Dining with the Fam - NEW with 50s Primetime and Teppan Edo

[Ginamarie]

We leave on Friday (Jan 8th) for a much anticipated family vacation with a large cast of characters. I haven't done a dining report on a large group for awhile, but WDW dining is one of my favorite parts of our vacations, so I'll keep up as best I can. I'll also have lots of pictures to share when we return.

For now, I'm listing our cast of characters and ADR list:

Me: the fearless leader, family planner and wanna-be foodie. I would list some of my likes/dislikes, but I like most things (sans stringbeans).

DH: He lives a good steak, and is most looking forward to the Le Celier mushroom filet, which I hooked him on.

DD: My 3 year old is a picky eater. She loves chicken, mac and cheese, and blueberry muffins. There's no telling which foods she'll decide to enjoy (sometimes she'll decide that she wants odd items like grilled fish or broccoli, and other times she won't want to eat anything).

DS: My baby boy just turned one, and he LOVES adult food. I'm looking forward to letting him test out his new chompers.

DMom: She is watching her blood pressure and has an active ulcer, so we'll be limiting her salt and spice content.

DDad: Dad's a diabetic, so we're hoping to keep down his sugar intake. He's very bad about controlling his diet though.

DSis1: My college aged sister has an affinity for junk food and pasta.

DSis2: She is the pickest of the picky. We will be scratching out head in trying to find which items she'll agree to eat.

DBro: My 6 year old brother is a bottomless pit. I figure that once DSis2 stops pushing the food around on her plate, he'll swoop in and eat the leftovers.


Now for the ADRs!

Dinner at Ohana- missed due to delayed flight from LGA
Lunch at TRex- page 1
Dinner at Hoop de Doo- page 1
Lunch at Mama Melrose- page 1
Dinner at 50s Primetime- page 1
Lunch at Teppan Edo- page 1
Dinner at Le Celier
Breakfast at Tusker House
Lunch at Flame Tree BBQ
Dinner at Cape May Cafe
Breakfast at Liberty Tree Tavern
Lunch at The Plaza
Dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe
Breakfast at Chef Mickey's
Dinner at Raglan Road
Breakfast at Akurshus
Lunch at Tutto Italia
Dinner at Rose and Crown Pub
Breakfast at Ohana
Dinner at Kona Cafe
Lunch and Beaches and Cream


I'm also anticipating extra meals at the POFQ food court, especially for breakfast and beignets

 

[msce2]

You have a lot of great ADR's! Can't wait to hear how everything went! TY~!

 

[MickeyNicki]

I will be waiting right here until you get back

Have a fantastic time!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Can't wait for you to come back and share your reviews! Have an excellant time!

 

[Ginamarie]

OK, I finally have a moment to start updating everyone on our dining adventures!


I'm sorry to report that I have no dining review for O'hana Our plane was delayed, and by the time we boarded the magical express we realized that we wouldn't make it to our ADR. I was totally disappointed!


So our reviews begin on Saturday morning with TRex.

We had one of the first reservations for lunch, which was good because the restaurant gets very crowded once it opens. We were led to a gigantic booth, surrounded by pterodactyls, T-Rex, and Mammoths. The rooms in the restaurant are themed- around the bar area, everything appears as if you're underwater, there's an ice cave and a forest, but our table looked like it was out on the prairie somewhere. After we were seated, the "meteor shower" started, so the room got dark and the ceiling lit up with animated meteor explosions. Luckily, DD3 wasn't afraid of anything in the restaurant. The baby loved it. DBro6 was cautious, but even he was ok.



T-Rex gets a rap for being an expensive restaurant, and I think that's probably true if you're ordering a bunch of appetizers/desserts, but I didn't think the entrees were overpriced, particularly by Disney standards. Of course living on Long Island may make my perception of prices a little skewed, because we're used to paying so much for things, but IMO the prices weren't crazy. Plus, the portions were huge! DH went for a chicken salad sandwich, of which he could only eat half. DD and I split a chicken sandwich, which was incredible. It was made on pizza dough, stuffed with grilled chicken, pepperjack cheese, lemon mayo, lettuce, bacon and avocado. If I had any complaint with the sandwich it would be that it could have used some more avocado, but really, I'm not complaining. DD and I both loved it. DMom and DSis19 split the big steak entree. This thing was so massive that even after it was split into two portions it still looked big. The kids got burgers, which they loved, and DDad got a cheesesteak hero. DS1 ate a big portion of the cheesesteak, and Dad got a kick out of the joy he got eating it. We were all too full for dessert again. Overall, we really liked the restaurant. We thought the food quality was very good, and the portion sizes were excellent.






