Dining Reviews to Completed Guide to Mousetober 2010

[LowesChevy]

Grand Floridian Café breakfast

We enjoy breakfast and an occasional lunch at the GFC. The bright airy café overlooks the beautiful grounds and quiet pool at the Grand Floridian. On the first floor in the main building, it is a pleasant stop before hitting the craziness of the parks in the morning. The service is usually pretty fast much like the Kona Café in the morning. They know you want to go to the parks so you food comes out in a timely manner.

My mother and I went with over medium eggs, which are served with biscuits, bacon, sausage and hash browns. The hash browns are now a potato pie of deliciousness with a hint of cream cheese or sour cream. They used to be highly seasoned potato cubes, but I like the new hash brown cake I will call them. They probably have like a thousand calories, but very yummy.

My dad ordered a ham and cheese omelet, but managed to get an omelet with no ham or cheese. So I guess he really ordered scrambled eggs in actuality. The server must have realized the error and came over to apologize and offered to redo the order, but he said it was okay. I think maybe the kitchen staff knew he had already had enough cheese this trip!

For a nice pleasant breakfast or midday meal, do not miss the Grand Floridian Café.

 

[LowesChevy]

Okay friends I owe you reviews on Mama Melrose, Yachtsman Steakhouse, The Plaza and Narcoossee's. You will have to chew on these for a few days because I am off to Minneapolis to visit my little nephew. Not taking my computer for the long weekend however.

I will get them up as soon as I return. In the mean time, you can check out my new photos added to my photobucket link.

Coming soon are my review on the Polynesian and Bay Lake Tower too!

 

[catne]

loved your reviews...thanks!

 

[butiflfeet]

Wonderful reviews so far! Have a great trip, I'll be waiting for more of your reviews

 

[mom2val]

Thank you for the wonderful reviews.

 

[onelilspark]

It's interesting reading your reviews since you were there the same time as us! For Jiko, we were disappointed this year. It's always been my favorite restaurant, but felt it had a really bad off night. I ordered the filet and mine was over-cooked (more medium than medium-rare...and I prefer it on the rare side of medium, apparently your Mom and I should have switched!) I also didn't think it was the best cut of meat. It was a large filet, but I've found better steaks at my local grocery store. Sadly, I think my filet the night before at LeCellier was much better...not to mention it was perfectly cooked.

Also your comment about service at the end of your Citricos review. We saw a lot of slow service throughout our stay. Not bad, but definitely slow, with the slowest being at Jiko. What we noticed was that the waiters & waitresses seemed to be doing all their own bussing of tables, rather than having people who's job it was to do that. So while our servers were working their behinds off, service suffered.

 

[Minnie J]

Great food and reviews!! I want a ADR at Mama Melrose so please post any pictures you can of that

 

[LowesChevy]

Mama Melrose’s

I managed to score a lunch adr at Mama Melrose after reworking our schedule a bit. We definitely wanted to go back to DHS, but on a different day than we had previously planned. We have been lunching at Mama Melrose’s for many years now. The food and service have always been very good and today was no exception. I know a lot of people who have had lackluster experiences, but ours have been on the positive end.

Mama Melrose’s opens right at noon, so the seating process tends to take a while because they like to stagger the seating of the guests. Offering Italian cuisine with a Californian twist, Mama Melrose has a variety of salads, pizzas, pastas, antipasti, and meat dishes to choose from. The lobby has white marble tile floors with signed head shots of movie and television stars on the walls. As soon as you cross the threshold from lobby to restaurant the lighting darkens as though you have wandered into the backstage area of a movie studio with movie posters and tacky decorations on the wall. The low ceilings and wood tables and floors make Mama Melrose’s cozy and welcoming. You will soon find yourself singing along to the corny Italian music playing in the background while you dine.

Buddy quickly greeted us and welcomed us back since we had dined here previously. We had our plan of ordering salads, apps and pizzas to split so we ordered right away. He brought out the drinks and soon the food came out. He continued to check with us and asked if there was anything else we wanted. We spotted Holly, our server from last year. I am always glad to see some familiar faces at the restaurants, especially when they were great servers.

