We were on the dining plan during our recent stay 5-16 through 5-20. I jumped at the chance for the dining plan as we always enjoy eating well while on vacation. I love the planning portion of a vacation almost as much as the vacation itself, so I had logged many hours on the DIS boards gathering great tips and reviews as well as other online sources and travel books from the time we booked our airfare in January.
Alfredo di Roma Mystery of the 11% tip: This was dinner our first night. Arrived about 10 minutes early for 6pm ADR. Waited in line for about 10 minutes at the outside podium until DH realized we were in the line for walkups. Oops I thought I had researched this well! After checking in inside we were seated after a 5-10 minute wait. So far, so good. DH and I both wanted to try the house specialty, Fettuccine Alfredo, so we each ordered as an appetizer. As they say, When in Rome .. It was a very generous serving and could easily be split. DH is an accomplished cook and makes an incredible alfredo from scratch and I would have to say this version took a distant second to his. We both actually enjoyed it better after asking the waiter for freshly ground pepper. I ordered the lamb, DH ordered the boar, fennel & Italian sausages, and DD age 8 ordered the penne w/meat sauce. As is her simple style, my daughter asked for pasta plain with sauce on the side and the waiter gave her some good natured ribbing about how American children always ask for sauce on the side. He kiddingly pleaded with her to try it in the Italian style with sauce actually touching the pasta. She was a good sport and agreed and he assured her she would like it. But if she didnt, he would bring out a dish of plain pasta. After a very long wait for the entrees, I made the right choice with the lamb. It was perfectly done, very tender, and had an excellent sauce. DH entrée, however, was not a winner one of the sausages was very burnt and the others had little flavor. And our American daughter did not care for the taste of the meat sauce. She delicately tried to squeegee it off the penne, but it was no use. Our waiter, the meat sauce pusher, was no where to be found. We scanned the restaurant continuously during a time period in which she finished off all the bread w/olive oil and my husband and I finished our entrees. We finally hailed him from three tables down and told him of the meat sauce mishap. He did apologize and whisked away the offending dish. He returned quickly with the plain penne. But he also rushed away from the table before we could tell him we wanted desserts. Again we waited quite a long time scanning the room for this elusive waiter. Finally a girl came to clear our finished entrée dishes and we gave her our dessert order. The waiter brought the desserts (all turned out to be very good) and DH was ready for him this time quickly telling him to bring the check right away. But first we had a question. New to the DDP we wanted to make sure we handled the tip properly (we had ordered 2 cocktails to be paid & tipped additionally). DH was a restaurant manager for several years and a generous tipper, rarely leaving less than 20%. When asked if the gratuity and tax were included on the dining plan portion of our order, he replied yes. When asked if the gratuity was figured at 18%, he replied no, well not really, it more works out to about 11%. What?? I know I had seen in several places that it was 18%. I was losing credibility as the well researched Disney expert of our family. When I mentioned I thought it was 18% not 11%, DH swears his Italian accent got thicker as he explained something about the tax coming out of the gratuity. But he then reassured us that we need not worry about the gratuity for the meals. Needless to say we were somewhat confused but DH signed the Dining Plan slip, paid cash for the additional cocktails & tip, threw in another couple bucks for good measure, and we got the heck out of Rome. After discussing it later, we figured there could be three possible explanations for his comments: (a) Disney restaurants have different % gratuities for DDP, although 11% is very low (most restaurants add a minimum of 15% for large parties) or (b) the waiter was fishing for a larger tip or (c) he was referring to his take home on the amount of the tip after taxes are taken out as I would imagine all tips from the Dining Plan are declared for the servers income tax.
Thankfully, the tipping aspect of DDP was straightforward at our other meals. We also had TS at Spoodles, Cape May Character Breakfast, and Chefs de France. I will try to post reviews on these soon.
Alfredo di Roma Mystery of the 11% tip: This was dinner our first night. Arrived about 10 minutes early for 6pm ADR. Waited in line for about 10 minutes at the outside podium until DH realized we were in the line for walkups. Oops I thought I had researched this well! After checking in inside we were seated after a 5-10 minute wait. So far, so good. DH and I both wanted to try the house specialty, Fettuccine Alfredo, so we each ordered as an appetizer. As they say, When in Rome .. It was a very generous serving and could easily be split. DH is an accomplished cook and makes an incredible alfredo from scratch and I would have to say this version took a distant second to his. We both actually enjoyed it better after asking the waiter for freshly ground pepper. I ordered the lamb, DH ordered the boar, fennel & Italian sausages, and DD age 8 ordered the penne w/meat sauce. As is her simple style, my daughter asked for pasta plain with sauce on the side and the waiter gave her some good natured ribbing about how American children always ask for sauce on the side. He kiddingly pleaded with her to try it in the Italian style with sauce actually touching the pasta. She was a good sport and agreed and he assured her she would like it. But if she didnt, he would bring out a dish of plain pasta. After a very long wait for the entrees, I made the right choice with the lamb. It was perfectly done, very tender, and had an excellent sauce. DH entrée, however, was not a winner one of the sausages was very burnt and the others had little flavor. And our American daughter did not care for the taste of the meat sauce. She delicately tried to squeegee it off the penne, but it was no use. Our waiter, the meat sauce pusher, was no where to be found. We scanned the restaurant continuously during a time period in which she finished off all the bread w/olive oil and my husband and I finished our entrees. We finally hailed him from three tables down and told him of the meat sauce mishap. He did apologize and whisked away the offending dish. He returned quickly with the plain penne. But he also rushed away from the table before we could tell him we wanted desserts. Again we waited quite a long time scanning the room for this elusive waiter. Finally a girl came to clear our finished entrée dishes and we gave her our dessert order. The waiter brought the desserts (all turned out to be very good) and DH was ready for him this time quickly telling him to bring the check right away. But first we had a question. New to the DDP we wanted to make sure we handled the tip properly (we had ordered 2 cocktails to be paid & tipped additionally). DH was a restaurant manager for several years and a generous tipper, rarely leaving less than 20%. When asked if the gratuity and tax were included on the dining plan portion of our order, he replied yes. When asked if the gratuity was figured at 18%, he replied no, well not really, it more works out to about 11%. What?? I know I had seen in several places that it was 18%. I was losing credibility as the well researched Disney expert of our family. When I mentioned I thought it was 18% not 11%, DH swears his Italian accent got thicker as he explained something about the tax coming out of the gratuity. But he then reassured us that we need not worry about the gratuity for the meals. Needless to say we were somewhat confused but DH signed the Dining Plan slip, paid cash for the additional cocktails & tip, threw in another couple bucks for good measure, and we got the heck out of Rome. After discussing it later, we figured there could be three possible explanations for his comments: (a) Disney restaurants have different % gratuities for DDP, although 11% is very low (most restaurants add a minimum of 15% for large parties) or (b) the waiter was fishing for a larger tip or (c) he was referring to his take home on the amount of the tip after taxes are taken out as I would imagine all tips from the Dining Plan are declared for the servers income tax.
Thankfully, the tipping aspect of DDP was straightforward at our other meals. We also had TS at Spoodles, Cape May Character Breakfast, and Chefs de France. I will try to post reviews on these soon.
