He Went During Deer Season: Sept 19th - 23rd Food Reviews

[hillo]

Hello everyone. I was only going to do a dining review, but then I decided to also write a trip report, because I had a few other thoughts to share. Here's the link - http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=27825022#post27825022

3 of us - my step-dad (the hunter, has not been to WDW in eleven years. My mom and I convinced him to go during Free Dining.), my mom, and myself.

I will be reviewing all dinners:
Boma
Tutto Italia
Les Chefs de France
Akershus

CS Breakfasts and Lunches:
Starring Rolls
Main Street Bakery
Intermission Food Court
Columbia Harbour House
Tangierine Cafe
Pizzafari
Wolfgang Puck Express

My mom and I had already decided pretty much what we wanted at each meal. My step-dad didn't want to look at menus.

Without further ado....

Friday, Sept 19th - Boma 4:30pm

Boma is amazing, and I hope it will always be amazing. I have eaten here 5 times now, and it has always been excellent. This was my 3rd time eating here this year. There are so many offerings. Our favorites are the salmon, prime rib, couscous Marrakesh, crab soup, pineapple upside-down cheesecake, and zebra domes. (I actually did a speech the other day in class about the wonder that is a zebra dome.)

Honorable mention goes to the bobotie, potatoes with Afritude, the other soups (which were not quite as good this time for some reason, but still good), mealie bread, falafel (1st time I really liked it), cheese flan, and chocolate rum sauce. A new item that was really good that I had never had here before was a corn and plantain salad. I don't like bananas, and I've never had a plantain I liked until this one. I'm not sure what they did to it, but it was very good. I went back and picked out just a plantain.

I poured to the chocolate rum sauce into my coffee. It was great!!

Unfortunately, the lines were longer than usual at a couple of points. Later they were shorter, but that was after I was finished eating the meats. They weren't too bad though. Also, we are usually seated right on time, but this time we were seated about 10 minutes past our ADR time which still isn't bad.

Our server, Nikki, was very good. She kept the plates clear and wanted to make sure she brought my coffee with my dessert. S-d and mom had iced tea. S-d asked for coffee later and Nikki said it would be included even though he had already had tea.

Cost: 3TS credits - $86.24
Tip $14.00 OOP
Time on receipt - 6:20pm Yeah, we were full.
Now for pics...

zebra domes and pineapple upside-down cheesecakes

zebra domes, rum sauce for coffee, cheese flan

zebra domes in rum sauce

crab soup

zebra domes and pineapple upside-down, cheese flan, bite of chocolate mousse which was better than it has been before



Here's a link to my July dining review of Boma. It's a little more comprehensive. - www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1916866


Later, after walking around the lodge, s-d bought an alcoholic coffee drink from Victoria Falls Lounge. He said it was very good. It was about $9.50 OOP. It was too dark for a good picture.

 

[ttalover]

thanks for the zebra dome pics! Those are sooooooo good

 

[TigerKat]

I'm in...........

 

[hillo]

My mom and I knew we couldn't eat an entire CS meal everyday and then have an early dinner, so we decided to split lunches leaving CS credits left over. We thought s-d might be hungry after our early dinners. This was not the case. (Even though he said he would be hungry after eating so early at Boma. Boy was he proved wrong.) We weren't expecting him to want breakfast. We thought he might eat a pack of crackers or something and then we would have an early lunch. We never ended up having an early lunch and s-d had to have breakfast everyday.

We were ready to leave for DHS, and be there on time for EMH, when s-d says, "Are we going to eat breakfast?" This is after he has waited to get dressed and sat in the room for 30 minutes. I wasn't sure what to say. We tell him to wait until we get to DHS and do a couple of rides and then we will head to Starring Rolls.

Starring Rolls
I asked (twice actually) what was included on the dining plan. It wasn't a good value there unless you ordered a bagel with salmon and cream cheese. I really wasn't hungry after having such a large meal at Boma, so I decided not to get anything, so using a credit wasn't the best option. S-d bought a large coke and cherry turnover OOP. I tasted the turnover and it was very good, even though I'm not a fan of cherries. He enjoyed it. Turnover - $2.99 Coke - $2.39 + tax

Tangierine Cafe
We didn't arrive here until about 12:30pm. We had wanted to be here around 11:30am, but it still wasn't crowded, and we were still hungry for dinner. We took the boat, but my mom and I were so hungry, we were getting seasick and decided to get off the boat and walk from the Beach Club. That's a long walk when you're starving. We forgot to take pics, but I knew that the platters are featured often on the boards.
2 Chicken and Lamb Platters - $13.95 each
2 Baklava $2.50 each (price from allears)
2 large cokes $2.39 each
2 CS credits Total inc. tax $40.13 (I don't have the receipt, but that's what everything adds up to.)

