"Hee hee hee, haw haw haw!" A vegetarian and a carnivore EAT again! COMPLETE!!!

[Libby_Darling]

Bonus Food - Amway Center!

After Teppan Edo we all got a taxi to the Amway Center as we had tickets for a pre-season basketball game that night We were all SUPER excited for this; Benj is a huge basketball fan and couldn't believe he was actually getting to go to a game and the other 2 love bball too I wouldn't call myself a fan but I do enjoy watching it when Ben watches games on TV, but I was just really excited to go to a game and take in all the atmosphere

We had awesome seats, so close! There was a breast cancer fundraiser event happening (so thoughtful ) so we all got t-shirts and stickers and stuff. It was so nice

And, the food was SO GOOD! I was getting sooooo excited to try some proper game food there were a million concession stands so I walked up and down them trying to decide what I wanted, Ben humoured me cause he's a babe In the end, I opted for chilli cheese fries Excitement levels were at an all-time high as I’ve always wanted to try this proper All-American snack! I got chatting with a complete babe of a lady behind the counter who thought it was adorable how excited I was haha, I was trying to drill into her how LUCKY she is that all American food is amazing. Luckily she thought I was cute and not weird... I got my fries and obviously added chopped onion and ketchup mmmm.

They were so good!

Benj got nachos! Loved em!

We also got scratchcards and we won a FREE POPCORN!! I can't even express our excitement, in the UK you would just NEVER win free stuff like this – Americans are so much more generous!! We got a huuuuge popcorn and it was amazing

What a fun night!

The Rating

The chili cheese fries were amazing, I still talk about them to this day!!

 

[Libby_Darling]

Kouzzina

We had a 9.30am breakfast ADR at Kouzzina this morning! I also decided to take my big SLR camera so we actually have some fancy photos too! We were out the door at 8am and waiting for the bus, killing time by taking photos!

We got the bus to HS and then the boat over to the Boardwalk.

So beautiful!

Unfortunately, the boat went Swan, Dolphin, Yacht, Beach and then Boardwalk last. So we were running ever so slightly late, despite leaving an hour and a half…so this was probably our first and last Boardwalk area breakfast, staying at anywhere other than Boardwalk lol!

Our cute captains

Anyway, we were here now. We just had time to take a few pics along the way to Kouzzina before we were there and checking in.

Now, our experience here was mixed. The food was lovely, but the service was awful. First, our table was like, super close to the ones next to us. Literally my biggest pet peeve of all time and it does happen quite often in Disney so you just have to get over it. But I’m still allowed to be annoyed

But I’m getting ahead of myself. So, we were checked in, led to our table and seated by our friendly-but-vacant server. The décor was cute, lots of photos of Cat Cora and her fam.

Handsome breakfast date

And me…haha

We were near the open kitchen which was pretty cool

I ordered an iced lattee mmmmmm calorific!

Benj ordered the first of many lemonades with WildBerry foams – he absolutely loved it and got it in a few other places during the holibobs.

We then ordered our food and it came out quite quickly which was good, even though it was busy. However, here comes my second biggest pet peeve when dining out.

PEOPLE ASSUMING I AM THE VEGETARIAN. It really irritates me. If you’re a waiter or waitress, why would you not ask who is having which dish? You’d do it at any other table with multiple diners, why assume when it’s a couple, that the man is the carnivore and the woman is vegetarian? GRRRRR! To be fair, some restaurants at Disney were absolutely amazing and obviously take note of who is having which dish when we order, so they can then place them down in front of us.

But I don’t know what was going on at Kouzzina because at first, they got it even more wrong than that! We got given entirely the wrong dishes, as in someone elses food!

