Dining Reviews 12/7 - 12/18, Updated 1/20 - Completed

[disneyfav4ever]

Table of Contents

Boma - Page 1, Post 3
Liberty Tree Tavern - Page 1, Post 6
California Grill - Page 1, Post 10
Nine Dragons - Page 2, Post 17
Citrico's - Page 2, Post 21
Wolfgang Puck Cafe - Page 2, Post 26
Jiko - Page 3, Post 31
Chefs de France - Page 3, Post 34
Blue Zoo - Page 3, Post 40
Crystal Palace - Page 3, Post 44
Le Cellier - Page 4, Post 47
Kona Cafe - Page 4, Post 54
Artist Point - Page 4, Post 59
Brown Derby - Page 5, Post 63
Garden Grill - Page 5, Post 65
Rose & Crown - Page 5, Post 67
Mama Melrose's - Page 5, Post 68
Counter Service Reviews - Page 6, Post 78
DDE Review - Page 6, Post 81
Favorites List a.k.a. Best / Worst List - Page 6, Post 85

I got back last night from my twelve-day trip, during which I ate at seventeen table service restaurants, and several counter service places. I took pictures of all the table service items, but none of the counter service food.

The first few days were great, but on day five I started feeling not-so-great, and still feel a little under the weather, and that affected my appetite at a few of the meals, and I missed five reservations due to not feeling well.

 

[MA pigletfan]

ABSOLUTELY subscribing! My dbf and i will be going to 7 of those TS restaurants in June..can't wait to read your reviews!!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I ate at Boma on my first night. I really hadn't eaten at all that day, except for a small snack after arriving in WDW hours earlier. I had eaten at Boma once before, and picked to go this day, since I knew I wouldn't be eating that much before-hand, so I'd be able to pig out, and also since it was a different night on the rotation than the last time I had eaten there. Not that the last time wasn't good, but I wanted to try new things.

My ADR was at 6:00, but I had spent the afternoon at Animal Kingdom, (and I will be posting a full trip report later, but I have to mention it now, the Finding Nemo musical at AK is awesome.) Animal Kingdom closed at 5:00, and I went to AK Lodge from there, and after walking around for awhile I was still to early for my ADR, but I checked in early anyway. I only had to wait a few minutes, and was seated at 5:50. I really think it's worth it to get earlier ADRs, since there's usually less of a wait involved.

I was seated in the same section as I had been last year, near the begining of the buffet. My server was Allison, and I liked her better then the server I had last year. She was pleasant, I never had an empty glass, and my dishes were always cleared before I got back with another plate.

I had two plates of entree, savory-type foods, which consisted of the following. I had some of the pasta salad that I loved last year, but it didn't taste quite the same this time. It wasn't bad, but I didn't love it nearly as much. I also had some coconut-carrot and pineapple salad that I thought was very good. I also tried the watercress salad, but didn't like it. The macaroni and cheese was good, but pretty standard. I just felt like having some. I liked the potato and bacon soup, but not as much as the soups I had last year, (the crab and butternut squash soups.) I tried the bobotie, (I think that's what it was,) the ground beef / lamb mixture with a bread like topping? That was really good. I also tried the lamb potjie, and also really liked that. The thing that really stood out, was the prime rib. That may be the best prime rib I've ever had. It was so good, and had a great seasoning on it. The prime rib was the only thing I had seconds of.

I also had a plate of desserts. I had a passion fruit tart, which was good, a piece of milk tart, which was okay, zebra domes, which I liked better last year, but they were still good, coconut tiramisu, which was good, and banana bread pudding, which was my favorite dessert item.

Also, I should mention that I had pretty much memorized the rotational menus from here before I went, and it was pretty much accurate.

Boma is still one of my favorites, and I will definatly be returning here in 2007, though not until the fall, since I just can't fit it in for my four-day birthday trip.

 

[Tinkerbell's Mom]

Yum, all sounds good, can't wait to hear the rest . . .

 

[Blaynexox]

Sounds great! Cant wait for more reviews and pictures!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

On the second day of my trip I spent the day at MK. I had a 11:30 lunch reservation for Liberty Tree Tavern, and checked in about ten minutes early. I was seated right at 11:30, which is when they opened.

This was my first time at Liberty Tree Tavern, and I was anxious to try it, though not as anxious as some of the other places I would also be trying.

I was seated in the George Washington room, which was nice. It was a smaller room from what I could tell, compared to the others.

My server was Nicholas, and he was very attentive, and fast, though I wasn't rushed.

I had memorized the menus on All Ears before going to Disney, and thought I had decided on just getting appetizers. But as I was sitting there, looking at the menu, I realized I was hungry for a sandwich instead.

