Just back yesterday, very long dining review

Stitch1404

DIS Veteran<br><font color=darkorchid>I am not so
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Oct 3, 2005
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Okay, so I am bad at summaries, so this may get a little long...I put the restaurants in bold in case you want to just read the ones you are interested in!

This trip was with me (20), my sister (21), and my parents. We stayed one night at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and 5 nights at the Beach Club Villas since my parents are DVC members. We only ate one breakfast out since we had the kitchen in the villa. Also, we had the DDE card which easily saved us over $100. I am a semi-vegetarian, I sometimes eat chicken, so my reviews include no red meat! Here goes...

Day 1: Jiko
Our first night at AKL we ate at Jiko. I really, really wanted to go to Boma, and I begged my family to try it but they said they didn't want to do a buffet so we ended up at Jiko. Maybe it was because I didn't want to go, but I really was not impressed with the food. I had some kind of sunrise beverage which was a blend of juices and was fabulous. Then I had the chermoula chicken which I thought had a terrible flavor and the potatoes that came with it were just strange. For dessert I had the pistachio creme brulee which was wonderful, but I would probably not return to Jiko.

Day 2: Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show
I had read mixed reviews about this show and I was therefore hesitant to go but it ended up being the high point of my trip. I thought all the food was amazing. There was pineapple bread, salad, pineapple, chicken, rice, vegetables, and a chocolate mousse dessert. All of it was perfectly cooked and truly amazing. Easily the best meal of the trip.

Day 3: Tony's Town Square Restaurant
I had also heard bad things about Tony's, but I loved it. I had the house salad, the spaghetti, and the cheesecake. The salad was very fresh, the spaghetti was al dente, just how I like it and the cheesecake was amazing. We were seated outside and had a lovely view. Paired with the food this was a great experience.

Day 4: Cinderella's Royal Table Lunch
This meal was worth the fight I went through to get it! All of the characters (esp. Fairy Godmother) were wonderful. This day was my birthday and we were seated at a table right by the windows with confetti and a birthday card for all the princesses to sign. The only downside was the appetizer. It was so horrible it was almost inexcusable. We didn't eat anything on the appetizer plate. The chicken was tough, the cheese was bland, and the fried fish things were just not appetizing to any of us. I will definitely request the children's appetizer next time. For my meal I had the pasta. It was a large serving, and very good, but the best part was dessert. The so-called blueberry cobbler was really more like a blueberry muffin and it was filled with cream cheese and had lemon sorbet and raspberry drizzle over it. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! I was also given a little chocolate cupcake for my birthday which was very good.

Day 5: San Angel Inn
None of the entrees here appealed to me so I just ordered two appetizers, the sopa azteca and the sope which was like a little taco almost. Both were wonderful and definitely plenty of food. However, it seems like every time we come here we have horrible service, and this time was no exception. We never received drink refills after we requested them and dinner took a really long time. Also, I was given a margarita with alcohol in it when I requested a virgin margarita. And I am only 20 years old! :rotfl: Needless to say, my parents made me send it back. The atmosphere in this restaurant was very good though and I would probably come back despite the poor service.

Le Originale Alfredo De Roma (not sure if I spelled that right):
After dinner we walked over to Italy just to see if they would seat us just for coffee and dessert. We were seated after a 10 minute wait. I had a hot chocolate and the chocolate mousse, a lot of chocolate, but both were wonderful. During dessert a man playing an accordian walked around and all the waiters sang and people twirled their napkins like at Chef Mickey's. It was a very lively, beautiful, and delicious restaurant.

Day 6: Princess Storybook Breakfast
We decided to try this on a whim and called the night before and were able to reserve it. We should have just skipped it! Although the princesses were good, the food was absolutely horrible. The cinnamon rolls were dry, the fruit was all melon, all you could taste in the potatoes was onion and the eggs were a strange consistency. Overall it was a terrible meal, but I guess people come for the princesses, not the food. We will never be back to this one.