Even with three of us eating we could not manage to eat both pizzas after the other appetizers. Here are some of the dishes we had for lunch including a few from the past years for Minnie J as requested

Pepperoni Pizza

Tomato and pesto pizza

House salad

Rolls

tomato mozzarella salad

Caesar salad

Buddy couldn’t be more helpful or friendly on the service end. The food came out in a timely fashion. It was well prepared and great tasting. My only complaint would be the dinner rolls-these Pillsbury 100 per box rolls taste fresh from the freezer. I realize it may cost less or cut labor, but can’t we get some Italian bread for Tony’s & Mama Melrose’s? Is Mama Melrose’s the best Italian food? No. Is it better or equal to Olive Garden, Carrabbas, or Romano’s? No, but we certainly enjoy eating here when we are down at Disney because they offer something a little different than the chains.

 

[LowesChevy]

It's interesting reading your reviews since you were there the same time as us! For Jiko, we were disappointed this year. It's always been my favorite restaurant, but felt it had a really bad off night. I ordered the filet and mine was over-cooked (more medium than medium-rare...and I prefer it on the rare side of medium, apparently your Mom and I should have switched!) I also didn't think it was the best cut of meat. It was a large filet, but I've found better steaks at my local grocery store. Sadly, I think my filet the night before at LeCellier was much better...not to mention it was perfectly cooked.

Also your comment about service at the end of your Citricos review. We saw a lot of slow service throughout our stay. Not bad, but definitely slow, with the slowest being at Jiko. What we noticed was that the waiters & waitresses seemed to be doing all their own bussing of tables, rather than having people who's job it was to do that. So while our servers were working their behinds off, service suffered.

I did not know if you noticed the other thread about Jiko taking the filet off the menu recently. I wondered if management just did not keep up the quality knowing that it was coming off the menu. I totally agree that this steak was bad, just did not taste good at all. I know you get a bad steak once and a while, but it is interesting that you had a similar experience.


I am so glad you said this. Not because I wish bad service on other people, but just since someone else noticed a change. They certainly are putting alot of pressure on the servers by expecting them to clear plates as well. Whether the servers wanted more tables and more responsibility or not this must go back to how it was done before. Beign back bussers in the fine dining, because it certainly did not feel like fine dining with plates and garbage sitting in your face all night.

 

[LowesChevy]

Yachtsman Steakhouse

We fell in love with the Yachtsman Steakhouse several years ago. We have enjoyed wonderful food and great service over the past four years. However this year’s experience was extremely disappointing from a service standpoint.
The Yachtsman Steakhouse is located on the first floor of the Yacht Club Resort near the Storm Along Bay swimming complex. I guess that would be my biggest complaint here-location. I felt that the restaurant should have been built on the other side of the resort, perhaps with a view of Crescent Lake or the Swolphin. I think a view of the water might be more appealing than watching people walk around in the bathing suits while sipping on a glass of cabernet sauvignon from the $300 reserve wine list may be more appropriate.

When guests first enter the Yachtsman Steakhouse they will notice the glass enclosed aging room, where the cuts of beef and other meats are stored. The meat is aged in a climate controlled room such as this one to add flavor and tenderness. From time to time you will spot one of the chefs cutting down a side of beef or cutting steaks for the evening.

We have never been immediately seated here, but they always provided you with a pager. After a few minutes we were led to our table. I noticed the dessert tray was no longer displayed up front as we walked past the open kitchen to our table. We were seated in a little nook tucked away in the larger turret section. It was rather ironic because as the night went on, I felt as though we were being ignored!

Bev came over a few minutes later to introduce herself and take our drink orders. My parents opted to order a couple glasses of wine and my dad had a beer in the meantime. We drooled over the menu deciding on our choices for the evening and Bev returned with my mother and I’s drinks along with the house bread. My father’s beer took a while to arrive. She took our orders for appetizers and entrée and went to wait on some other tables.
A food runner brought the appetizers sometime later. My mother went with the lobster bisque. It had a silky smooth texture with lumps of lobster meat throughout and an intoxicating aroma of lobster. It was a bit heavy on the sherry, but rich in lobster flavor.

My father ordered the charcuterie board with duck sausage, prosciutto and pates. I felt that the meats were a might bland and in need of the spices, even just some salt, but a very interesting, different dish we jumped on.

