Hi. We're just back from an 8 night trip to the World. Sorry, no photos, but here's the rundown on what we ate.
Monday, 2/18: President's Day. First day in the World. For lunch, we had McDonald's at Downtown Disney, and it was basically, McDonald's. We like the sound effects from the soda machine, though. Don't have those at home.
Dinner was at Chef Mickey's. Sorry to say this was the first time we've been disappointed at CM's, and the biggest reason is that we got put into a small alcove room in the back. They tried with the characters, but it didn't have the party atmosphere we're accustomed to in the main dining room. Had a great server tho (Lori) and loved the soup of the day, which was ham, leek and potato. Lori recommended it, and I loved it. Didn't sound great, but was one of the best things I ate all week.
Food was so-so. The prime rib, unfortunately, came either very rare or very well-down. Mashed potatoes were kind of watery. They didn't have the fabulous Mickey "Mousse" cake I love. Each slice used to have a white chocolate wafer with Mickey's picture transferred onto it.
Tuesday, 2/19: We were at Universal Studios most of the day. Ate lunch at Mel's Drive-In and it was adequate. Dinner we had at Spoodle's. We were very disappointed in their sangria because the pitcher was small and the sangria itself seemed to have almost no alcohol. We ordered two and got zero in the buzz department. The food was O.K. We got the fried calamari appetizer. It was tasty, but a small quantity. I ordered a chicken cutlet with arugula and Serrano ham dish. I was expecting the arugula to be wilted and a sauce on the dish, but it was more like a salad. I forget what the others in my family got.
Wednesday, 2/20: A counter service day at the Magic Kingdom. Had lunch in Pecos Bill. I got the chicken wrap sandwich. This place has an awesome toppings bar. Loved the mushrooms and fresh salsa. Dinner was at Cosmic Ray's. I had a chicken platter with yummy fresh green beans. It would have been a lot better with gravy for the chicken and mash.
Thursday, 2/21: Lunch at the Port Orleans food court. I had a roast beef and blue cheese sandwich. The roast beef was really flank steak, but the sandwich was very good and I enjoyed it.
Dinner was excellent! Best meal of the trip and it was at the Beach Club Cape May Clam Bake Cafe. The clams and mussels were small, but very tasty. We loved the New England clam chowder and grilled sirloin roast. The salads and desserts were awesome. The Caesar salad was excellent and so was "citrus salad." That contained red radicchio, green leaf lettuce, dried cranberries, sliced almonds and crumbled goat cheese. Oh, man! How I wish I had a plate right now for lunch! I had two yummy tart things for dessert, one being a little key lime tart garnished with toasted coconut, and the other was an Oreo Bon-Bon. It was an Oreo cookie, topped with a mound of cookies-and-cream mousse, then the whole thing was coated with dark chocolate. (I need one now!)
Friday, 2/22: Lunch was at Restaurantasaurus (or whatever it's called). Had basic burgers and again loved the sauteed mushrooms at the toppings bar.
Dinner was the second best of the trip and a close runner-up to the Beach Club. We ate at the Biergarten. Loved everything about it. The server, food, entertainment, atmosphere, etc. The food tasted authentically German. Had wonderful sauerbraten, red cabbage, German potato salad, veal load, spaetzle, etc. Oh, and the pretzel bread! I could eat just that and be happy. The desserts were in a class by themselves. I especially loved the apple strudel with vanilla sauce. That vanilla sauce is the bomb, though. I think it would make anything sweet taste fabulous.
Here's a note/tip for you guys. Our ADR was at 7:00. We finished our meal a few minutes before Illuminations began, so after dinner, we just walked outside and got a great view of the show. I loved seeing it from this location. You get a fantastic view of the globe here. It gave a new perspective to the show as we usually watch it somewhere near Mexico.
Saturday, 2/23: Lunch was from Picabu in the Dolphin. I enjoyed a baked potato with guacamole and bacon bits.
For dinner, we went to Ohana's. We were seated around 8:30 and given a table with a perfect view of Cinderella's Castle. When Wishes went off at 10:00, they piped the music into the restaurant, and so we got a very nice show right from our table.
