Tgoody
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2020
This is my second food report and I enjoyed recapping our prior Food and Wine trip from 2021 here https://www.disboards.com/threads/n...bear-citricos-steakhouse-71-and-more.3859909/
Since the last trip I upgraded from the girlfriend package to the one with a ring to it: Fiancé .
We ate at the following locations:
1/24 Hollywood Brown Derby - Fantasmic Dining Package and Oga's Cantina
1/25 Nomads Lounge and California Grill (Bday Dinner)
1/26 Festival of The Arts Booths and Toppolino's
1/27 Bar Riva and Jiko
1/28 Festival of The Arts Booths and Morimoto
1/29 Boathouse Brunch, Tambuu Lounge and Bar Riva
1/30 Toppolino's Breakfast
Hollywood Brown Derby - Fantasmic Dining Package
I had not had the privilege of seeing Fantasmic in years past, so this trip we wanted to make it a priority. We had heard great things about Hollywood Brown Derby from other reviews and videos. We arrived at 3:30pm after traveling all morning. With the dining package you received one entrée and either a dessert or appetizer. I chose to order the shrimp cocktail and the filet. My fiance ordered the seafood cioppino and the bananas foster for dessert. We each split the famous cobb salad. Service and drinks here were amazing. The margarita flight was nice and fiance loved the grapefruit cake martini. Both our main dishes were outstanding. We will be back here in the future!
Oga's Cantina - Late Late Reservation
We lucked upon a 9:45pm reservation for Oga's and hung around HS after "park closing". We got some awesome pictures exiting the park and met an amazing couple from Texas. I like the theming of the drinks, but most of them are either too sweet or not balanced. I stuck to beer this time.
Nomad Lounge - Birthday Lunch
This has become one of our must do's each trip. The drinks here are amazing. The food options are great too. This trip we sat down inside once, and had to go drinks once. The Tempting Tigress may be my favorite drink on property. It is just phenomenal! We tried a few new dishes here. The Honey Glazed Pork Belly, the Cuban Sliders and the Manchurian Cauliflower. The sliders were the least impressive, not much flavor or creativity compared to the Pork Belly and Cauliflower dishes.
California Grill - Birthday Dinner
A big ticket item for this trip was to experience California Grill together. Our reservation was for 7:50PM, right before fireworks at 8:15PM. We checked in and were seated promptly. Our waiter took our drink order and had us situated with our appetizer orders placed before Enchantment started. We got to enjoy our drinks and bread while Enchantment was going. Within minutes of it ending our waiter came back with our appetizers and our wine pairings. We chose to do the signature pairing this trip and I am glad we did. The value of the pours and the overall quality was outstanding. I ordered the short rib wontons and she ordered the sushi combo. The wontons may be my favorite dish on property, they are that good. The wine pairings were a Cab and the sushi was paired with a Riesling. I ordered the filet for dinner and she ordered the grouper. The filet was served with asparagus and roasted potatoes. I enjoy a medium rare filet and this was cooked perfectly. The grouper dis was served with rice and a mix of bok choy and mushrooms. The chutney with this and curry sauce was amazing. Both dishes were served with a Cab sauv. For dessert I ordered the Peanut and Banana Torte and she ordered the crème brulee. We also received a piece of birthday cake to celebrate and an additional glass of champagne. My torte was paired with a dessert wine, and her crème brulee with a very nice champagne. The torte may have been my favorite dessert of the trip, it was salty and sweet and not over powering. The service here is the best and the whole experience is worth the price.
Festival of the Arts (FARTS) - Epcot Booths
I am a planner. Sometimes even an over planner. When the menus were released for this festival I had a chart of must eats for the trip. I can say that we ate everything but two items on the must eats list. The lone items were the flan in the Mexico booth and the truffle croissant in the France booth. Both were casualties of time and full stomachs. But on to the highlights! The Germany booth won our best of the fest. The short rib and the wild boar dishes were delicious. Notable contenders were the huaraches and carne asada from Mexico. The angry crab from Moderne and the beef wellington were good too. In total we had 20 different dishes from FARTS. We did not enjoy the French Onion Soup from Deconstructed Dish. Besides that, everything else that we had was good.
