Doing It Deluxe, Indulgence for 14 Nights... With Pics!! **Update: CALIFORNIA GRILL**
- Thread starter World Bouncer
- Start date
BriarRosie
<font color=blue>Creator of Tag Fairy Haiku:<br>Cl
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Hey Big Kahuna! That's quite a breakfast. 
But the Tonga Toast is about the size of my head, but I still would eat it.
If you like that real coffee and not the normal Disney swill, you'd like the press-pot coffee at Boma. They have an excellent breakfast buffet. Don't believe me? Ask MickeyNicki. She would marrry that buffet if she could.
But the Tonga Toast is about the size of my head, but I still would eat it.
If you like that real coffee and not the normal Disney swill, you'd like the press-pot coffee at Boma. They have an excellent breakfast buffet. Don't believe me? Ask MickeyNicki. She would marrry that buffet if she could.
englishrose47
DIS Legend
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Great Review !! Waiting for more !!
ChelleinNC
Say "Hi" to Art the Greeter for me!
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I really shouldn't read food porn when I'm hungry 
Everything looks wonderful
I first had Tonga Toast 17 years ago while on my honeymoon and DH has made it for me almost every year since for my B-day breakfast 
Everything looks wonderful
I first had Tonga Toast 17 years ago while on my honeymoon and DH has made it for me almost every year since for my B-day breakfast 
World Bouncer
We Should All Dream This Big!
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Thanks for the review of Kona Cafe. We'll be eating breakfast there in a couple weeks.
You're Welcome... hope you enjoy your meal!
Hey Big Kahuna! That's quite a breakfast.
But the Tonga Toast is about the size of my head, but I still would eat it.
If you like that real coffee and not the normal Disney swill, you'd like the press-pot coffee at Boma. They have an excellent breakfast buffet. Don't believe me? Ask MickeyNicki. She would marrry that buffet if she could.
Boma is someplace we will try on our next trip!
THank YOu!
Thanks... have a wonderful trip!
Just wanted to say what a great review this is. Terrific photos and I love that you've included prices and a standard summary of each meal. Great job!
Thank You... more on the way!
I really shouldn't read food porn when I'm hungry
Everything looks wonderful
I am guilty too... always looking at these threads when hungry
was feeling a bit under ....coming up ....
THE WAVE
&
SPIRIT OF ALOHA
englishrose47
DIS Legend
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Looking forward to the WAVE!!
wilma-bride
<<This space intentionally blank>>
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Wow, these are some great reviews - I've really enjoyed them so far. Don't stop now!
World Bouncer
We Should All Dream This Big!
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The Wave, Lunch, 09-23-08
Part 1 - Pictures of the restaurant
We were eager to try this rather new restaurant. It is located on the ground floor of the Contemporary Resort. The entrance is in the lobby, right next to the Check in desk.
I took several pictures of the outside and inside of this location, so before we get to the food... I will show you all what you will see if you visit!
The food review will be in my next post.
As you enter the restaurant, you come to the check in podium at the end of the tunnel. Behind the podium wall is the bar, to the right of the podium and bar are the rooms you see in the pictures below, there is a small waiting area near the podium area that i didn't get a picture of. To the left of the podium is the large dining room.
The Tunnel
A Menu
The Podium
When I took this picture there were 3 CM's there and, I asked the ladies if they minded being in a picture.. when one mentioned they might end up in the newspaper... 2 of them blushed and stepped out, leaving one brave CM to be in the picture.
The Bar
Lounge Areas
These are sitting rooms that are in a circular shape, there are 2 or 3 of these rooms, they are located to the right of the bar.
The Dining Room
Light Fixture
Part 1 - Pictures of the restaurant
We were eager to try this rather new restaurant. It is located on the ground floor of the Contemporary Resort. The entrance is in the lobby, right next to the Check in desk.
I took several pictures of the outside and inside of this location, so before we get to the food... I will show you all what you will see if you visit!
The food review will be in my next post.
As you enter the restaurant, you come to the check in podium at the end of the tunnel. Behind the podium wall is the bar, to the right of the podium and bar are the rooms you see in the pictures below, there is a small waiting area near the podium area that i didn't get a picture of. To the left of the podium is the large dining room.
The Tunnel
A Menu
The Podium
When I took this picture there were 3 CM's there and, I asked the ladies if they minded being in a picture.. when one mentioned they might end up in the newspaper... 2 of them blushed and stepped out, leaving one brave CM to be in the picture.
The Bar
Lounge Areas
These are sitting rooms that are in a circular shape, there are 2 or 3 of these rooms, they are located to the right of the bar.
