Celebrating 20 years of marriage with Disney Dining! COMPLETE 3/26

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

My husband and I took a "no kids" Disney trip from 12/18- 12/23 to celebrate our 20th Anniversary. We had a wonderful stay at the Grand Floridian.

Here's a picture of what Mickey and Minnie left us when we checked in!




Present from Mickey by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

That was so thoughtful of them.

Here's a list of the places we enjoyed-

Sunday 12/18- Citrico's Dinner- Updated 1/25 p. 1

Monday 12/19- San Angel Inn Lunch-Updated 1/27 p. 2, California Grill Dinner-Updated 1/30 p.2

Tuesday 12/20- Pizzafari Breakfast-Updated 2/01 p .2, Nine Dragons Lunch-Updated 2/01 p. 2, and Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party-Updated 2/05 p. 3

Wednesday 12/21- Hollywood Brown Derby Lunch-Upated 2/07 p.4, Artist Point DinnerUpdated 2/14- p. 4

Thursday 12/22- Liberty Tree Tavern Lunch-Updated 2/23, Tutto Italia Dinner-Updated 3/02

Friday 12/23- Grand Floridian Cafe BreakfastUpdated 3/15 p. 5

Final Thoughts-pg. 6

Add a few snacks along the way.

Looking forward to getting started with the reviews!

 

[jasperess]

YAY! Looks like you went to a bunch of restaurants we are looking to frequent next time we go! Looking forward to the reviews!

 

[a pirate's mama]

Congratulations on your 20th anniversary! I am looking forward to seeing your reviews.

 

[wilma-bride]

Happy (belated) Anniversary. Looking forward to your reviews.

 

[tiki23]

Looking forward to your reviews as DH and I are celebrating our 20-year at WDW in the fall!

 

[TigerKat]

Happy Anniversary! Can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[PelletierBears]

Congratulations!

My husband and I will be celebrating 20 years on Dec 13th 2012. We were just talking about a possible no kids trip to Disney!

Looking forward to reading your report for inspiration!

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

YAY! Looks like you went to a bunch of restaurants we are looking to frequent next time we go! Looking forward to the reviews!

Hope you enjoy your meals as much as we did!

Congratulations on your 20th anniversary! I am looking forward to seeing your reviews.

Thank you so much for the wishes.

Happy (belated) Anniversary. Looking forward to your reviews.

Thank you. Looking forward to getting started.

Looking forward to your reviews as DH and I are celebrating our 20-year at WDW in the fall!

Happy early Anniversary! WDW is a great place to celebrate.

Happy Anniversary! Can't wait to hear all about it!

It really was a great trip with great food. Thanks for reading!

Congratulations!

My husband and I will be celebrating 20 years on Dec 13th 2012. We were just talking about a possible no kids trip to Disney!

Looking forward to reading your report for inspiration!

Congratulations on your upcoming 20th Anniversary. We had a great time without the kids even though I did miss them. It was a much more laid back trip where our main focus was eating and taking naps.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

For our first meal I knew I wanted to go to Citrico's. We were staying at the Grand Floridian and arriving in the late afternoon around 4:30 p.m. so I thought it would be a perfect choice to have dinner around 7:30 p.m. I received an e-mail from Delta about a month or so before we were to leave that our flight would be changed and we wouldn't be arriving until 5:45 p.m. I called Disney Dining to push back our reservation until 8:00 p.m. and was unfortunate enough that it was the first day that a credit card guarentee would be required for Citrico's. I was a little nervous about making the reservation because when traveling by air you never know what delays you might encounter. And the lady with Disney Dining would not commit that my CC would not be charged if we had problems gettting there. To add to my stress I knew that I needed to head over to the MK before our dinner because I wanted to purchase a Tables in Wonderland Card. (I really wish they could sell these at the resorts.)

