Dining reviews November 17-23

[liamsaunt]

We had a great trip to Disney and enjoyed lots of terrific food. We ended up changing a lot of our adrs because I had an accident that required medical attention and some loss of park time, but we were always able to reschedule for the restaurants we wanted at the times we wanted. We even added a lunch at Le Cellier after canceling our dinner adr earlier in the week due to how I was feeling. We were a party of two, which may have been why we were able to get in, but my advice to anyone looking to add adrs is to try the day of the meal you want. We were lucky every time.

November 17: Plan: dinner at Palio. Actual: dinner at Flying Fish.

We switched our reservations from Palio to Flying Fish because we were not in the mood for Italian. We were promptly seated at a table for two by the window. Our server was very nice, professional, attentive, and friendly without being overbearing.

We started with two appetizers, which we shared: sautéed red mullet fillet served with crispy chick pea fritter, arugula and tomato marmalade, and ahi tuna tartare with pickled red cabbage, tobbiko caviar, miso dressing and sesame crackers. Both were very good but the portions were too large (I always forget how big the portions are at Disney!). The mullet was served with its crispy skin still attached, which made for a nice crunch. The best part of this appetizer was the chickpea fritter—it was very similar to pan-fried polenta, crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. Overall we thought the flavor of the tomato marmalade was too strong for the mild taste of the mullet, but we enjoyed it anyway. (Funny aside, the busser who cleared our plates asked me if I enjoyed the mullet. I told him I did, and he wrinkled his nose and said: “Not me! I hate mullet, it is too fishy for me.” At least he was honest!)

The second appetizer of tuna was very fresh, but again too large. The miso dressing was good, and the sesame crackers with it were tasty. We were not able to finish this one.

For entrees, we again shared two: the potato wrapped red snapper with creamy leek fondue and red wine butter sauce, and the house-made wild mushroom ravioli, with fontina cheese, spinach, porcini mushroom broth, and truffle oil. The snapper was excellent, very fresh and mild. The sauce with it is very rich, and there was a lot of it—maybe too much. The ravioli was a serving of four large pieces in a deeply flavored broth. It was very good, but would have been better if the serving bowl had been heated to keep the broth from cooling so quickly.

We shared a bottle of Kunde Zinfandel with the meal, and finished up in time to walk across the bridge and into World Showcase for illuminations. It was a great start to the vacation!

November 18: No set plan, ended up at Bice at the Portofino Hotel.

Bice is a very nice space, it is large, and nicely decorated with dark wood, white tablecloths, etc. This restaurant is a chain with branches around the world, something we did not know before eating there. The restaurant overlooks the east wing and bay of the Portofino Hotel.

Service here was very attentive, but a lttle snarky. Our waiter looked a lot like my younger brother (who drives me crazy!), so maybe I was not as inclined to appreciate his efforts.

We started with the antipasto plate, which featured proscuitto, breseola, speck, and a few cheeses. All the offerings were very good. We then shared a pasta course of a simple pappardelle with pomodoro sauce. The pasta was house made and very good. The sauce had too much mozzarella cheese in it though. For our main course, we split the duck, cooked medium rare as specified and served with a fruit sauce. We split a panna cotta for dessert (well, tried to, but at this point we were so full we only managed one bite each.) For wine, we shared a bottle of Mekker barberian, which is a red wine blend.


November 19: Plan, dinner at Jiko. Actual, room service from Jiko.

I was not feeling well enough to go out to dinner this day, so we just ordered in room service from Jiko. We ordered the kalamata olive flatbread, the taste of Africa (kalamata olive hummus, Moroccan chermoula, and Malaysian spinach-lentil dip with pappadum, whole-wheat lavash, and flax naan bread), and the Chermoula-roasted, farm-raised chicken with red skin mashed potatoes, preserved lemons, kalamata olives, roasted garlic, herbs, and harissa. Unfortunately, room service brought the breads but not the dips for the taste of Africa, and instead of the chicken brought the short ribs (tamarind-braised with Idaho and sweet potato gratin and onion garlic sauce). They did end up bringing up the missing items promptly once we called them. Due to my accident I was not feeling well enough to eat anything but my DH enjoyed the short ribs (he says they were very tender and flavorful). We put the rest of the food in our in-room fridge to have another time.

More to come!

 

[Leota]

Keep 'em coming. Love the thorough review. Your desciptions of the food at FF has my mouth watering.

 

[disneytraveler]

Sounds great so far! Jiko's dinners are wonderful to. Nice to see someone enjoying the in room dining . Thats on the platinum plan which i reserved.

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reviews ~ Thanx for posting.

 

[abk96]

Sorry to hear about your accident. I'm glad you are ok.

Thanks for the reviews. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[Mom B]

Thanks for the great descriptions! Sounds like you really know and appreciate good food and good restaurants. I admit that the dining is getting to be one of our main reasons for going to WDW...for better or for worse!

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Thanks for the reviews. We will be eating at Flying Fish for the first time next month so I was glad to read your report.

