How do you avoid the DVC dining rut?

[JoEllen]

Many of you, like us, are lucky enough to go to WDW more than once a year.Since we joined DVC in 1998 we go twice a year and I've noticed we tend to eat again and again in the same places we've already tried and like. This is starting to get abit old! Plus Disney restaurants are expensive and I would like to try some off-site places.

We're planning our May family trip and I'd like to try Bahama Breeze, House of Blues and Cafe Tu Tu Tango as some new dining adventures. This is meeting with alot of resistance from the dear family. "If we go there then some familiar favorite will have to get cut!" leads the list of complaints.

Do most of you re-visit the same restaurants each trip? How do you pick new choices?
I hold with the idea that whoever makes the PS's holds the power!

 

[spruce]

Eating at the world is an adventure. Last month when my Wife and I were down, we had no PS anywhere and let the adventure take us. We did the MGM Character breakfast(walk in). We tried the counter service place in Japan. Not bad. I'll tell you the place I enjoyed most and it's nothing special. At the Poly there is a little store/cafe/pastry shop on the 1st floor. It was lunch and I just had a shredded pork sandwhich(counter service), but the place was very pleasant to sit at. We also ate at Olivia a few times. We had planned a big dinner out someplace but never got around to it......spruce

 

[cj2]

JoEllen,

We too are starting to try other places off-property. My DH and I decided to try some offsite eateries on our trip in October and did try Bahama Breeze ... we really liked it ... great food, service and atmosphere and so close to WDW, just out the door on 535. It also has a huge outdoor bar area with live music. We have put it on our can't miss list. We also tried Landry's seafood next door to Bahama and would call it only so-so. Another place we tried last year was Fish Bones on Sand Lake near I-drive, just off I-4. It was good and we would go back again. They also serve huge (and I mean huge)
pork chops and steaks for the non-seafood lovers.

I still consider House of Blues a Disney restaurant since it's in DD. We have eaten there once and really liked it. Also love Wolfgang Pucks!

Our next trip we are going to head over to the restaurants at Universal. I've heard good things about Emerils and Margueritaville. Good luck ... Orlando certainly has a lot of wonderful restaurants to try.

 

[Mary Ellen]

We've really enjoyed eating at Bahama Breeze our last 2 visits 'home'. The new location in Lake Buena Vista is VERY handy. We've been wanting to try out Cafe Tu Tu Tango also, but with only the 2 of us it hasn't seemed feasible. Next visit we have some friends coming with us, so Tu Tu Tango is on MY list anyway. I've also heard very good things about Ming Court on I-Drive - maybe this next trip.

We had lunch at Emeril's last time. $$ but WONDERFUL!!! Margaritaville was just ok, but we're not big Jimmy Buffet fans.

We tend to go only once for 2 weeks or so (air from Colorado is $$), so we do have plenty of opportunity to try 'new' places.

I'd give everyone 1 pick (or 2 depending on the length of your stay) of an old favorite to eat at. The rest can be your pick of new places. I would think 1/4 to 1/3 new places shouldn't be TOO upsetting if others have had their say on selecting the 'old'.

Enjoy!

 

[kda]

We usually try 2-3 new places each trip, which we really enjoy. Our last big 'find' was Restaurant Alkerhaus ---already discovered by many, but my husband had to be convinced. Even if you don't like the hot dishes, you could have a great lunch for $12 just eating the cold meats, cheeses, fish, and salads, and bread. Everything was very fresh and delicious. There's SO many places to eat at Disney, and by branching out a little bit each trip, our list keeps growing and we don't really get bored. There are some places that we only visit about once every 4-5 years. Can't wait to try Bahama Breeze. Could someone please fill me in on the type of food and where it is?? Thanks.
We've liked the Mexican restaurant in the shopping plaza across the road from the DD hotel area (can't remember the name) --- over by Goodings. It's convenient to stop there if we're just running over to Goodings for a few things.

 

[Candace]

Where is Tu Tu Tango and what kind of food is it? Thanks.

 

[Mary Ellen]

You can check out the Bahama Breeze menu on their website .

Cafe Tu Tu Tango's website has menu and locations links. The address is: 8625 International Drive in Orlando. The website has a link to a map of that location.

The Mexican place in Crossroads is Chevy's. While we like Chevy's here at home, we weren't too impressed with this one.

 

[Margie J]

I like to try at least two new places on each trip, with old standards mixed in too. Last month I tried Dan Marino's Town Tavern (on I-Drive, Pointe Orlando), Bahama Breeze and Boma's. I enjoyed all of them. Dan Marino's was a bit loud (sports bar) but the food and drinks were great, good price too. Bahama Breeze was a wonderful place and I will go back. Boma's was outstanding IMO, great price, staff, selection if you enjoy creative items.

Of course, I went back to my old favorites ... the CA Grill and Citrico's for two special meals. A friend who was with me one day wanted to try Chefs de France also and she just "twisted" my arm to go in for my fourth meal there.

The rest of the time I cooked at "home", actually using the stove decoration.

 

[vernon]

Like you i find that the restaurants on site are a bit pricey to use all the time. ( I agree on Akerhus being a good choice and centainly something different if you do eat on Disney) I used to use the restaurants at the Disney hotels but IMHO these have priced themselves out of my business. I liked Boatwrights at DL and Bonnevilles at PO ( now closed) as well as the mexican at Corronado springs. I won't use these now as IMHO they are too expensive. I had a great meal at Bomas ( AKL) last trip and the African influences made this a new as well as pleasing experience. It certainly wasn't cheap but IMHO was a reasonable value.