The food pictures will get better, trust me. I had to work my way into photographing the food, which would be considered odd at home, but perfectly normal in WDW!

 

[Ginamarie]

We had to rush a little to get to Hoop de Doo for dinner because it takes so darned long to get from resort to resort. The transportation gods were on our side though. We got a bus to the Magic Kingdom pretty quickly and a boat was just pulling in for our ride to Fort Wilderness. We checked in, took the obligatory picture, and then got on line at the entrance while taking turns for a bathroom stop. It was COLD, but we were all bundled up and only had to wait around 15-20 minutes for the doors to open. Once they did, we got a wonderful table just one row back from the stage, which already had a couple of trays of cornbread and salad waiting for us. We started to devour everything, which was great! They make some wonderful cornbread there, and the salad is very light and refreshing. We all ordered drinks (a cherry coke and a sangria for me- it doesn't get better than that!) and waited for the food/show.

The show was as good as ever. I've seen it at least three (maybe 4) times now since I was a kid, and it never fails to make me laugh.. particularly when the performers interact with our table. In this case, both Dad and DH got picked on, and it was hysterical! Even the skeptical DBro6 was cracking up at the antics of 6 Bits.

As for the food- phenomenal fried chicken! Really, this was some of the best fried chicken I'd ever eaten, and I'm a fried chicken fanatic. I only ate a couple of ribs, but those were good too. The mashed potatoes were great, and there were baked beans too. Dad missed the corn on the cob, but we stuffed ourselves silly even without it. For dessert (as always) was the strawberry shortcake with tons of whipped cream.


Oh cornbread, how we love thee. This is just a few minutes after we sat at the table!



Yup, they got my Dad!



and DH!



Straw- Strawberry- STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE!

 

[Miabug]

Can't wait to read the rest of your review!! My family was at T-Rex last May and thought the atmosphere was great. I compare the food to a Planet Hollywood menu. We shared the volcano chocolate layer cake plate, it was great!

 

[Ginamarie]

Can't wait to read the rest of your review!! My family was at T-Rex last May and thought the atmosphere was great. I compare the food to a Planet Hollywood menu. We shared the volcano chocolate layer cake plate, it was great!

Thanks!

I'd read so many sub par reviews about this restaurant before we came, but we wanted to try it out and see for ourselves. The volcano dessert looked great, but we were too stuffed to eat another bite. Plus it looked like you needed an army to finish it!

 

[Ginamarie]

On Sunday, we decided to try out a new (for us) restaurant, and made lunch reservations at Mama Melrose.

There was a brief wait for a table, but we'd shown up early, so I wasn't complaining too much. Mama Melrose gets very mixed reviews, but we were pleasantly surprised. Everyone loved their meal except DH, who ordered the seafood pasta.

DSis19 went with the chicken parm. I tried some of it. The spaghetti part was pretty basic, but the chicken was nice, with a little bit of kick in the breading mixture.



Mom went with the chicken pipette- "wood-grilled chicken tossed with Pipette pasta with artichokes, peas, roasted red peppers in a basil and four cheese cream sauce." She liked this a lot.



The unpopular seafood pasta. DH says it serves him right for ordering a fish dish at a pseudo-Italian restaurant in a theme park.



The kids ordered pizza and minestrone soup. The soup got passed around the table, and DS1 loved it. Instead of just the basic veggies, this soup had beans in it, which made it more hearty. I'm a sucker for bean soup, so I liked it.

I went with the penne vodka. It was a little different from what I'd normally expect with a penne vodka, but really tasty. DD and I polished off every bite. The portions were pretty big. They looked small, but the dish was deceiving because it was so deep!



We split a couple of desserts- the cheesecake for mom and dad, and the chocolate molton cake for DH and I. The cake was tasty, but I would have liked it a little more moist. Plus, especially compared to the size of the entrees, the desserts seemed on the small side.




