I wasn't going to write a dining report but Disney dining made me change my mind

[sand2270]

I really had no plans to write a dining review. I have been chatting with some great people on this board for over a year. They planned a 2nd annual May Meet and I got talked into going…even though I have a big trip planned with my daughter next week LOL.

However I was so incredibly impressed with the food I ate this past weekend…from the POP food court to California Grill that I decided to write a review of the food. I do not have any pictures, because as I said I had no intention of writing about the food. I expected the food to be ok...maybe good...I did not expect the great food I had all weekend.

I am not a foodie by any means so my descriptions may be pretty basic. However I made a point this trip of trying things (such as seafood which I do not like) if it was offered to me.

I will review the following restaurants/counter service/snacks:

Day 1 (in this post):
Starring Rolls Cafe
Pop food court
Kona
Mizner's Lounge

Day 2:
Pop food court
Petal Bar
Citrico's

Day 3:
Sunshine Seasons
Epcot snack
CA Grill

Day 4:
Pop food court

We arrived very late Thursday the 14th. After my friend Andrea (Matterhorn) and I wandered around MCO trying to find Magical Express we finally made it to POP. The welcome wagon was waiting, which was about 6 of our DIS friends at the bowling pin pool at 1am. We made it to bed around 2am…so no Disney food this day just airport food.

Day 1: Friday May 15th
First thing we did was ride Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster. After that I needed some food to settle my stomach. Breakfast consisted of a chocolate croissant at Starring Rolls in Hollywood Studios. 3 of us also split a fruit tart. Both were very good. The croissant was fresh and flaky. The fruit on the tart was also fresh and very tasty.

We headed back to the pool to cool off. I had a light lunch since I knew I would be having a big dinner. I grabbed a fruit bowl from the POP food court and picked up my mug. I also had a slice or two of my roommates POP pepperoni pizza. Everything was fine…not great, but good.

Dinner that night was a DIS Boards dinner with about 20 people at Kona in the Polynesian. I will admit looking at the menus online I wasn’t very excited about this meal. Well I was so wrong. I ordered the starbuck’s coffee drink from the standard drink menu. I don’t remember what it was called, I ordered a coffee drink because I needed caffeine. I think it had kahlua and bailey’s, very yummy. I had two of those to try and wake myself up for the Monorail bar crawl coming up after dinner.

The bread arrived and OH MY GOD!! I have read many food reviews where people rave about the bread but for some reason that honey macadamia nut butter never sounded very appealing. Well I could not stop eating it. Sweet and soft and melted right into the soft bread.

I did not have a starter, but had a bite of the duck pot stickers. It was good but I am not much of a duck person so one bite was enough for me. However, I wanted to make sure I tried new things on this trip so I was glad I at least tried it.

For dinner I ordered the pan asian noodles, below is a description I found online:

Pan Asian Noodles - Asian egg noodles with sliced chicken, pineapple, seasonal vegetables, and a housemade sweet and sour sauce $16.99

I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I was skeptical about this dish until I finally took a bite. The noodles were not the thick kind you usually get with asian food, but more like an angel hair pasta size. When it was placed in front of me and I saw that I wasn’t expecting to really care for the dish. Well I ate the whole thing! Tangy, yummy sweet and sour sauce, perfectly cooked noodles, thinly sliced chunks of chicken cooked perfectly . Even though I was getting very, very full there was no way I was leaving any behind.

Even though I had stuffed myself on dinner I could not say no to the Kilauea Torte. A dark chocolate lava cake served with raspberries and whipped cream. Mmm I love chocolate and this did not disappoint. Nice dark chocolate taste with a warm fudgy center. My only criticism is I was so full and it was a large dessert…as much as I wanted to finish it I couldn’t.

We had a monorail bar crawl planned for after dinner. Well I was so full I could not drink anything besides water when we were at the Tambu Lounge. We moved on to the Mizner’s Lounge at Grand Floridian. The poor staff wasn’t really sure to do when a group of 20 loud Diser’s walked in all wanting a drink LOL. I ordered a sangria…it was a nice sangria but very large. I was still so full from dinner and we did not stay long, so I ended up only drinking about half of it.

