Dining Reviews: the Good, the Great and the Very Ugly

[tortoni]

DAY 1: This was not a great food day for us, but the weather was lovely and we enjoyed AK immensely. We started off early at AK and went to Tusker House for a quick bite. DH had the egg platter and the rest of us ate fruit and Danish. Standard fare, nothing special. Then, after a very full morning at AK, we were off to the Epcot resort area and our plan was to dine at ESPN. Unfortunately, I had a bad headache by this point and the noise at ESPN was just too much for me, so we walked around to the YC Galley, after stopping in at B&C and finding it too crowded. We asked for a quiet table and got put in an area with a noisy crowd. We ordered and no sooner did the food come and a fire alarm drill began. Suffice to say that my headache worsened. However, the food was quite good. I had a Caesar salad that was quite yummy. DH had one of the sandwiches and enjoyed it, DS had a large hamburger platter and DD and other DS ordered pasta off the kids menu. However, at about $50 for a simple lunch without themeing, a bit pricey. After some pool time and Tylenol, we were off to Epcot for an ADR at Nine Dragons. NEVER AGAIN!!! We had decided to give it a try after reading some positive things on the boards. For us, it was the worst Chinese food we ever ate. I will admit that we are used to excellent Asian cuisine as our local restaurants are quite wonderful and we are in the vicinity of NYC and eat great Chinese there. We found the Nine Dragons food to be pasty, bland and/or lacking any flavor whatsoever. I don’t even remember the specific dishes, although one had chicken, one beef and we did order the fried rice. For about $15, you get a small bowl of hard, flavorless rice. The small portion was fine since we didn’t want to eat it. We ordered a trio of appetizers as well as beef sticks. Greasy and tough. OK, so we won’t go there again. Maybe it was a bad night, maybe some folks on the boards have not experienced really great Asian food, or maybe it is just us. At any rate, we do not recommend going there.

DAY 2: A much better food day! We were staying at the Dolphin so we started the day at Picabu, the buffeteria. This is similar to what it was before, with the prices slightly higher and no daily specials. The coffee is purportedly Starbucks (at 2.40 per cup), but it did not taste as good as what we get from our local Starbucks. Egg platters were fine. Fruit cups at $5.99 and $7 for strawberries were pricey, but good. We learned later that the same fruit cup at the bar in the lobby in the am is only $3.99. We spent the AM at MGM and then went to PrimeTime. We had a very fun time here. Those of us that stuck with the basics (meatloaf, sandwiches and even the potpie) did okay. DH ordered the pot roast and neither of us liked it. We found the meat to be stringy and the sauce heavy. However, we did enjoy the whole theme and had a great waitress that was in role the whole time. Would return again, even though we also love SciFi (for theme) and BD (for food and theme). After some pool time, we walked over to Epcot, with a stop at B&C. B&C is always a great treat. We had Delores as our waitress and she is always excellent. We started with hamburgers and shakes and DS finished with a huge hot fudge sundae. DH and I split our burger and shake and we were still stuffed.

Well, back to the mundane; will be back soon with reviews of Kona Café, Fulton’s, Sassagoula, Columbia in Celebration, and more…

 

[Slapster]

Enjoyed reading your detailed reviews! Keep 'em coming....

 

[SassyLassy]

Thanks for the good information! I was on the fence with Nine Dragons but I am not going to schedule it. I am used to really good Chinese food as well and I feel like I would be setting myself up for disappointment. I wanted to give it another try (its been 3 years since i have been there) but I'll just get an ADR some where else!


Thanks!

 

[cdntourguide]

good review, just waiting for more.

 

[ufgator]

Thanks for the reviews so far.

 

[Swimnoid]

Cant wait to read your Columbia review. We went for Christmas dinner and loved it!

 

[Dizneydaz]

Thanks for the great review. I've pretty much decided not to eat at Nine Dragons and your comments confirm it. We've never had breakfast at Tuskers but we have had lunch and enjoyed the salmon and the chicken.

Sorry to hear about the pot roast at PrimeTime. It's one of my mom's favorites-we usually share it. Hopefully, you just had it on a bad day. Last time (Jan. 05) we were there our waitress, Aunt Elaine, was great! She really made our meal there fun. Previous 3 times our servers were just okay. But we keep coming back for the food and the decor.

