I took on the world with my FATHER & HUSBAND..and we all survived :) And we ate WELL!

[BLTLDZ]

Hi everyone !
We were there from 10/16-10/24

Normally, it is just DH & Myself, but this time, my Dad joined in. I will admit, I was a little nervous that "three's a crowd", but if it were at all, I would have been the outcast! My dad & DH had a great time together.

My dad LOVED his first disney trip, but he loved the food even more!!

Here's a sneak peek of a picture of us at our last nights dinner: We ate at the Flying Fish Chef's tasting dinner, at the counter.




Restaurants Included:
California Grill- Night 1-
50's Prime Time- Day 2- Lunch
Citricos- Night 2
Portobello in DTD-Day 3- Lunch
Captains Grill-Lunch-Day 4
Jiko- Night 4
Tutto Italia-Night 5
Via Napoli-Day 6-Lunch
Blue Zoo-Night 6
Food & Wine Party For The Senses- Night 7
Flying Fish Chefs Tasting Dinner- Night 8

 

[mamaboogie]

Great list of restaurants!

Can't wait to read all about them...

 

[BLTLDZ]

Withour further ado..

First off, I would like to add a disclaimer: I had a severe memory problem on this trip, which pre-dinner drinks made worse. I often forgot to take photos until a few bites were taken.

So for that , I apologize. It was an ongoing joke throughout the trip…my Dad & DH would say “stop! Rearrange the plate, she forgot the pic”!

Night 1- California Grill- DH & I have eaten here several times, and with the exception of only one time, had great food, great server. I was nervous as this was Dad’s first time, and we had ordered a specialty cake & everything…SO, did it live up to the hype?

We checked in at about 8:45…we were seated promptly..GREAT Table right by the window. Off to a good start!

They started us off with their delicious bread…and we ordered a nice bottle of red wine.

For appetizer, we ordered a flatbread
Triple Cheese - Pecorino, Asiago, and Provolone with Sun-dried Tomato and Arugula Pesto*

This was REALLY good. Enjoyed by all.




DH ordered a Romaine salad, which he really enjoyed
Hearts of Romaine - with Roasted Garlic Dressing, Marinated Anchovies, Olives, Aged Parmesan, and Croutons
(Sorry about the almost finished plate!)



Entrees: Both Dad & I had the Yellow snapper

Florida Yellowtail Snapper - dungeness crab risotto, Brentwood corn, snap peas and sauce charon

This was FANTASTIC , nice & hot, cooked well



And DH had some sort of fish dish, but I can't remember...sorry! He enjoyed it though.

Then, onto the surprise dessert: Dad had NO idea, and he LOVED it. He got a little emotional. Chef Brian at the Contemporary did a GREAT job. After going back and forth through email for a few days, we decided upon a 6” inch cake, chocolate sponge, dark chocolate mousse. Tinted blue butter cream, to say “welcome to Disney Dad, keep on Jammin”. (My dad is a saxophonist). Well, it was PERFECT. I have been meaning to write chef Brian an email, and will get to it this week. People from across the restaurant were commenting on this cake. Even with the three of us, we barely put a dent in this cake! So we had the server box it up, and share it with the staff. They were very happy with this. Here are some pics:




Here's Dad with his cake.


Here's a pic of the inside

 

[BLTLDZ]

All in all, a GREAT first night! AND we got to watch wishes from a great table too!
Stay tuned for day 2....

 

[tluvstink]

That cake looks amazing! I'm looking forward to the rest

Terri

 

[H20DogsNDisney]

great start. can't wait for more

 

[kelleigh1]

So 8:45 and you got to see Wishes. I will have to make a note.

Great reviews so far. Love the cake!!

 

[loganpaulsmom]

Looking forward to the rest of your reviews..

 

[BLTLDZ]

That cake looks amazing! I'm looking forward to the rest

Terri

That cake was amazing! We were very pleased! And thanks for following along!

great start. can't wait for more

Thanks! I will try to not let too much time lapse!

So 8:45 and you got to see Wishes. I will have to make a note.

Great reviews so far. Love the cake!!

Thank you Yes, WISHES was at 9:30 that night, FYI. We asked the server to take his time as well. We figured it wouldn't hurt!

Looking forward to the rest of your reviews..

Thanks for joining in!

 

[BLTLDZ]

Day 2- Today we headed over to HS.

We got there for RD, and were able to do everything major that we wanted to.

