Dining Review from trip 7/1 -7/7

[TriciaT]

This is my first attempt at a dining report. I had every intention to take photos to share, but it was so darn hot I left my camera back at the room and travelled light to the parks. Missed a lot of good photo ops but did I mention it was so darn hot?? Anyway, hope you still enjoy. I will be thrilled to answer any questions you may have......

Our Dining Reviews

Who: Me (36)
DH (38)
DS (17)
DS (13)

Where: We stayed at SSR. Ate lunch at Yak & Yeti, Fultons, Le Cellier and Turf Club, dinner at Ohana and Teppan Edo. Had some snacks and counter service type meals along the way.

When: July 1-7

About us: My dh and I are light eaters. A soup, appetizer and a taste of dessert is often plenty for us for a meal. My 17 year old pretty much the same. My 13 year old can eat an appetizer, entree and dessert with 4 drinks with no problem. We all like to graze through the day, sharing different things here and there. We are DVC members and ordered groceries to be delivered to the room. DH and I do not normally eat breakfast so the kids would eat a good breakfast every morning before heading out in the room. We would then have a snack later in the morning, followed by a big lunch and a snack in the evening. It was sooo hot while we were down there that our appetites were definitely affected and we ate less than we planned on. We debated for months (well I did in my mind) about getting the dining plan. I decided about a week before the trip not to get it just because I know that we are more an appetizer family than a dessert family and I didn't want to get the plan and then wind up spending much $$$ oop on appetizers. I figured that we would pick some places that allow for a DVC discount and order what we'd like and hope to break even. I think we did ok and spent about what we would have had we gotten the basic dining plan and had to add in for tips and appetizers.

First review: Arrival day, Wednesday July 1 lunch at Yak & Yeti

Our ADR was for 1:30. We arrived in the area of the restaurant at about 12:30 and asked if we could be seated early. They said no problem and as soon as our sons got back from getting fast passes at Safari we were seated. It was very pleasant and comfortable in the restaurant and we were excited to be at our first meal of the trip! We ordered as appetizers the Dim Sum Basket and an order of Pork Egg Rolls. As entrees I ordered Wonton Soup, my dh ordered Tempura Shrimp, ds 17 got Mandarin Chicken Salad, ds 13 ordered Shaoxing Steak and Shrimp. We all had Berry Cherry Limeades to drink and shared two desserts, Fried Wontons and Mango Pie.

I tasted nearly everything and it was all perfect. My soup was actually plenty for me. It had a pile of crispy noodles on the side similar to what you would get in Chinese take out but very fresh and good. They brought me some duck sauce by request that I dipped them in. The egg rolls had a plum dipping sauce that the boys went nuts over. The same sauce was served with my husband's tempura shrimp and my younger son's steak and shrimp. The Dim Sum Basket had a different sauce, a soy lime sauce that was also well loved by everyone at the table.

The tempura shrimp was the same on each dish and I did try one. Everyone thought they tasted great. My younger son couldn't stop talking about how well seasoned his steak was. I did not get a taste of that but the kid is a foodie so if he says it was well seasoned, I'll take his word for it. He ordered it medium rare and it was cooked perfectly for him. The same rice and vegetables were served with each of those entrees. The rice was good, but the vegetables were just so so. It was a stir fried mix of carrots, red pepper and snow peas and they kind of tasted like a frozen Green Giant mix. Certainly did not ruin our meal, but they were just not as spectacular as the other components of the meal.

My older son barely finished half of his salad. It was huge. He loved the dressing which was also some plum concoction but different than the dipping sauces served with the other foods. The salad was loaded with crispy rice noodles and mandarin oranges as well as perfectly cooked tender chicken. He would have pressed on and finished it but he really was trying to save room for dessert. Had we not been planning to walk the parks longer after our meal he would have gladly taken it to go and finished it later.

On to desserts. The Mango Pie and Fried Wontons were as good as they look in pictures and as delicious as we hoped. Absolutely fantastic. We all got a taste of them and then I sat back and let the teenagers go to town. They ate every drop.

Our bill came to $113.29 with tax. We received a 10% DVC discount on the entree portion of the meal (its not on the total bill here) and we left a $22 tip. Great service and great food. Everyone was happy. We will return on our next trip for sure.

 

[ehrn]

Great review! looking forward to more.

 

[TriciaT]

Our second meal.....

Thursday, July 2 early dinner at Teppan Edo.

We had 4:10 ADR's for Teppan Edo and arrived about 3:45. Waited about 10-15 minutes and were seated. We were seated with a very nice friendly family from Maryland with two daughters a bit older than my sons (maybe around 19-21) Anyway, it was very pleasant and we were happy to sit with them.

This meal took quite some time. We were glad to be out of the heat and so looking forward to being there that we didn't mind. Had we been in a hurry though, it could have been frustrating. The experience starts with a hostess holding you in the hallway explaining the meal to you, introducing you to your table mates and warning you about the hot surface of the table. They are so incredibly polite there and everything thing they tell you is followed by a bow and a thank you. We were then brought to our table and our first server, I guess our drink server came out. More smiles, thank you's and nods as she explained the drink menu to us.