We had a big surly waiter guy who plonked the food down in front of us, and I mean plonked, and then walked away. Oh hell no sister. I was feeling confused as after many years of looking at photos of Kouzzina breakfast dishes online, I could tell immediately that the stuff in front of us was in no way what we had ordered. I said “Excuse me! ” to Mr Surly as he was walking away and he turned around with a questioning look. “These aren’t our breakfasts? You didn’t even ask us!?” I was slightly seething as I just couldn’t believe he hadn’t even asked, or announced the dishes as he put them down! Seriously man! He looked confused, walked back over and picked them up, only to have the ladies next to us mention that they thought they could be theirs. So they got their food and we were back to waiting.

So, imagine my RAGE when Mr Surly came over again with more food, this time plonking Ben’s in front of me and mine in front of Ben! Ohhh hayyyyyllll nnoooooo. “I THINK IT’S THE OTHER WAY ROUND” I spat, hahahah he looked clueless once more and I just thought uhhh forget it. I picked up Ben’s plate and switched it with mine and we were ready to go. Grrrr!

The food was yummyeroonie. I chose the stacked Kouzzina breakfast and it was delicious, although I did think it was a shame that they’d changed the recipe a few months earlier because it didn’t look quite as amazing as it used to! It’s sweet potato hash with artichoke spread and poached eggs, olive toast and chicken sausage. Mm, it was good I’d been looking forward to this for months!

Benji chose the spinach, feta and tomato scrambled eggs with sweet potato hash and devoured it – anything involving eggs and tomatoes is his fave for breakfast!

We both 100% cleared our plates so that was good

See?

We paid OOP for this meal – I don’t have a record of the cost though But I don’t think it was a huge amount as obviously we didn’t have any sides or extras, just the main meal and a drink each. Very rare for us as I think we all know! We left less than 20% for our server which is a big deal for us haha. It may even have been less than 18%! Overall it was a good meal and I was looking forward to our dinner here later in the holiday

The Verdict

Hmmm. Just writing this again makes me a bit annoyed all over again at the service but the food and restaurant itself was good..I'm gonna be harsh and give it a fins just so not every review I do is 100% positive haha, I need some variety!!

 

[RunnerMommyof4]

I need to start a list of every restaurant I can get anything artichoke related lol

 

[mombrontrent]

My son absolutely loves child cheese fries! If they are on the menu 9/10 he orders them. And since we are Canadian it is pretty much a given that all my kids LOVE poutine, it you haven't tried it and you get a chance go for it!

 

[BlovesC]

I'm really enjoying your report, and mostly I love your incredible enthusiasm. It makes me want to take you and Benji out for dinner next time you're at WDW!

 

[CQuinn]

I just love the excitement and positivity in your updates!! A shame you had such awful service at Kouzzina. If it helps, we ate breakfast at its replacement, trattoria al forno, and it was absolutely delicious. Great service too

 

[Anesthesia Fine]

Every single one of your updates in this thread has just tickled me to death. I am so looking forward to the rest of this.

 

[JKSWonder]

Did they just give the plates of food they mistakenly delivered to you to the couple waiting for them? I'm sure you didn't touch it or anything, but I think its kind of weird to serve food to one table, walk way, come back and then re-serve those same plates to someone else. If I was the couple getting it secondhand, I wouldn't be thrilled.

Plus, that waiter was just plain rude!

 

[TigerKat]

I have followed your previous reviews and have to say that y'all are absolutely adorable!!! Congratulations to you and Benji!

 

[Libby_Darling]

I need to start a list of every restaurant I can get anything artichoke related lol

Yes! I love artichoke too! Shame Kouzzina is now no longer there

My son absolutely loves child cheese fries! If they are on the menu 9/10 he orders them. And since we are Canadian it is pretty much a given that all my kids LOVE poutine, it you haven't tried it and you get a chance go for it!

Ohhh I'd LOVE to try poutine, I've wanted to for ages!! Sounds like it would be incredible!! xxx

I'm really enjoying your report, and mostly I love your incredible enthusiasm. It makes me want to take you and Benji out for dinner next time you're at WDW!

