mom2aredhead
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2006
- Messages
- 2,660
We just got back from 7 days in the world, ate some great, and some so-so meals. No pictures (my husband already thinks I'm a little crazy, so we don't want to fan those flames) but I wanted to give you guys some quick reviews. We've been to WDW and stayed at AKL a few times before, but this was my first time on DDP. I'm still not sold on it btw, I'll have to do the math to see if it was worth it. We just kept (most of) our ADR's and ordered what we wanted without trying to "maximmize" anything. We even had 2 CS and 3 snack credits left unused. Frankly there were a few days I would have been just as happy blowing off our TS ADR and grabbing CS somewhere, but didn't completely want to waste the money we spent. I also have very realistic expectations - I do not expect everything to be wonderful and perfect just because it was cooked on Disney property.
We stayed at AKL and ate quite a few CS meals at Mara. I always found the food to be good, served hot, and with quick service (except for the pizza takes a while, but that is to be expected). During the course of the week, between the 3 of us (2 adults and a 4 year old) we had:
a bacon double cheeseburger, African stew (one of my favorite things there) chicken strips, pizza, a chicken pita with cous cous salad, kids mac and cheese (you can order as a "side" for a snack credit which worked perfectly for my son) zebra domes (yum!) carrot cake (good) and my other favorite thing there - the butternut squash soup which was to die for.
Really the only other CS we had was Pizza Planet, hot dogs at Casey's and a turkey sandwich at Flame Tree, which was average although I have to say the key lime pie was very good.
We split up our TS between character breakfasts and TS dinners. We like doing character meals since we have a 4 year old, and I'd rather spend the money to eat at the character breakfasts then spend the time waiting in line to meet them in the parks.
Our breakfasts (in order of best to worst):
Crystal Palace - food was delicious. Especially the made to order eggs/omlets. I also LOVED being in the park before it opened. Great server, characters were fun. Overall grade, A. Will definitely be back.
Chef Mickey's - Food and service were good, but the food was better at Crystal Palace. Overall grade, B. Will probably be back.
Hollywood and Vine - Decent food, but worst of the bunch. Terrible server - seriously, all she had to do was bring us coffee, refill it once, and bring the check at the end, and she was slower than slow. Overall grade, C+. Will use as a last resort ADR - I'm kind of hoping my son grows out of the playhouse disney gang so it would be a non-issue.
Dinners:
Tony's Town Square - we had a 4:45 ADR the night we went to MVMCP. We've gone there before so know what to expect. Apps were calamari (surprisingly really good) and tomato/mozz salad (good, but I was expecting more of a caprese salad, not a bowl of mozz balls and grape tomatoes, but it was fine.) Entrees were Seafood Diavoli - good, but I did not care for the salmon in it - and hubby had the strip steak which he said was very good. They were able to accommodate my pain in the neck son who gags on spaghetti and likes his tomato sauce on the side by bringing him penne, a small bowl of sauce and a small bowl with the meatball on the side not touching his penne (god forbid) Dessert was Pistachio creme brulee, which was not good - it was just pistachio pudding and the sugar wasn't torched nearly enough. and amaretto cheesecake, which was good - I stole it from my husband and made him eat the pistachio goo. Overall, I'd give it a B+
Tutto Italia. 6:00 reservations, but we were in the area and were able to get seated at around 5:20. Our server was Christine who was adorable and could not have been sweeter. The menu was slightly different than here or allears. We had mussels in a spicy tomato sauce for as an appetizer and they were delicious. We also ordered the sweet and sour meatballs which were very good as well. My entree was the lasagne which was great - very traditional - it reminded me of my grandmothers. Hubby had the roasted pork shank which was so tender it fell off the bone, with potatoes and broccolini. My son again had penne, sauce on the side. This was my favorite meal of the week. Dessert for me was chocolate hazelnut torte which had big pieces of nuts and a delicious respberry sauce. My husband got the dessert Christine recommended - essentially filled cream puffs filled with with a hot chocolate sauce which he loved. Overall A+.
Kona Cafe. My biggest disappointment of the trip. Definitely did not live up to the expectations here on the Dis. It was OK, but not worth the price or the hype. I had the potstickers, which would have been OK if they were the slightest bit warm. Hubby had sticky wings. I asked him how they were, and he said "sticky". He sounded underwhelmed. I had the shrimp and scallops which were good, but it was basically another appetizer. 3 fried shrimp - nothing special - and 3 seared scallops which were good, but again, nothing special. It was served with completely tasteless sticky rice. Hubby had the filet which was good, but he was underwhelmed again. Dessert was Kilauea Torte which was good, and the chocolate macadamia tart which was downright gross. My son had a kids salad, mac and cheese, and make your own ice cream sundae. the drinks with the little umbrellas made everything better! I'd give it about a C+. I didn't really love anything about it and probably won't be back.
Brown Derby. A special request from my husband. He wanted to eat there last trip and we didn't get there. It ended up being his favorite meal of the week, and was a very close second for me. We both had the same thing - crab cake appetizer which was absolutely delicious. I peeked over at the sorry excuse for crabcakes at Kona that the table next to me had, and there was no comparison. This was lump crab meat with very little filler and a delicious mustard sauce. We also both had filet mignon, fork tender, cooked perfectly with an herb butter on the top that gave it an extra special taste. Dessert was the flourless chocolate cake for me (yum!) and hubby tried the grapefruit cake which he liked very much. That day my son was exhausted and ate very little. Eventually I gave him my i-pod and let him sit quietly and watch cartoons so that everyone involved would have a peaceful dinner. The service was impeccable. Overall grade A+ here as well.
