Inventions restaurant themed Sunday brunch

[Vala]

I've been there in March.

We found out that they're doing a Sunday "Hawaiian Brunch" now. I guessed Hawaii + character meal = Stitch will be there and decided to make this my special treat of the trip.

That brunch costs 59 Euro (without drinks) and although that is pricey, I can only recommend it. I think I'll best just copy and paste what I had posted in the brunch thread:

Okay, so I have done this one on Sunday. Pictures to follow, can't upload from this computer.

I had a 1 PM seating, so right when the Brunch started. I came in about 10 minutes earlier expecting a huge line (took me 20 minutes to get in for Cafe Mickey the day before). But there was only one family in front of me.

There was a huge surfboard with a picture of Stitch in the lobby and all CMs were wearing colorful Hawaiian shirts and some even leis. Also they had Elvis music and pretty much the same songs I know from the Lilo and Stitch US character meals playing.

I was sat near the buffet, placed my order for drinks and went off to the starters section when the music stopped and there was an announcement "please welcome Lilo and Stitch!" So pretty much who I hoped for when I heard "Hawaii" announced as theme.

They came running in and I almost didn't make it to my table back in time. Thankfully Stitch realized there was a pretty freaked out adult running back for her camera and came back. Lilo came over next when Stitch had taken off. She went through my pictures and when I asked for a photo even dragged me to the next table to go and fetch Stitch. Seeing no server was in sight she even made the mom of the family there take our picture. (In the unlikely event you read this, thanks a lot again and I am really sorry for intruding.)

After that I had a little break and could eye the buffet.

I can't comment on the starters section that much because there was a lot of seafood and I can't eat that. Going from memory that selection was pretty much 1:1 with the standard Inventions character dinner buffet we had earlier in the month.

The entree selection did have some familiar dishes too. But they did try and come up with some Hawaiian influence there. Pizza "Hawaiian style" - Ham, pineapple and I think it was chicken - and some pork and I think plum skewers which were extremely yummy.

Unfortunately I couldn't try as much as I wanted. They did have labels this time, but about half of the non standard dishes were clearly mislabeled. Some fish casserolle did have a sign "potatoes with herbs" and something labeled as chicken was clearly rack of lamb.
I did point that out to a server, but nothing was changed. That was the one thing that did not impress me at all.

I didn't see any other characters for a while and was already telling myself "OMG you spent 60 Euros to see Lilo and Stitch!"

But then the floodgates opened and other characters came in. A lot of other characters. Chip and Dale in Hawaiian shirts, Mickey in Hawaiian shirt (I think with a lei too), Pluto and Minnie in an outfit that would have given Carmen Miranda a run for her money.

It would have been nice to see a couple of not that standard characters. In the report that's linked above the White Rabbit was mentioned and I think Scrooge too. But the Hawaii theming was very well done, so that wouldn't have made much sense. Or can anyone picture Scrooge with a lei?

After that 'assault' was over I finally went for the desserts and found myself in heaven. There is really only three words to describe the dessert buffet, and those words are "oh my god." That's where they really went all out with the theme. There was a chocolate coconut mouse, several variations of pineapple dishes (flans, cremes, mouses and puddings), a Mango creme that was simply delicious, another mousse with I think passionfruit and some traditional "salt puddings", combined with the heavenly chocolate tartes that were my favorite at the standard buffet. I also recall Mickey waffles and fresh fruit.

I think I spent 2/3 of the time I was in the restaurant munching through the dessert options.

The place was maybe half full. If they would advertise that you're guaranteed to meet Stitch there I think they'd have a lot more people coming although the price is so high.

I asked a cast member and she told me that the Hawaiian theme was going to stick now for as long as the brunch was running and yes, Stitch was always there.

Was it expensive? Yes. Was it worth it? Yes. Absolutely.

This is the first character meal in Paris I was absolutely and truly happy with. Food was good (and warm... I thought first I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere ). I had an extremely attentive server who even came running to take pictures when a character was with me. No one rushed me with anything - the day before in Cafe Mickey I had a server appearing at my table out of nowhere as soon as I put down the fork for a moment, and that was extremely annoying. Gave me the impression they couldn't wait to get me out.

