Dining with a Cowboy, a Princess, and a Future Prince Charming

[samheatherwhite]

I really enjoyed reading dining reviews in preparation for our trip so I thought that I’d comment on the restaurants we tried in Disney the week of September, 16th.

The cast of characters for this trip included my Dad (a meat and potatoes kind of guy), my Mom ( always up to try new things and probably the least picky of the group), my 25 year old sister (also willing to try new things), my husband 29 ( will eat anything), myself, my 5 year old daughter (she is pretty good at trying new things but can be picky especially if tired) and my 10 month old (he tried a lot of things that were new to him that normally wouldn’t be allowed at home).

We arrived fairly late on Sunday so we ate at the Food Court at All Star Movies. We were new to the dining plan and the cast member at the cash register that I talked to was wonderfully helpful. We thought that the food was good for a food court meal. I had the adult’s turkey sandwich and DD had the children’s. The adult’s version was very good; it had the softest bread and some kind of sauce that was different but not too strange. The child’s turkey was plain but DD liked it. She did not like the applesauce but the baby ate it just fine. DH got a cheeseburger and said that everything was hot and fresh. Dsis got the salmon plate and also said it was good. Dessert was quite good as well. Mom got key lime pie which she liked and the rest of us got ice cream. DH got s milkshake, Dad got a Sunday (it was huge, he is a big eater and couldn’t finish it), and Dsis and I got ice cream cookie sandwiches. They were wonderful but we could have shared one and still had some left over. The cookies were soft and the ice cream was really good.

Monday we went to Epcot and ate lunch at Akershus in Norway. This was one of our very favorite meals of the trip. The cold salad bar was really unique but it had a lot of plain food if you were not adventurous. The fruit was really fresh and DD was pleased to see salad with ranch dressing as a choice. We really liked having the opportunity to try all the different fish and pasta salads. We are from the Texas panhandle so needless to say we don’t get the chance to eat good seafood or Norwegian food very often. DH is not a seafood guy and he still found plenty of items on the buffet. For the entrees Mom ordered the salmon cakes and said she liked them. Dad ordered the meatballs and he liked them as well. DH had the beef sandwich and he said it was excellent and Dsis and I had the chicken sandwich which was also good. The sandwiches were a bit hard to eat; we chose to just use a knife and fork. DD chose the Mickey ravioli and she loved how they looked and she ate several which tells you they had to be good since she had already eaten a good amount of food from the cold bar. We also liked the dessert which was served family style. They brought us two servings of each. Opinions were split between the rice cream and the chocolate mousse being the favorites. If you are interested in the character aspect of this meal the Princesses were wonderful. They were sweet and attentive and really talked to DD and DS. Our only issue was that the tables are really close together so it was hard to get a good picture. Our server was excellent and she said that it was her first day. She was sweet and always there when you need her. When we were finished eating I mentioned that we had not seen Snow White yet but were willing to wait and she sent her over very quickly. (Snow White was a must do because White is our last name and that is the Princess that DD chose to dress up as for this meal.) We also managed to knock over a glass of tea and our server was so sweet to DD making her feel better because she was embarrassed. We all loved this meal.

Up Next The Coral Reef

 

[Quin]

Sounds like a great family trip!

 

[samheatherwhite]

Later on Monday evening we had ADRs at Coral Reef. That is a really neat restaurant but it is almost mind numbingly loud in there. We had a table on the top row near a corner and there was no way to talk to everyone at our table without yelling. Our server seemed like a very nice guy but he was strange. He just said odd stuff at weird times and he made everyone a bit uncomfortable. He also disappeared for very long periods of time while drinks sat empty and it took forever and a day to order and then get dessert. Mom had the seasonal catch and it had some sort of risotto with it that was green. She really liked this and the baby loved the risotto. Dad and DH had the steak which they both said was good. (It takes pretty impressive beef to get great ratings from these guys. We ranch so they can be a bit snotty when it comes to steak.  ) Dsis had salmon and it came with a sauce that tasted sweet almost like a teriyaki and she loved it. I had the mahi mahi and it was pretty good. I couldn’t taste the lime in the sauce at all but I am glad I tried it. DD had the kids pizza but she didn’t each much. I think she was too tired by that point to really enjoy anything. For dessert Mom and I both ordered Crème Brulee which we had never had before and it was wonderful. It had such a nice vanilla flavor. Dsis had the chocolate wave and it was also good but it did not have a liquid center which we expected. We think it might have been a bit overcooked but the flavor was still quite nice. Dad had the key lime dessert which he said was ok but he wished he had gotten something else. DH got the Bailey’s and Jack Daniel’s Mousse and he liked it enough that he was not willing to share very much. DD had a brownie and it came with a little piece of white chocolate on top that had Nemo on it which she thought was very cool. Overall we liked the Coral Reef and enjoyed our meal there.

