wilma-bride
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- Joined
- Jul 13, 2005
- Messages
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Still enjoying your reviews - thanks for the tips on making notes for your reviews too 
Ears to the Food! September 19-30, 2007 - 12 Days on DDP, COMPLETE!
- Thread starter FirstMagic
- Start date
FirstMagic
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2003
- Messages
- 407
Youre going to Disney
..AGAIN?
OK, everybodys whos heard this, please raise your hand.
No, wait, too many to count. Everybody who hasnt heard this, please raise your hand. Sorry, if you are going for this first time, please lower your hand.
I dont see many hands now, if any.
Im sure thats what Ill hear again next year, because before we left for the parks this morning, I booked another Magic Your Way with Dining package for 2008. We discussed it, and its difficult for us to plan a whole year ahead for a vacation, but I decided we might as well book it and hope for the best. I felt extremely lucky that we got to go this year and that our schedules worked out so we could all go at the same time, and that something didnt come up at home or work and wed have to cancel. I also felt fortunate that we could go for eleven nights.
Just the other day someone asked me, What can you possibly do at Disney World for that many long?, and I was thinking I wish I had even more time there!
Before calling the reservations line, DH and I went to Everything Pop and decided to use a Counter Service credit to get a breakfast to share, since we were still ahead on CS credits. DH remarked that he liked the Chocolate Chip Pancake Platter we got the other day, so we basically had a re-run of the other mornings breakfast:
Chocolate Chip Pancakes (4) with 2 strips of bacon and a sausage patty
Pint of Orange Juice
Pint of Strawberry Milk
Total: $10.28
Time: 9:28 a.m.
Again, the food court was very crowded, but the line for the pancakes moved quickly with some amazingly good humored Cast Members behind the counter making and dishing out the food. We took the breakfast and our refilled mugs back to the room.
After we ate and while the guys finished getting ready, I called the Disney Reservations line and booked our next trip with a really nice Cast Member by the name of Patsy. She explained the changes in the Disney Dining Plan, and we even discussed the Food and Wine Festival while we were waiting for her confirmation screens to come up. A very pleasant transaction!
We headed to Animal Kingdom since they were having late Extra Magic Hours that evening. For lunch, we headed straight to:
Flame Tree Barbeque
where we had the a re-run of the lunch we had there the other day! A few days at WDW and were in a rut already! Actually, we enjoyed it so much the other day we decided right then and there that we were going to come back and have the same meal.
DH
Beef Sandwich served with baked beans $7.29
Dessert Chocolate Cake $3.59
Large Coke $2.39
DS and me
1/2 Slab of St. Louis Ribs served with baked beans and corn muffin $8.99
Dessert - Key Lime Pie $3.59
Large Sprite $2.39
Total - $30.08 with tax for both meals
Time of dining: 2:03 p.m.
(We would have eaten sooner, but the person in front of DH in line put in an order for about 50 people when his turn came, and by then, the other lines had grown tremendously so DH waited patiently behind him.)
Everything was good again!
We spent the afternoon in the Asia section of the park, and around 5:00, I realized that Extra Magic Hours were starting, and we hadnt gotten over to do the Safari Ride and that it probably wouldnt be open for Extra Magic. (It wasnt). So, we headed over to Dinoland to get our wristbands and do some of the rides there, and I suggested sharing a Counter Service meal at Restaurantosaurus, mainly for the drink and the dessert as a pick-me-up, and DH said he could certainly go for some shared french fries. Usually we seek out Restaurantosaurus for their fries (McDonalds) after we get tired of Disney fries, but we really hadnt been eating many french fries on this trip. Still, its a traditional stop, and the place usually isnt crowded at all during the late hours.
Restaurantosaurus
McDonald's 10 Chicken McNuggets with fries $5.49
Strawberry Shortcake $3.59
Large Sprite $2.39
Total: $11.47 without tax
Time of dining: 5:24 p.m.
We found a quiet room to eat in and DS and I split the McNuggets and we all shared the fries and shortcake. We like the shortcake here! I liked it a lot better than the strawberry shortcake at Seasons, this one has more cake in it. I was considering using a Snack Credit for it if we hadnt got the meal, but we chose it as our dessert.
I took a picture of my guys eating in the same little room we always do, with all of us listening to the silly dinosaur songs they play, and felt very happy and lucky to have my little family all together, sharing love and laughs and fun.
Since we had a late dining reservation tonight, I was hoping the shared meal this late in the afternoon wouldnt play havoc with our appetites, because after we exited Animal Kingdom at 8:00 p.m., we had reservations at:
Raglan Road
How to get to Pleasure Island from Animal Kingdom, that was the question. We thought about taking a bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, then taking a bus from there to Pleasure Island, but I decided we might do better to catch a bus to Saratoga Springs, and could either catch a boat from there to Downtown Disney, or if no boat was coming, we could walk if we needed to.
Soon a bus for Saratoga Springs came along, which stopped at every stop in the resort before the last stop at the main building, which is where we wanted to get off. Wed stayed several times at this resort when it was The Disney Institute, but havent spent much time here since they re-did the resort and changed the name, but at least some of the old buildings looked familiar. We finally found the boat dock and saw a boat pulling away just as we were getting close! Arggg! But there was another boat just coming to the dock, so we hurried to it, boarded, and since nobody else was waiting to board, got a personal ride the Downtown Disney! That was really quite pleasant.
From Downtown Disney we walked over to Pleasure Island, not quite sure where Raglan Road was located, but we knew we couldnt miss it and soon spotted it.
OK, youre saying, its almost 9 p.m. and this picture looks like it was taken in bright daylight! Well it was! I took a picture of it later in the trip when we were at Downtown Disney/Pleasure Island. I included this picture so that if youre hunting around for it like we were, youll know it when you see it!
Take heart, Raglan Road is a lot bigger than this picture shows. Theres a little store on the side of it, and Cookes of Dublin around the corner, and the restaurant goes way back, and even has an outdoor dining area.
We walked in and I checked in at the podium with a lovely young lady who took our name and handed me a pager, and we browsed in the little Irish store for a few minutes.
Time of Reservation: 9:00 p.m.
Time of Arrival: 8:47 p.m.
Time Seated: 8:55 p.m.
When the pager went off, I went back to the podium and the lovely young lady took our pager and said somebody would show us to our seats shortly, and another lady came and escorted us to our table, right in the main dining room, between the stage and the step table the dancer uses.
We were handed our menus, and had barely opened them, when the band took the stage and started to play. DH and DS looked at me with a look that said We werent expecting this! DS doesnt listen to loud music, and weve totally reversed the roles: Ive never had to tell him Turn that music down!, but he has said on occasion Mom, would you turn the volume down?
At some time when I was making reservations, I had mentioned that Raglan Road had an Irish band, but I didnt know if wed get to hear them or not. I love Celtic music and was looking forward to it, but I think DS and DH were wondering how we were going to convey our order to our waitress while the music was playing. After the first song, I said to them I think by some odd chance (since I made no request for seating) weve been given the best table in the house.
Our server: Alexis
Alexis timed her appearances at our table between songs, or when the band took a break, and stopped by after the first song to take our drink order and advise us that she was sorry, but they had sold out of the fish of the day and another dish, but they were nothing we were interested in so it was no problem for us. This is what we ate at Raglan Road:
DH
Appetizer: Dalkey Duo - Dalkey-battered cocktail sausages with a Dalkey mustard dipping sauce $9.95 (shared these with our son)
Serious Sirloin Steak - 10 oz sirloin topped with Irish whiskey glaze, drizzled with fresh basil oil. Served with mashed potatoes and topped with crispy fried onion strings $23.95 (the crispy fried onions were quickly picked off by DH and put on my bread plate and passed to me)
Dessert: Dunbrody Kiss - $8.99
Beverage: ( I didnt write it down, but I know it was some kind of soda pop)
DHs: I loved those Dalkeys!!! They were great! The sirloin steak was really good too. I liked the Dunbrody Kiss dessert, it was chocolate!
My comments: DH is still raving, a month later, about the Dalkey Duo, it was his favorite appetizer of the trip. They really made a favorable impression on him. I was so glad DS offered to share this order with him, it was billed as an appetizer for two and Alexis said the two of them could count that as their appetizer on the Dining Plan. I think DS would have chosen something else for his appetizer. I tried one of the sausages, and it was kind of unique with the breading, and Id say it was ok, but Im not a sausage fan. I loved the Dunbrodys Kiss desert though! I wish I had ordered it. DH does not like bread pudding, so I didnt even ask him if hed switch with me.
DS
Appetizer: shared the Dalkey Duo with his dad
Serious Sirloin Steak - 10 oz sirloin topped with Irish whiskey glaze, drizzled with fresh basil oil. Served with mashed potatoes and topped with crispy fried onion strings $23.95
Dessert: Ger's Bread & Butter Pudding - $7.99
Beverage: Sprite
DSs notes: The Dalkeys were ok, pretty much like eating cocktail wienies. The steak was my least favorite steak of all the restaurants on the trip, but I still ate all of it. The bread pudding was ok, but by dessert time I was really quite full.
Comments: DS also polished off a portion of my Paddys Pork, Im glad it didnt go to waste!
Me -
Appetizer: Seared Scallops - Pan seared Georges Bank scallops served on creamed sweet corn and garnished with a candied lemon salad $9.95
Paddy's Pork - Tasty pork loin stuffed with homemade sausage meat drizzled with honey soy glaze. Served with buttered leeks, cabbage and mashed potatoes. $19.95
Dessert: Ger's Bread & Butter Pudding - $7.99
Beverage: Ginger Ale
My notes: The scallops were good, the appetizer plate of them would have been enough for a meal! The corn served with them didnt do a lot for me, it was just kind of there, and I dont even remember the lemon salad mentioned on the description, it must have been a minor item. The Paddys Pork had a really good sauce! The pork was tender, as was the stuffing in it, and I liked the underlayer of mashed potatoes with cabbage, but I like colcannon and just dont make it very often since my guys dont like it, so this was a treat. I was so looking forward to the bread pudding, but like DS, I was rather full by the time dessert arrived and couldnt do it justice, its a large portion. I was trying to adjust the ratios of the cream and the syrup served with it, and at one point got too much syrup in it and got it too sweet for my tastes and finally abandoned the effort. I think if somebody came in here right now (where Im writing my report), bearing a Gers Bread and Butter Pudding, I think Id be really happy to try it again.
The Dalkey Duo! Actually, a Dalkey many, lots of little sausages, served impaled on forks with the rest piled in a bowl. Lots of people could achieve Dalkey happiness with this appetizer. (sorry, its a little blurry, but it was a little dark in Raglan Road and I couldnt check my digital display too well)
My scallops appetizer Ive cut into one, and they were quite tender and nicely done.
Somehow, the camera was put away and I forgot to take pictures of the rest of the meal.
In the midst of us digging into our appetizers, the band started a song and lo and behold! The lovely lady who had checked us in at the podium came into the room, ascended the steps to the table by us, and I realized that she was the step dancer! Even the Dalkey Duo was put on hold while we watched her, she was quite lovely and performed several times during the evening. DH and DS said they wondered why one of the tables in the room had steps on it, especially since several people were seated around it, eating.
So the band (Tusker Rock) played, and the dancer danced, and there was a party of people (looked like a pre-wedding party) dancing and at one point a dancing couple crashed into DSs chair while he was eating(they apologized), and people crowded into the room when the dancer took to her little step stage and there were lots of happy people at the bar and it was loud and boisterous and .
And I feared it might have been too much for my little group. I think next time it might be better if I can book a seating a little earlier in the evening, and be on the dessert course when all the revelry starts. It had been a very hot day at Animal Kingdom and we were a bit bleary by then.
Alexis also brought out a complimentary basket of bread, I think she said it was soda bread, and a dish of dipping sauce, I think she said it was Guiness reduction. The bread wasnt like any soda bread Ive tasted or made, it was dark and rather hard and dry. The guys didnt like the dipping sauce, but I did! It was rather sweet, and if I broke off some bread and let it soak a bit, the bread was soft enough to eat. Im not sure if the bread was supposed to be hard like that, but we had so much other food to eat, I didnt question it.
Total $130.00 estimate (I never saw a receipt with a total on it, but on the zeroed out receipt I was given I wrote that amount, so Im not sure if that included tax or not)
Would we return to Raglan Road? DS not really! DH sure, it was a fun place. (I just know hes going back for those Dalkey sausage !) Me There are a lot of things on the menu Id like to try, Id like to go back. I enjoyed the entertainment, the musicians were very good and I like Celtic music. Looking back, we should have requested another table in a quieter location and DS might have been more comfortable.
Oh! Tonight before dinner, DH said, I could go for those Dalkeys again.
OK, everybodys whos heard this, please raise your hand.
No, wait, too many to count. Everybody who hasnt heard this, please raise your hand. Sorry, if you are going for this first time, please lower your hand.
I dont see many hands now, if any.
Im sure thats what Ill hear again next year, because before we left for the parks this morning, I booked another Magic Your Way with Dining package for 2008. We discussed it, and its difficult for us to plan a whole year ahead for a vacation, but I decided we might as well book it and hope for the best. I felt extremely lucky that we got to go this year and that our schedules worked out so we could all go at the same time, and that something didnt come up at home or work and wed have to cancel. I also felt fortunate that we could go for eleven nights.
Just the other day someone asked me, What can you possibly do at Disney World for that many long?, and I was thinking I wish I had even more time there!