The Dining Room
Light Fixture
World Bouncer
We Should All Dream This Big!
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2008
- Messages
- 520
The Wave, Lunch, 09-23-08
Part 2 - The Food
Ok... now the food!
Our original reservation was for San Angel Inn, but we ditched that one and decided to try the new place today, it was closer to where we were and where we wanted to go.
Since this was not the planned destination, we had no ADR for here. We walked up .... NO PROBLEM... the restaurant was not even half full as you can see from the previous pic, and we were cheerfully greeted, with immediate seating!!
We had 3 meals on our schedule for today, so we figured we would go with lighter choices today such as soups, salads, and sandwiches. Yes, they were lighter, but we were still full when we left, LOL !!!
Notice at the bottom price summary, there is a 3% house charge. I didn't notice this being on there until after we were home, so I didn't get the chance to inquire about the reason they actually put this on there? I believe it is the only location that we encountered this. Though the last thing any place in Disney needs is more charges, this wouldn't scare us away from returning again. ( I am still curious why )
Appetizer
DD
Lettuce Wraps - Sauteed lamb and bay scallops with soy-rice wine vinegar sauce. - $11.99
This dish was very good and there was plenty of it, but do be warned, it was pretty spicy, almost too much for JoJo......but she endured.
DW
Seasonal Soup - Served with Chef's accompaniment. - $7.99
On this particular day the seasonal soup was a potato leek, with the accompaniment of a small grilled cheese sandwich. The soup was good and the small sandwich added just enough to it that you aren't left with the feeling of needing more.
ME
Lump Crab Cake - Pan-seared with crispy papaya slaw and balsamic glaze. - $11.49
What can I say.... I like crab cakes!!! One thing to notice about this one.. it is not served with a bunch of those sauces like tarter or mustard, just a bit of glaze... perfectly delicious!
Entrees
DW
Italian Chef Salad - Mixed greens tossed with red wine vinaigrette served with prosciutto, cappicoloa, provolone, salami and shaved parmesan $14.99
A wonderful combination of meat, cheese, and greens.... throw the egg and toast on there and it finished the salad off great! This is definitely my kind of salad, but with the Reuben being my favorite sandwich in the whole world, I just enjoyed a bite or two of Mary's!
ME
Classic Reuben Sandwich - grilled on grain bread and served with crispy papaya slaw or roasted potato wedges $12.99
This was done to perfection! There was a good amount of meat on the sandwich and the bread was not saturated with grease, like you find at so many restaurants. I chose the roasted potato wedges, which paired off for a nice meal, and I already had some of the slaw with my crab cake.
DD
Angus Chuck Bacon Cheeseburger - served on a multigrain roll with choice of papaya slaw or roasted potato wedges $12.99
JoJo is a Hamburger lover, when she was younger we would take her out for her birthday and she would always choose a hamburger place over all the good places. She enjoyed here burger very much, and chose the potato wedges to pair it off with. Now we don't have a huge comparison for how good this burger was with others at WDW, because we don't really eat burgers that often, but this one was heaven compared to the only other one we got, which was from counter service at Blizzard Beach.
Desserts
Listed below you will see how they have the desserts set up on the menu. You can however choose any combination of 3 items from all of the choices and create your own combination.... that is what we did.
The pictures show all of our desserts together. This was fun to be able to pick your own and let me tell you, we sure enjoyed them. Our favorite overall was the chocolate mousse. They did not all come together like in the picture, we just put that way for the view.
Creamy Indulgence - cheesecake with raspberry coulis, coconut panna cotta with passion fruit drizzle, chocolate pasion fruit mousse with pecan-olive brittle $7.99
Decadent Flavors - blueberry compote with yogurt gelato, lemon cornbread with vanilla panna cotta, chocolate mousse with salted caramel sauce $7.99
Crispy and Crunchy - vanilla-braised pineapple spears, almond-pineapple-raisin baklava, zucchini-carrot cake with vanilla panna cotta $7.99
DW - Pineapple Sorbet, Almond - Pineapple - Raisin Baklava, & Cheesecake - Back Row
DD - Cheesecake, Chocolate mousse with salted caramel sauce, & Pineapple Sorbet - Middle Row
ME - Coconut Panna Cotta, vanilla-braised Pineapple, & Chocolate mousse with salted caramel sauce - Front
Beverages
DD
Milk Shakes - Choose from chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla. - $4.29
DW - Coke $2.19
ME
Mega-Berry Smoothie - Raspberry puree and nonfat yogurt blended with Odwalla berries gomega, an excellent source of Omega-3. - $4.29
Beverage $ 10.77
Food $ 96.41
***3% House Charge $ 3.22
Tax $ 6.97
Total $117.37
Service
The service here was wonderful! It was very personal and friendly, as well as prompt and accurate. Our server was Staci, and we enjoyed her attention very much!