The platter is very good. I love the lamb. The baklava was excellent. I had a bad experience with baklava at the Food and Wine Festival in 2006 from Greece. I was sick after eating, and it wasn't good. This baklava was great!

After the meal, s-d wanted coffee. I knew from reading the boards, he would be better off getting coffee from Morocco than getting Nescafe somewhere else. He decided on the Casablanca Coffee with vanilla liqueur $4.95. I took a small taste and thought it was good. However, it was very tiny. He said it was good, but I'm sure he wouldn't pay that for it again. It may have been 6oz.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Im in!

 

[HonnyDipp]

I'm in too!

 

[butiflfeet]

Bring on the food!

 

[hillo]

Thanks for reading everyone!!

I forgot to mention the outdoor seating at Tangierine Cafe. It was a beautiful day, and we had a gorgeous view from the patio. The patio has fans, and it was actually cooler to eat outside than inside. I love all the views in the WS.

Even though we had FPs, we spent a little more time on Soarin' than we had planned, so we hurried to our dinner at Tutto Italia. However, we were only 5 minutes late, and they sat us immediately.

Tutto Italia 4:30pm

I knew I wanted to make an early reservation, so we would have plenty of time for touring after eating. Also, My mom and I eat very early dinners every night, but don't mind eating a late night snack on vacation. I also knew the restaurant would be less crowded and more quiet with an early reservation.

The restaurant was more than half full, and wasn't too loud. The atmosphere is gorgeous (and so are the Italian guys). Unfortunately, we didn't have a hot Italian guy as our server, but we did a nice female server. She only took our orders and asked once or twice about our food, though. However, we had a guy (Francisco, I believe) who kept our glasses full. He didn't speak much English, but he brought us more bread, and he worked hard to keep ours and everyone's glasses full.

The food was great! We wanted a leisurely meal and that's what we had. My mom and I already knew what we wanted, but we still took our time looking at the menu. My mom took a while in the bathroom freshening up, reapplying make-up, and fixing her hair. I hope our server didn't mind.

We started off with bread and vegetables.

My mom asked for just a couple more of the long bread sticks, and they brought this...

We also asked for more vegetables. We all loved the vegetables. My favorite bread was the cheesy stick breads. My mom and I ate at least three of these a piece. I would have loved to take the extras with us. Later, s-d asked for more bread. He should have asked to begin with instead of them bringing us 3 things of bread!

My mom and I got the same thing. The Tagliolini con Granchio, Pomodorini Alle Erbe - tagliolini pasta topped with crabmeat, sweet tomato, and garlic $27 (from allears). It was excellent!! The crab was great, and the sauce was light yet incredibly flavorful. I love the fact that this dish had so much flavor without being a heavy Italian dish. I usually don't like tomatoes, but these were great! We both cleaned our plates.

S-d ordered Tagliata di Manzo with fennel and arugula salad $36 (from allears)
He enjoyed it. He loved the wines he ordered here. The receipt say Gls 569 Valpolicella $8 and Gls 527 Pinot Noir $10.

I had pineapple juice which was excellent. I am very picky when it comes to juice and this was top notch. However, I would never pay $3 for this size glass of juice. I wasn't offered a refill. I don't know if a refill was included or not.

For dessert I recommended the Copetta Sotto Busco to mom and s-d. I knew we would never pay $14 for it without the dining plan, and it was recommended on the boards. (I read all the food reviews on here.)
It was really good. Not worth $14, but still really good. I didn't care for the cookie on the side though.

The total bill was $167.74 or 3 TS credits. We left the 18% tip - $28.35
OOP total for wine and tip - $47.52

As we started to walk around the WS, s-d asked where to get wine. He decided on Germany. He had the $8 wine flight. It was 3 4oz(?) servings. The CM there was very nice. S-d didn't care for any of them. He said one was too sweet, and one had a terrible finish. He wouldn't get wine from Germany again.

 

[ttalover]

Thanks for the review of Tutto Italia. Would you eat there again?