I tried the diver scallops served with lobster fritters and corn pudding. The scallops were fresh and perfectly cooked, but I also found this dish on the bland side, lacking some much needed acid. Everything seemed to be the same color too-scallops, corn polenta, and fritters all yellow and brown. More of the pickled radish would have been nice

We finished our appetizers and we waited. Then we waited some more as our server Bev appeared to be in the weeds with her tables. The manager Brian walked around the dining room totally avoiding our table, visiting others. He finally did stop by and after our appetizer plates and my father’s wine glass sat empty for their 20th minute, he asked me how the meal was going. With my hand holding up my head in disgust I said “just okay” He said great and turned away. I looked at my parents and we all shook our heads in disbelief. He was busy talking to other tables and bringing bottles of wine to other tables, but he couldn’t be bothered to have someone clear our table or ask if anyone wanted another beverages?

Our entrées finally showed up 10 minutes after that and the runner could not serve us because the plates were in the way. Bev rushed over a few minutes later because she realized what was going on to clear our plates. In the meantime the food cooled down slightly My father’s strip steak was undercooked, but Bev was again nowhere to be found. She eventually came back to clear our plates, but only because she wanted to know if we wanted dessert I suppose, you know for the bigger tip I suppose. She removed the N.Y. strip from the bill for being undercooked, but my main beef was not with the food at this point. She picked up on our dissatisfaction and attempted to make up for it by being extremely friendly, but we were still annoyed. The manager again never bothered to come over and apologize for the steak, like at any other restaurant we encounter a mistake on the kitchen’s behalf. Bev could have at least asked him to come over and smooth over our bad experience.

My ribeye was cooked to perfection as was my mother’s filet, now this one tasted wonderful. The red wine butter on the ribeye added even more richness to the dish. The duchess potatoes took me back to my culinary school days, but it was evident that they had been sitting for a while as the outside was on the crunchy side. The filet’s red wine reduction and mashed potatoes were perfect complements to the well prepared beef dish.

Ribeye and filet

My favorite dessert-banana Napolean

We had our desserts and left disappointed. We had such great experiences over the past few years and this year I felt like we got ripped off. I am not sure if this manager made changes to service or if Disney mandated their own changes in the signature restaurants, but it just plain stinks.

 

[LowesChevy]

The Plaza
I grabbed a lunch adr for the Plaza on my birthday because I figured we would spend our last full day at the Magic Kingdom, my choice of course! We arrived around noon and checked in for our 12:05 adr. This is a lot like Mama Melrose where it takes a while to start getting everyone seated. As about 20 minutes went by and hosts came out to seat people, we were angered by a trend. By now with the bad service we had the night before, this was not a time to press our luck any further. Every time a host came out, they picked up all of the tickets and picked who they seated. So as the table tickets stacked up and more and more people checked in, we would wait longer and longer. I do not expect to be seated at our adr time, I know the process, but that is not fair at all. My mother walked up to the desk to complain and so did another party. Finally we were called to be seated, but only after we complained-what the heck.

That was my only gripe here. The construction drapes were down, so we had a beautiful of Main Street and Cinderella Castle. The place is bright and airy, but small so you get personalized service. Rasa came over to introduce herself, take drink orders and tell us about that perpetual meatloaf and mashed potatoes special. The food is very straight forward, hot and cold sandwiches, soup and salad and save room for dessert! I went with a chocolate milkshake, my favorite.

My mother had the turkey sandwich and my father and I ordered up a couple cheesesteaks. Sorry only a picture of the shake this time.

Rasa could not have been more helpful or friendly during the meal. Everything was well prepared and delicious for a quick simple meal. After that we were off to the World Showcase one last time!

 

[vettegirl]

Your picture of that milkshake is making me hungery

 

[LowesChevy]

Narcoossee’s

I decided on visiting Narcoossee’s for my birthday dinner this year. We went for the first time in 2008. While the food was great the service was subpar. The server had not entered my appetizer into the system because it came out about 10 minutes after my parents’ did. She continued to make excuses for it instead of taking blame, just really annoying for me. She was also rarely seen and took long, long gaps in between dinner, dessert, bringing the bill, and bringing back the bill. Unfortunately this year was more of the same.

If you have taken the resort monorail, you may know that Narcoossee’s is located in the single story turret building nestled on Bay Lake, with a beautiful view of the Magic Kingdom. The restaurants has a huge wrap around covered porch perfect for catching a presentation of Wishes or watching the ferries shuttle guests back and forth. The turret shape allows for nearly all the tables to have at least a partial view of the lagoon. The concrete floors and cathedral ceilings can create a noisy atmosphere depending on the size of the crowd. Steak and seafood with a Floridian twist is how I would best describe the cuisine here, but there are a few hints of Asian fusion as well.

