We left the Animal Kingdom around 3pm and went back to the Poly to relax in the pool. I have absolutely no idea how, but somehow we ended up being late again. We got ourselves showered and dressed all purrrty again, and arrived at the California Grill at 8pm for our 7:50 reservation.
*Note again* Everything at Disney will take longer than you think it will. Always leave at least 15 minutes earlier than you think you need to. More like 30 if you are relying on the bus system.
We were escorted high atop the Contemporary by our hostess, (which Kassidy found to be very fancy, btw), and sat patiently in the bar area to wait for our table.
And we waited. And waited.
This was the longest wait for a table we had. Luckily we had a great bar waitress who was more than happy to get Kassidy a lemonade and myself a glass of wine. ( A $14 glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Now, I love wine. I am a wine-o. But I don't have a sophisticated enough palate that can discern a $14 glass of wine from a $7 one. My husband is a very basic eater so we don't go to upscale restaraunts often. This was the most I have ever paid for a single glass of wine. It was good, but was it worth $14? I don't think so. But I digress...)
We were finally paged to our table, only to approach the host and be turned back to the bar because I still had an open tab.
We waited another 10 minutes to cash out with the waitress, then, finally, we were seated at 8:45.
The dining room was very crowded but didn't feel cramped. The nearest table to us was a couple in their 50's to the left of us, who tried to hide it, but were obviously not excited to have a child seated so close to them. I saw them make a little face. No matter, we kept to ourselves during dinner.
Another side note...I realize that this is a hot ticket ressie for families because of the view for Wishes, I totally get it, because the view was amazing. However, I was really surprised at the number of really young kids, like toddlers and preschoolers in the dining room at that hour. I saw a number of really frazzled parents trying to talk their overtired children into sitting still and not running around all over the bar area.
We had just enough time to order before Wishes began. We were given a yummy basket of sourdough bread, and to my very pleasant surprise, Kassidy was given a plate of Goldfish crackers!
She was completely happy with this, she loves Goldfish. She smiled very big when she saw that she had her own plate.
We went outside for Wishes, which was AMAZING! The deck was semi-crowded, but Kassidy could easily see if I picked her up and kind of let her rest against the railing. The view from there is really spectacular, it made me rather envious of the people staying at the Contemporary with a Theme Park View room. Here is the view from the deck, taken on my iPhone.
When we returned, our appetizers followed us to our table.
Kassidy had a fruit plate. Its not listed as an app on the children's menu, but our server suggested it when Kassidy mentioned that nothing on there looked that good to her.
It was huge! It was also so pretty that I almost hated to let her eat it, LOL. Wonderful presentation, and she probably could have made a meal of this on it's own, it was that big. If you have a picky eater with you for this meal, be sure and request this fruit plate!
I had the crab salad.
This was really, really good. It was very light and didn't leave me feeling at all heavy, I was still hungry for dinner. The portion was just right for an appetizer.
I have to give the California Grill very high marks for presentation. The dishes here were the most visually appealing of our trip. Like I said, I almost hated to eat them, they were so beautifully plated.
For our entrees, Kass ordered the kid's salmon and rice.
She really surprised me this whole trip, I never expected her to eat the salmon, normally she shies away from fish. She ate most of it.
I had the Florida Black Grouper.
It was delicious, but I have to give the flavor edge back to the snapper at the Flying Fish, as far as fish dishes go. The grouper itself was very good, but the bed of corn relish it was on was a little blah.
The highlight of this meal had to have been dessert.
Get your salivary glands ready.
Kassidy had the best dessert ever, that I have since had to try and replicate at home. She was treated to the rice krispie treat Sushi plate.
I LOVED this, it was so adorable. The rice base is, of course, rice krispie treats. The longer pieces have Sweedish Fish on top of them. The maki rolls are wrapped in fruit roll ups with gummi worms stuffed in the middle. The "soy" sauce is chocolate syrup. The "wasabi" was a green marshmallow and the "ginger" was pink tinted white chocolate. Major, major props for this dessert, it was just delightful to look at. Kassidy liked it too.
And for my heavenly blessing of a dessert, I had the carmelized banana dessert. (Can't remember the exact name, but you'll be able to pick it out on the menu immediately.)
Oh Lord, this was fantastic. Seriously. I don't know if it's possible to make a reservation at the CG just for dessert, but if you can, I would reccomend you do this. This was so wonderful, I ate every bite. The carmelized bananas kept their texture and weren't at all mushy, and were very crunchy on top. The toffee pieces were very crispy, if you have sensitive teeth skip the crunchies, they may hurt. The carmel mousse was the stuff that fabulous desserts are made of. The whole dish together was really just fantastic. As far as edges go in signature restaraunts, I have to give this round to the CG over the Flying Fish. Dessert was definately better here.
An update from a snippet I mentioned near the top of this post. As we were getting up to leave, the 50ish couple that I mentioned earlier....remember them? They tried to hide their discomfort at having a child seated so close to them? As we were getting up to leave, they stopped me and mentioned that it was amazing that my child was so well behaved and well mannered. They gave me a thumbs up and told me that I must be doing a great job.
So, now comes the tough question. Would we eat here again?
Mom: I just sighed when I asked myself this question. Yes, I would eat here again, but I don't think that I will make reservations here on our next trip. If I can only go for one 2 TS credit meal, I'm going back to the Flying Fish. Other than the fireworks, I enjoyed the ambiance of the Flying Fish, it just suited us a little better and didn't feel quite as stuffy. Plus, it's way easier to get a reservation there. If we ever get to go again, after our May trip with my husband, I might trade off and use another 2 TS credits here.
Kassidy: Yes, because I like Goldfish crackers.
I think Kassidy is pretty adorable, if I do say so myself.
