Kouzzina for Dinner

[shreddermom]

Has anyone been to Kouzzina for dinner lately? Was it good? Thinking of making ADR.

 

[POOHsie]

We were there in October. We were very impressed with the food. There are some real pros in the kitchen, who we could see from our table since there was no wall separating the kitchen area.

Wine was good. We shared the sampler appetizer. I had the Fisherman's Stew entree. The broth in it was out of this world delicious! Plenty of fish and shellfish in the bowl. My friend had the Kouzzina Trio and was happy with everything. I forget what we had for dessert, maybe nothing. But that broth stands out in my memory as one of the best things I have ever tasted.

I have also heard that Kouzzina's breakfast is great, if you want to consider that, too.

Here is their menu, in case you haven't seen it
Dinner: http://allears.net/menu/menu_kouzd.htm
Breakfast: http://allears.net/menu/menu_kouzb.htm

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Our Ratings of Kouzzina: (rev 3/5/11)
. . . food price value: C
. . . food quality: C
. . . food quantity per serving: B
. . . food prep speed: B
. . . food selection: C
. . . seating quantity: B
. . . seating comfort: C
. . . eatery atmosphere: D
. . . eatery convenience: C
. . . staff friendliness: B
. . . staff helpfulness: D
. . . character interaction: n/a

NOTE: The food, although named "Greek" resembled Greek in
name only. Very, very Americanized. My $32-steak was dry and her
$27-lamb was overcooked. Both had to be sent back to the kitchen.
The daughter had the sampler. Pretty small, 6-7 bites for the three
items. Poor room design makes for terrible acoustics, making it
one of the noisiest eateries in WDW - worse than Chef Mickey’s on
a bad day. As many people have offered, the service is VERY
spotty. We waited 19-minutes to see the waiter AFTER being
seated (5:54pm-6:13pm). Family bought me one of the a 6" podium
Sara Lee frozen birthday cakes - surprisingly it was quite yummy!


(I guess when you get to be a famous chef, you don't care about your
restaurant, as long as the bucks flow in - or it seems that way.)

 

[Pakey]

I'm with Rusty on this one. Terribly slow service and a very noisy dining experience. And my entree was cold. The server was so inattentive that the others in my party were almost finished before I even had a chance to return my entree.

 

[ysprincess]

I wasn't a big fan.

We also had to wait forever, for what seemed like everything. Our ADR was pushed back almost an hour after our time, we waited forever for a waiter, then forever to order, and when the dinner finally came, the order was incorrect, and it took forever to get it fixed. When we finally did eat the food, it was nothing impressive - just okay, which for the price (combined with all the waits), I was hoping for more than "okay".

I think it's the first time that I've really been unhappy with the service and overall restaurant experience at Disney.

 

[Sweet Melissa]

When I daydream about living close enough to WDW to be able to drop in on a whim, I think about how great it would be to be able to have a casual dinner at Kouzzina whenever I feel like it. Their whole fish is wonderful and the pastitsio is amazing. I look forward to trying the saffron pasta and the fisherman's stew as well.

My only complaint about the service is that the restaurant sometimes gets too loud to hear the server well, and some of the tables are inappropriately close to their neighbors. I feel that all of it is easily overlooked for a unique, inexpensive meal in a lively atmosphere, though.

 

[prttynpnk]

I have to echo other posters- the service can be really bad- memorably bad on our 1st trip. The waiter (when he actually appeared) critiqued my order- kind of embarrassing! We went back for breakfast on another trip and it was better. The fishermans stew almost made up for it, tho.

 

[ickeynickey]

Our Ratings of Kouzzina: (rev 3/5/11)
. . . food price value: C
. . . food quality: C
. . . food quantity per serving: B
. . . food prep speed: B
. . . food selection: C
. . . seating quantity: B
. . . seating comfort: C
. . . eatery atmosphere: D
. . . eatery convenience: C
. . . staff friendliness: B
. . . staff helpfulness: D
. . . character interaction: n/a

NOTE: The food, although named "Greek" resembled Greek in
name only. Very, very Americanized. My $32-steak was dry and her
$27-lamb was overcooked. Both had to be sent back to the kitchen.
The daughter had the sampler. Pretty small, 6-7 bites for the three
items. Poor room design makes for terrible acoustics, making it
one of the noisiest eateries in WDW - worse than Chef Mickey’s on
a bad day. As many people have offered, the service is VERY
spotty. We waited 19-minutes to see the waiter AFTER being
seated (5:54pm-6:13pm). Family bought me one of the a 6" podium
Sara Lee frozen birthday cakes - surprisingly it was quite yummy!


(I guess when you get to be a famous chef, you don't care about your
restaurant, as long as the bucks flow in - or it seems that way.)

Being a chef by trade, I need to ask is there anything that you do like at Disney? I was under the assumption that the Disboards was an exchange of information. At some point, it has become a place to vent. If you are so against Disney, why do you go? Disney is supposed to be the happiest place on earth and THE place for children. You DON'T have to go there. I love the reviews and the banter that goes with them but not the constant criticism of Disney and I am sure the creators of the site would agree. I enjoyed Kouzzina. Every restaurant in Disney is forced to americanize their food because that is what is most requested. New York style pizza, Chicago style hot dogs, Chinese food, and Greek food. No one wants the food as it should be but as how it is served in America. Europeans have a very different idea, they want the food as it is served in the homes of those countries.

 

[darkeraven]

I am there right now. I agree with the chef. That overcooked lamb is supposed to be falling off the bone.

Yes the service is on the slow side, but they gave us every attention.

I liked it. Also, don't be hating on Cat either. She rocks.

 

[calngavinsmom]

We thought it was yummy, and it has a great location. We went this past September and liked it so much we are going back this October. I would give it a try if I were you, might be pleasantly surprised

Take care

 

[TDC Nala]

Love the food. Hate the room. Service is hit or miss.

