Dinner at Crystal Palace - what's with the menu???

[canadianmom2three]

Booked CP for our arrival night, and mainly because it is in the MK, is a buffet, and has cute characters. Thought that this would just be a plain kind of basic buffet, food that everyone will enjoy. I got to checking out some menu's on allears, and thought I'd take a peek at CP, and it looks a little, well, unusual......
What on earth is the food really like there? Will my parents, and more importantly my kids, like it?????

What exactly is "Broccoli tossed in Puri Puri and topped with Key Lime Ponzu"
and there are other differently titled things that seem like very unusual combinations to me too. http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menu_cpd.htm

Anyone who can reassure me that this is somewhat ordinary food, just all dressed up with fancy names? TIA

 

[jenniferhornsby]

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[engle]

It is pretty ordinary food really!! A big party of 12 of us ate there including 6 kids and some very picky eaters. We all loved it!! Never fear.

 

[devonsmommy]

I too would love a little more information! I have this booked for our MNSSHP night.

 

[MPHARJ]

There is a large variety and every one will be able to find things they like, even my kids enjoy it at CP. Here is a link to the menu from http://allearshttp://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menu_cpd.htm

 

[canadianmom2three]

Here is a link to the menu from http://allearshttp://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menu_cpd.htm

That's the problem, I was all gung-ho for this ADR UNTIL I saw the menu. I don't want to seem rude, or offensive, but I have no idea what half the things on there even are....I just can't form a good mental picture of
"Sliced Tomatoes and Egg Toasted Cumin Dressing" (what would egg toasted cumin dressing really be??? and how would that really go with sliced tomato)
"Sweet Plantain, Cucumber and Corn Salad" - can't imagine this either....however, I guess the meat and main course things look pretty good, so if it's just some unique salads, that's fine...I was just surprised to see that menu, it's not what I expected I guess...

 

[DisneyKT]

Don't be scared,really the food is great just came back from disney and ate there. I love there food. My Kids had chix tenders and mac cheese,apple slices,pizza,tossed salad. There really is all kinds of food there to enjoy. I had prime rib which was excellant,salmon,shrimp,all kinds of veggies. They had roasted chicken and a couple other chicken dishes. They had sliced Turkey. Thats just to name a few. Im sure you will have a great time..

 

[pixie08]

The food is great really. We love it. What is great about it is there is def food for everyone. If you do not want to try few "adventerous" sounding things there will be planty of other things. We do not have kids but the children area looked like pretty basic kids food.

 

[brown eyed girl]

We are also going (first time) and like you I am not adventurous and don't know what those things are. I am guessing they offer these things because there are a lot of international guests who know what these things are...I don't eat curry...cumin I think is found in chili but I wouldn't eat eggs on a tomato anyway...I don't know what puri is...if it looks okay i might take a spoonful so if I hate it I won't feel embarrassed to leave it on my plate.

 

[Greg K.]

Heck, nothing could be more adventurous than one of their star attractions on the b'fast menu, "Breakfast Lasagna.": Which is fabulous. (It's like trifle.) I suspect the food manager/chef has an overactive imagination.

 

[brown eyed girl]

Heck, nothing could be more adventurous than one of their star attractions on the b'fast menu, "Breakfast Lasagna.": Which is fabulous. (It's like trifle.)

If there is cheese involved count me in!

 

[Sparkie]

I have to say that I am one of the ones who didnt care for the menu. We had dinner there last July and thought it was one of the worst meals that we had (Sci-Fi was a close second). I am like OP- I didnt know what most of the stuff was and would have really liked to just have a meat/potatoes/ and plain veggie type of meal. The kids part of the buffet was "regular" food and the meats at the carving station were good, there was some regular salad, and the deserts were good. I suppose I really didnt like the side dishes. This was our second try at dinner and we didnt like it any better this time than the previous BUT.... we love the CP breakfast. Everybody is different though- give it a try- the characters are worth the food.

 

[simonkodousek]

I wouldn't be hesitant to book dinner at Crystal Palace despite what the menu(s) may say. The food is actually very common at buffets and restaurants, but keeping with the theme of being a "palace" the menu adds fancy words and terms in the items and their descriptions. Don't worry; you'll find something for everyone at the Crystal Palace.

 

[lindsmom]

I posted these on the food thread, but maybe it will help. We had dinner there just over two weeks ago:

My plate -

clockwise from the mussels at the bottom (they were bland but okay), mashed potatoes, broccoli, salmon (the BEST I had at WDW), mixed veggies w/ potatoes, pulled pork (it was good - not a LOT of flavor), and a pasta primavera thing in the middle.

DD is, what I would call, a boring eater, but she was very happy:

plate one (needed two plates because the food can't touch):

green beans, chicken nuggets, mac & cheese...

plate two:

strawberries, apples, carrots, shrimp.

I also had a cold salad plate which was the "weird" stuff:

"tropical" cole slaw (had pineapple in it), some kind of mixed vegetable salad, and beet salad.

Dessert was the best:

Peanut butter cake (top), key lime pie, coconut flan, whiskey soaked trifle.

The food was very good - there are SO many choices, I wouldn't worry about it - I think they list the fancy names on the menu to impress people. When you get there, there really is so much that you can easily avoid the "weird" stuff and still have a great, full meal.

HTH!

 

[devonsmommy]

Thanks for the reassurances! My dh loves to eat unusual things and I don't. So this is the one ADR where we won't be eating steaks or burgers. He should enjoy it!

 

[kg66]

I agree with all the OP, the food is really good, as is the variety!! This is where my DD 7 has asked to go again this trip! Kids have a great selection too! I don't think you'll have a problem finding things everyone will eat. My DH can be fussy too, and he left there full! Just tell him there's prime rib at the buffet, and he's good to go, the rest is irrelevant!! We're going back there on our 2nd last night!