Dining Review - September/October 2024

[Noreen411]

Saturday 9/28/24 Continued
We made it to Florida and for dinner we went to Saltgrass Steakhouse on 535; we’ve been here several times in the past and always enjoyed it. We sat at the bar to eat. The same bartender who has been here for a few years recognized us so that’s always nice.


Scott had Bourbon. I had a Pomegranate Mojito: Bacardi Superior Rum, Liber & Co Real Grenadine syrup, fresh mint and lime juice, topped with club soda.


We were brought bread and salad, both are good. They remind us a bit of the bread and salad you get at Outback Steakhouse; that’s not a complaint as we like Outback, just a comparison.



Scott ordered a bacon cheeseburger with fries and frizzled onions. This was good.


I ordered Blackened Redfish: shrimp, lump crab meat, diced tomatoes, green onions, lemon butter, capers, red pepper flakes. This was OK, but was a bit too spicy for me. I ordered it with Mac & Cheese since Scott will eat that and I’ll eat some of his fries. He ended up eating the redfish and I ate some of his burger.


For dessert we had the seasonal pumpkin cheesecake which we loved last year but this time was just OK.


That was our overall thoughts on Saltgrass this visit, it was just OK. When they first opened we loved it and we’ve been coming here pretty regularly over the years. It’s an easy first night dinner for us. It may come off our rotation for a trip or two. We used to love Saltgrass, maybe it was just an off night.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

All you morning hotel waffles has me thinking about asking Santa for a waffle maker. Sorry Saltgrass missed this time. I have been keeping it in the back of my mind remembering how you've liked it so much, but haven't had the occasion to go.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Yay another report! Will be following along. Those boozy sweet tea lemonade drinks all sound so good. Also leftover steak and lobster Mac with scrambled eggs for breakfast? Well done Scott.

 

[patclairesmom]

Great reviews! I moved to the HHI area last year from NJ and I do have to say Frankie Bones(I've only been to the Bluffton location) is my favorite restaurant. Are you looking to retire down here?

 

[Simba's Mom]

I really appreciated all your reviews of the Hilton Head restaurants, especially Frankie Bones. That's one place we've never been too, but keep meaning to go there. We ate at Black Marlin last Saturday-DH also had the stuffed flounder and loved it. I had pecan crusted cod and loved that too. Poseidon's West Coast Style Grouper sounds excellent-I'll have to look for that next time we go there. Their shrimp and grits was good, but that grouper sounds better!

 

[erinch]

Back to Scott Had A Martini as the subtitle!

 

[Noreen411]

All you morning hotel waffles has me thinking about asking Santa for a waffle maker. Sorry Saltgrass missed this time. I have been keeping it in the back of my mind remembering how you've liked it so much, but haven't had the occasion to go.

LOL. I have a new waffle maker; actually it’s not that new anymore, I got it last year. It’s cute since it’s similar to the flip ones they have in the hotels. I took a picture of my first attempt using it; a little burnt and I didn’t put enough waffle mix in but it was good. I’ve gotten better with it and often will make a waffle with either blueberries or banana in it.



I’m hoping it was just an off night for Saltgrass since we used to really enjoy it. I’m sure we’ll go back but may give it a pass next trip.

 

[Noreen411]

Yay another report! Will be following along. Those boozy sweet tea lemonade drinks all sound so good. Also leftover steak and lobster Mac with scrambled eggs for breakfast? Well done Scott.

Thank you for joining and commenting. Those drinks were great. I had a bartender back at home at one of our regular restaurants try making me something similar (his version of it); it wasn’t quite the same but was pretty good. Even more surprising was Applebees (in New Jersey) has a Peach Palmer drink on their menu which I’ve now had and it’s pretty good too.

I always laugh at Scott’s breakfasts since even at home if there are leftovers he’ll have it for breakfast.

 

[Noreen411]

Great reviews! I moved to the HHI area last year from NJ and I do have to say Frankie Bones(I've only been to the Bluffton location) is my favorite restaurant. Are you looking to retire down here?

Thank you. How do you like living by HHI? We really enjoyed Frankie Bones, we went to the HHI one since the hotel was on HHI. We spent a decent amount of time looking around in Bluffton too. It’s definitely at the top of our list as a potential place to move when we retire; we originally thought of living in Bluffton but really enjoyed HHI and were thinking if we’re going to move there why not just live on HHI? I’m a bit concerned about it being an island and hurricanes but I guess if we move south we’ll have to worry about that wherever we go. I’m also concerned about crowds during peak seasons but I guess you learn to avoid the crowded places during that season. Would love to hear any tips/guidance on making the move.

