Dining Reviews Sep 2008 & Feb 2009 Update 8/13 - Complete!

[disneyfav4ever]

After spending the morning and early afternoon at Epcot I had a 1:55 lunch reservationn at Le Cellier. This was my fourth time eating there, but I had never been there for lunch before.

I arrived on time, and it was very busy, and they were turning away walk-ups. Despite that, I was seated in ten minutes.

My server's name was Jennifer, and she was very nice. Unlike most of the other servers at Le Cellier she had moved to Florida permantaly, and had been at Le Cellier for awhile.

For my appetizer I choose the tomato stack, since that sounded nice and refreshing. It was several nice thick slices of a wonderfully ripe tomato, caramelized onions, cucumbers, crumbled blue cheese, and yuzu vinaigrette. It all went very well together.

For my entree I had the shaved prime rib sandwich, which was delicious. It was a generous amount of meat on a toasted ciabatta roll, with cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, and horseradish cream sauce. I don't think there's any type of sandwich I like better then beef, onions, cheese, (either blue or cheddar,) and horseradish, and this was the best "cheesesteak" I had ever had. It came with fries, which were also very good, and they were nice thick fries, not little shoestring "McDonalds" type fries.

For dessert I had the cheesecake with strawberry compote. It was when I was photographing the cheesecake, when the man at the table next to me asked my if I was the critic. I suppose I could've gone into how I do review meals for the DIS, but I just said no. The cheesecake was very good though, nice and creamy.

Overall Le Cellier is one of my favorites, and I'd eat there again, but I didn't include it on my February intinerary due to lack of days. I probably would've missed it, had I not had so many excellant meals this trip as well.

 

[AlohaPolynesian]

Your reviews are amazing!! Thanks so much for sharing.

 

[Uncle Remus]

Fabulous reviews, and thanks so much for including a cost analysis, the value of DxDP is worth it for some folks...I got it for my May trip.

 

[mbordeleau]

Great reviews! Can't wait to hear about the rest of them!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Fabulous reviews, and thanks so much for including a cost analysis, the value of DxDP is worth it for some folks...I got it for my May trip.

I think I paid more attention to the costs this time, to see if it was indeed worth it for me. In September, when I had gotten the deluxe plan for $30-some a night, I knew I was coming out ahead, but this time I wanted to really know exactly how much I was saving vs. spending.

I do have my reciepts from September somewhere. Once I find those I'll add them up too.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Your reviews are amazing!! Thanks so much for sharing.

Great reviews! Can't wait to hear about the rest of them!

Glad you're enjoying them!

 

[Todd&Copper]

Jennifer was my server for dinner at Le Cellier back in January. She looks a bit like Cheri Oteri or Martin Short. She thought my DH and I holding hands att he table was darling. She was a GREAT waitress.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

After a long day at Epcot, I had a 7:55 PM dinner reservation at 1900 Park Fare.

I got to the Grand Floridian very early, around 6:00, and instead of checking in right away, I spent some time in Mizner's Lounge, (where I had the blue glow-tini,) and listened to the band.

Despite the restaurant being very busy and crowded I was seated right on time, in the main room, right near the buffet line.

My server's name was Lisa, and she did a good job of keeping my diet Coke refilled, and clearing dishes.

I started with a bowl of strawberry soup, which I had been dying to try, especially since making it on my own at home. I have to say, that this was probably the highlight of the meal, not that the other food was bad, but this was just wonderful. Though it probably would've been better as a dessert then as a first course.

I then went up to get my first plate of real food. I wasn't very hungry, but I decided to try at least one item from each country or region from the buffet.

On my first plate I had some beef stir-fry, Asian noodle salad, chicken marsala, and a small piece of salmon with dill cream sauce. All of the food was good, though nothing really stood out, though I did really enjoy the Asian noodle salad.

On my second plate I had some more of the Asian noodle salad, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, and a small bowl of cream of asparagus soup. The macaroni and cheese had an odd taste to it, it didn't taste bad, but the sauce was very, for lack of a better word, tangy. The mashed potatoes were good, and the soup was too, though a little salty.

I also had a piece of prime rib with horseradish cream sauce, and though there was a considerable amount of fat on the meat, the part I did eat was very good. (Though not as good as Boma's.)

For dessert I tried a couple of the mini desserts.I had a mini lemon meringue and a mini fruit tart, which were both very pretty. I can't say much for the taste though, the filling was all right, but the crust was horrible. The other desserts I sampled; chocolate mousse, trifle, and a mini carrot cake were better, but not amazing.

The characters that night were Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, and Drizella. All of the characters were nice, but the step-sisters were hysterical. I would possibly eat at 1900 Park Fare again just to see them again, as they are very entertaining.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

I love your reviews and pics. Keep it coming.

 

[wdwfanatic316]

Just finished reading the whole thread- great reviews and pictures! Thanks so much for posting!

 

[deslynnpatterson]

Oh yummy, an alcohol report!!!

I LOVE Rosa Regale, I learned about it here on the DIS.

I also LOVE ROSA REGALE!!! my DH and I actually tried it for the first time last fall in epcot!!! and we went on a hunt and finally found it in our area its delicious!!

 

[angelsmith52]

Thank you so much for all the reviews! They will be helpful while planning our trip!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Good news I found a camera cord for the computer, so am uploading pictures even as I type this, so the pics for the past few reviews will be added in the next day or two, and I will be continuing with my reviews soon.

