This trip was 2 adults - my aunt and I. Auntie is not officially a vegetarian, but does not eat meat very frequently, so this review includes several veggie options. Rating scale for both food and service is 1 (hideous) to 10 (FAB).
Saturday, 8/31 Dinner at Palio
Started with lobster/ricotta crepes (2 large crepes); these were very good - about an 8.5 - but were definitely heavy on the ricotta and light on the lobster; served with "lobster bolognese" which apparently translates to chunky red sauce with HUGE bits of near-raw garlic. I love raw garlic so it was great, but beware. For the entree, I got the lobster tortellini (LARGE portion - no way could I have eaten even 1/2); excellent!! 9; huge chunks of lobster with cheese tortellini, creamy garlicky-goodness sauce, rich without being overly heavy. Auntie ordered the bucatini (flat pasta between linguini and fettucini width) with morel mushrooms and pine nuts, light garlic-wine sauce. She said it was wonderful, a 9, but I didn't try it because I'm not a fan of pine nuts. For dessert, we split the amaretto cheesecake, which was good but not exceptional (we're both huge cheesecake freaks) - about a 6.
The service was pretty slow at the start, because our poor waiter had our table plus two tables of 6-8 people. Fortunately, those other two tables cleared out while we were eating our appetizer, and then the service improved drastically. He gets a 7.5. Total for dinner w/tip was $80.
Sunday, 9/1 Lunch at the Coral Reef
First the food... We started with two bowls of the lobster bisque - consistently our favorite food at WDW - and it did not disappoint; definitely a 10!! (Maybe even an 11.) This is by far the best lobster bisque I have ever had - creamy, thick, and all around fabulous, plus it's only ~$5. When I go on solo trips (i.e., without Auntie's checkbook), I make a meal out of the bisque and a dessert. She ordered the tomatoes with curry shrimp, after asking if it was very spicy and being told no. It was so spicy, she ate one (very small) shrimp per 1/2 slice of tomato, and left the rest on her plate - a 3 (would probably be higher for those who like very spicy dishes). I ordered the seafood open-face ravioli (large pieces of pasta on top and bottom of the seafood), which included salmon, tuna, calamari and some whitefish, but was inexplicably very spicy also. (No note of this on the menu - I think the description was "creamy garlic sauce" - anyone noticing that creamy garlic sauces are my favorite?
) I also didn't think the seafood selections went very well together - some shrimp or crab would have been better IMO - a 3. Dessert was a sparkling wine mousse with berry sauce and dark chocolate straws - a 7.5 from Auntie and about a 5 from me - but it was very pretty! 
The "service" story: [wait, wait, wait] menus, run away before we can order drinks [wait, wait] order drinks, run away before we can order lunch [wait, wait] bread, run away AGAIN, despite our desperate efforts [wait] finally get to order lunch [wait, wait] deliver food, take our dessert orders because I was ready to stand on my chair before letting him leave again [wait, wait, wait - a good 10 minutes after we were done with our entrees] bring desserts without clearing the entree plates we were obviously done with, nor asking us why we'd each left 3/4 of the entree on the plate [wait, wait, wait, WAIT, 15 minutes after we're done with dessert and no check in sight]. At this point, we flagged down the manager and asked nicely but firmly if he could perchance find our waiter because we'd like our check. (I should mention here that the waiter had only one other 2-person table, and was not waiting on them during any of our overly long pauses - he was just nowhere to be found.) We signed the check with an appropriately-sized tip (total $50), and headed out, not wanting to make a scene or anything, just wanting to get on with our day. The manager, Greg, caught us on our way out the door, apologized profusely and asked us if we would please fill out a comment card. While I did that, my aunt told him about the "service" we'd received (again firmly but without "getting her b*tch on"). After apologizing several more times, he asked us if we were staying in Epcot for Illuminations and where we were staying, and then asked if we could call him in about an hour. When I called, I found that he'd reserved places for us in the roped-off Illuminations viewing area on the patio in Italy and moved our PS at Chefs de France from 8:30 to 7:30 to accommodate the new viewing spot. He also invited us to have another Coral Reef lunch with his complements during our stay, but unfortunately that was our only day at Epcot for this trip. When we got back to the hotel that night, we had a lovely signed and personalized 5x7 of Cinderella. So to sum up, service was a 1 (!), but we were very happy with how Greg handled the situation. Really, his sincere apologies would have been enough, so the rest was just gravy. We registered a compliment for him at Guest Services the next day.
