A Weekend of Beach Club Eats: Part Three! Update 5/26: Yachtsman Steakhouse!

[BlovesC]

It's been a long time since I've started a full review thread! I never even got around to making one for our only 'full' trip each year, in January. But, we just got back from another quick weekend getaway at Beach Club (simply the BEST resort for such short trips!) and I've got the time, I've got the pics, why not write some reviews?


Here's the itinerary from our brief foray into disney dining this week!

5/12
Lunch: Beaches & Cream
Dinner: 'Ohana (ok, so not ALL BC-area eats...)
Snack Bonuses: BC Marketplace, Gaston's Tavern

5/13
Breakfast: Captain's Grille
Lunch: Nine Dragons
Dinner: Via Napoli
Snack Bonuses: Boulangerie Patisserie, F&G China booth

5/14
Breakfast: BC Marketplace
Lunch: Hurricane Hanna's
Dinner: Yachtsman Steakhouse
Snack Bonuses: F&G China booth (again!), Beaches & Cream

5/15
Breakfast: Captain's Grille
Lunch: leftover pizza from Via Napoli (yes, really!)

And that's it! Short and sweet. And savory.

 

[BlovesC]

We always check in to the BC around 11 and head off to Beaches & Cream for lunch after dumping our bags off. It's our tradition!

The menu changed since our last visit:

I went with the Turkey Club, "classic turkey club on brioche bread with smoked bacon, lettuce, and tomato" but hold the bacon.

This was so basic there's not much to say about it! The 'brioche' was just dry thick white bread really. The sandwich comes with no sauce or zip or zest to it whatsoever...just low-quality turkey lunch meat, some lettuce and tomato. I wish I'd chosen the falafel instead, but I don't have high expectations for that either. My opinion of Beaches and Cream is more or less "come for the food just so you have an excuse to eat the ice cream."

Charlie chose the Beaches Rachel, "pastrami on rye with arugula, sauerkraut, swiss, and peppercorn-russian dressing."

I don't know why it's called a Rachel instead of a Reuben, but I DO know that C absolutely loved it. At least it definitely seemed more interesting than mine!


And for dessert, when we're at B&C, there can be only one ending to a meal...

The NO WAY JOSE!

No Way Jose: Peanut Butter and Hot Fudge Delight with Chocolate and Vanilla Ice Cream, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Morsels, Whipped Cream and a Cherry

We are odd people, however, and ordered only coffee ice cream in our sundae, because I've long loved the combination of coffee+pb in ice cream, and C has recently come aboard on my crazy train.

The sundae WAS delicious, but not AS delicious as normal, I must confess. The ice cream was full of those crystallized ice chunks that ice cream gets when it's either been semi-defrosted and then refrozen, or it's just old. I assume not many people go to B&C and get coffee ice cream, since it's not featured in any of their sundaes, so I'm guessing it was just kind of old. Still, it was a tasty delight!

Not as delightful: we've had the exact same waitress at B&C the last five or so times we've eaten there this year. I was excited to see her yet again and proceeded to greet her as Maria. Only to learn her name is Dolores. So much for my memory.

 

[jwfla422]

It's been a long time since I've started a full review thread! I never even got around to making one for our only 'full' trip each year, in January. But, we just got back from another quick weekend getaway at Beach Club (simply the BEST resort for such short trips!) and I've got the time, I've got the pics, why not write some reviews? :laughing


5/15
Breakfast: Captain's Grille
Lunch: leftover pizza from Via Napoli (yes, really!)

And that's it! Short and sweet. And savory.

Let me tell you, if We were staying at an Epcot resort after we went to VN and had leftover pizza-I'd leave the park to go put that pizza in my frig too! I long for that 1/2 of Proscuitto e Melone pizza I had to throw away because I couldn't finish it:-(.

Looking forward to more of your reviews. Sorry B&C was a little disappointing-you are prob right that the coffee ice cream could be old? Shame on them;-)

 

[BlovesC]

This was really the one solid ADR we started the trip with. DH had actually taken it upon himself to make this reservation, which means he had quite a craving. I think our last meal here was in September or October, so it had been awhile.