Hope this helps some of my fellow dis'ers. Feel free to ask any questions...
We stayed at AKL and ate quite a few CS meals at Mara. I always found the food to be good, served hot, and with quick service (except for the pizza takes a while, but that is to be expected). During the course of the week, between the 3 of us (2 adults and a 4 year old) we had:
a bacon double cheeseburger, African stew (one of my favorite things there) chicken strips, pizza, a chicken pita with cous cous salad, kids mac and cheese (you can order as a "side" for a snack credit which worked perfectly for my son) zebra domes (yum!) carrot cake (good) and my other favorite thing there - the butternut squash soup which was to die for.
Really the only other CS we had was Pizza Planet, hot dogs at Casey's and a turkey sandwich at Flame Tree, which was average although I have to say the key lime pie was very good.
We split up our TS between character breakfasts and TS dinners. We like doing character meals since we have a 4 year old, and I'd rather spend the money to eat at the character breakfasts then spend the time waiting in line to meet them in the parks.
Our breakfasts (in order of best to worst):
Crystal Palace - food was delicious. Especially the made to order eggs/omlets. I also LOVED being in the park before it opened. Great server, characters were fun. Overall grade, A. Will definitely be back.
Chef Mickey's - Food and service were good, but the food was better at Crystal Palace. Overall grade, B. Will probably be back.
Hollywood and Vine - Decent food, but worst of the bunch. Terrible server - seriously, all she had to do was bring us coffee, refill it once, and bring the check at the end, and she was slower than slow. Overall grade, C+. Will use as a last resort ADR - I'm kind of hoping my son grows out of the playhouse disney gang so it would be a non-issue.
Dinners:
Tony's Town Square - we had a 4:45 ADR the night we went to MVMCP. We've gone there before so know what to expect. Apps were calamari (surprisingly really good) and tomato/mozz salad (good, but I was expecting more of a caprese salad, not a bowl of mozz balls and grape tomatoes, but it was fine.) Entrees were Seafood Diavoli - good, but I did not care for the salmon in it - and hubby had the strip steak which he said was very good. They were able to accommodate my pain in the neck son who gags on spaghetti and likes his tomato sauce on the side by bringing him penne, a small bowl of sauce and a small bowl with the meatball on the side not touching his penne (god forbid) Dessert was Pistachio creme brulee, which was not good - it was just pistachio pudding and the sugar wasn't torched nearly enough. and amaretto cheesecake, which was good - I stole it from my husband and made him eat the pistachio goo. Overall, I'd give it a B+
Tutto Italia. 6:00 reservations, but we were in the area and were able to get seated at around 5:20. Our server was Christine who was adorable and could not have been sweeter. The menu was slightly different than here or allears. We had mussels in a spicy tomato sauce for as an appetizer and they were delicious. We also ordered the sweet and sour meatballs which were very good as well. My entree was the lasagne which was great - very traditional - it reminded me of my grandmothers. Hubby had the roasted pork shank which was so tender it fell off the bone, with potatoes and broccolini. My son again had penne, sauce on the side. This was my favorite meal of the week. Dessert for me was chocolate hazelnut torte which had big pieces of nuts and a delicious respberry sauce. My husband got the dessert Christine recommended - essentially filled cream puffs filled with with a hot chocolate sauce which he loved. Overall A+.
Kona Cafe. My biggest disappointment of the trip. Definitely did not live up to the expectations here on the Dis. It was OK, but not worth the price or the hype. I had the potstickers, which would have been OK if they were the slightest bit warm. Hubby had sticky wings. I asked him how they were, and he said "sticky". He sounded underwhelmed. I had the shrimp and scallops which were good, but it was basically another appetizer. 3 fried shrimp - nothing special - and 3 seared scallops which were good, but again, nothing special. It was served with completely tasteless sticky rice. Hubby had the filet which was good, but he was underwhelmed again. Dessert was Kilauea Torte which was good, and the chocolate macadamia tart which was downright gross. My son had a kids salad, mac and cheese, and make your own ice cream sundae. the drinks with the little umbrellas made everything better! I'd give it about a C+. I didn't really love anything about it and probably won't be back.
Brown Derby. A special request from my husband. He wanted to eat there last trip and we didn't get there. It ended up being his favorite meal of the week, and was a very close second for me. We both had the same thing - crab cake appetizer which was absolutely delicious. I peeked over at the sorry excuse for crabcakes at Kona that the table next to me had, and there was no comparison. This was lump crab meat with very little filler and a delicious mustard sauce. We also both had filet mignon, fork tender, cooked perfectly with an herb butter on the top that gave it an extra special taste. Dessert was the flourless chocolate cake for me (yum!) and hubby tried the grapefruit cake which he liked very much. That day my son was exhausted and ate very little. Eventually I gave him my i-pod and let him sit quietly and watch cartoons so that everyone involved would have a peaceful dinner. The service was impeccable. Overall grade A+ here as well.
Hope this helps some of my fellow dis'ers. Feel free to ask any questions...
thanks so much, I have each of these places on "my list" for are upcoming Aug trip so this helps alot!
