Food tastes better when it's FREE!! Dining Review: Complete!!

[2xcited2sleep]

Awesome reviews and pictures!!!

 

[jessrose18]

Great reviews and wonderful pics of all the food.

I really want to try 50's Prime Time, but know that DH would be mortified if they messed with him too much - glad to hear that all the servers there aren't way OTT!

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone!!

At 50's they didn't mess with us at all, so don't worry too much.

 

[jessrose18]

We made a 6:40 reservation 180 days out, and we were highly anticipating this one! It not only lived up to it's rep, but surpassed all expections! And let me note that we had the best server of our trip here, she was fast without being pushy, she was just great. We both ordered a mango smoothie, which was included in the DDP. These were great! We ordered a bowl of Cheese Soup (6.99) to share, this was awesome! I don't even like soup, but this had a great taste, and even a little kick. The breadsticks were all good, but we asked for more pretzel bread. We both ordered filets (34.99)and substituted the risotto with the cream cheese mashed potatoes. The filets were cooked perfectly and they were the best steaks we had ever had!!! The potatoes were also very good. We both ordered the chocolate moose for dessert! They were cute, and very tasty. Our meal came to $103 plus $25 for a tip, we both agreed that we would pay for this meal OOP. Next year, the plan is to go twice. 10/10 rating...nothing wrong with this place~!!!!

soup

breadsticks

mango smoothie

mushroom filet w/ cream cheese mash

mushroom filet

chocolate moose

 

[jessrose18]

I knew I wanted to go to Boma for breakfast after I read MickiNicki's (sp?) live reviews!!! Dh loved the carved ham, I loved the pastries!!! I couldn't eat enough of the chocolate croissants or the corn bread!!! The juice blend was great and the atmosphere was cool. Our bill came to $42 with tip for 2 adults. This was a great breakfast with quality breakfast food 9/10 rating.

his plate:

my plate: chocolate croissants!!! they were the best.

 

[jessrose18]

Overall most of the Disney Food was great. Like I said in the intro, we loved Free Dining, but we wouldn't pay for the meal plan. We aren't really people who need to eat at a CS everyday, we can get buy much cheaper than $37.99 a person, but we are budget travelers. We go on lots of vacations, and try to save money on each. We booked Free Dining next year, and we have already been coming up with a plan! I know we will go to Le Cellier twice, it is such a good deal for a credit. I want to try Tutto Italia also. We will go back to 1900 Park Fare Dinner and Boma Breakfast. I will try 50's Primetime again also. There are not a lot of new places we have come up with the try just yet, we will keep reading menus! If Ohana's changes some of it's menu items, maybe we will give it another try. We are staying at ASMu again! Loved this resort, it was fun and the food court was great. Thanks for reading my food reviews!!! Feel free to ask any questions.

 

[suzimar57]

enjoying your reviews, but especially the photos!

 

[marynpaul]

Enjoying your reviews...and also glad to hear you like ASMU. I am going to be staying for free dining in December for the very first time.

 

[pegryfun]

Overall most of the Disney Food was great. Like I said in the intro, we loved Free Dining, but we wouldn't pay for the meal plan. We aren't really people who need to eat at a CS everyday, we can get buy much cheaper than $37.99 a person, but we are budget travelers. We go on lots of vacations, and try to save money on each. We booked Free Dining next year, and we have already been coming up with a plan! I know we will go to Le Cellier twice, it is such a good deal for a credit. I want to try Tutto Italia also. We will go back to 1900 Park Fare Dinner and Boma Breakfast. I will try 50's Primetime again also. There are not a lot of new places we have come up with the try just yet, we will keep reading menus! If Ohana's changes some of it's menu items, maybe we will give it another try. We are staying at ASMu again! Loved this resort, it was fun and the food court was great. Thanks for reading my food reviews!!! Feel free to ask any questions.

You had great reviews. I can't believe we didn't bump into you while you were there because we were there also at ASMU. We stayed in the Broadway section. Also I noticed from your ticker you are going back Sept. 27th 2009? So are we and staying again at ASMU.


MarynPaul,
We are also from Central New York . Hope you have a great time when you go.

 

[jessrose18]

"You had great reviews. I can't believe we didn't bump into you while you were there because we were there also at ASMU. We stayed in the Broadway section. Also I noticed from your ticker you are going back Sept. 27th 2009? So are we and staying again at ASMU."

I didn't see any DISer's during our trip, we even had a Lime Green Mickey head on our backpack, but nobody said "hi". We stayed in Broadway as well, in building 8 towards the back parking lot on the first level. We loved the resort, the pools were very nice! We didn't get the king bed we had hoped for, maybe next year. I booked 14 days for bounceback, we are trying to narrow it down as the year goes on, maybe we will see you next year!!! Thanks for reading.

 

[KatMark]

I've enjoyed reading your reviews...well done. Sorry you didn't like Crystal Palace--it is our favorite. I love the puffed french toast and the potato casserole. I agree with you on Whispering Canyon Cafe. I found it to be a total yuk and very overrated. My DH got sick on the skillet and I am sure it was either the ribs or the chicken--those are the only two things I didn't try after I hated the shrimp and the salad and the only thing I semi enjoyed was the pulled pork. And loved your review of LeCellier--we are doing it twice a trip from now on if we can get ADR's--once for lunch and once for dinner.

 

[jessrose18]

Sorry about the pictures everybody!!! I didn't quite know how to work photobucket. The pictures will be back up on the 6th !!!

 

[Disney owl]

great reviews & photos

 

[jessrose18]

I am bumping, I think my broadband should be reset now!! Thanks to everyone for the advice on how to use photobucket and not max out your picture views!!