All that and I ordered an ice water! I know that's terrible but it was all I wanted.... The rest of my family did much better. My dh ordered a Sake Rita, which was a margarita type drink made with I guess...Sake. Little son ordered an Ichigo which was a smoothie I think it was strawberry flavored. Older son ordered a Mikan which I believe was a mango flavored smoothie.

After those drinks, everyone else in my group got waters as well. Between us and our table mates, no one's drink was ever empty. Refills came very quickly.

Our next server came out and explained the food menu to us. Our table mates were on the basic dining plan so she took care to explain what was included within the plan for their meal. Our family wanted to try some appetizers. We ordered a Tempura Appetizer, and a Crispy Beef Roll. For entrees ds 17 ordered chicken, ds 13 ordered steak and shrimp (see a pattern here?) and dh and I decided to split an order of scallops. I was a little uncomfortable about asking to share a meal here but I happened to speak with someone in dining reservations who mentioned that the portions are large here and she often shares an entree when she eats here. So I figured why not? If we were at a local restaurant and I can't finish an entree I would simply take it home but it's just not possible to do that here in Disney when you won't be back by a fridge for hours and it's 90 degrees out, so rather than waste food, I thought we could always order an extra dessert or two if we are still hungry.

So orders were all placed and here's where it started to drag. We waited forever for our chef to come out. I think our Tempura Appetizer came out within maybe 15 minutes but the beef roll needed to be cooked with the rest of the meal. We were having fun and didn't mind at all, but just to comment, it did seem like forever waiting for our chef.

The four of us nibbled on the Tempura Appetizer which was a piece of chicken, a piece of zucchini, shrimp and maybe a slice of carrot with a dipping sauce. It was very good. We cut everything into pieces and took a taste of each. When the chef came out he prepared my little son's beef roll. It comes out looking like a regular sushi roll cut into servings. The beef in the middle looks like chopped thin steak (think steak umms) and I believe it is raw. The chef ladled some soy sauce in my sons dish and added the rolls to the hot grill. They cooked up very well browned and crispy. My two sons shared them and I took just a small taste and they were really good!

The chef we had, I think his name was Hiroko was wonderfully kind and entertaining. He was well worth the wait. I've been to hibachi style restaurants before so I've seen the onion volanco and all that, but wow his onion volcano was huge and he really worked hard on this tower of onion rings! There were a couple of technical difficulties with it, but he got it smoking and there were applauses all around!

Back to the food......The noodles were fantastic, the rice was plain white rice but cooked well and the veggies were great (much better than the stir fry from Yak & Yeti) In case anyone is wondering about sharing an entree there, my husband and I were given one bowl of rice to share (same bowl as everyone else) which we each transferred our half to our plates and a half portion of every thing else put directly on to our plates. It was honestly plenty for us. I did clean my plate at this meal and I think my dh did too. The only thing we had left was a few spoonfulls of the rice in the bowl. My younger son devoured his food and started working on his brothers and my older son ate most but not all of his meal.

The scallops were cooked perfectly, tender and succulent, just fantastic. There were 3 dipping sauces served with the meal. One was a ranch, one a sweet and sour and one was a hot mustard. I LOVED the hot mustard. As our chef saw me struggling with dipping each piece of rice (with chopsticks) into this mustard he made my day by just ladling a huge spoonful right over my food. It was delicious! My husband also loved the scallops. My younger son thought his food was excellent and his steak was perfect medium rare and I can see our table mates got their steaks cooked just as they wanted them as well. He took my son's steak off first, and continued to cook theirs until they were done as they wished. My older son loved his meal, minus his mushrooms which he is not a huge fan of. No big deal, he just ate around them and I'm pretty sure my younger son grabbed a couple off his plate. The rest of us love mushrooms.

For dessert, we ordered two desserts and split them again. We got the Chocolate Ginger Cake and the Green Tea Pudding. Both were amazing and as the last meal, dh and I got our spoonfuls and then backed away from the desserts and let the boys enjoy. None of us had any coffee, tea or after dinner type drinks at this meal. We were all quite full.

So after a pleasant almost 2 hour experience, we were happy, satisfied, and stuffed. We said goodbye to our new friends and went back out to enjoy our night at Epcot. I did notice on the way out that the waiting area was packed with people and all the empty tables we saw at Tokyo Dining on our way in were packed to the gills now. If you can stand a super early ADR, we did find that eating at these odd hours allowed us to avoid the crowds at the restaurants.....It's kinda like rope drop for dinner!

Our bill came to $124.88 with tax and we left a $30 tip. I did notice our table mates presented our chef with a special tip when he said good night to us after cooking our meal. I have never done that before at a hibachi restaurant. I just figured his was worked in with the others at the end of the meal. I didn't even notice until he walked away and ds 13 pointed it out. Next time I will be prepared. It's definitely not something mandatory or expected but seeing them do it made me think for next time.....

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Thanks for a great review. We never eaten at Yak and Yeti and I have been reading great reviews of the restaurant so we add this place in our next trip. Enjoying your review.

