Well, I dragged FH to Epcot today for rope drop for a repeat of Soarin', but mostly to see if the Garden Grill was doing any previews today. We were the first ones on Soarin', poked around, walked over to the Living Seas, and walked back to the Land at 11am. There were CMs there and they were taking walkups! So we put our names in and sat back to wait. We chatted with a nice couple from Wisconsin while we were waiting.
25 min later, the buzzer that they gave us went off and we were seated. The restaurant rotates just like it did before, characters are the same, all that. The food is the big difference, and I know that's what you want to hear about.
First thing: the service is somewhat a la carte now. You have a "family style" starter of breadsticks and three dipping sauces. Everyone chooses their own entree from the list of five. There's a family style dessert. What we weren't told until we had finished our fairly decent sized portions of our entrees was that we could order other entrees as well, one at a time.
Breadsticks: like at Germany, they have the same breadsticks as at Le Cellier. BUT. No pretzel breadsticks. Grrrr. Just the sourdough and multigrain. The three sauces are a basil dipping oil, red pepper hummus, and cheese. The oil was the only good one of the three - the cheese needed some kind of spicing up (not hot spicy, just flavor spicy) and the hummus could take some pointers from Boma. Both of those were bland.
Salad: at lunch you can add a salad for $2, for each person who wants one. I wanted to try it, FH didn't, so only I did. Good thing, too, because it was the size of a dinner plate! It contained mixed baby greens, julienned zucchini, squash, and red pepper, pecans, and a red wine vinaigrette. The salad was fairly good, but it was an odd combination. FH shared some, it was plenty for 2-3 as a starter, so just order one. It was swimming in dressing, like many salads at Disney.
Entrees: there are five choices: rotisserie chicken, beef ("steak"), red snapper, seafood cioppino, and mushroom ravioli. FH ordered the chicken with the coconut lime risotto subbed for the spinach risotto, and I ordered the mushroom ravioli. If you go for the coconut lime risotto - ask for no sauce! For Pete's sake, please! The sauce had an artificial butter flavor and the chicken was SWIMMING in it. It really dampened the tone of the whole meal. There was little coconut or lime flavor to speak of. The chicken was supposed to be chipotle rubbed - there was also no chipotle flavor to speak of. None whatsoever. The chicken itself, though, had an excellent roasted flavor. It would have done well with a side of veggies along with the starch.
The mushroom ravioli was very good, though. There were four large raviolis, stuffed with ground mushrooms and asiago, lightly toasted on top. It was placed in a nicely flavored tomato sauce with large cubes of fresh veggies - tomato, zucchini, squash, red pepper, and oddly - cucumber. The cucumber added a weird, almost sweet flavor to the dish. I could have done without. This was our favorite of the three entrees we ended up trying.
After FH had basically finished the chicken, our server came by and mentioned we could try something else. FH wouldn't have bothered with the risotto if he knew that ahead of time, but I convinced him to try the beef anyway. He says the beef was unmemorable, fairly tender, with a basic au jus sauce. The mashed potatoes it was on top of were very good, better than what was at the Garden Grill before.
Finally it was time for what we had been waiting for, the dessert. This part was actually very good. It was a chocolate "fondue" - melted chocolate with things to dip: citrus pound cake, brownies, chocolate cookies, marshmallows, pineapple, strawberries, and the best part - GUMMY WORMS. I adore chocolate covered gummy bears, so this was a hit for me. The cookies were a little hard, but the rest was good - fresh fruit, and the citrus pound cake actually had a nice citrus flavor.
Non alcoholic beverages are still included in the price, $19.99 at lunch and $21.99 at dinner. This includes the bread, entrees, and dessert for everyone, along with salad at dinner. There was a wine list, though it was a standard wine list found around Disney, with the addition of two organic wines. I tried the fume blanc here, and it was a nice addition.
Overall, I give it a good rating, and FH gives it an average. His feelings were really tainted by that butter sauce. We won't go again, most likely, unless the entrees were changed around. We miss the old menus, and felt that the food fell short of the upscale makeover they tried to give it.
Let me know if you have any questions. Oh - they are not taking PSs at this time. Or ADRs. Or any of that.
And no ideas as to when it'll be open for good.
Pictures here
Edit! Oh yes, there is the normal kid stuff: mac and cheese, chicken strips. Forgot to mention.