 

[liamsaunt]

thanks for the nice comments. Here is part two:

November 20: Plan, dinner at Le Cellier. Actual, lunch at L’Originale Alfredos.

I was really hungry this day since I had not eaten anything the day before, so we decided to go to Alfredos for pasta. Carb loading is good! I was a little concerned about this decision because I had not eaten here since the late eighties and had not read much positive feedback on it. DH had the fettucine alfredo and I had the pasta sampler, which contained penne with tomato sauce, lasagna Bolognese, and ricotta-truffle filled pasta pillows in a cream sauce. DH really liked the alfredo, but I could not eat it at all. It was way too rich for me (and I love rich foods!) I think there was an entire stick of butter in there. The pasta sampler was OK—the penne was cooked correctly but the sauce was too sweet. The pasta pillows had a nice cream sauce but the filling was nothing special (I certainly could not taste the truffles). I did not try the lasagna, but DH did. He said that the pasta was very nice but again the sauce was too sweet.

We shared a tiramisu for dessert, which was fine though I missed the flavor of the marsala the ladyfingers are usually soaked in—in this case it was all espresso. We also had espressos here which were fine.

Would I go here again? Probably not. I will say that our waiter was very sweet and helpful and the room is a nice space. Kids might like the sweet tomato sauce, but it is not our style.

We had a late dinner in the room of leftovers from Jiko. Their chicken dish is really good cold!

November 21: Plan, late dinner at Artist Point. Actual, kept that ADR and added a lunch at Brown Derby.

I love Cobb salad, and have been wanting to try the Brown Derby for a while to taste theirs, so we made a last minute early lunch adr. I really like the interior of this restaurant—it is quieter than a lot of other Disney restaurants. Our waitress was very prompt and efficient without making us feel overly rushed. I had the Cobb Salad, and DH ordered the pan-fried grouper with asparagus and lemon-butter sauce. The food came out REALLY fast—5 minutes after we ordered, it seemed. That was a little odd. DH”s fish was mild and fresh. The lemon butter sauce was nice and the asparagus were very crisp. My cobb salad was disappointing. First of all, it was WAY too cold. It was also mushy, like the lettuce had not been properly dried. There was also too much of it. My DH ate some of it and there was still over half a bowl left. I am going back here next week with my DH, Dsis and her kids (can’t change it as it is our Fantasmic package), so if anyone has a suggestion for something tastier on the menu, please let me know!

Dinner at Artist Point was terrific. This has always been one of my favorite restaurants, and this meal continued the tradition. We have always had great service here, and this evening’s waiter (Carlos) did not disappoint. We had a nice table for two at the window that was a bit apart from the main dining area, which made for a quieter atmosphere.

I started with the smoky Portobello soup, which was not as smoky as I remembered from lat year, but still had a great garnish of seared ****akes and crispy croutons. DH started with the duck confit with frisee-anjou pear salad, apple cider vinaigrette, and duck proscuitto. I asked him to comment on it as I only had one bite, and he said that although it was not the best duck confit he ever had, he did enjoy it, and it had crispy skin and was very flavorful.

For entrees, I had the cedar plan roasted king salmon with wild mushroom bread salad and béarnaise sauce. The salmon was perfectly cooked medium-medium rare the way I requested it, and was very fresh. It was, however, too big! (this is becoming a theme in my report, isn’t it?) Carlos said the portion was 6 ounces, but it was definitely more like 8. There was no way I could eat all that fish. What I did eat was very good though!

DH had his favorite, the hatfield pork chop on tilamook cheddar mac and cheese with maytag crust. The pork was cooked medium as requested, very moist and pink. DH had no problem finshing his meal! We shared a bottle of the Domaine Drouhin pinot noir. Yum!

For dessert we each had a double espresso and shared the coffee two ways (mochaccino bread pudding and vailla latte crème brulee). The bread pudding was too rich for our stuffed tummies, but we enjoyed the crème brulee very much.

Last installment coming up...DH's birthday!

 

[Viki]

Wonderful reports. I agree with you about the Cobb Salad at Brown Derby, but it still remains one of my favorite places to dine at the World. I'm sorry that I can't remember what I last ate there - but it was great!
And, of course, the grapefruit cake is always fun.

 

[wilderness01]

The filet at the Brown Derby is good. That is one of the choices for the Fantasmic Package.

 

[liamsaunt]

Final installment!

November 22 (DH’s birthday!): Plan, dinner at California Grill. Actual, kept that adr and also added lunch at Le Cellier.

We had cancelled Le Cellier earlier in the week due to my accident, but decided to try it for an early lunch while we waited for our fastpass return window for Soarin’ (4 hours after we got the pass—Epcot was crowded!!). I had not been to Le Cellier since it was a buffet restaurant many moons ago, so was curious to see why it had become one of the most popular places to eat in all of Disney. Our waitress was great, with a dry sense of humor that we really appreciated. My DH started with a bowl of the cheddar soup, which we enjoyed at the F+W festival last year, and I had the shrimp cocktail with wasabi slaw. I really like the sauce on that shrimp—sweet and just a little spicy. We tried a couple of wines from Inniskillin—I had the chardonnay, which they just added to the menu, and DH had their cabernet. Both were very nice.

