A Totally Different Kind Of Report

We left Wolfgang Puck Express, and worked our way around to T-Rex, via many shops. We had some time to kill before meeting our friends, which was a good thing, because Downtown Disney was PACKED. On a Wednesday night! You would never know there's a recession going on in this country. Which meant, it was a darn good thing I had enough sense to make reservations. I called only a couple days before and was able to get a reservation for 4 for 8:00. They said to check-in at 7:45. Our friends arrived on-time, so we checked in at exactly 7:45. I heard them tell the couple in front of us that the wait time was an hour and 15 minutes. :rolleyes1 Not for us! :laughing:
They took us right away, actually. Didn't even have to wait until 8. We had to get by this guy first though:

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We were seated in the Ice Age Room, which has some interesting lighting. Such interesting lighting, that it was pretty much impossible to take food shots, I'm afraid. See how awful we looked:

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We can only imagine what that lighting would have done to food shots. :scared1:

We gals started with a glass of wine, while the guys went for Blue Moons.
Everything on the menu looked good to me. It was hard to decide. As Vegetarians, our friends didn't have much to pick from, but they said they were fine with the menu. I asked the waiter about this:

Paleonzoic Chicken Sandwich - Fried pizza dough with grilled chicken, lettuce, bacon, pepper jack cheese, avocado, tomato and lemon aioli $12.99

He said it was "different", which was enough for me to decide to order it. Different is what I want. I can have ordinary at home.

My husband went with this:

Stegosaurus Steak and Cheese Sandwich - Traditional-style cheese steak with sautéed onions, peppers and mushroom, topped with melted Monterey jack and Swiss cheeses served with lettuce and tomatoes on a toasted hoagie roll $13.99

The Gal Vegetarian went with this:

Omnivore's Delight - Iceberg, romaine and baby greens with goat cheese, Ocean Spray Craisins, strawberries, red onion and caramelized pecans. Tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette dressing $15.99 Add Grilled Chicken $15.99 or Add Grilled Shrimp $16.99

And Guy Vegetarian ordered pasta:

Triassic Tortellini - Tri-colored cheese tortellini with sun-dried tomatoes, peas and mushrooms tossed in an Alfredo cream sauce $16.99; with grilled chicken $19.99

All of us were pleased with our meals. Mine came with chips, which I tried not to eat, in my feeble attempt at eating healthy. :laughing:
Husband "upgraded" to waffle fries for an extra $1.99. The lemon aioli on my sandwich really made it, imo.

Service was very friendly and very good, thanks to John. I somehow managed to go through not one, not two, but three glasses of Cabernet at $6.50 per glass. Gee, we must've sat there a long time for that to happen. :confused3 Husband went through two Blue Moons. Our bill for just the two of us, with tax, but before gratuity was $66.42. Not bad by Disney standards.
 
Thanks for the reviews so far! We really liked T-Rex too. My DH and Mom both had the chicken sandwich you had too and they liked them but found them HUGE! Next time they said they'd share!
 
I can't wait to try T-Rex and, from looking at the menus, I think I'm going to have that chicken sandwich you had - sounds great :)
 

wilma-bride I can't wait to try T-Rex and, from looking at the menus, I think I'm going to have that chicken sandwich you had - sounds great

I can recommend it!

eventamy Thanks for the reviews so far! We really liked T-Rex too. My DH and Mom both had the chicken sandwich you had too and they liked them but found them HUGE! Next time they said they'd share!

Uh, normally I would agree with you. We like to share things too, but we must've been hungry, cause I ate the whole sandwich. Although I really didn't eat but a couple of the chips. Definitely sharing opportunities here, though. :banana:

skellingtonfreak Great start to the pics and reviews!

Thanks!

natalielongstaff great reviews so far

Thank you!

OurDogCisco Great review... Keep the pictures coming... too..

Thanks...I do have some more to share!


MAKHayes-DisneyDiva The soup looks great! I'll have to try it on my next trip.

It is soooo worth trying!

Sazzo'sMommy Keep 'em coming!

I do have some more, so I will!

wilma-bride Woohoo, your pictures are working - great reviews so far. We love WPE but never tried the butternut squash bisque.

