Honeymoon dining question

[DHSsenior007]

Hey!

First- I'm sorry if a question similar to this has already been posted.

My fiance and I our honeymooning at WDW May 29-June 3. We already made our ressies for the restaurants we wanted, but I'm starting to have second thoughts about California Grill. We want one romantic & nice meal where afterwards we have a great view of Wishes, hence that selection. However, after reading all the mixed reviews on CG, I began looking at other options.

The other restaurant in the MK resort area both of us liked was Citrico's. The idea was to have a nice meal there, and watch the fireworks from poly's beach. I know Narcosses's (sp?) has a better view, but my fiance isn't the biggest on seafood (i.e. it isn't his favorite thing).

From what I can gather, Citrico's has consistently good food and a more romantic atmosphere. CG seems to be hit-or-miss but the view would be amazing. What would you do in this situation? Any advice/suggestions would be much appreciated!

 

[NJEeyore]

Keep CG. The meal will be what you make of it. As with any place, if you expect themoon and stars and you only get the moon, you're disappointed. Everyone on these boards has opinions, but overall this restaurant will give you the best dining experience.

 

[psac]

You'll find a lot of personal opinions, but i'd say keep Cali Grill. We've eaten at Citricos four times. Two times it was great, two times it was disappointing. (So much so the last time, I think it will be a while before we go back. We've done Cali Grill three times, all three were excellent, and the last two were the best meals on each of those trips, and we do a lot of signatures.

 

[Pakey]

Have you thought about making your reservation at CG for after fireworks?

CG is a much nicer place to dine after fireworks. You could make your reservation a bit before fireworks, go out on the deck an watch and then come back in and have a romantic dinner. The crowd leaves as soon as the fireworks are over.

I do not find CG romantic anymore. It used to be but it's now the darling of family fireworks viewing and it's hella noisy, crowded and hectic in there.

Citricos food is better than CG IMO. I have dined at both many times and I've had far more superior meals at Citricos.

Have you looked into private dining at GF? It's reasonably priced for what you get and it's very romantic. My son did this for his proposal dinner and they had dining choices from Citricos.

 

[DCLbrideSept2009]

Keep CG! DH and I ate there on our honeymoon in September 2009, asked for a window table and got it! We had a GREAT view of the castle and the fireworks when they started. AWESOME meal too!!! We LOVE CG!!

Flash forward to July 2010 when we got away for a quick no-kids trip and ate at CG again. Food was still awesome but our waiter was HORRIBLE. We did mention it to the manager. Then the next day, after returning to our room at BWV after a morning in the parks, there was a plate with a big white chocolate Mickey and about 5 or so HUGE chocolate covered strawberries! Note said "From your friends at CG." They even included a little box with handles to carry Mickey home in!

 

[DCLbrideSept2009]

Here are some pics from our honeymoon dinner at CG:

View from table

I think this is the triple cheese flatbread with sun-dried tomatoes.... YUMMY!!

Not sure exactly which desserts these were, but they were YUMMY!

We also had the oak-fired filet (no pics, sorry) but it was YUMMY and I ordered all the same things again when we went back in July!

 

[AdWayInc]

Keep Cali Grill.. it is truly awesome for romance and fireworks... We do all 3 every trip - Narcoosees, Citricos, and CG but we really enjoy the CG especially if you get a great window view and you don't have to leave your seat for the fireworks!

 

[hrt2hrtmomdeb]

Keep CG!! We ate at all three during our honeymoon and the CG was definitely the best and most romantic out of them. Narcoosee's was second and citrico's was the worst but that mght have had a lot to do with the obnoxious children at the table next to us which can happen anywhere. What time is your ressie for?

 

[sleepydog25]

California Grill. It can be a bit noisy, but the views are tremendous, the food good, and the service usually excellent. Citrico's has been hit or miss for me--mostly miss--and much of that has to do with the pretentious servers I've dealt with. The rest was simply inferior food for the price. However, as one poster said, enjoy the meal for the moment and try not to focus on all the details. Good luck!

 

[DHSsenior007]

Thanks everyone for your responses! Those pictures looked amazing--- you know what sells me! The desserts!

The ressies are for 7:45 with a Wishes scheduled time of 10 PM. Wonder if we should push that even later.

 

[hrt2hrtmomdeb]

That's a pretty good time, you should be fine with that time. Highly doubtful you will get seated right away. So take your time, it's a very leisurely pace there so there is no rush and if you do finish, feel like you can't consume one more bite of anything and you feel you've been at your table too long, the view from the observation deck is amazing you can stay out there as long as you like. Good luck with your upcoming wedding and I hope you have an amazing honeymoon!!

 

[Belle599]

I vote keep Cali Grill as you HAVE to try it at least once.

I think you should also add Narcoosee's! It is so underrated and the level of service is INCREDIBLE. You watch the fireworks from the docks, directly outside the restaurant. I have had romantic meals there and solo snacks/drinks at the bar and each time they exceed my expectations (and I have impossibly high expectations). haha

To round off the romantic fireworks viewing of MK, I think you should take a 3rd casual night and grab some Dole Whips at Captain Cooks and pull up some lounge chairs on the Poly Beach.

Then you can compare the 3 views and pick your favourite to go back for your 1st anniversary!!

Congratulations!!

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . I'm starting to have second thoughts about California Grill . . .

1) Wise thought.
2) With all the cuts, the eatery has slipped to a Mobil 2-Star eatery.
3) Not going in the right direction.

 

[RachaelA]

I vote keep Cali Grill as you HAVE to try it at least once.

I think you should also add Narcoosee's! It is so underrated and the level of service is INCREDIBLE. You watch the fireworks from the docks, directly outside the restaurant. I have had romantic meals there and solo snacks/drinks at the bar and each time they exceed my expectations (and I have impossibly high expectations). haha

To round off the romantic fireworks viewing of MK, I think you should take a 3rd casual night and grab some Dole Whips at Captain Cooks and pull up some lounge chairs on the Poly Beach.

Then you can compare the 3 views and pick your favourite to go back for your 1st anniversary!!

Congratulations!!

I agree that you should add Narcoosee's along with CG if you can. That was our one special honeymoon dinner. We actually didn't even have to get up to watch the fireworks which was super nice. (When we went back this May, we did and it was still great to watch from the porch/balcony area).

I hate seafood and they still have a bunch of great non-seafood options plus awesome desserts!

 

[Maestra99]

I also vote to keep CG! My husband and I ate there in Sept. and it was absolutely wonderful. I know it's luck of the draw, but we had the absolute best service we've ever had at any restaurant, ever (and we eat out A LOT). The steak I had was in the top 3 of my life, and the dessert (chocolate lava cake) is still a topic of conversation months later (phenomenal). The view was amazing as well. We didn't get to see Wishes, but that would make it even more magical! Good luck and happy honeymoon!

 

[DHSsenior007]

I'm glad to hear that most of you had good experiences. We will be keeping CG, then. Have to look at adding Narcoosees... hmmmm....