dining bright spots

[disney queen]

we dined everywhere from counter service to victoria and albert's. loved vic and al, but the real highlight of the week was lunch w/the disney artist at holywood brown derby. we were the only ones w/the artist. lunch started w/a delicious tortilla soup w/garbanzo beans followed by an individual cobb salad. we all had those. entrees choices were filet mignon, thai noodles w/chicken, or pan-fried grouper. my husband had the filet which he said for wonderful; i had the grouper. it too was great. but dessert, oh the dessert--banana fosters cheesecake!! i could have licked the plate!!! if you have an opportunity to do this, do so! you will be very glad to have done it. another treat was big river grill and brewry. we do not drink so i can not comment on the beers, but the cheeseburger my husband had was declared better than beaches and cream. i had the grilled chicken sandwich and it was really good. would do either of these again. had dinner at jiko which is one of our favorites. it is always worth the effort to get to AKL for that meal! as usual, my husband had the filet mignon w/mac and cheese. wonderful as usual. i had the flatbread w/BBq chicken very good!! for dessert i had the jiko sobert and i can't remember what my husband had! and the plaza restaurant is great. i had the tomato bisque which is always good; husband had the plaza club and he declared it good. no dessert here as we were stuffed! roaring forks for several lunches and this too was better than expected. we have eaten numerous times at roaring forks; so, we are familiar w/it. and whispering canyon cafe for breakfast on the last day. i had the short stack of pancakes and they were good. we really like breakfast here, but do not care for lunch or dinner here. the verdict is still out on rose and crown dinner. would return, but not sure if it is "worthy" for CP dinner package. LOL!! we spent 2 nights at celebration before moving over to wdw. ate breakfast in the plantation room at the celebration hotel. it was good, but pricey. dinner one night was at the market street cafe which was good. memory fails me as to what i had--i do remember a side salad, but can't remember what else. ugh any questions just ask.

 

[swankybeth]

Thanks for the reviews. We were also at Jiko last week and enjoyed it. It was also nice to read a positive review of Big River Grill, because I've heard mostly negative stuff. We've yet to try it ourselves. I'd love to hear more about Victoria and Albert's. What did you eat?

 

[disney queen]

victoria and albert's was for my husband's birthday. we were formally attired. this was the third trip there the first two being at the chef's table. we chose the first dinner seating and was promptly seated even though we arrived before 6:00. both of us started w/maine lobster "cannelloni" in jicama w/carmellini beans followed by blue crab stuffed squash blossoms w/squash rigout. for our soup, we chose sweet potato almond cream w/black pepper foam. excellent!! for his entree, my husband chose the grilled prime filet w/sweet onion puree and burdundy reduction. he enjoyed this immensely. i selected the florida hog snapper w/sweet corn and california crayfish. excellent! the palate cleansing course was the cheese selections--vacherin fribourqeois w/black mission fig chutney. i selected the terrine of sorbet w/glazed seasonal fruits. and the finale: hawaiian kona chocolate souffle for my husband and i selected the grand marnier souffle. both were excellent. actually i would have been happy w/all the desserts and nothing else. we did not do the wine pairings. my husband was presented w/a chocolate birthday card. and printed on his menu keepsake was Happy Birthday. this was a very lovely evening and a delicious meal.

 

[Minniespal]

Wonderful report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Enjoyed the reviews--turns out that we ate at some of the very same spots this trip!!

 

[BCV23]

Thanks for the reviews....especially all the detail on your V&A meal. Yum!

 

[RweTHEREyet]

Please share more on your experience at Brown Derby with Dining with an Artist. Can you tell just how the event went. Food sounds wonderful, but I would love to know more about what actually happens.

Thanks for sharing your reviews.

 

[disney queen]

actually, we just chatted w/the artist. he gave us some background info about himself and the movies he had worked on. we asked some pretty basic questions and that helped. he talked about different types of research that might be needed. for instance, he had to research horses to make sure mulan's horse was realistic. i asked if he ever asked a collegue to "pose" to make sure if something looked right and he said he did. talked about some pranks they pulled on each other. it was just like sitting and chatting w/a friend you had not seen in awhile. we would definitely do this again. does this help?

 

[danny1649]

What a great experience thanks for sharing.