And most important for me: this was the first time I really got a lot of quality time with characters too. Chip and Dale even sat with me for a while and Stitch pretended to be my waiter.

The big negative were the wrongly labeled dishes. That should not happen.

Also like I said in another topic I was seated near the entrance, and three families coming in found it absolutely okay to have their children run up to the character who was with me and barge in. This is nothing the restaurant can do anything about though, and the characters handled the whole thing really well.
But if you have kids I would ask to be seated away from the entrance so that you don't have the same thing happen to you.

They did hand me and the adult couple sitting in my section survey forms to fill in. One question was if I liked that format. So I am guessing they are considering doing more "themed meals."

 

[Vala]

Pictures part 1:

Okay, it's picture time!

If the pictures are too large please let me know and I'll downsize. I just wanted to make sure everyone got a good idea of what was available.

This greeted me outside of the restaurant:

Seafood area:

Starters:

Entrees - my boyfriend's mom pointed out the French names of the dishes are apparently correct. However the English translations are absolutely wrong:

 

[Vala]

Pictures part 2:

Desserts:

And character pictures:

 

[Vala]

This is another review for the Sunday Character Brunch.

Contrary to what I was told on the phone they are switching the themes around now. I realized it couldn't be Hawaii because the surfboard at the entrance was missing. As there was no music on when we came in we were quite stumped what the theme was, especially when we saw Pinocchio and Gepetto. Then "Bella Notte" came on, so it was clear that the theme was Italy. I was a little confused what characters they would add for Italy, but they didn't disappoint.

Besides Pinocchio and Gepetto

we saw Jiminy Cricket!

Paying for that meal was worth it alone for the look on my boyfriend's face when Jiminy came in and a happy squeal escaped me. He was so totally confused why I was squealing at someone he didn't recognize. The only "green" characters he knows I like are Tinker Bell and Louis from Princess and the Frog, and of course Jiminy looks like neither.

Jiminy was very impressed by a drawing I had done and even got me back Pinocchio for a double shot:

We were guessing Chip and Dale were wearing John Travolta disco attire and that was the connection to Italy, but your guess is as good as mine there.

Completing the cast were Mickey and Minnie:

Now do those outfits look familiar to anyone else? Anyone? Bueller?

Now to the food. Oh my god. I think boyfriend could have happily spent the rest of the day in there. He didn't even complain when Minnie left for a break right before our table and said we could just wait.

Lots of Italian influences, everything hot, everything timely refilled.

 

[Vala]

More food pictures.

Everyone ready for some dessert?

I was quite partial to the Sunday brunch before that visit. But now I would even go as far as saying that this meal was the best we ever had in Paris. 10 out of 10 points.

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Price Increase - 1/7/2012
<hr style="color:#333333; background-color:#333333" size="1"> Gone up again

Adult 64 euros....was 58€
Children 3 -12 years : 32 euros ....was 28€

 

[Vala]

Consider yourself warned: this will be picture heavy. I took a lot of photos because it seemed that brunch theme generated a lot of interest and I wanted to report as detailed as possible.

I was lucky enough to attend the Rapunzel Brunch on Sunday 15th of July 2012.

At first I thought I misheard when I called the dining hotline, asked for the theme and the CM told me: "I don't know how to say it in English... Raiponce." There may have been some squealing after this was said.

I was still somewhat expecting a last minute theme change. That would have been just my luck. But when I arrived at DLH I saw Rapunzel and Flynn entering the restaurant. So it was true, I'd be attending the Rapunzel brunch.

As some of you know I do visit the Sunday brunch regularly. It is definitely growing in popularity, but I never saw the place completely full like that day.

Let me begin with the starter buffet:

The seafood part was decorated with this beauty:

Other decorations:

It took a while for the characters to arrive in the area where I was sitting (at the buffet), but that gave me a chance to have some food for a change.

The music they played was from princess movies mainly. I recognized two vocal tracks from Tangled and True to your heart from Mulan.

First ones to arrive were Rapunzel and Flynn.

Rapunzel completely floored me when she told me: "You visited my friend Tiana yesterday, didn't you? She told me all about your beautiful drawings." (I did see Tiana, got extremely excited about meeting her and yes, I had her sign a drawing.)