Atmosphere
A fairly large dining room, with an open feeling to it. A very casual setting. The seating here can easily accommodate large families or groups. There are no windows in this restaurant to the outside, one of the walls has windows or openings at the top with curtains, but they are into the bar area. Speaking of the bar area... it is totally separated from the dining area and they both have very different ambience about them.(both good)
Food
The food was all good, we had no complaints. The presentation here was not bad, but it didn't seem like they were trying to place their emphasis on it either.... I would say that it was a fairly casual fare with enough flair to make it memorable. There were some adventurous choices that offered a twist, but then there were some stand-by selections as well.
Overall
A great restaurant!! A very family friendly atmosphere with a great location, and good food. I would also mention that it is not what I would consider over-priced! We are likely to return here and I would suggest this to anyone for a nice lunch!
Part 2 - The Food
Ok... now the food!
Our original reservation was for San Angel Inn, but we ditched that one and decided to try the new place today, it was closer to where we were and where we wanted to go.
Since this was not the planned destination, we had no ADR for here. We walked up .... NO PROBLEM... the restaurant was not even half full as you can see from the previous pic, and we were cheerfully greeted, with immediate seating!!
We had 3 meals on our schedule for today, so we figured we would go with lighter choices today such as soups, salads, and sandwiches. Yes, they were lighter, but we were still full when we left, LOL !!!
Notice at the bottom price summary, there is a 3% house charge. I didn't notice this being on there until after we were home, so I didn't get the chance to inquire about the reason they actually put this on there? I believe it is the only location that we encountered this. Though the last thing any place in Disney needs is more charges, this wouldn't scare us away from returning again. ( I am still curious why )
Appetizer
DD
Lettuce Wraps - Sauteed lamb and bay scallops with soy-rice wine vinegar sauce. - $11.99
This dish was very good and there was plenty of it, but do be warned, it was pretty spicy, almost too much for JoJo......but she endured.
DW
Seasonal Soup - Served with Chef's accompaniment. - $7.99
On this particular day the seasonal soup was a potato leek, with the accompaniment of a small grilled cheese sandwich. The soup was good and the small sandwich added just enough to it that you aren't left with the feeling of needing more.
ME
Lump Crab Cake - Pan-seared with crispy papaya slaw and balsamic glaze. - $11.49
What can I say.... I like crab cakes!!! One thing to notice about this one.. it is not served with a bunch of those sauces like tarter or mustard, just a bit of glaze... perfectly delicious!
Entrees
DW
Italian Chef Salad - Mixed greens tossed with red wine vinaigrette served with prosciutto, cappicoloa, provolone, salami and shaved parmesan $14.99
A wonderful combination of meat, cheese, and greens.... throw the egg and toast on there and it finished the salad off great! This is definitely my kind of salad, but with the Reuben being my favorite sandwich in the whole world, I just enjoyed a bite or two of Mary's!
ME
Classic Reuben Sandwich - grilled on grain bread and served with crispy papaya slaw or roasted potato wedges $12.99
This was done to perfection! There was a good amount of meat on the sandwich and the bread was not saturated with grease, like you find at so many restaurants. I chose the roasted potato wedges, which paired off for a nice meal, and I already had some of the slaw with my crab cake.
DD
Angus Chuck Bacon Cheeseburger - served on a multigrain roll with choice of papaya slaw or roasted potato wedges $12.99
JoJo is a Hamburger lover, when she was younger we would take her out for her birthday and she would always choose a hamburger place over all the good places. She enjoyed here burger very much, and chose the potato wedges to pair it off with. Now we don't have a huge comparison for how good this burger was with others at WDW, because we don't really eat burgers that often, but this one was heaven compared to the only other one we got, which was from counter service at Blizzard Beach.
Desserts
Listed below you will see how they have the desserts set up on the menu. You can however choose any combination of 3 items from all of the choices and create your own combination.... that is what we did.
The pictures show all of our desserts together. This was fun to be able to pick your own and let me tell you, we sure enjoyed them. Our favorite overall was the chocolate mousse. They did not all come together like in the picture, we just put that way for the view.