25 min later, the buzzer that they gave us went off and we were seated. The restaurant rotates just like it did before, characters are the same, all that. The food is the big difference, and I know that's what you want to hear about.
First thing: the service is somewhat a la carte now. You have a "family style" starter of breadsticks and three dipping sauces. Everyone chooses their own entree from the list of five. There's a family style dessert. What we weren't told until we had finished our fairly decent sized portions of our entrees was that we could order other entrees as well, one at a time.
Breadsticks: like at Germany, they have the same breadsticks as at Le Cellier. BUT. No pretzel breadsticks. Grrrr. Just the sourdough and multigrain. The three sauces are a basil dipping oil, red pepper hummus, and cheese. The oil was the only good one of the three - the cheese needed some kind of spicing up (not hot spicy, just flavor spicy) and the hummus could take some pointers from Boma. Both of those were bland.
Salad: at lunch you can add a salad for $2, for each person who wants one. I wanted to try it, FH didn't, so only I did. Good thing, too, because it was the size of a dinner plate! It contained mixed baby greens, julienned zucchini, squash, and red pepper, pecans, and a red wine vinaigrette. The salad was fairly good, but it was an odd combination. FH shared some, it was plenty for 2-3 as a starter, so just order one. It was swimming in dressing, like many salads at Disney.
Entrees: there are five choices: rotisserie chicken, beef ("steak"), red snapper, seafood cioppino, and mushroom ravioli. FH ordered the chicken with the coconut lime risotto subbed for the spinach risotto, and I ordered the mushroom ravioli. If you go for the coconut lime risotto - ask for no sauce! For Pete's sake, please! The sauce had an artificial butter flavor and the chicken was SWIMMING in it. It really dampened the tone of the whole meal. There was little coconut or lime flavor to speak of. The chicken was supposed to be chipotle rubbed - there was also no chipotle flavor to speak of. None whatsoever. The chicken itself, though, had an excellent roasted flavor. It would have done well with a side of veggies along with the starch.
The mushroom ravioli was very good, though. There were four large raviolis, stuffed with ground mushrooms and asiago, lightly toasted on top. It was placed in a nicely flavored tomato sauce with large cubes of fresh veggies - tomato, zucchini, squash, red pepper, and oddly - cucumber. The cucumber added a weird, almost sweet flavor to the dish. I could have done without. This was our favorite of the three entrees we ended up trying.
After FH had basically finished the chicken, our server came by and mentioned we could try something else. FH wouldn't have bothered with the risotto if he knew that ahead of time, but I convinced him to try the beef anyway. He says the beef was unmemorable, fairly tender, with a basic au jus sauce. The mashed potatoes it was on top of were very good, better than what was at the Garden Grill before.
Finally it was time for what we had been waiting for, the dessert. This part was actually very good. It was a chocolate "fondue" - melted chocolate with things to dip: citrus pound cake, brownies, chocolate cookies, marshmallows, pineapple, strawberries, and the best part - GUMMY WORMS. I adore chocolate covered gummy bears, so this was a hit for me. The cookies were a little hard, but the rest was good - fresh fruit, and the citrus pound cake actually had a nice citrus flavor.
Non alcoholic beverages are still included in the price, $19.99 at lunch and $21.99 at dinner. This includes the bread, entrees, and dessert for everyone, along with salad at dinner. There was a wine list, though it was a standard wine list found around Disney, with the addition of two organic wines. I tried the fume blanc here, and it was a nice addition.
Overall, I give it a good rating, and FH gives it an average. His feelings were really tainted by that butter sauce. We won't go again, most likely, unless the entrees were changed around. We miss the old menus, and felt that the food fell short of the upscale makeover they tried to give it.
Let me know if you have any questions. Oh - they are not taking PSs at this time. Or ADRs. Or any of that.
And no ideas as to when it'll be open for good.Pictures here
Edit! Oh yes, there is the normal kid stuff: mac and cheese, chicken strips. Forgot to mention.
, when will it be open for all, 
Thanks for sharing your pics, too! 
We were huge fans of the old menu ... in fact, I often said the salad was the best anywhere and the cat fish was excellent! {sigh} The former family style of dining also seemed to fit the "down-home", earthy (no pun intended) Land theme. Oh, well ...
