joe. Yum again. Boy do I miss that bread.

Off to MGM. We waited the longest this time for the bus to MGM but still only about 20 mins. Met some nice people at the bus stop.
We were stopped by a dream team guy when we were getting Cokes around noon. He wanted to buy us lunch but we declined saying we were eating at Brown Derby and didn't want to spoil our appetite. He seemed disappointed and said we were the first who turned a meal down. So he bought us our Cokes. I thought it was cool to get anything for free. COOL!

BROWN DERBY

ADRs were for 4:30 and we were seated promptly. Nice seats and very comfortable surroundings. Our waiter was Adner and he was very nice and attentive. Since we had the fantasmic package it was $46.99 a person. But of course we strayed a little.

I had the the Mixed Field Greens to start and it was quite good and fresh.
Delish!
DH had the Goat Cheese Cremini Mushroom Tortelloni which he thought was very good. I agreed. Yum again. Goat cheese is so good.

Next course we both had the Grilled Filet Mingon. Mine was rare, very rare please. DH had medium rare. They were both cooked perfect. The Bearnaise sauce with butter was delicious. We enjoyed this course very much.

Last deserts. I had the Banana White Chocolate Toffee Tower. DH had the Grapefruit Cake. We enjoyed both. Mine was decadently delicious. Two big thumbs up.
This is when we strayed from the menu and ordered ICE WINE. A glass for each of us. $20.00 a glass and worth every drop I say.

OK total for dinner was $142.69 and I gave a $40.00 tip. It was all worth it and we would eat here again because its one of our favorite WDW restaurants. Atmosphere, service and food can't be beat.

Next up Kona and Biergarten.

 

[Poppinsme]

Saturday 12/1/07. Sixth Day.

Started off eating at KONA for breakfast not concierge for once. We asked concierge if they could get us a table and we got right in at 10:00 a.m. Ted was our server and he was nice and attentive. Good service.

I ordered Tonga Toast. Boy is this the bomb or what? Talk about good. Good grief I could eat this right now!!! Bananas stuffed in bread and then fried....it would make Elvis proud. I ate it up with a side of crispy bacon. DH also thought it was very good.

DH had the Big Kahuna. Talk about a spread! And he couldn't finish it all. I thought the Macadamia-Pineapple pancakes were to die for. He had his with ham. Ham for a ham.

We had the Kona pressed pot coffee with our meal. So good. So darn good. This really got us going for Epcot and doing some drinking around the world.

Cost $32.46 and a $15.00 tip. Yes we would both eat here again. Very nice and relaxing after a night at MGM and the Osborn lights.
AAAHHHH.

 

[Poppinsme]

Off to Epcot!
First stop in the world was of course a Mango Tea slush with alcohol. All righty then that was good. DH had a Tsing Tao beer and that was good also.
A little later we went and got a Fiesta Margarita from Mexico and that was cool and delicious.
Made our way to Noway around 3:00 p.m. and had open face sandwiches of beef and onions on a hard delicious roll with mustard. We also had a Carlsberg Beer and School Bread, Fruit Tart and Pretzel to go. All very good and fresh. We enjoyed sitting out by the water and watching the people go by munching on our pretzels later. And of course School Bread is so good. We love Norway!
OK we both decided we had enough alcohol for now.
And then I walked toward France saw the little wine area inside and of course ordered a Lemon-cello. YUM.

BIERGARTEN. 7:00 p.m.

Oh this was really good!!!
And fun!!!!! You betcha!!!
We both really enjoyed everything very much. DH couldn't wait to eat here because he lived in Germany. Neither of us were disappointed. Had great pics!!! Damn again damn.

We sat next to a party of 3 from Boston and a party of 2 from Orlando. I being me tried to chat up the Boston group. Asked them all kinds of questions about Boston. They were very reserved. And we REALLY loosened up after drinking our beer flight. They were the first to leave and we were the last. I'm from New Orleans and like to have a good time what can I say. Why sure captain I'll do the chicken dance.

So we started with the beer flight. Beck's Regular, Franziskaner Hefe Weisse, Beck's Dark, and Spaten Optimator. I really liked the Beck's Regular and Dark. Yum. DH liked the Spaten Optimator best. They all went with everything we ate quite nicely.

We bellied up to the buffet and WOW! I had German potato salad(yum), Wurst salad(ok), Sauerbraten(Love it), Salmon, Red cabbage(yum), Herring(3 servings of this,YUM!), Beet salad(yum), Pork Schnitzel(yum), Spatzle, Carrots, Pretzel bread(yum), Meatballs. Whew. All very good and so yummy.

DH had the same thing minus the Herring. AND he had 5 servings of the Pork Schnitzel!!! 5 SERVINGS.....
DH said it was the best Schnitzel he had ever had and couldn't help himself.

Well we didn't really have any room for desert BUT had to try the Apple Strudel. Of course it was good.

The entertainment was so much fun! And they announced our Anni. and we did a special toast, what fun we had.
Just cant say enough good things about it. The food was really good and our server was great.

Cost was around $75.00 and we left a $25.00 tip. Well worth every penny. Would go again in a heart beat.

Next up JIKO.