Off sight I LOVE Bahama Breeze and Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville. Haven't tried Emerils but I've heard good reports about it. Other places I use are The Olive garden, it isn't "fine Dining" but I've found it pretty reasonable Italian food and EXCELLENT value. I tend to mix a few "cheaper" off site places in so that it brings the "average" cost of dining down. Jungle Jims is a cheap version of TGIFriday type places , they do some great burgers and the steaks and rib type stuff is perfectly adiquate. There are a couple of "nicer" Italian places I have found along the 192 heading west from WDW just past Splendid China. The names are something like Carvello's and Giordello's ( there is also an Outback Steak House in the same area). There is a Gooding's supermarket in the same block. There are many familaiar chains along the 192 ( Red Lobster, Tony Roma's, TGIF etc) that also offer a cheaper alternative to WDW.

Like you I tend to go on longer visits ( minimum 2 weeks ) and simply couldn't afford to have expensive meals on site EVERY NIGHT there are a lot of decent places off site to go , it is a little trial and error but IMHO worth the occassional few bad ones in order to get a change.

 

[dianeschlicht]

WE have our favorites on site; Akershus, Teppanyaki steak house, Ohanna, Garden Grill, etc. We like to add one new resaurant each trip. This time we are trying both Le Celliar and Artists point. We don't usually do Rainforest, because the first Rainforest Cafe is here in the Mall of America, and the ones down there are not as good as our own. Our all time favorite must dos are Teppanyake and Akershus.

 

[Simba1]

Jiko at DAK Lodge is wonderful, California Grill at the Contemporary is one of my favorite places to eat at Disney, The Flying Fish at Boardwalk is also creative and imaginative.

If you go "off-property", you might also consider Celebration. The Market Street Cafe is "diner-inspired, home cooking", but a wonderful experience at very fair prices. D'Antonio's has great brick-oven pizzas and so-so Italian food. Some visits have been great, others not so great. The restaurant at the Celebration Hotel is incredible, but expensive.

Celebration is also a lot easier to get to so you don't waste too much time away from Disney!

 

[Patabel]

Hi JoEllen....my family has it's favorites, too, so I hear the same complaints! However, we have set a policy that we try one new restaurant for every 4 days we are there. So, some trips we try two new ones, while others, only one. Everyone has input on which "favorites" we go to in the time span, as well as where we should try new. This is not an optional decision, and it leads to some very interesting dialogue on which favorite can be passed up this time! It actually became much easier after the first time, since we discovered a new "favorite"!

Good luck!

 

[fireplug]

If you want a really fun time ,albeit a loud fun time I suggest Margaritville. We have been ther and are going back in just two weeks. Food and service were excellent and the place is always entertaining.

 

[POLLY ANN]

We go only once every couple years so we do have our "must's" on our list! Definitely San Angel Inn in Mexico for lunch or dinner, and the Outback (NOT the chain), which is in a hotel on International Drive. (Now I can't remember the name of the hotel!! But I know where it is! There's a club in there called The Kookaburra Club.)

My friend's brother is one of the waiter's at Emeril's. His name is Jim, so if you see him, tell him I said hi!!

 

[Peggy Sue]

For our trip last month, we were there 12 nights and decided to brach outside of Disney for a change of pace. We tried the Ale House..The food was very good and very reasonable. We also tried Giordiano's (sp?) a pizza place, that we weren't that thrilled with.

Back at Disney, the Flying Fish, Artist Point, Chef De France and Le Cellier are on our must dine list!

We tried Pailo's at the Swan, but we weren't that impressed with the food. Found the atmosphere to be rather stuffy and the prices very steep..even after the 20% DVC discount.

We also cooked in 2 nights...which was very nice to spend an evening in the villa relaxing.

We've heard great things at Emeril's at Universal too..and plan to try that on our next trip.

 

[KNWVIKING]

Cafe Tu Tu Tango has great food. It's basically all eclectic appetizers.order 5 or 6 items, everybody shares,order more till stuffed.

The Shogun on I-Drive is like Teppenyakie. If you pick up almost any coupon book you'll find a "buy one-get one" coupon. DW and I both have lobster & filet with all the normal fixin's and with beverage,tax & tip the bill was $41.00.

Boston Lobster Feast: They just opened one on I-drive. Coupons for free beverage easy to find. All you can eat seafood buffet, including whole lobsters,raw oysters and king crab legs. Last time there we ate-or rather I ate- for 3 hours. I think my tenth lobster put me over the top. Early bird special is 26.95.

One of the best lunches we've ever had in the parks was in MK,the place across from Pirates of Carib, great taco salad and nachos, 6 bucks or so.

Emeril's in City Walk was absolutely great-expensive but worth it at least once just for the experience. We plan on going again.

Two places in Epcot we were very disappointed with were Alfredo's in Italy and the Chef's de France. We tried Alfredo's a second time,both had the lasagna. I told my DW it had a flavor that I recognized but couldn't identify. She looked up and said "yep, chef-boy-r-dee". And she was dead right. Oh well,crossed that one off the list.

 

[JoEllen]

Thank you for so many great recommendations. I knew DVC folks would have the inside scoop of fine dining!

Simba1 - we were wanting to check out Celebration this trip so definitely want to try the Market Street Cafe.

Venon - I know you're a golfer too. Hope you've tried the Sand Trap Bar and Grill at the Osprey Ridge/Eagle Pines Club House. Great food and good prices!

Thank-you again,

JoEllen

 

[ahoff]

One offsite favorite of ours, though we skipped it on our last trip, is Race Rock on Idrive. Especially appealing if you have any motor oil running through your veins!

 

[Tom and Jen]

Well,

My wife started out our Honeymoon with ourf irst lunch at Beaches & Cream at the BC, and has become a ritual for us on every trip, alone or with guests. We have each family choose 1 restaurant for dinner. The rest we pick based on location for the day and give the kids options.

T.