Dining Review - March/April 2025

[2xcited2sleep]

Oooh, I love Cakebread Chard and it's hard to find. Making a mental note to stop into Abracadabar. Adore sitting at the bar at Flying Fish. Honestly my favorite place on property, tied with the cooking place bar at Jiko. I seem to forget about Kona and Trattoria al Forno - need to give these a visit sometime soon. Those onion rolls at Yachtsman/Crews Cup are heaven on earth.

 

[Noreen411]

Wednesday 4/2/25 Continued
We stopped at the Boardwalk Bakery to get a few things to take home with us

Snickerdoodle muffin - I really enjoyed this and knew I wanted to get one to bring home


Cranberry Scone


Cupcake


Italian Hero for Scott - he loves these and will get them whenever he sees them

 

[Noreen411]

Oooh, I love Cakebread Chard and it's hard to find. Making a mental note to stop into Abracadabar. Adore sitting at the bar at Flying Fish. Honestly my favorite place on property, tied with the cooking place bar at Jiko. I seem to forget about Kona and Trattoria al Forno - need to give these a visit sometime soon. Those onion rolls at Yachtsman/Crews Cup are heaven on earth.

Hi. I still haven’t gotten into wine, but am expanding the type of cocktails I enjoy. Scott is picky with wine, usually he likes Mer Soleil (sp?) but he said the Cakebread is very good too. I don’t think it’s the norm at Disney to stop for pre-dinner cocktails but it’s one of the traditions we really like on vacation. Whenever we have any sort of roll we’re always comparing them to the onion rolls at Yachtsman’s and we haven’t found any that are as good.

 

[Simba's Mom]

It's interesting that you mentioned Ale and Compass being loud sometimes. I'm surprised more people haven't mentioned it. When I went there for breakfast, it was very loud and "Bustling". That's one reason why I go to Trattoria al Forno now. It's relatively calm.
And I'm glad you mentioned the seafood pot pie being salty. We avoid salt at home, so we find we're rather sensitive to salty food at WDW. The pot pie looked good, but I think I'll pass.
By the way, thanks to you, I made plans to eat at Everglazed donuts next trip. I just hope it's not Gideon-level crowded in the morning.

 

[Trish24]

Wednesday 4/2/25
We started the day in Magic Kingdom.

We had to get Scott another one of his favorite cookies to come home with us.
View attachment 969699

That evening for dinner we went to the Boardwalk for our dinner reservation at Ale and Compass; we went early for pre-dinner cocktails at Crews Cup Lounge
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We both had Old Fashioneds and the bartender gave us each a piece of candied bacon on our drink.
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We were seated on time at Ale & Compass. We’ve never been here before. It’s very open and could be very loud, luckily it wasn’t too crowded when we went so it wasn’t too loud.
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I enjoy writing these dining review and travelogues; it’s always great to go back and read them to bring myself back to reliving all the fun. I hope that others also enjoy listening/reading me ramble on. What made my night was being recognized from the Disboards. I’m so glad Trish stopped by to say Hello to us and spend a few minutes chatting with us. Scott was saying he felt like a celebrity.

One of our appetizers were the Parker House rolls and spreads: Bacon Jam, Pub Cheese, Citrus butter. Both the waitress and the bartender from Crews Cup Lounge raved about these rolls being great. We didn’t really like them. I’d much rather the onion pull apart rolls from Yachtsman’s or the rolls from the Boathouse. When they arrived I commented jokingly what happened to 2 of the rolls, they don’t look like the others, they are small and burnt. They brought us a few more after my comment. We didn’t even eat the original ones.
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The other appetizer was the Clams Casino: Bacon, peppers, white wine herbed butter, brioche. The presentation was interesting and this was very good. This was definitely the better appetizer.
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Scott ordered the New England Seafood Pot Pie: Shrimp, scallops, jumbo lump crab, catch of the day, baby vegetables, brandy-cream sauce, house baked crust. This was very salty, he likes salt and he couldn’t eat more than a few bites of it.
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I ordered the Red wine-braised flat iron steak: silky potatoes, honey glazed carrots, cipollini onions, beef jus. This was also very salty and just OK
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For dessert we didn’t see a dessert menu, but the waitress told us the desserts and said her favorite was the butter cake with strawberries so we tried that. The dessert was good.
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I’m glad we gave Ale & Compass a try since it’s somewhere we’ve never been; it was just OK but we probably won’t go back.

 

[Trish24]

Wednesday 4/2/25
We started the day in Magic Kingdom.