Dave at the front desk was very friendly and courteous. We had to wait about 15 minutes to be seated. Apparently something to do with assigned tables, I figured mine must have been the birthday table, being the reason for the delay. I saw another party that waited at least 30 minutes till they were seated, what a bummer. Not sure if they were early or what, but that stinks, however not uncommon for some restaurants. The party was around 8 people, which could have been the problem too. We were seated around 7:15 PM and the restaurant was about ¾ full.

First off, I apologize for forgetting the name of the server, I want to say Nelson, but maybe it is just best to forget it now anyway. Sorry that was harsh, but this is my actual birthday dinner, so I expected a lot more, especially at a signature dining restaurant.

He brought back our drinks and house sourdough bread, then he took our orders. For appetizers my father tried yet another cheese plate, which included some very nice choices.

The green goddess salad my mother had, she said it was good like a Caesar, but not as tart or tangy

I hinged on ordering the duck roll, which I had before and even after I waited an extra 10 minutes for it, it was wonderful. I decided to be different and have the crispy crab cakes. I do not mean to brag, but I make some of the best cakes you will ever eat, so I like to try other crab cakes to boost my ego you know. The portion remoulade sauce was skimpy, but the Asian slaw was the perfect balance of crunchy, salty, sweet, tart- with just the right amount of creaminess to cut compliment the fried taste. Then they do deep fry them, but the crab is so delicate it does not deserved to be abused like that-just pan fry those puppies. However I can see them using this preparation to speed up the kitchen or cut down on stove top room etc. My favorite way to make them is pan frying though. Overall more remoulade sauce next time, the cakes had a nice flavor, but the deep fried taste over powered them a bit.

Again the same thing happened here as it did at Yachtsman where the appetizer plates sat and sat some more for about 15 minutes after we finished, waiting to be picked up and cleared by the server. The server finally cleared just minutes before the entrees arrived. It is not the timing I have problems with, it is the empty dishes sitting in from of my face. It takes away from the atmosphere. I do not know if anyone else has played the Sims? That is like a huge issue when dishes are sitting on the table or counter-they get flies, yuck!

For entrees my father tried the special grilled swordfish with white bean ragout. There was a hint of tomato and avocado in the beans a nice compliment to the lightly grilled fish.

I advised my mother to try to chicken to avoid another bad tasting steak episode. Also because I wanted a bite of those loaded mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach with bacon! The chicken was moist and delicious, a very filling dish as well.

I went with the grilled shrimp, which included 6 large fresh shrimp lightly kissed on the grill. The corn and lobster risotto left a little to be desired for me. To be fair I am not a huge risotto fan because it just ends up tasting incredible starchy to me-just not my bag. The texture was more like sticky rice than a creamy risotto. The more traditional grits would have made a fantastic pairing with the shrimp, but overall a nice dish.

As I sat enjoying my bittersweet chocolate dome with my empty soda glass in front of me-I couldn’t help but think of a more appropriate dessert to be eating. Then my parents just wanted a cup of coffee, but all that is on the menu is French press for like $12 bucks, are you kidding me?

Once again the food was good, but the service was just awful. I was really disappointed with signature dining in general this trip! I feel like the changed some major aspect to the service in these restaurants, but what a shame. Will we be back to Narcoossee’s next year? Nope- two strikes you are out at Disney.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Thanks for another wonderful review, Sorry for the bad service at Yatchmans's and Narcoossee's. Thanks for sharing

 

[LowesChevy]

Thanks for another wonderful review, Sorry for the bad service at Yatchmans's and Narcoossee's. Thanks for sharing

thank you and your welcome too! I just hope it is not a trend, it really is a shame.

 

[LowesChevy]

Wolfgang Puck Café

Lunch seems to be our best meal here. We have been coming lunch at WP about every year and it is awesome. We tried dinner here last year and it was so-so. That’s fine the place is usually pretty dead around lunch time this time of year, so walk-ins are not a problem.