Sunday 9/1 Dinner, Chefs de France
We started with the imported cheese plate: large chunks of swiss, roquefort, brie, and one I'm forgetting which were fantastic with the french bread. This was large enough to almost be a meal in itself, a must for a cheese lover - an 8. Then I had the lobster bisque (again!) which was good, but not in the same ballpark as the Coral Reef bisque, it's a much thinner, more "campbell's cream of tomato" conistency soup - about a 6.5. Auntie had the veggie lasagne, which looked horrifying to me (I'm a meatasaurus), but she said it was very good, an 8. It had layers of pasta, cheese, eggplant, zucchini and squash, and several other green things I couldn't identify but she enjoyed. I had the chicken cordon bleu (broiled chicken filled with ham & swiss), easily the best I have ever had - an 8. We finished with the raspberry gazpacho (cold soup) with lemon sorbet and cinnamon pastry sticks - the best dessert we had on this trip, a 9.
Service from Stephanie was excellent - she's the kind of waitress that can watch you from 20 paces without making you feel "observed," and know instantly when it's time for her to come over - a 9.5. Total with tip was $72.
Monday 9/2 Dinner at the California Grill
My aunt's coworker James joined us for this dinner, and paid the sizeable bar tab. You'll have to forgive the lack of details here - I had one too many kir royales! We started with the goat cheese ravioli, which were every bit as fabulous as everyone else has said - an 8. Split three ways, we still each had 3-4 good sized ravioli, so I think this would be meal-sized for one person. I had the pork tenderloin, the same thing I ordered in November, because it was so wonderful I couldn't make myself try something new. This is a 10!! Auntie had the "veggie extravaganza" (I swear, that's what it was called on the menu), which horrified me again, but she liked even better than the lasagna at CdF - a 9. James had the "BLT" flatbread, and pronounced it an 8.5. (Again, sorry about the dearth of detail!) We finished with the orange custard crepes w/ raspberry sauce - very good - an 8. Service from Lee was good but not exceptional (he strangely wrote down the pork entree for both me and my aunt, even though she ordered the veggie thing) - a 7. Total with tip was $105.
Tuesday 9/3 Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern
We started with the New England Clam Chowder - big chunks of clams, thick creamy base, not a lot of filler, very very good - an 8. I ordered the Cape Cod Pasta - wide pasta ribbons with chicken, mushrooms, and sundried tomatoes. The portion is HUGE. No, seriously, HUGE. I ate *only* the chicken, shrooms, and tomatoes, and maybe 2 bites of the pasta and was stuffed! Very good dish, especially for a "creamy garlic sauce" departure - a 7.5. Auntie had the Pilgrim's Feast - turkey, stuffing, fresh cranberry relish, etc. She didn't say much, and only ate maybe 1/4 of her food. I found out that evening (she didn't tell me earlier because she didn't want to upset me
) that the gravy tasted "funny," and she'd gotten sick several times through the afternoon. Obviously, this earns a 1. We finished with the apple tart with vanilla ice cream - it was good, but you could tell it had been sitting a while - the tart was lukewarm and the ice cream had gotten a bit melty. Could have been much higher, but only about a 5 due to the temp issues.
Service from Lorraine was pretty good, despite the fact that she had 5 or 6 tables, including 2 others that were seated at almost the exact same time we were. Maybe the hostesses don't like her???
She gets a 7. Total with tip was $49.
After the LTT gravy debacle, my aunt was understandably put "off" Disney food, so our planned dinners at Shula's and Narcoosee's didn't happen. Maybe next trip!
