Happy Anniversary To Me...UPDATED!! JIKO!

[Linda67]

Just loved your review of Cali Grill and so pleased you had such a wonderful and magical evening

 

[franandaj]

Joining in! Great pics and reviews. We ate at the Cali Grill on the last night of our January trip and had the molten chocolate cake, it was soooooo good!

I do have to say that you are brave souls for trying the DxDDP! We considered it back in 2008 but cancelled at the last minute. On all of our trips since then we almost always split all our meals. Most places the kitchen did it for us without a charge and we had really reasonable portions, and could sometimes have as many as five courses! The best part about that was at Cali Grill since we shared a flatbread amongst four, split the salad and the Bison, everyone got their OWN Valrhona chocolate cate!

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of it!

 

[KatMark]

With the exception of Hollywood Brown Derby, we've never done a signature restaurant (and Brown Derby was a huge disappointment and probably while we avoided any other signatures...that and living in Chicago and having outstanding restaurants here). But after reading your review and seeing the pics from California Grill, we may just have to break down and give a signature restaurant a try. Thanks for the review.

 

[DisneyCrafter]

Wow! I'm not sure what part of your review of Cali Grill sold me more, the fantastic food or the ambiance. That's part of the reason I love Disney so much. I am definitely the type of person that enjoys the thrill and wonder that comes with the parks but then again I also love to relax over an amazing meal with my DH. Disney allows that to happen and makes it happen flawlessly (most of the time). Congratulations to you and DH, may you have many more happy and magical memories made together!

 

[tinacaplan]

Joining in! Great pics and reviews. We ate at the Cali Grill on the last night of our January trip and had the molten chocolate cake, it was soooooo good!

I do have to say that you are brave souls for trying the DxDDP! We considered it back in 2008 but cancelled at the last minute. On all of our trips since then we almost always split all our meals. Most places the kitchen did it for us without a charge and we had really reasonable portions, and could sometimes have as many as five courses! The best part about that was at Cali Grill since we shared a flatbread amongst four, split the salad and the Bison, everyone got their OWN Valrhona chocolate cate!

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of it!

Thanks. I'm still not sure the DxDDP is worth it. It really is WAY too much food and made us eat in ways we wouldn't normally. I think one large meal with appetizer, entree, and dessert is about as much as I want to eat in any one day, so even when we just ate lunch and dinner at a signature, we still ate way more food than we would have. I would have been really happy just picking up counter service during the day and then having that experience at night. Having said that, given what our total bill was at places like the California Grill, it did pay for itself. What it didn't pay for, though, was all the extra tips and adult beverages we wouldn't have indulged in otherwise. We won't be doing it again...at least not any time soon!

With the exception of Hollywood Brown Derby, we've never done a signature restaurant (and Brown Derby was a huge disappointment and probably while we avoided any other signatures...that and living in Chicago and having outstanding restaurants here). But after reading your review and seeing the pics from California Grill, we may just have to break down and give a signature restaurant a try. Thanks for the review.

Thanks, Kat. Out of all the signatures we went to (and we went to a bunch as you'll see), California Grill was by far our favorite. And being able to watch Wishes at the same time...its the kind of experience you could only have at Disneyworld.

Wow! I'm not sure what part of your review of Cali Grill sold me more, the fantastic food or the ambiance. That's part of the reason I love Disney so much. I am definitely the type of person that enjoys the thrill and wonder that comes with the parks but then again I also love to relax over an amazing meal with my DH. Disney allows that to happen and makes it happen flawlessly (most of the time). Congratulations to you and DH, may you have many more happy and magical memories made together!

Thank you so much! It really was a flawless evening.

 

[WAHkoMom]

I'm enjoying your dining reviews! I'm doing the countdown for our trip in November, where my husband and I will be celebrating our anniversary at California Grill, too. We eat there every trip to Disney. The food and service are always excellent so I'm glad to here yours was,too. And I'll make sure to ask for our anniversary buttons at check-in. I've heard other posters writing about getting little treats throughout their vacations because of the buttons, and 15 years is worth a little recognition, don't you think??