The restaurant itself is a huge space with vaulted ceilings and a staircase leading to the upstairs dining room. The Upstairs dining room offers fine dining with hints of Austrian and Asian fusion. The food is more sophisticated and less pedestrian than downstairs at the café. The pricing and food offerings are consistent with the Disney signature dining spots. The nice thing about the Wolfgang Puck complex is that they offer an outlet for just about every taste or budget, whether you dine at the Express, Café or Upstairs dining room. The décor features posters of Wolfgang Puck and the famous black and white checkered, flooring and accents.

The menu has a little something for everyone, from pizza to sandwiches or meatloaf to pasta, the choices are abundant. My favorite aspect to Wolfgang Puck is the sushi station right up in the front where you can saddle up on a stool and watch the chefs make hand rolls, nigiri or sashimi style sushi platters. They have a large sushi menu including vegetarian selections. Look for the menu on the table for the biggest selection, the menu they hand you just has a few offerings or just ask your server. I just about missed the nigiri section so I went with the tempura shrimp roll for an appetizer with my BBQ chicken pizza.

The sushi was a collection of rolls with the tempura shrimp with avocado, cucumber and sushi rice with a spicy mayonnaise. Very nice, the spicy mayo added a big kick!

The BBQ chicken pizza was on the sloppy side. Like a last minute project some kid through together before school. There were no tomatoes as advertised in the menu or from the previous year. The chicken was not well trimmed, so fatty parts that could easily be trimmed off. The onions were cut rather large-too large for pizza. The BBQ sauce was kind of slopped on like someone dumped it on with a spoon. I did not bother taking a picture because it looked like crap-but here is one from the previous year. It still tasted good, but there was a little too much BBQ sauce.

Bread-focaccia and lavosh

My father had a beef and gorgonzola pocket, which he seemed to enjoy. My mother tried the soup and salad comb with the butternut squash soup with the spinach salad, which she liked.

Service was good and the view of Saratoga Springs and DTD is very nice as well. Overall a very nice lunch that we enjoy year to year.

 

[LowesChevy]

Well that’s wrap on my Disney dining reviews 2010. It was a mixed bag this year. Places I was not expecting to be shining stars really stood out like Rose & Crown, 50s Prime Time Cafe and Tutto Italia. Other old stand bys I thought I could count on fell flat like Citricos and the Yachtsman Steakhouse. Others stayed strong like Teppan Edo, Mama Melrose, Kona Café breakfast and The Plaza.

I will always give a restaurant at least two attempts before calling them off for good or they go the way of California Grill and Artist Point right off my list. I think we are done with Narcoossee’s because it was the second shot and the service was still bad. We will return to Citricos and the Yachtsman Steakhouse, this was the first instances of bad service at both locations, perhaps they will be better next year. We will go back to Jiko and primarily order just appetizers because all of them look amazing and the service is great.

I cannot think of any other reason for having across the boards bad service at these fine restaurants other than some kind of change in the service method. I just wonder if other people had similar experiences while they visited this time or year or if anyone dined at these places the same nights as us experienced anything unusual. I did send an email to guest communications about our bad experiences, but of course I only expect to receive the form letter they send everyone else. Each restaurant had their own problem, but all together it seemed like too much of a coincidence for them all to be bad that week.

The places we are dead set on returning to include Rose & Crown Dining room, Mama Melrose, 50s Prime Time, and Teppan Edo. I think I am going to have to add Chef’s De France back to the mix because we have always enjoyed dining there, but there was no room to fit it in this year. I am excited for Le Cellier going signature for dinner as well because we may have a shot at getting a reservation next year.

As always if anyone has any questions, comments or wants to add anything feel free to do so here. I definitely love talking about food and restaurants. I hope you enjoyed my reviews and if there is anything you want me to add to them next year, just holler. My resort reviews on the Polynesian and Bay Lake Tower will be at the end of this week hopefully!

Look for my next Pre-Trip report to come out extra early this year! Being DVC members, we have to book out pretty early and adrs need to be made around the beginning of April. We are planning to head to WDW the tail end of September and book out before the Columbus weekend crowds arrive.

Cheers, Erika

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Thanks for your food review and I have enjoyed reading it.
We never tried Wolfgang Cafe, my son loves sushi

 

[athenna]

Thanks for your reviews and sharing them with us

 

[RRRmouse]

Have you ever eaten at Victoria and Albert's? We are considering it for an upcoming trip and wondered if you have any thoughts.