Toppolinos - Dinner
We were staying at the Riviera for part of this trip and this was our first night. We got back from Epcot and cleaned up and went upstairs to dinner. For starters, the restaurant is beautiful and the view is great. We had a 9:00pm reservation and were seated when Harmonious was starting. We ordered drinks and relaxed while the show was going. I wish they piped in the music like the do at California Grill, but it seemed like over half the guests didn't care that the show was going on. For appetizers we ordered the ricotta and the gnocchi. I was apprehensive of the ricotta, because it was initially explained to me as being similar to cottage cheese (barf). But after some encouragement by the future Mrs. I tried it with the tomato and it was very good. The gnocchi was served with lamb and sweet potato and was overall a bit oily. It had good flavor but was saturated. I ordered the filet with a side of brussels sprouts. She ordered the lobster linguine with a side of truffled scallops. By now you should notice a trend of my entree choices. I enjoy red meat. With that being said, this filet was the best that I have had in quite some time. The menu states it is wood fired, and you can tell. It was cooked perfectly and the sear from the grill had that depth of flavor you only get from a wood fired grill. If I didnt have pictures in front of me I wouldn't be able to tell you what it was served with, but it had broccolini, carrots and a layered potato cake. The sprouts on the side were flavorful and plentiful. Shareable side for sure. The future Mrs. linguine looked great, but the overall flavors did not stand out. It fell flat. Everything was cooked properly, linguine and lobster. But it didn't come together on the plate. The side scallops had a black truffle jam on them and were superb. I could just order that and the salad and be happy. We each ordered a dessert. I had the chocolate cake and she had the Fruits of The Forest (berry mouse and sorbet). My dessert was very rich and decadent. Hers was very light and refreshing. We ended up combining parts of each for the perfect bites. Back to back nights of signature dining at two of the top restaurants on property led me to compare the two (Cali Grill v Toppolinos) quite a bit. Our waitress at Toppolinos seemed disinterested and not engaged. We would have ordered more drinks and stayed longer, but we weren't given that chance based on the flow of dinner and our waitress disappearing for periods of time.
Jiko - Dinner
We had Sanaa the previous trip in 2021 and enjoyed it. We were excited to see that Jiko had returned for this trip. We were early for our reservation so we sat at the lounge attached. The waitress here, Lo, is the best of the best. Within seconds she had us laughing and taken care of. We almost cancelled our reservation and ate there with her just to get a few more laughs in. Note for future trips, the entire Jiko menu can be ordered here. We were seated a few minutes after our reservation time and had a great meal. The giraffe bread to start was nice. We ordered the scallops to share, along with the duck flatbread. The flatbread was spiccccyyyyy, which I enjoy, but the fiancé did not. The scallops were okay, but didn't compare to the previous nights. I ordered the lamb shank and she ordered the beef short rib. Both were fork tender and paired well with their sides. The minted pea puree that came with the lamb sounded strange, but worked so well together. The African wine served here is a special treat and the pairings are spot on. Try them if you go here!
Morimoto - Dinner
We traveled to Disney Springs on a Saturday evening and braved the crowds. We ate at 6:30pm and met two friends from Tampa here. Our waiter was very knowledgeable and taught us about the difference in the sake that they had. We ordered a flight as well as otoro nigiri for the table. We come from a land locked state and our access to fresh fish is minimal. So comign to a place like this with an extensive sushi selection is a treat. Along with the otoro we ordered the ribs as a starter. For mains we had spicy ramen, ramen, buri bop and wagyu loco moco. All of the items were good, the ramen was nothing special. The ribs and otoro were highlights as usual.
