Just back--more reviews

[Faline]

First of all, every restaurant we ate at had good to fabulous food, and decent to great servers. No restaurant was a disappointment.
Here's where we ate:

Ohana-prior review
Chefs de France-prior review
Beaches and cream
Raglan Road
Citricos
Crystal Palace
Tusker House
Spoodles
Kona

There were 5 of us-DH and myself, DS 26, and DS 21 with GF. We tended to share and taste everyone's dishes, so I can pretty much review everything we ordered.

 

[Faline]

Ordered the chili and a double burger followed by NO way Jose, and Strawberry Shortcake and Frozen Sunshine. Chili was delicious, just the right amount of spice, and a big bowl adequate for sharing. The burger was good, but probably not worth the price. No Way Jose never disappoints and is very huge! How could one person possibly finish it. Two of us had trouble. Strawberry shortcake was yummy, and frozen sunshine was so good and refreshing that DS and GF went back later in the week and got another.

 

[Faline]

Excellent food and service. Started off with Gateau of Crab--to die for, Goat cheese truffles-very good, buffalo mozzarella with tomatoes--good, and the arancini--also to die for, very unique. For entrees, we had the veal shank, Short ribs with blood orange sauce, and chicken with pasta. The veal was very good and tender, but not as flavorful as the other meals.
The short ribs were delicious, the sauce tangy and a perfect complement to the ribs. Only got a little bite of the chicken dish as DS26 liked it so much, didn't want to share. But the chicken was moist and tender, seasonings perfect, and the sauce on the pasta was rich and creamy, and sooo good.

For dessert, had the berry gratin--OHHH so good and different, the trio of sorbets--very flavorful, creamy and refreshing, the warm chocolate banana tart, rich and delicious, and the lemon cheesecake. This cheesecake was so good that my DS26 decided to get another one to go.

This was the one restaurant that I was allowed to get pictures, and will post later when the pictures are organized.

We were celebrating our anniversary, and they had five personalized menus printed up for us. A very nice touch, except that the waitress moved them to the side to keep them from getting soiled. I left before the check was returned to use the restroom, and my husband forgot to bring them along.

 

[Stretchy Shorts]

We like Citricos also.

 

[John's Mom]

Great reviews! Waiting for more!

 

[Faline]

As this was a buffet, I'll just say that all the food we tried was very good, the bobotie and the hash with cornbread were really great. Lots of normal and lots of unique dishes to choose from. Character interaction was so-so. Basically they came around to all the tables and posed for pictures, but no special interaction like at other character meals we've attended. But the food, and being in the park and finished breakfast before park opening make it well worth doing again.

Also, I had fretted about arriving on time as we were staying off-site, but the parking lot opened at 7:45 and they let us right in. I think we arrived at the restaurant at 8:02 for our 8 ADR.

 

[Faline]

Did this the evening of Pirate and Princess Party. All of us except DS 26( who was a last minute addition to our trip) were fully attired in our pirate costumes. This restaurant is a repeat for us. Plenty of choices. Good food. Character interaction fun. All of the characters made motions, like they were scared with our pirate costumes. But the topper was when Eeyore got on his knee and made to propose to my son's GF. Prime rib and salmon very good. Salads and desserts excellent. Server was there whenever necessary. So much good food, that no room for our anniversary cupcake.

 

[Faline]

They start you off with bread and dip(olive oil with seasonings etc.) So fresh light and tasty, and the dip was DELICIOUS. Next we ordered Mediterranean dips with flatbread and olives.All the dips were good, but the favorite was the one that you can taste the feta in, followed closely by the brownish spicier one. We also ordered the Margarita flatbread which was very flavorful, and the lamb kebabs. The kebabs were very tender and I enjoyed them a lot, but dh and ds like the lamb shawarma at Tangeriene cafe better because of the sauce there. For entrees, we ordered the steak kebabs and two rigatoni pasta with sausage and portobella mushrooms, but my son asked for his without the mushrooms. When it came out, it looked a lot different than the one with. It had large chunks of sausage and the sauce was a little different. I guess that with the special request, they had to make up something where ours, the sauce was all put together. Both were good, but I think I would order mine with the mushrooms on the side, because I liked his better. You could taste more of the sausage in his. The Steak kebabs were excellent. For dessert, we were very full, and the 5 of us split one mascarpone cheesecake. It was ok, but I'm not sure about whether I like the balsamic reduction. Also, I prefer my cheesecakes creamier. But we will definitely return here.

