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

[disneyfav4ever]

When I got done everything at MGM that I wanted to do that day it was around 3:00. I decided to walk to Epcot, and on the way I decided to stop at the Beach Club to get some ice cream at Beaches and Cream.

Beaches and Cream is a restaurant I had always wanted to try, but had never gotten to before, since it was always out of the way, or too crowded when I had passed it.

Since it wasn't mealtime, it wasn't very crowded, and I didn't have to wait to be seated.

My server was Dolores, and she was all right, but kind of unattentive and slow. I only spent $5 on food there though, so perhaps she thought that it wasn't worth her time to give me that much attention since even a 20% tip would only be $1. (I'm sure I left at least $2 though, since $1 seems pitiful even if it was a huge percentage.) I'll tip over 20% a lot if the bill is really low in the first place, like at breakfasts.

I ordered the frozen sunshine for my mid-afternoon treat.

It was orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream mixed with seltzer water and was topped with whipped cream and candied orange slices. It was very good, and similar to the orange dream cocktail that is served at many, if not all, of the pool bars on property.

I would really like to return to Beaches and Cream someday to try some more of their very tempting sundaes.

 

[oybolshoi]

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Jay and I were talking about it last night and he thinks we might be better off with a late lunch at brown derby and then "goof off" for dinner. Of course, gawd only knows what happens when we wing it for dinner but that's half the fun!

Thanks again!

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.

 

[frdeb1999]

Loved all the reviews. Loved the pics from Ohana....one of our favorites places to eat!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Jay and I were talking about it last night and he thinks we might be better off with a late lunch at brown derby and then "goof off" for dinner. Of course, gawd only knows what happens when we wing it for dinner but that's half the fun!

Thanks again!

I really hope you get to try it. Your reviews are always so entertaining! When is your next trip?

 

[ang38]

Hi,
I just started reading your report and love it~ It says you have a rip report also...where??? I would love to read that also. Thanks

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Hi,
I just started reading your report and love it~ It says you have a rip report also...where??? I would love to read that also. Thanks

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1973784

It was never completed though. Actually I never finished it past day one. I always meant to work on it, but real life has been so complicated the past few months that I have very little free time. I mean, it's April, and I'm still working on dining reviews from September, and have had a whole other trip since then.

But anyway, my TR was locked and added to the completed trip report forum, so even if I did get around to working on it again, I couldn't. Oh well.

 

[NuttyDisneyMom]

After spending all morning in Animal Kingdom, I got a little hungry, and decided to see if Rainforest Cafe had any room for a walk up. I'd always put off trying Rainforest Cafe before, as it's a chain restaurant, and I'd rather go to restaurants I can't go to anywhere else while I'm in Disney, but a friend had said that he always takes his family there, and the food was good, so I decided to try it.

I was told that there was no seating in the restaurant, but the bar was almost empty, and I could sit there if I wanted, since they serve the full menu as well.

Here's a small gripe of mine. I know it's Disney World, and there's going to be kids, but must they sit at the bar. I can see allowing them in the bar area, at the tables, but I don't think they should be allowed to sit at the bar. It just doesn't seem right, and I know in some cases it's illegal for children to sit at the bar.

Anyway, I decided to order the awesome appetizer adventure, which is a sampling of four of the restaurant's different appetizers, and I thought it would be a nice meal. It was nice for a change to be in a restaurant, and not feel like I had to order an appetizer, entree, and dessert.

Included was; spinach dip, calamari, chimi cha cha, and chicken tenders. The spinach dip was all right, though I prefer the kind I make out of soup mix. The calamari were good, but nothing special, as were the chicken tenders. The sauces that came with them, marinara, and something like a honey mustard, were both good as well, though nothing special.

My favorite thing was also the most original, the chimi cha cha, which was, a Mexican egg roll, for lack of a better description. I thought it was really good. It was an egg roll wrapper filled with chicken, corn, beans, peppers, and cheese. I love Mexican, and I love Asian, so even though this wasn't incredibly authentic, it had a nice flavor, and was very good.

Would I go back to Rainforest Cafe? Maybe. The food was good, but not incredibly original or gourmet, but there are a few menu items I wouldn't mind trying, and it was a decent meal, and I have no complaints.

If you try them again...try the China Island Chicken Salad! It's delicious and my favorite salad anywhere! You may want to order the dressing on the side though, especially if you're not a big sweet dressing person.

*************************
Am loving your reviews and can't wait to read more. Thanks so much for posting them

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I realize I haven't worked on these in over two months, and I'm sure by now some of you are just thinking I'm making a bunch of excuses, and will never get these done. I promise that is just not the case.

The last two months were just so busy, but my life seems to be getting back to normal now, so I should be able to work on these again. Of course the last time I said that I did two reviews, and then had to put a hold on them, again.