I had the tri-corner, which was roast beef, swiss cheese, horseradish, coleslaw, and arugula. To me, a roast beef sandwich is not complete without horseradish, so I was glad it was on the sandwich. There was a lot of meat, and a lot of bread. I actually thought the bread was on the dry side, and after eating half the sandwich, (as I was getting full,) started just picking out the roast beef.

The fries that came with the sandwich were fantastic. They were those big-fat steak fries, not those little skinny ones that don't hold up that well when dunking them in ketchup.

Speaking of ketchup, when the sandwich was originally brought out, there was no ketchup. I didn't realize it until after Nicholas had walked away. It wasn't a big deal, I would just grab him the next time he passed by. A couple minutes later, he appeared with a dish of ketchup, like he had read my mind or something.

Overall, I think Liberty Tree Tavern is a nice restaurant, though it is not a must-do for me. I'll probably return there sooner or later. Well, actually I'm eating there for the character dinner in Febuary, but I don't think it would be fair to compare the lunch and dinner, since they are so different.

 

[Disney owl]

Thanks for the reviews

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent ~ Enjoying

 

[Leota]

Digging your reviews so far & looking forward to more!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Out of all the restaurants I tried for the first time this trip this is one of the ones I was most excited about, even though I had read some semi-negative reviews saying that the service here had been lacking recently, and that the food had gone down in quality. This was not the case, I very much enjoyed my meal.

My ADR time was for 5:40, I checked in at 5:30, and was immediatly escorted upstairs in the elevator to the 15th floor. I thought the check-in desk was a little difficult to find. I didn't see any signs on the 4th floor, (I had taken the monorail over from MK,) and only knew to go to the 2nd floor from reading posts here.

I was seated immediatly after going upstairs, since the restaurant was basically empty, but it filled up pretty fast. As far as the dress code goes, I had worn a nice top, and a pair of capris. I didn't feel out of place at all, as most were dressed in simmilar attire. There were a few who were more dressy, and a few less dressy, and out of the dress code, but most were in business casual, and I was fine with what I had decided to wear.

When I had originally made this ADR I thought that I would be miss viewing Wishes since I had such an early dinner time. But, this was a night that MVMCP was being held, so Wishes would be showing at 6:00, which I was informed of by the man who sat me, and my server, Laurie.

My server, Laurie, was fabulous. She shared her opinion when I asked for it, and I usually went with it.

I ended up getting a window table, and I asked Laurie if she thought it would be better to stay inside or go out to see Wishes. She said I'd have a good view from my table, and it was chilly that night, probably the coldest night of the trip, so I decided to stay inside, where it was nice and warm.

I ordered butternut squash soup as my appetizer, and for my entree, I ordered a flatbread. I was debating between the duck or black mission fig flatbreads. When I asked Laurie, she said her favorite was the black mission fig, so that's what I ordered.

I was served bread, which I believe was sourdough, which I enjoyed, though I didn't it was anything exceptional.

I was served my soup right before Wishes started. The soup, which was very good, had diced apples, and a mascarpone foam, which complmented it very nicely. It was served very hot, but as I was eating it Wishes started, and I stopped eating, as I was getting distracted by the fireworks. By the time Wishes ended I still had half a bowl of luke-warm soup left, which was still good, even at that temperature. Actually, I usually prefer things luke-warm to piping hot, though I'll get worried if it's luke-warm when I'm served it, since then I have to wonder how long it was sitting in the kitchen. But, since I knew it had only gone warm due to me watching the fireworks instead of eating I wasn't worried. Laurie was right, I did have a good view of Wishes from my seat.

After I finished my soup it was only a few minutes before my flatbread was served. As I mentioned above, I had the black mission fig flatbread, which was topped with; serrano ham, gorgonzola, arugula, and one-thousand flower honey. It was very good, though it was on the sweet side. I like sweet though, so it didn't bother me, I just wasn't expecting it to be that sweet. The fact that there was honey on it should of given me a clue. I was able to eat three-quarters of it, which is more then I ate of most of the other flatbreads I had later in the trip.

While I was eating my flatbread Laurie came around with the dessert menu, explaining that some of the desserts take awhile to make, and assemble. It's a good thing she came around with it as I was still eating my entree, since I ended up ordering one of the time-consuming ones.

I ordered the bananas and butterscotch buzz, which was caramelized bananas and butterscotch custard stack with coffee caramel, cocoa nib, and a piece of fried plantain.

I loved it. Especially the custard part, and the coffee-caramel sauce, which both complemented the bananas very nicely. Banana foster, is one of my all-time favorite desserts, and this reminded me a little of that, so it's no wonder that I enjoyed it.

