lucysdad
<font color=teal>You've touched my heart<br><font
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2003
- Messages
- 1,166
A little late in posting this, but the memories are still fresh in our minds. Our minds being the ones belonging to myself, DW, DS22 and DD5.
Spent a week at AKL concierge (my wife wrote a resort report on the appropriate board). Spent a lot of time at the resort, but still found plenty of time to hit Magic Kingdom and Epcot multiple times, and Animal Kingdom and MGM once each. For ease of use (and to lend a professional air to the reviews, we used the following rating system: 5-stars: Roll me out in a wheelbarrow; 4-stars: I'll be back, hold the wheelbarrow for next time; 3-stars: Won't go out of my way to come back, but you could twist my arm; 2-stars: Better than McDonald's, but barely; 1-star: Where's the manager?) So, without further ado, our gastric reviews:
BOMA (once for dinner, twice for breakfast): Were'nt planning on doing breakfast at Boma, but since concierge was willing and able to nab us some last minute PS's, thought we'd check it out. Actually, the first time I went alone as the rest of the group went to Typhoon Lagoon. Mostly typical buffet-style breakfast, lots of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, etc., with some added Boma touches, such as breakfast pizza and some grits-looking stuff that didn't look too appealing. I'll experiment for dinner, but don't mess with my breakfast staples. It was good enough to drag DS with me a couple of days later, and he enjoyed it, especially the breakfast pizza. We had done Boma dinner last year so we knew what to expect and were not disappointed. The prime rib was especially delicious, and everyone really liked the lamb patay and the peanut rice. Of course, the deserts were great, but being in concierge where there were zebra domes available nightly, they actually lost some of their appeal over the course of the week. On our 5-star rating system, we rate Boma 4 stars for dinner and 3 for breakfast.
JIKO (dinner): Had the Taste of Africa appetizer, consisting of a variety of breads and dips, which were good, not great (the pita bread was the best of the bunch for bread, and in the dip department, the olive hummus ruled). DW had the Oak-grilled filet migñon, which was top-notch. It came with a wonderful macaroni and cheese on the side. DS had the broiled buttermilk curry shrimp. Loved it! I had the Wood-grilled Pork Tenderloin with tiny sweet potato dumplings and mushroom ragout. Delicious to the last bite. The only real complaint was DD's jelly sandwich, which came on a very colorful bread that was hard as a rock. However, she gorged on DW's macaroni and cheese and was a happy camper. For dessert, the pistachio creme brulee was magnifique. Jiko's rating wavered between 4 and 5 stars, but got the solid 5 due to the wonderful feast DW and DS enjoyed there after the Wanyama Safari. They got to taste everything and talked about it all week. On a side note: It's pronounced (Jeeko), I had always thought it was pronounced with a long I, as in Jieko. I was wrong. And now I've saved you from the same embarassment.
TEPPANYAKI (lunch): This was our favorite meal last year, but we made an interesting (and disappointing) discovery this year: It's all about the chef. Last year we all had the Nihon-Kai (yes, it's pronounced just like it looks) which is shrimp, scallops and lobster, except for DW who had Bonsai (lobster and tenderloin steak). Everything was chopped into small delicate pieces and cooked to perfection. The chef was funny and talented. This year we all eagerly ordered the same stuff. Our chef was a young gal who was still in training. The jokes were forced, the knife tricks were basically nonexistant, and the meat and fish were cut in much larger pieces, resulting in tougher and less flavorful nuggets. The veggies were still really good (I could have been the chef and not screwed up the veggies). We were disappoionted, especially DW, whose steak was almost inedible. I wonder if you can audition chefs before choosing one? Rating: 3-stars (and to get that, it had to borrow half-a-star from last year).
NINE DRAGONS (dinner): We spent a LOT of time at Epcot this trip. One night we were waiting for Illuminations and found ourselves wandering through China and discovering we all had a serious case of the hungries. Fortunately we were able to walk right in to Nine Dragons at 8 p.m. with Illuminations starting at 9. We had read a lot of mixed review on this place, but had noticed that they were mostly good recently. We will add to the good ones. Being from Boise, Idaho, we hadn't had good Chinese food since our days in Southern California more than 10 years ago. DW and DS both had the South Seas Curry Chicken and both raved about it. It was perfectly spicy and the chicken was incredibly tender. I had the General Tso chicken and it couldn't have been better. DD has a typical 5-year-old palate and chose to sit this one out. The service was a little slow, which threatened Nine Dragons' five-star rating. But the food won out in the end: 5-stars.