 

[Noreen411]

I really appreciated all your reviews of the Hilton Head restaurants, especially Frankie Bones. That's one place we've never been too, but keep meaning to go there. We ate at Black Marlin last Saturday-DH also had the stuffed flounder and loved it. I had pecan crusted cod and loved that too. Poseidon's West Coast Style Grouper sounds excellent-I'll have to look for that next time we go there. Their shrimp and grits was good, but that grouper sounds better!

Hi. Definitely try Frankie Bones; we really enjoyed it. We enjoyed just about all the restaurants we went to by Hilton Head.

 

[Noreen411]

Back to Scott Had A Martini as the subtitle!

LOL - I’ll write that phrase several more times during this review. It’s definitely a great subtitle.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 9/29/24
We started the day at Magic Kingdom. Before leaving Magic Kingdom we stopped at the Confectionary (candy store) on Main Street to get Scott the Mickey cookie he loved last trip. He loved it again this trip too.



We drove to Disney Springs where we had an early dinner reservation at the Boathouse. When we got there we found seats at the bar so let them know we preferred to sit there (freeing up our table for someone else).



Scott had his usual Martini. I had Duck Duck Razz: Skyy raspberry vodka, blue curaçao, lemon juice, simple syrup. This drink is great; it’s adorable, but much stronger than you expect.


We started with 6 Sea of Cortez shrimp: Wild caught Sea of Cortez shrimp, London dry gin cocktail sauce. These are probably our favorite shrimp cocktail; the shrimp are always so fresh and tasty.


We ordered the Filet Mignon sliders. This is a great dish. The sliders are cooked perfectly.





Of course we ordered fries. The fries at the Boathouse are the best fries on Disney property.


Scott also ordered the Shrimp & Andouille Mac N Cheese: Shrimp, smoked sausage, and pipette pasta, spicy cheddar beer sauce. This is too spicy for me, but he enjoyed it. He didn’t finish it and had the leftovers packed up.


We were planning to get the caramel apple bread pudding for dessert but they were out of it so we ended up skipping dessert. We were looking at the Macadamia pie but they bartender talked us out of it; he said it’s too big and ice cream so it’s not easy to take leftovers of it.

Later that evening Scott was hungry so we ordered pizza from Flippers to be delivered. He enjoyed his pizza and had plenty leftover.

 

[Noreen411]

Monday 9/30/24
We started the day at Hollywood Studios.

That evening we drove to the Grand Floridian for our dinner reservation at Narcoossee’s.




We went early with plans to have a drink at the bar first, but the bar was full. They ended up seating us early instead.


Here’s a shocker…Scott had a Yuzu-Black Peppercorn Gin and Tonic: Monkey 47 Gin, Aperol Liqueur, House-made Yuzu-Black Peppercorn syrup, lemon grass, beet root, and soda water. I was happy that Scott branched out trying a specialty cocktail still in his wheelhouse of drinks he likes. He said it was good but overly citrusy and needed more gin or something. He asked the waitress if he could have more gin added to the drink.

Since recently I’ve been liking drinks with Bourbon, I had an Old Fashioned: Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon, Courvoisier VS cognac, Rosemary, and Aromatic bitters. This was very good.


Look at the cute ice cube in my Old Fashioned - it has the hotel initials…GF


For an appetizer we shared the Shrimp and Grits: Local Gulf Shrimp, Barbecue sauce, low country grits, applewood-smoked bacon, chow-chow. This was surprisingly good.


The bread is very good but very crumb-y


For an entree I ordered the Blackened Redfish: Chorizo-sunchoke hash, southern sweet corn, hominy, red pepper rouille. I had this on a prior trip and loved it. This time it was good but a bit too spicy for me. Scott ate some of it since I couldn’t eat it all being so spicy.


Scott had an off-menu special of two butter poached lobster tails. This normally comes with mashed potatoes and a vegetable medley. He substituted French fries for the mashed potatoes, and substituted green beans for the vegetable medley. He loved his dish.


For dessert we shared the Almond Crusted Cheesecake: Lambert Cherry Sauce, Chantilly. This is so good. We knew we were getting this for dessert.


