A Not so Grim(m) Fairytale Dining Reviews 2011-That's a Wrap! complete

[vettegirl]

Thanks for the review for the R&C, we have a ressie there for our first night. I am going to pay OOP for the scotch egg. I haven't had one of those in years.

 

[librarygeek]

Your drink sounds delicious! That is really awful about them "losing" your ADR or whatever happened. I would be mad too. But at least the food was good!

 

[LowesChevy]

Raglan Road, Lunch

While there is no shortage of eateries at Downtown Disney, finding a place with something to please everyone can be more challenging. For lunch we do not want a heavy meal, but we do want something substantial. We steer clear of the over themed roaring loud Rainforest Café & T-Rex, which were actually quite tame for this time of day when we walked through. These places are great for kids, but a little wild for us. We had lunch at Fulton’s a few years ago and found the atmosphere very lousy. Portobello is great for dinner, but it didn’t fit into the schedule this year unfortunately. Wolfgang Puck Café is an excellent spot for lunch too-it is not as crowded as it is at dinner and the food and service tends to improve at lunch.

Like most structures on Disney property, the exterior and interior of Raglan Road are themed brilliantly. Another commonality Raglan Road has with many other restaurants at Downtown Disney is that it is owned by a third party. However, unlike any of the other restaurants, Ragland Road was basically “imported” from Ireland. The inside structures and bars were constructed and shipped across the pond here to Orlando, FL.! I have actually read about and visited a few other pubs that were built and shipped over in the same manner. Talk about authentic!

What I like most about the interior is that it is not overdone. Marble and wooden top bars, beautiful ornamental wood carvings, dark wood paneling, stained glass windows, and immaculately clean back bar areas. Oh I have many photos for design ideas! All of the charm of an old fashioned bar with a more modern look and feel. If you enjoy spending an afternoon or evening sipping an adult beverage, you will want to drink here. Okay enough about the building right, how is the food?

I wanted to try something new this year and since I have an affinity for pubs, Raglan Road seemed to be the best choice. The lunch menu looks very attractive, with a wide variety of sandwiches, salads and appetizers to choose from. The dinner menu adds several more entrees and nightly entertainment. Definitely going to make a trip over here next year for an evening of black and tans and Irish dancing! We arrived a bit early and the place was a ghost town. I must have had the lone adr for the hour as the hostess knew me by name when I checked in at the desk. She led us to our table and let us know our server would be with us shortly.

Gianna, who reminded us of a young Sandra Bullock, greeted us a few minutes after we were seated and took our beverage order. I’m a sucker for cider, so I went with the Magner’s. DF went with a Widmer brew and DM a soda. We perused the menu and found a lot of interesting choices. You could get chips (fries), onion rings or a salad with your sandwich. All of the sides are the same price, so there wasn’t a problem substituting. Gianna returned with the beverages and Guinness brown bread and was ready for our order. I wanted a starter, but couldn’t decide and in the end chose the kinky crab. DF and I both went the prosciutto and chicken sambo and DM went with a ham and cheese sandwich-yawn.

My kinky crab appetizer was a large portion of crab and watercress rolled in spring roll wrappers and deep fried. It is served with a sweet chili jam, although a little mustard sauce would have been a nice accompaniment imho. DF had a few bites and I wanted to save some room for the next course. The dinner menu has appetizers for one and to share, the crab is in the single section, but I definitely think you could share this one too! Our server came by to refill our drinks and clear my plate.

Our sandwiches arrived not long after and I admired the serving method. The chips and rings were served in cute little urns and my father’s salad served in a small half bowl next to the sandwiches. Gianna asked if we needed anything else and we were set to enjoy. I immediately flipped my sandwich over because the problem with stacking hot toasted items, the can get soggy fast. Towards the end of the meal the chips further down in the urn were on the soft side, but I was full anyhow. The sandwiches weren’t placed in a Panini press, but the bread was toasted and the contents were hot. The herb aioli was tasty and the chicken moist and tender, but DF and I both thought the chicken could use a little zip or seasoning of some sort. The prosciutto and Dubliner cheese added some salty elements to enhance the sandwich. DM was very pleased with her ham and cheese sandwich with onion rings as well.

I can’t wait to return to Raglan Road, not only for lunch, but for some evening entertainment as well. We had such a pleasant experience with the food and service. I am saving room for dessert next time too! It was a nice change from the ordinary burgers or chicken sandwiches that most places offer-not just at WDW. I can finally say I know what the buzz is about around Raglan Road! Here’s to new traditions-see you next year!

