Just Back - DDP Quick Review (but long)

[DisneyBaby2004]

Just got back home an hour ago and will post this week my reviews of the rest. I will not do a trip report because I am not that creative. My only review off the parks is that it was mad crowded. I went last May at this time and it was wonderful. This past week was insane. Yes, we went early and FP but still, mixing the heat and those crowds really made it just bearable. I hope this year was just a fluke.

Anyway, we did the dining plan and after reading many people saying it was so much food, I really thought how can you have too much food. Well, let me tell you it was toooo much food. I mean my family loves eating but my goodness. We ended up with 6CS left on the day we were to return home. So I went grocery shopping at SSR - that was the worst - Lunchables/Mickey Rice Krispy Bars) The snack credits were great - although we really only used then for ice pops and frozen lemonades. As many have said there is sooo many things that are snack credits - but it was just too hot. TS worked great - we used all those and two alone just about paid for our dining plan. Even though we were not able to use all CS - we still got our monies worth. Not sure if I will do it again. But for the ease of ordering whatever you want and not really trying to maximize the plan it was nice.

I will post this coming week of my reviews of the places we ate, so in the meantime if anyone has any questions I will be happy to answer.

Here is where we ate:

LeCellier - very disappointing - but loved my cappucino freeze - YUM!
Coral Reef - Not spectacular but not terrible either
Crystal Palace - This was ok - not great - (ok character interaction - came around once)
Kona Cafe - this was a welcomed surprise - best meal!
Brown Derby - This was ok as well - not great
Chef Mickey - another nice surpise - great character interaction!!!
Flame Tree (this was the only CS we made it to) - this was ok

I was not wowed by anything of these rest. - I think I could have been caught up in the hyped from other reviews but many left alot to be desired.

At every TS meal the CM was wonderful. I told all of them that I was on the DP as soon as they ask for my drink order. They were all super nice, very attentive, never an empty glass, sometimes they were slower removing plates, but it was busy so I don't fault them. Each course was served within ample time. The service was great. I will use this thread to post the reviews.

 

[DisneyBaby2004]

LeCellier
I was so hyped about eating here and I left very disappointed. To start the we were offered specialty drinks. I chose the cappucino freeze, it was very good. It tasted like a usual freeze you would probably get at a coffee house -but better. You could taste the chocolate and coffee flavor. It was great. DH had the Mango Strawberry drink. He liked it. I thought it was very fruity but I guess that's good. Not my thing but as I said he said it was good.

The breads were okay. The pretzel bread tasted like the soft pretzels that you can get from the mall. It was okay but just tasted like a pretzel. I had the cheese soup and it was okay. I had better from Ruby Tuesday. Sorry but nothing "to die for" . DH had the beef/barley soup. It tasted more like beef soup you get in the can. The dinty moore one. It was nice that it seemed to be "real" ingredients though.

I had the Petit Filet w. mashed potatoes. The potatoes were good. The meat was blah. I am not sure if they forgot season the meat or what. I usually count on the sauce for my flavoring but this was not that good. I am not sure what cut of meat they used but it was chewy and tasted livery. I asked for it well and it was cooked guess medium (it was pink and dark pink in some areas). DH had the 10oz with mashed potatoes. His was okay. It was cooked properly but also lacked flavor. He liked the potatoes. The good thing was we were full. We ordered chocolate moose from the kids menu. It was ok.

The service was great. Rachel was very attentive and we were there right before dinner and never felt rushed. For the food, this was a let down. Did not see what all the hype was about - JMO.

 

[deany]

Was the cappucino freeze considered a drink on the DDP or did you pay OOP for it? My daughters BF loves these. I have this restaurant on our list but we are going for lunch. I hope we have better luck. We visited WDW at the beginning of May in 2000 and the crowds were pretty good then - way better than our usual time in Mar (kids in school - spring break)

 

[twinsmamma]

sorry that you had such a bad time at le cellier. In Dec. this was our fav. rest. Our steaks were melt in your mouth and cooked to perfection but I like mine medium. My son had his med well and it was cooked almost well but still tender and delicious. The only thing that we did not like was the prime rib very fatty and not that good, also the soup was not to our liking, too many onions.
Service was wonderful and so were desserts.

