Meticulous planner that I am, I made all our ADRs months in advance to secure our favourite places and preferred dining times. I only made one TS ADR a day assuming that we would only want one big meal a day. Well, after our MK day, my schedule had called for an evening at EPCOT or the Boardwalk. I had made an ADR at Kouzzina and and ADR at Via Napoli and though we would decide on that day and cancel the one we didn't want. Counter service at World Showcase was also a possibility. Well, I guess everyone was tired and didn't want to go 'out' again. We were staying at the WL villas so our choices were Roarking Forks ( we didn't want that simple), Whispering Canyon (menu didn't appeal and most recent reviews have not been good) and Artist Point. I decided this would be our best option. Given the high prices, I was confident about getting an ADR for that evening - and we preferred a bit later anyways due to our heavy lunch. Sure enough, I secured an ADR for 7:50 p.m. and cancelled my other two.
I had pretty high expectations for this meal - this was one of the restaurants that seem to be touted as 'worth 2 TS credits (we weren't on the meal plan)', and one of the best WDW restaurants. Though the restaurant was not full, we were seated at the entrance of the restaurant -I figured that with 7 people we didn't have alot of table choices. Our server was a bit abrupt with the service and did not seem to know the wine and menu choices well.
Most of us started with the smoky portobello soup - which we all loved (well, ds 10 mushroom lover did not finish it) - though it was a bit salty (the oven roasted ****ake sprinkled on top mimicked bacon along with the saltiness). DS 14 ordered the butternut squash risotto with pork belly - very good but I felt the risotto was missing something (should have read the signs here).
For entrees, DS 10 had the salmon which he greatly enjoyed. DS 14 and I shared two entrees - the sweet potoato gnocchi with mushrooms and brussel sprouts and the beef tenderloin. The gnocchi were fantastic - feather light and lightly pan-fried - but the accompanying mushroom saute was extremely salty - likely due to an overkill of capers. The tenderloin was a tasty preparation but the quality and cut were not matched to the price charged for the dish. DH was still full from lunch so he just had the cheese plate as his entree - it was very good. So that was all the good part of the meal.
My parents and my brother all ordered the Blue Crab and Prawn 'Hot Pot' with Crispy Pork. It sounded very interesting. The seafood was all cooked perfectly. Unfortunately the rice was still half-raw (crunchy) and since most of the ingredients were mixed in with the rice, it made the dish largely inedible. As soon as we could get the server's attention, we told them about the problem. They did offer to replace but we had already waited a very long time for our meals and everyone else had eaten more than half their dinner. We suspect the order was either placed late or the kitchen became backed-up and rushed the Hot Pot dish.
To their credit they took all of the Hot Pot entrees off the bill but I was sad that my family did not have an enjoyable meal - especially after I had made a huge build-up to it.
I had pretty high expectations for this meal - this was one of the restaurants that seem to be touted as 'worth 2 TS credits (we weren't on the meal plan)', and one of the best WDW restaurants. Though the restaurant was not full, we were seated at the entrance of the restaurant -I figured that with 7 people we didn't have alot of table choices. Our server was a bit abrupt with the service and did not seem to know the wine and menu choices well.
Most of us started with the smoky portobello soup - which we all loved (well, ds 10 mushroom lover did not finish it) - though it was a bit salty (the oven roasted ****ake sprinkled on top mimicked bacon along with the saltiness). DS 14 ordered the butternut squash risotto with pork belly - very good but I felt the risotto was missing something (should have read the signs here).
For entrees, DS 10 had the salmon which he greatly enjoyed. DS 14 and I shared two entrees - the sweet potoato gnocchi with mushrooms and brussel sprouts and the beef tenderloin. The gnocchi were fantastic - feather light and lightly pan-fried - but the accompanying mushroom saute was extremely salty - likely due to an overkill of capers. The tenderloin was a tasty preparation but the quality and cut were not matched to the price charged for the dish. DH was still full from lunch so he just had the cheese plate as his entree - it was very good. So that was all the good part of the meal.
My parents and my brother all ordered the Blue Crab and Prawn 'Hot Pot' with Crispy Pork. It sounded very interesting. The seafood was all cooked perfectly. Unfortunately the rice was still half-raw (crunchy) and since most of the ingredients were mixed in with the rice, it made the dish largely inedible. As soon as we could get the server's attention, we told them about the problem. They did offer to replace but we had already waited a very long time for our meals and everyone else had eaten more than half their dinner. We suspect the order was either placed late or the kitchen became backed-up and rushed the Hot Pot dish.
To their credit they took all of the Hot Pot entrees off the bill but I was sad that my family did not have an enjoyable meal - especially after I had made a huge build-up to it.