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Excellent updates. We have Coral Reef ADRs for our trip next week. I'm glad you have a review. Will you be doing more?

 

[samheatherwhite]

Tuesday morning we got quick breakfasts at the food court. We got a Bounty Platter which we all ate off of. Everything was ok, nothing too exciting but about what you would expect. The baby liked the biscuit and eggs and DD has never seen a piece of bacon that she didn’t like.
Tuesday we went to that Magic Kingdom and had lunch at The Liberty Tree Tavern. DD had an appointment at the Bibbiti Bobbiti Boutique that morning and the server and hostess and others in the restaurant really made her feel special. DD ordered the kid’s salad and meaty marinara pasta. She was very pleased with the salad and the option to have ranch dressing. She ate some of the pasta but not much, she was much more interested in the salad. The rest of us ordered either the turkey feast or the pot roast. Both entrees were wonderful. DH said that the roast may be the best he had ever eaten and he loves roast and eats it often. The turkey was really good, I don’t normally like gravy but this was quite nice as well. The baby loved the turkey which shows how tender it was because he normally can’t handle much meat. As good as the main course was it was the different desserts that stole the show. I had the toffee cake and it was really god. It was similar to the giant ice cream cookie sandwich from earlier in the week but with toffee bits for a nice added crunch. Mom and DH both had the chocolate and it was the biggest slice of cake that I have ever seen. It was also superb. DH said that he wasn’t going to share that either and somehow he managed to eat his whole piece but we don’t know how. He is still talking about that cake and he said that it was his favorite dessert of the trip. Dad ordered the fruit cobbler and it was strawberry rhubarb flavored that day and had ice cream. You cannot get rhubarb where we live and none of us had ever eaten it before and it was very tart. The cobbler was good but it definitely needed the ice cream to combat the tartness. Once again Dad said it was good but he wished he had gotten something else. (Don’t feel sorry for him though, he finished everyone else’s desserts so he got plenty. These things were huge.) Dsis had the cranberry apple cake and it was also wonderful. It had vanilla ice cream as well and was wonderfully moist. DD got a Sunday and it had patriotic sprinkles which she enjoyed. Our server was very nice and did a great job. We asked to order our dessert when we ordered our entrees to speed things up and he was very kind and accommodating.
We went to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party that night so we just stayed in the Magic Kingdom for supper. We ate early so as not to waste party time eating so nobody was too hungry. We had just taken DD on Thunder Mt. Railroad for about the 5th time when we decided it was dinner time so we ended up at Pecos Bill’s. We ordered using the kiosks and I made a mistake on our order and didn’t realize it until I was carrying the ticket to the window. I asked if she could switch something but told her that it was okay if she could not and she said no problem so everything was perfect. We were there during a very slow time but the workers were very nice. The whole family had burgers except Mom who got the taco salad and DD who got the kid’s turkey since she liked it on Sunday and she prefers sandwiches over burgers. The toppings bar was really clean and everything was refilled and seemed fresh. DD loved the cheese sauce and DH loves onions and mushrooms and said that both were cooked just right and tasted good. We also all got the carrot cake for dessert and we quickly decided that those were not for us. The cake was okay but we thought could be improved with nuts of some kind and it was a little dry. The icing was kind of yucky. To me it tasted gritty and like he had a cream cheese flavoring but no actual cream cheese. We liked Pecos Bill’s and would eat there again but next time we would go for the chocolate cake.

 

[samheatherwhite]

