Tony's.
Never. Again.
I had heard it was bad, but just thought that maybe the people who have not enjoyed it were hard-core Italian food enthusiasts who are very particular about that cuisine. As a Ragu and noodles kind of gal, I thought, "Seriously. How can you mess up Italian that bad?" Well, the people at Tony's sure have found a way.
My sister and I went a couple of weeks ago for lunch to use up the last of the dining credits that we had accrued on our trip. First off, I have to say, the atmosphere was great - we were seated outside where we had a great view of the hustle and bustle of Main Street. We even saw the security guard who asks the little girls dressed as princesses for their autographs in action! That was, unfortunately, where the good ends.
At the beginning of the meal, our waitress was okay - walked us through dining plan options, took our order, normal stuff. I ordered the spaghetti with one meatball and one sausage and my sister ordered the shrimp scampi. This all came out much sooner than it should have (around 5-10 minutes after ordering). You guys, I am no cook (Seriously. I have trouble boiling water), but it was extremely obvious that my spaghetti had been sitting in a pot for some time and not drained (I *HATE* that because it leaves a weird tomato-y, watery mess at the bottom). The pasta was very overcooked and waterlogged. The sauce was basically chunks of tomato (minus the watery mess at the bottom), the meat was dry, and the glorified crouton that was the breadstick could have been used to play baseball. I got two comments from the other side of the table when I asked how it was: 1) "It's okay" and 2) "I can see why this place gets such bad reviews." I guess the shrimp scampi wasn't good, either.
Anyway, on to dessert! I was excited that I could at least get the Ice Cream Bomb (there's DEFINITELY no way you can mess up ice cream and chocolate sauce!), but was promptly informed that it was no longer on the menu. Then the waitress told us some boring story (or was it a joke? I don't know - I wasn't listening) about getting bombed at the Magic Kingdom (I want my dessert!). Anyway, we settled on the Nutella cake, which the waitress got really excited about ("It's made here on location and it's awesomeeeee"). I mean, Nutella is perfection in and of itself, so expectations were high. Well, Tony's found a way to mess this up, too. The cake tasted like it had been sitting in a refrigerator/freezer too long and was pretty dry and refrigerator-y. My sister couldn't finish hers (I could because, well, Nutella is a terrible thing to waste - I think it's illegal in some states, actually).
So, underwhelmed, we got the check, did the whole magic band thing and the waitress took off to wherever waitresses go. I thought we were done and stood up to leave, but my sister told me that we still had to sign something, so I sat back down. Over the next 15 minutes, the other tables in our area got up to leave, leaving us by ourselves on that section of the patio. In the back of my head, I was wondering where she had gotten to but didn't mind because the sun was warm and I was putting off getting in the car and going home for as long as possible. When she finally came back out, she got really upset that everyone had left and started bellyaching to us that they needed to sign something. Um....sorry? So, we signed the check and left vowing to never eat at Tony's again.
Our meal cost just over $60.00, before tip. I could have, no joke, gone to Publix, gotten a jar of sauce, a box of noodles, and a single slice of cake from the bakery for well under $10.00 and had a better meal than I did at Tony's. But, I guess it's about the experience, right?
So. Moral of the story: if someone suggests Tony's, run in the other direction. Fast.
No worries though, there are still plenty of other places on property to use those credits at!
However, he loves T-Rex and Harbor House in MK.