 

[suzimar57]

great reviews - thanks!

 

[Faline]

Started with the press pot of Kona coffee, and Lilikoi juice. I'm not a coffee drinker, but those that are thought the press pot was delectable. You could see it by the expression on their face with first taste. The juice was also very good. We then split the big Kahuna, Eggs benedict, and Tonga Toast. All very unhealthy and delicious. The pineapple macadamia pancakes were swimming in butter. The Strawberry compote on the Tonga toast helped cut the sweetness so that it tasted just perfect. And the eggs benedict were very good. The potatoes that came with two of the meals were sooo good even if just a little bit salty. We also ordered a side of fresh fruit which was very large, but consisted primarily of honeydew. We would have preferred more canteloupe and pineapple. You really had to dig for anything but honeydew. All in all, a very good breakfast.

 

[TigerKat]

Thanks for the great reviews!

 

[Faline]

This was a last minute addition as we were at pleasure island and got hungry around 9. We had no ADR but were seated right away. WE ordered the Paddy's pork with the sausage in the middle. Dh and ds 26 thought it was ok, but nothing to write home about. Sausage flavor was minimal and didn't do a lot to complement the pork. Also ds 21 and gf split the Bang bang bangers. They enjoyed that a lot. They said the sausage was very tasty. I had the portobella mushroom sandwich with cheese and tomato relish. Dh and I thought it was really good, but no one else cared for it. All in all, a good meal but probably not worth the cost.

 

[Faline]

We didn't do a lot of counter service as a few times, we had cereal in our room, and late lunch or early supper. We ate at Tangeriene cafe--our favorite and had the lamb shawarma platter. Delicious as always.

Earl of Sandwich, we had the Caprese flatbread which we truly enjoyed.. You could really taste the basil in it, and we do like our basil. We also ordered the Hawaiian BBQ. This was good, but not as good as the other things we got. Finally we had the Scudetto. This was delicious. Inexpensive and good food. Would eat there again.

Typhoon tilly's--We had rib platter which was good, hot dog, and ceaser salad, which were standard fast food items. Best buy was the refillable mug for $10, and next time you go you can update for $6.50. You get thirsty at the park and definitely get your money's worth.

 

[Faline]

First of all, all our ADR's were for 4. My DS26 was having some difficulty coping with the death of his GF, and decided the day we left to go along. This was too late to change all our ADR's and so when we checked in, we just asked if it was possible to add on another person. I wouldn't ordinarily do this, but I thought that these were extremely extenuating circumstances. Every time, they said " NO problem" and accommodated us. At Citricos, they even printed up a 5th personalized menu. And we never had to wait more than 10 or 15 minutes to be seated except at Spoodles where we showed up about 15-20 min. early. Even then, we were seated pretty much at our ADR time. We never ran into an unfriendly or unhelpful server. Some were better than others, but in general, we were quite satisfied. The most impressive was Ludovic at Chefs de France, and possibly Mark at Spoodles. Sadly Ludovic's contract ends in the fall and will not be there when we return in December.

There was not a meal that we did not enjoy, although a couple of things we didn't think were worth the money. I guess our favorites were Citricos and Ohana.

Thanks for reading, and sorry about lack of pictures. As I said, my family put their feet down and wouldn't allow it except at Citricos.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Thanks for the reviews, I can't wait to see the pictures from Citricos.

 

[PrincessPaczki]

Thank you for the reviews!

 

[suzimar57]

enjoyed your reviews!

 

[ampc3]

Do they still have the crispy cream (or any kind) of donuts on at Tusker house??

Thanks for sharing..

 

[Faline]

There were donuts, but I don't know if they were Krispy Kreme or not. Only had room for a little bread pudding for dessert and didn't really pay too much attention to the donuts

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Thanks for the reviews.