Continued in my next post...

 

[sand2270]

Day 2: Saturday May 16th

I have been fighting a cold so I slept in Saturday. I got up around 11am and decided to grab something in the food court and sit by the pool. I got a greek salad. It was large enough to fill me up and was very flavorful. A nice tangy vinaigrette with kalamata olives, feta, red onions and served with pita bread. I ate almost the whole thing. I also got a pina colava from the Petal Bar. I love pina coladas and wasn’t sure how I would feel about the raspberry flavoring, but it really complimented it and was a wonderful poolside drink.

Dinner that night was at Citrico’s. We waited in Mizner's lounge for our buzzer to go off. I ordered an amaretto sour from the bar. Something was off...I am not sure if the sweet and sour was bad, if there was too little amaretto in it, I really couldn't pinpoint it but it didn't taste right.

One of my dining companions ordered a bottle of red wine for us which was wonderful and I need to ask what it was because I can't remember. Almost had a bit of a bite to it, like spice...I really enjoyed the wine. We started with an amuse bouche which was a small piece of marinated pork and a poached sliced peach. Wonderful bite to start the meal! We received a basket of bread that had sundried tomato and a whole grain bread. I tried the sundried tomato, very good.

I had the goat cheese truffle salad as my starter:

Goat Cheese Truffles - Tomato, Cracked Pepper, and Sesame "Truffles" with Arugula, Frisee, Nueske Applewood Smoked Bacon, and Peaches $9.00

A few others ordered the cheese plate. The waiter heard me say to my friend “we’ll just split it”…I can’t remember what we were talking about but he thought we were referring to my salad. When it was brought to the table the salad had been split into two servings. It was not a big deal since I was going to try some of their cheese plate and I was happy to share. The goat cheese salad was wonderful. I love goat cheese…it was served with nice greens and consisted of three small balls of goat cheese rolled in different toppings. I had finished all the greens and had one bite of goat cheese left. I spread the rest of the tomato powder goat cheese on a small piece of the sundried tomato bread…this was so good!!

I also tried some of the cheese plate:

Cheese Course Trio - Lemon ricotta from Central Florida, Casciotta D'Urbino from Le Marche, Italy, and Forme D'Ambert from Auvergne, France $14.00

I liked the blue cheese and the lemon ricotta. I did not care for the third, but looking at the description I do not know which one was which.

For dinner I had the short ribs served with sautéed spinach and vanilla parsnip puree. I did not even use a knife for the spare ribs and the parsnip puree was wonderful with it. Like a very flavorful mashed potato.

For dessert I had the citrus marinated angel food cake with fresh berries and whipped cream. This was so flavorful and light. Some parts of the angel food were marinated a little too much and the citrus taste was a little too sweet and tangy. But otherwise a wonderful dessert when you had a bite with the berries and whipped cream. Disney had the best whipped cream! I also ordered coffee which was served in a French press. When it arrived the two girls I was rooming with went “ooh I want some coffee”…our wonderful server again heard us and immediately brought over two more cups and a second pot. The coffee was wonderful…dark and strong but not bitter. It was great with some milk and raw sugar mixed in.

This was another meal that was on my "I'll go but I'm not that excited about it" list LOL. Again I was wrong, Citrico's was an amazing meal. The service was wonderful. Our server was a good sport with our joking around. All the food tasted great. As we were walking out we saw the waiters making a bed out of 2 chairs for a tired little boy. They were using tablecloths as sheets and a blanket. Really what a great, accomodating staff. I highly recommend Citrico's.

 

[sand2270]

Day 3: Sunday May 17th

Our friend Tom made a Starbuck’s run in the morning. When he called our room and Andrea asked if I wanted a coffee I told her “tell Tom he is my favorite person today” LOL.

A group of about 11 of us met at Epcot for rope drop. We ran around Future World for awhile and then decided to grab some breakfast at Sunshine Seasons. I had the children’s French toast (there was not an adult French toast) and asked for eggs and bacon instead of the potatoes and sausage it came with. You also got a drink with the child’s order so I grabbed a small bottle of water. Everything tasted good. One thing I noticed which I also noticed the next day, is that you get or can find syrup for your breakfast food but I never saw butter anywhere. Maybe I just didn’t see it.