I realize it's been a few weeks since my last addition, and I apologize for that, but it's just been crazy around here. I meant to do some today, and even got as far as getting out the menus and my notebook, but before I was able to sit down and write, I was distracted by something.

I should be able to get something up in the next few days, at the very least I should be able to get some pictures added.

Don't worry though, my reviews aren't forgotten, and they will be completed, it's just taking longer then I expected.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I have added the pictures for Akershus, Le Cellier, and 1900 Park Fare.

 

[Topper]

Bump!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Bump!

Just want to say that I didn't forget about my reviews, and I plan on completeing them. I've just been so busy and stressed lately that I haven't had much time for the DIS.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

As I sat down to write this, I remembered thinking how good the salmon had been when I ate at the Brown Derby. Then I opened my notebook and realized I was getting ahead of myself since I had salmon when I ate dinner here in February, and it was my September review I needed to write first.

So obviously it's been so long now since I ate lunch at Brown Derby, nearly seven months, that the details are getting fuzzy, and I'm getting meals confused, as several restaurants I repeated during my February trip, and they are clearer in my head.

Still, I have my notes and journal, as well as my pictures, and copies of the menus, so I should be able to keep everything pretty straight, but if for some reason something isn't 100% perfect, that's why.

Anyway. . .

My lunch reservation was for 11:30, which I arrived for on time after spending the morning at MGM. (And yes, I know it's now Disney Hollywood Studios, but it will always be MGM to me.)

I had eaten at Brown Derby four times before, once each trip, with the Fantasmic dinner package. But I had been wanting to try the lunch menu, so instead of booking a dinner package this time, that's what I booked.

My server that day was Mehdi, and he was nice, and made good recommendations. Or at least I think he did, since I don't really remember, and all I have written down in my notes is "Mehdi - Very Good."

I rate all servers and food on a scale ranging from poor to excellant. Starting with poor, and then fair, good, very good, and finally excellant. There are of course many components I base my rating on, but some are more important then others.

Of course with food, the main component is taste, though I also pay a lot of attention to plate presentation.

For my appetizer I had coconut fried shrimp.

The shrimp were served with an Asian pear-chili sambal, and citrus soy dipping sauce. I really liked this dish, it was quite tasty with a little bit of a bite to it, and overall I would give it a rating of "very good."

For my entree I had the grilled rib eye steak.

First of all I would like to say this isn't how it is served, but when I took the first picture there was so much arugula on top, that you couldn't see the steak, and I thought that was dumb, as if you ordered a steak, wouldn't you want to see it when it was presented to you?

The steak was cooked perfectly, a nice medium rare, and was served with; arugula, crispy sweet onions, gorgonzola, red bliss potatoes, and oven-dried tomato vinaigrette.

Overall the dish was very good, I loved the onions and blue cheese on the steak, as that is always how I have steak at home, but there was just a tad too much of the dressing, and that was quite vinegary, even for a vinaigrette.

For dessert I had a new menu item, the pistachio cheesecake.

I love pistachios, so this was a nice dessert. Though the cheesecake wasn't quite as creamy as I would've liked, it had a nice taste. It was served on top of a dark cherry puree, and topped with Kirschwasser whipped cream.

Overall I highly enjoyed my meal at Brown Derby, and it remains high on my list of favorites.

 

[oybolshoi]

Disneyfav, thanks for taking the time to post this review and I hope things are going OK with your grandmother.

I have a question for you ... since you've eaten at brown derby for both lunch and dinner, which meal did you prefer there and why? I noticed that there are some item changes on the menu for both meals and I just wondered which you thought was better?

Jay and I haven't eaten at brown derby and until recently hadn't given it much thought, but between your and ChelleinNC's recommendations we're reconsidering.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Disneyfav, thanks for taking the time to post this review and I hope things are going OK with your grandmother.

I have a question for you ... since you've eaten at brown derby for both lunch and dinner, which meal did you prefer there and why? I noticed that there are some item changes on the menu for both meals and I just wondered which you thought was better?

Jay and I haven't eaten at brown derby and until recently hadn't given it much thought, but between your and ChelleinNC's recommendations we're reconsidering.

Thanks for your thoughts!

There's really not enough difference between lunch and dinner for me to prefer one over the other. I like to use the dinner package there for Fantasmic, but then it uses up a night I could be eating somewhere where the only serve dinner.

Does that make sense? I count Brown Derby as a signature restaurant, and I love it, but the other signature restaurants, which I also want to eat at are only open for dinner, so if I'm short a night, I'd definatly eat at Brown Derby for lunch, so I could have dinner at a dinner-only restaurant.

Lunch is also cheaper, though that wasn't an issue since I was on the dining plan. But if I were paying OOP, and didn't care about the Fantasmic package. . .

I would say if there's something that sounds really good on either menu, make an ADR for that meal, otherwise just schedule it the way it works best.

 

[Cinderella]

Thanks for the awesome reviews. It must have taken you ages, as I've spent a good few hours reading the whole thing.

And you've helped me add a few places to my list for my next trip, including Yak & Yeti. I'd read bad reviews but the food looks amazing.

I'm also going to give CP another try, for that salmon. Last time I went it was just hectic and I didn't enjoy it so much but what you had looked great.

Now, I'm really looking forward to hearing what you have to say about Narcoosees, as I've never eaten there and I'm really looking forward to trying it.