Day 2: Yak and Yeti "Linner" (or "Dunch")
So we had a bit of a problem in planning when we added the Jingle Bell Jingle Bam dessert party... it's kind of early and I didn't want to give up any of my ADRs or significantly change my plans. Because of that, our meals got a little closer together than I like... after the 15 minute wait at Tusker House, we were running about 3 hours between the end of our breakfast and lunch. That, combined with my over-indulgence of chicken curry at Tusker House had me wondering for the next 3 hours whether I'd be remotely ready to eat by the time we had our Y&Y ADR.
As it turns out, we were just starting to get hungry when we got to Yak and Yeti and although I have read there is usually no wait, the lobby was PACKED with people, all hot, sweaty and hungry looking. We went outside and kiddo pokemon hunted while I sat on a little curb and listened to some mom yell at her kids to stop piling rocks or whatever they were doing to keep themselves entertained. I think that mom needed a drink.
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We also checked out the menu together since we were going to be splitting the meal and the kid had some definite opinions.
It took a bit to get seated but we were in no rush since there was a pokestop RIGHT THERE. When we were finally seated we were seated upstairs against the railing overlooking the stairs. It was an alright table and I had forgotten just how awesome the theming is in this place. The last time I was there was 8 years ago when my kiddo was nursing still... but my memory of this place involves being SO sick after it and I have avoided it all this time... in retrospect I don't think it was the food but rather dehydration and heat exhaustion, but the memory of feeling like I had been beaten with a baseball bat lingered for so long this is the first time I was ready to try this place again.
So kind of last minute, I decided I'd share one DxDDP credit for this place since we had so much eating to do that day and I wanted to save credits for my kid to eat at Narcoossees after hearing it really was likely he'd be able to order off the adult menu.
So ANYWAY, any of the non-alcoholic beverages counted for your drink so I took one for the team and let my kiddo have the good drink and him a
Frozen Beverages
Strawberry and Lemonade
obviously this is the strawberry variety. It was smooth and icy, like an icy from an icy machine and he enjoyed sucking the flavor out and leaving the ice behind, lol.
So since I gave up the good beverage to the kid, I decided to reward myself with a grownup beverage:
Yak Attack
Mango Daiquiri, Don Q Cristal Rum, and Wildberry flavors
this was good. It was super hot outside and it was very refreshing, mango slushie with berry swirl and rum. The waiter was also nice enough to bring me a glass of water, too.... always extra points when they do that without asking since I often forget but always want it. BTW just an aside, those paper straws at AK do NOT hold up very well in the frozen beverages. The kid went through about 3 of them, lol.
There was absolutely nothing on the appetizer menu that my child would eat, so I decided to just get what I liked while he worked on sucking down that strawberry slush. Most of what I would have preferred were apps for 2 and would have definitely been big enough for a whole meal, but I ended up with the:
Firecracker Shrimp
Crispy fried shrimp tossed in a creamy, spicy sauce, Asian slaw
So, I liked this. This is the kind of dish that hits all of my high points. seafood? check. crispy? check. creamy sauce? check. I like my creamy sauce, what can I say? These were perfectly crunchy (although I saw another review that shows them looking absolutely revolting without the sauce!) and perfectly cooked. The sauce was very spicy (and I like spicy things). Not too spicy for me but it might be very challenging for some... if you don't like spicy, this is not for you. I tried a shrimp first plain and then I squeezed the lime on it and I recommend squeezing the lime on it, that little bit of acidity cuts through the richness of the sauce just a bit. It is served on top of "asian slaw" which is not a slaw at all but rather undressed shredded romaine lettuce with some carrot shreds and a few purple cabbage shreds... also there are sliced green onions on top. I liked it much better with the "slaw" than without as the fresh crispy greens also helped cut through the rich and fairly spicy sauce. I ended up eating this entire plate, all the time wondering if I was actually eating the garnish that was supposed to be left, but it really was better with the greens than without! This is a BIG portion and easily splittable as an appetizer or can also easily serve as a light lunch... which is probably what I should have had (a light lunch that is) but we were on the DxDDP so there was more coming. I give these a two thumbs up and would definitely order again.
