Food & Wine Fest 2003 - Great!

[Kansaswritergal]

This was my second year in a row to go to the F&W Fest at Epcot and it was wonderful as usual. I was there this past Thurs. and it was crowded, but not uncomfortable. (I actually drove to Epcot, then took the monorail over to MK for a quick peak at Mickey's PH & Timekeeper, then took the monorail back to Epcot by noon and was ready to eat! By the way, even though Thurs. was an EE day, MK wasn't too badly crowded, either. And I didn't get there until 10am.)

Okay, about the F&W Fest -- several booths had some of the same food as last year, but also lots and lots of new stuff to try. I had paella with shrimp and rice at Spain (wonderful), a lamb chop at New Zealand (kind of tough & not as good as last year), creme brulee at France (good - but they ran out for a while so get this early!), lemon chicken at Morocco (also really good), white chocolate mousse at the Champagne booth (best dessert -- tasted like wonderfully whipped cheesecake), 1 bite of the chorizo and chicken quesadilla (not my thing) and half of the Chicken taco at Mexico (not a lot of chicken in there but still okay) and the absolute best food was at Australia, where I had the shrimp on the barbie and Australian lamb. These were so good I would have seconds (or even thirds!) if I hadn't gotten so miserably full. And there was so much more I wanted to try! Like Germany's apple strudel, Italy's baked ziti carbonara, and the U.S.'s crab cake (which I had and loved last year.) So, did I make anyone hungry?

I'd recommend this to anyone. The servers were all incredibly friendly, there was a lot of entertainment going on, and there were very short lines to see the characters. So go, have fun, eat!

Deborah

 

[rgoble5972]

Thanks for the mini-review. We'll be there in a week for our 4th annual Food & Wine Festival visit and I can't wait!

 

[Tinkrbell]

We were also there on Thursday.

After visiting 3 booths paying $30 for paltry portions (could they spare it?) we were starved! Went to R&C and got fish n chips. I'll never go back for fnwf. I was VERY disappointed!! No one ever said on these boards that it was sssooooooooo expensive for the portion size.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Yes, you can end up spending quite a bit at the F&WF, but I've always had a great time there and enjoyed myself immensely.

This is my 7th F&WF and although I'm enjoying it, it is markedly different from those held in the years past.

There are fewer booths, prices per portion are higher and the quality is slipping. Also, the repeat dishes are getting old. There is more to Italian food than ziti, pizza and cannolis!

I did enjoy the lemon chicken of Morocco, and the pulled chicken with lime of Southeast Asia, along with the corned beef and colcannon (but really, can make that at home).

I'll continue to go, but miss the variety and quality of previous years.

 

[sters]

Thanks for the information! I"ll be there on Wednesday and Saturday for my first Food and Wine festival. I guess I'll have to be very selective, maybe just try a dessert and just soak up the atmosphere.

 

[Lisha7]

This is going to be my first F&W Fest, so if they have the same thing as last year it won't bother me a bit! Plus if I don't like their samples there are lots of restaurants I would like to try in WS. I just can't wait to go!

 

[loyd]

the pizza at Italy was terrible. you can get a better pizza at a 7/11 gas station. I can't believe that they would serve that crap.
The mango mousse in China was great. They even used real whipped cream not that fake whipped topping like at alot of the other places in Disney, very tacky.

 

[cubsfan]

Thank you all for the 'heads-up' on the prices and quality. We try to schedule our trip every year to coincide with the Food and Wine Festival. It is a bit pricey, but sampling the foods and people watching at Epcot is our favorite pasttime. See you there!

 

[HunnyBunny]

My husband and I go to the F&W every year. We love the tradition. We maybe spend $30-50 total for the two of us. We only get one plate at each booth and split it. Yes the portions are small, but this way we each get to try something and we have plenty of room to go on to the next booth.

Just an FYI, if you're interested in any of the foods you try, you can go to a special guest services booth and they will print out the recipes for you.

 

[markºoº]

I was able to attend the Food & Wine Festival for the first time 10/26 and 10/27. The Sunday was really crowded but still the lines for food were rarely over 10 people. Monday was a lot less crowded.

We basically made did all our eating at the F&W booths. Yes, it can get expensive. But, when compared to a typical sit down meal at any of the nicer restaurants, I really did not think the cost was that bad. I just added up all of what we ate and drank and it added up to about $75 which includes $25 in beer and wine. This was for myself and DS, 11 over the 2 days.

Some of my favorites included the tuna tataki in Japan (had to have twice), whiskey flan in Ireland (only $1 for a small cup), baked ziti carbonara in Italy, and the goat cheese and tomato tart in France.

Disappointments included the chicken taco al carbon in Mexico (ours was very soggy) and chicken sha cha with peanut sauce in China (overcooked and bland).

Overall I really enjoyed the F&W Festival and would enjoy going again.

 

[SparKeLLy]

to loyd

My boyfriend and I loved the pizza in Italy, did not find it to be "crap" at all. I noticed many other people sitting near us enjoying it as well, and even going back for more....

It is all a matter of personal tastes.......say you don't like it....but calling it "crap" is a little harsh......but again that's just my opinion

And hey, they have always said that pizza in Italy is nothing like ours here.....

 

[loyd]

maybe they ran out of the good pizza and I got some crap that they had in replacement. it was compareable to the square pieces that they serve in school cafeterias with the sausage that looks like pieces of dogfood. or maybe my school was serving gourmet Siclian pizza, Huh?
The Creme brulee is hit or miss also. I'm 1 for 3 there.

 

[SparKeLLy]

or maybe you just didn't like the way it tasted like I didn't like the way the cannoli tasted.....or the way I don't like the way pizza hut pizza tastes.....

 

[CarolA]

I thought this year was much better then last year. (With the exception of the missing onion tart at France )

The portion sizes were no smaller then in the past and actually some of them were too big.

The only two things I did not like were the cold noodles in China and the Fisherman's Stew in the Florida booth.

I had lots of other things and thought the food was good. The big problem with being solo is that one or two of the portions can fill you up.....

By the way, Guest Services no longer prints out the recipes. You can buy a little booklet with them in it for $4.95 at the stores. I bought the book and found other things I wished I had gotten to try.