 

[Princess4Eeyore]

Thanx for the review - looking forward to the rest. Sorry that you didnt enjoy most of the restaurants - hope its better the next time

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[DisneyBaby2004]

Was the cappucino freeze considered a drink on the DDP or did you pay OOP for it? My daughters BF loves these. I have this restaurant on our list but we are going for lunch. I hope we have better luck. We visited WDW at the beginning of May in 2000 and the crowds were pretty good then - way better than our usual time in Mar (kids in school - spring break)

It was included on the dining plan. It was yummy!! We went for lunch also. The day we went there were lots of groups there and it was busy. I think this place would probably be great and I will more than likely give it another try. I was just not outstanding and it could be due to the circumstances. Every place has it downtime - I guess.

 

[Kycha]

LeCellier
I was so hyped about eating here and I left very disappointed.

The breads were okay. The pretzel bread tasted like the soft pretzels that you can get from the mall. It was okay but just tasted like a pretzel. I had the cheese soup and it was okay. I had better from Ruby Tuesday. Sorry but nothing "to die for" .

I had the Petit Filet w. mashed potatoes. The potatoes were good. The meat was blah. I am not sure if they forgot season the meat or what. I usually count on the sauce for my flavoring but this was not that good. I am not sure what cut of meat they used but it was chewy and tasted livery.
QUOTE]

Amazing!! This is the same review I would have given(if I had written one). The pretzel bread and soup were just okay. Nothing to write home about. And my filet tasted exactly how you described. There was no seasoning and the meat had an almost unpleasant taste to it. I did enjoy the cheese sampler we had as an appetizer.

 

[christinadei]

Amazing!! This is the same review I would have given(if I had written one). The pretzel bread and soup were just okay. Nothing to write home about. And my filet tasted exactly how you described. There was no seasoning and the meat had an almost unpleasant taste to it. I did enjoy the cheese sampler we had as an appetizer.

I totally agree! The bread and soup were just okay. My filet tasted like liver and we were told we couldn't get the cheese or dessert sampler (even if we combined credits). I hated the maple creme brulee. I am in no hurry to go back! We are trying Coral Reef this year.

 

[GretchGraham]

sorry that you had such a bad time at le cellier. In Dec. this was our fav. rest. Our steaks were melt in your mouth and cooked to perfection but I like mine medium. My son had his med well and it was cooked almost well but still tender and delicious. The only thing that we did not like was the prime rib very fatty and not that good, also the soup was not to our liking, too many onions.
Service was wonderful and so were desserts.

Our experience at Le Cellier in Dec 05 was like this. We did not really care for the soup, but we each had the mushroom filet and thought it was the best steak we had all week. Even my DH, who was not interested in where I made ADRs last year, has put in a request that we eat at "that Canadian place" twice on this trip. I hope we are not disappointed this year.

 

[princesslisa]

I totally agree! The bread and soup were just okay. My filet tasted like liver and we were told we couldn't get the cheese or dessert sampler (even if we combined credits). I hated the maple creme brulee. I am in no hurry to go back! We are trying Coral Reef this year.

I don't get it . . .to eat at Le Cellier is more than one Credit??

 

[hellokitty86]

No, Le Cellier is only 1 dining credit. I think what the person was referring to- is that they wanted a dessert that wasn't available on the dining plan because of the price- and they asked if they could use multiple dessert/appetizer credits to get it, and were told no. ?????

I personally love Le Cellier. I'm eating there twice on my September trip.

 

[Tinkerbelll]

I don't get it . . .to eat at Le Cellier is more than one Credit??