Now onto the entree. Before I decided we'd share this credit, I had lots of things I wanted to try here. The seafood curry was probably at the top of the list (see my list of high points)... but when it came time to split with the kid I thought maybe we could share the steak and shrimp. Kid was having none of that, upon reading the menu he decided he wanted RIBS. He does like ribs so I figured sure, why not... but it was not what I would have chosen and not what I was in the mood for and I was pretty not hungry at this point so all of that probably will color my review of them... just trying to be fair to the yak
Korean BBQ Ribs
Half rack of slow roasted St. Louis pork ribs, zesty BBQ sauce, crispy shoestring fries, kimchi slaw.
I will say first of all, if you want to split a meal, this is a good option. It is a LARGE serving of ribs and there is a massive pile of fries under there. Below is a picture of the plate I made for my kid with approximately half the ribs (4 of them) and fries (he has sensory issues so he won't pick it up and just eat them but he does like the meat cut off of the bones)
This is a really nice sized lunch, especially for a kid and considering the entire plate is edible. The shoestring fries were really good and a huge hit with the kid. He liked the ribs well enough too but one problem I (and he) had is that the underside was full of a wet spice rub that hadn't sunk in. It had kind of an undercooked spice flavor to it that was not entirely pleasant, and although there were only a couple of pieces in what i'd cut for him that had that raw spice rub on it, he found it very very very spicy and made a big fuss about getting some in his mouth. That said when I sorted through and pulled those few pieces out, he ate the rest of the pork and the portion of fries I gave him and also most of the other half of the fries I kept for me but was too full to eat.
I thought the ribs were just ok. When you eat them like ribs you get big mouthfuls of that spice rub and I didn't care for it. As I said, the fries were good. The kimchi slaw was entirely different than the "asian slaw" on the shrimp appetizer and I didn't like it... but I don't like "slaw: in general, especially slaws that are mostly cabbage and very lightly dressed. I DID liked the shredded salad under the shrimp even though it was called a slaw because it wasn't really
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. I was also so full I could only eat two ribs but I also was not really liking that raw spice flavor either... I could have scraped it off but I was not that invested.
Now it's really not fair to judge on an entree I didn't really want when I was so full to begin with, but I was basically not crazy about the ribs... but left to my own devices I would not have ordered them anyway.
Now for dessert... We of course got the iconic
Fried Wontons
Skewers of fresh pineapple and cream cheese wontons, vanilla ice cream, honey-vanilla drizzle
So again, you have to realize I was completely stuffed by now. Also I had assumed that the cream cheese filling was sweetened (like cheesecake) so when I gave the kid a piece of wonton with no sauce or ice cream on it to try and he started to gag, I had no idea why. I tried a piece myself and it was kind of nasty... warm unsweetened cream cheese is really not the greatest thing in the world. And that is the last time I tried any dish components separately. At that point the kid decided he had to go to the bathroom, so off we went, letting the lovely scoop of ice cream melt. When we got back I gave him the ice cream but stole a little to eat with the wonton and sauce and I admit it was good all together... but I think honestly I was just too full for dessert.
So I think to be fair to Y&Y I need to go back someday OOP and order an app and dessert and get the kid chicken teriyaki with fries (my original plan) from the kid menu for him and be done with it and I'd probably enjoy it a lot more. This was my second least favorite meal of the entire trip but that is only because everything else was so good by comparison. Some day I'd like to go back and order something more my style like the ahi nachos or the seafood curry and give the cream cheese wontons a try when I'm not already stuffed to the gills....
DxDDP Credits Used Total: 1
Value: $53.21 - 10% AP Discount = $47.89
OOP: $10.63
Total DxDDP Credits Used: 3
Total Value: $96.78