I was glad to read your review of YC Galley. Sorry about your head though-I sometimes too get a killer headache on the first day-for me it was at Boma's-can't really recall much of what I ate. Anyway, my mom and I ate at YCG on our first trip (in recent years) in 1998. I hadn't done as much looking up of information so we didn't know where to go our first evening. We ended up going to the Boardwalk and it was a good decision. We really liked the feel of the place. (And I know I remember the sound of seagulls over the loud speakers, though we haven't heard them since). We took the friendship over to YC and ate at the Galley. I don't remember what we had but we enjoyed and keep meaning to go back-maybe this Sept.? Our server was very friendly. The only bummer was that we missed the last boat back to Boardwalk (and our car) and so we had to walk around the lake-but it was a very nice evening for a walk.

Once again for the great review-can't wait to read more.

 

[tortoni]

Day 3: DH and I had a quick bite at Picabu—a moist omelette with toast and coffee and then we were off to the Epcot Segway tour. Segway Tour was terrific and seeing World Showcase on a Segway without other guests is the only way to go! After that we met up with the kids and decided to go to DD. We were lucky to get an outdoor table at Fulton’s with no wait. We really enjoyed this lunch. Cocktails were very tasty although I can’t recall exactly what I ordered. I had the fried fish platter and loved it. Fish tasted very fresh and it was light even though fried. DH had a chef style salad which he enjoyed, although he would have preferred if it had been dressed and mixed for him. Instead, he had to put the dressing on and mix it at the table. DS had a hamburger and liked it and other DS had chicken fingers and fries—a very large, tasty portion. DD enjoyed her child menu steak and fries. We would definitely return here, it was great. We spent some time by the pool and then off to Spoodles, my favorite restaurant. We shared some flatbread appetizers which were very tasty. DH ordered the salmon, which he enjoyed and DS ordered the fettucine alfredo, his favorite. I had the rigatoni, which I always have there. They make it with a very tasty meat ragu that is creamy and light. DD and other DS had the kid’s pasta dishes, which they enjoyed. After the main course, I was surprised by a huge birthday cake that DH had ordered from the Boardwalk bakery. It was delicious and we were upset that we could not even eat half of it, but we did bring it back to our room for snacks later. As always, Spoodles was a wonderful treat and the birthday surprise made it even better.

Day 4: This was our MK day and we decided to go to Main Street Bakery for breakfast. This was an excellent choice for a carb-heavy, but delicious breakfast. We ordered the French toast bread, crumb cake, egg sandwich, cupcake (hey, it’s vacation), Danish, coffee and milk. We shared everything and decided that although the French toast bread was huge, we’d have to get 2 the next time. Just too good. After lots of fun on the rides, we took the Monorail to Kona Café and enjoyed lunch there. I love lunch at Kona, because each time we have done this, it has not been too crowded. DH enjoyed a huge sandwich with turkey, avocado and other things. He could not finish and we saved the other half for later. I had a terrific salmon salad served over a soft foccacia bread. The grilled salmon was just right, the salad terrific and the bread was soft, warm and delicious. DS ordered a grilled chicken and enjoyed it (not sure exactly what the dish was) and other DS and DD ordered something off the kid’s menu, I don’t remember what. Off to the pool and then on to some off-property time. We decided to go to Cici’s for dinner. We always try to get there at least once because we all like pizza and Cici’s makes pizza well and the price cannot be beat.

Well, more to come both on and off-site!

 

[schatterjee]

Great reviews - thanks for posting!

 

[magicmouse2]

Great reviews I agree with you about Nine Dragons. Best Chinese in Orlando is Ming Court on I drive.

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reviews ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[we3disneygo]

great reviews!

 

[danny1649]

Thank you for sharing

 

[RedxPanda]

I understand you on the Chinese! But unfortunately that's probably the best Chinese you'll find in the Central Florida Area

I grew up in S. California, and I must say I grew up eating what I think is good chinese all the time. The chicken around here is always fatty and tough. blech.

My BF can eat most chinese without making faces like I do, so, he picks the Nine Dragons over most of the other Epcot countries. So, I've found that ordering the spicy foods helps over come the lack in quality I'm used to. (probably because my taste buds burn off XD) We always get the Dinner for 2 anyway so the prices ends up being around $45 for the two of us.... which isn't bad at all for the quantity of food we receive.