We were seated right by the fire pit...and on the aisle. Not a huge fan of aisle tables at 'Ohana because when the games start I start fearing for my life. At one point, while the MC was delaying the conga line for some reason, we had five kids pressed against the side of our table, shaking their marracas in our faces, which kind of made enjoying our meal at that time a little impossible. The best seats in 'Ohana are definitely the ones by the windows, or in the back!

Blurry firepit action shot!


Friendship bread:

I've never been a huge fan of the bread here (I much prefer Kona's!) but it seemed softer than usual and kind of tastier! They also serve butter with it now, which I don't remember. But I could just be forgetting it.

Next came the salad...

Oh no! They changed it! Gone is the delicious honey-lime dressing! The salad now comes drenched in a sickeningly sweet fruity sauce with canned mandarin oranges tossed in. I used to love the salad, but I couldn't stand this. Disappointing!

At least the wings and potstickers were pretty much the same, although the potstickers did LOOK different, but DH said they tasted the same. I'm not a fan of either, but I did try a wing and it was pretty good.

Next up were MY favorite sides...

Noodles and veggies! I know the noodles have undergone so many changes through the years, and many seem to think the last few iterations were far too sweet. But I LOOOOOOOVE them. If they sold just these noodles at Capt. Cook's, or at Kona, I could eat them for lunch every single day.

I did detect a bit less of a pineapple taste in the noodles than last time, but they still tasted roughly the same and just as good.

The veggies were different for us, but DH and I agreed they were improved! They were a little more well cooked and not quite as rock hard as last time. And there were delicious mushrooms and water chestnuts that I don't think we had last time. Loved them!

The skewers of meat started making our way, and unfortunately I didn't grab photos of them all, since at some point snapping photos of messy plates with half-eaten bits just stops being appealing.

I did get a photo of my first delivery, the chicken:

The chicken and shrimp are the only meat I eat at 'Ohana, and I looooooove them. But my first two pieces of chicken were SO dry, I was really disappointed. Luckily, another skewer came by and the chicken was much better! Juicy and delicious like I remember.

The shrimp at 'Ohana has also changed. It's much smaller and seems to have less of the shell. It seemed a bit easier to peel, but lacking in flavor to me. This was an argument between DH and I...he swore up and down it was improved, I said it wasn't as good as it had been, but he loved it. He also has some steak, which got high marks. Neither of us tried the pork.

Finally, the highlight of the meal (for us), the amazing 'Ohana bread pudding:

The actual serving of bread pudding was much smaller than our last meal here. It's hard to tell in the photo, but it was kind of a tiny square of pudding under a giant scoop of ice cream and a pool of sauce. That was a bit disappointing, but only because it is SO incredibly, sinfully delicious.

Overall, we definitely had conflicting opinions. DH actually declared this his favorite 'Ohana meal ever. I declared it one of the worst, although a so-so meal at 'Ohana is still pretty darn good. I was really disappointed in the changes to the salad and shrimp, and the first batch of chicken I had. I will say though that we had the BEST service we've ever had at 'Ohana. Cousin Brandon was absolutely awesome.

Though the REAL bummer was not being able to use our TIW because it was mother's day!

 

[jabead]

Hi Becky, I'm here!


And I can almost taste that No Way Jose. YUM!
Looking forward to the rest of the delicious details of your trip.

 

[jwfla422]

No more honey lime dressing???? I loved that stuff. I miss the days of the apps being served in that cute revolving serving platter.

So much has changed there...we keep thinking about going back and trying it again and hoping it had improved since our last trip, but it seems to be a "hit or miss" meal and amazingly enough as you stated, it can be a "hit" with one person in your party and a "miss" with another...at the same meal, hmmm, but that's typical. Thanks for the review!

 

[wilma-bride]

We loved 'Ohana on our first (and only) visit. Which is one reason we've never gone back. I prefer to remember it as it was.

Sorry you were disappointed Becky. Hope that was the only disappointment of the trip.

 

[Disney Runner]

Joining in

We are staying at the Beach Club for the first time in August. Looking forward to hearing your reviews

 

[HubbDave]

I wonder if they will give you the salad the old way if you ask. The bread pudding did look skimpy. Did you ask for more?

Love those potstickers. Nice, balanced review.

We are also staying at BC in August and have an ADR at Ohana with 8 people.