 

[kverdon]

First off we've never had bad service at Kouzzina and we love the food. It’s become one of our MUST stops on our annual trip. Last 2 times we've had the sampler for an appetizer and we then split the whole baked fish. The appetizer sampler was quite yummy and the whole baked fish was fantastic. The fish was like butter. This last time we ordered the brussel sprouts and for the first time in my life I actually very much enjoyed brussel sprouts. They were fantastic! (my mother and I used to wish the birds would eat all my dad would plant). Now, granted, my wife and I tend to gravitate towards Med and African flavors but every meal we have had at Kouzzina we've enjoyed.

Kevin and Mona

 

[DisCopper]

We've been there several times. I know people seem to either love it, or hate it, but I'm definitely on the love it side.

Using the same rating scale from earlier in the thread:
. . . food price value: B
. . . food quality: A
. . . food quantity per serving: B
. . . food prep speed: B
. . . food selection: A (we had a VERY picky eater who came out happy)
. . . seating quantity: B
. . . seating comfort: B
. . . eatery atmosphere: B (noisy, but aren't Greek families supposed to be?)
. . . eatery convenience: A *
. . . staff friendliness: B
. . . staff helpfulness: B

* Convenience totally depends on where you stay, and where you are for the day. Boardwalk is one of my favorite resorts, and I spend a lot of time at EPCOT. Thus, I give it an A. If I spent all my time at Magic Kingdom, it would probably get a D.

My lamb has always been cooked perfectly. Our picky eater had lamb burgers (I think), and she loved them. No problems with ADRs, or service.

Not the absolute best at Disney, but it's currently in my top 5 or 6.

 

[DianeV]

We have been there twice. Once with the new menu in December and loved it both times. In fact my teenage daughters keep wanting to go back

We had an awesome server this last time who was super friendly. They bring out bread with 2 different olive oils to dip in and it is wonderful. There are also a few black olives on the plate

2 of us had the steak and it was super moist and tasty. One had the lamb ragout thing they have now with pasta and she loved it

Husband had the sampler and liked everything especially the pastitsio

I am not sure why others seem to have such bad service and food but we really have not.

 

[Dsny4fun]

We had dinner there in Sept...one of the best meals that week. Great food (I had the sampler) and I had excellent service.

 

[mulanshaircut]

We were there in November and were pretty disappointed. Service was great, apps were pretty good, but entrees and desserts were just bad.
I ordered a wine flight and the chardonnay was awful and when the server asked if i liked it and i said no he responded with "that's what most people say".

 

[gojoe]

Being a chef by trade, I need to ask is there anything that you do like at Disney? I was under the assumption that the Disboards was an exchange of information. At some point, it has become a place to vent. If you are so against Disney, why do you go? Disney is supposed to be the happiest place on earth and THE place for children. You DON'T have to go there. I love the reviews and the banter that goes with them but not the constant criticism of Disney and I am sure the creators of the site would agree. I enjoyed Kouzzina. Every restaurant in Disney is forced to americanize their food because that is what is most requested. New York style pizza, Chicago style hot dogs, Chinese food, and Greek food. No one wants the food as it should be but as how it is served in America. Europeans have a very different idea, they want the food as it is served in the homes of those countries.

So unless we have a good review we should not post a bad review? I listen to the Pod Cast all the time and they are the creators of these boards and Kevin has some pretty harsh reviews. I don't always agree with the reviews I read or hear. Sometimes I yell at my I-Pod sometimes I write my own reply. I clicked on this post to find out how people like or dislike Kouzzina not to read only good things. I don't think we should put people down if we don't agree with them and I truly hope you are not offended by my opinion.

 

[DisCopper]

So unless we have a good review we should not post a bad review? I listen to the Pod Cast all the time and they are the creators of these boards and Kevin has some pretty harsh reviews. I don't always agree with the reviews I read or hear. Sometimes I yell at my I-Pod sometimes I write my own reply. I clicked on this post to find out how people like or dislike Kouzzina not to read only good things. I don't think we should put people down if we don't agree with them and I truly hope you are not offended by my opinion.

What I find on this site (and others) is that people tend to write either about very positive, or very negative things. I once started a thread saying that, in many ways, the DisBoards were useless. For any restaurant, resort, or theme park attraction, you are going to find many people who love it, many people who hate it, and a few who say, "eh...." When people ask if a restaurant is good, they really have to take a lot of things into account. For the sit-down meals at Disney, I'm looking for something that at least leans toward fine-dining, is fairly quiet (minimal on the screaming kids), has good food, good alcohol, and is a relaxing end to the day. I also sort of balance those things in my mind. For example, I'll take the noise at Kouzzina because I like the food. I won't take it at Flying Fish, because I found the food average. Because of all this, I love the Yachtsman Steakhouse. There are, however, PLENTY of people who are looking for an experience completely different than what I want.

So ultimately, the Boards aren't "useless" (I was only half serious in saying that), but I do think they take a lot of work. Just looking at what people have posted in this thread, you can see some positives and negatives about Kouzzina. I agree with you that we have to have the negative reviews, or else it's all just one big fluff piece (you can by the "official" guidebook, handy as it may be, for that). I do also shy away from the threads where people just start slamming things (or bickering) though. I also think that it's possible to write a negative review without resorting to being nasty. Every restaurant/server/chef/cook can have an off night. As a Disney regular, I try restaurants over and over (although I sometimes wait until I hear there's a new chef). Unfortunately, not everyone is a skilled restaurant reviewer. They come away from an experience angry, they don't have great writing skills, and their post ends up as a weak, negative review (and I'm not slamming anyone in specific, especially on this thread).