TS: Kona Cafe, Planet Hollywood, Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre, Le Cellier, Biergarten, & Raglan Road Pub.
CS: Wolfgang Puck express in the Marketplace, twice. Earl of Sandwich, Artist Palette at SSR, Boulangerie Patisserie (France, EC) Lotus Blossom Cafe (China, EC) Yorkshire County fish Shop (UK, EC)
Background: My son's best friend from college had never been to WDW & really wanted to go. When the free dining came up & I realized it wd fit in the 1 free week my son had between his summer camp counselor job & the start of the school year we decided to go. We had been on the dining plan last Thanksgiving so we were familiar with how it worked. The guys were really excited about getting steak every night if they wanted & I thought who better to take advantage of free dining than 2 21 yr olds about to return to off-campus apts where they have to cook for themselves.
Kona Cafe. Sunday 8/26. things did not start out well at all. We had a 6:05 adr & were not seated until 6:55. We were cold & tired (it had been pouring) & we had been up since 6am. We all got a different flavor smoothie. Starters were also shared: caesar salad, pot stickers & sticky wings. We all loved the sweet bread & flavored butter. Entrees were the shrimp & scallops, filet mignon & the beef teriyaki. The guys also got the 2 special beers. Even with saving all but 3 of the sticky wings & part of the beef teriyaki we couldn't eat dessert & took them with us without the ice cream that came with the apple brown betty & the choc macadamia nut tart. the 3rd dessert was the kilauea torte. We also wanted to get back to the MK for EMH. The food was very good but the poor service really put us off.
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre, ST. Mon 8/27. We had a 12:30 adr for lunch & were seated immediately even though they were turning people away right & left. The guys got the choc & oreo shakes, I got ice tea. Starters were the onion rings, mixed greens salad & spinach & artichoke dip. The onion rings were very good. The dip was okay. Entrees were 2 burgers with different cheese & toppings & were excellent but not finished. Andy had the fries which were average. I had the cucumber-melon salad which was very good & refreshing. My son got the ribs & said they were great with extra sauce. Again we were too full for dessert so we took it with us: apple & pecan crisp, cheesecake & the chocolate tart. We had eaten here before sometime in the mid 90's. Service was very good & fast, it was cool & dark & we wd definitely go back.
Raglan Road Pub, Mon 8/27 at 8pm, dinner. We told them when we checked in that we were interested in staying for the entertainment & were given a great table in clear view of the dancer & close to the band. Our wait for our table was just long enough for the guys to have a black & tan at the bar. My son got 1 of the beer flights & Andy tried a few different beers. They shared the ribs(Heaven on Earth) & I had the seared beef salad for starters. Both were excellent. Entrees were the Serious Sirloin Steak, Paddy's Pork, & Kevin's Heavenly Ham. They were good but we thought both the ham & the pork were on the dry side, but that may be because we always eat pork with applesauce & ham with pineapple at home. This time we were smart & saved 1/2 of our entrees so that we could have the desserts we wanted instead of just ones that wd transport. I had a strawberry pavlova with ice cream which was very light & refreshing, Andy had 3 mousses chocolate, white choc orange, & tiramisu. Jeff had 3 berry pannacotta. Both of their desserts were served in 3 cute little cups. The entertainment started at 9pm we were done eating around 10 & stayed until 10:30. You can put in requests for songs & they encouraged singing & clapping along. It was a great evening.
Planet Hollywood: Tues 8/28 at 1:45 pm, lunch. Again we were seated promptly. We had 2 voucher & paid the rest OOP. Drinks were ice tea, coke & a special shake. We shared the sliders & side caesar salad for starters. Andy had a burger again. I had a spinach salad with chicken, peaches, blue cheese, cranberries, & onions. Jeff had the chicken caesar salad. We didn't even bother with desserts. We had last eaten here in 1991. We thought both the food & the service were very good & wd go back again.
Le Cellier: Wed 8/29 12:10 pm, lunch. We checked in a little early & were seated immediately in the Northwest territories in a corner booth. There were only 2 other table for 4 in our area so it was not crowded at all & rather quiet. We started with sour green apple, choc-raspberry & raspberry smoothies. They guys did not get beer here because they had started their drinking around World Showcase in Canada the night before. Jeff & I had the cheddar cheese soup which was excellent & served in only a small cup (great lunch size). We got refills on all the bread sticks. I had the 5 oz filet, Jeff had the stir-fry beef tips with udon noodles & Andy had the bbq prime rib on sourdough bread with celery root slaw & french fires. He didn't even finish 1/2 the sandwich & only ate a small amount of his choc whiskey cake. This was the only meal I finished. I had the cherry shortcake & Jeff had the s'mores. We had eaten here 1 other time many years ago. This was our best meal both in food quality & quantity & service.
Biergarten: Wed 8/29 6:55 pm, dinner. The guys finished their drinking around the world here so they had beer #5 of the day. We were seated with a very friendly family from upstate NY(they live very close to my brother) so that made the meal much more enjoyable. We were also next to the dance floor. This was our 4th time here & the only buffet we went to. We think the food is quite good & the entertainment is a lot of fun, especially for kids who want to get up & dance.