Breakfast on Wednesday was a bit odd. My kids are not really breakfast people, especially DD. That morning she decided that she wanted more bacon so I got her a side order of bacon and a blueberry muffin. The baby still eats mostly baby food for breakfast and a small bottle but he did eat a few nibbles of the muffin after his sis had eaten her share. Dad ate some of it as well and said it was pretty good and moist. I got a cheese Danish and it was awesome. DH who also rarely eats breakfast snuck a bit of it and liked it so much that he got one for himself the next day.
This was our Animal Kingdom day and we ate lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. DD loved all of the different seating areas and chose the one that overlooks the water where you can see Everest. I was nicely shaded with a freshly refilled condiment area. Dh, Dsis, and I all ordered the pork sandwich and it was nice and tender and flavorful. Mo had the ribs which were tender and well received and Dad had the chicken and ribs which he liked as well. Dad really liked the beans that came with the pork and ate mine and Dsis shares because we don’t like beans in general. Dad liked them so much he talked about asking for the recipe. We also ordered a fruit plate to share but it was a bit disappointing. A whole orange is hard to eat with a plastic fork and the melon and berries were not quite ripe enough to be good. DD had the kid’s hotdog and she said that this was her favorite meal of the trip. (She is only 5 though so I think that may have been more for the cool atmosphere than the food. She has also said that about several other restaurants as well ) For dessert some had the chocolate mousse which was okay but really rich and sweet. We all thought that it would be better if it had a crust to help cut the sweetness. Those who had the key lime mousse liked the mousse but not the gel stuff that was on the top. DD ate the little candy limes off of the top of everyone’s dessert and she loved those. We really liked this and would definitely eat here again.
Supper that night was at Via Napoli. We started off with some bread and it was a bit hard and stale tasting. Not inedible, just not great either. Our server, Allesandro, and the others who helped him worked really hard and were super nice. Our glasses were always full and they were very sweet to the kids who were quite tired and not entirely pleasant. Our server was also quite cute and we got a good laugh out of the fact that we occasionally had trouble understanding his accent and he also had a bit of trouble with our Texas drawl. Dad had the candelle pasta dish and he really liked it. DD got a salad and spaghetti and meatballs. She did not care for the salad because she said the lettuce was weird and spiky. I got her dressing on the side because I didn’t think she’d like it and she did not. (Who serves a 5 year old lemon vinaigrette?) Dad tasted it and he thought it was really good. The rest of us got pizza. I got the quarto formaggi and it was fine but not as good as I wanted it to be. There was also a slice that was badly burned. That was no big deal, the pizza was huge so I just avoided that area. DH got the pepperoni and loved the tiny crisp pepperoni that was used. I cannot remember what Dsis got but I think it had prosciutto and she loved it. Mom got the veggie pizza and hers was really soggy, not damp, I talking a puddle in the middle you have to use silverware to eat it soggy. She said the taste was good but needless to say the texture was a bit off putting. The desserts at Via Napoli were awesome but it did take a really long time to get them. The server said that they are made in a separate area and sometimes they get really backed up. We waited a long time but it was worth it. Dad got what was basically an Italian soda with gelato and sauce. I think it was called a frizzante. It was okay at first but after it melted a bit and you could stir it up it got really good. DH and Dsis got the ricotta fritters and they were good. We are not dark chocolate people so we didn’t love the chocolate sauce but they were really good with the sweet cream that came with them. Mo got the apple cake which was really dense and a tad dry but when eaten with some of DD’s vanilla gelato was pretty good. The gelato itself was delicious. I got the ugly but good Sunday and it was great. I really enjoyed this dessert. It came with two cookies which I tasted and then gave to my Dad. They tasted like a recipe his Grandma used to make that I have been trying to replicate for years. He loved the cookies. Overall we liked this restaurant but would probably decide to try something new next time.

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Love, love, love, the updates!

 

[samheatherwhite]