Boathouse - Brunch
This trip compared to prior trips was a bit more relaxed. We got to sleep in a bit and ride what we wanted and see what we wanted, versus running 100mph each day trying to tackle every ride and maximize time. This morning we got up and got to MK late and rode a couple things then got to Disney Springs for a brunch reservation at BoatHouse around 11am. We had not been here before, but when the future Mrs saw a picture of the duck duck razz she had to have it. Sooooo here we are for brunch. The parker house rolls they serve when you are seated are divine. The firecracker shrimp appetizer is good too. I ordered off the lunch menu, the coriander tuna steak. It came out and I was pleasantly surprised by the two large medallions of tuna steak. The sauces on the side were sriracha and wasabi, so be prepared for some heat. She ordered the crab cake benedict. I was also surprised that the crab cakes were massive and filled with lump crab meat. Her dish was amazing and sadly she didn't share much with me, as my choice was not as appealing to her to swap. The drinks here were good and the duck came home with us. His name is Reginald.
Toppolinos - Character Breakfast
This was our checkout day and this was a great choice to end the trip with. We had a reservation for 7:40am to ensure we made it to MCO with plenty of time to get through security. Our waiter here was much more enthusiastic than the waitress we had for dinner. He had us situated with mimosas and belini's along with the breakfast pastries in no time. I was unsure of how the menu worked based on previous reports and first hand conversations. Our waited explained that we could order one main and one portion of the other mains as a side. Cool, so I didnt have to have an inner turmoil over what I wanted most. I of course ordered the steak and polenta with over easy eggs with a side of the brulee french toast. She ordered the quiche with a side of the sour cream waffles. The characters came by sporadically and took pictures with us throughout the meal. For the price and quality of the food, this is a must do for those that want to have a character dining experience.
We had a few other items in between the main meals, but these were the highlights. As you can tell, we enjoy the dining aspect of Disney and we rant/rave about our food when we go places. Outside of dining choices, we enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy: cosmic rewind immensely. It is our new favorite ride and each time we got off of it in amazement. Well done Disney. Hopefully we can come back soon to catch the opening of Tron.
Thanks for reading!
Since the last trip I upgraded from the girlfriend package to the one with a ring to it: Fiancé .
We ate at the following locations:
1/24 Hollywood Brown Derby - Fantasmic Dining Package and Oga's Cantina
1/25 Nomads Lounge and California Grill (Bday Dinner)
1/26 Festival of The Arts Booths and Toppolino's
1/27 Bar Riva and Jiko
1/28 Festival of The Arts Booths and Morimoto
1/29 Boathouse Brunch, Tambuu Lounge and Bar Riva
1/30 Toppolino's Breakfast
Hollywood Brown Derby - Fantasmic Dining Package
I had not had the privilege of seeing Fantasmic in years past, so this trip we wanted to make it a priority. We had heard great things about Hollywood Brown Derby from other reviews and videos. We arrived at 3:30pm after traveling all morning. With the dining package you received one entrée and either a dessert or appetizer. I chose to order the shrimp cocktail and the filet. My fiance ordered the seafood cioppino and the bananas foster for dessert. We each split the famous cobb salad. Service and drinks here were amazing. The margarita flight was nice and fiance loved the grapefruit cake martini. Both our main dishes were outstanding. We will be back here in the future!
Oga's Cantina - Late Late Reservation
We lucked upon a 9:45pm reservation for Oga's and hung around HS after "park closing". We got some awesome pictures exiting the park and met an amazing couple from Texas. I like the theming of the drinks, but most of them are either too sweet or not balanced. I stuck to beer this time.
Nomad Lounge - Birthday Lunch
This has become one of our must do's each trip. The drinks here are amazing. The food options are great too. This trip we sat down inside once, and had to go drinks once. The Tempting Tigress may be my favorite drink on property. It is just phenomenal! We tried a few new dishes here. The Honey Glazed Pork Belly, the Cuban Sliders and the Manchurian Cauliflower. The sliders were the least impressive, not much flavor or creativity compared to the Pork Belly and Cauliflower dishes.