Before calling the reservations line, DH and I went to Everything Pop and decided to use a Counter Service credit to get a breakfast to share, since we were still ahead on CS credits. DH remarked that he liked the Chocolate Chip Pancake Platter we got the other day, so we basically had a re-run of the other mornings breakfast:
Chocolate Chip Pancakes (4) with 2 strips of bacon and a sausage patty
Pint of Orange Juice
Pint of Strawberry Milk
Total: $10.28
Time: 9:28 a.m.
Again, the food court was very crowded, but the line for the pancakes moved quickly with some amazingly good humored Cast Members behind the counter making and dishing out the food. We took the breakfast and our refilled mugs back to the room.
After we ate and while the guys finished getting ready, I called the Disney Reservations line and booked our next trip with a really nice Cast Member by the name of Patsy. She explained the changes in the Disney Dining Plan, and we even discussed the Food and Wine Festival while we were waiting for her confirmation screens to come up. A very pleasant transaction!
We headed to Animal Kingdom since they were having late Extra Magic Hours that evening. For lunch, we headed straight to:
Flame Tree Barbeque
where we had the a re-run of the lunch we had there the other day! A few days at WDW and were in a rut already! Actually, we enjoyed it so much the other day we decided right then and there that we were going to come back and have the same meal.
DH
Beef Sandwich served with baked beans $7.29
Dessert Chocolate Cake $3.59
Large Coke $2.39
DS and me
1/2 Slab of St. Louis Ribs served with baked beans and corn muffin $8.99
Dessert - Key Lime Pie $3.59
Large Sprite $2.39
Total - $30.08 with tax for both meals
Time of dining: 2:03 p.m.
(We would have eaten sooner, but the person in front of DH in line put in an order for about 50 people when his turn came, and by then, the other lines had grown tremendously so DH waited patiently behind him.)
Everything was good again!
We spent the afternoon in the Asia section of the park, and around 5:00, I realized that Extra Magic Hours were starting, and we hadnt gotten over to do the Safari Ride and that it probably wouldnt be open for Extra Magic. (It wasnt). So, we headed over to Dinoland to get our wristbands and do some of the rides there, and I suggested sharing a Counter Service meal at Restaurantosaurus, mainly for the drink and the dessert as a pick-me-up, and DH said he could certainly go for some shared french fries. Usually we seek out Restaurantosaurus for their fries (McDonalds) after we get tired of Disney fries, but we really hadnt been eating many french fries on this trip. Still, its a traditional stop, and the place usually isnt crowded at all during the late hours.
Restaurantosaurus
McDonald's 10 Chicken McNuggets with fries $5.49
Strawberry Shortcake $3.59
Large Sprite $2.39
Total: $11.47 without tax
Time of dining: 5:24 p.m.
We found a quiet room to eat in and DS and I split the McNuggets and we all shared the fries and shortcake. We like the shortcake here! I liked it a lot better than the strawberry shortcake at Seasons, this one has more cake in it. I was considering using a Snack Credit for it if we hadnt got the meal, but we chose it as our dessert.
I took a picture of my guys eating in the same little room we always do, with all of us listening to the silly dinosaur songs they play, and felt very happy and lucky to have my little family all together, sharing love and laughs and fun.
Since we had a late dining reservation tonight, I was hoping the shared meal this late in the afternoon wouldnt play havoc with our appetites, because after we exited Animal Kingdom at 8:00 p.m., we had reservations at:
Raglan Road
How to get to Pleasure Island from Animal Kingdom, that was the question. We thought about taking a bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, then taking a bus from there to Pleasure Island, but I decided we might do better to catch a bus to Saratoga Springs, and could either catch a boat from there to Downtown Disney, or if no boat was coming, we could walk if we needed to.
Soon a bus for Saratoga Springs came along, which stopped at every stop in the resort before the last stop at the main building, which is where we wanted to get off. Wed stayed several times at this resort when it was The Disney Institute, but havent spent much time here since they re-did the resort and changed the name, but at least some of the old buildings looked familiar. We finally found the boat dock and saw a boat pulling away just as we were getting close! Arggg! But there was another boat just coming to the dock, so we hurried to it, boarded, and since nobody else was waiting to board, got a personal ride the Downtown Disney! That was really quite pleasant.
From Downtown Disney we walked over to Pleasure Island, not quite sure where Raglan Road was located, but we knew we couldnt miss it and soon spotted it.
OK, youre saying, its almost 9 p.m. and this picture looks like it was taken in bright daylight! Well it was! I took a picture of it later in the trip when we were at Downtown Disney/Pleasure Island. I included this picture so that if youre hunting around for it like we were, youll know it when you see it!
Take heart, Raglan Road is a lot bigger than this picture shows. Theres a little store on the side of it, and Cookes of Dublin around the corner, and the restaurant goes way back, and even has an outdoor dining area.
We walked in and I checked in at the podium with a lovely young lady who took our name and handed me a pager, and we browsed in the little Irish store for a few minutes.
Time of Reservation: 9:00 p.m.
Time of Arrival: 8:47 p.m.
Time Seated: 8:55 p.m.
When the pager went off, I went back to the podium and the lovely young lady took our pager and said somebody would show us to our seats shortly, and another lady came and escorted us to our table, right in the main dining room, between the stage and the step table the dancer uses.
We were handed our menus, and had barely opened them, when the band took the stage and started to play. DH and DS looked at me with a look that said We werent expecting this! DS doesnt listen to loud music, and weve totally reversed the roles: Ive never had to tell him Turn that music down!, but he has said on occasion Mom, would you turn the volume down?
At some time when I was making reservations, I had mentioned that Raglan Road had an Irish band, but I didnt know if wed get to hear them or not. I love Celtic music and was looking forward to it, but I think DS and DH were wondering how we were going to convey our order to our waitress while the music was playing. After the first song, I said to them I think by some odd chance (since I made no request for seating) weve been given the best table in the house.
Our server: Alexis
Alexis timed her appearances at our table between songs, or when the band took a break, and stopped by after the first song to take our drink order and advise us that she was sorry, but they had sold out of the fish of the day and another dish, but they were nothing we were interested in so it was no problem for us. This is what we ate at Raglan Road:
DH
Appetizer: Dalkey Duo - Dalkey-battered cocktail sausages with a Dalkey mustard dipping sauce $9.95 (shared these with our son)
Serious Sirloin Steak - 10 oz sirloin topped with Irish whiskey glaze, drizzled with fresh basil oil. Served with mashed potatoes and topped with crispy fried onion strings $23.95 (the crispy fried onions were quickly picked off by DH and put on my bread plate and passed to me)
Dessert: Dunbrody Kiss - $8.99
Beverage: ( I didnt write it down, but I know it was some kind of soda pop)
DHs: I loved those Dalkeys!!! They were great! The sirloin steak was really good too. I liked the Dunbrody Kiss dessert, it was chocolate!
My comments: DH is still raving, a month later, about the Dalkey Duo, it was his favorite appetizer of the trip. They really made a favorable impression on him. I was so glad DS offered to share this order with him, it was billed as an appetizer for two and Alexis said the two of them could count that as their appetizer on the Dining Plan. I think DS would have chosen something else for his appetizer. I tried one of the sausages, and it was kind of unique with the breading, and Id say it was ok, but Im not a sausage fan. I loved the Dunbrodys Kiss desert though! I wish I had ordered it. DH does not like bread pudding, so I didnt even ask him if hed switch with me.
DS
Appetizer: shared the Dalkey Duo with his dad
Serious Sirloin Steak - 10 oz sirloin topped with Irish whiskey glaze, drizzled with fresh basil oil. Served with mashed potatoes and topped with crispy fried onion strings $23.95
Dessert: Ger's Bread & Butter Pudding - $7.99
Beverage: Sprite
DSs notes: The Dalkeys were ok, pretty much like eating cocktail wienies. The steak was my least favorite steak of all the restaurants on the trip, but I still ate all of it. The bread pudding was ok, but by dessert time I was really quite full.
Comments: DS also polished off a portion of my Paddys Pork, Im glad it didnt go to waste!
Me -
Appetizer: Seared Scallops - Pan seared Georges Bank scallops served on creamed sweet corn and garnished with a candied lemon salad $9.95
Paddy's Pork - Tasty pork loin stuffed with homemade sausage meat drizzled with honey soy glaze. Served with buttered leeks, cabbage and mashed potatoes. $19.95
Dessert: Ger's Bread & Butter Pudding - $7.99
Beverage: Ginger Ale
My notes: The scallops were good, the appetizer plate of them would have been enough for a meal! The corn served with them didnt do a lot for me, it was just kind of there, and I dont even remember the lemon salad mentioned on the description, it must have been a minor item. The Paddys Pork had a really good sauce! The pork was tender, as was the stuffing in it, and I liked the underlayer of mashed potatoes with cabbage, but I like colcannon and just dont make it very often since my guys dont like it, so this was a treat. I was so looking forward to the bread pudding, but like DS, I was rather full by the time dessert arrived and couldnt do it justice, its a large portion. I was trying to adjust the ratios of the cream and the syrup served with it, and at one point got too much syrup in it and got it too sweet for my tastes and finally abandoned the effort. I think if somebody came in here right now (where Im writing my report), bearing a Gers Bread and Butter Pudding, I think Id be really happy to try it again.
The Dalkey Duo! Actually, a Dalkey many, lots of little sausages, served impaled on forks with the rest piled in a bowl. Lots of people could achieve Dalkey happiness with this appetizer. (sorry, its a little blurry, but it was a little dark in Raglan Road and I couldnt check my digital display too well)
My scallops appetizer Ive cut into one, and they were quite tender and nicely done.
Somehow, the camera was put away and I forgot to take pictures of the rest of the meal.
In the midst of us digging into our appetizers, the band started a song and lo and behold! The lovely lady who had checked us in at the podium came into the room, ascended the steps to the table by us, and I realized that she was the step dancer! Even the Dalkey Duo was put on hold while we watched her, she was quite lovely and performed several times during the evening. DH and DS said they wondered why one of the tables in the room had steps on it, especially since several people were seated around it, eating.
So the band (Tusker Rock) played, and the dancer danced, and there was a party of people (looked like a pre-wedding party) dancing and at one point a dancing couple crashed into DSs chair while he was eating(they apologized), and people crowded into the room when the dancer took to her little step stage and there were lots of happy people at the bar and it was loud and boisterous and .
And I feared it might have been too much for my little group. I think next time it might be better if I can book a seating a little earlier in the evening, and be on the dessert course when all the revelry starts. It had been a very hot day at Animal Kingdom and we were a bit bleary by then.
Alexis also brought out a complimentary basket of bread, I think she said it was soda bread, and a dish of dipping sauce, I think she said it was Guiness reduction. The bread wasnt like any soda bread Ive tasted or made, it was dark and rather hard and dry. The guys didnt like the dipping sauce, but I did! It was rather sweet, and if I broke off some bread and let it soak a bit, the bread was soft enough to eat. Im not sure if the bread was supposed to be hard like that, but we had so much other food to eat, I didnt question it.
Total $130.00 estimate (I never saw a receipt with a total on it, but on the zeroed out receipt I was given I wrote that amount, so Im not sure if that included tax or not)
Would we return to Raglan Road? DS not really! DH sure, it was a fun place. (I just know hes going back for those Dalkey sausage !) Me There are a lot of things on the menu Id like to try, Id like to go back. I enjoyed the entertainment, the musicians were very good and I like Celtic music. Looking back, we should have requested another table in a quieter location and DS might have been more comfortable.
Oh! Tonight before dinner, DH said, I could go for those Dalkeys again.
whogirl'smom
<font color=royalblue>Any leftover grumpiness can
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2006
- Messages
- 3,272
Mmmm, everything looks so good! I really want some bread pudding now! I think Raglan Road would be really fun after you had rested in the afternoon; I have a DD who doesn't like loud music, etc. either and she would have to be well rested to enjoy this! I'm sad the DDP won't include the appetizer next year, b/c those scallops look awfully yummy!
FirstMagic
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2003
- Messages
- 407
I had a lot of "should I switch reservations?" thoughts before our trip too! We went with Kona on this trip because of all the good reviews I was reading, and we'd never had an evening meal there and wanted to try it, but we have had dinner at Ohana (before they changed the menu a couple of years ago). I think Ohana has more atmosphere, but at Kona you have more pick of food.
I suppose you've been reading all the reviews with people swearing they've had the best/worst meal of their trip at either one!
Hopefully somebody will chime in and be able to give you more recent input on Ohana, the last time we dined there they still had the fresh pineapple with caramel dip dessert which we were big fans of, so that's been a while.
Happy Anniversary! I hope you enjoy your trip and your Disney dining!
Ron from Michigan
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 23, 1999
- Messages
- 5,938
Thanks for the latest chapter FirstMagic. We will be dining at Raglan Road after EMH at the AK in December. Looking forward to your review of Jiko.
wilma-bride
<<This space intentionally blank>>
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2005
- Messages
- 22,681
See, now you've changed my mind on Raglan Road again. Having dined there twice, I was planning on skipping it during the next trip but, having read your review and seen those lovely little battered sausages, I'm rapidly thinking again
FirstMagic
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2003
- Messages
- 407
See, now you've changed my mind on Raglan Road again. Having dined there twice, I was planning on skipping it during the next trip but, having read your review and seen those lovely little battered sausages, I'm rapidly thinking again
Dalkey!!!!!
I know that next time we're going to have a difficult time deciding whether to do some of our favorites again or branch out into new territory. This time I made the decisions, but I'm suspecting next time my husband my son will join in the fun of choosing restaurants.