Wolfgang Puck Express: we ate lunch here 2 days, we were in the Congress Park area of SSR right near the water & the path to DTD. It was closer to walk to WPEx than to Artist Palette at the resort. The 1st time we all got salads, the guys got chicken casear & I got the spinach with apples blue cheese & candied pecans. They were fantastic & the flat bread that the salads are served on top of were great as well. We all left part of the flatbread. The choc chip cookies were soft & chewy although we were disappointed that they no longer offered the 3 kinds of cookies plus brownies as they had last November. the 2nd time I had eaten leftovers & the guys got the rotisserie chicken with a side of caesar salad instead of potatoes & the linguini with chicken bolognese. The cookies were hard & crispy. We liked the previous day's better. I did leave a $5 tip here each time since the staff does bring out your food & refill drinks. This is our favorite counter service place & have eaten here at least once our last several trips.
Earl of Sandwich. We had 2 CS points left so we got the chicken caesar wrap & the Full Montague with a brownie & cupcake to take to the airport to share as dinner before our flight at 5:45pm. The sandwiches were okay & they seemed to be messing up almost every order. Don't think we wd bother with this place again.
Artist Palette: We ate here after checking in to the resort. Chicken, artichoke & spinach flatbread, smoked turkey caesar sandwich & chef's special panini with fountain drinks & cookies. It was okay, but nothing special.
Boulangerie Patisseire: dinner. We shared 2 warmed ham & cheese crossiants & 2 pastries. No vegies or salad but it was French pastries & its vacation.
Yorkshire County Fish Shop: dinner, again no vegies or salad offered, but since I always get fish & chips whenever I am really in the UK, couldn't pass them up here. Very very hot, way too many fries but I love the malt vinegar.
Lotus blossom Cafe: dinner. As the guys said, it was Chinese food & at least they got vegies.
General impressions. Way too much food. Concerned about the changes to the dining plan. Many of the entrees at TS restaurants do not come with vegies or salads, we had to get those through starters. If Disney is so concerned about healthy eating why take away the starters & keep dessert? (Actually I do know why, dessert is so much cheaper for them to provide). With the exception of the awful wait for a table at Kona Cafe we thought the food & service at TS restaurants was very good. We did see people being turned away, especially at lunch time, but Raglan Road & Biergarten seemed to be taking walkups although with at least a 40 minute wait. And I thought the parks seemed almost as crowded as they had last Thanksgiving.
CS: Wolfgang Puck express in the Marketplace, twice. Earl of Sandwich, Artist Palette at SSR, Boulangerie Patisserie (France, EC) Lotus Blossom Cafe (China, EC) Yorkshire County fish Shop (UK, EC)
Background: My son's best friend from college had never been to WDW & really wanted to go. When the free dining came up & I realized it wd fit in the 1 free week my son had between his summer camp counselor job & the start of the school year we decided to go. We had been on the dining plan last Thanksgiving so we were familiar with how it worked. The guys were really excited about getting steak every night if they wanted & I thought who better to take advantage of free dining than 2 21 yr olds about to return to off-campus apts where they have to cook for themselves.
Kona Cafe. Sunday 8/26. things did not start out well at all. We had a 6:05 adr & were not seated until 6:55. We were cold & tired (it had been pouring) & we had been up since 6am. We all got a different flavor smoothie. Starters were also shared: caesar salad, pot stickers & sticky wings. We all loved the sweet bread & flavored butter. Entrees were the shrimp & scallops, filet mignon & the beef teriyaki. The guys also got the 2 special beers. Even with saving all but 3 of the sticky wings & part of the beef teriyaki we couldn't eat dessert & took them with us without the ice cream that came with the apple brown betty & the choc macadamia nut tart. the 3rd dessert was the kilauea torte. We also wanted to get back to the MK for EMH. The food was very good but the poor service really put us off.
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre, ST. Mon 8/27. We had a 12:30 adr for lunch & were seated immediately even though they were turning people away right & left. The guys got the choc & oreo shakes, I got ice tea. Starters were the onion rings, mixed greens salad & spinach & artichoke dip. The onion rings were very good. The dip was okay. Entrees were 2 burgers with different cheese & toppings & were excellent but not finished. Andy had the fries which were average. I had the cucumber-melon salad which was very good & refreshing. My son got the ribs & said they were great with extra sauce. Again we were too full for dessert so we took it with us: apple & pecan crisp, cheesecake & the chocolate tart. We had eaten here before sometime in the mid 90's. Service was very good & fast, it was cool & dark & we wd definitely go back.