Will try and get Flying Fish, (how long has it been since I've eaten there now?) up today.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I have to start this out by apologizing. My PhotoBucket account is acting all screwy, and for some reason, I can't find a bunch of my pictures, including the ones I have for this review. I'll try to add them later, but in the mean time, on to the review!

I had gone to Epcot after my snack at Beaches and Cream, and had every intention of staying there until my late 9:00 ADR, but the early mornings every day must have been starting to get to me, since I decided to walk over to the Boardwalk around 6:30, and see if I could get seated early.

And I don't think I've said this yet, but it really is a lovely little short walk between Epcot and the Boardwalk and the Beach and Yacht Club resorts. I now walk all the time between the three, as I find it faster then the boat. The walk between MGM and Epcot isn't even that bad, though it is a little on the long side depending on how hot it is and how much my feet hurt.

I arrived at Flying Fish, and I was able to be seated at 6:50, which was perfect. I got a small table by the window. Next to me were two gentlemen, using their laptop computers. I'm assuming they were there on business, but I still think it was tacky of them to have their computers out and using them during their meal. And it obviously left an impression on me since I still remember it nearly nine months later.

My waitress was Theresa, and she was very nice. We chatted a bit, as she was from near my home town, and she made some excellant recommendations.

I started with the cheese plate. It was during this trip I think that I really started to get into my love of cheese. I've always liked cheese, sure, but it wasn't until within this past year that I have really started appreciating very good cheese.

There were five different cheeses; Saint Marcellin, Comte, Zamorano, Murcia al Vino, and Echo Mountain Blue Cheese. These were served with rasins, and an onion compote, as well as a piece of honeycomb. The cheeses were all good, my favorite was the Comte.

The honeycomb was also a highlight. I have spoiled myself with honey. The stuff in a little plastic squeeze bottle just doesn't do it for me anymore, and now when I buy honey I have to go into a different town to buy a non-commercial brand with a huge piece of honeycomb right in it.

For my entree I had the citrus zest and Schezuan peppercorn-spiced yellowfin tuna loin. Theresa recommended it as a "lighter" entree, and I really like tuna, (the steaks anyway, I rarely eat canned tuna.)

I should've paid more attention to what it came with though, as I just heard "citrus" and "tuna" and that sold it to me. But the vegetables in the dish were; bok choy, Asian mushrooms, carrots, and radishes. The bok choy and carrots I didn't have a problem with, but I don't like radishes, and I hate mushrooms. My fault though for not reading the menu carefully, but luckily they were able to eat around. This was all served in a curried coconut-carrot broth which was very nice.

For dessert I had the chocolate and peanut butter bread pudding. I think chocolate and peanut butter may be the greatest pairing of all time, and this dessert really just helps that theory.

It came with a scoop of dark chocolate gelato, yummy, banana brittle and slices of bruleed bananas, (I also love bananas with chocolate and/or peanut butter.)

With the bread pudding I decided to treat myself to an ice wine flight as I hadn't had a drink before or during dinner.

The three wines served were Kiona Chenin Blanc, Okanogan Chardonnay, and Seifried Riesling. They were all good, but I believe my favorite of the three was the Okanogan.

So that was my dinner at Flying Fish, coming up next, breakfast at Crystal Palace.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Enjoying your review. I can't wait to try Flying Fish. I love cheese samples and can't wait to try it. I have to let my husband know they have ice wine.
Thank you for sharing your dinning with us.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Enjoying your review. I can't wait to try Flying Fish. I love cheese samples and can't wait to try it. I have to let my husband know they have ice wine.
Thank you for sharing your dinning with us.

You won't be disappointed with Flying Fish. That was my second time eating there, and I plan on eating there during my next trip, since I'm going with a seafood lover. The calamari, crab cake, and potato-wrapped snapper, are all also really good.

 

[TigerKat]

Been seeing so many excellent reviews of FF lately, can't wait to go back. I am craving their calamari.....

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Been seeing so many excellent reviews of FF lately, can't wait to go back. I am craving their calamari.....

I know how much you love Flying Fish.

The pictures are now added.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Oh how I just love me some Flying Fish!

 

[jeminni]

ooooohhh ice wine flight

 

[katiebelle21]

Your dinner looked great. I love ice wine!

 

[onelilspark]

When I got done everything at MGM that I wanted to do that day it was around 3:00. I decided to walk to Epcot, and on the way I decided to stop at the Beach Club to get some ice cream at Beaches and Cream.

Beaches and Cream is a restaurant I had always wanted to try, but had never gotten to before, since it was always out of the way, or too crowded when I had passed it.

Since it wasn't mealtime, it wasn't very crowded, and I didn't have to wait to be seated.

My server was Dolores, and she was all right, but kind of unattentive and slow. I only spent $5 on food there though, so perhaps she thought that it wasn't worth her time to give me that much attention since even a 20% tip would only be $1. (I'm sure I left at least $2 though, since $1 seems pitiful even if it was a huge percentage.) I'll tip over 20% a lot if the bill is really low in the first place, like at breakfasts.