Creamy Indulgence - cheesecake with raspberry coulis, coconut panna cotta with passion fruit drizzle, chocolate pasion fruit mousse with pecan-olive brittle $7.99
Decadent Flavors - blueberry compote with yogurt gelato, lemon cornbread with vanilla panna cotta, chocolate mousse with salted caramel sauce $7.99
Crispy and Crunchy - vanilla-braised pineapple spears, almond-pineapple-raisin baklava, zucchini-carrot cake with vanilla panna cotta $7.99
DW - Pineapple Sorbet, Almond - Pineapple - Raisin Baklava, & Cheesecake - Back Row
DD - Cheesecake, Chocolate mousse with salted caramel sauce, & Pineapple Sorbet - Middle Row
ME - Coconut Panna Cotta, vanilla-braised Pineapple, & Chocolate mousse with salted caramel sauce - Front
Beverages
DD
Milk Shakes - Choose from chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla. - $4.29
DW - Coke $2.19
ME
Mega-Berry Smoothie - Raspberry puree and nonfat yogurt blended with Odwalla berries gomega, an excellent source of Omega-3. - $4.29
Beverage $ 10.77
Food $ 96.41
***3% House Charge $ 3.22
Tax $ 6.97
Total $117.37
Service
The service here was wonderful! It was very personal and friendly, as well as prompt and accurate. Our server was Staci, and we enjoyed her attention very much!
Atmosphere
A fairly large dining room, with an open feeling to it. A very casual setting. The seating here can easily accommodate large families or groups. There are no windows in this restaurant to the outside, one of the walls has windows or openings at the top with curtains, but they are into the bar area. Speaking of the bar area... it is totally separated from the dining area and they both have very different ambience about them.(both good)
Food
The food was all good, we had no complaints. The presentation here was not bad, but it didn't seem like they were trying to place their emphasis on it either.... I would say that it was a fairly casual fare with enough flair to make it memorable. There were some adventurous choices that offered a twist, but then there were some stand-by selections as well.
Overall
A great restaurant!! A very family friendly atmosphere with a great location, and good food. I would also mention that it is not what I would consider over-priced! We are likely to return here and I would suggest this to anyone for a nice lunch!
World Bouncer
We Should All Dream This Big!
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2008
- Messages
- 520
Hope you are feeling better...I was started to get concerned.
What time was your lunch? Looks like it was pretty empty in there.
Welcome back
Feeling great now, thanks
We were there at about 1 pm, which I would think is prime time for lunch, but a very quiet setting for the day.
Condorman
& Laser Lady
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2004
- Messages
- 811
Now you've got me curious about that House Charge. I wonder if this is something specific to resort TS restaurants? We're going in a few weeks and dining at many resort locations. You can be sure we'll look into it. Yours is the first mention of it. I know they do this in Las Vegas -- a few places anyway -- tacking on some unknown, purposeless "service charge" that is neither a gratuity nor tax.
I don't care how bad the economy is, either incorporate the price change into the cost of the entrees et al. or the manager and/or server are going to have to pull out the Unabridged Oxford-English explanation for what exactly a House Charge is. Either way, I'll let you know.
BTW, World Bouncer, of all the reviews being posted, yours are far and away my favorite. Your photos, descriptions and the genuine fun you and your family seem to be having are a daily delight. Thank you for sharing that with us.
I don't care how bad the economy is, either incorporate the price change into the cost of the entrees et al. or the manager and/or server are going to have to pull out the Unabridged Oxford-English explanation for what exactly a House Charge is. Either way, I'll let you know.
BTW, World Bouncer, of all the reviews being posted, yours are far and away my favorite. Your photos, descriptions and the genuine fun you and your family seem to be having are a daily delight. Thank you for sharing that with us.
tigger536
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2006
- Messages
- 992
Great reviews! I had to come out of lurkdom to comment on how much I'm enjoying them. Your pics are great! You even remembered to take ones of the drinks! Impressive! Whenever I try to take pics of my food, I get distracted at some point and can't even remember to take pics of all the courses, lol!
I also like the breakdown of food, service atmosphere at the end - great info and any one of those can make or break a meal!
I also like the breakdown of food, service atmosphere at the end - great info and any one of those can make or break a meal!
Tikitoi
DIS Veteran
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- Apr 23, 2006
- Messages
- 2,806
The Reuben and Burger look soooo good. I enjoyed the Reuben at SciFi, but I believe it may have had more meat on it. But that's OK, this looks great! How was that multigrain burger bun?
ChelleinNC
Say "Hi" to Art the Greeter for me!
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2007
- Messages
- 3,804
Another crab cake 
It did look really good and that chocolate milkshake looked really really good 
It did look really good and that chocolate milkshake looked really really good
englishrose47
DIS Legend
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- Jan 31, 2007
- Messages
- 28,982
Great review !! Food looks great !! I am a huge Reuben Fan too!!
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