Aww how cute! I'm so glad you're enjoying it!! Well we're out over Christmas this year for our wedding planning trip so maybe we'll take you up on that offer!! xxxxxx

 

[Libby_Darling]

I just love the excitement and positivity in your updates!! A shame you had such awful service at Kouzzina. If it helps, we ate breakfast at its replacement, trattoria al forno, and it was absolutely delicious. Great service too

Thank you, so glad you're enjoying my report! Ah yeah it was a shame about the service Glad to hear the replacement restaurant is good! xxx

Every single one of your updates in this thread has just tickled me to death. I am so looking forward to the rest of this.

Oh what a lovely comment! Thank you so much xxxx

Did they just give the plates of food they mistakenly delivered to you to the couple waiting for them? I'm sure you didn't touch it or anything, but I think its kind of weird to serve food to one table, walk way, come back and then re-serve those same plates to someone else. If I was the couple getting it secondhand, I wouldn't be thrilled.

Plus, that waiter was just plain rude!

Yes it was very weird! Yeah, we didn't touch them but I agree it was odd to re-serve them. The ladies didn't seem to mind though, the tables were super close together so I guess they could see we hadn't touched them!? Ooff, it was odd! xxxxx

I have followed your previous reviews and have to say that y'all are absolutely adorable!!! Congratulations to you and Benji!

Awwww thank you what a lovely thing to say! So glad you're enjoying my report and thank you for the congrats!! xxx

 

[Libby_Darling]

Territory Lounge

After a lovely morning at the boardwalk, we chilled in the afternoon and then got the boat over to Wilderness Lodge for dinner. We were planning to go to MK for EMH that night as the park was open til 3am!! Awesome We were meeting Victoria and Ian again as it was their last night

On the boat ride across to Wilderness Lodge, we were sat behind a super cute older couple! We got chatting about our engagement and about marriage in general and the guy gave Ben a v valuable bit of advice – ‘the only words you need to know now son are, ‘Yes Dear’” hahahaha, we were cracking up! What a legend

As we walked up the boat dock towards the hotel, we were both in awe of how cool it was. It was our first time at WL! So beautiful! We walked through the entrance and had a little wander around, during which time I took some okay photos, including these:

Benj spied a penny press machine and strolled up to it, only to find it was out of order I took a photo to immortalise his disappointment:

We figured we should probably get to Territory Lounge before it got much later so we headed on up to the little bar. We managed to grab a little table for four but I was annoyed as the guy next to us was on his own at a table with like 3 sofas. Uh, greedy. I wanted in on those sofas! At that moment, the Witts arrived, so we all ordered drinks from the extensive menu. It was really cute in here with a nice, cozy atmosphere, and me and Victoria were soooooooooooo excited for our dinner! Ever since Disney Food Blog did a post on this place earlier in the year, we’d been uber keen to visit. Drinks were ordered first, I got a Pinot Grigio which cost an eye-watering $9 for a teeny tiny glass, arghhh! I remember Vic got a Magical Star cocktail and I imagine the boys got beer There was then a slight panic (understatement of the year) as me and Vic realised the menu had changed, and some of the stuff we had planned on getting was totally not an option anymore. Uh oh! We could also have ordered from the Artist Point menu but it was only entrees and it was pricey, so we decided to stick with TL’s offerings.

At this moment, greedy boy next to us suddenly upped and left so we seized the moment and quickly shifted ourselves and all our stuff to the table with the sofa. Yay, comfy! TL was a looooottttt busier than we’d thought it would be and everyone was ordering food! Obviously not the hidden gem we’d heard it was! We were ready to order by this point, after some pretty extensive discussion surrounding each menu item. We’re all massive foodies and food ranks very highly in our lives, so choosing what to eat was a pretty big deal.

