9 days of gluttony! A (no longer) *LIVE* dining report 8/31 - 9/8 ***COMPLETE 2/28, Lunch at The Plaza***

[dreamin'boutdis]

I recently removed Mama Melrose from my list of possible ADRs for next May...now you're making me rethink that decision (especially with your meal choices)...

We really enjoyed our meals! I'd definitely see if you can make a spot for it.

That looks like 5 meatballs in the spag & meatballs, but I don't see a hint of spaghetti. Was it served on another plate? Yum-yum all the herbs in the oil for the bread, and yes that the bread was piping hot and fresh. Regarding your table being in a busy pathway/hallway--was it also too close to other tables? My husband, who is a cancer survivor, would most definately say no, but then he wouldn't come anyway. But I think I would have asked to be moved, even solo (who frequently get the worst tables anyway). I am guessing if the resort does not show an AP discount, it means it was not available at that restaurant rather than you forgot to ask, is that correct? I forget to ask most of the time. I am also DVC, and Disney Rewards Visa and AP holder, and mention to server when they first come, but forget to remind them later, or check the bill that discount was applied. I am really enjoying your dining review.

The spaghetti was under that pile of meatballs! The bowl was deceptively deep, hubby actually couldn't finish all of his meal - and the man is a pasta eating machine.

Our table wasn't close to other tables, it just felt like every server in the restaurant was waking within a few inches of us every few minutes. And although they were all wearing masks and face shields, it still felt weird to have people brushing up against your table.

I believe everywhere we have eaten has given an AP discount so far. Eric did forget to ask at the Joffrey's cart, so I'm not sure about them.

Thanks for reading along!! ❤

 

[Justrose]

Love your review; you are eating at places I haven't tried yet which is AWESOME. Thanks for all the good info!

 

[mickey916]

We really enjoyed our meals! I'd definitely see if you can make a spot for it.

I did already! Got rid of 50s PT, all we really want is the PBJ shakes anyhow so I figure we'll hit the tune-in lounge for those and have dinner at Mama's! (My husband is also not a fan at all of the antics at 50s PT so he's thrilled)

 

[dreamin'boutdis]

Carbs, carbs, and more carbs! Also known as: breakfast at Kona Cafe.

I know I mentioned before that I'm not much of a breakfast eater. Eric loves all breakfast food, so I try to indulge him occasionally.

We made the short walk from our room to Kona Cafe, checking in on the way over. A few minutes after we arrived, we were escorted to a half round booth, peacefully away from everybody! I ordered a wasabi bloody Mary to drink. Now I love wasabi and I love bloody Mary's, so this should have been fantastic. It wasn't. I couldn't find the wasabi taste in it, all I could taste was black pepper. Huge chunks of it. I was literally *chewing* large chunks of black pepper every time I took a drink. I'm not a person to complain or send anything back (unless it's absolutely inedible), so I just sipped (and chewed) at my drink until it was about half gone.



Eric ordered the Polynesian Red Eye - a combination of coconut rum, Liliko'i juice and grenadine - and a press pot of coffee. His drink was considerably more successful, the sip I had of it was delightfully sweet and boozy - a great contrast from the mouthful of black pepper chunks in my drink.



For my entree, I chose to order the Macadamia nut pancakes with sausage. When my plate arrived, I was surprised to find THREE large pancakes, topped with a large dollop of Macadamia nut butter and pineapple sauce. The pancakes were heavenly - light and fluffy, but still loaded with toasted Macadamia nuts. They were plenty sweet enough that I didn't add syrup at all. I managed to eat about half of them before I couldn't stomach any more. The sausage was also delicious, plump and flavorful without being greasy.



Eric chose to order Tonga Toast with spiced ham (which is actually Spam) on the side. He seemed to enjoy it, but I found it way too sweet for my taste.



Eric also ordered a side of Smoked Gouda Grits for us to share. Now these were fantastic! The grits were creamy and the smokiness of the cheese really added a nice layer of flavor. I really appreciated the savoriness of this dish.