California Grill - Birthday Dinner
A big ticket item for this trip was to experience California Grill together. Our reservation was for 7:50PM, right before fireworks at 8:15PM. We checked in and were seated promptly. Our waiter took our drink order and had us situated with our appetizer orders placed before Enchantment started. We got to enjoy our drinks and bread while Enchantment was going. Within minutes of it ending our waiter came back with our appetizers and our wine pairings. We chose to do the signature pairing this trip and I am glad we did. The value of the pours and the overall quality was outstanding. I ordered the short rib wontons and she ordered the sushi combo. The wontons may be my favorite dish on property, they are that good. The wine pairings were a Cab and the sushi was paired with a Riesling. I ordered the filet for dinner and she ordered the grouper. The filet was served with asparagus and roasted potatoes. I enjoy a medium rare filet and this was cooked perfectly. The grouper dis was served with rice and a mix of bok choy and mushrooms. The chutney with this and curry sauce was amazing. Both dishes were served with a Cab sauv. For dessert I ordered the Peanut and Banana Torte and she ordered the crème brulee. We also received a piece of birthday cake to celebrate and an additional glass of champagne. My torte was paired with a dessert wine, and her crème brulee with a very nice champagne. The torte may have been my favorite dessert of the trip, it was salty and sweet and not over powering. The service here is the best and the whole experience is worth the price.
Festival of the Arts (FARTS) - Epcot Booths
I am a planner. Sometimes even an over planner. When the menus were released for this festival I had a chart of must eats for the trip. I can say that we ate everything but two items on the must eats list. The lone items were the flan in the Mexico booth and the truffle croissant in the France booth. Both were casualties of time and full stomachs. But on to the highlights! The Germany booth won our best of the fest. The short rib and the wild boar dishes were delicious. Notable contenders were the huaraches and carne asada from Mexico. The angry crab from Moderne and the beef wellington were good too. In total we had 20 different dishes from FARTS. We did not enjoy the French Onion Soup from Deconstructed Dish. Besides that, everything else that we had was good.
Toppolinos - Dinner
We were staying at the Riviera for part of this trip and this was our first night. We got back from Epcot and cleaned up and went upstairs to dinner. For starters, the restaurant is beautiful and the view is great. We had a 9:00pm reservation and were seated when Harmonious was starting. We ordered drinks and relaxed while the show was going. I wish they piped in the music like the do at California Grill, but it seemed like over half the guests didn't care that the show was going on. For appetizers we ordered the ricotta and the gnocchi. I was apprehensive of the ricotta, because it was initially explained to me as being similar to cottage cheese (barf). But after some encouragement by the future Mrs. I tried it with the tomato and it was very good. The gnocchi was served with lamb and sweet potato and was overall a bit oily. It had good flavor but was saturated. I ordered the filet with a side of brussels sprouts. She ordered the lobster linguine with a side of truffled scallops. By now you should notice a trend of my entree choices. I enjoy red meat. With that being said, this filet was the best that I have had in quite some time. The menu states it is wood fired, and you can tell. It was cooked perfectly and the sear from the grill had that depth of flavor you only get from a wood fired grill. If I didnt have pictures in front of me I wouldn't be able to tell you what it was served with, but it had broccolini, carrots and a layered potato cake. The sprouts on the side were flavorful and plentiful. Shareable side for sure. The future Mrs. linguine looked great, but the overall flavors did not stand out. It fell flat. Everything was cooked properly, linguine and lobster. But it didn't come together on the plate. The side scallops had a black truffle jam on them and were superb. I could just order that and the salad and be happy. We each ordered a dessert. I had the chocolate cake and she had the Fruits of The Forest (berry mouse and sorbet). My dessert was very rich and decadent. Hers was very light and refreshing. We ended up combining parts of each for the perfect bites. Back to back nights of signature dining at two of the top restaurants on property led me to compare the two (Cali Grill v Toppolinos) quite a bit. Our waitress at Toppolinos seemed disinterested and not engaged. We would have ordered more drinks and stayed longer, but we weren't given that chance based on the flow of dinner and our waitress disappearing for periods of time.