Myself and Benj ordered a portion of truffle fries with garlic aioli each and the sharp cheddar beer fondue to share. Victoria and Ian ordered one portion of the fries, the fondue and some chicken bites. It all arrived and totally took up the whole table haha

The food was…hmmm, okay. Not amazing! And it was pretty cold. So we were all slightly disappointed as we’d looked forward to this meal so for long *sigh. The fries were nice but we didn’t like the cheese fondue – it was crazy strong cheese and I just don’t think we were man enough for it Benj bravely forced most of it down, using the yummy apple bread as a kind of edible vessel. There was some slight sticker shock when we got the bill and it was $82 mg: We’d each had 2 drinks but still, we felt that was a large amount, especially when the food wasn’t great and we were on DDP so probably should have been using our credits that night. Never mind! A rip off we won’t be repeating! Although, we probably will next trip when we’ve forgotten about it.

There was one other snack later that night, about 1am when we were all exhausted and couldn’t stay at MK any longer! It was so fun being there so late but we were soooo tired! I fell asleep in the Carousal of Progress and it’s my favourite attraction!!

So just before we were leaving we realised we were hungry and set about in search of a late night snack. This turned out to be a massive faff! Obviously Pecos Bills was numero uno choice, but it was totally closed! Absolute mare. We both wanted savoury snacks and honestly, finding such an item was harder than Arnold Schwarzenegger trying to track down Turboman on Christmas Eve. The pretzel guy was closed, Cosmic Rays was closed…oh it was a nightmare and we were all getting super hangry. Eventually, a CM tipped us off that Casey’s would still be open. Before you could say mini corndogs, we were outside. I got just a snack credit of fries and loaded them up with all sorts of deliciousness, mainly cheese sauce. They were actually amazing, and so cheap! I would def recommend this carb-tastic snack for anyone looking for a light lunch, or generous snack.

The Verdict

Well we were unfortunately disappointed with Territory Lounge We felt it was super expensive, the food was cold, and it just didn't meet our expectations. Such a shame! I don't want to put anyone off though, maybe we got it on a bad night. We'd definitely go for drinks again though as it's a lovely atmosphere

It's a...

 

[Libby_Darling]

50’s Prime Time

We had a lie-in this morning and got to Hollywood Studios about 11.30, in time for our early lunch ADR at 12.30. We were SO excited for 50’s Prime Time! It was one of our favourite dining experiences from 2011 We had Uncle Dale and we had pretty much fallen in love with him – we were really hoping we’d be working!! After a couple of rides we were both famished! It was only about 12.15 but there was a queue outside 50’s PT so we joined that badboy. We were super excited for the crazy cute little old guy who last time shouted out ‘MORGAN KIDS, DINNER’S UP’ right in my ear haha He totally didn’t call us though Let down. So we checked in a bit early and were asked to wait in the little area, which was choc a bloc with tired, grumpy, hungry boys and girls…and that was just the parents We waited for a little bit and I took a million photos, I just love the interior in here! I love how if you were an American kid you totally would recognise everything from your GramGram’s house! Us, not so much, but I recognised a fair bit from all the American TV I watch – pretty cool, huh.

We then got called (not by lil old guy ) and taken to a really good table it was for four people and we had our own TV, yay! Our server was called Alicia. I can’t even remember what she looked like :/ so she can’t have been that great haha! In my notes it says ‘nice, but not into funs’ so I guess that covers it! She was nice though. Just not up for all the shenanigans that our beloved Uncle Dale was <3 we couldn’t see him anywhere so figured he wasn’t working today. We weren’t too worried though, we had been lucky enough to have his expertise once!

Our cute lil table!

Soz for photo overload but it honestly is just so adorable

So obviously it was OOP appetiser o’clock here as those onion rings are amazing. We also chose to get a milkshake each as a dessert, but we chose to get them at the same time as our actual drinks. So Benj got a sprite and strawberry milkshake and I OBVIOUSLY got the PB and J milkshake and a diet coke. We were famished so we got a starter each this time; onion rings and the fried garlic herb cheese, because those four words in one dish was just something we couldn’t resist.

The milkshakes were 100% top banana.