Feeling stuffed, we paid our bill and headed to Animal Kingdom for the day.



Our next planned meal is Yak & Yeti at 5:15.

 

[dreamin'boutdis]

Our gluttony really has no bounds - aka - dinner at Yak and Yeti.

We had a fun day at Animal Kingdom, where we deliberately had no snacks to prepare ourselves for dinner. We checked in for our 5:15 reservation right on time and within a few minutes, we were led to a wonderfully peaceful table near the windows.

I ordered a Big Bamboo - Don Q Coconut Rum, Don Q Cristal Rum, Banana Liqueur, and Tropical Fruit Juices. It was smooth and sweet and delicious.. and it went down way too fast.



Eric selected the Pink Himalayan - Tanqueray Gin, Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice, Passion Fruit and Lemon Grass Flavors, Salt Rim. I'm not really sure why he ordered this, he doesn't care for gin. I had a sip and although I don't care for pink grapefruit juice, I liked this drink. I found it very refreshing.



This is where things *started* getting out of hand. We agreed to share the Ahi Tuna Nachos - Sushi grade Ahi tuna, Asian slaw, crispy fried wontons, wasabi aioli, sweet soy glaze. I've seen people rave over this dish for years, but we've never ordered it. I'm kicking myself for not having tried it sooner! The fried wontons stayed nice and crisp, despite the absolute mountain of toppings. Everything in this dish worked fantastically together!



Eric decided he also needed an order of Pork Pot stickers. He thoroughly enjoyed these. To me, they tasted like any other potstickers we can get anywhere. Good, but nothing special.



For my entree, I had one of the specials "Surf and Turf" - basically steak and tempura shrimp served with Jasmine rice and vegetables. The steak was perfectly medium rare and beautifully seasoned. Unfortunately, the shrimp didn't come out with the steak and by the time it arrived at the table, it was somewhat cold. The tempura was nice and crisp, but the shrimp itself was very 'meh'. The rice and vegetables were both good, though, I would have liked the vegetables to have been cut a little smaller. There were some very large pieces of bok choy that were essentially raw due to the size.




Eric decided to order a side of garlic noodles, a side of chicken fried rice, AND Sweet and Sour Chicken. Yes, really. Our server convinced him that this would be A LOT of food, so he agreed to have the Sweet and Sour Chicken plated to go. When his dishes arrived, he realized that she was right. His garlic noodles were delicious, addictive almost - I had more than a few bites. The chicken fried rice, again, wasn't anything special.


We each ate about half of our entrees before we decided that we needed to save room for the ever popular Fried Cream Cheese wonton dessert.



They were everything you want dessert to be: sweet, crunchy, and creamy and the pineapple and strawberries provided a nice freshness. The dish of vanilla ice cream sat, mostly untouched.

Continued in next post due to picture limit.

 

[dreamin'boutdis]

Our server also brought over a cupcake for our anniversary. We both just laughed when we saw it... we were already stuffed! There was no way we could even try it. She sweetly offered to bring us a to go rice container so we could bring it with us. I honestly don't think it's going to get eaten.



We paid our bill and slowly made our way to the front of the park. I also had a $25 Landry's reward to use.



When we got back to our room, Eric somehow decided that he was hungry again . He broke into the Sweet and Sour Chicken. I had a little taste and, again, I felt like it was nothing special. But it could just be that I'm so full the mere thought of more food makes me sightly nauseous.



Our next scheduled meal is breakfast at Chef Mickey's before spending the day tomorrow at Magic Kingdom. I'm fully in favor of cancelling, but I'm going to leave the final decision to Eric since he's the breakfast eater.

 

[dreamin'boutdis]

Love your review; you are eating at places I haven't tried yet which is AWESOME. Thanks for all the good info!

I'm so glad you're enjoying my review! Thanks for following along!

