For those who think the DCL food is "meh"

[bevtoy]

Rack of lamb and Chocolate soufflé with vanilla sauce? The lamb was tender, delicately seasoned with wonderful presentation and texture..... perfect!

Wish I had taken a photo....


We liked the soufflé enough to make it at home.... its a family favorite.

 

[Alaska Catdog]

We went to Palo a few weeks ago and it was all wrong. The service was horrible the food was edible but not fantastic. I much preferred the service in the regular dining room and the food was no better at Palo. The server rushed us through dinner. Never checked back on us, spent a good 20 minutes chatting up the couple in the table next to us affording us with a lovely view of his backside while he secured a place to stay when in New York. He was really one of the worst servers I'd ever had on Disney Property. He ordered dessert for us (basically I think he brought us one of each) I didn't care for that, I like to read the menu and know what is in the food I order. He brought us an extra plate of food it was lasagna DH hates noodles and would rather not feel obligated to eat them. We did not care for Palo and probably won't go back. Oddly the most satisfying meal we had onboard was when we ordered BLT's from room service. Service was fast, friendly and the food was good.

 

[hgon76]

I thought the food was good. But, I'm not really a food expert. I eat very basic meals at home. English muffin for breakfast, Caesar Salad for lunch.........very basic. So anything out of the norm for me is "fancy". That being said, we go to Palo for the whole experience. It's nice to go on vacation as a family and have a "night out" as a couple. Does NOT happen much in everyday lives. And would never happen on any other kind of family vacation. So, I like the "idea" of Palo and go to it more for the "night out", than the food. But,like I said, I thought the food was good. However, DH, who is much more into food than I am, enjoyed the venison dish at AP the most out of every meal on the cruise.

 

[ufcabear]

My DH and I have been to the Palo brunch twice and loved, loved, loved it (especially the fruit pizza.) We booked dinner this past May because we did like the brunch so much. Well, it was ok but not a wow. We did buy a very nice picture from our Palo dinner but that was the most exciting part of the meal. I can understand why many people love it though, it just wasn't worth extra $40 to me.

 

[ppony]

Loved Palo. If you are a seafood lover you will probably love it all the more. Most of the seafood was very fresh. A few scallops weren't but there were plenty of other things DH could enjoy. OMG, it's the first time I've had eggs benadict. MMMMMMMMM! I had 2 helpings! So good! I'm not so my options were a bit limited and I don't exactly have an adventurous palette, but I still came away full and happy. Our server was Dragen and he tuned into us like a radar! He was phenomenal!

Unfortunately I didn't get to eat much in our dining rotation restaurants becuase my toddler wigged out each time. But I felt they were okay anyway in qality exacpt for that last breakfast. EWWW. DH felt the same way and he got to say for all of the meals. The stuff on deck 9 though? Near the pools? Fughettaboutit.

PS, hubby had to go and put ong pants on when he forgot about his shorts for brunch ( and that was TOTALLY cool) but they let a lady in w/ shorts on and they were NOT dressy. I don't think that was exactly kosher. But whatever I guess. I didn't bother to look around other than just seeing her sit down in shorts because she was directly in my line of site.

 

[ppony]

Rack of lamb and Chocolate soufflé with vanilla sauce? The lamb was tender, delicately seasoned with wonderful presentation and texture..... perfect!

Wish I had taken a photo....


We liked the soufflé enough to make it at home.... its a family favorite.

Hey! I had that exact menu too. First time I had EVERY tried lamb and relaly enjoyed it! And OMG, I'm not normally a chocolate gal. I know, blaspheme! And I saw all those soufflés going out thinking meh, I won't want one. But he brought me one and I tried it. OMG! I did NOT SHARE! I think that is how they did desserts there anyway. Brought out each of the offerings and if you wanted something else, at least our server as happy to bring it. Had we wanted 2 souffles, we would have gotten them. I had been wanting to see a menu but actually found myself pleasantly surprised w/ what I was given. So all was good. I did observe other servers around there and I'm sure I'm partial, but I didn't think they were all nearly as good or attentive as ours was. Maybe they were, but it didn't appear that way. I was GLAD that as we were walking out of our dinner, we were able to request Dragen for our brunch 2 days later. The Maitre D set it up in 2 seconds.

 

[ppony]

I sometimes wonder if those who are wowed by Palo's food are those who rarely eat at places other than chain-type restaurants like Chili's and Applebees? I'm not slamming anyone with this remark BTW--just am truly puzzled by the rave reviews and am curious as to the background/fine food exposure of the folks who give them. Maybe it's just that I'm too picky....

I can't say I was "wowed" but we did like it and never eat at chain places like the ones you mentioned. When we eat at the finer places, it's $100 for lunch or dinner (far more for dinner obviously) types of places. The places foodies tend to frequent though we are not foodies.

 

[SweetSpot]

I have never been wowed but I have had wonderful filet there. Everything there is very good, and hot, which is rare for food to be on the ship. Palo is very good but people go in with huge expectations that most of the time can't be net. Brunch is best if you love seafood, shellfish and trying different flavors you might not usually get to try. Dinner is a slow, nice meal with excellent service and a very nice meal. Definitely worth doing both if you have the time but not going to ruin a cruise if you never make it there.