 

[BlovesC]

We hit MK for some late-night EMH, and Charlie had to get a LeFou's Brew from Gaston's:

Somewhere along the line I've lost my tolerance for these. I don't know what happened! But Charlie still loves them, and we BOTH love how Gaston's seems completely deserted whenever we're there. It's a great place for a pit-stop.


Not to be outdone I had my own treat back at BC, courtesy of the BC Marketplace:

This is the BC Marketplace's Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcake. And it was good. Sickeningly sweet and could have used a tad less sugar in the frosting, but very peanut-buttery with a moist chocolate cake (no filling) and fun bits of candy on top. The last chocolate peanut butter cupcake I had was at Main Street Bakery and this one was SO.MUCH. better!

 

[BlovesC]

We started our morning over on the Yacht Club side of the resort, which we always joke seems so much more dignified and classy than the BC side. We were back to try Captain's Grille again, this time for the breakfast buffet!

First, can I just say how calm and soothing CG is? The restaurant seems to almost never be more than half-full, so of course it's not going to be too noisy, but it's just so nicely lit and cozy too!

The boat next to our seat:

We had ordered a la carte our last visit here, so decided to try the buffet this time.

Behold, my solitary buffet shot!

Some of the cold offerings, like fresh tomato slices, salmon, hard-boiled eggs, etc.

I am sorry to say that even with the restaurant mostly empty, I still felt too weird taking photos of the buffet! As I told Barb, my hat is off to those of you who have provided us with such beautiful, extensive shots of Disney buffets. You are braver souls than I.

My first plate:

Clockwise from the top, my plate had some plain yogurt with granola, an egg white quiche, Mickey waffles, Chef's Frittata of the Day, turkey sausage, and fresh tomatoes.

This plate was delicious! The only misses were the turkey sausage, which was pink in a way I've NEVER seen in a turkey sausage and had an odd taste, and the egg white quiche, which was too soggy. The Mickey waffles were hot and delicious, the plain yogurt at CG is greek which I was very happy about, and the frittata was DELICIOUS! The flavor changes daily and this one was cheese and green onion.

Charlie's first plate:

From the top, he got an onion-bacon tart, banana bread, bacon, sausage, stuffed tomatoes, salmon, tomatoes, turkey sausage, and Chef's Frittata.

He also thought the turkey sausage was 'off' and didn't eat it, and he hated the tomatoes because they were filled with goat cheese (I must have rubbed off on him somewhere about that ). But he loved the frittata, and REALLY loved the onion-bacon tart/quiche.


My second plate:

Plain yogurt with blueberries, dried cherries, granola, and a dollop of whipped cream, a mini blueberry muffin, chocolate croissant, regular croissant, and fresh pineapple.

I HAD to have more yogurt, and it was sooooo good, especially with their extensive toppings! The pastries were equally lovely, although the chocolate croissant was by far and away the winner for me!

C's second plate:

This is a whole mess of food, but it's basically french toast with blueberry topping, bread pudding, bacon, sausage, grapefruit, and two croissants.

I don't have much to say about all this except that he loved it all, especially the bread pudding, and it gave him more than enough energy for the three hours we spent swimming in SAB immediately after.

We thought the selection at CG's buffet was great. I actually expected it to be much smaller, based on the price. Our total was $36 for the two of us with TIW, a good $20 less than Cape May yet the food, atmosphere, and service were so much better!

And a funny note on the service...a few minutes after meeting our waitress, a simply wonderful young brunette woman, I turned to C and said "I think our server moonlights as Cinderella!"...it just hit me, she seemed so much like her. Then when we went up to the buffet, we heard the cooks in the kitchen singing "Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo". I took that as a sign and managed to ask our waitress...and turns out, she played Cinderella and Aurora for six YEARS! Apparently when you do it for that long, the 'princess mannerisms' you have to learn are hard to shake, so she said I was not the first person to ask! We had a great conversation about her time as a 'friend of' the princesses and it was such a fun way to cap off our meal!

