Much of my perusal of dining reviews of Downtown Disney seemed to come back to Raglan Road, so I made an exploratory foray while my wife was attending convention seminars, and had a little lunch. A couple glasses of Newcastle Brown Ale and a bowl of the soup du jour, supplemented by the house specialty of soda bread with a dipping sauce, was about all I could take with the prospect of walking out into the oppressive Orange County heat.
The soup and sidearms proved excellent, along with the beer, so I made reservations for 7 PM. These, it turned out, had to be moved back because my wife didn't arrive back at POR from the convention until 6:30. So....8:15 it was.
We got there around 8:00 and were seated almost immediately. Our waiter sat us down and explained the background of Raglan Road, as well as the menu items that were his favorites. This great feature helped earn him the 20% tip. My wife drank the hefeweizen (as she almost always will, if it's offered), and I had the Murphy's Irish Red, both excellent.
For dinner, my wife ordered the fish & chips and pronounced them excellent. I had the shepherd's pie, which was not only very good, but I found an excellent change from much of the menus round about WDW......which -let's face it- I can pretty much approximate at home.
With tip, the damage came to right at $80. Quite reasonable for dinner for two in the environs of WDW, I thought.
Recommendation: Food and drink, an unqualified YES. Service, YES. Decor, Yes. Ambiance......BIG caveat! At lunchtime, it was very quiet and relaxing, maybe 30-35 people in the place. Eight pee-em for dinner? Loud to the point of being cacaphonous, even for those used to many places in WDW. The entertainment, an Irish band (duh!) which started promptly at 9 PM, may well have been very talented, but it was difficult to tell, because I'm sure that the decibel level was around 90.
On the whole, we were pleased with our choice of Raglan Road as the location for our going-away dinner.
The soup and sidearms proved excellent, along with the beer, so I made reservations for 7 PM. These, it turned out, had to be moved back because my wife didn't arrive back at POR from the convention until 6:30. So....8:15 it was.
We got there around 8:00 and were seated almost immediately. Our waiter sat us down and explained the background of Raglan Road, as well as the menu items that were his favorites. This great feature helped earn him the 20% tip. My wife drank the hefeweizen (as she almost always will, if it's offered), and I had the Murphy's Irish Red, both excellent.
For dinner, my wife ordered the fish & chips and pronounced them excellent. I had the shepherd's pie, which was not only very good, but I found an excellent change from much of the menus round about WDW......which -let's face it- I can pretty much approximate at home.
With tip, the damage came to right at $80. Quite reasonable for dinner for two in the environs of WDW, I thought.
Recommendation: Food and drink, an unqualified YES. Service, YES. Decor, Yes. Ambiance......BIG caveat! At lunchtime, it was very quiet and relaxing, maybe 30-35 people in the place. Eight pee-em for dinner? Loud to the point of being cacaphonous, even for those used to many places in WDW. The entertainment, an Irish band (duh!) which started promptly at 9 PM, may well have been very talented, but it was difficult to tell, because I'm sure that the decibel level was around 90.
On the whole, we were pleased with our choice of Raglan Road as the location for our going-away dinner.