Cheers, Erika

Up next Tutto Italia

 

[librarygeek]

So I never thought I would really like Raglan Road because I'm not crazy about Irish food, but this review is definitely tempting me! First of all, it's fascinating that it was imported here in that way, too cool! Your crab appetizer sounds delicious, and all of the sandwiches look very tasty.

 

[Rags]

Can't wait for Chef De France!!! Woo Hoo

 

[LowesChevy]

So I never thought I would really like Raglan Road because I'm not crazy about Irish food, but this review is definitely tempting me! First of all, it's fascinating that it was imported here in that way, too cool! Your crab appetizer sounds delicious, and all of the sandwiches look very tasty.

Getting my mother to try different cuisines is a challenge, but she looked over the menu and found a few things she liked. They are also really good about leaving certain items off a plate or sandwich. The crab was fab-this is defintely a place I could just eat through the appetizer menu. They all sound wonderful-plus they have little flatbreds too.

 

[LowesChevy]

Can't wait for Chef De France!!! Woo Hoo

thank you and I hope you have a great time on your visit. I know, I love Chef's!

 

[LowesChevy]

Tutto Italia

The restaurant formerly known as L’ Originale Alfredo di Roma Ristorante was certainly a favorite of my family’s and many other guests at WDW. Unfortunately Alfredo’s was closed in 2006 to make way for Tutto Italia, which was originally set to be a temporary concept, but with the opening of Via Napoli it appears that Tutto Italia is staying put for now. Let’s hope that is the case because this is one our favorite dining spots on property.

Physically not a lot has changed to the interior of the restaurant. The main dining room is a large open space-its like a two story building with just the ground floor. The beautiful frescos still remain intact throughout the dining room walls. There are a few small dining rooms off the main hall, but we always found these to be a bit on the claustrophobic side. Two of the major changes with the new ownership are the menu and the prices. While the pricing is more in line with WDW signature dinner pricing, I do not mind paying extra because imho the service here was the best we experienced this year and last year on property at all WDW restaurants. The server/busser tandem provides the best service for the customer and I really wish the signature restaurants would adopt this style.

We arrived a tad on the early side so I enjoyed snapping a few photos in the piazza before dinner. I checked us in at the front desk and they were ready to seat us. Unlike Rose & Crown, Tutto definitely takes a hit from the Food & Wine crowds because the place was only about 60% full after 6:00 PM. Gaetano quickly arrived with bread, oil and butter as he introduced himself and welcomed us back. I like to remember him as my Italian Justin Timberlake. He seemed happy to be there and told us where he was from and asked about our home town. He went over the menu and mentioned his favorite items. So we ordered drinks and decided to look over the menu a bit.

The other two passed on the first course, but I ordered a Caesar salad to split. It ended up being enough for us all to have a few bites. It was whole leaves of romaine dressed with shaved parmesan. There are a number of really tasty sounding appetizers and salads, but nothing that I really wanted to eat that evening. The antipasti is a huge dish to share with the table, but I had to save room for a funnel cake later. We also enjoyed the beet salad last year as well.

For my entrée I decided to be different and order something I would never normally order at a restaurant and chose the costata Di Maiale Alla Valdostana, which is a breaded pork chop stuffed with prosciutto and fontina cheese. It is Italian version of cordon bleu with pork I suppose you could call it. It was served with a grilled marinated portabella mushroom, mashed potatoes and a thin demi glace. It was a large tender pork chop seasoned nicely and lightly pan fried and even on a warm night I had no problem enjoying this dish. It was juicy and the whole dish was well balanced with crispy breading, creamy potatoes, salty prosciutto and a light velvety sauce.

DF went with the cannelloni al Forno, which is literally cannelloni from the oven. I had this last year-cannelloni tubes stuffed with spinach, ricotta and parmesan cream sauce, baked in the oven till browned. This is a filling dish, which he enjoyed, but couldn’t quite finish. DM went with her favorite farfalle-bowtie pasta with prosciutto, peas and parmesan cream. Many restaurants offer their own variation on this dish and this one happens to be one of her favorites. The three of us were very pleased with our entrees. My only complaint would have been getting the breading a little more on the crispy side, but only a minor issue.