My goodness, who would've known how hard this picture thing is? And, you really must try that soup next time!

KatMark Yes, it is mac and cheese. Practice makes perfect!

Do you have any idea how relieved I was to see you post this and know I'd finally conquered the picture-posting confusion? Thanks!
 
Okay, so not only do I flunk picture-loading, but quoting and responding as well. My apologies. I mean well. I really do. I'm just a technical-idiot. Anyway, on with the reviews.

So the next day, we have time before the seminar starts. My son lives north of Orlando in Maitland. We get up and go pick him up and take him out to lunch. Our vegetarian friends from the T-Rex night before recommended a place called Etho's near downtown for us to take my vegetarian son. So that's what we did. What a cool place this is, whether you're a vegetarian or not!



I ordered this:

Pumpkin Seed & Pesto Penne Pasta
Penne pasta sautéed in a creamy pesto sauce and tossed with tomatoes, squash, zucchini, and topped with roasted pumpkin seeds.
$10.95

My son ordered his favorite:

What's the Dilly, Philly?
Sautéed marinated seitan with onions, red and green peppers, mozzarella cheese, and veganaise.
$7.95

My husband did a pizza based on this:

10" pie on our housemade, hand-tossed dough with choice of sauce (Marinara or Pesto), Mozzarella and Three Toppings: $10.95
Additional toppings: +$0.50 each

Choose from the list of toppings below:

Green Olives Black Olives Green Peppers Red Peppers Fresh Tomatoes
Onions Seitan Artichokes Broccoli Fresh Garlic
Squash Fresh Spinach Roasted Red Peppers Banana Peppers Zucchini

Pizza Dough, Sauces, and all toppings except Mozzarella and Seitan are SF

My pasta dish was delicious, and very creamy. I had to ask them what they did to make it creamy, as they obviously couldn't use cream. He mentioned soy milk and other ingredients. Didn't catch them all. This was rich, and I ate less than half, sending the rest home with my son. I tasted his sandwich which was delicious and tasted like a Philly-chicken sandwich. And I tasted my husband's pizza, which was also very rich. He couldn't finish it.

So, Vegetarian Son went home with all the leftovers, which always makes a Mom feel good when she can feed her kid. :thumbsup2

RyanAtEthos2309085.jpg



I can highly recommend this place, and there were many other things on the menu I would love to try.

Coming up next...an interesting dinner at Maya Grill.
 
I am defineately trying that butternut squash soup the next time I go to WPE. :goodvibes
 
Yum...mac and cheese...yum.
Do you know if this has any parmesan (or similar) cheeses in it? If so, can they be left out? I have pathetically fourth grade taste, so my cheeses are all in the mozzarella/cheddar/American neighborhood.
As a long-ago wish kid and lifelong muscular dystrophy patient, I thank you for your work with Children's Miracle Network. You guys do great things.
Keep reviewing!
 
Yum...mac and cheese...yum.
Do you know if this has any parmesan (or similar) cheeses in it? If so, can they be left out? I have pathetically fourth grade taste, so my cheeses are all in the mozzarella/cheddar/American neighborhood.
As a long-ago wish kid and lifelong muscular dystrophy patient, I thank you for your work with Children's Miracle Network. You guys do great things.
Keep reviewing!

According to their menu these are the cheeses in their mac & cheese:

mozzarella, fontina, cheddar and Gorgonzola cheeses with fresh artisan elbow macaroni, baked until bubbly and golden brown $10.95

However, I will say that I don't care for gorgonzola, yet thought that my one bite was very good. It's not expensive to try a side dish, and would probably be worth your while.
So you were an actual wish kid? I assume you mean Make-A-Wish? I worked for many years as a volunteer for Make-A-Wish, as well as my work with Children's Miracle Network. They are certainly both very worthwhile organizations, imo. I was truly honored to have been invited to this event.
 
Okay time for a strange dinner at Maya Grill. :upsidedow There were four of us, and we did not have reservations. It was early though, and a Maya Grill hostess said they could fit us in, so we were seated within a few minutes of our 6:00 arrival. Looking good! :thumbsup2 I was really looking forward to trying a restaurant I had never dined at before, and having examined the menu prior to our stay at Coronado Springs, I was sure I could find something tasty on the menu.