Later that day I grabbed a hot pretzel and a coke. I love soft pretzels, this was soft and chewy, warm and had plenty of salt.

My friend Andrea and I were so excited we could go to a nice adult dinner without any children and we were both very excited when we agreed we wanted to try California Grill. I had made the ADR for 4 because two of her friends were supposed to join us. Well long story short…they couldn’t make it and two of our DIS board friends joined us. It started pouring when we got to the Contemporary.

I ordered a glass of sake. I thought it would be a small glass like you usually get in a restaurant but it was actually a full wine glass that they poured at the table. It was a good sake, maybe a little too dry for my taste but I enjoyed it. I was going to order a glass of red wine with dinner but it took me forever to get through that glass of sake LOL.

I started with the goat cheese ravioli:

Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli - Served with sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, Shiitake mushrooms, and basil. - $11.00

The tomato sauce was light and tasty. I don’t eat mushrooms but I ate the few that came with it and they were fine. The goat cheese was soft and tangy. Nice appetizer.

I also tried a bite of the lobster and corn beignets. I do not like seafood but I wanted to try everything if offered to me. It was good, I am sure if you like lobster you would love it but a bite was enough for me. I also tried some sushi. I am not sure which one and I never eat sushi. I don’t like fish cooked so I certainly don’t like it raw. I am glad I tried it, but again I would not eat a whole plate of it.

For my entrée I had the filet:

Oak-fired Filet of Beef - Served with Boniato mashed potatoes, sauteed haricot vert, and teriyaki BBQ sauce. - $41.00

I always order my meat medium, but I think in this case medium rare may have been the way to go. My friend Andrea ordered hers medium rare and hers was a little more melt in your mouth than mine. The sides were good, but I got very full during the meal and only managed to finish the filet. The teriyaki sauce it was served with was very good and not overpowering and the steak was not drowning it.

For dessert I had a blueberry and lemon tart topped with a lemon sorbet. This was tart and tasty, but the crust on the tart was a little soft. The sorbet was a nice way to cut the sweetness. I also ordered coffee which was a normal cup of coffee.

I enjoyed both Citrico’s and CA Grill…but in my opinion I thought the quality, presentation and service were a bit better at Citrico’s. My friend Andrea would disagree with me…she adored CA Grill.

 

[sand2270]

ok last day, this will be short...

Day 4: Monday May 18th

Our departure day I went to the food court to get some breakfast. I got the chocolate chip pancakes with bacon. They were very tasty, plenty of chocolate chips. A little dry and again I could not find any butter.

That's it...I go back next Friday with my daughter and I have the following meals planned:

Chef Mickey's
Cinderella's Royal Table
Spoodles
Biergarten
Cape May Cafe
1900 Park Fare
Garden View Tea Room
Jiko
Sci-Fi Diner
50's Prime Time
Crystal Palace

All first times for us and lots and lots of character meals . But I managed to get one nice dinner in there and am very excited to try Jiko.

 

[MATTERHORN]

I'd have to agree with pretty much everything Amy posted. I was introduced to a friend's filet at Citricos cooked medium rare, and now I shall never again order it any other way.

The Goat Cheese Ravioli at CG was awesome, and I also do not eat seafood, yet I decided to also try what was offered and it was amazing! The sushi I believe was the spicy kazhan (sp)? which was awesome also!

That filet at CG was the best I've ever had. It literally melted in my mouth, and I've had some great filets in my time!! I would go there again in a heartbeat.

Andrea

 

[sand2270]

I'd have to agree with pretty much everything Amy posted. I was introduced to a friend's filet at Citricos cooked medium rare, and now I shall never again order it any other way.

The Goat Cheese Ravioli at CG was awesome, and I also do not eat seafood, yet I decided to also try what was offered and it was amazing! The sushi I believe was the spicy kazhan (sp)? which was awesome also!

That filet at CG was the best I've ever had. It literally melted in my mouth, and I've had some great filets in my time!! I would go there again in a heartbeat.