I think when the poster mentioned "combining credits" he/she was talking about "sharing" a cheese sampler appetizer or the dessert sampler. It has been reported and confirmed by many that if you are on the DDP, Le Cellier will allow two people in your party to "share" the cheese plate as an appetizer, instead of each person getting their own individual appetizer. Same is true of the dessert plate..... We did this for dessert at Le Cellier in October and it was outstanding. All three desserts were fantastic!

 

[princesslisa]

now I get it - Thanks!!

 

[DisneyBaby2004]

Coral Reef



There have been a lot of mixed reviews and I was hesitant about going here but I like to form my own opinion on places. When I checked in, I asked the hostess if we could have a booth near the tank - very nicely but not overly nice. It was an 8pm reservation. There were many people waiting. She said it should not be a problem and put it on my card. Within maybe 15minutes we were called and the people that we came in after were still waiting. We got the middle booth seat directly in front of the tank on the lower level. It was perfect!! This kept my DS3 busy for the first hour. It was a long dinner.

The place was not nosy as some described, to me it was a regular restaurant feel. It was not quiet but this is inside a park – you can’t really go from a 10(being on rides enjoying yourself) to a 2 (quiet evening). I liked not being able to have other people hear my family’s conversation. The service was great. Jonathan was our waiter and he kept the glasses full. Even before we were done he had another glass waiting. I asked about specialty drinks as he did not offer any like LeCellier and he said they were not included. Not a problem. Not really sure if they had any non-alcoholic ones, as I did not see it on the menu. We were thirsty anyway and needed our refills.

For appetizers I ordered the shrimp cocktail. It was just very cold shrimp with cocktail sauce. What else can you say about that? DH had the fried calamari, not on the menu but was one of the items Jonathan mentioned when he gave his introductory speech. They were the shape of onion rings and these were just plain bad. They were rubbery and had no taste.

I had the pan flounder with wasabi mashed potatoes. This was good. (I am going to try to describe how it was cooked – bear with me) Imagine the flounder kind of pan fried or grilled. It was crispy on the outside and moist inside. There was a sauce to accompany it and it was sort of sweet. It was good. The potatoes were okay – tasted like regular mashed potatoes. This was not bad but not worth the 20something $$. DH had the crab cake with potatoes. The potatoes with cubes – like when you go home fries. He said it was good. He is a crab cake fanatic so he knows his stuff. It was one huge crab cake. It seemed to have mostly “real stuff” and not a lot of filler. It was tasty. By this time the kids had fallen asleep and the novelty of the fish tank had long worn off. We ordered the desserts to go. I had the chocolate wave and I am the chocoholic in the group. It was like a chocolate brownie with melted chocolate in the middle. I am sorry but did not see what the hype was about. I tasted some there so I would not give a review based on a midnight snack. It was okay. DH had the cheesecake. I keep saying the same thing but it was okay. None of the food here is bad; it is just not great and definitely not worth the prices. I would never go there and eat without DP and we will not be returning.

But I would say to try it. You may find something on the menu you like. It was a great experience.

 

[swankybeth]

Thanks for your reviews, sorry you didn't enjoy some of your meals. Looking forward to more!

 

[tripplanner2]

I am wondering if you are from NY. I am from LI and I think we take our food for granted. When we went last year we picked our TS based on reviews here and felt the same way. Also did Coral Reef and Ohana, big disappointments. And we paid OOP with the DDE. Maybe we are just spoiled by our local restaurants. For this trip I am trying to go for the experience and not really expect much from the food. I am hoping we will all be happier.

 

[disneymom3]

I like your down to earth review style. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.

 

[DisneyBaby2004]

Thanks for reading and enjoying, I guess I will continue with my reviews

Oh btw - Born and raised in Brooklyn

 

[pennyplanner]

Keep those reviews coming!

Reviews are all about giving your opinion about your experience. No apologies necessary!

Thanks for posting. And for the record, I was not "wowed" by Le Cellier either!

--penny