FirstMagic
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2003
- Messages
- 407
Yesterday I saw a lady toting a box of donuts from the Pops food court and I remembered Hey! A snack credit will buy a box of Entenmanns donuts!, so I told my family I was going to Everything Pop to burn a snack credit on donuts and there was much cheering and rejoicing and I just knew I would be hailed a conquering hero on my return to the room.
OK, it wasnt quite that exciting, but DH and DS agreed that it was a good use of a snack credit to get 8 donuts, and vary our morning diet a bit.
One box of assorted Entenmanns donuts: $4.04 with tax
Time of purchase: 8:40 a.m.
You get two chocolate, two powdered sugar, two plain, and two pimply donuts in the box, at least thats what DS calls those bumpy textured ones. A couple days later DS was in the food court with me and he saw they also had boxes of donut holes, and he asked why I didnt get the donut holes, so nobody would have to eat the pimply donuts. I said I swear, they did NOT have donut holes the other day, only the assorted box! Note to self: next time, buy the donut holes. They might be easier to divvy up too; eight divided by three was more math than I wanted to do in the morning.
As for snack credits, if youve been keeping count, which you probably havent, since Im already doing that for you youll notice that we havent been using many of them. At the start of our trip DH declared that all 33 snack credits would be allocated to Dole Whip Floats. He was just kidding (I think). The reality of it was that we were usually cruising on full with just a light breakfast, a Counter Service lunch, and then a big evening dinner. My guys accused me of hoarding the snack credits for use at the Food and Wine Festival. They were just kidding (uh huh). I told them at any time, any one of us could take our Magic card and go blow a snack credit on any item with a purple symbol, but they said they just werent hungry for snacks either. Usually were tempted by mouse bars, rice creams, frozen bananas, popcorn but on this trip we were either full, or riding a ride, or going to/coming from a park. So we all knew we had a fistful of snack credits to invest.
Since we had missed doing the Safari ride at the Animal Kingdom yesterday, we wanted to go back and ride it one more time, so we headed to the AK with the express purpose of just riding that one ride. We got a Fast Pass (glad we did, the standby line was already long!) and had seen the African acrobat troop ready to start a show, so we headed back toward Tusker House and here is the next entry in my food journal:
9-27 Attempted snack TamuTamu wanted smoothies, they had none
We were so excited, we were going to use a snack credit! But when we got to the register and I placed an order for three smoothies, the Cast Members pointed dourly to a little handwritten sign on their cash register We have no smoothies today. We couldnt think of anything else we wanted, since our mouths had been hoping for smoothies, so we didnt get anything.
We watched the acrobat show, and then it was time for our Fast Pass on the safari. We were glad we had come to the park to ride it again, since it was one of the best animal viewing rides weve even taken on the safari!
I had taken a list of possible counter services places where we wanted to dine, and one was the Riverside Mill Food Court at Port Orleans Riverside, so today seemed like a good chance to transit through that resort on our way from Animal Kingdom to EPCOT. In the interest of time this was not a good idea, but in the interest of nostalgia, it was, since weve often stayed at Riverside and wanted to see it again on this trip. It took a long time for the Port Orleans bus to come at Animal Kingdom, then a stop at French Quarter, then a small detour (construction), then finally (yay!) Riverside.
We hadnt dined at their food court since they remodeled, and were curious what it was like a little brighter, a little more open, and some new food offerings. While we were looking at the food stations, I asked a Cast Member who passed by what we were permitted to have for dessert on the Disney Dining Plan, and she was super nice! She said we could have anything in the bakery case, or even an ice cream shake, which prompted an Im going to have one of those! from DH as he headed off toward burger land and a shake. DS and I were looking at the build-your-own-pasta station and thought that looked intriguing. We all met up at a table bearing on our trays:
DH
Bacon Cheeseburger and fries $6.39
Fountain drink (they had vanilla Coke there)
Chocolate Milk Shake $3.99
DS and me
Pasta Your Way (we chose) penne pasta, chicken, artichoke hearts, pine nuts, red peppers, alfredo sauce and parmesan cheese $8.99
Pint of Orange Juice
Mickey Rice Krispie Treat
Total: $29.02
Time of dining: 2:06 p.m.
We were once again glad that we shared two Counter Service meals, portions were large! DS and I shared the pasta, he wanted the chicken, and I wanted the artichoke hearts, so that worked out well. He had some of DHs burger, and we all nibbled on the fries.
DH said the Cast Member we stopped to ask about dessert even called to him from her station while he was getting his burger, and said if he had any questions to come to her and shed help, how nice!
The food court and dining area were really quiet at this time in the afternoon, weve seen it at full-tilt mayhem, so we enjoyed the peace and watched the water wheel turn and thought about all the wonderful times weve dined here. The food is pretty much Disney CS food, but our memories add something to the food that makes it special.
We walked around the resort, and then caught a bus to EPCOT, where we spent the rest of the afternoon. At 6:45 we were in Innoventions and realized we hadnt played the Robot game yet, so we got in line at Fantastic Plastics Works where I knew wed work up an appetite playing the game. We played the last game of the day, and DS and I quickly grabbed some robot parts and put them together outside, since they were closing the pavilion. We then caught the bus to our dinner at:
Jiko
Reservation time: 8:00 p.m.
Time of arrival: 7:45 p.m.
Time seated: 8:20 p.m.
Our server: Mary
When I checked in at the podium I was advised they were running late, was given a pager which I was told had a range of anywhere in the resort, even outside, just not in the rooms or the game room by the pool, but that if it didnt go off by 8:20 or so, to come back and check. We werent really sure the range of the pager was going to reach if we wandered too far and noticed nobody was waiting on the Boma side, so we found a bench there and decided to stay put until our pager went off. Boma must have been having a slow night, because soon the ladies that worked the podium there went over and started to play the large drums in the waiting area. So we had some pre-dinner entertainment!
About 8:20, DH and DS looked at their watches and said Wonder if we should check back? so I said it probably wouldnt hurt and I went back to the Jiko podium and reminded the young man hed told me to check back at 8:20. He said Theres still another party at your table, perhaps another 10 minutes no how about now? (so I was glad I asked!) and motioned to DH and DS that our table was ready. We were led to a table in the back of the restaurant, and DS seated our guests for the night at a chair across from me:
When Mary spotted them she said Will they be joining us this evening? and we said they would. OK, nice restaurant + robots, do they mix? We werent sure what to do with them, and had grown rather fond of them after assembling them at EPCOT. They sat quietly through dinner, just the tops of their eyes peering over the edge of the table at me.
This was our first meal at Jiko, but not the first time I had been in there. Once I had poked my head in the restaurant in the late afternoon before dinner seating, a staff member saw me and invited me in to look around, so I had an idea what the restaurant looked like.
Mary stopped by to take our drink orders, and asked if wed like bottled water since it was included there on the Disney Dining Plan and we decided to take her up on the offer. She asked With bubbles or without? and DH and DS demurred to me to make the decision, and without thinking too much, I said With bubbles. Mary soon arrived bearing bottles of San Pellegrino, poured them, and lets just say that Mary saved the night when she soon brought DH and DS Coke-Cola.
My guys reminded me that Im the one whos happily swigging Beverly over at Club Cool at EPCOT. So I was the only one who drank the bottled water.
Mary was the consummate professional, she told me shes been with Jiko for three years, so she is well acquainted with the menu, her timing was excellent, and her experience helped make a wonderful dinner even better.
While perusing the appetizer menu, Mary made several suggestions and also said she could have us made up an appetizer platter consisting of the items on the left hand column which would count for one persons appetizers, and then we could order two more appetizers. We were worried this would be a lot of food, but Mary assured us that would give us a chance to try a little of a lot of things, so we went with her suggestion.
Appetizers:
Platter
Lamb "Patis" - pulled lamb rolled in phyllo, with mint-cilantro chutney
Maize and Sweet Potato "Tamales" - herbed maize pudding and truffled sweet potato mash with shredded goat cheese in corn husk boat
Fire Roasted Sambal Shrimp - with chickpea and peppadew bhajai
Lentil "Pastilla" - Lentil filled phyllo pockets with a sweet and sour sauce
(there might have been another item on the platter too, I forgot to take notes!)
For our other appetizers we chose:
Kenyan Coffee Barbecued Chicken Flatbread - with grilled onions, apple julienne, and four cheeses $10.00
Ahi Tuna Two Ways - seared tuna with Zough yogurt and marinated tuna with Tikka yogurt $13.00
Id say it was a lot more than just nibbles, this was a lot of food, but it was fun trying a lot of items and savoring the flavors. DH and I werent quite as fond of the Maize and Sweet Potato Tamales as we thought wed be, so we were glad there were other items to sample. He liked the Lentil Pastilla the best and I would have to agree. DS liked the Lamb Patis the best. None of us particularly liked the flatbread although I was sure I was going to find it a favorite. I think it was just eclipsed by some of the other entries. DS and I had the tuna, which was quite good, but my favorite part of the tuna appetizer was the thin crackerbread served with it! I asked Mary about it and she said they bake them at Jiko.
Why I didnt get the camera out and take a picture, Ill never know. Perhaps because I didnt have a wide angle lens to capture all the food!
Mary also brought out a basket of complimentary bread with a dish of special butter. We liked the bread, but werent quite as fond of the spread.
For our entrée we all ordered the same thing:
Oak-Grilled Filet Mignon - with macaroni and cheese and red wine sauce $37.00
DH and DS are the steak eaters in the family and I had shown them pictures of this entrée from the DISboards, remarking how delicious it looked and DH said MACARONI AND CHEESE? and wondered if he might possibly be able to substitute the offending mac n cheese for some potatoes and I told him I was sure it was worth a try.
Mary didnt even blink an eye when DH asked if he could have the noodles swapped for some taters and his plate arrived with the steak served with, what looked to me, scalloped potatoes. DH was quite happy.
I am not a steak eater. It is a rare occasion when I order a steak, I can not even remember the last time I had one. But the DISboards pictures of this filet haunted me; the red wine sauce looked so delicious that even I succumbed.
Our take on the steak: DS this steak and the one at California Grill tied for the best steak Ive ever had! Id say the Mac and Cheese served with it was pretty good. DH The steak was great, a wonderful fillet, cooked just right. The potatoes were very good, I was glad I could swap out the macaroni. Me I liked the red wine sauce, the steak was good, and I requested no pink anything and it was done that way but still tender. I didnt like the macaroni and cheese here as well as I do at Boma, this might have been a touch more gourmet, but there is something about Bomas that I really like.
Dessert:
I didnt write down exactly what we ordered, I thought Id recognize the items when I looked at the menus on the site, but they arent on there!!! This is what our receipt says for desserts:
Seasonal
Chocolate Dessert
Mousse
Helpful?????? Not really.
I know DS was trying to decide between two desserts, so he asked Mary her recommendation and she pointed to a strawberry dessert and he went with that and was glad he did. I had a taste and it was marvelous! (I dont think it was the Plant City Strawberry Semi Freddo though.) It might have been the seasonal or mousse, but it was pure heaven.
DH had a chocolate dessert. No surprise there! It wasnt the flourless chocolate cake, and he cant remember the name of it, but he was quite happy with it.
I was thinking of getting a cheese plate for dessert, Id had such fun eating the cheese plate at California Grill and the Animal Kingdom cheese list had such interesting items! Then I spied this on the menu:
House-made Lemon Curd - with pomegranate and blueberry compote, white chocolate biscotti and sour cream ice cream $8.00
Lemon curd! That struck a note with me, although I didnt remember anybody reviewing this dessert, it just sounded so right after this meal that I got this instead of the cheese plate.
Now I wont say this dessert is for everybody, Mr. Chocolate (DH) didnt even try it, and if you dont like lemon flavor or tartness you might not like it. But after a heavy steak meal, I found it so perfect. The lemon curd, the berries, some kind of crust mixed in it and Im not even sure if that was sour cream ice cream or what, I was just happily spooning heavenly bites into my mouth. I kept saying This is so good!, This is the best stuff Ive ever tasted! in a blissful reverie. I declared this dessert THE BEST THING I ATE ON THIS TRIP.
I took the biscotti off the top and took it along with me and ended up eating it while we were waiting for the bus.
Subtotal: $201.00
Tip: $36.18
Tax: $12.22
Total: $249.40
Our seating area was quiet and the parties around us werent boisterous or noisy. Whether by luck or because we had a later reservation I dont know, but this was the quietest dinner we had on this trip and it seemed appropriate for the fine dining.
Was this meal worth two Table Services credits apiece? Most definitely! Dinner was a long, leisurely affair, and Mary is a credit to fine dining.
Would we return to Jiko? We all voted that wed like to return! DS Id like to go back for steak and dessert! We enjoyed the décor of the restaurant too. My guys want to have the filet again, and Id like to try a fish entrée perhaps. I hope the lemon curd dessert finds its way to my mouth again too!
It was late when we exited Jiko and we didnt think catching an EPCOT bus would be a good idea because they might have stopped running, and I couldnt remember how late the Magic Kingdom was open that evening and considered going back to the lobby to ask, then we just decided we might as well go through Downtown Disney and hope the wait there wouldnt be too long or crowded, since we were really tired. After a while, a Downtown Disney bus pulled up, and another couple and a small family got on board with us. This small group was the only passengers on the bus, and I was just happy that I wouldnt have to stand for the ride. The bus driver came down the aisle and said Are any of you really wanting to go to Downtown, or are you just transiting through there to get back to your hotel? and we all told him we were just trying to get back to our resorts.