 

[shortchange1026]

Ok, Table Service reviews are starting! Like I said in my opening, we had been to Ohana the year before and loved it, I have even been defending it to all the Ohana haters on these boards all year! Infact, we made two dinner reservations a week apart and booked it for our first night in the world. We 7:00 pm reservation 180 days out, but later changed it to 5:00 when I heard they were opening earlier. We checked in at 4:30 and were seated within 5 minutes, the restaurant had opened at 4:30 and was pretty full already. Got our bread, then salad, then broccoli, noodles, wings, and wontons all at the same time. I hadn't even gotten to try all the app's yet when the waiter came over and asked "can I take the salad", I said, no we haven't even eaten it yet! The meats soon followed, it seemed like the meat servers were running through the restaurant trying to empty their skewers, so much so that we had been sitting down for only 20 minutes and had had two rounds of meat and all app's. I looked at my husband and said "I feel like I'm craming all my food down because they want me to, why am I eating so fast! It was unpleasant. Dessert came, wanted seconds but thought, this is the begining of DDP, better save room for the rest of the week. 2 adult meals were $57.49 and left $11 tip.

Here's what we thought about the food:
Welcome bread: awesome! needed butter though, didn't get any
Pork dumplings: kind of gross, smelled like old sausage in them
Broccoli: tasted like it had been in a freezer for a year!!! Discusting
Wings: My husband loves loves chix wings, said he didn't like them at all
Noodles: Were cold when they brought them out, didn't taste like anything, certainly didn't have pineapple or peanuts in them like I had read elsewhere.
Meats: Good, loved the steak and shrimp, loved the peanut sauce. Turkey was ok, pretty dry.
Dessert: A+++ , I love the carmel sauce.

Well, needless to say, we cancelled our reservation for later in the week, and were very disapointed to this day that this restaurant wasn't as wonderful as we remembered. I don't know if we will go back, only if they change some menu items (loved the old potatoes). Entertainment was okay, some skits were cute. Our server was pretty bad also, didn't really care if we wanted one refill on our soda. We were seated and done eating in less than 45 minutes!4/10 rating

broccoli and noodles:

wings and dumplings

bread pudding

cooking meat skewers

Sorry to hear about your bad experience at 'Ohana but it sounds familiar. We had 4pm a ressie at LeCellier on Oct 31st. The only ressie I could get for dinner the entire week we were there and I called 180 days out. It was one of our favorite places to eat and had a great experience there on our last trip 3 years ago. This time, it wasn't the greatest. We too felt rushed. We were in and out in less than an hour. Soup came out almost immediately, just about done with soup and entree came out. My prime rib was underdone and had a hard time getting the waiter to take it back but he finally did. Food was good but rest of experience made us say we'd try somewhere else next time. It's really disappointing when a place you remember as being great doesn't live up to the expectations when you return. I hope the DDP isn't wrecking havoc with these places and the quality is headed for a downturn.

 

[sqerlygirl]

These pics have me drooling I cannot wait for Le Cellier!!

 

[jessrose18]

In the middle of planning our free dining '09 trip already. I was bummed that the window changed to 90 days, I think it will make it harder to get into certain restaurants, due to the 90+10 rule and seeing we will be there the tail end. Lets hope there are still good times left. We are planning for Sept 24-Oct 3rd, this year. We are going to try to go to Seaworld for the first time, and take a one day beach trip out to Clearwater. Thanks everyone for reading. I made the 1900 park fare strawberry soup recipe from the disney world cook book on Christmas and it was delicious! Thought I would share our tentative reservations while I am still planning:

Le Cellier Dinner
Le Cellier Lunch
Tutto Dinner
1900 Park Fare Dinner
50's primetime Lunch
Chef Mickey's Breakfast
Boma Breakfast

our maybe's: yak and yeti dinner, yachstman's dinner, ohana's if the menu changes a little (plus I don't know if I want to miss out on the bread pudding)

 

[TSBRN]

Great report!
Enjoyed reading it and all the wonderful pictures.
I have never gotten the chance to experience free dining but am planning for this year.....hopefully!

Do you already know the dates for 2009? I just wondered how you knew when to book your next trip.
Also, what does the 90+10 booking mean and what does bounceback free dining mean?

Thanks for helping a newbie!
Tiffany

 

[jessrose18]

Do you already know the dates for 2009? I just wondered how you knew when to book your next trip.
Also, what does the 90+10 booking mean and what does bounceback free dining mean?

We booked "bounceback" free dining. This is a promotion that disney runs for guests who are staying on property while they book. For example there was a flier in the room saying if we booked for next year august ?-Oct 3rd (sorry cant' remember exact date) that we could have free dining next year. Free dining for the public is announced around the first or second week of april, that is how I booked it the first time around. I am guessing free dining will run the last week of august until sept 25th???? this is just a guess. Keep checking the boards and the disers will keep you updated. Infact there is a sticky thread on the dining plan page labeled free dining 2009 watch that will tell you all the info.
90+10 is your adr booking window. To figure out when you can make your adrs go to the dining reservation catergory on the main page adn then there will be a dining calculator this will tell you what day you can call to start making your reservations, just put in your arrival date. If you are staying on Disney property you can also make your reservation for the next 10 days after that (instead of waiting each day for it to hit 90 days before you go). Hope this helps. Welcome to the boards.

 

[WAHMto5]

Great reviews and photos!!

 

[DWFan4Life]

Foods really looks delicious. I'll better find and try this on our next trip. I'm hungry looking on pics

Nice review...