Ok... This is a Long One.
YACHTSMAN STEAKHOUSE, Dinner, 09-18-08
This was our day to visit Typhoon Lagoon.
We started our morning out by wearing clothes to breakfast that we would feel comfortable for dinner in. We packed our swim suits and things in a duffel bag and rented a locker at the water park.
This again saved us lots of time from waiting for, and riding on the bus, back and forth to the resort.
Our dinner reservation was for 7:30pm. We left Typhoon Lagoon around 4pm so that we could beat the end of day rush at the lockers, showers, and bus stops.... it worked out great. We headed over to the Yacht Club early so we could look around the resort and take a stroll around boardwalk. This was fun... we were able to catch the pin board time in the Yacht Club Store and there is a fishing game that you can play with pin trading at the Beach Club store. We also traded pins with the bell service desk, and one of the CM's there was very nice and gave us a magical moment...... he asked us what pins we were looking for, and we told him of one pin that we couldn't seem to locate. The next day when we got back to our room, there the pin was sitting on our table with a little note saying it was from him!
If we ever go deluxe, this will be our choice of location!
Arriving early to the area was also great because we had the chance to go into the restaurant before it was actually open. We got some pictures of the empty restaurant and the cooking area. At this time they were preparing the mushrooms for the evening which caught my attention, I've never seen that many mushrooms cooking at once before.... and what a great preview to my upcoming meal.....Yummmmy!
Without any further wait ... as promised... the Motherload of all Mushroom Pics!
After our walk around the Boardwalk area, we returned to check in at 7:15pm. We were given a pager and had about a 15 minute wait before we were seated. Our hostess greeted us and took us to our seat, she was very friendly and personable.
The restaurant is set up so that the first thing you see as you walk in is podium on your right and the meat room to your left, then you walk through an entry hall area with the open kitchen on your left and just before entering the dining rooms, on the right the desserts were displayed so we could drool over them!
The Bread
Served with sea salt on the butter and a side of very soft garlic. This is very good when mashed into the butter and spread on the bread!
Appetizer
DD
Hudson Valley Foie Gras - Served with citrus brioche, roasted Heirloom apples and vanilla gastrique. - $16.00
We have never had this before and none of us are fans of Liver. I told JoJo that I was very proud of her, because of were willingness to go outside of the box and experience new things! I have to say that I am glad she did! We all tried this and liked it very much. There was a slight liver taste to it, but nothing overwhelming.. this was melt in your mouth yummy!
(Sorry, these pics are blurry)
DW
Chilled Seafood Salad - Made with lobster, shrimp, and jumbo crab with lemon creme fraiche and avocado cream. - $16.00
This is the perfect dish for Mary, she is a seafood lover, so all of her favorite seafood in one dish, yay! I had reminded her before ordering that she is not a big fan of avocado, but after getting it she said the avocado cream was actually mild enough that she could enjoy it! It didn't take her long to finish this tasty dish off.
ME
Seared Maine Diver Scallops - Served with a mushroom risotto . - $14.00
Scallops are my favorite seafood and I am a huge fan of mushrooms, so this dish was full of flavors that had my attention, a perfect start to the meal. The online menus all show this as being served with a salad instead of the risotto.
Entrees
DW & ME shared this entree for 2
Chateaubriand for Two - 18-ounce tenderloin served with Bearnaise, Mashed Potatoes, and Sauteed Mushrooms $85.00
This was very good, although you order one entree to share, it is brought out on two separate plates, the mushrooms had a cherry flavored wine sauce and were brought out in a separate bowl to share. The meat was very tender and cooked just how we had requested, it is served in 3 slices on each plate, so each person gets a total of 9 ounces of tenderloin.
DD
Porterhouse - 24-oz center cut Porterhouse served with fingerling potatoes and roasted garlic butter. - $44.00
Can you say HUGE!!! This steak was almost as big as JoJo... LOL! It was tender, juicy, and very flavorful. She ordered it medium and it was perfectly done. I cannot believe she ate that whole thing, plus her app and dessert, with nothing left! The potatoes were also good.
Desserts
DD & DW
Not on the online menus.
"Inspired by The Year Of A Million Dreams" - Yachtsman Steakhouse interesting version of Strawberry Shortcake.
I am not saying do not order this, it was good, but it was different. The cake portion of this dish is actually a cornbread. Both of the ladies liked it and finished it, I tried it and liked it, but was thrown off by the cornbread. Both of them said that it was good, but they would get something different the next time.
ME
Not on the Online Menus.
A Trio of Chocolate Heaven .... this is my name for it.
I loved every bite of this excellent combination of flavors and wanted more! From right to left... 1. A Lava type chocolate cake with a white chocolate lava filling, 2. Chocolate banana mousse with banana topping, 3. A creamy chocolate dome filled with a thick and creamy grapefruit flavored cream. The third one was an interesting surprise, but a very enjoyable contrast of flavor to the others, very sweet with just enough tart. Again, I had only water to drink with my meal and enjoyed my hot tea with dessert.
Beverages
DD Eros Press Pot Hot Tea
DW Coke
ME Osmanthus Press Pot Hot Tea
Beverage $ 12.00 one drink never got charged for which I just noticed
Food $ 202.00
Tax $ 13.91
Total $ 227.91
Service
This was absolutely the most EXCELLENT service we have received anywhere! We felt like V.I.P.'s from the first moment! Our hostess took us to our seats and on the way she took a moment to show and explain the desserts to us. Our servers name was "Oscar" and he was very elegant about things and very friendly, as well as full of knowledge about all the food!
Atmosphere
I really enjoyed the decor here, we were seated right next to the fireplace in the back left corner room. The CM uniforms were very nice and added that special touch to the surroundings. Everyone was super friendly, we even talked to the cooks for a moment. The open kitchen was fun to see and what I liked about this one was that, its location kept it from making the restaurant feel overly busy. This was another place that I would suggest dressing for the occasion, nothing grand, but jeans or t-shirts would have made me feel uncomfortable. Oh yeah.... the meat cutting room was pretty cool too!
Food
Excellent! We had no complaints here at all, everything was consumed without a second thought! Definitely the place for steak. The mushrooms... mmmmmmm, of course this is only if you like them! Everything was cooked the we had ordered it, served at the right temperatures, and great presentation. My philosophy is that I would rather have outstanding service and just so-so food, than outstanding food and bad service....but here we were able to have our cake and eat it too!
Overall
This restaurant receives our highest rating in all departments! When it was time to leave, we stopped to talk to the manager to let her know that our experience was awesome from start to finish! I would suggest this location for anyone and everyone, the menu was very easy to get along with for all taste. While the price is high, there were other places that were higher and they did not compare with the overall experience we had here. While you could have a romantic dinner here, this would not be our first choice.
The lobster benedict looked really good, and different from the usual buffet breakfast food
And my favorite pic... The Tigger pic. Priceless.
It was served with the salad when I had it in June, which was very good but I also like risotto 
our glasses were empty several times and for long periods of time 
All the other servers around us were doing a fantastic job and we were quite jealous 
That is amazing.