Thanks for reading, and feel free to ask me any questions you have!
Saturday, 8/31 Dinner at Palio
Started with lobster/ricotta crepes (2 large crepes); these were very good - about an 8.5 - but were definitely heavy on the ricotta and light on the lobster; served with "lobster bolognese" which apparently translates to chunky red sauce with HUGE bits of near-raw garlic. I love raw garlic so it was great, but beware. For the entree, I got the lobster tortellini (LARGE portion - no way could I have eaten even 1/2); excellent!! 9; huge chunks of lobster with cheese tortellini, creamy garlicky-goodness sauce, rich without being overly heavy. Auntie ordered the bucatini (flat pasta between linguini and fettucini width) with morel mushrooms and pine nuts, light garlic-wine sauce. She said it was wonderful, a 9, but I didn't try it because I'm not a fan of pine nuts. For dessert, we split the amaretto cheesecake, which was good but not exceptional (we're both huge cheesecake freaks) - about a 6.
The service was pretty slow at the start, because our poor waiter had our table plus two tables of 6-8 people. Fortunately, those other two tables cleared out while we were eating our appetizer, and then the service improved drastically. He gets a 7.5. Total for dinner w/tip was $80.
Sunday, 9/1 Lunch at the Coral Reef
First the food... We started with two bowls of the lobster bisque - consistently our favorite food at WDW - and it did not disappoint; definitely a 10!! (Maybe even an 11.) This is by far the best lobster bisque I have ever had - creamy, thick, and all around fabulous, plus it's only ~$5. When I go on solo trips (i.e., without Auntie's checkbook), I make a meal out of the bisque and a dessert. She ordered the tomatoes with curry shrimp, after asking if it was very spicy and being told no. It was so spicy, she ate one (very small) shrimp per 1/2 slice of tomato, and left the rest on her plate - a 3 (would probably be higher for those who like very spicy dishes). I ordered the seafood open-face ravioli (large pieces of pasta on top and bottom of the seafood), which included salmon, tuna, calamari and some whitefish, but was inexplicably very spicy also. (No note of this on the menu - I think the description was "creamy garlic sauce" - anyone noticing that creamy garlic sauces are my favorite?
) I also didn't think the seafood selections went very well together - some shrimp or crab would have been better IMO - a 3. Dessert was a sparkling wine mousse with berry sauce and dark chocolate straws - a 7.5 from Auntie and about a 5 from me - but it was very pretty! The "service" story: [wait, wait, wait] menus, run away before we can order drinks [wait, wait] order drinks, run away before we can order lunch [wait, wait] bread, run away AGAIN, despite our desperate efforts [wait] finally get to order lunch [wait, wait] deliver food, take our dessert orders because I was ready to stand on my chair before letting him leave again [wait, wait, wait - a good 10 minutes after we were done with our entrees] bring desserts without clearing the entree plates we were obviously done with, nor asking us why we'd each left 3/4 of the entree on the plate [wait, wait, wait, WAIT, 15 minutes after we're done with dessert and no check in sight]. At this point, we flagged down the manager and asked nicely but firmly if he could perchance find our waiter because we'd like our check. (I should mention here that the waiter had only one other 2-person table, and was not waiting on them during any of our overly long pauses - he was just nowhere to be found.) We signed the check with an appropriately-sized tip (total $50), and headed out, not wanting to make a scene or anything, just wanting to get on with our day. The manager, Greg, caught us on our way out the door, apologized profusely and asked us if we would please fill out a comment card. While I did that, my aunt told him about the "service" we'd received (again firmly but without "getting her b*tch on"). After apologizing several more times, he asked us if we were staying in Epcot for Illuminations and where we were staying, and then asked if we could call him in about an hour. When I called, I found that he'd reserved places for us in the roped-off Illuminations viewing area on the patio in Italy and moved our PS at Chefs de France from 8:30 to 7:30 to accommodate the new viewing spot. He also invited us to have another Coral Reef lunch with his complements during our stay, but unfortunately that was our only day at Epcot for this trip. When we got back to the hotel that night, we had a lovely signed and personalized 5x7 of Cinderella. So to sum up, service was a 1 (!), but we were very happy with how Greg handled the situation. Really, his sincere apologies would have been enough, so the rest was just gravy. We registered a compliment for him at Guest Services the next day.