He said Well then! You are in luck! Because this is .A MAGIC BUS! And so we met:
Phillip, the Magic Busdriver
He announced that since we didnt really want to go to Downtown Disney, that he was going to take us directly to our hotels! He asked which hotels we were going to: the small family was going to All Star Music, the other couple was going to Port Orleans, and we were going to Pop Century, so he said hed first stop at Music, then Pop, then Port Orleans. We all gave a weary cheer and couldnt believe how lucky we were to get on the Magic Bus.
Phillip was so considerate, when it came time to turn on the bus lights, hed warn us, and then do a countdown to lights .three two .one. He even said pretty please, with shortcake on it at one point (I cant remember what about), and we figure he saved us at least 45 minutes to an hour of transit time late at night.
We thanked him most sincerely when we stopped at Pop Century, and figured we had a truly most Magical Moment on that bus, and a wonderful end to a fantastic dinner.
OK, it wasnt quite that exciting, but DH and DS agreed that it was a good use of a snack credit to get 8 donuts, and vary our morning diet a bit.
One box of assorted Entenmanns donuts: $4.04 with tax
Time of purchase: 8:40 a.m.
You get two chocolate, two powdered sugar, two plain, and two pimply donuts in the box, at least thats what DS calls those bumpy textured ones. A couple days later DS was in the food court with me and he saw they also had boxes of donut holes, and he asked why I didnt get the donut holes, so nobody would have to eat the pimply donuts. I said I swear, they did NOT have donut holes the other day, only the assorted box! Note to self: next time, buy the donut holes. They might be easier to divvy up too; eight divided by three was more math than I wanted to do in the morning.
As for snack credits, if youve been keeping count, which you probably havent, since Im already doing that for you youll notice that we havent been using many of them. At the start of our trip DH declared that all 33 snack credits would be allocated to Dole Whip Floats. He was just kidding (I think). The reality of it was that we were usually cruising on full with just a light breakfast, a Counter Service lunch, and then a big evening dinner. My guys accused me of hoarding the snack credits for use at the Food and Wine Festival. They were just kidding (uh huh). I told them at any time, any one of us could take our Magic card and go blow a snack credit on any item with a purple symbol, but they said they just werent hungry for snacks either. Usually were tempted by mouse bars, rice creams, frozen bananas, popcorn but on this trip we were either full, or riding a ride, or going to/coming from a park. So we all knew we had a fistful of snack credits to invest.
Since we had missed doing the Safari ride at the Animal Kingdom yesterday, we wanted to go back and ride it one more time, so we headed to the AK with the express purpose of just riding that one ride. We got a Fast Pass (glad we did, the standby line was already long!) and had seen the African acrobat troop ready to start a show, so we headed back toward Tusker House and here is the next entry in my food journal:
9-27 Attempted snack TamuTamu wanted smoothies, they had none
We were so excited, we were going to use a snack credit! But when we got to the register and I placed an order for three smoothies, the Cast Members pointed dourly to a little handwritten sign on their cash register We have no smoothies today. We couldnt think of anything else we wanted, since our mouths had been hoping for smoothies, so we didnt get anything.
We watched the acrobat show, and then it was time for our Fast Pass on the safari. We were glad we had come to the park to ride it again, since it was one of the best animal viewing rides weve even taken on the safari!
I had taken a list of possible counter services places where we wanted to dine, and one was the Riverside Mill Food Court at Port Orleans Riverside, so today seemed like a good chance to transit through that resort on our way from Animal Kingdom to EPCOT. In the interest of time this was not a good idea, but in the interest of nostalgia, it was, since weve often stayed at Riverside and wanted to see it again on this trip. It took a long time for the Port Orleans bus to come at Animal Kingdom, then a stop at French Quarter, then a small detour (construction), then finally (yay!) Riverside.
We hadnt dined at their food court since they remodeled, and were curious what it was like a little brighter, a little more open, and some new food offerings. While we were looking at the food stations, I asked a Cast Member who passed by what we were permitted to have for dessert on the Disney Dining Plan, and she was super nice! She said we could have anything in the bakery case, or even an ice cream shake, which prompted an Im going to have one of those! from DH as he headed off toward burger land and a shake. DS and I were looking at the build-your-own-pasta station and thought that looked intriguing. We all met up at a table bearing on our trays:
DH
Bacon Cheeseburger and fries $6.39
Fountain drink (they had vanilla Coke there)
Chocolate Milk Shake $3.99
DS and me
Pasta Your Way (we chose) penne pasta, chicken, artichoke hearts, pine nuts, red peppers, alfredo sauce and parmesan cheese $8.99
Pint of Orange Juice
Mickey Rice Krispie Treat
Total: $29.02
Time of dining: 2:06 p.m.
We were once again glad that we shared two Counter Service meals, portions were large! DS and I shared the pasta, he wanted the chicken, and I wanted the artichoke hearts, so that worked out well. He had some of DHs burger, and we all nibbled on the fries.
DH said the Cast Member we stopped to ask about dessert even called to him from her station while he was getting his burger, and said if he had any questions to come to her and shed help, how nice!
The food court and dining area were really quiet at this time in the afternoon, weve seen it at full-tilt mayhem, so we enjoyed the peace and watched the water wheel turn and thought about all the wonderful times weve dined here. The food is pretty much Disney CS food, but our memories add something to the food that makes it special.
We walked around the resort, and then caught a bus to EPCOT, where we spent the rest of the afternoon. At 6:45 we were in Innoventions and realized we hadnt played the Robot game yet, so we got in line at Fantastic Plastics Works where I knew wed work up an appetite playing the game. We played the last game of the day, and DS and I quickly grabbed some robot parts and put them together outside, since they were closing the pavilion. We then caught the bus to our dinner at:
Jiko
Reservation time: 8:00 p.m.
Time of arrival: 7:45 p.m.
Time seated: 8:20 p.m.
Our server: Mary
When I checked in at the podium I was advised they were running late, was given a pager which I was told had a range of anywhere in the resort, even outside, just not in the rooms or the game room by the pool, but that if it didnt go off by 8:20 or so, to come back and check. We werent really sure the range of the pager was going to reach if we wandered too far and noticed nobody was waiting on the Boma side, so we found a bench there and decided to stay put until our pager went off. Boma must have been having a slow night, because soon the ladies that worked the podium there went over and started to play the large drums in the waiting area. So we had some pre-dinner entertainment!
About 8:20, DH and DS looked at their watches and said Wonder if we should check back? so I said it probably wouldnt hurt and I went back to the Jiko podium and reminded the young man hed told me to check back at 8:20. He said Theres still another party at your table, perhaps another 10 minutes no how about now? (so I was glad I asked!) and motioned to DH and DS that our table was ready. We were led to a table in the back of the restaurant, and DS seated our guests for the night at a chair across from me:
When Mary spotted them she said Will they be joining us this evening? and we said they would. OK, nice restaurant + robots, do they mix? We werent sure what to do with them, and had grown rather fond of them after assembling them at EPCOT. They sat quietly through dinner, just the tops of their eyes peering over the edge of the table at me.
This was our first meal at Jiko, but not the first time I had been in there. Once I had poked my head in the restaurant in the late afternoon before dinner seating, a staff member saw me and invited me in to look around, so I had an idea what the restaurant looked like.
Mary stopped by to take our drink orders, and asked if wed like bottled water since it was included there on the Disney Dining Plan and we decided to take her up on the offer. She asked With bubbles or without? and DH and DS demurred to me to make the decision, and without thinking too much, I said With bubbles. Mary soon arrived bearing bottles of San Pellegrino, poured them, and lets just say that Mary saved the night when she soon brought DH and DS Coke-Cola.
My guys reminded me that Im the one whos happily swigging Beverly over at Club Cool at EPCOT. So I was the only one who drank the bottled water.
Mary was the consummate professional, she told me shes been with Jiko for three years, so she is well acquainted with the menu, her timing was excellent, and her experience helped make a wonderful dinner even better.
While perusing the appetizer menu, Mary made several suggestions and also said she could have us made up an appetizer platter consisting of the items on the left hand column which would count for one persons appetizers, and then we could order two more appetizers. We were worried this would be a lot of food, but Mary assured us that would give us a chance to try a little of a lot of things, so we went with her suggestion.
Appetizers:
Platter
Lamb "Patis" - pulled lamb rolled in phyllo, with mint-cilantro chutney
Maize and Sweet Potato "Tamales" - herbed maize pudding and truffled sweet potato mash with shredded goat cheese in corn husk boat
Fire Roasted Sambal Shrimp - with chickpea and peppadew bhajai
Lentil "Pastilla" - Lentil filled phyllo pockets with a sweet and sour sauce
(there might have been another item on the platter too, I forgot to take notes!)
For our other appetizers we chose:
Kenyan Coffee Barbecued Chicken Flatbread - with grilled onions, apple julienne, and four cheeses $10.00
Ahi Tuna Two Ways - seared tuna with Zough yogurt and marinated tuna with Tikka yogurt $13.00
Id say it was a lot more than just nibbles, this was a lot of food, but it was fun trying a lot of items and savoring the flavors. DH and I werent quite as fond of the Maize and Sweet Potato Tamales as we thought wed be, so we were glad there were other items to sample. He liked the Lentil Pastilla the best and I would have to agree. DS liked the Lamb Patis the best. None of us particularly liked the flatbread although I was sure I was going to find it a favorite. I think it was just eclipsed by some of the other entries. DS and I had the tuna, which was quite good, but my favorite part of the tuna appetizer was the thin crackerbread served with it! I asked Mary about it and she said they bake them at Jiko.
Why I didnt get the camera out and take a picture, Ill never know. Perhaps because I didnt have a wide angle lens to capture all the food!
Mary also brought out a basket of complimentary bread with a dish of special butter. We liked the bread, but werent quite as fond of the spread.
For our entrée we all ordered the same thing:
Oak-Grilled Filet Mignon - with macaroni and cheese and red wine sauce $37.00
DH and DS are the steak eaters in the family and I had shown them pictures of this entrée from the DISboards, remarking how delicious it looked and DH said MACARONI AND CHEESE? and wondered if he might possibly be able to substitute the offending mac n cheese for some potatoes and I told him I was sure it was worth a try.
Mary didnt even blink an eye when DH asked if he could have the noodles swapped for some taters and his plate arrived with the steak served with, what looked to me, scalloped potatoes. DH was quite happy.
I am not a steak eater. It is a rare occasion when I order a steak, I can not even remember the last time I had one. But the DISboards pictures of this filet haunted me; the red wine sauce looked so delicious that even I succumbed.
Our take on the steak: DS this steak and the one at California Grill tied for the best steak Ive ever had! Id say the Mac and Cheese served with it was pretty good. DH The steak was great, a wonderful fillet, cooked just right. The potatoes were very good, I was glad I could swap out the macaroni. Me I liked the red wine sauce, the steak was good, and I requested no pink anything and it was done that way but still tender. I didnt like the macaroni and cheese here as well as I do at Boma, this might have been a touch more gourmet, but there is something about Bomas that I really like.
Dessert:
I didnt write down exactly what we ordered, I thought Id recognize the items when I looked at the menus on the site, but they arent on there!!! This is what our receipt says for desserts:
Seasonal
Chocolate Dessert
Mousse
Helpful?????? Not really.
I know DS was trying to decide between two desserts, so he asked Mary her recommendation and she pointed to a strawberry dessert and he went with that and was glad he did. I had a taste and it was marvelous! (I dont think it was the Plant City Strawberry Semi Freddo though.) It might have been the seasonal or mousse, but it was pure heaven.
DH had a chocolate dessert. No surprise there! It wasnt the flourless chocolate cake, and he cant remember the name of it, but he was quite happy with it.
I was thinking of getting a cheese plate for dessert, Id had such fun eating the cheese plate at California Grill and the Animal Kingdom cheese list had such interesting items! Then I spied this on the menu:
House-made Lemon Curd - with pomegranate and blueberry compote, white chocolate biscotti and sour cream ice cream $8.00
Lemon curd! That struck a note with me, although I didnt remember anybody reviewing this dessert, it just sounded so right after this meal that I got this instead of the cheese plate.
Now I wont say this dessert is for everybody, Mr. Chocolate (DH) didnt even try it, and if you dont like lemon flavor or tartness you might not like it. But after a heavy steak meal, I found it so perfect. The lemon curd, the berries, some kind of crust mixed in it and Im not even sure if that was sour cream ice cream or what, I was just happily spooning heavenly bites into my mouth. I kept saying This is so good!, This is the best stuff Ive ever tasted! in a blissful reverie. I declared this dessert THE BEST THING I ATE ON THIS TRIP.
I took the biscotti off the top and took it along with me and ended up eating it while we were waiting for the bus.
Subtotal: $201.00
Tip: $36.18
Tax: $12.22
Total: $249.40
Our seating area was quiet and the parties around us werent boisterous or noisy. Whether by luck or because we had a later reservation I dont know, but this was the quietest dinner we had on this trip and it seemed appropriate for the fine dining.
Was this meal worth two Table Services credits apiece? Most definitely! Dinner was a long, leisurely affair, and Mary is a credit to fine dining.
Would we return to Jiko? We all voted that wed like to return! DS Id like to go back for steak and dessert! We enjoyed the décor of the restaurant too. My guys want to have the filet again, and Id like to try a fish entrée perhaps. I hope the lemon curd dessert finds its way to my mouth again too!
