An Anniversary Trip Deluxe Dining Report... Updated 7/11

[smile4stamps]

I am so enjoying your reviews! Thank you so much for sharing your anniversary trip with us!

Thank you! I'm so happy my reviews are enjoyable

I am really enjoying your reviews. I especially liked the Artist Point one. I've not looked into eating there before. The scallops looked wonderful!

I am glad you liked Mama Melrose. It gets pretty dicey reviews but DH and I think the food is good. We've been lucky never to have any problems in getting seated and I found it one of the few restaurants with some room between the tables!

Anyway ... congratulations on your 5 year anniversary. DH and I are almost to #24!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my -- it just went by in a flash ... I guess I'll keep him !

I will pop back to see the rest of your reviews! Thanks for taking the time to do them!

Oh... Definitly look into Artist Point! It is beautiful as well as good food! Everything was very tasty!

Mama Melrose was good for us. I don't know why some people have issues with it.. I guess maybe they have good and bad days.

#24! Wow! My parents are celebration #35 this month! Amazing but so good to see that Marriages CAN last!

Great reviews! I am looking forward to your thoughts on Citrco's. I have been going back and forth about making a reservation here for my upcoming trip.

I'm sorry I've been making you all wait for the citrico's. I didn't mean to I promise. It is coming up soon...

I just found this tonite and have zipped through all 6 pages. I'm glad to hear Dallas is still dishing it out at HDDR. He was our server in '07 and sang to us all night. An absolute hoot. I've been on the fence about San Angel, and you pushed me right off. I'll stick with my plato combinacion at the Cantina.
BTW at PTC you can substitute corn or green beans for the greens. In '06 our cousin introduced every one in his section by name, and continued to each time more cousins showed up. There had to be 30 people in his section. And in '07 one buddy had to sing I'm a Little Teapot doe to elbows on the table. Give it another try. Who knows, you may get sent to the corner.

Dallas was awesome! We really enjoyed him! He kept my hubby's wine glass full all night too!

I will remember that about the veggies substitute. I normally like greens but only a very small portion at a time.

 

[smile4stamps]

I have to REALLY REALLY APOLOGIZE I never meant to drag out posting the Citrico's review so long. I came home from work this morning with a Migraine and barely made it home so I went straight to bed. I will post at least the first 2 courses of Citrico's in a few minutes. Dessert will have to wait till morning.

 

[smile4stamps]

All Right... Here We go... the LONG awaited for Citrico's review!

We arrived to the Grand Floridian a little early for our ADR time. By about 30 minutes or so. They told us that there would be a little wait as they were a little behind. No problem. We took a seat and just relaxed. When we were taken to our table it was right in front of the Kitchen line.. AWESOME!

Our menu's again had Happy Anniversary wishes on them. (Sorry the pic is blurry)

Our view from the table...

And the other side...

On the right side of that pic you see Chef Eddie. He came to the table to say hi and to tell my hubby that there isn't any "hidden" seafood in any of the dishes. You'll be seeing/hearing more about him later...

I want to comment on the bead for this restaurant. I don't have a picture but I do want to point out that the bread here is wonderful. (I like the bread at other restaurants as well but forgot to mention it.) The bread here is original creations by the Exec Pasty Chef Erich at the Grand Floridian... (More about him in a later post.) There are two kinds and both are delicious.

For apps Hunter had the Goat Cheese Truffle (salad)

These were wonderful! Very creamy and the outsides were perfect matches!

I had the Gateau of Crab...

Oh my goodness! I took one bit of this and my taste buds were in heaven! This was divine. The temp was perfect. The consistency was awesome! The flavors were just a perfect combination. If you like crab I would say this dish is a must!

The main course Hunter had the Filet Jardiniere

He REALLY enjoyed this. The flavors were awesome. Everything just went together.

I had the Braised Veal Shank

Oh Oh Oh... delish!

The meat was tender and flavorful and the potatoes were yummy! I ate as much as I possibly could but the serving was pretty decent size and I just couldn't eat any more unfortunately. I did have to save room for dessert after all!

And the Dessert course will be a separate post tomorrow. There is so much to tell about Dessert! I can't wait!!!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Oh man, what the heck am I gonna drop so I can add Citrico's??

