Fell in love at Coral Reef - lunch 03/21/09

[Luv2Roam]

No not with DH. With the Wild Mushroom Lasagna at Coral Reef.

4 adults for lunch. The couple with us had not dined there in decades.

We were not concerned about where we would be seated. Good thing, as we were in the center in the back. Actually it turned out to be a very nice spot. Much more quiet and private feeling. Worked out great.

Just ice teas, Coke, water and raspberry lemonade to drink. Nothing spectacular there. Even the raspberry lemonade is Minute Maid.

Couple:
Male - Ordered Blackened Catfish. The server warned him it was spicy. Which is fine for him. He likes a lot of spicy (not spices).
Female - Ordered Seared Sea Scallops (appy shared with her DH) and Seared Chicken Breast (served over spaetzle) as the entree.

DH - Ordered Seared Sea Scallops for an appy. (I ate one. Only three and a little green side comes with the appy.) His entree was Grilled Mahi Mahi (served with spiced pineapple chutney over cashew-jasmine rice finished with coconut rum beurre blanc).

I almost ordered the mahi as it sounded so good. Instead I went for Wild Mushroom Lasagna - roasted wild mushrooms, wilted arugula and spinach, fontina, Parmesan, mascarpone and ricotta cheese, rustic tomato ragout. And so glad I did. It was WONDERFUL. Just perfect. There was cheese over it, and it has been baked so it was crusty. making it a little hard cutting into it. But I managed to choke it down.
Obviously you gotta love mushrooms to like it. I LOVED it. Even the tomato sauce was great.

sigh... I gotta go back...

DH and I splurged for dessert. He ordered *Bailey's and Jack Daniel Mousse - topped with a ganache and chocolate cigar. Which he thought was great. He esp loved the choc cigar.
I had the Butterscotch Creme Brulee - with seasonal berries. (I think it just had a half a strawberry on top. There was also a little fancy biscotti type thing that I gave to one of our friends dining with us.)
My dessert was good. Nothing wrong with it. But not as good as the creme brulee I had the Saturday before at Chefs. Now that was sinful!

The other couple rated their food. Her DH -- 8. She a 10. She loved the food and talked about it for hours. I think they were both very pleased and impressed.
DH liked his food too. He thought it was very good.

Not long ago the four of us had dined at Flying Fish. Her and I both agreed we purely enjoyed the food at FF. But liked CR even better.

Great service too.

 

[Jennifer in WA]

So nice to hear!!! We have a res there next week, but some of the reviews were starting to make me nervous.

Quick question...we've looked at allears at the menu. Then I downloaded an app on my iphone of all the WDW menus. On the app it shows that they have some sort of seafood pasta dish (can't remember exactly), but on allears, it's not there. My DD would really like something like that. I was planning on the mahi mahi.

 

[Luv2Roam]

I don't really recall anything like that. But would not swear it was not there either. The only pasta I remember was the mushroom lasagna I had.

We all had a hard time deciding because everything sounded so good.

I would not be surprised though if you asked for a pasta dish of some sort they might whip something up.

Once with the same couple we ate at Akershus (pre-princess days). The wife did not want anything on their menu and the chef basically whipped up a chicken fettucine dish just for her.

Worth asking anyway in a worse case scenario. WDW chefs are great about accommodating.

 

[Later_Mater2009]

Ahhhh this is so refreshing to hear, seems like all I have heard is bad not-so-good so-so things.. Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it!!!!

 

[natalielongstaff]

i love the sound of your dh's dessert

 

[milmore104]

We feel in love w/ the place as well. We almost didn't keep our ADR when we were there. It was late we had a long day at EPCOT. I'm not a seafood person and I had read so many bad reviews about the place. Then when we went to check in it was going to be a 30 min wait.
We decided to hang out in the cool and wait. WOW was it the best thing we did. CR is now our family favorite.

DH had the land n sea app, king crab legs for his meal, and the jack daniels dessert.
I had a salad as my app, ny strip for my meal, and I don't remember my dessert.
DD had the kid chicken breast

We all rate it a 10! Our best meal!

 

[Rachie]

So nice to hear!!! We have a res there next week, but some of the reviews were starting to make me nervous.

Quick question...we've looked at allears at the menu. Then I downloaded an app on my iphone of all the WDW menus. On the app it shows that they have some sort of seafood pasta dish (can't remember exactly), but on allears, it's not there. My DD would really like something like that. I was planning on the mahi mahi.

Don't be nervous.....Coral Reef was by far one on my favorite meals. I had a server named Tim and he was beyond Fabulous and the food was melt in your mouth good. I will eat there again!!!

 

[angelsmith52]

We have ADR's here in May! I am excited to read your review! I am thinking about the Mahi-mahi but that lasagna sounds GREAT!!!

 

[wilma-bride]

Sounds like a great meal

 

[rznhal]

Thanks for the great review! We are excited to try CR in September!
Question: You said you were seated in the middle...could you see the tank? My DD3 is a big animal lover, and we are partly going for her, but i have read several bad reports about sitting near the tank (other people's kids shoving in). Would you recommend the middle for someone wanting to look at the fish?
thanks!

 

[msce2]

I'm glad you had a great lunch!!! I just canceled our ADR for lunch there because I was afraid of going with all the bad reviews. I hope they have turned things around. Maybe I can get my ADR back?

 

[mreece72]

We were concerned, too. We decided to try it anyway. I'm sooo glad we did. DS and I had the NY strip, DH had salmon and DD had the chicken. We thought the food was great (dd wasn't crazy about the chicken). We were really blessed to get a table by the tank.

 

[Kelblum]

Yum!! Love this restaurant!

 

[ADisneyQueen]

Can you tell me how spicy the Mahi Mahi was? We have an ADR here for DH's b-day in June.

 

[Luv2Roam]

Our server was "Joe". And he was very good. And actually the place was pretty busy. So he did really well.
At the check in area they were turning walk up guests away, unless they would eat after 1:20. Which wasn't too bad really.
That was when our ADR was for. We were seated right on time. And I had made my ADR 4 - 5 days prior. While making the ADR I was told due to the restaurant being busy I could not make special requests for seating. (Which I did not ask nor care for anyway.)
Our seat gave a full view of the tank windows. We saw a lot. Although we were not there specifically to see the water action. Saw lots of aquatic things swimming -- including a diver.

I will ask DH about the Mahi Mahi. He did not mention anything about spicy. But I will ask for more details.

We have been seated other times by the window. And yes, the view is great. But seated there you probably would have people up beside you, squeezing in, to look in the tank. Not to mention camera flashes in your eyes.

We definitely found our seats this time to be more relaxing.

 

[Luv2Roam]

DH said the Mahi Mahi was not spicy at all.

Even our friend's blackened catfish was suppose to be spicy and our friend said it was not. (Although he likes his hot sauce. So maybe for him it was not. )

However you are free and clear on the Mahi Mahi if you do not want spicy.

 

[flamom]

thank you for the review Luv2Roam,we're having lunch their for the first time in ages in June i'm really looking forward to it.