Then we ended up at 50’s Prime time for lunch.

I really booked this for the experience, and if it were DH & myself, we probably would not have gone back. So we were seated, and Cousin Cooper was our server…SCORE. LOVE him, he is soo funny.

So, we started off with the infamous onion rings Beer Battered Onion Rings for Two - served with Horseradish sauce Yummy as always….



Before I go on to the entrees, I have to show you a picture of my dad and Cousin Cooper : My father kept calling him "super cooper", he was such a great server. Howver, with my fathers heavy italian accent, it came out like " sooooper coopppurr" . So funny!
Here they are:




Dh also got a ceasar salad, for appetizer,which he said was “ok”.
(sorry, no picture!)

For entrees: My dad got the Ceasar salad with chicken...he said it was "fine"

I didn’t want anything TOO heavy, since we had citricos booked for dinner, so I went with the Aunt Annies Seafood Salad off of the appetizer menu….This was , well, not good. The scallops looked raw, the shrimp tasted funny, as did the crab meat. I was afraid of getting sick, so I took two bites, and then stopped…Cousin Cooper came over and realized I wasn’t into it, asked me if I wanted something else, but I politely declined, I was full from the onion rings anyhow. Here's a pic..



DH ordered the Salmon. Again, I thought it didn’t look right, I can’t explain it, but I cook fish a LOT at home, and it just seemed off….Well, DH ate it, and then got sick afterwards. Not 100% sure it was from the Salmon, but at any rate, I think it was. He said it wasn’t that good…(So WHY did he eat it)?
Again, no pic...

Cousin Cooper was a great server, and we had a lot of laughs from him, but as far as the food goes: Not so much.
Oh, and when the bill came, the seafood salad had been taken off without me asking, which I thought was the noble thing to do

I don't think DH & I will be returning anytime in the near future.....

Stay tuned for dinner at Citricos.....

 

[H20DogsNDisney]

thanks for the update. Not a fan on 50ptc. ate their a few times and everytime not to my favor. can't wait for more.

 

[kelleigh1]

Those onion rings look delicious. And that salad...it looked like it would be so good, but you were probably right not to eat it. You have to trust your instincts. I had salmon when we went to 50's in 2007 and it was delicious and cooked perfectly. Definitely sounds like something was off when you went.

 

[BLTLDZ]

Dinner- Citricos

Citricos has always been both mine & DH’s FAVORITE restaurant. We have always had nothing short of a stellar experience here. So we felt confident in bragging about it to Dad beforehand. Of course, this has to be the off night for the restaurant!

The restaurant was PACKED. We were seated a bit earlier than our 9PM reservation, which was fine by us. It seemed VERY chaotic in there, which is VERY different than every other time we have eaten there.....

The chef gave us a bowl of complimentary soup. I *think* it was lobster bisque, but I really can't remember , since it was not on the menu. It was pretty good though...



DH ordered the Artisanal Greens and Peach Salad - Balsamic-Orange Blossom Honey Emulsion, Pickled Red Pearl Onions, Smoked Spiced Almonds, and Valdeon Blue Cheese



He has ordered this before, and has always enjoyed it...this time was no exception. I have also had this, and there's something about the peach/balsamic combination, it is SOOO good!!

We also ordered one of my personal favorites, Blue Crab Pave - Lump Crab, Capers, Meyer Lemon, Fennel-Celery Salad, Avocado, Olive Tapenade and Piquillo Vinaigrette ( this replaced the Gateau of crab that was previously on their menu, and not quite as good, but still VERY good!)
We enjoyed this as well.



Now, up until this point, I have to say, this has been the ONLY time we have eaten at Citricos and NOT had fantastic service. Our waitor seemed very worried all night long, spilled a full glass of wine into my lap, barely apologized, and then the experience just kept going downhill from there....
Onto the entrees....

My father had Scallops over some sort of small pasta....



He said they were "ok", but definitely over-cooked. I tried them just to taste, and yes, they were . This definitely surprised me. I have NEVER eaten here where something was not cooked to perfection.
*DISCLAIMER*
I am sorry to keep reiterating this point, it's just that I do not want to deter anyone from trying this restaurant, as it is always excellent. I am just chalking this night up to the "off" night, and we will be going back for my birthday in may. FYI.

Now, both DH & I had the swordfish over Pappardelle pasta, in a nice tomato infused broth.