Everything went perfectly with our flight and the Magical Express and we arrived at the GF a little before 7:00 pm. There was a lot of traffic getting into the GF and the bus driver told us there were many weddings and events there on the weekends. Check-in was easy and I was off on the monorail to get our new APs and TIW card. I left my husband at the resort to get things settled in our room. This was the last night of MVMCP and Guest Services was packed with people picking up their party tickets. I was able to get everything done and back to Citrico's right at 8:00 p.m. Brian walked over from our room and met me there.

I was feeling a little stressed from all the rushing around so I decided to treat my success with this...


Mojito from Citricos by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

A Tropical Mojito. Very light and minty and just the right size.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

We only waited around 15 minutes to be seated but I have to admit I was feeling a little underdressed. I did not have time to change so I still had on my travel clothes- jeans and flip flops. Brian also had on jeans, but looked a little more dressed up than me in a polo shirt. We saw lots of people in evening wear. The elderly couple seated at the table beside us looked lovely in a tuxedo and sequined dress. I'm guessing that since it was Sunday night a week before Christmas there were lots of people celebrating the holidays so they were dressed in their finest. Maybe my flip flops and jeans would have been fine for another evening so I decided not to worry about my lack of style this time.

Our server was Gwen who was very efficient and helpful. This is one of the things I love about Disney's Signature Restaurants- that you can almost always count on very good service. We were given the Happy Anniversary menus which were a nice keepsake.

I admit that I love food and love to eat, but often my eyes are bigger than my stomach. Also knowing that we were looking at 2 Table Service meals a day for the next 5 days, Brian and I had decided we needed to pace our eating and would probably be splitting a good many meals during our trip. So to get started we split the Heirloom Salad...


Salad at Citricos by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

I think on AllEars they are calling this the Artisanal Greens and Peach Salad. I really enjoyed this salad especially the pickled onions and almonds.

For our entree Brian asked Gwen for her recommendation. Her suggestion was the Florida Black Grouper which was served over a squash risotto. The kitchen split the dish for us so here is a picture of my half...


Grouper from Citricos by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

This dish was absolutely wonderful! The fish was cooked perfectly with a nice crisp on the outside and a warm flaky center. The squash risotto was a perfect creamy slightly sweet complement to the fish. I couldn't imagine getting any better meal than this one for the rest of our vacation.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

I forgot to include this picture of the bread that was given to us before we received our salad...


Bread at Citricos by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

This bread was very good. I especially liked the salted butter.

Brian rarely misses an opportunity to have dessert, but I was feeling very full and it was getting late. I told him I only wanted a bite and to get whatever he wanted. He seemed to have his mind set on chocolate. He asked Gwen what she thought of the Chocolate Banana Torte. She said if you liked chocolate you would enjoy it. He asked her is she liked it and she said that is was quite chocolatey. This did not sound like a ringing endorsement to me, but Brian was determined this was what he wanted so here it is...


Warm Chocolate Banana Tart from Citrico's by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

Visually this was stunning to look at. But the chocolate was a little too bitter for me. I'm more of a milk chocolate person. The chocolate cake was moist with bananas in the center. These are 2 flavors that do not appeal to me together. Brian ate every bite but said he would try a different dessert next time.

We were seated at a table by the window and were able to see a bit of Wishes as we were eating our dessert from our table even though our view was a little obstructed by the Sugar Loaf building. It was a lovely ending to a wonderful meal!

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

So here's my final grade of Citricos

A

We loved our meal here and considered going back for a second time during this trip. I would recommend anyone trying Citricos especially the grouper.

Our final bill was $68.63 with our TIW saving us $11.80 on food and $1.50 on beverages. We need to save $61.70 more to pay for our TIW card.

Next up will be San Angel Inn Lunch...

 

[wilma-bride]

Great start. That chocolate-banana dessert does look delicious but it also looks pretty sickly IYKWIM. Great start to your dining experience though - and how cool that you have almost broken even on your TIW card after one meal

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Yes, the dessert did look better than it tasted. But everything else we ate at Citricos was so good it didn't matter that much to me. We've got a little ways to go before paying for that TIW card but I think we made back our $75 by the time the trip was over.