Shortly after that Chip arrived

followed by Mickey. That led to a little chaos in our area because Dale came in right after the two, saw me and completely screwed up the table rotation by running towards me to take a duo photo. I guess someone recognized me there.

So Mickey was posing for photos next to the table which led to a little scrum. If you were in there I seriously apologize.

I was very happy to see the chipmunks (they are my favorites), but I was sorry that they didn't wear the adorable costumes that RoseBug saw them in.

 

[Vala]

I had seen Minnie back at the other part of the room, so I knew I was at least missing one character. Unfortunately she was first brought to the second room, then went backstage.

But that brings me back to the food - let's get to the main courses.

Potatoes in a cheddar sauce. Extremely yummy.

The below picture was beef with cranberries per the listing. It tasted more like dried cherries to me, but it was extremely delicious and probably my favorite dish.

The above picture is Chicken Korma, my second favorite.

The kids corner:

Rapunzel and Flynn came back and kindly posed for another photo:

Still no Minnie, so I turned my attention to the desserts:

and the cheese section:

Minnie took her sweet time to arrive. About 15 minutes before brunch closed suddenly Pluto showed up - he had not been in our room before:

And finally the first Mouse Lady of Paris arrived...

I had a picture of her in her lifeguard dress from California and she made a really big fuzz about it.

Finally Chip stopped to say good bye and I asked for another picture seeing the first one was cute, but had a little light problems:

If you have a Rapunzel fan at home I can thoroughly recommend that brunch. She and Flynn two were around a lot, stopped and waved even when they had seen a table. The little princesses will love it, and the adults will very likely be busy with the food. It seemed the food had an English touch this time. I saw Irish Stew and also a very delicious Trifle. Not sure if I missed that part in the movie, but I wasn't complaining. The characters were a little slow in coming to the tables, but that could have been the area I sat in. And with them taking their time with everyone again I am not complaining.

 

[Vala]

My large post comparing Halloween brunch, the Royal Brunch on Sunday afternoon and a standard Inventions chracter dinner:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3018239

 

[Vala]

Am I the only one still going there?

Another Fairy Tale Brunch report:

At brunch I am seated across the dessert buffet again. Again it’s a complimentary glass of champagne, I guess that’s standard now.

I just have enough time to snap dessert shots

(Yay – trifle is back! )

before Rapunzel and Flynn show up.

I did a very elaborate drawing for them to sign. Rapunzel is very intrigued by it and asks me to show them the rest of my stash on the table – various drawings plus some photos.

She tells me she’s drawing too, which leads to Flynn commenting she never draws him. Well come with me and that problem could be solved.

I decide to keep working with the large camera and the trend continues… instead of one potentially screwed up shot I get a whole nice series.

Rapunzel and Flynn kindly pose for some solo shots too.

Main courses – sorry for working backwards here:

The chicken was really good and while I liked the sauce of the beef it was almost too rare for my taste. I loved the pasta, I must admit I had a couple of helpings.

 

[Vala]

Part 2:



Starters:

Slowly the other characters started showing up. Pluto was first:

Then I got a triple visit:

Minnie was gone quite fast, but the chipmunks seemed to recognize me and did hang around for a while.

The original plan was to leave rather early to catch up on the things in the parks I had missed. But then I saw Goofy coming out in a court jester costume I hadn’t met him in before. So I mentally said good bye to Pooh and Jack Skellington and kept waiting.

While I was waiting Mickey visited.

Goofy was on break for what seemed like the longest time ever. I was getting really pressed for time, especially because meanwhile I had got a text from a friend that she had broken one of her figurines and could I get her a replacement. At the time Goofy arrived I barely had time left for a visit in the DLH gift store. Somehow there's always one character I have to wait for in that restaurant.

Side note: this time I noticed the small flies some visitors have complained about for the first time. It was only two or three and I didn't see them near the food area, but they were definitely there.

 

[Vala]

So now let us get to the Halloween brunch.

As stated above I was a little worried about that one after the experience two nights before, especially as the price tag ended up being a stunning 74 Euro.

Contrary to what the price seemed to indicate the restaurant was almost fully booked.