To make a long story short, our server was, well, not all there.:sad2: We weren't sure if it was a language barrier issue (we speak English), or if he might've been a bit, well...stoned. He seemed out of it. Happy-go-lucky, but out-of-it. He did seem to want to answer questions about menu items (and seemed to have strong opinions). The fish-of-the-day description was not an enthusiastic recommendation, for instance. (although we couldn't quite follow what the actual description was). Two of us went with the waiter's recommendation of the filet and shrimp. The other two of us decided to order unusual, which apparently threw the kitchen off.

Oddly enough, what we chose was pretty much not on the menu that's posted on AllEars. Two of us ordered soup, salad and a scallop appetizer. (instead of an entree). The soup was a fish/corn chowder, seasonal salad, and I don't remember the description of the scallop appetizer, but it sounded fabulous. I know it had sundried tomatoes and came with two different sauces. Prices were pretty much:

Seasonal Greens Salad $8
Soup of the Day $8
Scallop Appetizer (I believe) was $12

The other two of us went with what the waiter recommended: the filet mignon with shrimp dinner with mashed potatoes and vegetables.

This is listed on their menu now: Steak and Catch - Shoulder Beef Tender and fresh catch of the day, includes vegetables and choice of potato $31

However, my memory is it was Filet & Shrimp and $32.

Anyway, we ordered and drinks came in a reasonable amount of time. Two of us had a glass of wine. One tea and one Sprite. Bread and butter was brought and was a big hit with all of us. Jalapeno rolls and some crispy cracker-like strips. Very good. We downed them. And then we sat. For a long time. No soup. No salad. Long time. :sad2:

Finally, it all came... at once! :scared1: The two of us that ordered soup, salad and scallop appetizer got all three at once! At least the other two of us with filet and shrimp also got theirs. But here we were with these at once:

Here's the fish chowder:

FishChowderMayaGrille095.jpg


And the salad:

SaladMayaGrile094.jpg


And the scallop appetizer:

ScallopAppetizerMayaGrille093.jpg


And our other folks had this:

The filet & shrimp:

FiletMignonWithShrimp096.jpg


The food was good, but overwhelming to have all three of those items at one time. I wished I hadn't bothered with the soup. It was okay. Full of carrots and potatoes, and a mild fish. Kind of boring really, compared to the tasty scallops and salad. The scallops were fabulous, and HUGE. A meal in itself. Quite the value for $12! But again, it kind of ruined things to have all three at one time.

Both folks with the filet and shrimp were happy with their dishes, and they looked really good. After we ate though, we sat and sat and sat. No server. No sign of him in the dining room, period. No drink refills, no offer of dessert. Nothing. Finally, needing to get to an event that evening, we flagged someone down who was able to track down our bill.

So, even though the food was good, the service really put a damper on this evening, as it made us, well, uncomfortable. Which is not what you want to be in a restaurant. Let's face it, this place isn't cheap, so expectations for better service were certainly there, and we were quite disappointed. I hate that!

On we went to our event where among other entertainment were some new Muppets called Pajanamals:

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AND, some of you know her from Dancing With The Stars, but she's also a country music performer with a CD that came out not too long ago...Julianne Hough (too bad her adorable brother didn't come with her)...anyway...not a good picture, but it's as close as I could get:

JulianneHough309104.jpg


Oh, and the host for the evening was a sports guy named Steve Young:

SteveYoung098.jpg
 
I might add that the best part of this whole evening was seeing the Miracle Children in the audience respond to the festivities. You can see a few of them in front of Julianne. Every single one of them were so precious! And each one had quite a story to tell!
 
Food coming out altogether irritates me so much!!! I'm sorry your experience at Maya Grill was so bad as far as service that can really put a damper on the whole evening! i'm glad the food wasn't bad as well because that may have totally ruined the evening :confused3 But i'm glad that the event was good!! Keep up the good reviews :goodvibes
 
Well, now I don't know if we should try Maya Grill or not? :confused3
We've stayed at the CSR seven times (number eight coming up) and have never eaten dinner there. It's been getting good food reviews, but not so good service reviews. I'm all the more confused now.

But I am loving your reviews. Keep them coming.
 














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