 

[DollyXXXX]

Nothing can put a price on a romantic dinner w/o children with fantastic ambiance and service. Where can you go for $30.00 ANYWHERE and get that? If you want WOW, go to An American Seasons restaurant in NYC and pay $200.00 for the meal. Then you will get the WOW. Did you think that you could get a WOW factor for that price? It's not always the food that makes a fantastic dining experience. Realistically speaking, on a cruise or anything else in life, nothing is perfect, but, the food, the service, the cabins can be as good or as bad as you want it to be.

 

[delo4]

We have been to Palo many times, but I wouldn't say that is a must for us. The thing we liked best was the service and the quiet as opposed to the regular dining rooms.

We decided a couple of cruises ago that we wouldn't go to Palo anymore, while the food was good, we didn't really want to take away from our regular servers.

However, we are now Platinum cruisers and Palo is free. We went to Palo on our cruise last month.

Bottom line, we only go because its free, and the food is ok, but not worth the extra charge. We don't really find many choices on the menu that we like. Last time I got the filet, but I had a better steak in the dining room on the regular rotation.

 

[ppony]

Nothing can put a price on a romantic dinner w/o children with fantastic ambiance and service. Where can you go for $30.00 ANYWHERE and get that? If you want WOW, go to An American Seasons restaurant in NYC and pay $200.00 for the meal. Then you will get the WOW. Did you think that you could get a WOW factor for that price? It's not always the food that makes a fantastic dining experience. Realistically speaking, on a cruise or anything else in life, nothing is perfect, but, the food, the service, the cabins can be as good or as bad as you want it to be.

That's a good point too. Seriously, you can't get a meal like that for 30 bucks for two except maybe in your dreams.

 

[Toddymae]

I'm not a big Polo fan. Where some people see the service as excellent I find it oppressive. The servers hover and are annoying. I order what I want and they keep bringing you food. I don't want to waste food and I'm not going to eat what I don't order. And yes - I tell the servers this every time I eat there - bring only what I asked for - to no avail - I get extra this and that.

The atmosphere - what atmosphere. The tables are to close, the white table cloths have to go and the sense of sitting out in the open is unsettling. We had decided that whatever the cost - it's to much for an uncomfortable dinner experience.

 

[spacegirlbobbie]

Quick question, for all of you that think the food is just so-so, do you tell dcl, I think Disney is pretty good with customer feed back.

As for me I think the food is pretty decent and my dh seems to enjoy it.
Every now and then I find it a little bland but when I say something the waiter will bring me out a better dish to try.

My view is if enough people complain the dcl will make the food more exciting.

 

[es45]

Quick question, for all of you that think the food is just so-so, do you tell dcl, I think Disney is pretty good with customer feed back.

As for me I think the food is pretty decent and my dh seems to enjoy it.
Every now and then I find it a little bland but when I say something the waiter will bring me out a better dish to try.

My view is if enough people complain the dcl will make the food more exciting.

I told DCL: on the comment form and in comments to an officer on the ship who inquired what we thought about the food. Like you, I think the food is decent and I'm always offered another dish, but I'm just wondering whether to pay extra for food that might not be any better than what I'm already paying for in the regular dining rooms.

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

My DW and I loved Palo.

 

[DisneyTrek]

All these people saying that Palo is no longer on their "must-do" list makes me smile. We love Palo!! The service has ALWAYS been impeccible and the food is way, way above the other restaurants.

So, it just boils down to this: Less people going, more availability options for us!!

Of course, this is just my humble opinion.

 

[bevtoy]

This cruise we are trying the brunch.... I hear lots of good things about that. I will probably have the lamb again when we have supper there.

 

[gmark2000]

My wife and I are foodies and really enjoy Palo. I think it combines quality and quantity (when you can order extra) that you would never be able to experience at the finest dining establishments. It is good value and well above average. Does it have 'wow'? It's ranks highly in our books and we've dined in some of the best places in Asia and Europe.

 

[sueandkent]

We loved our dinner at Palo. It rated right up there with the finest fine dinging. I think they could work a bit on the atmosphere of the dining room though. Turn the lights down a bit. We kinda thought it had diner lighting, not a fine dining resturant but the food was spectacular. The rest of the food on the ship was okay but nothing to write home about.

 

[carolinagirl268]

Rack of lamb and Chocolate soufflé with vanilla sauce? The lamb was tender, delicately seasoned with wonderful presentation and texture..... perfect!

Wish I had taken a photo....


We liked the soufflé enough to make it at home.... its a family favorite.

I had to check the name on this post to see if I had written it! I too love the rack of lamb and the chocolate souffle with vanilla sauce.

We went to Palo two times on our recent 4 day cruise. The second time was a last minute call to see if they could fit us in. No problem.

The atmosphere at Palo is so much more civilized than the regular dining rooms. They are fine and I love the fact I don't have to cook or clean up but the food is just ok.

I think the reason I really love Palo is because I love to go out to fine dining restaurants but can't afford to do so very often during "normal life". When we do go out I am checking the price of each entree, appetizer, desset, etc. to make sure I'm not over spending. When I go to Palo I can truly order what I want with no guilt or thought to cost. I know I can do that in the regular dining rooms but the food just isn't as good to me. My husband calls it private school cafeteria food!

On a side note I've never felt compelled to go to the brunch or tea. I love food (never miss a meal) but it seems to me like they would mess up the activities of the day. I don't really want to drag myself away from the pool to get cleaned up for brunch and then again for dinner later in the day. Has anybody ever gone to brunch and thought the food was good but it was kind of a hassle to get there?