. . . to be continued in a later post (soon, I promise)
Spent a week at AKL concierge (my wife wrote a resort report on the appropriate board). Spent a lot of time at the resort, but still found plenty of time to hit Magic Kingdom and Epcot multiple times, and Animal Kingdom and MGM once each. For ease of use (and to lend a professional air to the reviews, we used the following rating system: 5-stars: Roll me out in a wheelbarrow; 4-stars: I'll be back, hold the wheelbarrow for next time; 3-stars: Won't go out of my way to come back, but you could twist my arm; 2-stars: Better than McDonald's, but barely; 1-star: Where's the manager?) So, without further ado, our gastric reviews:
BOMA (once for dinner, twice for breakfast): Were'nt planning on doing breakfast at Boma, but since concierge was willing and able to nab us some last minute PS's, thought we'd check it out. Actually, the first time I went alone as the rest of the group went to Typhoon Lagoon. Mostly typical buffet-style breakfast, lots of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, etc., with some added Boma touches, such as breakfast pizza and some grits-looking stuff that didn't look too appealing. I'll experiment for dinner, but don't mess with my breakfast staples. It was good enough to drag DS with me a couple of days later, and he enjoyed it, especially the breakfast pizza. We had done Boma dinner last year so we knew what to expect and were not disappointed. The prime rib was especially delicious, and everyone really liked the lamb patay and the peanut rice. Of course, the deserts were great, but being in concierge where there were zebra domes available nightly, they actually lost some of their appeal over the course of the week. On our 5-star rating system, we rate Boma 4 stars for dinner and 3 for breakfast.
JIKO (dinner): Had the Taste of Africa appetizer, consisting of a variety of breads and dips, which were good, not great (the pita bread was the best of the bunch for bread, and in the dip department, the olive hummus ruled). DW had the Oak-grilled filet migñon, which was top-notch. It came with a wonderful macaroni and cheese on the side. DS had the broiled buttermilk curry shrimp. Loved it! I had the Wood-grilled Pork Tenderloin with tiny sweet potato dumplings and mushroom ragout. Delicious to the last bite. The only real complaint was DD's jelly sandwich, which came on a very colorful bread that was hard as a rock. However, she gorged on DW's macaroni and cheese and was a happy camper. For dessert, the pistachio creme brulee was magnifique. Jiko's rating wavered between 4 and 5 stars, but got the solid 5 due to the wonderful feast DW and DS enjoyed there after the Wanyama Safari. They got to taste everything and talked about it all week. On a side note: It's pronounced (Jeeko), I had always thought it was pronounced with a long I, as in Jieko. I was wrong. And now I've saved you from the same embarassment.
TEPPANYAKI (lunch): This was our favorite meal last year, but we made an interesting (and disappointing) discovery this year: It's all about the chef. Last year we all had the Nihon-Kai (yes, it's pronounced just like it looks) which is shrimp, scallops and lobster, except for DW who had Bonsai (lobster and tenderloin steak). Everything was chopped into small delicate pieces and cooked to perfection. The chef was funny and talented. This year we all eagerly ordered the same stuff. Our chef was a young gal who was still in training. The jokes were forced, the knife tricks were basically nonexistant, and the meat and fish were cut in much larger pieces, resulting in tougher and less flavorful nuggets. The veggies were still really good (I could have been the chef and not screwed up the veggies). We were disappoionted, especially DW, whose steak was almost inedible. I wonder if you can audition chefs before choosing one? Rating: 3-stars (and to get that, it had to borrow half-a-star from last year).
NINE DRAGONS (dinner): We spent a LOT of time at Epcot this trip. One night we were waiting for Illuminations and found ourselves wandering through China and discovering we all had a serious case of the hungries. Fortunately we were able to walk right in to Nine Dragons at 8 p.m. with Illuminations starting at 9. We had read a lot of mixed review on this place, but had noticed that they were mostly good recently. We will add to the good ones. Being from Boise, Idaho, we hadn't had good Chinese food since our days in Southern California more than 10 years ago. DW and DS both had the South Seas Curry Chicken and both raved about it. It was perfectly spicy and the chicken was incredibly tender. I had the General Tso chicken and it couldn't have been better. DD has a typical 5-year-old palate and chose to sit this one out. The service was a little slow, which threatened Nine Dragons' five-star rating. But the food won out in the end: 5-stars.
. . . to be continued in a later post (soon, I promise)