You're doing a good job; I'm sure it is very time-consuming, but we DISers appreciate your efforts!

 

[tinacaplan]

I'm enjoying your dining reviews! I'm doing the countdown for our trip in November, where my husband and I will be celebrating our anniversary at California Grill, too. We eat there every trip to Disney. The food and service are always excellent so I'm glad to here yours was,too. And I'll make sure to ask for our anniversary buttons at check-in. I've heard other posters writing about getting little treats throughout their vacations because of the buttons, and 15 years is worth a little recognition, don't you think??

You're doing a good job; I'm sure it is very time-consuming, but we DISers appreciate your efforts!

Thank you. I have a lot going on right now, most of it not so great, so I haven't had the time to write up my reviews like I thought I would.

I am sure that you and your husband will have a wonderful evening.

 

[tinacaplan]

It is quite possible that I will only be explaining this to myself...but here I go anyway.

For one thing, writing up these reviews takes a lot longer than I thought it would.

For another, I have been under a tremendous amount of stress lately. Problems with our money-pit of a house which have led to financial problems (still don't regret the trip to disney, though!). then we had the excessive rain here in the northeast and our basement flooded, leading to yet more house problems.

But in case any of you are out there reading this, I just wanted to stop by and say hi. I'll be back. Soon. Really, I will. Thanks for the your patience.

 

[goldielocksraj]

It is quite possible that I will only be explaining this to myself...but here I go anyway.

For one thing, writing up these reviews takes a lot longer than I thought it would.

For another, I have been under a tremendous amount of stress lately. Problems with our money-pit of a house which have led to financial problems (still don't regret the trip to disney, though!). then we had the excessive rain here in the northeast and our basement flooded, leading to yet more house problems.

But in case any of you are out there reading this, I just wanted to stop by and say hi. I'll be back. Soon. Really, I will. Thanks for the your patience.

I am truly so sorry to hear about all of the stress that you've had lately . It makes me nervous when trip/dining reports suddenly don't get updates, because I know that often means something(s) big has happened to the person! I truly don't like to see anyone suffer. I will truly be praying for you and your family.

I still loved your reports, and am looking forward to more-but only when it's convenient for you!!!! Hopefully thinking of good vacation memories will give some temporary stress relief.

And you are NEVER just talking to yourself here!!!! I lurk more than I post, but even I know that DISers stick by each other!

 

[JasonsPrincess]

awwh so glad you had a magical valentines day. It all sounded so wonderful

 

[dizneeat]

It is quite possible that I will only be explaining this to myself...but here I go anyway.

For one thing, writing up these reviews takes a lot longer than I thought it would.

For another, I have been under a tremendous amount of stress lately. Problems with our money-pit of a house which have led to financial problems (still don't regret the trip to disney, though!). then we had the excessive rain here in the northeast and our basement flooded, leading to yet more house problems.

But in case any of you are out there reading this, I just wanted to stop by and say hi. I'll be back. Soon. Really, I will. Thanks for the your patience.

Please be sure that we will all wait here for you patiently!

Sometimes real life just gets in the way of the DIS, and your trouble seems to be REAL real life trouble.
I hope things will clear up for you soon!

 

[Disney71]

...... Problems with our money-pit of a house which have led to financial problems (still don't regret the trip to disney, though!). then we had the excessive rain here in the northeast and our basement flooded, leading to yet more house problems.....

I just found your trip report and loving it so far! So sorry to hear you had flooding.... we are in CT too, and that rain was out of control!!!
Hope the next few sunny days help you get things dried out.

 

[tinacaplan]

Thanks, everyone! You've added some extra special sunshine to my day!