 

[habg1]

Love the title. My husband thinks it's the end of the world because we're on vacation in WDW during opening day of hunting in Nov.

Oh well, he'll survive!

 

[jeminni]

Great review. I want that pasta with crabmeat from Tutto Italia so bad right now.

 

[Disney owl]

great photos

 

[TigerKat]

Great update, that crabmeat pasta looks amazing!

 

[Checkers]

Thanks for the great reviews! We are going to be eating at Tutto Italia in a couple weeks and your pictures are so good and everything looks tempting.

 

[hillo]

Thanks everyone for reading. I will continue with Sunday's food in the next post.

Thanks for the review of Tutto Italia. Would you eat there again?

Definitely! However, we might would only eat there on Free Dining. It is incredibly expensive.

Love the title. My husband thinks it's the end of the world because we're on vacation in WDW during opening day of hunting in Nov.

Oh well, he'll survive!

I'm sure your husband will have fun. I believe we convinced my s-d that he was having fun. lol I'm joking. I know he enjoyed the trip.

Great review. I want that pasta with crabmeat from Tutto Italia so bad right now.

Great update, that crabmeat pasta looks amazing!

Thanks for the great reviews! We are going to be eating at Tutto Italia in a couple weeks and your pictures are so good and everything looks tempting.

I wish I had eaten there tonight.

 

[hillo]

Main Street Bakery
This was MK day. I told s-d that better food would be had at the Main Street Bakery than at Intermission food court. I based this on reviews here on the DIS. Also, I wanted to try the bakery.

I knew from reviews and pictures that I wanted to try the French Toast Loaf. I didn't think it was worth the CS credit as a meal, so we paid OOP for it. Even though it was $3.99, it was not a snack option. I thought it was quite good. However, I wouldn't get it again anytime soon. It was good, not great.

S-d wanted a egg, ham(I think), and cheese croissant sandwich. The bite I had was very good. I believe it was $5.99. With that, I got a very good frozen latte. It was excellent. One of the best I have had. Not worth $3.99, but great for the DDP. We also got an apple turnover. I am usually a big fan of apple, but this was just fine. It looked better than it tasted. S-d ate most of it.

Mom wasn't feeling well, so I suggested she go next door to the Confectionery and see if they had a 79 cent bag of pretzels. I told her to check the Emporium if the Confectionery didn't have any. She was able to get them at the Confectionery. It was actually a very reasonable price. She hate half the bag (a serving) and saved the rest for later. She felt much better after eating them.

Total here should have been about $13.50 for 1 CS credit. OOP: 4.25



Columbia Harbour House

We have never eaten here before. I have wanted to try the food here after reading about it on the DIS. I am a huge hummus fan, so I wanted to try the Lighthouse sandwich. It was excellent! I was very impressed. My mom and I split this. We opted for apple slices. They were really good too. This and my couple of bites of the chocolate cake and apple blossom filled me up.

S-d had the tuna sandwich (Anchors Aweigh). He was going to get the fish basket, but I told him to get the chicken and fish. He kept telling me he didn't want fish nuggets. I had to keep repeating that it wasn't fish nuggets, it's CHICKEN nuggets and fried fish. He said, "I don't want fish nuggets." Oh, well. He was only going to get that for the fries anyway. He decided on the tuna sandwich with chips. He said it was fine, but his mother makes excellent tuna salad, so obviously this tuna didn't compare.

It takes a lot to impress me with chocolate cake, and this didn't disappoint. I was very surprised. It was more like a fudge brownie and really good. The apple blossom was quite nice also.

We were able to get a table upstairs by a window looking toward Frontierland. It was a beautiful view. I was glad that we finally tried CHH.

Tuna sandwich is on the left, lighthouse on the right

 

[hillo]

Les Chefs de France

This meal was wonderful. The food, service, atmosphere, and table were top notch. We checked in a little before our 5pm ADR and where entertained by Serveur Amusant while we waited. S-d really enjoyed that show. He stepped in very close to the action. Parties were called right at 5. We were called a little after.

The man calling the names actually asked how to pronounce it. We usually just let other people pronounce it the way they want to. My mom and s-d's last name and my different last name our very seldom spelled or said correctly, so it's something we don't mind. We just knew we had to listen to anything close and party of three. Strangely enough, he accidentally called for party of 2, but the reservation was correct.