As we finished eating Stefano, busser, came by to clear our plates and bring over the dessert menus. DM decided to get the chocolate torta, while I decided to order a cup of my new found love coffee in the form of caffe latte and DF settled for cappuccino. Stefano brought out the regular coffee for mom and the dessert quickly, but the other coffees took a few minutes as usual. Finally my after dinner delight arrived presented elegantly in a glass mug, how lovely. What a great way to cap off the evening but a cup of joe and a stroll around the World Showcase to the monorail station.

Overall, this was by far the best service we have had the entire vacation. I really wish the signature restaurants were this good because quite frankly only Citricos and Le Cellier were close with service. You are definitely paying for it here and that is one of the reasons the prices are higher. When I pay more for a meal, I should be able to expect better service and some signatures are not up to snuff. The food was excellent and overall we had a wonderful experience. See you next year Tutto-don’t change!

Ciao! Erika

Overall
Food: 10
Service: 10
Atmosphere: 9

 

[librarygeek]

Nice review! Tutto is very high on my list of places to visit, I'm hoping to hit it next trip. I love pasta so a good Italian place is a must! Everything looks tasty

 

[LowesChevy]

Wolfgang Puck Cafe

Wednesday October 5th, we hit rope drop at Animal Kingdom. The park was light as far as crowds go, so we got to see many of our favorite attractions in record timing. There are not a whole lot of places that interest us here as far as dining, so we did some shopping and decided to call it day.

We needed to head back over to DTD to pick up a personalized stocking for my nephew at the Christmas store. We somehow forgot to retrieve it yesterday; maybe we had a few too many drinks at Raglan Road! Our reservation at the Yachtsman Steakhouse was for 6:40 PM and it was already almost 2 PM, so we went with Wolfgang Puck Express for lunch. The menu has a great variety and also the food and service is a step way above most counter service venues. We ordered a round of sandwiches and I grabbed my drink cup. I ordered a small soda and loved the fact that I could fill my own diet Coke topped with Cherry Coke! Even for being after the lunchtime rush, there were only a couple of empty tables in the dining room. I spotted one in the corner and a waitress popped over to bring silverware.

I found our table to be a great spot for people watching. I am always fascinated by people’s behavior-they come to look at the menu, talk, then point their fingers in other directions and walk away. A few minutes later they come walking into order some food. About 10 minutes later our food arrived- you have to love dinner and a show. I went for the warm turkey melt, which was served with sweet potato fries. DF went with the warm Mediterranean vegetable melt and DM chose the turkey club.
Turkey melt

Turkey club

My sandwich was good, the bread was freshly baked focaccia with lots of salad greens. My father enjoyed his sandwich, while DM ordered the turkey club it was not to her liking. Not a big surprise, but there was a remoulade on the sandwich, which was like chopped romaine lettuce in a funky dressing to those who may not enjoy that particular topping. The food here is pretty darn good and quite a deal for a counter service meal on the dining plan. There is a server there to assist with getting you more beverages and tending to you, but also they are there to get the tables bussed for the next customers. That is a great idea because it keeps the guests flowing in and out and the overall cleanliness of the restaurant. Overall it was a lovely lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express.

Overall
Food: 7
Service: 8
Atmosphere: 7

Cheers, Erika

 

[Tracerr00]

Great reviews! I went to Raglan Road & WPE for the first time during my last visit and I thought they were both great as well. But I've never been to Tutto and it looks fantastic. Loving the reviews - looks like a fun trip!!

 

[LowesChevy]

Yachtsman Steakhouse

We began dining at the Yachtsman Steakhouse four years ago. The first time we went the service and food was wonderful. The second and third times we dined here, the same experience. Then last year we returned to the Yachtsman Steakhouse expecting nothing more than wonderful service and food and left extremely disappointed. I now understood where some of the negative reviews were coming from. It was a train wreck; our server was too busy chatting with a larger table bringing them cocktails and pawning all over them, we felt like chopped liver. Our plates were never cleared in between courses and when the food runner arrived he had no where to place our hot food. My father’s steak was raw, like mooing there on the table. When the server finally realized we were less than pleased she tried to make up for it, but I wasn’t about to buy it. At no point did the manager bother to come over and check in until after we were done eating. The server really should have alerted him about the situation, but she chose not to. Just an ugly experience last year and I was hoping for a return to excellence this year.

This year it was a clean slate, you always get another chance in my book, but do not mess it up twice. We arrived at the steakhouse early as requested the WDW adr policy and checked in. Much to my surprise there was only another couple there waiting. Usually the lobby is jammed full of people waiting to be seated, but again it is mid week. We sat for about 20 minutes, which is not long for some of the more busy places, but I checked in at 6:30 and we were not seated till a little after 7:00 PM. We were seated in the main turret room with a view of the pool. My only complaint about this so called steakhouse is the noise level. Go to a Morton’s, Ruth’s Chris or Capital Grille and they are nice cozy quiet restaurants. With the wooden floor in here it just becomes very loud and unpleasant at times.