 

[tinacaplan]

California Grill's menu changes regularly and I couldn't find one that had the exact flatbread we had ordered on it, but I finally did and here it is:

Pastrami Smoked Salmon - with lemon cream cheese, poached egg vinaigrette and fingerling chips $14

I am STILL dreaming and drooling over this and wish I could figure out how to make it at home. It sounds a little odd, but the flavors melded perfectly.

 

[KatMark]

It is quite possible that I will only be explaining this to myself...but here I go anyway.

For one thing, writing up these reviews takes a lot longer than I thought it would.

For another, I have been under a tremendous amount of stress lately. Problems with our money-pit of a house which have led to financial problems (still don't regret the trip to disney, though!). then we had the excessive rain here in the northeast and our basement flooded, leading to yet more house problems.

But in case any of you are out there reading this, I just wanted to stop by and say hi. I'll be back. Soon. Really, I will. Thanks for the your patience.

Sweetie, we understand. Life takes priority over trip reports. I hope things turn around for you soon. We'll be waiting when you have the time to come back to your report.

 

[tinacaplan]

Well...I cannot say that I wasn't warned about the overall quality of the food here. But I was so excited about this:

And this...

And this...

That I couldn't resist making an ADR. And so we did...

Our waitres was efficient and friendly-enough, but she was certainly not in character. This fact was highlighted by the fact that we were seated adjacent to a large family whose server was WAY into her act. I would have enjoyed this, as it seems to be one of the restaraunts main selling points.

That and the decor because, boy, I cannot say that ANYONE should go there for the food.

For an appetizer, we shared the onion rings.

They were soggy and a bit leaden; not what you want onion rings to be. However, the horseradish dipping sauce was super yummy and so I ate most of them because of the dipping sauce. My husband only ate one or two.

We got our dinners pretty quickly after that. My husband got the meatloaf:

And no...I did NOT take this picture after he had started eating. All he got was a small piece of dried out meatloaf. Did not look all that appealing, not did it taste all that good.

I ordered the fried chicken and subbed in scalloped potatoes for the mashed.

I LOVE fried chicken and make it at home sometimes, even though its messy and kind of a pain. So I was really looking forward to getting fried chicken somewhere besides KFC. And then I ended up wishing this was chicken was even that good.

The potatoes were weird and scooped out of whereever they came from with an ice cream scoop. The greens were fine; nothing to get too excited about and, again, I like collard greens.

My husband and I were so deflated at this point, that we just got the check and got out of there.

This was one of the most dissapointing meals of the trip. Thank god for the dining plan and all the more expensive places we ate at, because if I had paid OOP for this meal, I would not have been a happy woman.

I would strongly encourage anyone who's thinking of eating here to just drop in, check out the decor, and get out without eating.

We will definitely not be returning, but our next trip will include our son, and without the deluxe dining plan, so it will be a very different trip anyway.

As you'll see later in this report, we had a much better meal at Sci-Fi.

 

[dizneeat]

Sorry, your meal was disappointed.
I looked at that photo of the meatloaf and thought - wow that looks burned and dry before I even read your comment!
There have been so many mixed reviews about 50's and I am really happy the whole "family" thing doesn't appeal to us anyway, so no special need to go there!
Can't wait (well, I think I can, ) for your Sci-Fi review! We really like it there and have always had a lot of fun there!

 

[weswife]

Great review!!!!!! I enjoy the pics. they always help me decide to order that or not. We are going to Sci Fi for the 1st time this trip!!!!

 

[sandym718]

I can't stand meatloaf, but my DH loves it. If that were served to him, he definitely wouldn't be happy!! Looks dried out and way too small of a piece. Kind of looks like they just gave him what was left at the end of a loaf? Ridiculous!!

I am NOT a fan of mashed potatoes that come out in a ball, like they used an ice cream scoop like you said. Even if they end up tasting good, that appearance turns me off to them right away!

 

[Cookie Princess]

I have always gotten the meatloaf at 50's PT and it was great. Last year it was VERY dry and much smaller. I was extremely disappointed. Your photo looks even worse than the portion I received.