When I was brought the bill, Laurie had already taken off the DDE discount without checking my card, which saved time, but this was also the only place I didn't show the card. Though I never got ID'ed when using the DDE, except once at Pop, which I thought was wierd, since the only time I got asked for my ID is when I saved about 25 cents. Dinner lasted over an hour and a half, but it seemed to move very quickly.

 

[corkycat]

Just subscribing...

 

[Piglet54]

Thanks for the detailed reviews so far. Can't wait to read more and see the photos!

 

[luvpooh]

I can't wait to read the rest of your reviews! You always write great ones, and eat at great places.

Loved the CA Grill review; I'll be eating there in just over a month. Would you recommend the flatbread? I know you said it was sweet, but was it a good mix of salty and sweet?

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Loved the CA Grill review; I'll be eating there in just over a month. Would you recommend the flatbread? I know you said it was sweet, but was it a good mix of salty and sweet?

It was more sweet then salty. I don't actually like really salty things. There were some bites that I could taste the gorgonzola in more then others. And there were some bites that had a whole piece of fig.

 

[momof2disprincesses]

I can't wait to read more. You write your reviews very well!

We leave in just 5 days and you're making my mouth water getting excited for all the yummy food.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Good news! I found my camera-computer cable, and am now able to upload my pictures. Unfortunatly, I have full work shifts the next few days, and have lots to do at home with Christmas coming up, so I may not have a lot of time to update this until after the holiday. But I'll try and get some more reviews done. Next up; Nine Dragons and Citricos.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I had gotten up very early this morning, around 6:00 AM, and had left Pop to go to MGM around 7:00, to be there for the 8:00 EMH opening. I had skipped breakfast, because I knew I would be riding Tower of Terror mutiple times, and breakfast didn't seem like a good idea.

I went over to Epcot around 10:30, since I had a lunch reservation at Nine Dragons at 12:00, and didn't want to be late for that. I had enough time to get from International Gateway, to China, even going through Future World so I could get a FP for Soarin.

I arrived at Nine Dragons a few minutes early, and checked in right away, even though it was before the were officially open. I was taken to my table right at 12:00.

When they called my name to be seated, there seemed to be some confusion, as me, and another party both thought they had been called at the same time. Even though the host had said party of one. He showed us the slip, I guess he thought he might be pronouncing a name wrong, and sure enough, it was for me. I'm not sure if that other couple had just heard wrong, or were just trying to get a table quicker or what. And it may just be me, but I got the feeling the lady from that table was staring at me, and giving me dirty looks through out the meal.

This was my first time at Nine Dragons, and I had been anxious to try it. I had read lots of mixed reviews, probably with more being negative then positive. Plus the fact that I hadn't eaten anything since last night, and I was starving, may not have been helping my patience.

My server that day, was Pak Yan. She was good. But, she seemed to get flustered very easily. I'm assuming she was pretty new, since she had what seemed to be some sort of manager or other following around.

I started by telling her I had the DDE, and she didn't know what that was. Not a big deal, since the manager-type person was with her, and did. And like I said, I think she was new.

I had a small debate between weather to order the honey-sesame chicken, or general tso's chicken, and since I always get tso's chicken, and I had read lots about the honey-sesame chicken, decided to get the honey-sesame chicken.

I also had a jasmine green iced tea with my lunch, as that seemed more appropriate then diet coke.

The chicken was served quickly enough. There was plenty of chicken, and a nice sized serving of rice. The chicken was cooked well, it was crispy on the outside, and moist on the inside. The sauce was sweet, but not overly sweet, and it was very good. The rice was good too, and was not under, or over-cooked.

So I enjoyed my entree. It was not however, any better then I can get at my favorite Chinese places here at home, and about double the price as my favorite hometown Chinese place, though the DDE helped there.

Though the meal was very filling, I had been wanting to try the red bean ice cream out of curiostity. I had no idea what it would taste like, so I had to order a dish of it.

It was okay, kind of nutty tasting. Maybe a little bit like pistachio, but I prefer pistachio to red bean.

Overall, I enjoyed my meal at Nine Dragons, and I may return, though I probably won't due to being able to get the same quality at home. Though if I feel like Chinese at Disney, I know this place was usually never fully booked, and would be good as a last minute ADR.

 

[susieq76]

I love your reviews! Thank you so much!

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Thanks for the reviews. I'm really enjoying them. I'm glad you really liked California Grill, it along with Jiko are our favorites. We ate at California Grill twice in October and loved it both times. I had the Black Fig flatbread also and really enjoyed it. We have been dining at CG for many years and I do not think the service or food has gone down hill.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

We have been dining at CG for many years and I do not think the service or food has gone down hill.

Since that was my first time there, and I have nothing to compare it with, I can only hope that the negative, and so-so reviews I've read for CA Grill, was only bad luck on the diners' part.