It was late when we exited Jiko and we didnt think catching an EPCOT bus would be a good idea because they might have stopped running, and I couldnt remember how late the Magic Kingdom was open that evening and considered going back to the lobby to ask, then we just decided we might as well go through Downtown Disney and hope the wait there wouldnt be too long or crowded, since we were really tired. After a while, a Downtown Disney bus pulled up, and another couple and a small family got on board with us. This small group was the only passengers on the bus, and I was just happy that I wouldnt have to stand for the ride. The bus driver came down the aisle and said Are any of you really wanting to go to Downtown, or are you just transiting through there to get back to your hotel? and we all told him we were just trying to get back to our resorts.
He said Well then! You are in luck! Because this is .A MAGIC BUS! And so we met:
Phillip, the Magic Busdriver
He announced that since we didnt really want to go to Downtown Disney, that he was going to take us directly to our hotels! He asked which hotels we were going to: the small family was going to All Star Music, the other couple was going to Port Orleans, and we were going to Pop Century, so he said hed first stop at Music, then Pop, then Port Orleans. We all gave a weary cheer and couldnt believe how lucky we were to get on the Magic Bus.
Phillip was so considerate, when it came time to turn on the bus lights, hed warn us, and then do a countdown to lights .three two .one. He even said pretty please, with shortcake on it at one point (I cant remember what about), and we figure he saved us at least 45 minutes to an hour of transit time late at night.
We thanked him most sincerely when we stopped at Pop Century, and figured we had a truly most Magical Moment on that bus, and a wonderful end to a fantastic dinner.
Ron from Michigan
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 23, 1999
- Messages
- 5,938
Thanks for another great post FirstMagic. I'm glad you enjoyed your meal at Jiko as it is one of our favorites. We also have gotten lucky on the buses from AKL back to our hotel in the past. Several years ago we came out of the lodge after a fantastic meal at Jiko's. While waiting for the bus to DD another bus pulls up that says training. They open the doors and asked if we were going to DD or to another resort. We told them we wanted to go to the All- Star Sports and they said hop on will take you. We were in so happy to not have to go to DD. Then last year we were taking the bus to DD to transfer to a boat to POFQ. There were us and one other couple on the bus when the driver asks where we are staying. We told him POFQ and the other couple said they were staying at the Grand Floridian. The driver said that he would drop us off at POFQ since he had to go right by it. Boy was that great. He told the other couple he could not help them since they were way out of his route. I often thought that if you could afford to stay at the GF what not just pay a little extra and get a cab. 
FirstMagic
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2003
- Messages
- 407
Thanks for another great post FirstMagic. I'm glad you enjoyed your meal at Jiko as it is one of our favorites. We also have gotten lucky on the buses from AKL back to our hotel in the past. Several years ago we came out of the lodge after a fantastic meal at Jiko's. While waiting for the bus to DD another bus pulls up that says training. They open the doors and asked if we were going to DD or to another resort. We told them we wanted to go to the All- Star Sports and they said hop on will take you. We were in so happy to not have to go to DD. Then last year we were taking the bus to DD to transfer to a boat to POFQ. There were us and one other couple on the bus when the driver asks where we are staying. We told him POFQ and the other couple said they were staying at the Grand Floridian. The driver said that he would drop us off at POFQ since he had to go right by it. Boy was that great. He told the other couple he could not help them since they were way out of his route. I often thought that if you could afford to stay at the GF what not just pay a little extra and get a cab.
Thanks for a great Disney bus story, its always so nice to hear when a little extra pixie dust is spread!
I hope you have a great dinner at Raglan Road after EMH at Animal Kingdom, we saw a beautiful full moon over the bridge from "Africa", an extra treat for staying late in the park.
Happy eats!
MOTHERGOOSE3
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2007
- Messages
- 61
yummy
PrincessTiff
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2006
- Messages
- 2,595
I'm starving now! Thank you for sharing.
FirstMagic
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2003
- Messages
- 407
It certainly was, I could use some now! Let alone having someone else do the cooking...
My pleasure! I'm having fun reliving it and hope to finish the report soon. Real life keeps interrupting!I'm starving now! Thank you for sharing.
I wish I had booked it twice on this trip, and I know my family does too. It's one of the reasons I had to book a "next" time!
Thanks for reading everybody! I'll try and get our Food and Wine experience up soon!
disneyjunebug
Three greatest guys in the world: Bill Nye, Micke
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2007
- Messages
- 641
Great review! Look forward to hearing more!
FirstMagic
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2003
- Messages
- 407
I'm downloading a picture now and then posting the next installment in the dining saga. Glad you've stuck with me through all those dinners!
Looking at your tagline, are you a Bill Nye fan? He used to be in a lot of shows at WDW, in fact, we used to call it NyeCOT.
FirstMagic
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2003
- Messages
- 407
I'm splitting today into two parts, so to give your eyes a rest if you've stuck with me so far.
We decided to use the Counter Service credit we didnt use yesterday on a breakfast at Everything Pop to help carry us through the morning until World Showcase opened for the Food and Wine Festival. Although the chocolate chip pancakes wed had before were great, Id seen people getting yummy looking waffles, which a POP logo indented into the waffle. That was so cute! I wonder if all the resorts have their own logo waffle makers?
POP Waffle Platter with two strips of bacon and one sausage patty $5.49
Pint of Chocolate Milk
Pint of Orange Juice
Total: $9.27
DH and DS split the bacon and sausage; Id had my years quota of meat last night with the Jiko steak.
I thought the Food and Wine Festival was supposed to start today (Friday), but wed noticed most of the booths were open yesterday afternoon, so we had previewed the menus at each booth. Of course, I had printed a list of the offerings I had seen on line before we left and marked the ones I was interested in, and asked the guys what sounded like something they would like to try.
We did some rides in Future World, and shortly after 11:30 were heading toward World Showcase, taking the path along the rose garden behind the Imagination Pavilion, when I realized that the Dream Squad had suddenly materialized, smack dab in front of us and the group of people that were taking the path with us! They told us that we were the lucky people who happened to be in the right place at the right time, and they were giving us all Year of a Million Dreams Mickey Ears!
I took this picture at home in case you wanted to see the hats. Those ears they do shine!
I must confess, Ive never had a pair of Mickey Ears! Im of the age where I watched the original Mickey Mouse Club show on TV, and I so wanted a pair of those ears when I was little, but never got them. As an adult, Ive often though about getting a some, but usually end up saying Next trip, and coming home ear-less. So I was finally getting my ears, and a pair of Magic ears at that!
DH adjusted his ears to fill over his ball cap, he always wears a hat so now he was wearing two. DS and I put ours on, were just not hat wearers, but decided these would be great to protect our heads from the sun as we made our way around World Showcase on a very hot and sunny day. All day long as Cast Members encountered us, they congratulated us for winning the hats, telling us how special they were and that they couldnt be bought, and making over us like wed just won the lottery. At first we felt kind of weird hearing all the congratulations, then we went with the flow and it really was kind of fun.
A family who had won ears also put theirs on and asked if wed take a picture of them, so I took some snaps for them, but you know what? We totally forgot to have OUR picture taken in them!
Now for our Food and Wine Review, which is going to be rather short (imagine that! From me????). We had a fist full of Snack Credits, and I was pleased to see the purple symbol on most of the food items listed on the festivals booths when we checked yesterday, and figured wed just eat lunch at the booths as we made our way around World Showcase.
Our first stop was Canada, at 12:08, where there was already a long line. When we had first checked into Pop Century, we had decided not to put charge privileges on one of the cards, so that we could use that card solely for use on the Dining Plan, and not worry that it would be mistakenly charged back to the room. DH had the card that had no charging privileges, so he had paid for all our dining with his card, and would be the one using the snack credits with it at the Food and Wine Festival. I was going to pay out-of-pocket for wine, beer, or incidental items.
DH and I got in line, he to order, for two Snack Credits:
Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup $3.00
Maple Glazed Salmon with Roasted Corn and Arugula $3.75
DS took off for a foray to the mercantile in Canada to escape the sun and returned just in time to help us find a little stand-up table to sample our items. Ive been wanting to make the cheese soup at home, since were all big soup fans, and thought it would be a good chance to see if my family liked it before I made a big pot of it. The portion we got was very small, barely ¼ cup, but at least we all had a taste and pronounced it good and I will attempt the recipe at home some time. DS and I shared the salmon, it was ok, nothing special, and I could detect no maple glaze on our portion.
I bought a sample of the Mission Hill Reserve Riesling Icewine (1 oz.) for $5.25. I had never had ice wine before and wanted to try it before committing to the purchase of a bottle. It was good, sweet and reminded me of the wine my father used to make! I usually dont like sweet wine, but could see drinking a tiny glass of this after dinner. I also enjoyed the nostalgic flavor.
On we moved, counterclockwise, through World Showcase. DS thought about trying a Lamb Slider in New Zealand, but didnt want to wait in the long line for one, so we passed it by. I went to look at the Tea Booth in the United Kingdom to see what their offerings were, but neither DH nor DS are tea drinkers, so I passed it by for now. We had dinner reservations for Chefs that night, so passed by France. Weve had plenty of buffalo so the Oklahoma booth didnt seem interesting, and although the Rose Rock Diner looked cute, the guys didnt want Peach Buckle or Pecan Pie. The Moroccan offerings sounded good, but weve had them often in the restaurant, and finally we made a stop at the Australian booth. I asked DH to get an order of (using a Snack Credit):
Shrimp on the Barbie $4.25
and after debating a bit, I got in the other line to get a:
Macadamia Nut and Chocolate Bar $2.50
and paid out-of-pocket for that item.
DH doesnt eat shrimp, so DS and I ate the two shrimp we were given. The sample also had a bunch of onions and some yellow stuff, Im not sure if it was squash or what, but DS doesnt eat onions, and sometimes I find it best to avoid it, so basically we had two small and rather uninteresting shrimp to consume.
The Macadamia nut and chocolate bar, however, was great! We all had a little hunk of it and declared it yummy. We thought about going back for another one, but both order lines were long at the Australian booth now, so we decided to move on.
The Japanese booth had sushi, which was of interest to me, but it didnt seem worth it to stand in a long line to get some just for me, so we headed to the USA booth, where I knew I wanted to try the:
Maine Lobster Roll $6.75
For one Snack Credit.
Which consisted of about a four-inch bun (almost like a hot-dog bun) with what tasted like chopped up fake Krab mixed with onions. DS and I split it and agreed it wasnt very good at all, and I said I was glad I didnt actually pay $6.75, and even using a free Snack Credit, it just wasnt worth it. When DS came back after ordering it, he said the Cast Member was having problems with the cash register and I looked at our receipt, which said Entitlements used: 1 which seemed normal, but then stated Coupons remaining: call front desk. I was worried that this transaction had somehow dumped all our Snack Credits, so made it a point to check on them on the next snack transaction, and it seemed like they were fine. Seemed being the operative word here.
At this point I asked my family if they just wanted to bail out on the Food and Wine thing and go get some real food, and they agreed. DH just wasnt into trying anything (except one spoonful of the cheese soup), and so we headed on, stopping at some booths to read the menus and saying ehhhh. I suggested we stop at the Cantina de San Angel, but DS said it was so hot that we might be better off going to Sunshine Seasons again, and we all agreed.
So that comprised our tasting at the Food and Wine Festival! The food booths were open that night for the Extra Magic Hours, but after dinner we werent that hungry, and when we were back at EPCOT the next day (Saturday), the lines were even longer, as I suspected they would be.
I did have to laugh as we passed by the Italy booth and looked at the menu and DS said Fazoli's!
I agree with a lot of postings Ive seen that it would be nice if each booth could have a display of their sample offerings. Some of the pictures Ive seen of items look more interesting than the descriptions. I suspect that in the heat, it would be difficult to even present a sample and have it look very appetizing for long though.
If we had been at EPCOT on a week day, I might have attempted to go to a culinary demo or a wine tasting. I did enjoy the pear exhibit by the American pavilion; we took a quick look at it before getting out of the sun and heading to lunch at:
Sunshine Seasons
We decided to share two Counter Service lunches here again, since we had an early dinner reservation for the evening.
DS
Turkey and Muenster Cheese on Foccacia with Chipotle Mayonnaise $6.99 (the cash register receipt says Turkey Muffuletta)
Pint of Orange Juice
Strawberry Bavarian
This is the same sandwich DS ordered the other day, he really likes it!
DH and me DH asked me to choose something for us to share, so I tried to pick something I knew hed like:
Rotisserie Pork Chop - Served with choice of two side items. - $9.49 (for sides we got mashed potatoes and a vegetable, I think it was green beans)
Fountain drink
Asian Chocolate Cake
Total: $30.93
After we sat down, I realized Id probably screwed up when ordering the pork chop, and that the chop on the Chefs de France menu was probably the only thing DH would eat there, so I told him hed be having a lot of chop that day and he said he was fine with that. The chop here at Seasons was good, I had a couple pieces of it and DH had the rest, nothing special, but for a quick service place it was tender and good and we could cut it with the plastic knife. The mashed potatoes and veggie served with it were fine too.
DH asked me to pick the dessert, and at that time, their selections in the bakery case were less than the other day, and even though the yummy chocolate torte was there again, I wanted to try something new, so I asked DH if hed like to try the Asian Chocolate Cake and he agreed. It was a little rounded cake with a little white chocolate window on top, and looked rather fancy. DS picked its non-chocolate counterpart, a half-rounded strawberry flavored dessert.