 

[tlynk]

Excellent reviews! Now I'm hungry!

 

[TigerKat]

I am SO excited to be trying Citrico's in October!!!!!!!

 

[smile4stamps]

Oh man, what the heck am I gonna drop so I can add Citrico's??

You haven't tried Citrico's before? Or it's been awhile? I SO wish I was planning my next trip to return to Citrico's!

Excellent reviews! Now I'm hungry!

Thanks! They make me hungry too. And make me salivate remembering the taste!

I am SO excited to be trying Citrico's in October!!!!!!!

Awesome! Can I join you? Oh how I would love to! I have ou have a wonderful experience.

Up soon. The Dessert at Citrico's

 

[2manypets]

Yum!! You pictured just what we are planning on ordering in September. It all looks heavenly

 

[katiebelle21]

I have to REALLY REALLY APOLOGIZE I never meant to drag out posting the Citrico's review so long. I came home from work this morning with a Migraine and barely made it home so I went straight to bed. I will post at least the first 2 courses of Citrico's in a few minutes. Dessert will have to wait till morning.

No need to apologize! I think it's nice that you take the time to do this!

I think I am officially convinced that Citrico's is a must-do. Thanks!

 

[smile4stamps]

Woo-Hoo!! Here it is... I get to finally post on our Desserts at Citrico's.. Now ya'll are probably wondering what I am so exceited about and it will become evident very soon... But back to the regular story..

So we had finished out meals and were really a little full but really wanted to try the desserts. We have been hopeful our entire trip to be awed by some desserts. Like I had said Hubby is a Pastry Chef and he can make some really awesome imaginative desserts so that is what we had been looking for at Disney and every time we got our desserts we were a little disappointed. Yes, we had had a few decent desserts but nothing that blew our socks off.

So at Citrico's I ordered the Seasonal Berry Gratin

The berries were good but I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I am not a fan of burnt sugar? So I kinda peeled that part off and and ate the berries with some of the sabayon.

Hubby had ordered the Tiramisu.

While this Tiramisu was definitely better than the one at Mama Melrose it still didn't completely excite us. So after a less than satisfying attempt at dessert my hubby waved Chef Eddie over to the table. Hunter asked what was up with the Desserts. He said I have not had anything blow me away yet and I thought Disney had the best of desserts. So they had a conversation about how the restaurant does not have a Pastry Chef and all the desserts are prepped in the BIG GF kitchen downstairs and then just finalized and finished in the upstairs kitchen.

They talked for a little bit more and then Chef Eddie said he would be right back. He came back in a few minutes and said not to eat much of our current desserts. He had a surprise for us but it would be a few minutes. I had a few more bites of the fruit and tiramisu but then just kinda put my spoon down. Our server asked if we were done with them and we said yes. He cleared our plates and then brought some fresh flatwear. We had no idea what was in store for us.

Now I want to preclude that what happens next is NOT the norm and it was definitely some Pixie Dust.




Ready...





Are you sure????





Do I have you wondering yet???






We were brought this plate.

Here it is without the sugar on top

Anybody guess what restaurant this dessert came from???

I'll give you a hint.... Its from the Grand Floridian also...



Did you figure it out?



It came from the place next door! Victoria & Alberts!!!

Okay so I have NO clue what it was called. I have no menu to go off of.. But let me tell you it was delicious! It was a banana something or other... It had a creamy part and a crispy part and it was just so good.

But AGAIN we were told not to eat to much because there was even more!

Ready???

Here it is... Triple Chocolate (Don't know the official description)! Also from V&A's!!!

Each item on the plate was made from a different trpe of chocolate. All were good but the souffle in the middle was the absolute BEST souffle I have ever tasted! I think I ate 90% of it! It was devine!! Can I have more please???

So... My husband finally had his socks knocked off by a dessert at WDW and I did too!

Absolutly wonderful and completly unexpected and so thankful Chef Eddie made this happen.

Here is a pic of Hunter and Chef Eddie

During our dinner one of the Hostess's also took our picture and they then put inside a celebrate card that we got to keep. Supper nice!