The onion rings were looooovely, hot fresh and crunchy I love the sauce that comes with them too! The cheese was…meh, nice but nuttin’ to write home about. Obviously we forced every last bit down though, but we wouldn’t get it again. Also, fruit? NO THANKS.

Ben was being really naughty and wouldn’t stop drinking his shake even though I told him he’d be super full before his main! But he ignored me hehe. They were so good though, I pretty much had to sit on my hands to stop myself picking it up and downing it.

It got a bit awkward then because we’d just finished our starters and our main courses were bought out :/ and he didn’t take our starters? So we put them on the end of the table and even though Alicia came to check on us twice, she didn’t take them? Grrrrr!

For main courses, I of course chose Mom’s Sampler, AKA the Greedy Boy Special. It was tres deliciousa (<--- not entirely sure what language that is?) especially the mash which I loooooved but it was sooooo much meat, I’m not used to that much meat!

Banjo got the veggie lasagna and said it was very nice, but very very herby. Very heavy on the herbs. He liked it though

Cheeky close-up

We were both absolutely rammed and I had to leave a bit of my main, not huge amounts though as I had rationed milkshake consumption. As a result of this, I still had like half left! Ain’t no way I’m leaving this sister and I asked Alicia if I could get it to go, which was no problem Our starter plates eventually cleared away, we sorted out the check and only left an 18% tip as we felt she’d not done anything to warrant the extra. I think it was about $30 extra altogether, for our starters and tip

We left 50’s PT feeling contented but not as in-love as we’d been in 2011. We will go back though I think, as the food is so unlike stuff you get elsewhere.

Milkshake pic

The Verdict

Unfortunately nowhere near as amazing as our first trip so I think it’s a blue dress! That milkshake is still incredible though, I’ll definitely be picking one of them up on our next trip from the Tune In lLounge!

 

[Libby_Darling]

Raglan Road

After a lovely day at Hollywood Studios, we went back to the room and got ready for our dinner at Raglan Road. We were excited to go to Downtown Disney! We were all ready by 7pm and we got the bus to DTD. Benj fancied drinks at the Lava Lounge as it’s new and we hadn’t been there before, so that was our first port of call.

Lava Lounge was a cute place to get drinks; we sat outside on a table right next to the water and it was lovely looking out at all the bright lights of DTD around us. We got two cocktails, I’m afraid I have no idea what they were! But they were yummy and Ben says they were strong, so they obviously get the thumbs up from us Weak cocktails = pet peeve #286. We did have a really nice server though who talked to us loads.

We finished our drinks and walked over to Raglan Road at about 8pm. It was busy outside with a nice, buzzy atmosphere. We checked in at the podium, were handed a buzzer and told to hang around outside and the buzzer range would go quite far. Obviously this meant grabbing a cheeky drink so Benj got a beer; I decided to wait til we were inside though. Willpower! His beer was $7. We stood outside watching the band who were really good! Our buzzer then buzzed and we headed on in. We were lead to a 2 top on the end of a long bench – I was instantly wary as I hate these kinds of tables but I changed my mind as Ben was calming me down saying it was a good spot to see the stage and the table next to us was quite far away, it wasn’t like we were in between two. So we stayed I bet Ben was relieved haha!

Our view

I ordered a blueberry martini which was AMAZING and I had like 3 more over the course of the night. Benj got cider but I have no photos of our drinks Def get the blueberry martini if you go though, was amazing! For reasons I really can’t fathom we didn’t get starters tonight? I’m sure I’d wanted the scallop forest for like 4 years so I don’t understand why I wouldn’t have ordered them? They are a starter for 2 so maybe I had a rare moment of clarity. Trust me, that did not happen very often on this holiday. We did, however, get the amazing bread with the Guinness dipping sauce. It was super duper sweet, like honey, which I wasn’t expecting. It was delish though and we polished it all off pretty quickly.