I ordered the frozen sunshine for my mid-afternoon treat.

It was orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream mixed with seltzer water and was topped with whipped cream and candied orange slices. It was very good, and similar to the orange dream cocktail that is served at many, if not all, of the pool bars on property.

I would really like to return to Beaches and Cream someday to try some more of their very tempting sundaes.

Oh my goodness, this looks heavenly

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Oh how I just love me some Flying Fish!

So do I. I'm hoping they still have that chocolate trio dessert you had the next time I eat there.

ooooohhh ice wine flight

Ditto on the .

Your dinner looked great. I love ice wine!

Me too. In 2007 when I went to Party for the Senses, (which is a great event, and I highly recommend to anyone who can include in their budget,) they had ice wine, and I had several glasses.

Oh my goodness, this looks heavenly

It was so good. I could go for one of those right now, in this too hot summer weather. And it's only June.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I had an 8:05 AM pre-park opening breakfast ADR at Crystal Palace this morning. I had already eaten at Crystal Palace previously this trip, and had a most excellant lunch, and was very much looking foward to breakfast since I knew how much I already loved the food there.

I was seated quickly and ended up with the same server I had at lunch a few days prior, Edward. He recognized me, as did the character handler, and they were both very talkative and friendly.

I headed up to the buffet, and got my first plate of food;

I've been to Crystal Palace so many times for breakfast that I knew exactly what I wanted, and all my plates from trip to trip are starting to look exactly the same.

But anyway, I had; potato casserole, roasted potato wedges, bacon, breakfast pizza, and puffed French toast. Everything was very good and fresh. My favorite, as always, was the puffed French toast, which reminds me of funnel cake. Yummy!

I wasn't really all that hungry this morning, but I couldn't eat breakfast at Crystal Palace and not have any breakfast lasagna. So I helped myself to a small piece.

This is actually one of my favorite pictures that I took because it shows all the layers of the lasagna, since it's usually just a big (not so appealing-looking,) mound on my plate. Lots of fruit in it today, and yummy as always.

The characters this morning were Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore, and even though I had seen all of them already this trip, I had my picture taken with all of them again.

Coming up next - my first visit to Grand Floridian Cafe.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I originally had a 1:00 PM lunch ADR, but left the Magic Kingdom early. I think this was the day it was really hot, and I just didn't want to stay in the park. So I headed over to the Grand Floridian around 11:00, and enjoyed the air conditioning for half an hour, before the Grand Floridan Cafe opened.

Even though it was an hour and a half before my ADR, the restaurant was virtually empty, which is a shame because it is really one of the most underrated restaurants IMO. And it is so pretty, fits in very well with the rest of the resort.

My server was Sarah, and she was nice, but a little slow. I wasn't in any kind of a hurry though, so this didn't bother me at all.

For my appetizer I was tempted by two things, the shrimp trio, and the crab cakes, but I ultimatly choose the shrimp trio.

The shrimp were prepared three different ways; poached with oranges, another with tomato-basil sauce, and the last in a champagne scampi sauce.

The first two were nothing special, they weren't bad, but they were kind of boring. The last one, however, with the champagne scampi sauce was probably the best shrimp I have ever eaten, and I've eaten a lot of shrimp.

The shrimp was perfectly cooked, and the sauce - oh my God - it was amazing. It was so rich and creamy. I wish I had a whole plate just of these. But if it had been anymore then the serving provided, it would of been too much because it was so rich. (And I realize I just contradicted myself, but it was so good.) I wish they would change the appetizer, and just slightly increase the protion, and get rid of the other two. I would get it every time.

For my entree I choose the grand sandwich.

This was very good as well. Although it was way too large, tons of ham, turkey, and bacon, with a very rich Boursin cheese sauce, way too rich to eat all of, but what I did get through was so good. And it came with little fried pieces of onions, which were so yummy and so addictive.

After all that it was time for dessert. Grand Floridian Cafe has several mini-desserts, which sounded perfect to me after that meal. And that's exactly what I was thinking, a mini-dessert is the perfect size after that meal. I was just having trouble choosing between the key lime pie and the chocolate-hazelnut mousse cake, but that's when Sarah said I got two since I was on the DDP, so I didn't have to choose. Really didn't need two desserts though.

The key lime pie had a chocolate crust, and caramelized topping. It was okay, a little too tart for me. I thought I'd like it a lot better then I did.

The chocolate-hazelnut mousse cake however was super yummy. It was very creamy and light, and just rich enough. And very chocolatey. I was wanting to lick my plate.

Overall Grand Floridian Cafe is a great restaurant, that I feel is very underrated. The food there is really good.

Coming up next - Citricos.