Unfortunately, the asian cake had a coffee flavor to it, which DH didnt like, so I was tasked to eating most of our shared dessert. I tried some of DSs strawberry dessert and neither of us were too wild about it either, it was just ok, but then again, after his heavenly strawberry dessert at Jiko last night, it would be difficult to top that!
So we agreed we probably wouldnt eat those desserts again, but our entrées were fine, and we sat there in the air conditioned dining area in our full mouse-eared splendor, regrouping after our foray into the sun-baked world of the World Showcases Food and Wine venue.
We had a Fast Pass for Soarin coming up, and as we entered the queue, I realized we should have gotten another Fast Pass, and that the times for it would be a lot later by the time we exited the ride. When we got off it, we headed for the Fast Pass machines and got tickets, then I realized the Fast Pass times for the ride were the same as the Eat to the Beat Al Stewart concert late that afternoon that I wanted to go to.
DS said he wasnt interested in the concert (Al Stewart? Year of the Cat?) and wanted to ride Mission:Space and Test Track again, and I wanted to go back to World Showcase and hear some of the EPCOT bands, so we decided to split up and meet up at Chefs de France before our reservation time. We gave him all the Soarin Fast Passes and he said if he couldnt use them hed try and gift them to somebody.
So we went on our merry way(s) and DH and I stopped at the little nut cart at the World Showcase entrance to use a snack credit for:
Candied Pecans $3.50
to eat later during Illuminations.
There was no problem using a snack credit here. I looked at our receipt and it seemed like the correct number remaining was shown, so I didn't worry about the "check credits" message on the receipt when we bought the Lobster Roll.
Im going to break today into two installments, and our dinner at Chefs de France will be next.
Oh wait, you might be wondering if DS got to use all three Fast Passes at Soarin before meeting us for dinner. While we were waiting to be seated he told us he had gone in the Fast Pass entry the minute his Fast Pass time came up, but there was a wait for it, and he didnt get on the next ride, so by the time his turn came and he had exited, he knew he wouldnt be able to use all the Fast Passes, so started to look for somebody to give them to.
He saw a young couple go up to the standby line and look at the wait time and shake their heads when they saw how long the wait time was, then leave the line. He approached them and asked them if theyd like his two Fast Passes, since he had to go to dinner and couldnt use them. They said they had never been on the ride, but the wait time was just too long, and seemed skeptical of his offer, but he assured them they were for real. He said they were looking at the Magic Dreams Mouse Ears he was wearing, and maybe they thought he was some crazy Magical Dreams person, so they took them, thanked him and went up to the Fast Pass ticket Cast Member and went right in.
We decided to use the Counter Service credit we didnt use yesterday on a breakfast at Everything Pop to help carry us through the morning until World Showcase opened for the Food and Wine Festival. Although the chocolate chip pancakes wed had before were great, Id seen people getting yummy looking waffles, which a POP logo indented into the waffle. That was so cute! I wonder if all the resorts have their own logo waffle makers?
POP Waffle Platter with two strips of bacon and one sausage patty $5.49
Pint of Chocolate Milk
Pint of Orange Juice
Total: $9.27
DH and DS split the bacon and sausage; Id had my years quota of meat last night with the Jiko steak.
I thought the Food and Wine Festival was supposed to start today (Friday), but wed noticed most of the booths were open yesterday afternoon, so we had previewed the menus at each booth. Of course, I had printed a list of the offerings I had seen on line before we left and marked the ones I was interested in, and asked the guys what sounded like something they would like to try.
We did some rides in Future World, and shortly after 11:30 were heading toward World Showcase, taking the path along the rose garden behind the Imagination Pavilion, when I realized that the Dream Squad had suddenly materialized, smack dab in front of us and the group of people that were taking the path with us! They told us that we were the lucky people who happened to be in the right place at the right time, and they were giving us all Year of a Million Dreams Mickey Ears!
I took this picture at home in case you wanted to see the hats. Those ears they do shine!
I must confess, Ive never had a pair of Mickey Ears! Im of the age where I watched the original Mickey Mouse Club show on TV, and I so wanted a pair of those ears when I was little, but never got them. As an adult, Ive often though about getting a some, but usually end up saying Next trip, and coming home ear-less. So I was finally getting my ears, and a pair of Magic ears at that!
DH adjusted his ears to fill over his ball cap, he always wears a hat so now he was wearing two.
DS and I put ours on, were just not hat wearers, but decided these would be great to protect our heads from the sun as we made our way around World Showcase on a very hot and sunny day. All day long as Cast Members encountered us, they congratulated us for winning the hats, telling us how special they were and that they couldnt be bought, and making over us like wed just won the lottery. At first we felt kind of weird hearing all the congratulations, then we went with the flow and it really was kind of fun. A family who had won ears also put theirs on and asked if wed take a picture of them, so I took some snaps for them, but you know what? We totally forgot to have OUR picture taken in them!
Now for our Food and Wine Review, which is going to be rather short (imagine that! From me????). We had a fist full of Snack Credits, and I was pleased to see the purple symbol on most of the food items listed on the festivals booths when we checked yesterday, and figured wed just eat lunch at the booths as we made our way around World Showcase.
Our first stop was Canada, at 12:08, where there was already a long line. When we had first checked into Pop Century, we had decided not to put charge privileges on one of the cards, so that we could use that card solely for use on the Dining Plan, and not worry that it would be mistakenly charged back to the room. DH had the card that had no charging privileges, so he had paid for all our dining with his card, and would be the one using the snack credits with it at the Food and Wine Festival. I was going to pay out-of-pocket for wine, beer, or incidental items.
DH and I got in line, he to order, for two Snack Credits:
Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup $3.00
Maple Glazed Salmon with Roasted Corn and Arugula $3.75
DS took off for a foray to the mercantile in Canada to escape the sun and returned just in time to help us find a little stand-up table to sample our items. Ive been wanting to make the cheese soup at home, since were all big soup fans, and thought it would be a good chance to see if my family liked it before I made a big pot of it. The portion we got was very small, barely ¼ cup, but at least we all had a taste and pronounced it good and I will attempt the recipe at home some time. DS and I shared the salmon, it was ok, nothing special, and I could detect no maple glaze on our portion.
I bought a sample of the Mission Hill Reserve Riesling Icewine (1 oz.) for $5.25. I had never had ice wine before and wanted to try it before committing to the purchase of a bottle. It was good, sweet and reminded me of the wine my father used to make! I usually dont like sweet wine, but could see drinking a tiny glass of this after dinner. I also enjoyed the nostalgic flavor.
On we moved, counterclockwise, through World Showcase. DS thought about trying a Lamb Slider in New Zealand, but didnt want to wait in the long line for one, so we passed it by. I went to look at the Tea Booth in the United Kingdom to see what their offerings were, but neither DH nor DS are tea drinkers, so I passed it by for now. We had dinner reservations for Chefs that night, so passed by France. Weve had plenty of buffalo so the Oklahoma booth didnt seem interesting, and although the Rose Rock Diner looked cute, the guys didnt want Peach Buckle or Pecan Pie. The Moroccan offerings sounded good, but weve had them often in the restaurant, and finally we made a stop at the Australian booth. I asked DH to get an order of (using a Snack Credit):
Shrimp on the Barbie $4.25
and after debating a bit, I got in the other line to get a:
Macadamia Nut and Chocolate Bar $2.50
and paid out-of-pocket for that item.
DH doesnt eat shrimp, so DS and I ate the two shrimp we were given. The sample also had a bunch of onions and some yellow stuff, Im not sure if it was squash or what, but DS doesnt eat onions, and sometimes I find it best to avoid it, so basically we had two small and rather uninteresting shrimp to consume.
The Macadamia nut and chocolate bar, however, was great! We all had a little hunk of it and declared it yummy. We thought about going back for another one, but both order lines were long at the Australian booth now, so we decided to move on.
The Japanese booth had sushi, which was of interest to me, but it didnt seem worth it to stand in a long line to get some just for me, so we headed to the USA booth, where I knew I wanted to try the:
Maine Lobster Roll $6.75
For one Snack Credit.
Which consisted of about a four-inch bun (almost like a hot-dog bun) with what tasted like chopped up fake Krab mixed with onions. DS and I split it and agreed it wasnt very good at all, and I said I was glad I didnt actually pay $6.75, and even using a free Snack Credit, it just wasnt worth it. When DS came back after ordering it, he said the Cast Member was having problems with the cash register and I looked at our receipt, which said Entitlements used: 1 which seemed normal, but then stated Coupons remaining: call front desk.
I was worried that this transaction had somehow dumped all our Snack Credits, so made it a point to check on them on the next snack transaction, and it seemed like they were fine. Seemed being the operative word here. At this point I asked my family if they just wanted to bail out on the Food and Wine thing and go get some real food, and they agreed. DH just wasnt into trying anything (except one spoonful of the cheese soup), and so we headed on, stopping at some booths to read the menus and saying ehhhh. I suggested we stop at the Cantina de San Angel, but DS said it was so hot that we might be better off going to Sunshine Seasons again, and we all agreed.
So that comprised our tasting at the Food and Wine Festival! The food booths were open that night for the Extra Magic Hours, but after dinner we werent that hungry, and when we were back at EPCOT the next day (Saturday), the lines were even longer, as I suspected they would be.
I did have to laugh as we passed by the Italy booth and looked at the menu and DS said Fazoli's!
I agree with a lot of postings Ive seen that it would be nice if each booth could have a display of their sample offerings. Some of the pictures Ive seen of items look more interesting than the descriptions. I suspect that in the heat, it would be difficult to even present a sample and have it look very appetizing for long though.
If we had been at EPCOT on a week day, I might have attempted to go to a culinary demo or a wine tasting. I did enjoy the pear exhibit by the American pavilion; we took a quick look at it before getting out of the sun and heading to lunch at:
Sunshine Seasons
We decided to share two Counter Service lunches here again, since we had an early dinner reservation for the evening.
DS
Turkey and Muenster Cheese on Foccacia with Chipotle Mayonnaise $6.99 (the cash register receipt says Turkey Muffuletta)
Pint of Orange Juice
Strawberry Bavarian
This is the same sandwich DS ordered the other day, he really likes it!
DH and me DH asked me to choose something for us to share, so I tried to pick something I knew hed like:
Rotisserie Pork Chop - Served with choice of two side items. - $9.49 (for sides we got mashed potatoes and a vegetable, I think it was green beans)
Fountain drink
Asian Chocolate Cake
Total: $30.93
After we sat down, I realized Id probably screwed up when ordering the pork chop, and that the chop on the Chefs de France menu was probably the only thing DH would eat there, so I told him hed be having a lot of chop that day and he said he was fine with that. The chop here at Seasons was good, I had a couple pieces of it and DH had the rest, nothing special, but for a quick service place it was tender and good and we could cut it with the plastic knife. The mashed potatoes and veggie served with it were fine too.
DH asked me to pick the dessert, and at that time, their selections in the bakery case were less than the other day, and even though the yummy chocolate torte was there again, I wanted to try something new, so I asked DH if hed like to try the Asian Chocolate Cake and he agreed. It was a little rounded cake with a little white chocolate window on top, and looked rather fancy. DS picked its non-chocolate counterpart, a half-rounded strawberry flavored dessert.
Unfortunately, the asian cake had a coffee flavor to it, which DH didnt like, so I was tasked to eating most of our shared dessert. I tried some of DSs strawberry dessert and neither of us were too wild about it either, it was just ok, but then again, after his heavenly strawberry dessert at Jiko last night, it would be difficult to top that!
So we agreed we probably wouldnt eat those desserts again, but our entrées were fine, and we sat there in the air conditioned dining area in our full mouse-eared splendor, regrouping after our foray into the sun-baked world of the World Showcases Food and Wine venue.
We had a Fast Pass for Soarin coming up, and as we entered the queue, I realized we should have gotten another Fast Pass, and that the times for it would be a lot later by the time we exited the ride. When we got off it, we headed for the Fast Pass machines and got tickets, then I realized the Fast Pass times for the ride were the same as the Eat to the Beat Al Stewart concert late that afternoon that I wanted to go to.
DS said he wasnt interested in the concert (Al Stewart? Year of the Cat?) and wanted to ride Mission:Space and Test Track again, and I wanted to go back to World Showcase and hear some of the EPCOT bands, so we decided to split up and meet up at Chefs de France before our reservation time. We gave him all the Soarin Fast Passes and he said if he couldnt use them hed try and gift them to somebody.
So we went on our merry way(s) and DH and I stopped at the little nut cart at the World Showcase entrance to use a snack credit for:
Candied Pecans $3.50
to eat later during Illuminations.
There was no problem using a snack credit here. I looked at our receipt and it seemed like the correct number remaining was shown, so I didn't worry about the "check credits" message on the receipt when we bought the Lobster Roll.
Im going to break today into two installments, and our dinner at Chefs de France will be next.
Oh wait, you might be wondering if DS got to use all three Fast Passes at Soarin before meeting us for dinner. While we were waiting to be seated he told us he had gone in the Fast Pass entry the minute his Fast Pass time came up, but there was a wait for it, and he didnt get on the next ride, so by the time his turn came and he had exited, he knew he wouldnt be able to use all the Fast Passes, so started to look for somebody to give them to.
He saw a young couple go up to the standby line and look at the wait time and shake their heads when they saw how long the wait time was, then leave the line. He approached them and asked them if theyd like his two Fast Passes, since he had to go to dinner and couldnt use them. They said they had never been on the ride, but the wait time was just too long, and seemed skeptical of his offer, but he assured them they were for real. He said they were looking at the Magic Dreams Mouse Ears he was wearing, and maybe they thought he was some crazy Magical Dreams person, so they took them, thanked him and went up to the Fast Pass ticket Cast Member and went right in.