 

[Adgie128]

And a funny note on the service...a few minutes after meeting our waitress, a simply wonderful young brunette woman, I turned to C and said "I think our server moonlights as Cinderella!"...it just hit me, she seemed so much like her. Then when we went up to the buffet, we heard the cooks in the kitchen singing "Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo". I took that as a sign and managed to ask our waitress...and turns out, she played Cinderella and Aurora for six YEARS! Apparently when you do it for that long, the 'princess mannerisms' you have to learn are hard to shake, so she said I was not the first person to ask! We had a great conversation about her time as a 'friend of' the princesses and it was such a fun way to cap off our meal!

How cool is that?

Great reviews! Looking forward to reading more.

 

[BlovesC]

We had zero plans for lunch, but after a few hours of swimming we were hungry again! Even though we were scheduled to have dinner in the WS...we decided why not have lunch there, too, it's not always going to be such a short distance away!

We settled on China's Nine Dragons, which we knew we'd be able to walk into easily.

The restaurant was as crowded as our last visit:

Poor beautiful, under-appreciated Nine Dragons. VISIT IT! GO!

One note about the restaurant: the tables are VERY close together, and they have a tendency to seat parties right on top of each other even when the place is 80% empty, I assume to make it simpler for the staff. But they WILL ask you if you're okay with your seat. If not, you can simply ask for a more secluded table and they will gladly accommodate you.

For an appetizer, we shared the Shrimp and Taro lollipops:

These were so good! Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, warm and slightly tangy. While the entree menu may be basic, there are SO many appetizers I want to try, next time we go I'm definitely going to order a couple of them as a meal!

For my entree, I chose the Honey Sesame Chicken:

It looks so small in the photo, but it was a HUGE portion of chicken served with an absolute MOUNTAIN of rice. I spent the entire month of March eating a low-carb no-sugar diet and it left me slightly traumatized, so all I could think when I saw this plate was CARBS! SUGARY GLAZES! MORE CARBS! EMPTY CARBS! END OF THE WORLD! But it was delicious. Perfectly cooked chicken, the glaze wasn't too sweet or cloying. I LOVED the cucumber salad served with it, it was very crisp and refreshing. I wish the portion size on the salad and rice had been swapped!

C chose the same entree he got last time, the Kung Pao chicken, because he had loved it:

And it was declared just as good the second time around. There was no warning from our server about the heat this time...I guess he looked like he could handle it. He DOES wish it were hotter, though. As we all know, Disney's "spicy" standard is merely "mild" to those who truly love heat. Charlie again made up for this by eating the chili peppers mixed into the dish in their entirety, seed and all.

We had another great meal in this quiet, lovely restaurant that has pretty much become my favorite in WS (or slightly tied with our dinner pick!). I know Nine Dragons isn't popular because everyone always says they'd just stay home and order takeout for a lower price. But I have to ask...where do you people get your takeout from? I have zero interest in Chinese takeout because the majority I've had is simply terrible. I eat it maybe once every two years, and then only because Charlie's a big fan. If I ever had anything from a takeout place that tasted as good as the food at Nine Dragons, I might understand how some people live off it.

 

[BlovesC]

We skipped out on dessert at Nine Dragons (even though I loooooove the caramel-ginger ice cream offered in China!) so we could try the F&G booth right outside. I had to get these strawberries I kept hearing about!

I couldn't believe the size of these berries. They were quite literally bigger than my mouth. When I received the plate, I was a little worried that they'd be rock hard and impossible to bite into. But no, no no no...the glaze is a very thin, delicate sugary coating that provides an instant crunch when you bite into it, and then the super soft berry melds with the melting sugar and provides an amazing burst of flavor in your mouth.



I LOVED these things. Quite possibly more than anything I've ever eaten at the F&W booths.

Charlie absolutely shocked me by walking past The Joy of Tea and not ordering his favorite item in all of WDW...Tipsy Ducks in Love. Seriously, I couldn't believe it! Instead, he also chose something from the China F&G booth:

This is the Peach Oolong Bubble Tea. Charlie recently tried bubble tea at a local vietnamese restaurant for the first time and is now obsessed with it, to which I say: Welcome to 1998, buddy. He loved the flavor of this and found it very refreshing for our walk back to BC in the relentlessly blazing sun, although I will tell you he left all the pearls in the empty cup!