Andrea

look it's Andrea...my dining companion that was at all of these meals.

 

[jenharring]

Are you going to do a review for your up coming trip?
Great review btw.

 

[buena vista]

Great review Amy! I'm amazed at your recollection of so many details.. I didn't see you take a single note down there, so you sure have incredible recall!!

As much as you appreciate good food, I hope someday you get a chance to eat at Bistro de Paris in Epcot. They serve dinner only, but a late seating (8-8:30) will usually get you a window seat which offers a beautiful view of IllumiNations. The food is amazing. The filet (medium rare) is to die for, as are the appetizers and desserts.

Thank you for capturing so many delicious moments!

 

[dismem98]

Hey Amy,

Nice report. Your choices on your trip next week are good ones and am sure you won't be disappointed.
Maybe over fed though ...

Enjoy your trip with your daughter. They'll be great memories.

Patty

 

[sand2270]

Great review Amy! I'm amazed at your recollection of so many details.. I didn't see you take a single note down there, so you sure have incredible recall!!

As much as you appreciate good food, I hope someday you get a chance to eat at Bistro de Paris in Epcot. They serve dinner only, but a late seating (8-8:30) will usually get you a window seat which offers a beautiful view of IllumiNations. The food is amazing. The filet (medium rare) is to die for, as are the appetizers and desserts.

Thank you for capturing so many delicious moments!

What was the name of the wine or the type that we had at dinner at Citrico's? I really enjoyed it. I remember you said it was some type of blend.

Bistro de Paris may have to be added to our list for next year's May meet!

 

[sand2270]

Are you going to do a review for your up coming trip?
Great review btw.

I don't know I might. I don't really want to take pictures of our food and I tend to ignore the reviews without pictures (ironic ain't it ).

If I am impressed with the food this next trip as I was this trip I may not be able to resist giving my humble opinions

 

[sand2270]

Hey Amy,

Nice report. Your choices on your trip next week are good ones and am sure you won't be disappointed.
Maybe over fed though ...

Enjoy your trip with your daughter. They'll be great memories.

Patty

I know...I added the dining plan to our reservation and after last weekend I am a little concerned that we are going to be stuffed!

 

[sand2270]

ok last day, this will be short...

Day 4: Monday May 18th

Our departure day I went to the food court to get some breakfast. I got the chocolate chip pancakes with bacon. They were very tasty, plenty of chocolate chips. A little dry and again I could not find any butter.

That's it...I go back next Friday with my daughter and I have the following meals planned:

Chef Mickey's
Cinderella's Royal Table
Spoodles
Biergarten
Cape May Cafe
1900 Park Fare
Garden View Tea Room
Jiko
Sci-Fi Diner
50's Prime Time
Crystal Palace

All first times for us and lots and lots of character meals . But I managed to get one nice dinner in there and am very excited to try Jiko.

I couldn't stop thinking about Kona. I just called and changed my Spoodles ADR to a Kona ADR. So excited to try it again!

 

[nurse.darcy]

Great review Amy! I'm amazed at your recollection of so many details.. I didn't see you take a single note down there, so you sure have incredible recall!!

As much as you appreciate good food, I hope someday you get a chance to eat at Bistro de Paris in Epcot. They serve dinner only, but a late seating (8-8:30) will usually get you a window seat which offers a beautiful view of IllumiNations. The food is amazing. The filet (medium rare) is to die for, as are the appetizers and desserts.

Thank you for capturing so many delicious moments!

I agree with Tom, Bistro must always be on my dining plans when I am on longer trips. I didn't do Bistro this trip cause I did sushi. The food at Bistro is awesome and the service is over the top. Though Tom, I must tell you the escargot is served differently now. It is not in the little casserole dish. It is served in a creamy butter sauce which actually makes it taste more like what I expect from escargot.

 

[TigerKat]

I am so looking forward to trying Citrico's in October. I don't think I've read a bad review about it yet!

 

[sand2270]

I am so looking forward to trying Citrico's in October. I don't think I've read a bad review about it yet!

It really was great, I doubt you will be disappointed.