DLo
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2006
- Messages
- 2,860
Great reviews and pics. I appreciate you attention to detail.
We had some FP to Soarin' last year that we couldn't use and the people we gave them to had a similar reaction. I don't know if they thought we were crazy or if they were skeptical of fakes.
We had some FP to Soarin' last year that we couldn't use and the people we gave them to had a similar reaction. I don't know if they thought we were crazy or if they were skeptical of fakes.
FirstMagic
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2003
- Messages
- 407
We went to Al Stewarts first concert of the evening and enjoyed it very much, and then the three of us met back up for our reservation at:
Chefs de France
Reservation time: 6:40 p.m.
Arrival time: 6:30 p.m.
Seated at: 6:35 p.m.
Server: She Who Shall Remain Nameless
This was one restaurant I had more than ADR reservations about, I had reservations. I originally had our Liberty Tree ADR booked on this day, then moved it to a week prior when we were going to attend Mickeys Halloween party at the Magic Kingdom. Although there were a lot of one Table Service restaurants I still wanted to try, I wanted an EPCOT restaurant for tonight, since it was EMH here tonight. One night while reading the DISboards, I saw some good comments on Chefs de France, so called to see if we could get in, and snagged our reservation time which seemed perfect for us getting out in time to see Illuminations.
Weve had lunch here before, long ago when there was still outdoor seating along the promenade, and just a couple years ago when DS and I dined there. DS maintains the food wasnt that good then, but that I enjoyed it more because the waiter and I were having a parlez-fest. Anyway, it made for a fun lunch and a nice Chefs experience.
But there was to be none of that tonight.
When I had first made our reservation they had a chop and a steak on the menu and DH glanced at it and said hed be ok with either item. Then the steak was removed and he was still fine with it, because all he really had his eye on was the dessert menu with
PROFITEROLLES!!!
Oh my goodness, all he could talk about when the subject of Chefs de France came up was Profiterolles. He loves these things.
DS was a bit more skeptical about eating here, and I said Id be happy to change to another restaurant, that I had San Angel Inn booked for the next night and was going to cancel one, which one should we keep? I said it might be nicer to finish our Table Service credits on Friday night, and then have Saturday free to eat whenever we wanted and just use Counter Service credits. DH remarked that weve eaten at San Angel quite often; it might be nice to try Chefs for dinner. I said Id been hearing good things about Nine Dragons and wed never eaten there before either, and we could try that too.
So I had this gnawing doubt about Chefs de France, but remembered how pretty it looks at night, all bright and yellow and lit up, how nice the wait staff always looks when you pass by and look in the window, and
So the San Angel ressies got cancelled and we kept the Chefs ADR.
We had barely sat down on a park bench by the podium when our name was called, and we were taken inside and seated in the room that has the bar where the guys are making up the desserts. Some people have complained about the tables in this restaurant being too close together, but I didnt find ours uncomfortably close to our neighbors in this room, we had a lovely view out the window, and all through dinner my DH had a view of the guys ladling chocolate on
The Profiterolles.
Soon our waitress stopped by, and lets just say a little storm cloud was hovering over her shoulder. Alas, we tried to be nice and polite but nothing would win her over. A friend of mine said I should have requested a manager, but what do you say Our waitress is dour, wed like to move? and between her and me, we did manage to resolve the only problem with our dinner. She did do her job adequately, just not pleasantly.
Oh well, on to the food! She inquired if we were using any sort of dining card, and we told her this meal would be on the Disney Dining Plan. She then asked to see the card (unusual? No other restaurant wanted to see it before we ordered), which DH produced and she looked it over for a while and then gave it back to him. Maybe she wanted to see if we were using the Dining Plan card or the Dining Discount card?
She gave us the menus, which I knew fairly well by heart by now, and when she returned we ordered:
DH
Appetizer: Salade maison - selected greens, house vinaigrette dressing $5.25
Entrée: Cote de Porc Fermiere, gratin de macaronis, sauce champignons - Grilled frenched pork chop with macaronis gratin, and mushroom sauce. - $24.95 (Note: DH asked for a substitution of the macaroni and cheese, like he did last night at Jiko)
DS
Appetizer: Salade maison - selected greens, house vinaigrette dressing $5.25
Jarret d'agneau printanier - lamb shank with turnips, carrots, lima beans and pearl pasta $24.95
Me
Assiette de fromages de France - French imported cheese plate $9.95
Filet de saumon, crepe de pommes de terre coulis de poivrons rouge - Grilled salmon on a potato pancake with red pepper sauce. - $25.95
We all ordered a soda pop as our beverage $2.75 x 3
DS said the salad was very plain and he didnt eat it all. He said the dressing didnt do much for it. I asked why he ordered it and he said nothing else on the menu sounded good. The guys asked about the soup du jour that night and it wasnt something they liked, so they went with the salads. DH said the salad was ho-hum and that none of the other appetizers looked appealing. The guys agreed, the salad was a default. Note: DH does enjoy a good salad, and often orders one before a meal, so I wasnt too surprised he chose this item.
Before bringing our appetizer/salad course, our waitress stopped by and plopped down a dinner roll apiece (yes, she was using tongs!) on our bread plate, plus a pat of foil wrapped butter for each of us. Some people have reported their dinner roll was hot out of the oven, ours was not so I suppose its the luck of the draw whether you get a hot or cold roll. After all the nice butter spreads we had in the other restaurants, I must admit, the foiled wrapped butter pat seemed a bit lack luster. The roll tasted fine though.
I got the cheese plate to share with the guys, I had to convince DH to have a tiny slice though, and DS wanted only a little bit of one of the cheese wedges, so I had four hunks of cheese to deal with. No identification was given, either on the menu or by the waitress, what the cheese were, but they were served with a small pile of greens which I did eat to break up the cheesey monotony. I paired the cheese with the aforementioned dinner roll, since no crackers or any accompaniments were served with it. I think I was a tad spoiled by the California Grill cheese board, with all its little pairings and descriptions of the cheese and their origins.
The cheese were: brie, goat cheese (I think thats what the small, white round cheese was), Kraft Swiss Cheese (just kidding! I think it was Swiss, but since Kraft doesnt sponsor The Land anymore, it probably wasnt their brand), and another firm cheese that I cant recall. They were all good, I liked the little round goat cheese the best though.
The guys soon finished their salads, and so the waitress came by to collect the plates since our entrées were ready, but I was still dealing with all this cheese, and obviously there wasnt room on the table for the cheese plate and my entrée plate, so I plinked the rest of the cheese onto my bread plate so I could deal with it later (Salmon and Cheese!) and our main dish was set in front of us.
DS My lamb shank was ok, a lot of work to eat it though since it was on the bone. The taste was actually pretty good. I didnt eat much of the navy beans accompanying it though, mostly just the meat.
Me my salmon also was ok, it wasnt overdone. The potato pancake under it sounded great in theory, but got kind of soggy from the salmon sitting on top of it, so it was kind of like eating soggy hashbrowns. The sauce surrounding the fish and potato pancake had no special flavor. There was a cute little herb sprig placed in the salmon.
DH The pork chop was ok, it had an odd little taste to it, I dont know if it was the seasoning or what, and thats a matter of personal preference, but it was an ok piece of meat. I asked our waitress if she could substitute the macaronis gratis for potatoes, and she complied, but didnt seem happy about the requested switch. The mushroom sauce was served on the side, which was a good thing.
After finishing our entrées, our resident Storm Cloud gave us the dessert menus and returned in a few minutes to take our order. During our meal, DS and I had gone up to a counter where the desserts were displayed, since we were the ones who didnt know quite what to order and wanted to see what they looked like. DH had visions of Profiterolles happily dancing in his head, so he had no further need to examine any of the nights sweeter offerings, but DS and I at least had the benefit of one of the waiters who had brought his clients up to view the desserts give an explanation of each one.
When our waitress returned, I ordered:
Clafoutis bleuets, sorbet et coulis aux fruits Rouges - blueberry clafoutis, with red berry sauce and sorbet $6.95
I used to make the traditional Cherry Clafouti often when my mother had a cherry tree, but the tree passed on and I had put my recipe away for some years, so this dessert sounded good to me.
DH and DS ordered (surprise, surprise)
Profiterolles au chocolat - Puff choux with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce $6.95
I was looking out the window when my dessert was placed in front of me, so I was not paying attention to what was going on at the table, when I heard my husband say Uhm .this is not what we ordered. I looked over at his and my sons dessert and we ALL had the clafoutis! The waitress snapped Yes! You all ordered the clafoutis!
I spoke up and said No, they ordered the Profiterolles. The kitchen might have mixed them up and somebody else is probably waiting for these clafoutis. Now I had distinctly heard DH and DS order the profiteroles, and since that was the one thing DH was looking forward to at this restaurant, I was going to make sure he was going to get them. She wasnt going to budge on the issue so I said They would like the profiteroles., and I guess my next statement was going to be Id like to speak to your manager if she refused to change the dessert, but she finally grabbed the clafoutis that were sitting in front of the guys and stormed off.
DS said I imagine well get them served with spit now. I said We have full view of the guys making the desserts, keep watch. Soon she returned with their desired desserts and set them down in front of DH and DS.
That was kind of a moment ruining moment, but at least it was resolved without calling in the authorities.
DS - The profiterolles were ok, but just ok. I ate them but didnt find them remarkable in any way.
(I dont imagine the confrontation with our waitress made them taste any better.)
DH The profiterolles were wonderful!
Me The clafoutis with blueberries was (and I hesitate to use this word again, but here I go ) ok. I was in the mood for something with fruit in it, and it served that purpose. It did seem a tad dry, but the sorbet helped that a bit.
DH says he can not remember getting an itemized bill, but perhaps we were just anxious to escape the misery and didnt notice, but Ive added up the prices I found on the menu board and came up with this:
Total: $125.40 estimate before tax
All I remember is when the waitress came back with our card she said to me I must inform you that your card now has no Table Service credits on it., and I knew this dinner would use our 3 remaining credits, but what is odd is that is the only time she smiled that night.
When exiting the restaurant, I was in the lead and got a bit turned around trying to remember which way we came in, saw a nearby waiter and caught his eye and made a gesture to say Around this corner and out? and he came right over, and said Yes and escorted us to the exit, wished us a good night and said Thank you for dining at Chefs de France tonight! Where was he when we needed him, at our table tonight!
Non je ne regrette rien. No, I was not singing this as we strolled down the World Showcase promenade. I had done so well with our other restaurants and felt like I had blown it tonight. I was mentally kicking myself for not switching to another restaurant or returning to an earlier favorite. When I got home and read some nice reviews of the new Tutto Italia I wished I would have walked over there to see if they would take a walk-up and cancel the Chefs ADR.
I thought to myself, Perhaps if this had been our first restaurant during the vacation, might we have found it better? We had been having some very nice food and excellent waiters and the standard was set rather high from our night at Jiko the night before.
DH said it wasnt that bad and he was a bit more forgiving of our waitress and said she just had her mind on other matters. I too know everybody has a bad day now and then.
Would we go back to Chefs de France? DH Uhhhhhh no. DS Non! We can do better! (DH agreed) Me Im the optimist, the never-say-never person, and from reading the DISboards know that every restaurant has its love it/leave it advisors. A better waitress would have made for a better dining experience, but all-in-all, the food wasnt that great tonight. There werent enough items that my guys were interested in on the menu, so that left them limited choices. We might have just ordered the wrong things, a new cook might have been working in the kitchen. Many factors affect a dining experience. Things can change. So Ill just say maybe.
Now Chefs de France lovers, please dont come out of the woodwork and flame me, you can tell me of a wonderful meal youve had there recently and Ill truly believe you. I wish that had been our experience. Honestly, our food wasnt bad, and we were on the Dining Plan so its not like I footed the bill (which might have upset me more), but DS says even free was a high price for the experience, we invested an evening there.
After we exited the restaurant we browsed in some of the countries, rode the Maelstrom, and found a place to watch Illuminations. Afterward, since it was Extra Magic Hours night, we went back to Future World and rode Test Track and Mission:Space. I suggested going over to Soarin but DS thought the lines would probably still be long and I figured he was right. He wanted to do some more rides and I said there was a very late showing of The American Adventure and I wanted to see it again, so we agreed to split up and meet back at the resort. As we were passing by China, I mentioned to DH that Id like one of their Bubble Q teas, and as soon as we stepped into the Lotus Blossom Café, the young man behind the counter called Hello! What would you like tonight? and he started telling me their menu selections, and when he stopped for a breath of air, I said Wait, Id just like one of those Bubble teas, do you still have those? and he said Yes! and I said Chocolate? and he said Yes! and I said Can I use a snack credit for that? and he finally said No. and said Im sorry, you can only use a snack credit for a bottle of water or a fountain drink.
I wasnt sure about this, but he was just so nice and trying to be so helpful, that I didnt argue and just paid for it.
Bubble Q Tea $3.79 + .25 tax = $4.04 out-of-pocket
Time of snack: 10:52 p.m.
DH didnt want anything and doesnt enjoy the Bubble Q, so I had this to myself. We sat on a bench outside of China, where there were next-to-no people around anymore, and I sipped the drink. Then I looked at my watch and I realized that the time for the American Adventure show was fast approaching, so Id walk, take a sip, chew some of the little gummi things in the tea, and repeat.