The fish was VERY dry... It tasted as if it were sitting under the heat lamp for quite awhile before it got to the table...it really was inedible, and we barely ate it. We decided to skip dessert, cut our losses, and go back to the Wilderness Lodge. So, our FAVORITE restaurant had it's first off night for us.
Oh well, better luck in may, I hope

Up next, Portobellos in Downtown Disney....

 

[BLTLDZ]

This afternoon into the following day was predicted to have TERRIBLE Rain, flash flooding etc.

We had tickets for MNSSHP this night, and due to other scheduling conflicts, we could not change the tickets. We decided to head over to DTD for some shopping & lunch, and see how the weather held up.

I am 100% italian....my father was born & raised in Italy, so we are no strangers to good, authentic italian cuisine. In disney, I have always been underwhelmed with their italian food. We have tried Il Mulino (did not enjoy at all), Tutto Italia (found it to be gross, in fact had dinner here later on in the trip, which will be reviewed as well), and Via Napoli (Which we enjoyed, but weren't blown away). Then came Portobello.....

We started off with:
Misti - Prosciutto, Parmigiano Reggiano, bocconcini, ricotta and Winter Park honey crostini, oven dried tomato crostini and house made farmer's market pickled vegetables. This was REALLY good! Everything was FRESH, and all of the flavors worked very well together.... I apologize for the half eaten plate! The crostini was to DIE for..



We also ordered :Calamari Rings - lightly fried with tomato basil sauce



These were DELICIOUS!
Very lightly fried, and light...not greasy at all, and their marinara sauce is very tasty as well.

For entrees:
DH ordered a Ceasar Salad: Caesar - romaine, parmigiano, croutons, house made Caesar dressing . He really enjoyed this.


I ordered a regular salad:House Salad - selected greens with balsamic vinaigrette



Now, we also ordered from the appetizer menu to go with our salads:
Sambuca Shrimp - wood oven baked, red bliss potatoes, garlic, Sambuca
This was EXCELLENT. And a prefect sized meal! Even cooler, they come over to the table, and present the shrimp and sambuca...they light the dish on fire....SO GOOD...The potatoes are cushioned on the bottom, and REALLY soak up the sambuca flavor.



Here's a pic of the waiter dousing the dish with some lemon...(sorry, I didn't quite catch the fire!)



Dad ordered Vegetarian - roasted eggplant puree, zucchini, Portobello mushroom, fresh mozzarella, goat cheese, roasted peppers, french fries

He RAVED about this sandwich...DH tried it and agreed. I , sadly am allergic to Eggplant, so I couln't try it



This has quickly become one of our faves..DH & I stopped back in this past december for lunch, ate the same meal, and enjoyed it all over again We will definitely be back to Portobello. The service was excellent as well.

I just want to add: It DID pour, but only for an hour!! SO, we ended up going to MNSSHP...a lot of people must have cancelled/rebooked, we practically had the park to ourselves! It was GREAT. The ONLY negative was that the headless horseman could not ride, due to the wet pavement , other than that, we had a BLAST. Here is a pic of the castle, right before the fireworks! You can see how uncrowded it looks..



We had some popcorn & Sweet Cream Cheese Pretzels while at the party...YUM,

 

[kelleigh1]

My husband is half Italian. His father is 100%. I love Italian food, but I'm always hesitant to try it at WDW too. Everything you ordered at Portobello's looks amazing. I am going to have to keep it in mind for a future visit.

 

[BLTLDZ]

My husband is half Italian. His father is 100%. I love Italian food, but I'm always hesitant to try it at WDW too. Everything you ordered at Portobello's looks amazing. I am going to have to keep it in mind for a future visit.

Definitely keep it in mind! you will not be dissapointed.

 

[ChefMickey123]

Thanks so much for the reviews and good pictures, we ant to try Portobellos as well when we go next time.

 

[MrsDrewsky]

Mmm... Your pictures from Portobello look delicious.

 

[BLTLDZ]

The Captains Grille is a must do on each trip for lunch for us.
We always get the same thing:

New England Style Lobster Sliders - served on a butter toasted rolls with a choice of Vegetable Orzo Salad or fries

Not very original
But as usual, it was terrific. And so were the steak fries...I don't know what it is about those fries, but they are the best steak fries I have ever had....

Dad also got the same, but with Orzo pasta, in lieu of the fries.



And here it is with the fries..


A yummy lunch, once again!!

 

[Bonniec]

subbing!