Thursday we snacked at the food court again for breakfast. DD got bacon and a muffin again and DH went with the Danish. I got an apple turnover and it was really good. It was soft and fresh and had a bunch of apple filling.
We went to Hollywood Studios today and after many rides on The Tower of Terror, DD’s new favorite, we ate lunch at starring Rolls. We all liked the sandwiches. DD shared with me since there is no way she is eating an uncrustable and who can blame her. Those are just gross. DD didn’t like the sauce on the sandwich so I gave her the top half instead of halving this the regular way. Our only disappointment with this meal was the fresh fruit choice was just a whole piece of fruit. That was fine; it is just harder than a bowl of precut fruit when you are sharing with a little one. Dessert was really very nice here. DH and I got a napoleon and the red velvet cupcake to share. They were both awesome. The napoleon was something neither of us had ever tried before and we really enjoyed it. It was hard to cut without smooshing all of the filling out of the end though. We love red velvet, that was what our wedding cake was made of, and this one did not disappoint. The next time I make one at home I may try adding toffee bits; it adds a nice crunch and flavor to the dessert. After seeing the offerings, DD used a snack credit to get her own dessert and she chose a Butterfinger cupcake. The look on her face when I put it in front of her was hilarious. That was a big dessert for a little girl. She ate about a third and we took the rest with us. It was also very good but DH and I preferred the red velvet. The others also got cupcakes and they liked them as well. We liked this lunch a lot and would definitely return there.
We had a much anticipated reservation at Ohana Thursday night. We got there quite early because I wasn’t sure how long it would take us and we left way too early. Dad and DH each tried a drink while we waited. Dad got some kind of rum drink that had a pineapple on the glass and tasted sweet and quite good. DH decided to go out on a limb (we aren’t really drinkers so most things were new to us) and he got a Mojito. He liked it. DD was in melt down mode and the wonderful bartender made her a kid’s drink to cheer her up. It tasted like a cherry sprite and was really gorgeous and pink and had a glow cube in it and was served in a fancy glass. The wait staff at the bar were all so nice and wonderful. They were helpful but they did not push you to order drinks you didn’t want like some have been known to do. We were seated at a beautiful window table and were quickly served the wonderful bread and a unique salad. DD loved this bread and pretty much ate a quarter of a loaf all by herself. Then they started the kid’s games and dancing. Here lies the only gripe I have with this meal. DD just turned 5 and I was not comfortable with her going to participate all alone so I went with her (this is a big restaurant and we weren’t seated near the action). This took forever. The rest of the family was almost done when we returned. I felt like I needed to speed eat so as not to make the rest of the family wait for dessert and DD didn’t each much when we got back to the table. The hula lady though, was the sweetest person ever and was so good with all the kids. She went out of her way to include everyone but didn’t push the timid kids. She did an amazing job. DD had a really nice time and she is still showing everyone she sees the hula dancing motions she learned. I did feel a bit bad for the people who were seated on the edge right where the kids were playing because people were moving everywhere all around them with little ones running in and out and parents taking pictures. Anyways back to the food  The appetizers were great, the chicken wings had an interesting almost sweet cinnamon taste to me and I really liked them. The whole family liked the potstickers and the noodles and veggies were also quite good. Dad really liked the pork but the rest of us found it to be a little dry but the rest of the meat more than made up for that. It was so good, moist, and favorable. I think DD ate about a dozen shrimp; they were messy but so delicious. We were all full as could be and then dessert arrived and it was heaven. I do not really like bread pudding so I figured I wouldn’t really care for this but I really liked it. Everyone managed to find some room and Mom who likes bread pudding said this was some of the best she had ever eaten. I was afraid DH was going to make himself sick, he actually said that he wished he had eaten less meat so he had more room for dessert. Believe me that is not something that you often hear a cowboy say. DD didn’t try this she just ate more shrimp! I don’t want to forget to mention the server, he was the best. This was probably the best server of the trip and we had several really good ones. We all really liked this meal. My Dad mentioned several times that it is probably a god thing that there is not one of these restaurants near where he lives.

 

[samheatherwhite]