We try to stick with Japan! IMO much more on par with what i'm used to eating. More pricey tho, which is why we try not eating there as well

 

[tortoni]

Day 5: We slept in today and drove over to Sweet Tomatoes by Universal for Sunday brunch. We loved this place. Food was very fresh. Great salad variety and yummy dressings. Best was the Mediterranean wake-up pasta which was a linguine with tomatoes, cheese, eggs and some veggies. This was really good. We also tried the soups, which were quite good. I had a spinach type soup and DH had a cream of broccoli. Both had zip and were flavorful. Thanks to all on the Boards who recommended this place. We went to the outlets and then decided to drive over the POFQ for a walk around. The place is lovely and the foliage has really grown in well. Kids wanted a snack and I had heard some good things about the beignets, so we stopped at Sassagoula Floatworks. We got cookies, coffee, milk and 3 beignets. The cashier accepted the DDE card. We sat outside and enjoyed these wonderful snacks. Beignets were fabulous-I need to learn how to make these at home. Fresh and delicious. Wish we had ordered 6, not 3. We knocked around at the pool and then over to Epcot to eat around the world. The fish and chips line was too long, so we went around to Germany and started with a Bratwurst and beer for DH and me. Nice start. Then, believe it or not, we stopped in China for some rice (kids love white rice) and egg rolls. For some reason, the egg rolls in the fast food section were better than Nine Dragons! Go figure. Then on to Japan and Yakatori, which is my kids favorite place in World Showcase. We had the chicken teriyaki, rice again, and one of the beef dishes. It was all very good and we really enjoyed the outdoor eating area outside Yakitori. Before we knew it, it was time for Illuminations. For the first time, we watched it from the upstairs deck in Japan and it was a great view, although some of the firework ash blew at us and my daughter had to flush out her eye afterwards. She was fine after a quick trip to the bathroom. Too late for our usual ending of a pastry in France so we walked over the Boardwalk and got ice cream treats in the general store there. My goodness, we ate a lot that day!

Day 6: Back to MK and another fine breakfast from Man Street Bakery. We usually do not eat so many carbs in the am, but the crumb cake, French toast bread and pastries are just too good there. Coffee was okay too. We went to Pinochio Village House for lunch. Not a great choice for us and we were very glad we did not order the pizza. The pizza that was being given to others looked overcooked, dry and brown. Yuck! We had a Panini that was not too bad, but the chicken fingers and mac and cheese the kids ordered was not finished. On the bright side, PVH is quite near Mrs. Potts, one of our favorite ice cream haunts, so we each polished off a very nice dessert. The soft serve there is really tasty and makes a great sundae or cone. We decided we needed some coffee, so where else but POFQ? A good excuse for a half dozen beignets which we all shared. OK, I admit, I had two! Off for some pool time and then where to eat dinner? By chance, someone asked us for directions to Celebration and added that they had previously eaten at Columbia, a Cuban restaurant there and that it was quite good. We decided to give it a try. We were very favorably impressed. There is a large outdoor eating area, but we opted to eat in the grand dining room. The room has a very high ceiling and an old world feel. Beautiful surroundings. We started with a croquette combo-crab and chicken. These were terrific, very moist, tender and flavorful. Not greasy at all. DH and DS ordered the filet mignon. Both enjoyed it, but said they would go for the Delomonico the next time. DH had the filet mignon cooked in the chef’s special way-forgot the name of the dish, but he enjoyed the accompaniments. I had a dish that combined steak and crab cakes. It was excellent with delicious vegetables too. Kids had chicken fingers (again) and reported they were good. The best for the kids was that we were each handed a paper filled with fresh bread at the beginning of the meal. The bread was very warm, crusty and tasty. We loved it. Although we were full, we tried the white chocolate bread pudding. This was tasty, but a bit heavy. The finale of café con leche was excellent. I’ve never had such a good cup anywhere else.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Thanks for the wonderful reviews. I have to agree with you about the Frenc Toast Loaf from the Main St. Bakery, it is so good....

 

[swankybeth]

Great reviews, thanks for posting. The French toast loaf is on my must-try list for next trip.