So we definitely enjoyed Citrico's and would go back... AND WE DID!!! You will hear more about that experience later!

 

[TigerKat]

Wow! That was some major dessert pixiedust!!!! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your reviews with us.

 

[Joie29]

I am really enjoying your reviews ...AND, thought I'd share that I think I know exactly what you were treated to from V & A...because you had almost the same desserts we had when we dined at the Chef's Table at V & A in January. OH MY--were they completely amazing! Here is the excerpt from my dining review of the Chef's Table, and pics of ours. Thought you might get a kick out of seeing this, and knowing what exactly they were--

Strawberry Dumpling, Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée and Miniature Banana Gâteau

The Chef told us the strawberry dumpling was a new dessert. This was a lightly fried dumpling with strawberry and probably a mascarpone cheese inside, served with a nice compote of strawberry.

The crème brûlée was great, just a very well done version of this classic dessert, with fresh berries on top and brimming with fresh vanilla bean seeds.

My favorite was the banana gateau—I love caramelized bananas, so this was right up my alley. This was interesting though, because it wasn’t quite a cake, more of a fresh banana custard, along with softly whipped cream, inside a cakey/crisy shell, accompanied by caramelized bananas and spun sugar. It was almost like a variation on banana cream pie—yum.



Tanzanian Chocolate Pyramid, Hawaiian Kona Chocolate Soufflé and Peruvian Chocolate Ice Cream and Puff Pastry

Oohhh….chocolate. Now, first let me mention that the Chef told us that for a single restaurant to have and utilize three single source varietal chocolates is not only rare, but very special. Indeed. This also explains, I think, why I have read these same gorgeous chocolate desserts in most of the reports and reviews I have come across—these are desserts to be proud of and repeated. And, we both would be happy eating these year after year…

The Tanzanian pyramid was dense and very bittersweet, a thick, stable custard type treat, dusted with more lovely chocolate and topped with a little dazzle of edible gold leaf. It was fantastic, but my least favorite of the three.

The center Kona chocolate creation was completely unbelievably amazing! I think I kept uttering…”oh my Good God…” over and over. When these were brought over Sal also came up with a pitcher of warm chocolatey caramely sauce, pierced the middle and poured. Of course this was perfect, and scrumptious, and fabulous…The Kona chocolate was interesting because it had an almost caramel and creamy note to the underlying flavor (yes, I slowly tasted and contemplated this one). I miraculously found enough room in my very full tummy for a goodly amount of this!

Lastly, the Peruvian chocolate ice cream was yummy—it was nice to have something cold with the warm soufflé. I have to say I didn’t pay much attention to this one because I was pretty focused on the soufflé.

I understand why they serve the chocolate last, but it is a bit of a shame for chocolate lovers like us who would like to gobble up every bite but are far too full to do so at this point. Chef Hunnel laughed and said most people don’t eat much of this last course.​

Looking forward to reading more reviews!

 

[Rafikifan]

Your reviews are great. Thank you!

 

[scanne]

Oh my..........the fact that you got V&A desserts is awesome! DH and I ate at V&A's for our 5 year anniversary. We're going back NEXT year for our 10th, but this year (this coming Thursday to be exact ) we are dining at Citricos. Your review has me drooling on my computer!!! Now I know that your experience is one of those unique WDW pixie dust moments, but it's nice to see SERVICE that exceeds expectations! I just am really looking forward to a quiet meal, just me and my DH while my parents take the kids for the evening. I want to savor every bite of deliciousness and I am purposefully going to wear the loosest outfit I can so that I can just eat as much as my tummy will hold!!!

Thank you for sharing your wonderful meal. It looks divine!!!!

 

[jeminni]

Loved your citrico's review. The Goat Cheese truffle salad had me drooling.

 

[Samandmom]

Awesome suprise!!!

I have seen pictures of V&A food and it all looks so good but nothing I would eat.
Now the desserts are yummy looking and would eat those.

Great Reviews so far

 

[gardengirl628]

So cool! Thanks for that awesome review!