For entrees, DH had the 5 ounce petit filet with cream cheese mashed potatoes, and I had the vegetarian sampler. DH’s filet was cooked rare/medium rare as ordered and was very tender and flavorful. He only tried a bite of the mashed potatoes, as we were going out to California Grill later, but he said they were very good.

The vegetarian sampler has four small dishes: udon noodles with a spicy cashew vinaigrette and mixed vegetables (nice, but definitely not spicy), mushroom pot stickers (two small potstickers, very good), a vegetable spring roll (tasty though the wrapper was a little tough), and a cucumber salad. I enjoyed this sampler though of course thought there was too much food. We finished up with double espressos.

Dinner that night was at California Grill, and it was excellent as always. Our server (Kevin) was really friendly and paced our meal well so that we had the opportunity to see Wishes and did not rush. DH wanted sushi to start, so we opted to split the big bang roll as a first course. This roll has tuna, crabmeat, tempura shrimp, mango, and cucumber all rolled up together. The flavors were good but the roll was huge! It took me four bites to eat a piece of it. That’s actually one of my least favorite things about sushi in general—you are supposed to eat it in one or two bites, but the pieces are just too big to manage that.

We waited a while before ordering the next course since the sushi was more filling than we expected. I ordered the wild mushroom flatbread with gorgonzola cheese and aged balsamic, and DH ordered the seared foie gras on brioche with a calvados (I think!) sauce. Kevin brought out the flatbread first, then the foie gras after we finished with the flatbread. The flatbread was exceptional, very strongly flavored and loaded with mushrooms. I don’t eat foie gras, but DH loved it. He said it was very rich and flavorful. His only negative comment was that perhaps the sauce was a little too sweet. For wines, I had a glass of conundrum and DH enjoyed a Gary Farrell red. Unfortunately, I misplaced my notes from this meal so I am not sure exactly what it was.

At this point we were feeling pretty full so after some debate decided to skip our plan of splitting a third course and instead ordered dessert—a flourless chocolate cake with ice cream. You have to have dessert on your birthday, right? Kevin held the dessert back until after Wishes. We were seated at a window table, but our view of Wishes would have been slightly obstructed by a Christmas tree, so we opted to watch out on the observation deck. I was so happy that they are piping the music back into the restaurant/deck area. Last fall we missed this at our meals in October and December. Wishes was great as always, but boy was it cold out there on the deck! I was wearing a sweater and a winter coat, and was still shaking!

When we came back inside, Kevin brought dessert. He had added a chocolate bar that said “happy birthday from the California Grill” and a candle. I thought that was very nice. Dessert was delicious, albeit very rich. DH had ordered a glass of port for dessert but we did not drink too much of it. We were just too stuffed! This was a great meal and a wonderful way to end DH’s birthday.

November 23: departure day. Breakfast at Spoodles

We were able to walk into Spoodles without an adr for breakfast before heading to the airport. On the rare occasion that we want a big meal in the morning, we like to have breakfast here because the space is so bright and airy. Service was a little slow, but we were not in a hurry so it did not bother us. If I had been heading to the parks I would have been irritated though—it took over 20 minutes for our lattes to arrive after ordering, and another 25 minutes for the food to come along.

We both ordered the poached eggs on rye toasts with an Italian stew of red peppers, tomatoes, and sausage. The eggs were perfectly poached, but I did not eat much of the stew—it was fine but I think I was still full from the previous evening!

And then it was time to head home. DH asked me as we were driving to the airport if I was sad, and I said no, because we were coming back in a week! This time we are bringing my niece and nephew (ages 4 and 6) along, so I am sure the dining experiences are going to be a lot different!

One more thing: if you have an annual pass, get the Disney Dining Experience card! It is so worth it. I just called and ordered it over the phone when we arrived in Florida, and picked the temporary cards up at Epcot the next day. It gives you a 20% discount on all food and beverages, including alcohol, at most restaurants in the Disney complex. A list of all the participating locations is included with the card.

Thanks for reading. Let me know if there are any questions I can answer for you.

liamsaunt

 

[Huckleberry]

Great reviews

 

[swankybeth]

Great reviews. Thanks for taking the time to be so detailed, my mouth was watering! Can't wait to read about your experiences with the kids, I'm sure it will be very different.

 

[laura12581]

Thanks for the great reviews. We are also eating lunch at Le Cellier and dinner at the California Grill when we go, that was a great review!!
Laura

 

[danny1649]

I enjoyed reading your review's

 

[Hopefully]

I enjoyed your reviews very much. Thank You!! I am sorry for your accident, I hope it didn;t ruin your trip.
I am envious that you are able to return in a week after returning home. Lucky You! Have a great trip.

 

[TwingleMum]

Thanks for the reviews. Isn't it funny your Shhhhitake comment was bleeped.