I did already! Got rid of 50s PT, all we really want is the PBJ shakes anyhow so I figure we'll hit the tune-in lounge for those and have dinner at Mama's! (My husband is also not a fan at all of the antics at 50s PT so he's thrilled)

Nice, good plan! I don't think you'll regret it! The last time we ate at 50's PT, we were less than thrilled.

 

[dreamin'boutdis]

Those giant donuts are amazing! Everything you’ve posted looks great! It’s nice that you put in the receipts too. Good thing the food is good because Disney food sticker shock is real. My DH always says he should take a sedative before looking at our food bills for our family of 7 there, lol. Have fun!

Thanks! I know I really appreciate when people are transparent with the prices, it helps me come up with a realistic budget. Disney sticker shock is ABSOLUTELY real! We're typically Dining Plan (or Deluxe Dining Plan) people, so this trip has definitely been an eye opener!

I can't imagine feeding a family of 7 at Disney. Ouch!

Really enjoying your report so far. It's fun to live vicariously through you.

Thanks for joining in!

 

[hereforthechurros]

They charged you for the cupcake?! Is that a new policy? Like why even bother at that point, it’s not like you guys ordered it or asked for it!

We’re trying Yak & Yet for the first time on our next trip, looks good! Hoping it’s better than the Y&Y local foods cafe food we had.

 

[Shellbells]

Lol, I love how much your husband ordered. We're guilty of our eyes being bigger than our stomachs too when we're at Disney.
Yak and Yeti is one of favorites. I always get the garlic noodles. They are SO good!!

 

[dreamin'boutdis]

They charged you for the cupcake?! Is that a new policy? Like why even bother at that point, it’s not like you guys ordered it or asked for it!

We’re trying Yak & Yet for the first time on our next trip, looks good! Hoping it’s better than the Y&Y local foods cafe food we had.

I didn't even notice that!! Upon closer inspection, it looks like they charged us for the cupcake, then refunded the charge a little lower. I've never seen that before!

 

[dreamin'boutdis]

Lol, I love how much your husband ordered. We're guilty of our eyes being bigger than our stomachs too when we're at Disney.
Yak and Yeti is one of favorites. I always get the garlic noodles. They are SO good!!

I'm glad we're not the only ones! Our server was literally trying to convince us to order less food .

Yes! I will never not order those garlic noodles again, SO good! Thanks for joining in!

 

[hereforthechurros]

I didn't even notice that!! Upon closer inspection, it looks like they charged us for the cupcake, then refunded the charge a little lower. I've never seen that before!

Ooooh I see that now! Much better

 

[Justrose]

I was torn between Tiffins and Yak and Yet but man oh man - those pictures are helping me make my decision. YUM!

 

[dreamin'boutdis]

Good morning dining review readers! We started the day bright and early with breakfast at Chef Mickey's. I was not hungry, AT ALL, but Eric was (how?!?!) so when my alarm went off at 6:30, I begrudgingly got out of bed and got ready.

I checked us in online from the monorail, and by the time we made it downstairs, our table was ready. A funny incident: when the lady took my temperature before going into the restaurant, she looked a little panicked, then she took it again and looked even more panicked. I knew I was fine because I'd already been checked before getting on the monorail, but I was a little concerned. She kept looking at the thermometer, then she whispered something to the hostess. Finally, they figured out that the thermometer was on Celsius rather than Fahrenheit, and that I was not, in fact, dead.

We were seated and placed our drink orders. Eric was boring and chose coffee and water. I chose iced tea with lemon and the Chef's Bloody Mary.



As you can see, the topper was practically a meal in itself! Tillamook cheddar and Gouda cheese, fried salami, olives, and bacon. The bloody Mary itself was also great, decently spicy without being overpowering.

As soon as the drinks had been delivered, the first round of food was delivered to the table.



Fruit, yogurt parfaits, and a basket of pastries. I had a bite of the cheese danish, a bite of the yogurt, and one piece of each kind of fruit - watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, and honeydew. All of the fruit was delightfully fresh and ripe. The yogurt and Danish were good, but pretty ordinary.