We were seated at a wonderful window table looking toward the WS Lagoon. It was perfect! I love the Lagoon.

We started off with water. Mom had tea. I ordered a cappuccino and since I was so hungry I told the waitress she could go ahead and bring it. It was delicious! It only needed one packet of splenda.

Mom and I had the same meal again. The shrimp and scallops. They were excellent!!! And huge!! I'm a big seafood fan and this was great. I have a lot of good shrimp and these were right up there with them. The scallops were the second best I have ever had. The rice was amazing. I have had a lot of rice and this was probably the best I have ever had. I'm not entirely sure what the black things in it were, but they were great! We thoroughly enjoyed this dish!!

I took a bite before remembering a pic.

Second angle... same dish. Just to give a different perspective.

S-d had the filet. He thought it was very good.

He really liked the wine he had with his steak. The receipt says Beauregard Cab[ernet].

For dessert, I knew my mom and I would be getting the Profiterolles. I decided to get them here into of Tutto Italia. These were good. I might not would get them again, though. At first, I wasn't going to finish them, but I decided to take another bite. I'm glad I did, because the sauce had soaked through the pastry. That made it better.

S-d's dessert - The receipt says Chocolate Tarte. This is chocolate mousse on a crispy cake with coconut ice cream and bananas. He declared it one of, if not, the best dessert he has ever had. I didn't take a bite of it since I don't like bananas or coconut, but he enjoyed every bite and even told our waitress how good it was.

B and B Coffee - Benedictine and some other liqueur coffee drink. S-d proclaimed it better than his previous favorite coffee drink, so it must have been good.

Our waitress, Cindy, was top notch. I have learned French in school, even though I read it much better than I can speak and understand it. She asked my mom if she knew French (in French, of course). My mom said no after our waitress translated. She was very soft-spoken, so it was sometimes hard to hear her. I realized the second time she asked that she said, "Vous-parlez français?" My mom didn't recognize what she said the first time since she has only ever heard Parlez-vous français? I did understand her when she asked if I learned in school (Tu apprendre à l'école?)

I could tell Cindy was shy, but I wanted to ask her a few questions about France. Finally, at the end of the meal I asked if she lived on the riviera (I mustered the courage to ask in French). I had noticed her nametag said Cannes, which I knew was on the riviera (in case you're wondering why I asked that question). She looked surprised that I asked her, especially since I asked in French. She said yes, and we chatted a little. She said she wanted to continue her job here. I felt sad that she wanted to stay, but she had to return to France. I hope she gets a great job back in France. I believe she had been here for 7 months, so she still has 5 left before leaving. She was one of the nicest and most efficient waitresses I or my parents have ever had.

I would definitely return to this restaurant. The entreés here were only about $5 more for the same thing at home.

3 TS credits: 132.55
OOP tip: 27.17
OOP wine and B&B: 28.22
Total: 187.94

 

[ttalover]

Those chocolate desserts at Chefs look really good!

 

[hillo]

Intermission
S-d wanted breakfast again, and since there isn't a good CS place at AK and we wanted to start touring as soon as we got there, we ate at Intermission food court. S-d had the breakfast platter. He really enjoyed it. He got a coke with it and I had a Fuze Tropical $3.99 energy drink. It was like a typical energy drink. I don't know if it gave me energy or not. Regular energy drinks don't, and I'm sure this one probably didn't either. I am glad I tried it for free. S-d really liked the platter. Mom and I tasted a potato and it was pretty good. I had an OOP chocolate croissant. It was fine. I wouldn't get it again.

1 CS credit - platter, coke (nice that he could get refills in this cup - we didn't need refillable mugs) , energy drink - $13.24 (appro.)
OOP: $2.99

Pizzafari
Great!! However, the lines here were very long at 12:30pm. Mom and I split a chicken parmesan sandwich, s-d had his own. He had chips, we had (pre-packaged) carrots. I didn't think the carrots were good, so mom saved them for later. I'm not sure what happened to them. The sandwich was very fresh and tasty. We had chocolate cake and an apple blossom for dessert. Both were very good. I was surprised at the dessert quality at the CS places. We were so hungry by the time we sat down, we forgot about pictures until we were almost done.

2 CS: $28.05 (appro. - all CS receipts were canceled out.)

 

[CherylDan]

Your pictures are great! Thanks for taking the time to do the reviews....looking forward to the rest!