We enjoyed our meal at Narcoossee’s. When the waitress brought our bill she was very apologetic that we were charged for a whole extra drink when Scott asked for a bit more gin in his drink; she explained how it’s very strictly controlled how they can ring things up. We didn’t complain or anything, she just brought it to our attention. Scott expected to pay probably the cost of a shot of Gin since he asked them to add more to the drink.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

The fries at The Boathouse are what dreams are made of.

 

[Noreen411]

The fries at The Boathouse are what dreams are made of.

Totally agree. I’ve been saying they are the best fries at Disney; I think I should edit that comment, they are probably my favorite fries overall not just at Disney.

 

[Noreen411]

Tuesday 10/1/24
We finally made it somewhere we’ve been trying to go to for a few trips but it just didn’t work out. We’ve put our names on the list a few times but the wait would be too long or we’d find ourselves doing something else and not wanting to stop to go there. We put our names on the list, wandered around, received a text, and were headed over excited to finally go to Trader Sam’s.

I know it’s possible that you will share a table or maybe have to stand which is fine. The woman that tried to “seat” us wanted me on the 1 stool in the middle of a table for 10 (the other stools were taken) and Scott would have to stand behind me. I should have taken a picture of the table, but it was a long rectangle table with 5 stools on either side pretty close together. This made absolutely no sense. We explained to the woman this won’t work, how do we talk to each other if he’s standing behind me, it’s not like there is space between the stools for him to stand next to me. We would be happy to wait for either 2 stools, a standing location for both of us, etc. She was not understanding why where she wanted us to go was not logical. Scott asked to speak to the manager. When the manager came over and we explained where she wanted us to go, even the manager agreed that made no sense and looked mortified that the other woman even suggested it. The manager brought us to the bar where 2 people were getting up and we were able to sit on the two stools at the bar next to each other. We saw the other woman walk by and she looked like she was crying; I’m guessing the manager may have said something to her. We were very polite with our concern to both the original woman and the manager.

Once seated at the bar, the bartender was very friendly.


I ordered the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum: Pyrat XO Reserve Rum, Cream of Coconut, and Pineapple and Orange Juices dusted with cinnamon and nutmeg.

Scott ordered the Spiced Island: Knob Creek Disney Select single barrel reserve Bourbon, St Elizabeth Allspice Dram, Orgeat (Almond), and Pineapple Juice.


The drinks were pretty tasty and something a little different.

I asked for a glass of water and how funny is this…just water


We also ordered the pan-fried dumplings with soy-sesame sauce. The dumplings were just OK.

I’m not sure what the big deal is with Trader Sam’s. I’m glad we tried it but it’s a one and done for us.

Later that night we drove to the Yacht Club for our dinner reservation at Yachtsman’s Steakhouse.

We were seated on time. Scott had a Martini; I had Sprite


We skipped appetizers tonight. Their onion rolls are great. They bring you butter as well as roasted garlic. Scott like spreading the garlic on the onion rolls, but I preferred it just with the butter.


I had the Red Wine-Braised Short Ribs: Bacon and Kale mashed potatoes, roasted carrots and turnips.



Scott had the 14-oz roasted Prime Rib; Yorkshire pudding, as jus, horseradish cream.


We ended up switching meals and didn’t finish our food so had plenty of leftovers to take back. I love the Yorkshire pudding, or Popover as I call them.

For dessert we shared the Yachtsman Signature chocolate cake: Mocha cake layers, milk chocolate pastry cream, salted caramel sauce, raspberry sauce, dulce chocolate crumble, espresso cream. This was the waitress’ suggestion and it was very good. It wasn’t too sweet.


We both enjoyed our meal at Yachtsman’s Steakhouse

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I am also not a big fan of Trader Sam's. The mugs are definitely cute but the schtick inside gets tired, sitting with strangers is hit or miss, and honestly - I don't think the drinks are that great. I honestly much prefer their patio seating where there is often live music. Yachtsman is always a good time. You got prime seating at the windows! Those onion rolls are perfection!!

 

[Maisiemop]

I am new to the boards but I love a dining report! I feel like booking the Boathouse and Narcoossees for my next trip now. I definitely think I need a blue drink with a duck in it.

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Yay! You are back with another report! I love reading all of your eating adventures. I still haven't done Trader Sams and the more I read about them in reports, the less likely I am to head over there.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Enjoy your dining reports and wanted to let you know I have had the Key Lime Martini at Crew Cup twice now and you were right delicious! Like dessert and drink all in one.
Thanks for the great reviews!