Cinderella sent my kids a surprise invite to eat at the castle for breakfast on Friday morning. DD was really pleased with this and couldn’t wait to go upstairs. I had mixed feelings on this restaurant. You can’t beat eating at the castle but they herded us in like cattle to wait for our picture and kept asking you to move forward when there was nowhere to go. It was very hectic and stressful in the waiting area. Also our picture was quite bad. When I spend that much money I was hoping for a bit more care from the people that worked there. Our server was really pretty bad. She never offered us any drinks besides orange juice and breakfast was nearly over before she brought coffee. She managed to spill OJ all over the table, on the menus, and on two of us before all was said and done. We were given a small pastry tray that had about 8 things on it when the table next of us that had 2 people got one the same size. When I asked for another one she said sure but we never saw it. We all got one little sad pastry and DD got the two strawberries. (I thought that it was a stretch to call something with only 2 berries on it a fruit and pastry dish) The food was okay. The atmosphere was gorgeous but it was quite loud. We could not hear the wishing ceremony or the announcements of the princesses. DH and Dsis got the traditional breakfast that they said was okay but were a bit cold. DH said the eggs were quite cold. DD didn’t eat very much but DH said her French toast sticks were really tasty. They very kindly brought the baby some French toast sticks as well. Dad ordered the steak and eggs and Mom ordered the quiche. They both liked their food but again said it would have been better if served a bit warmer. I got the lobster crepe and I enjoyed trying something new but it was very rich and I didn’t finish it. We also found the Princess interaction here to be a bit rushed. We thought the princesses at Akershus did a much better job not rushing the kids. I really hate to say this because I was really looking forward to this meal but I was disappointed in our experience. Unless my kids really wanted to try this again I would probably skip it and go back to Norway,
We headed to Downtown Disney later and had a late lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express. Let me just say that this meal was delicious and for only a quick service credit it was an amazing value. I only wish we had eaten here several times so I could try more things. Mom and D sis both got different salads and liked them a lot. Dad and DH got sandwiches and also liked them. DH’s only complaint was that he likes ham better than turkey and that was not an option. I got the cheese and pesto pizza and let me tell you this was the best pizza ever. I only managed half and the others finished it off quickly. DD got the kid’s chicken and let me just say that the kid’s chicken at WPE is better than the adult version at most places. Everyone also thought that the fries were good. I love cheesecake and this one did not disappoint, it was different enough to be really nice but familiar enough to make any cheesecake lover happy. I wish I had some now. We also had some cookies which were huge and soft and Dsis got the frozen yogurt and really liked it. This meal was wonderful; I wish we could get a WPE close to home!
Friday night, our last meal at Disney, I wanted to do something really fun and end everything on a good note. Let me tell you that I failed miserably. 1900 Park Fare was the worst meal of our trip and maybe of my entire life. It was a huge disappointment and was the only restaurant I wouldn’t ever try again. Our ADR was at 8:15 and we got there at 8. When I checked in the hostess was so rude and did not have the Disney attitude that we had enjoyed so much elsewhere. She said it would be 20 minutes which seemed fine since we were about 15 minutes early. After waiting in the lobby for about 35 minutes I went back up and I very nicely asked if she could tell me about how much longer we would have to wait. She was downright hateful and snapped that she had already told me that it would be at least 20 minutes. I , a little less politely this time, told her that we had already waited almost 40. She then looked at her computer and said that there were a lot of empty tables that were waiting to be cleaned and that we were next. Well, 15 minutes passed and several other groups of people that had similar sized parties of us went in and I finally went in to ask again. There were two hostesses and two seaters standing in the reception area with no other guests and they ignored me for probably 5 minutes. None of them were doing anything besides avoiding eye contact with me. Finally almost an hour late we were seated. When we walked in I bet there were at least 15 empty tables. Our table was filthy. I got out a baby wipe to wipe it down in front of the kids and it came back brown. It was pretty gross and the chairs were full of food. I don’t think our table had been cleaned in a week. The server was very curt and rushed and was very grouchy to my now exhausted 5 year old when she didn’t answer immediately when asked her drink order. Later in the meal when all of our drinks were completely empty she brought everyone refill of tea. Only one of us had ordered tea but we drank it because we were thirsty. The characters came by very quickly and did not interact very well. I helped DD get her food and I didn’t have time to get any until we had seen all 5 characters they came by so quickly. One of the things that I was really looking forward to was the fun interactions I had heard about between the stepmother and the stepsisters. I even made the baby a shirt that said future prince charming thinking that would be fun to wear there. Only one sister mentioned it and there was no interaction between the characters at all. The food might have been the worst part. I know that we were some of the last people there but it was really bad. The plates were dirty. As DH placed a dirty plate with old food stuck to it away from the other plates a person on staff actually told him that the water they used was hot so the plate was clean enough to eat on. YIKES! I’m sorry but gross. There was also food all over the floor and the buffet. I swear it looked like a tornado had hit it. I tried the make your own pasta and the noodles were so old that the penne had split and were all swollen and soggy. I was going to get a salad but there was only 1 ladle for the 4 choices and it was all mixed up and gross looking. Of the probably 15 choices of main dishes and sides 6 were empty never to be refilled so there wasn’t much option. The desserts were also a miss. We are sweets loving people and none of us found one we like, of course some of the choices there were also empty. I felt really bad to be ending our trip with this disaster. We had so many good experiences but the only positive I can think of for this place is knowing that I never have to go there again.

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

good update

 

[nanhol]

Thanks for sharing your dining report. I figure a good dining report makes me think about changing around my plans--and yours definitely did. I just need to figure out how to fit in an Ohana dinner...and whether my family will think it's strange to eat a dinner and a breakfast at Ohana!

On my family's last trip we also found the 1900 Park Fare dinner to be underwhelming. The stepsisters, Cinderella & Prince Charming were fine, but the room was chaotic and noisy and such a contrast to the rest of the Grand Floridian, and the food was...meh. Like you, it was our last meal, and we tried to forget it and think of the many wonderful ones! I think that's the trip that we realized we don't really like dinner buffets--we'd rather choose one thing from a menu that will be prepared quite well rather than have the choice of many mediocre dishes. That's just my take, though. I'm sure someone who reads this will consider it blasphemy!