 

[wilma-bride]

I agree with you, Nine Dragons is very under-rated and underappreciated. We had a wonderful lunch there a couple of years ago. Maybe we appreciate it because we don't get great Asian food here at home.

 

[BlovesC]

Aaaand we were right back at WS later that night for dinner at our other favorite WS restaurant! Which is probably just our favorite because it's still newer to us and eventually we may cycle back and rediscover our love for Tokyo Dining and Le Cellier, who knows.

Via Napoli's facade is simply gorgeous at night:

Charlie once again started his meal with some sort of beer. Apparently it's become his thing when eating pizza, because he's not really a beer drinker yet ordered one on our first trip to VN.

I don't even remember which one that is...the Moretti I think? He liked it, but he's not much of an expert judge on drafts, so what's good is good, y'know?

We had a slightly heated debate over ordering. I really wanted us to split an individual pizza so we could maybe try an appetizer. He insisted we could each handle our own individual pizzas plus whatever else we wanted. I reminded him that, despite being pooh-sized, on our last visit here we could only tackle half our individual pizzas, and taking 'home' leftovers at WDW is kind of a ridiculous concept.

So who won the debate? C DID! Simply because we couldn't agree on a pizza. Pfffbt.

His choice...(sorry for the poor photos, but lighting inside is very dim)

The famed Prosciutto e Melone - fontina, mozzarella, prosciutto, arugula, and cantaloupe!

A bold choice for him! He enjoyed this pizza even more than his last (the piccante) although he said he would remove the melon next time. Even though that's kind of the point. But he loved the prosciutto and the combination of cheeses, and even the arugula!


I went with the same choice as last time, because it's just too good...

Carciofi - white pizza, artichoke, fontina, mozzarella, truffle oil

This was even better than I remembered it. Such an indulgent combination for a pizza! I'm a big fan of white pies and this combination of toppings is just heavenly for me. Wonderful, deep flavor!

We boxed up our leftovers and moved onto the important matter of dessert! Last time I'd chosen the zeppole which hadn't been a hit with either of us, and been jealous of C's superior choice of pistachio gelato. So I knew I this time wanted a sundae!

And here it is...

Coppa dii Brutti Ma Buon! - Amarena cherry and vanilla gelato sundae

I didn't think this was at ALL ugly. But it was definitely good! I love the amaretto flavor combined with cherry, and the vanilla cut through the sweetness some. It had chocolate shavings and a couple delicious almond cookies that provided a nice bit of texture. It was the perfect dessert for post-pizza because it wasn't too rich or heavy.

C chose the Gelato Frizzante:

Gelato Frizzante: ice cream sold "Italian style" with San Pellegrino Aranciata and vanilla gelato

It's hard to tell from the photo, but this was basically an orange cream ice cream soda, and as a big fan of anything orange cream, it was right up C's alley. It got high marks for being refreshing and delicious!

Overall, I think we enjoyed our second meal at VN even more than our first visit! The servings are so HUGE at this place, it could potentially be quite a bargain. I understand that on the DDP your options for sharing are limited, but if you're paying OOP and share, you could wind up paying CS prices for much, much better food. Next time we go I'm going to insist we split an individual pie, and that plus two desserts would run us under $40 for the two of us. Insane!

 

[wilma-bride]

Via Napoli is definitely on my list for next Spring

 

[BlovesC]

I agree with you, Nine Dragons is very under-rated and underappreciated. We had a wonderful lunch there a couple of years ago. Maybe we appreciate it because we don't get great Asian food here at home.

That HAS to be it! I've only lived in NJ and Florida...and neither place had great Chinese takeout. We also don't have any 'table service' Chinese restaurants around here, everything is cheap, fast takeout. Which is strange, because we have some awesome restaurants for every other Asian cuisine...poor Chinese is relegated to box-sized fast food joints anchored by strip malls.

 

[franandaj]

OK! I'm in! Great pics and choices so far.

I'm one of those who will take pictures of the whole buffet. I don't really care what the other people think!

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

I'm here too! Glad to hear you had really solid experiences at Captain's Grille (one of my favorites), Nine Dragons (haven't been there in ages, but those shrimp & taro lollipops look interesting!), and Via Napoli (that carciofi pizza is great). I was missing Disney food already, but your reviews have me longing for it even more.