Jiko - Dinner
We had Sanaa the previous trip in 2021 and enjoyed it. We were excited to see that Jiko had returned for this trip. We were early for our reservation so we sat at the lounge attached. The waitress here, Lo, is the best of the best. Within seconds she had us laughing and taken care of. We almost cancelled our reservation and ate there with her just to get a few more laughs in. Note for future trips, the entire Jiko menu can be ordered here. We were seated a few minutes after our reservation time and had a great meal. The giraffe bread to start was nice. We ordered the scallops to share, along with the duck flatbread. The flatbread was spiccccyyyyy, which I enjoy, but the fiancé did not. The scallops were okay, but didn't compare to the previous nights. I ordered the lamb shank and she ordered the beef short rib. Both were fork tender and paired well with their sides. The minted pea puree that came with the lamb sounded strange, but worked so well together. The African wine served here is a special treat and the pairings are spot on. Try them if you go here!
Morimoto - Dinner
We traveled to Disney Springs on a Saturday evening and braved the crowds. We ate at 6:30pm and met two friends from Tampa here. Our waiter was very knowledgeable and taught us about the difference in the sake that they had. We ordered a flight as well as otoro nigiri for the table. We come from a land locked state and our access to fresh fish is minimal. So comign to a place like this with an extensive sushi selection is a treat. Along with the otoro we ordered the ribs as a starter. For mains we had spicy ramen, ramen, buri bop and wagyu loco moco. All of the items were good, the ramen was nothing special. The ribs and otoro were highlights as usual.
Boathouse - Brunch
This trip compared to prior trips was a bit more relaxed. We got to sleep in a bit and ride what we wanted and see what we wanted, versus running 100mph each day trying to tackle every ride and maximize time. This morning we got up and got to MK late and rode a couple things then got to Disney Springs for a brunch reservation at BoatHouse around 11am. We had not been here before, but when the future Mrs saw a picture of the duck duck razz she had to have it. Sooooo here we are for brunch. The parker house rolls they serve when you are seated are divine. The firecracker shrimp appetizer is good too. I ordered off the lunch menu, the coriander tuna steak. It came out and I was pleasantly surprised by the two large medallions of tuna steak. The sauces on the side were sriracha and wasabi, so be prepared for some heat. She ordered the crab cake benedict. I was also surprised that the crab cakes were massive and filled with lump crab meat. Her dish was amazing and sadly she didn't share much with me, as my choice was not as appealing to her to swap. The drinks here were good and the duck came home with us. His name is Reginald.
Toppolinos - Character Breakfast
This was our checkout day and this was a great choice to end the trip with. We had a reservation for 7:40am to ensure we made it to MCO with plenty of time to get through security. Our waiter here was much more enthusiastic than the waitress we had for dinner. He had us situated with mimosas and belini's along with the breakfast pastries in no time. I was unsure of how the menu worked based on previous reports and first hand conversations. Our waited explained that we could order one main and one portion of the other mains as a side. Cool, so I didnt have to have an inner turmoil over what I wanted most. I of course ordered the steak and polenta with over easy eggs with a side of the brulee french toast. She ordered the quiche with a side of the sour cream waffles. The characters came by sporadically and took pictures with us throughout the meal. For the price and quality of the food, this is a must do for those that want to have a character dining experience.
We had a few other items in between the main meals, but these were the highlights. As you can tell, we enjoy the dining aspect of Disney and we rant/rave about our food when we go places. Outside of dining choices, we enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy: cosmic rewind immensely. It is our new favorite ride and each time we got off of it in amazement. Well done Disney. Hopefully we can come back soon to catch the opening of Tron.
Thanks for reading!
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