 

[TriciaT]

Third Day, Friday July 3

My 3 guys and a family friend got together for a Bass Fishing Excursion this morning at DTD. After they got back, showered and took a dip in the pool we took a ride back to DTD to have lunch at Fulton's Crab House. Our ADR was for 3:10 and I called there about noon and asked if we could add one more to our table (my husband's friend) and they said no problem. Between the boys fishing and me having a restful morning, with just a little snack earlier on, we were all starving and ready for a great meal.

We arrived about 10 minutes early and were seated right away. We were seated upstairs on a half booth half table setup close to the kitchen. It was a good sized table and we were all comfortable.

For drinks, our friend and I ordered ice water, my husband ordered an iced tea and both boys ordered a Cherry Bomb Explosion. I think it was sprite, cherry flavoring and pop rocks (that candy that pops in your mouth) They loved them and then switched to water after.

After our drinks came out, our server brought us two servings (one for each end of the table) of both warm yummy crusty bread and butter and a thin cracker with a crab spread. My little son loved the crab spread so much he was spreading it on everything. I thought it was pretty good and everyone else enjoyed it too.

Next came our appetizers. We ordered Portabello Mushroom Fries and Crispy Calamari. The mushroom fries came with a mustard dipping sauce that was delicious. The calamari came with a zesty marinara sauce. The calamari was both crispy and tender, just as it should be. That is my little son's favorite appetizer anywhere so we've ordered it all over and their's was really very good. Our friend who is not a very adventurous eater was coaxed into trying a mushroom fry and he liked them, but the calamari couldn't be pushed on him at all. That was fine, he was enjoying that great bread and butter.

Next course was crab and lobster bisque. My dh, ds 17 and I had that. I think we were actually served that while the other appetizers were on the table. I shared much of mine with ds 13. The bisque was good. It had a rich and creamy dark base. It wasn't served with a lot of crab and lobster, but it was plenty for me. I added my oyster crackers to it, dipped a little of that wonderful bread into it and was in heaven.

For entrees, our friend had the Grilled Chicken Ciabatta sandwich, ds 17 had the Grilled Angus Burger with Cheddar and Bacon, ds 13 had the Blue Lump Crab Club, I had the Fried Seafood Combination and dh had the Chilled Seafood Trio.

The chicken sandwich and the burger were pretty basic and very well enjoyed. They both had the home made kettle chips with their sandwiches that were crunchy, fresh and well seasoned. I think our friend left some of the ciabatta bread and pulled the sandwich apart because it was so big and filling. My older son finished most of his burger but not all of it.

My husband and I did not share entrees this meal because we knew if there was anything left we could just drive back to SSR with it to refrigerate for another meal so no worries about wasting food. My husband loved his seafood platter which came with several different dipping sauces. It was so filling after the soup and appies so he did wind up bringing some back to the room. I loved my seafood combo. Both the cold scallops on his plate and the fried on mine were cooked just right, tender and sweet. I also had fried shrimp on mine, kinda like popcorn size which was tasty. The tartar sauce was fresh and seemed house made. I also had a big piece of fried cod on my plate that someone helped me eat. The taste I had of it was great, flaky and fresh tasting. The fried onion loaf described on the menu was more like frizzled onions that you might find on top of a burger or a steak. I think onion loaf made me think of a whole onion like the blooming onion at Outback or Chili's. It wasn't like that, it was little strips of frizzled onion. They were tasty and it was fine either way. I tried a couple but didn't really eat them because I was focusing more on the scallops and shrimp.

On to ds 13. He declared the crab club sandwich (which he ordered without tomato...there is a food he doesn't like) the best sandwich he has EVER eaten in his life. How's that? The kid has eaten a lot of sandwiches in his day, this must have been special!! He ate every last drop, no one got offered a bite or anything. It was a triple decker sandwich. I thought it was a crab cake, but he said it was lump crab meat with this special sauce on one layer, another layer was bacon and the other was lettuce (probably supposed to be lettuce and tomato) The kid was really excited about this sandwich, so if you are a fan of crab meat and bacon I'd say give it a try! He ordered the optional fries instead of the kettle chips and said they were perfect, like McDonald's fries perfect.

We did not order dessert here, because we were on our way to Magic Kingdom and wanted some treats from there. Our DVC discount here was a whopping 30% which brought our bill down to $98.26. We left a $30 tip and were just tickled pink with the quality, value and service of this restaurant. We will definitely be back.

 

[TriciaT]

Thanks for the compliments. I am glad you've enjoyed the reviews so far. I may work on one more tonight then its back to work tomorrow. It may take a couple of days to finish.

Pooh>>>> I tried so hard to negotiate Yak and Yeti off our ADR list but my dh really wanted to go there. I am glad we went. It was one of our favorite meals of the trip!

 

[MinnieNurse]

Great reviews. We will be having dinner at Fulton's in August and I am so excited after reading your review.

 

[TxRabbit]

Your younger DS sounds like my DS! A meat/seafood loving guy! I feel like I'm reading about things to come, because mine is only 8! Fun to read about places I haven't been. I'm enjoying hearing about the soups. I love soups myself.