We had to get Scott another one of his favorite cookies to come home with us.
View attachment 969699

That evening for dinner we went to the Boardwalk for our dinner reservation at Ale and Compass; we went early for pre-dinner cocktails at Crews Cup Lounge
View attachment 969700

We both had Old Fashioneds and the bartender gave us each a piece of candied bacon on our drink.
View attachment 969701

We were seated on time at Ale & Compass. We’ve never been here before. It’s very open and could be very loud, luckily it wasn’t too crowded when we went so it wasn’t too loud.
View attachment 969702

I enjoy writing these dining review and travelogues; it’s always great to go back and read them to bring myself back to reliving all the fun. I hope that others also enjoy listening/reading me ramble on. What made my night was being recognized from the Disboards. I’m so glad Trish stopped by to say Hello to us and spend a few minutes chatting with us. Scott was saying he felt like a celebrity.

One of our appetizers were the Parker House rolls and spreads: Bacon Jam, Pub Cheese, Citrus butter. Both the waitress and the bartender from Crews Cup Lounge raved about these rolls being great. We didn’t really like them. I’d much rather the onion pull apart rolls from Yachtsman’s or the rolls from the Boathouse. When they arrived I commented jokingly what happened to 2 of the rolls, they don’t look like the others, they are small and burnt. They brought us a few more after my comment. We didn’t even eat the original ones.
View attachment 969703
View attachment 969704

The other appetizer was the Clams Casino: Bacon, peppers, white wine herbed butter, brioche. The presentation was interesting and this was very good. This was definitely the better appetizer.
View attachment 969705

Scott ordered the New England Seafood Pot Pie: Shrimp, scallops, jumbo lump crab, catch of the day, baby vegetables, brandy-cream sauce, house baked crust. This was very salty, he likes salt and he couldn’t eat more than a few bites of it.
View attachment 969706

I ordered the Red wine-braised flat iron steak: silky potatoes, honey glazed carrots, cipollini onions, beef jus. This was also very salty and just OK
View attachment 969707

For dessert we didn’t see a dessert menu, but the waitress told us the desserts and said her favorite was the butter cake with strawberries so we tried that. The dessert was good.
View attachment 969708

I’m glad we gave Ale & Compass a try since it’s somewhere we’ve never been; it was just OK but we probably won’t go back.

Noreen, my husband said that when I spotted you and Scott walking to your table I froze. And said “I know them!”. . It was such a pleasure meeting you. I love your dining reviews and getting a chance to actually talk to the two of you was a highlight of my trip!

 

[Noreen411]

It's interesting that you mentioned Ale and Compass being loud sometimes. I'm surprised more people haven't mentioned it. When I went there for breakfast, it was very loud and "Bustling". That's one reason why I go to Trattoria al Forno now. It's relatively calm.
And I'm glad you mentioned the seafood pot pie being salty. We avoid salt at home, so we find we're rather sensitive to salty food at WDW. The pot pie looked good, but I think I'll pass.
By the way, thanks to you, I made plans to eat at Everglazed donuts next trip. I just hope it's not Gideon-level crowded in the morning.

Hi. We’ve walked past the Ale & Compass several times in the past usually on the way to Crews Cup Lounge and/or Yachtsman’s steakhouse and have definitely heard it when it was loud, loud enough that we would comment on it. I was a little hesitant to try it given how loud we’ve heard it walking by but we still wanted to give it a chance.

Everything was very salty there. I don’t mind a little salt, but this was too much for both of us.

We’ve only gone a few times to Everglazed and never encountered a line like you see at Gideon’s. The most we’ve seen is a handful of people ahead of us. I don’t want to jinx you, but we haven’t seen long lines there.

 

[Noreen411]

Noreen, my husband said that when I spotted you and Scott walking to your table I froze. And said “I know them!”. . It was such a pleasure meeting you. I love your dining reviews and getting a chance to actually talk to the two of you was a highlight of my trip!

Mine too. I’m so glad you came over. Hopefully our paths cross again.

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 4/3/25
We headed out today to start our drive home.

We stopped in Dunn, NC for the evening, we booked Fairfield Inn & Suites while driving. We went to Heath’s Steakhouse for dinner. It was pretty close to the hotel and the front desk recommended it.


We sat at the bar as we like to do. We started chatting with another couple at the bar who were also from New Jersey and on their way home from Naples, FL


Scott had a Martini. I had a Category 5 Hurricane: Captain Morgan Spiced rum and Bacardi rum with pineapple and orange juice and strawberry purée.


Scott ordered Steak and Lobster: 6 oz lobster tail with a 6 oz filet Mignon. His chosen sides were asparagus and macaroni and cheese. His lobster was burnt on the outside but raw inside.



I had the Grilled Mahi-Mahi: Traditionally seasoned and grilled to perfection. Served with fire roasted corn and back beans. My chosen sides were a stuffed potato and broccoli.


For dessert we ordered the Swiss Chocolate Cake: a tri-level cake of Swiss chocolate with chocolate icing


The bartender was great, very interactive. The food wasn’t that good, nothing horrible, but not something we would come back for.