I was seated at a different table this time, across from the dessert buffet. The CM who guided me there had just tried to seat me and when I turned around I saw something pink coming in from the other dining area that I learned to hate so much two days before. The pink thing was wearing a Halloween costume and was holding the hand of something blue that was also wearing a Halloween costume. Stitch and Angel. I apologize so much if you were in that area and I scared you. I'm not sure if I screamed, squealed or what else. The next thing I somewhat remember is the CM looking at me with a very worried look on her face and her asking if I was alright. Yes, of course I am alright. I was always wondering what getting a nervous breakdown felt like. Stitch and Angel. I swear I tried to squee mentally from that on. I'm not sure if I managed that, but at least the mother of all happy dances I felt like doing happened only in my mind. I was told Stitch and Angel had been out in Discoveryland all day on Halloween, but for some obscure reason I had completely managed to miss them.

The CM finally managed to get me to sit down and I was told asked if I wanted a complimentary glass of champagne. Okay, I will admit that it was probably so not the smartest move to have alcohol in the hyper state I already was in, but I drank it anyway.

Stitch and Angel made it to our table at around the same time Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Minnie arrived too. Those four were all wearing their costumes from the Mickey's Trick or Treat in the Street show. It was slightly manic and I had a blast for the next couple of minutes.

Donald managed to escape for now and also Chip and Dale plus Goofy (also in their show costumes) had to squeeze through because the others were causing a serious congestion. Also somehow Mickey and Minnie got away while I was so totally freaking out at the sight of Angel. I don't think I've ever been that happy to meet a character.

I did get a picture with Daisy first though

and then Stitch

I was asking for a picture with him and Angel, but somehow Stitch got away after that too. So I got Angel all for myself:

Total brain overload. I even left my signed drawings on another table, I was so out of it.

 

[Vala]

As I was sitting across from the dessert buffet I decided to run over to get a few photos before the rest of the characters hit. Does everyone have their drool buckets ready?

The red stuff in the glasses was a trifle-like pudding. Delicious.

As you see... Halloween decorations galore!

Panacotta, chocolate mousse etc.

Cute little ghosties.

Rice pudding, some more cakes.

A couple of things were even specially named, I remember something "Cruella de Ville" pudding.

 

[Vala]

I saw the chipmunks and Mickey and Minnie were coming back already, so I took my chance and rushed for the starters:

I loved the way they used the pumpkin to decorate the salmon.

Small filled peppers, made up to look like witches hats.

The seafood area:

I ran back with an only half full plate because the characters were coming back.

Fly garlics Disney style.

 

[Vala]

Donald stopped first:

Mickey and Minnie and the chipmunks arrived, but then villains showed up!

Hook squeezed through, same for Frollo and Ratcliffe. But Jafar stopped.

Mickey almost got away again.

I still had barely touched my starters when Goofy appeared:

Pluto was next, but the only picture I have with him is blurry.

Frollo came back real soon. I guess he was dealing with the usual "I don't know who you are" problem again.

 

[Vala]

No characters closeby, so food it was.

The main courses:

I absolutely loved those. "Witches fingers" - cookes sausages in flakey pastry with an almond as fake fingernail.

Beef with a sauce I couldn't identify.

Asparagus risotto. Yummy.

The cheese pizza got "frightening". Wonder if it was a leftover?

In the middle of me piling stuff on the plate Ratcliffe showed up, so I had to take a forced break:

Meanwhile I had spotted Prince John going on a break. This was getting really, really good.

I sat down to eat and another CM stopped by and gave the adults one Park 10 vinyl each as a keepsake. Wow. There was a balloon artist around for the kids too.

After this I was invited to sit with a group in one of the other rooms, so unfortunately I missed out on meeting Captain Hook, Pinocchio and Prince John. But I had met Pinocchio that morning, and thankfully Prince John and Hook were at the Magical Moment later that afternoon, so I caught them there. But instead Stitch came back, and that is never a bad thing.

Summary: Wow. Most of you who have read my reports/reviews know that I am a pretty huge fan of the brunch events at Inventions. But this one seriously topped everything. The only slight fault I could find - and that problem was solved when I moved to sit with the group - was that the balloon artist was blocking the way a lot in the other area at the buffet. And even that was doable.