I imagine this drink is an acquired taste, but it has become my EMH drink at EPCOT.
We did make it to the American Adventure just in time for the show, which was almost a private showing at that time of night. As we were exiting EPCOT, just before Spaceship Earth, we saw a familiar pair of Mouse Ears some yards ahead of us, and I called out Hey you! Where did you get those ears? DS turned around, saw us, and we walked to the bus stop together and returned to Pop Century.
Chefs de France
Reservation time: 6:40 p.m.
Arrival time: 6:30 p.m.
Seated at: 6:35 p.m.
Server: She Who Shall Remain Nameless
This was one restaurant I had more than ADR reservations about, I had reservations. I originally had our Liberty Tree ADR booked on this day, then moved it to a week prior when we were going to attend Mickeys Halloween party at the Magic Kingdom. Although there were a lot of one Table Service restaurants I still wanted to try, I wanted an EPCOT restaurant for tonight, since it was EMH here tonight. One night while reading the DISboards, I saw some good comments on Chefs de France, so called to see if we could get in, and snagged our reservation time which seemed perfect for us getting out in time to see Illuminations.
Weve had lunch here before, long ago when there was still outdoor seating along the promenade, and just a couple years ago when DS and I dined there. DS maintains the food wasnt that good then, but that I enjoyed it more because the waiter and I were having a parlez-fest. Anyway, it made for a fun lunch and a nice Chefs experience.
But there was to be none of that tonight.
When I had first made our reservation they had a chop and a steak on the menu and DH glanced at it and said hed be ok with either item. Then the steak was removed and he was still fine with it, because all he really had his eye on was the dessert menu with
PROFITEROLLES!!!
Oh my goodness, all he could talk about when the subject of Chefs de France came up was Profiterolles. He loves these things.
DS was a bit more skeptical about eating here, and I said Id be happy to change to another restaurant, that I had San Angel Inn booked for the next night and was going to cancel one, which one should we keep? I said it might be nicer to finish our Table Service credits on Friday night, and then have Saturday free to eat whenever we wanted and just use Counter Service credits. DH remarked that weve eaten at San Angel quite often; it might be nice to try Chefs for dinner. I said Id been hearing good things about Nine Dragons and wed never eaten there before either, and we could try that too.
So I had this gnawing doubt about Chefs de France, but remembered how pretty it looks at night, all bright and yellow and lit up, how nice the wait staff always looks when you pass by and look in the window, and
So the San Angel ressies got cancelled and we kept the Chefs ADR.
We had barely sat down on a park bench by the podium when our name was called, and we were taken inside and seated in the room that has the bar where the guys are making up the desserts. Some people have complained about the tables in this restaurant being too close together, but I didnt find ours uncomfortably close to our neighbors in this room, we had a lovely view out the window, and all through dinner my DH had a view of the guys ladling chocolate on
The Profiterolles.
Soon our waitress stopped by, and lets just say a little storm cloud was hovering over her shoulder. Alas, we tried to be nice and polite but nothing would win her over. A friend of mine said I should have requested a manager, but what do you say Our waitress is dour, wed like to move? and between her and me, we did manage to resolve the only problem with our dinner. She did do her job adequately, just not pleasantly.
Oh well, on to the food! She inquired if we were using any sort of dining card, and we told her this meal would be on the Disney Dining Plan. She then asked to see the card (unusual? No other restaurant wanted to see it before we ordered), which DH produced and she looked it over for a while and then gave it back to him. Maybe she wanted to see if we were using the Dining Plan card or the Dining Discount card?
She gave us the menus, which I knew fairly well by heart by now, and when she returned we ordered:
DH
Appetizer: Salade maison - selected greens, house vinaigrette dressing $5.25
Entrée: Cote de Porc Fermiere, gratin de macaronis, sauce champignons - Grilled frenched pork chop with macaronis gratin, and mushroom sauce. - $24.95 (Note: DH asked for a substitution of the macaroni and cheese, like he did last night at Jiko)
DS
Appetizer: Salade maison - selected greens, house vinaigrette dressing $5.25
Jarret d'agneau printanier - lamb shank with turnips, carrots, lima beans and pearl pasta $24.95
Me
Assiette de fromages de France - French imported cheese plate $9.95
Filet de saumon, crepe de pommes de terre coulis de poivrons rouge - Grilled salmon on a potato pancake with red pepper sauce. - $25.95
We all ordered a soda pop as our beverage $2.75 x 3
DS said the salad was very plain and he didnt eat it all. He said the dressing didnt do much for it. I asked why he ordered it and he said nothing else on the menu sounded good. The guys asked about the soup du jour that night and it wasnt something they liked, so they went with the salads. DH said the salad was ho-hum and that none of the other appetizers looked appealing. The guys agreed, the salad was a default. Note: DH does enjoy a good salad, and often orders one before a meal, so I wasnt too surprised he chose this item.
Before bringing our appetizer/salad course, our waitress stopped by and plopped down a dinner roll apiece (yes, she was using tongs!) on our bread plate, plus a pat of foil wrapped butter for each of us. Some people have reported their dinner roll was hot out of the oven, ours was not so I suppose its the luck of the draw whether you get a hot or cold roll. After all the nice butter spreads we had in the other restaurants, I must admit, the foiled wrapped butter pat seemed a bit lack luster. The roll tasted fine though.
I got the cheese plate to share with the guys, I had to convince DH to have a tiny slice though, and DS wanted only a little bit of one of the cheese wedges, so I had four hunks of cheese to deal with. No identification was given, either on the menu or by the waitress, what the cheese were, but they were served with a small pile of greens which I did eat to break up the cheesey monotony. I paired the cheese with the aforementioned dinner roll, since no crackers or any accompaniments were served with it. I think I was a tad spoiled by the California Grill cheese board, with all its little pairings and descriptions of the cheese and their origins.
The cheese were: brie, goat cheese (I think thats what the small, white round cheese was), Kraft Swiss Cheese (just kidding! I think it was Swiss, but since Kraft doesnt sponsor The Land anymore, it probably wasnt their brand), and another firm cheese that I cant recall. They were all good, I liked the little round goat cheese the best though.
The guys soon finished their salads, and so the waitress came by to collect the plates since our entrées were ready, but I was still dealing with all this cheese, and obviously there wasnt room on the table for the cheese plate and my entrée plate, so I plinked the rest of the cheese onto my bread plate so I could deal with it later (Salmon and Cheese!) and our main dish was set in front of us.
DS My lamb shank was ok, a lot of work to eat it though since it was on the bone. The taste was actually pretty good. I didnt eat much of the navy beans accompanying it though, mostly just the meat.
Me my salmon also was ok, it wasnt overdone. The potato pancake under it sounded great in theory, but got kind of soggy from the salmon sitting on top of it, so it was kind of like eating soggy hashbrowns. The sauce surrounding the fish and potato pancake had no special flavor. There was a cute little herb sprig placed in the salmon.
DH The pork chop was ok, it had an odd little taste to it, I dont know if it was the seasoning or what, and thats a matter of personal preference, but it was an ok piece of meat. I asked our waitress if she could substitute the macaronis gratis for potatoes, and she complied, but didnt seem happy about the requested switch. The mushroom sauce was served on the side, which was a good thing.
After finishing our entrées, our resident Storm Cloud gave us the dessert menus and returned in a few minutes to take our order. During our meal, DS and I had gone up to a counter where the desserts were displayed, since we were the ones who didnt know quite what to order and wanted to see what they looked like. DH had visions of Profiterolles happily dancing in his head, so he had no further need to examine any of the nights sweeter offerings, but DS and I at least had the benefit of one of the waiters who had brought his clients up to view the desserts give an explanation of each one.
When our waitress returned, I ordered:
Clafoutis bleuets, sorbet et coulis aux fruits Rouges - blueberry clafoutis, with red berry sauce and sorbet $6.95
I used to make the traditional Cherry Clafouti often when my mother had a cherry tree, but the tree passed on and I had put my recipe away for some years, so this dessert sounded good to me.
DH and DS ordered (surprise, surprise)
Profiterolles au chocolat - Puff choux with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce $6.95
I was looking out the window when my dessert was placed in front of me, so I was not paying attention to what was going on at the table, when I heard my husband say Uhm .this is not what we ordered. I looked over at his and my sons dessert and we ALL had the clafoutis! The waitress snapped Yes! You all ordered the clafoutis!
I spoke up and said No, they ordered the Profiterolles. The kitchen might have mixed them up and somebody else is probably waiting for these clafoutis. Now I had distinctly heard DH and DS order the profiteroles, and since that was the one thing DH was looking forward to at this restaurant, I was going to make sure he was going to get them. She wasnt going to budge on the issue so I said They would like the profiteroles., and I guess my next statement was going to be Id like to speak to your manager if she refused to change the dessert, but she finally grabbed the clafoutis that were sitting in front of the guys and stormed off.
DS said I imagine well get them served with spit now. I said We have full view of the guys making the desserts, keep watch. Soon she returned with their desired desserts and set them down in front of DH and DS.
That was kind of a moment ruining moment, but at least it was resolved without calling in the authorities.
DS - The profiterolles were ok, but just ok. I ate them but didnt find them remarkable in any way.
(I dont imagine the confrontation with our waitress made them taste any better.)
DH The profiterolles were wonderful!
Me The clafoutis with blueberries was (and I hesitate to use this word again, but here I go ) ok. I was in the mood for something with fruit in it, and it served that purpose. It did seem a tad dry, but the sorbet helped that a bit.
DH says he can not remember getting an itemized bill, but perhaps we were just anxious to escape the misery and didnt notice, but Ive added up the prices I found on the menu board and came up with this:
Total: $125.40 estimate before tax
All I remember is when the waitress came back with our card she said to me I must inform you that your card now has no Table Service credits on it., and I knew this dinner would use our 3 remaining credits, but what is odd is that is the only time she smiled that night.
When exiting the restaurant, I was in the lead and got a bit turned around trying to remember which way we came in, saw a nearby waiter and caught his eye and made a gesture to say Around this corner and out? and he came right over, and said Yes and escorted us to the exit, wished us a good night and said Thank you for dining at Chefs de France tonight! Where was he when we needed him, at our table tonight!
Non je ne regrette rien. No, I was not singing this as we strolled down the World Showcase promenade. I had done so well with our other restaurants and felt like I had blown it tonight. I was mentally kicking myself for not switching to another restaurant or returning to an earlier favorite. When I got home and read some nice reviews of the new Tutto Italia I wished I would have walked over there to see if they would take a walk-up and cancel the Chefs ADR.
I thought to myself, Perhaps if this had been our first restaurant during the vacation, might we have found it better? We had been having some very nice food and excellent waiters and the standard was set rather high from our night at Jiko the night before.
DH said it wasnt that bad and he was a bit more forgiving of our waitress and said she just had her mind on other matters. I too know everybody has a bad day now and then.
Would we go back to Chefs de France? DH Uhhhhhh no. DS Non! We can do better! (DH agreed) Me Im the optimist, the never-say-never person, and from reading the DISboards know that every restaurant has its love it/leave it advisors. A better waitress would have made for a better dining experience, but all-in-all, the food wasnt that great tonight. There werent enough items that my guys were interested in on the menu, so that left them limited choices. We might have just ordered the wrong things, a new cook might have been working in the kitchen. Many factors affect a dining experience. Things can change. So Ill just say maybe.
Now Chefs de France lovers, please dont come out of the woodwork and flame me, you can tell me of a wonderful meal youve had there recently and Ill truly believe you. I wish that had been our experience. Honestly, our food wasnt bad, and we were on the Dining Plan so its not like I footed the bill (which might have upset me more), but DS says even free was a high price for the experience, we invested an evening there.
After we exited the restaurant we browsed in some of the countries, rode the Maelstrom, and found a place to watch Illuminations. Afterward, since it was Extra Magic Hours night, we went back to Future World and rode Test Track and Mission:Space. I suggested going over to Soarin but DS thought the lines would probably still be long and I figured he was right. He wanted to do some more rides and I said there was a very late showing of The American Adventure and I wanted to see it again, so we agreed to split up and meet back at the resort. As we were passing by China, I mentioned to DH that Id like one of their Bubble Q teas, and as soon as we stepped into the Lotus Blossom Café, the young man behind the counter called Hello! What would you like tonight? and he started telling me their menu selections, and when he stopped for a breath of air, I said Wait, Id just like one of those Bubble teas, do you still have those? and he said Yes! and I said Chocolate? and he said Yes! and I said Can I use a snack credit for that? and he finally said No. and said Im sorry, you can only use a snack credit for a bottle of water or a fountain drink.
I wasnt sure about this, but he was just so nice and trying to be so helpful, that I didnt argue and just paid for it.
Bubble Q Tea $3.79 + .25 tax = $4.04 out-of-pocket
Time of snack: 10:52 p.m.
DH didnt want anything and doesnt enjoy the Bubble Q, so I had this to myself. We sat on a bench outside of China, where there were next-to-no people around anymore, and I sipped the drink. Then I looked at my watch and I realized that the time for the American Adventure show was fast approaching, so Id walk, take a sip, chew some of the little gummi things in the tea, and repeat.
I imagine this drink is an acquired taste, but it has become my EMH drink at EPCOT.
We did make it to the American Adventure just in time for the show, which was almost a private showing at that time of night. As we were exiting EPCOT, just before Spaceship Earth, we saw a familiar pair of Mouse Ears some yards ahead of us, and I called out Hey you! Where did you get those ears? DS turned around, saw us, and we walked to the bus stop together and returned to Pop Century.
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