Crewman's Cup Lounge

We looked over the menus and waited a long time to be greeted by our server. When you have waited long enough to realize you have been waiting a long time, if that makes any sense. Our server finally arrived to greet us and welcome us back. He discussed the menu and recommended a few items for the evening and took our drink order. We looked over the menu and found some familiar things and some new items. Not a whole lot of seafood items on the appetizer menu, some scallops and lobster bisque, but nothing thrilling me. The charcuterie board is still on the menu, but DF and I found it very bland last year, so we took a pass at that. Our server returned with the beverages. Iced tea service me included simple syrup, sugar cubes and packets, a nice touch.

We place our order and enjoyed our beverages while watching the crowds stroll by on the boardwalk outside. A lot of attention was put into building this restaurant it is just a shame that it overlooks a pool area and a smoking section. It kind of takes away from the experience imho. The house bread finally arrived, that duty again would be made easily by an assistant server, but Disney places all of the duty to fall back on the server. I do not know whether that decision was made by the servers or management, but servers get hung up by other tables and cannot properly attend to all of their guests.

Our appetizers arrived and mine was served on the biggest plate I have ever seen. It was rather cumbersome for the server to move things out of the way while balancing the other dishes. The plate is gorgeous, but it is on the large size for the table. My sampler offered four different tastings of heirloom tomatoes and cheeses; tomatoes and ricotta cheese with pesto, tomato shashimi style with black Hawaiian sea salt and powdered mozzarella, mozzarella balloon atop diced tomato and herbed breadcrumbs; and fresh buffalo mozzarella with balsamic glaze. A little molecular gastronomy skill being used here as the appetizer was as fun explore as it was to eat. DF had the cheese sampler, which he enjoyed, while DM ordered the lobster bisque. The bisque had a nice flavor, but it didn’t have any lobster meat throughout or garnished on top. The way the menu is written it leads you to believe that there should be some solid chunks in the dish, so a bit of a disappointment.

heirloom tomato appy

Our appetizer plates were cleared and our entrees arrived shortly after. My DF and I both chose the Prime NY strip with carmody potato gratin and green peppercorn sauce. I ordered mine medium rare and it came out on the medium to almost medium well side. I should have sent it back, but it takes too darn long and my fathers were more done than he wanted as well. DM’s filet was on the raw side in the middle so she ate around the middle. A steakhouse that cannot cook steaks, what are you doing? I do not think they would classify as Prime either, because they were not Prime steaks unfortunately. The Carmody potato gratin was super thin sliced potatoes stacked about 3 inches tall. The potatoes actually started to turn brownish grey and it just didn’t taste very good. The caramelized onions were a nice accompaniment and DM’s mashed potatoes were fabulous. I should have subbed the mash!

Looking back, it was a so-so experience, another disappointment. I am not sure we will go back next year. There were things that were good, but overall things were meh. The food and service were poorly executed. To top it off the dessert menu was rather unappealing. Gone is the signature Banana Napoleon-what? No straight up decadent chocolate cake or dessert-what? I don’t know if there is a new chef that is trying to hard or what, but steakhouses generally offer basic bills of fare. I am really disappointed with the new direction of the Yachtsman Steakhouse, I hope it is not just me though.

I almost feel like things have declined in service over the past three years and it are unfortunate to see that. It is not just YSH, but I feel like the service at the other signature restaurants is lacking at times as well. Then again maybe I expect too much, but on the other hand I should expect excellent service at WDW signature restaurants. We had great service at Tutto Italia & Teppan Edo and they are not signatures. Do the servers have too many tables and are they stretched too thin? I am not sure who makes the decision whether servers or management decides the work load for servers. That would be an interesting fact to know.

Till next time…

Overall
Food: 7
Service: 7
Atmosphere: 7

coming up 50s Prime Time Café

 

[LowesChevy]

Great reviews! I went to Raglan Road & WPE for the first time during my last visit and I thought they were both great as well. But I've never been to Tutto and it looks fantastic. Loving the reviews - looks like a fun trip!!