Rating: A++

 

[Vala]

We've made it to the Royal Brunch on November 4.

The booking hotline had informed those calling that the cast would be "princes and princesses" meeting, some CMs had even said the theme was "Princes Brunch". Which made me quite excited considering the food quality and amount of characters at Auberge have gone down a lot too.

If I only had known how close I was with my Auberge idea. The brunch basically turned out to be Auberge reloaded, with Cinderella, Prince Charming, Suzy and Perla visiting. I even heard two kids asking if Cinderella had closed down Auberge. Smart kids. Completing the characters were Mickey and Minnie in prince and princess costumes plus Chip and Dale and Pluto, the latter not wearing special costumes. Don't get me wrong, this for sure was not a bad character line up. But after the hotline had promised "princes and princesses" it was a bit of a letdown for me, especially after having been assured myself that this brunch would be "nowhere near the Fairy Tale brunch with Rapunzel" - which it was, they just switched the couple and added the mice.

I was sat at the table I originally had for the Halloween brunch and again was offered champagne or the non-alcoholic cocktail. I chose champagne for good luck.

The non alcoholic cocktail looked a lot like the prince cocktail from Auberge.

Again the characters started coming quickly, first being Suzy and Perla.

I was really lucky and Cinderella and Prince Charming arrived just as I had taken the photo with the mice, and the nice CM snapping the picture for me did ask Cinderella and Charming to join the picture.

Figures my eyes are closed on that one, but I guess that's what Photoshop was invented for.

I kindly asked Cinderella if I could borrow charming and she stepped aside.

 

[Vala]

The first wave of characters out of the way I went to check out the buffet:

A little warning about the dish to the left. The label only says "rolled speck and cheese" - the cheese is goat cheese. I like goat cheese and think it was delicious, but the little girl at the table next to me was not impressed.

Some dishes from the Halloween brunch were missing, but they had added others (like the cheese), so I'd rate those sections equal for both meals.

The seafood and salad area was still spotting a few Halloween decorations:

Minnie and Mickey arrived almost at the same time as Chip did. So of course it was ladies first:

And then I ended up with a nice group shot because Mickey and Chip couldn't agree who got to go first.

 

[Vala]

On to the main courses:

This is the kids corner - it was exactly the same at all three meals, so I am only posting this picture:

Chicken fingers, fish fingers, meatballs in sauce and Mickey potatoes.

The pasta dish to the left contained salmon. The tomatoes looked quite good, but I didn't try due to my allergies and no one could clarify what exactly they were filled with.

The asparagus risotto returns... me = happy camper.

Lamb and vegetables.

Today's choice happened to be chicken, but it was quite fatty and not very good. The right dish is labeled "beef meatballs" although it was normal beef with sauce.

Yumm... not sure what this actually was, but it was really good. It didn't look like fish, so I decided to be brave.

Chip and Dale had been separated and it was now time to meet the other chipmunk:

Dale was very sweet. He signed my picture "Tac" and then started waving at me that he wanted the pen back after we had taken the photo. He then added "Dale" to his signature, obviously having realized too late that I spoke English.

 

[Vala]

Pluto wasn't around yet. That meant dessert time it was!

I think those are called profiteroles in English, aren't they? They had a chocolate filling and were smothered in chocolate on the outside too. Delicious. I died and went to dessert heaven.

Tons of mousses and yello and everything.

Ta-da... the eclairs are back. As mini-eclairs, but I have not seen them in ages.

I was happily munching my way through dessert for quite a while, but Pluto didn't reappear forever. So I decided to leave a little early as he was not wearing a special costume and the weather was so good that finally characters were out in the parks again.

That made me bump into a nice surprise in the lobby:

Summary: It was a good meal, but not quite as good as the Halloween brunch. But I will admit that I probably had different expectations for the character line up after being given wrong info by the reservation hotline. Food and character interaction were flawless, with the exception of Prince Charming being a bit insecure when I asked him to sign a picture. I'll blame that on this being his first visit to that restaurant.

Overall rating: B+, mainly due to the wrong info from the hotline.