Hollywood Brown Derby dinner:
We had planned to do only one sit-down meal per day, but since breakfast was so bad we called to try to get into the Hollywood Brown Derby. We got a 7:00 seating which was the last seating since MGM closed at 7 that night. We got to see the same hostess that we see every time, Alma, so we said hi to her. We say hi to her every time and as we were leaving this time she offered to show us the book with all the signatures of people who have eaten at the restaurant. She unlocked it and let us look at every page for over 20 minutes. If you are every at the Brown Derby, say hi to Alma, she's great! We were seated at a great booth on the lower level of the restaurant. My dad didn't come to this meal because he was back in the room watching a football game. :confused3 So my mom and my sister and I had the cobb salad and then I had the thai noodle bowl. The salad was absolutely amazing as was the noodle bowl. The tofu in the noodle bowl was coconut encrusted and crisp on the outside--wonderful! The rolls were also exceptional. This is a must-do for us every trip.

We had plenty of other food like dole whips and mickey bars and with the exception of Jiko and the PSB I was extremely pleased with all my meals, I'm just sad to be home! Thanks for reading, I'd be more than happy to answer any questions!! :teeth:
 
Hi there, thanks for the reviews... lots of good eating :goodvibes

At Jiko, did your family like their meals?

Bummer that you had to send that boozy margarita back :rotfl:
 
Hi, at Jiko my mom also had the chermoula chicken and loved it. My sister had the filet mignon which came with maccaroni and cheese which was what I ended up eating since I didn't like my chicken. It was pretty good, but nothing too impressive, but my sister said the steak was one of the best she has ever had. And she eats a lot of steak! My dad had fish (maybe halibut?) which he raved about for the rest of the trip. So I was definitely the minority there!
 
Your family probably all would have liked Boma too, had they gave it a try. I love the flatbread at Jiko though. Sometimes we order that for take out and sit at the bar while they make it :)

Sounds like you had a great trip... thanks for all the reviews
 
I'm thinking of booking CRT for lunch this year. Had read somewhere that as an appetizer they offered "castle fries" which came with boursin cheese which I love. Was this on the appetizer menu or was it just the fish, chicken & cheese? Thanks!
 
From what I could see at the tables around us the kid's appetizer had cheese, carrots and celery with dip, and I think that's all. Our appetizer had fresh mozzarella, cold rubbery chicken, and some kind of fried crab things that I didn't touch. I saw no fries though.
 
The kids appitizer was part of a cheese stick, some grapes, and carrot/celery sticks with ranch dressing.

The adult app. was a crab/seafood ball (it was good), fresh mozzarella, and sliced chilled chicken. I believe the fries were part of the menu pre-princesses all day. I really miss the selections from that menu.
 
Enjoyed reading your reviews ~ Thanx for posting.
 
Enjoyed the reviews.
Interestingly, Ms. Uncleromulus also enjoyed the Chermoula Chicken--
 
Great reviews, thanks!! :) Oh, and making the name of the restaurants in bold and making each a separate paragraph was very helpful. Thanks! :sunny:
 
Thanks for the reviews! We agree about the Spirit of Aloha. We were a little worried before we went, but thought the food was excellent.
 
Thanks for posting your reviews, they were fun to read.

:cool1:
 
The dessert at Cindy's is a Blueberry Buckle, not cobbler .. and is usually served with a muffin and lemon ice cream.

The appitizer we had was served on 2 plates. One had string cheese, grapes, celery, carrots, ranch dip and cheese cubes. The other had the cold chicken, crab ball, soft cheese and something else .. I can't remember. We thought it was all tasty and ate every bite.
 
I've heard that the San Angel Inn has a little, separate vegetarian menu if you ask. Did you, by any chance, see this? If so, do you recall what's on it?

Thanks!

--Dominick
 
I did not ask about a vegetarian menu, but maybe if you call Disney dining they would know. Since I eat chicken sometimes the sope was great for me, just a little chicken, and delicious!
 
Loved your reviews! If you thought PSB was bad - don't go for dinner!! It was horrible. We still have not tried Brown Derby - sounds like we should. Thanks for sharing :)
 





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