Now for main courses, I was a bit torn. I’d always thought I would either get the steak here, or the ‘It Ain’t Bleedin’ Chowder’ mainly cause of the name. But, there was a new dish on there that I’d never seen before and it unexpectedly caught my eye. But Lib, I hear you gasp, ordering a meal at Disney that you haven’t seen a million photos of and read countless reviews of!?!? Surely not! I know kids, brace yourselves. It’s about to get crazy. So I chose it. And let me tell you, it was pretty much the best decision I made all holiday. Possibly even better than agreeing to marry my wonderful fiancé!!! I chose the Gnocchi Sea Gnocchi Do – Homemade gnocchi with seared scallops & crispy pork belly sauteed in a tomato, broad bean & braised kale white wine butter sauce. How amazing does that sound!?! ? It tasted incredible. I’d actually go so far as to say it was my favourite dish of the whole 3 weeks. ! Honestly, no plate sticks out in my mind like this one. The combination of flavours was genuinely life changing. I was in heaven and made sure I got every single last scrap off the plate!

I’m so gutted I don’t have a good photo But google Gnocci Sea Gnocci Do and you’ll see much better photos than mine

I was so impressed with this dish knowing it was 1 table credit! Spoiler alert – as you’ll see over the next couple of days, some of the signature’s really need to up their game IMO and stop slacking over their food, assuming guests will keep coming because of historic ‘good’ reputations! Benj orderd the Portobello mushroom burger with fries and loved it He loves a good veggie burger and it was nice to have a mushroom one

I was nicely full after just a main which was good as dessert was an absolute must. Ger’s Bread and Butter Pudding! Been waiting like 4 years to try this bad boy!

Unfortunately, I didn’t realize it had raisins in / forgot how much I hate raisins, so I ended up leaving a lot. I enjoyed the sauces though, it just isn’t my kind of dessert I’m more of a chocolate/caramel/peanut butter/cake/ice cream girl. Not all at once. Although that would be incredible. Ben is a biiiiiig fan of stodgy desserts so he was absolutely in his element bless him. He couldn’t eat it all though, it’s just soooooooo big! 2 people could easily share one!

Throughout the evening, there had been lots of music and dancers on the stage. It was so much fun to watch and listen and the atmosphere was amazing all around us!

I had another blueberry martini an Benj had another beer and we sat watching the dancers as we left our dinner go down. What a fun evening! We paid our bill, just alcohol and a tip so a not-too-crazy $55.

The Verdict

I HAVE to give Raglan Road top marks as my gnocci dish was my favourite dish of the whole holiday! LOVED it!!

 

[RunnerMommyof4]

Still loving your reviews! Glad you are as photo/menu crazy as I am. I want to know what I am getting lol...its a true need right? Although your dish at Raglan Road looks just that delicious!

 

[mombrontrent]

Great reviews. We have reservations for Raglan Road and 50's next trip. We are actually having mother's day dinner at 50's. Can't wait, have never been to either restaurant before. Actually ever restaurant we have booked is new to us this trip.

 

[winnieatepooh]

I love reading your reviews SO much! You make me feel like I was on this trip with you! Can't wait to read more, and also, CONGRATULATIONS! You & Ben are the sweetest. Keep up the great work!

 

[jerseytinkerbell]

Omg the Gnocci Sea Gnocci Do dish lives in infamy as the best thing I ever ate! Sadly it looks like that dish is no longer on the menu. Now I only have the memories. So hyped you got it try it as well.

I am dying with the Turboman reference! That is weirdly an oft quoted movie in our home. Classic.

 

[Landslide305]

Yay, so glad you posted more reviews! They are so fun to read.

 

[nickymaria]

This is one of the most fun DR's I have EVER read! It's the perfect combination of dining report with a little dash of TR put in - and CONGRATULATIONS on your engagement and your DFTW!!! I have taken a long break from the Dis due to some personal stuff going on but I am so glad I came back! Keep on writing!!