Glad you are enjoying! Yes it was a fabulous trip, reliving it through reviews lol. Have a great time on your upcoming trip as well

 

[LowesChevy]

Nice review! Tutto is very high on my list of places to visit, I'm hoping to hit it next trip. I love pasta so a good Italian place is a must! Everything looks tasty

Tutto is brilliant. The menu is pretty much all over the board as far as regional cuisine, but everything has always been fresh and delicious.

 

[librarygeek]

The sandwiches at WPE look really good, I'm going to have to try it sometime - though it's hard to pass up Earl of Sandwich, we love it there! Sorry to hear that Yachtsman has been disappointing for you, though your appetizer sampler looks delicious.

 

[LowesChevy]

On Thursday, we arrived at Disney Hollywood Studios at rope drop to get a couple of chances to ride TSMM again. It was a very busy day at the Studios and the fast pass line was quite long. We got fast passes for 12:15-1:15 PM, which is right before our adr at 50s Prime Time Café. We did the stand by line and then rode ToT, Rock n Rollercoaster, and Star Tours again. By the time we were done zipping around the park it was time to use our fast pass. We rode and made a b-line to the Café and checked in about ten minutes late, but the CMs said it wasn’t a problem. Of course, I am too young to remember houses being decorated in this manner, but my parents enjoy the décor and how it reminds them of their childhood house or grandparents home. Well to be fair my grandparents still used some of these decorating tips ha.

We only waited for about ten minutes and we were taken to our table. The hostess “yelled” at my DF for being outside when they called us and he was holding everyone up. Our table was situated in the smack dab in the middle of the restaurant. Cousin Cooper ran by and dropped off our plates and told us he would be with us shortly. He apologized for the wait when we returned and noticed I had set the table, so bonus points for me! We ordered our drinks as well as our entrees and of course DM had to be difficult and ask for all white meat chicken on her plate and Cousin Cooper rolled his eyes and said he guess he could do that. He was in character the whole time and did a great job. We took a rain check on the appetizers since I spotted the Boston Cream pie parfait on the dessert menu, yummy.

I went with my favorite fried chicken. This is not something I eat all of the time, so it is a treat. DM had the same of course, but she orders the collard greens like me. Cooper had his doubts about her eating them. Df had a chicken Caesar salad, which was okay, nothing special. All the other items on the menu and he gets that, boring! We watched the tube and my parents pointed out some of the stars from the shows and other things they did during their career. It is funny to watch the shows because I can’t imagine what these folks would think of the situations that the shows are based on these days, yikes! My only complaint is that the loop could have been a little longer. You usually are there a little over an hour and then you begin to see some repeats.

Cousin Cooper checked in with us frequently and then brought our food over. My chicken was excellent as usual, juicy and flavorful with a thin crispy skin. The mashed potatoes I found to be on the bland side, as if they were boiled drained, then mashed with a touch of milk, no butter or salt added. I know it’s the 50s, but you would think mom would have learned to cook better over the years. The collard greens were nicely bitter with big hunks of sliced bacon throughout to make them more palatable. DM didn’t find them very appealing so she tried to hide them under one of the chicken breast carcasses. Well Cousin Cooper wasn’t born yesterday and he certainly was not going to fall for that trick, so he had her lift up that chicken to reveal the uneaten greens. Then he proceeded to try to feed her and it was hilarious-here is the proof.

Even after not eating her greens, she was still allowed to order a brownie sundae and I went with the Boston Cream Parfait. The desserts were excellent, but then again how could they not be-look at them! The overall experience was fun and playful and Cousin Cooper did a great job in character. While you won’t come here for a gourmet meal, expect good old comfort food served up with a bit a sas!

Overall
Food: 7
Service: 8
Atmosphere: 8

coming up next...Via Napoli

 

[librarygeek]

Love this review - especially with Cousin Cooper and your mom! Haha, too funny. I ate here once with a big group of friends and we had a blast. Our waitress was continually yelling at us to use our beverage napkins, so then after she left one time we hid all of the napkins under the table and she came back and freaked out that all of the napkins were gone. They do a great job with being in character there!

 

[SweetSpot]

50's Prime Time looks like so much fun. I wonder if you can request a server who gets into the part when you make the reservation?

I had to laugh when I saw the design on the table. My first house, which was an estate purchase and very original, had that exact design on all the counter tops and as the back splash. Brought back memories.

 

[lildebbie107]

That brownie sundae at 50's Prime Time looks delicious! I would love one right now. Guess I will have to go back.

 

[Linda67]

Great 50's Primetime Review; looks like you all had a great time