We're long time Ohana fans and were happy overall with the latest menu. I found the dumplings kind of dry; I liked them better when they were filled wontons and served in teriyaki sauce. The salad and wings were very good. I didn't care for the potatoes--tasted too much like Betty Crocker Scalloped Potatoes from a box. The grilled meat (pork, turkey, steak and shrimp) were all tasty, but needed dipping sauces for moisture. I prefer the sauces I had years ago (a peanut one, a sweet-and-sour, and a vinigarette). Also, I miss having the lazy Susan table top. It came in handy.
Loved the "new" dessert. Bread pudding with ice cream and bananas foster sauce. Excellent flavor!
Sunday, 2/24: Ate lunch at Yakitori House. DH and I had some combo platter. I didn't like the sukiyaki beef on it. It looked like it was steamed and had a pot-roast-like texture. Everything else in the platter was good, especially the chicken teriyaki. DS got a whole plate of that and loved it.
We ate dinner at Picabu. DS got chicken strips, and DH and I split a pizza that was basically Disney pizza. It wasn't terrible, but wasn't that great either. I think that if somebody wants to make a million dollars, they should open a "real" pizzaria in WDW.
Monday, 2/25: Lunch was in Margaritaville in CityWalk (just outside Islands of Adventure, where we spent the day). I had a yummy crab cake sandwich and DH got a Cuban sandwich. This place was loads of fun and all over, quite good for what it was.
We attempted to eat dinner in Big River Grille on the Boardwalk. DH ordered a burger, and I got the grilled meatloaf. They must have forgotten our food on the grill because both our dishes were burned to a crisp. I couldn't even cut through mine, it was so hard. We complained to our server who brought over their manager. They offered us other dishes, but we were tired and not so hungry anymore. (I had eaten my mash and veggies; DH had his fries.) Then they said they'd take the burger and meatloaf off the bill, and we said fine. We'd pay for our drinks and DS's grilled cheese. After a few minutes, the waiter came over and said they decided to comp us the whole meal. We thought that was more-than-fair and came away from the restaurant happy.
Tuesday, 2/26: Ate lunch at McDonald's in Downtown again. Again it was your basic MickeyD's with a neat soda machine.
One comment I'd like to make about our dining experiences on the whole is that all our servers were excellent. Honestly, we had nice, friendly, helpful wait staff the whole trip, and we were glad to tip them all 20% each. We were really impressed with the quality of the waitstaff this trip.
Monday, 2/18: President's Day. First day in the World. For lunch, we had McDonald's at Downtown Disney, and it was basically, McDonald's. We like the sound effects from the soda machine, though. Don't have those at home.
Dinner was at Chef Mickey's. Sorry to say this was the first time we've been disappointed at CM's, and the biggest reason is that we got put into a small alcove room in the back. They tried with the characters, but it didn't have the party atmosphere we're accustomed to in the main dining room. Had a great server tho (Lori) and loved the soup of the day, which was ham, leek and potato. Lori recommended it, and I loved it. Didn't sound great, but was one of the best things I ate all week.
Food was so-so. The prime rib, unfortunately, came either very rare or very well-down. Mashed potatoes were kind of watery. They didn't have the fabulous Mickey "Mousse" cake I love. Each slice used to have a white chocolate wafer with Mickey's picture transferred onto it.
Tuesday, 2/19: We were at Universal Studios most of the day. Ate lunch at Mel's Drive-In and it was adequate. Dinner we had at Spoodle's. We were very disappointed in their sangria because the pitcher was small and the sangria itself seemed to have almost no alcohol. We ordered two and got zero in the buzz department. The food was O.K. We got the fried calamari appetizer. It was tasty, but a small quantity. I ordered a chicken cutlet with arugula and Serrano ham dish. I was expecting the arugula to be wilted and a sauce on the dish, but it was more like a salad. I forget what the others in my family got.
Wednesday, 2/20: A counter service day at the Magic Kingdom. Had lunch in Pecos Bill. I got the chicken wrap sandwich. This place has an awesome toppings bar. Loved the mushrooms and fresh salsa. Dinner was at Cosmic Ray's. I had a chicken platter with yummy fresh green beans. It would have been a lot better with gravy for the chicken and mash.
Thursday, 2/21: Lunch at the Port Orleans food court. I had a roast beef and blue cheese sandwich. The roast beef was really flank steak, but the sandwich was very good and I enjoyed it.