Next came the platters of hot food: Ham, bacon, sausage, smoked sausage. Then screamed eggs, an egg white bite, tater tots, and cheesy potato casserole. A third platter full of Mickey waffles, pancakes, and French toast sticks apart arrived.





Again, I tried one bite of everything. The ham was surprisingly good, as were the scrambled eggs. The egg white bite was also very tasty. Eric's favorite item was the cheesy potatoes. Overall everything was hot and fresh. For the price, this breakfast was a great value!

After paying our check, we walked over to Magic Kingdom for a fun day!



We have lunch planned for Tony's Town Square - another of Eric's choices.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

That was some rock star ordering at Yak & Yeti!

 

[dreamin'boutdis]

I was torn between Tiffins and Yak and Yet but man oh man - those pictures are helping me make my decision. YUM!

We're scheduled to eat at Tiffin's on Monday... if we make it, I'll let you know how it is!

 

[dreamin'boutdis]

Readers, I have failed you. I could not eat up to my full potential at Tony's Town Square for lunch today. I'm so sorry!

We checked in right at 12:15 for our 12:20 reservation. In two minutes, we were being led to a quiet table in the sun room. At this point, I was still optimistic about being able to order something review worthy, but as soon as we sat down and I started smelling the food, I knew I was going to be a disappointment.

Eric had really been looking forward to eating here, but I was significantly less enthusiastic. I ordered an iced tea with lemon and Eric asked for water and a Coke. Our server brought the drinks and also some bread and oil.



I have never met a bread and dipping oil that I didn't love... until today. The bread was kind of crunchy and stale, but also soggy from where the oil had sloshed around. The oil itself was just okay, but there was about an inch of it, and no way to get the seasoning from the bottom of the dish without absolutely soaking the crouton-like bread. We each had two bites and declared that we were done with it. That has literally never happened before.

Eric ordered the Caprese for his appetizer. While it was good, it was also tiny. 3 small balls of mozzarella, about 1/2 if a tomato, and a few blistered baby heirloom tomatoes. The balsamic was good quality and it was sprinkled with nice large grains of salt. The bite that I had was good.. but it was also about 1/4 of the appetizer.



I also ordered an appetizer, but asked for it to be my meal. I chose to go for the fried mozzarella. This was delicious, and just the right size for food fatigued stomach. The mozzarella was good quality and perfectly breaded and fried.



Desperate for something green, I also ordered a side of broccolini to go with my fried cheese. Now, broccolini is my favorite vegetable, and I take pretty much any chance I get to order it. This was just not good. It was completely undercooked, almost raw. I like cooked veggies to be on the crisp side, but this had barely seen the heat of a cooking vessel.



Eric continued his "Tour de Spaghetti and Meatballs". His meal was slightly more successful than mine, but not entirely. The pasta was well cooked al dente, but his meatballs were VERY undercooked in the middle. Like to the point that he didn't feel comfortable eating them. He ate the spaghetti and left the meatballs sitting there.



We hadn't been disappointed enough yet, so we ordered the Italian Strawberry Shortcake to share for dessert.



While the flavor was great, the value was not. For $8.50, we literally received 4 bite sized cubes of pound cake, 1 single balsamic marinated strawberry, and a squirt of whipped cream.

Overall, Tony's was disappointing. The food was not great, the service was just okay, and the value was just not there. I don't mind paying a premium for good food. Tony's will be a hard pass for me in the future.



Our next scheduled meal is dinner at Skipper's Canteen tonight.

 

[mickey916]

Interested to hear how Skipper's Canteen is...that is on our list too!

 

[Shellbells]

I'm sorry to hear about Tonys. With so many bad reviews you'd think they would do something about the food quality. I'm excited to hear about Skippers. We make our ADR'S tomorrow and I'm planning on booking it.
We've actually adjusted some of our planned ADR's based on your reviews