Overall, we liked Mama Melrose. It wasn't as good as the Italian food we would eat later that week at Tutto Italia, but it was tasty and a decent price. I would seriously consider this as a lunchtime restaurant again, particularly because we do not care for the counterserve options in Disney Studios.

 

[samefay]

Thanks for posting the reviews. I keep debating Mama Melrose but have never been based on the reviews. We actually had reservations one year but changed them at the last minute. I probably would have ordered the seafood pasta too. At least I know better now and know what the dish looks like.

 

[onejellyshelly]

Thanks for the reviews. I booked Hoop-De-Doo Review this morning. I think we are going to have a blast. I am sorry you missed Ohana's, gives you another reason to go to Disney again.

 

[Charlefours]

Thanks for doing all these dining reviews!! I am considering MM as I wanted something we have not tried before. Looking forward to reading more!!

 

[Ginamarie]

Thanks for posting the reviews. I keep debating Mama Melrose but have never been based on the reviews. We actually had reservations one year but changed them at the last minute. I probably would have ordered the seafood pasta too. At least I know better now and know what the dish looks like.

I know! We debated Mama Melrose a lot, but decided to follow through with our reservation this time. The down side was that we weren't all that hungry for Prime Time later that night, and we LOVE Prime Time.

I would give Mama Melrose a shot as long as you're not too picky about your Italian food. I'm 100% Italian and living in NY we have lots of great Italian restaurants BUT I'm not that picky. I wouldn't call the restaurant considerably authentic, but it was still good food.

Thanks for the reviews. I booked Hoop-De-Doo Review this morning. I think we are going to have a blast. I am sorry you missed Ohana's, gives you another reason to go to Disney again.

You're going to love Hoop de Doo, especially if you like fried chicken and cornbread We will definitely be back to the show again, though probably not for a few years.

Thanks for doing all these dining reviews!! I am considering MM as I wanted something we have not tried before. Looking forward to reading more!!

Like I mentioned above, I would consider Mama Melrose as long as you're not too picky about your Italian food. It was good.

 

[Ginamarie]

By the time we got to 50s Primetime, most of us weren't particularly hungry. In fact, mom really wanted a shake instead of an entree, so that's what she did!

Only DH was really hungry (he ordered the pork loin), but the rest of us split up some entrees. The service at Prime Time was great. I love the routine they do there, pretending like you're in Grandma's house surrounded by family members. The waiter scolded us to set the table and to keep our elbows down, etc.

DSis and I split the meatloaf, which was great. DS also loved it. He ate a good portion of my half! So it was a good thing I wasn't too hungry. I would recommend the meatloaf- it was just like something I'd whip up in my own kitchen- comfort food! The shakes at the restaurant were gigantic and delicious. I wish I'd had some room left in my belly for ice cream, but I was stuffed.

50s Primetime did not disappoint. It was fun and tasty. I just wish we could have spaced out our ADRs better. For some reason it was very difficult to get ADRs at Hollywood Studios for that day, so I was stuck with what we got. Next time, I'll go back to Primetime with a full belly.

I apologize for my lack of pictures at this meal. I think we were just too tired to take pictures!

 

[Ginamarie]

One of the cool things about getting an early reservation is that we got to see the opening ceremony, which was kind of cool. All of the chefs and waitstaff came out and introduced themselves and bowed. Then we got seated at our table.



We had a female teppan chef, and she was fantastic! Everything tasted great, and she did some neat tricks



I went with the chicken and shrimp, which I shared with DD. As usual, this was great, everything was cooked perfectly and the sauces added some nice flavor to it all.

DH went for the steak. He enjoyed it, but said it wasn't as good a quality steak as he was anticipating at Le Celier!

The kids split a tempura combo (shrimp and chicken) which DBro LOVED, but DSis decided she didn't like. The dish was one huge piece of chicken and one huge piece of shrimp, breaded in panko and fried.

DSis ate some of mom's steak instead. As usual, I swapped veggies with DH because I like the mushrooms and he likes the zuccini. We all loved the onion and the rice.

In any case, everything got eaten. At the end of the meal, they celebrated DS's birthday with a chef's hat and a free piece of chocolate cake. The cake was surprisingly good. We normally skip dessert here, but now I can recommend the cake wholeheartedly.



This was another great meal, though perhaps a little less memorable than it's been in the past. I couldn't place WHY that was though. We had no complaints, but I probably won't be rushing back here either.