Dinner was excellent! Best meal of the trip and it was at the Beach Club Cape May Clam Bake Cafe. The clams and mussels were small, but very tasty. We loved the New England clam chowder and grilled sirloin roast. The salads and desserts were awesome. The Caesar salad was excellent and so was "citrus salad." That contained red radicchio, green leaf lettuce, dried cranberries, sliced almonds and crumbled goat cheese. Oh, man! How I wish I had a plate right now for lunch! I had two yummy tart things for dessert, one being a little key lime tart garnished with toasted coconut, and the other was an Oreo Bon-Bon. It was an Oreo cookie, topped with a mound of cookies-and-cream mousse, then the whole thing was coated with dark chocolate. (I need one now!)
Friday, 2/22: Lunch was at Restaurantasaurus (or whatever it's called). Had basic burgers and again loved the sauteed mushrooms at the toppings bar.
Dinner was the second best of the trip and a close runner-up to the Beach Club. We ate at the Biergarten. Loved everything about it. The server, food, entertainment, atmosphere, etc. The food tasted authentically German. Had wonderful sauerbraten, red cabbage, German potato salad, veal load, spaetzle, etc. Oh, and the pretzel bread! I could eat just that and be happy. The desserts were in a class by themselves. I especially loved the apple strudel with vanilla sauce. That vanilla sauce is the bomb, though. I think it would make anything sweet taste fabulous.
Here's a note/tip for you guys. Our ADR was at 7:00. We finished our meal a few minutes before Illuminations began, so after dinner, we just walked outside and got a great view of the show. I loved seeing it from this location. You get a fantastic view of the globe here. It gave a new perspective to the show as we usually watch it somewhere near Mexico.
Saturday, 2/23: Lunch was from Picabu in the Dolphin. I enjoyed a baked potato with guacamole and bacon bits.
For dinner, we went to Ohana's. We were seated around 8:30 and given a table with a perfect view of Cinderella's Castle. When Wishes went off at 10:00, they piped the music into the restaurant, and so we got a very nice show right from our table.
We're long time Ohana fans and were happy overall with the latest menu. I found the dumplings kind of dry; I liked them better when they were filled wontons and served in teriyaki sauce. The salad and wings were very good. I didn't care for the potatoes--tasted too much like Betty Crocker Scalloped Potatoes from a box. The grilled meat (pork, turkey, steak and shrimp) were all tasty, but needed dipping sauces for moisture. I prefer the sauces I had years ago (a peanut one, a sweet-and-sour, and a vinigarette). Also, I miss having the lazy Susan table top. It came in handy.
Loved the "new" dessert. Bread pudding with ice cream and bananas foster sauce. Excellent flavor!
Sunday, 2/24: Ate lunch at Yakitori House. DH and I had some combo platter. I didn't like the sukiyaki beef on it. It looked like it was steamed and had a pot-roast-like texture. Everything else in the platter was good, especially the chicken teriyaki. DS got a whole plate of that and loved it.
We ate dinner at Picabu. DS got chicken strips, and DH and I split a pizza that was basically Disney pizza. It wasn't terrible, but wasn't that great either. I think that if somebody wants to make a million dollars, they should open a "real" pizzaria in WDW.
Monday, 2/25: Lunch was in Margaritaville in CityWalk (just outside Islands of Adventure, where we spent the day). I had a yummy crab cake sandwich and DH got a Cuban sandwich. This place was loads of fun and all over, quite good for what it was.
We attempted to eat dinner in Big River Grille on the Boardwalk. DH ordered a burger, and I got the grilled meatloaf. They must have forgotten our food on the grill because both our dishes were burned to a crisp. I couldn't even cut through mine, it was so hard. We complained to our server who brought over their manager. They offered us other dishes, but we were tired and not so hungry anymore. (I had eaten my mash and veggies; DH had his fries.) Then they said they'd take the burger and meatloaf off the bill, and we said fine. We'd pay for our drinks and DS's grilled cheese. After a few minutes, the waiter came over and said they decided to comp us the whole meal. We thought that was more-than-fair and came away from the restaurant happy.
Tuesday, 2/26: Ate lunch at McDonald's in Downtown again. Again it was your basic MickeyD's with a neat soda machine.
One comment I'd like to make about our dining experiences on the whole is that all our servers were excellent. Honestly, we had nice, friendly, helpful wait staff the whole trip, and we were glad to tip them all 20% each. We were really impressed with the quality of the waitstaff this trip.
I just wanted to add, I also totally agree about WDW pizza. You would think they could get someone to make better pizza. It's an American staple for goodness sakes! I avoid it, the kids think it's OK.