Raglan Road Pub, Mon 8/27 at 8pm, dinner. We told them when we checked in that we were interested in staying for the entertainment & were given a great table in clear view of the dancer & close to the band. Our wait for our table was just long enough for the guys to have a black & tan at the bar. My son got 1 of the beer flights & Andy tried a few different beers. They shared the ribs(Heaven on Earth) & I had the seared beef salad for starters. Both were excellent. Entrees were the Serious Sirloin Steak, Paddy's Pork, & Kevin's Heavenly Ham. They were good but we thought both the ham & the pork were on the dry side, but that may be because we always eat pork with applesauce & ham with pineapple at home. This time we were smart & saved 1/2 of our entrees so that we could have the desserts we wanted instead of just ones that wd transport. I had a strawberry pavlova with ice cream which was very light & refreshing, Andy had 3 mousses chocolate, white choc orange, & tiramisu. Jeff had 3 berry pannacotta. Both of their desserts were served in 3 cute little cups. The entertainment started at 9pm we were done eating around 10 & stayed until 10:30. You can put in requests for songs & they encouraged singing & clapping along. It was a great evening.
Planet Hollywood: Tues 8/28 at 1:45 pm, lunch. Again we were seated promptly. We had 2 voucher & paid the rest OOP. Drinks were ice tea, coke & a special shake. We shared the sliders & side caesar salad for starters. Andy had a burger again. I had a spinach salad with chicken, peaches, blue cheese, cranberries, & onions. Jeff had the chicken caesar salad. We didn't even bother with desserts. We had last eaten here in 1991. We thought both the food & the service were very good & wd go back again.
Le Cellier: Wed 8/29 12:10 pm, lunch. We checked in a little early & were seated immediately in the Northwest territories in a corner booth. There were only 2 other table for 4 in our area so it was not crowded at all & rather quiet. We started with sour green apple, choc-raspberry & raspberry smoothies. They guys did not get beer here because they had started their drinking around World Showcase in Canada the night before. Jeff & I had the cheddar cheese soup which was excellent & served in only a small cup (great lunch size). We got refills on all the bread sticks. I had the 5 oz filet, Jeff had the stir-fry beef tips with udon noodles & Andy had the bbq prime rib on sourdough bread with celery root slaw & french fires. He didn't even finish 1/2 the sandwich & only ate a small amount of his choc whiskey cake. This was the only meal I finished. I had the cherry shortcake & Jeff had the s'mores. We had eaten here 1 other time many years ago. This was our best meal both in food quality & quantity & service.
Biergarten: Wed 8/29 6:55 pm, dinner. The guys finished their drinking around the world here so they had beer #5 of the day. We were seated with a very friendly family from upstate NY(they live very close to my brother) so that made the meal much more enjoyable. We were also next to the dance floor. This was our 4th time here & the only buffet we went to. We think the food is quite good & the entertainment is a lot of fun, especially for kids who want to get up & dance.
Wolfgang Puck Express: we ate lunch here 2 days, we were in the Congress Park area of SSR right near the water & the path to DTD. It was closer to walk to WPEx than to Artist Palette at the resort. The 1st time we all got salads, the guys got chicken casear & I got the spinach with apples blue cheese & candied pecans. They were fantastic & the flat bread that the salads are served on top of were great as well. We all left part of the flatbread. The choc chip cookies were soft & chewy although we were disappointed that they no longer offered the 3 kinds of cookies plus brownies as they had last November. the 2nd time I had eaten leftovers & the guys got the rotisserie chicken with a side of caesar salad instead of potatoes & the linguini with chicken bolognese. The cookies were hard & crispy. We liked the previous day's better. I did leave a $5 tip here each time since the staff does bring out your food & refill drinks. This is our favorite counter service place & have eaten here at least once our last several trips.
Earl of Sandwich. We had 2 CS points left so we got the chicken caesar wrap & the Full Montague with a brownie & cupcake to take to the airport to share as dinner before our flight at 5:45pm. The sandwiches were okay & they seemed to be messing up almost every order. Don't think we wd bother with this place again.
Artist Palette: We ate here after checking in to the resort. Chicken, artichoke & spinach flatbread, smoked turkey caesar sandwich & chef's special panini with fountain drinks & cookies. It was okay, but nothing special.
Boulangerie Patisseire: dinner. We shared 2 warmed ham & cheese crossiants & 2 pastries. No vegies or salad but it was French pastries & its vacation.
Yorkshire County Fish Shop: dinner, again no vegies or salad offered, but since I always get fish & chips whenever I am really in the UK, couldn't pass them up here. Very very hot, way too many fries but I love the malt vinegar.
Lotus blossom Cafe: dinner. As the guys said, it was Chinese food & at least they got vegies.
General impressions. Way too much food. Concerned about the changes to the dining plan. Many of the entrees at TS restaurants do not come with vegies or salads, we had to get those through starters. If Disney is so concerned about healthy eating why take away the starters & keep dessert? (Actually I do know why, dessert is so much cheaper for them to provide). With the exception of the awful wait for a table at Kona Cafe we thought the food & service at TS restaurants was very good. We did see people being turned away, especially at lunch time, but Raglan Road & Biergarten seemed to be taking walkups although with at least a 40 minute wait. And I thought the parks seemed almost as crowded as they had last Thanksgiving.
you had some great meals !