Great start. That chocolate-banana dessert does look delicious but it also looks pretty sickly IYKWIM. Great start to your dining experience though - and how cool that you have almost broken even on your TIW card after one meal

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Great review! Your meal looks delicious. I'm more of a dark chocolate girl, so the dessert sounds wonderful to me. You have a great lineup of restaurants. I'm looking forward to the rest of your reviews.

 

[TigerKat]

Citricos is one of our favorites, glad to hear it didn't disappoint! We've never had a bad meal there but the problem is we love the veal shank so much we never order anything else.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Great review! Your meal looks delicious. I'm more of a dark chocolate girl, so the dessert sounds wonderful to me. You have a great lineup of restaurants. I'm looking forward to the rest of your reviews.

You would have enjoyed the dessert if you like dark chocolate and bananas. Thanks for reading my reviews.

Citricos is one of our favorites, glad to hear it didn't disappoint! We've never had a bad meal there but the problem is we love the veal shank so much we never order anything else.

I know what you mean... I can't imagine ordering anything other than that grouper when we visit Citricos next time.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

On Monday, December 19th we had lunch at San Angel Inn. Brian was not too excited when I told him we would be dining here since we have eaten here a few times and he's never been that impressed with his meals. But I am a sucker for this restaurant because I love the look of the outdoor cantina by the water and the smell of Mexcian food. It seems so romantic to me and since it is our anniversary trip I decided to give it a go again.

We checked in around 11:20 and the hostess let us know they would not be open for another 10 minutes. I made sure to request a table by the water. Unfortunately being a party of 2, my experience has shown me that it is not easy to get a good table location since these tables for 2 are often squeezed in uncomfortable places. I think we were the first people taken to their table and I was delighted to find that there was a table for 2 to the far right of the restaurant right by the water. The only problem was that one person faced the temple and another had his back to it. Being the gentleman, Brian let me have to good view.

Once again we decided we would split a meal. We settled on the "Mexican Menu." Our server Fernando seemed a little confused by this decision which I'll explain more about as we go on. I usually order water at restaurants since I get my fill of soft drinks at the resort with my mug. Since the Mexican lunch came with a soft drink I ordered tea. Fernando told me the tea was sweetened which was a suprise to me since I have never found sweet tea at a Disney restaurant. I ordered this with delight but was disappointed when it came. I think it was the Gold Peak Tea which I do not like.

The first thing Fernando brought was the Soup Azteca. He did not add the tortilla to the soup until it was brought to the table which made sure that the tortilla still had crunch. We had to ask him to bring another spoon as I wanted to taste it. I thought this was quite good. The avocado in it was very fresh.


Soup Azteca at San Angel Inn by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Next came our enchiladas...


Enchiladas from San Angel Inn by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

I apologize for the quality of this picture since the flash overpowered it. The dish included 3 enchiladas, 2 for Brian 1 for me, with rice and beans. Once again we had to ask Fernando to bring us an extra plate. I thought this was delicious, especially the rice and beans. Brian enjoyed it as well. Fernando came along later and asked if we wanted dessert. We reminded him that dessert came with our meal so he brought this out.

Moras Con Cajita from San Angel Inn by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

This was suprisingly enjoyable. Again my picture is not very good, but it was like a chocolate airy dessert with berries on the side. While we were waiting for our check Brian and I were discussing how we did not get chips and salsa with our meal and maybe this was something San Angel did not serve at lunch. But as we got up to leave we noticed that every other table had them. So Fernando just forgot to bring them to us. We were full and enjoyed our meal nonetheless.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

So my final grade for San Angel Inn this time will be...

B-

While we really enjoyed our food and the location of our table, our service causes me to grade this meal down a bit.

This time we saved $5.00 with our TIW card so now we are only $56.70 away from breaking even.

Next up will be a wonderful dinner at California Grill.