Sunday 9/1 Dinner, Chefs de France
We started with the imported cheese plate: large chunks of swiss, roquefort, brie, and one I'm forgetting which were fantastic with the french bread. This was large enough to almost be a meal in itself, a must for a cheese lover - an 8. Then I had the lobster bisque (again!) which was good, but not in the same ballpark as the Coral Reef bisque, it's a much thinner, more "campbell's cream of tomato" conistency soup - about a 6.5. Auntie had the veggie lasagne, which looked horrifying to me (I'm a meatasaurus), but she said it was very good, an 8. It had layers of pasta, cheese, eggplant, zucchini and squash, and several other green things I couldn't identify but she enjoyed. I had the chicken cordon bleu (broiled chicken filled with ham & swiss), easily the best I have ever had - an 8. We finished with the raspberry gazpacho (cold soup) with lemon sorbet and cinnamon pastry sticks - the best dessert we had on this trip, a 9.
Service from Stephanie was excellent - she's the kind of waitress that can watch you from 20 paces without making you feel "observed," and know instantly when it's time for her to come over - a 9.5. Total with tip was $72.
Monday 9/2 Dinner at the California Grill
My aunt's coworker James joined us for this dinner, and paid the sizeable bar tab. You'll have to forgive the lack of details here - I had one too many kir royales!
We started with the goat cheese ravioli, which were every bit as fabulous as everyone else has said - an 8. Split three ways, we still each had 3-4 good sized ravioli, so I think this would be meal-sized for one person. I had the pork tenderloin, the same thing I ordered in November, because it was so wonderful I couldn't make myself try something new. This is a 10!! Auntie had the "veggie extravaganza" (I swear, that's what it was called on the menu), which horrified me again, but she liked even better than the lasagna at CdF - a 9. James had the "BLT" flatbread, and pronounced it an 8.5. (Again, sorry about the dearth of detail!) We finished with the orange custard crepes w/ raspberry sauce - very good - an 8. Service from Lee was good but not exceptional (he strangely wrote down the pork entree for both me and my aunt, even though she ordered the veggie thing) - a 7. Total with tip was $105.Tuesday 9/3 Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern
We started with the New England Clam Chowder - big chunks of clams, thick creamy base, not a lot of filler, very very good - an 8. I ordered the Cape Cod Pasta - wide pasta ribbons with chicken, mushrooms, and sundried tomatoes. The portion is HUGE. No, seriously, HUGE. I ate *only* the chicken, shrooms, and tomatoes, and maybe 2 bites of the pasta and was stuffed! Very good dish, especially for a "creamy garlic sauce" departure - a 7.5. Auntie had the Pilgrim's Feast - turkey, stuffing, fresh cranberry relish, etc. She didn't say much, and only ate maybe 1/4 of her food. I found out that evening (she didn't tell me earlier because she didn't want to upset me
) that the gravy tasted "funny," and she'd gotten sick several times through the afternoon. Obviously, this earns a 1. We finished with the apple tart with vanilla ice cream - it was good, but you could tell it had been sitting a while - the tart was lukewarm and the ice cream had gotten a bit melty. Could have been much higher, but only about a 5 due to the temp issues.Service from Lorraine was pretty good, despite the fact that she had 5 or 6 tables, including 2 others that were seated at almost the exact same time we were. Maybe the hostesses don't like her???
She gets a 7. Total with tip was $49.After the LTT gravy debacle, my aunt was understandably put "off" Disney food, so our planned dinners at Shula's and Narcoosee's didn't happen. Maybe next trip!
Thanks for reading, and feel free to ask me any questions you have!
Krissy