 

[BriarRosie]

I thought it was wonderful that you were treated to some V&A desserts! Did your DH mention that he's a pastry chef? I wonder if that was shared, Chef Eddie didn't want you to think that the GF couldn't deliver on dessert.

I think the other dessert alternative would have been doing a special order with the GF bakery for the Cinderella Slipper dessert.

 

[smile4stamps]

Yum!! You pictured just what we are planning on ordering in September. It all looks heavenly

It was heavenly!! We had different entree's our second time there which I will be posting later.

No need to apologize! I think it's nice that you take the time to do this!

I think I am officially convinced that Citrico's is a must-do. Thanks!

It is definitly a must-do for us. Oh so wonderful! And not just because of our dessert pixie-dust either. The meal was awesome!

Wow! That was some major dessert pixiedust!!!! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your reviews with us.

Definitly Pixie-Dust! Happy to share!

I am really enjoying your reviews ...AND, thought I'd share that I think I know exactly what you were treated to from V & A...because you had almost the same desserts we had when we dined at the Chef's Table at V & A in January. OH MY--were they completely amazing! Here is the excerpt from my dining review of the Chef's Table, and pics of ours. Thought you might get a kick out of seeing this, and knowing what exactly they were--


Looking forward to reading more reviews!

Thank you for sharing! So happy to know what we had! Hubby probably remembered but he was sleeping when I did my review. Plus he thinks I am crazy for hanging out on Disboards after our trip.

Your reviews are great. Thank you!

Thank you! I love doing them!

Oh my..........the fact that you got V&A desserts is awesome! DH and I ate at V&A's for our 5 year anniversary. We're going back NEXT year for our 10th, but this year (this coming Thursday to be exact ) we are dining at Citricos. Your review has me drooling on my computer!!! Now I know that your experience is one of those unique WDW pixie dust moments, but it's nice to see SERVICE that exceeds expectations! I just am really looking forward to a quiet meal, just me and my DH while my parents take the kids for the evening. I want to savor every bite of deliciousness and I am purposefully going to wear the loosest outfit I can so that I can just eat as much as my tummy will hold!!!

Thank you for sharing your wonderful meal. It looks divine!!!!

I like your idea for wearing the loosest clothes possible! I know next time Hubby and I go to WDW we will be dining at both V&A's and Citrico's! I just need to get some $$$ and talk hubby into going again. . Both times we were at Citrico's the restaurant was pretty quiet making it for enjoyable evenings!

Loved your citrico's review. The Goat Cheese truffle salad had me drooling.

The Goat Cheese truffle salad was amazing... I only had a bite because hubby couldn't share in my crab appetizer so I didn't want to try too much of his.

Awesome suprise!!!

I have seen pictures of V&A food and it all looks so good but nothing I would eat.
Now the desserts are yummy looking and would eat those.

Great Reviews so far

Definitly awesome! My hubby and I both love food and with him being a pastry chef and once working in a fine dining restaurant we like to try new things but I imagine that isn't for everyone. Too bad you can't just go for dessert at V&A'a

So cool! Thanks for that awesome review!

You're welcome! Thanks for commenting!

I thought it was wonderful that you were treated to some V&A desserts! Did your DH mention that he's a pastry chef? I wonder if that was shared, Chef Eddie didn't want you to think that the GF couldn't deliver on dessert.

I think the other dessert alternative would have been doing a special order with the GF bakery for the Cinderella Slipper dessert.

Hubby would not have been impressed with the Cinderella Slipper... It is simply a molded piece of choclate which is filled. While it looks pretty it definitly wasn't a choice for him. Hubby makes some very interesting desserts. I will see if I can post some of them at a later date.

WE did tell Chef Eddie that Hunter was a Pastry Chef. That came up when he said he had been so dissapointed with the desserts we had encountered this far in the trip. Hunter had a special meeting planned with the Exec Pastry Chef of the GF later in the trip which I will tell more about in my next Citrico's Review.

 

[MickeyNicki]

You haven't tried Citrico's before? Or it's been awhile? I SO wish I was planning my next trip to return to Citrico's!

Nope, we have never been to Citrico's but it is now on the list, I dont know if we will give up Flying Fish or Cali Grill for it but I have got to try Citrico's and Narcoossee's too!