Krystal's free dining reviews-Sept. 17-24th.

[krystalleigh1]

Ok. I've been drooling over the dining reviews threads for the last 6 months so I figure it's now my turn to make a contribution. Here goes:

We stayed at Pop from Sept. 17-24th. Here's the cast:

Me: Lover of all things Disney. I'm not a picky eater at all and like to try new things, especially if they've recieved good reviews on the DIS.

Dh: Always frets about what he should order at restaurants. Disney restaurants are no exception. He's almost always says, "I should have ordered something else."

DM: My mom. She had no idea what to expect with the dining plan and was very plesantly suprised. She kept gushing on the great food we had and how she'll never get to eat like that again in her life.

DS: You're typical 3 1/2 year old boy. Usually will eat one good meal a day and pick at the other 2 meals. Either that or he snacks so much between meals that he's never interested in eating much at meal times. Plus that would require him to sit still, and he's just not having that.

Here are the reviews I'll be doing:
CS
Tangering Cafe
Wolfgang Puck Eperess
Flame Tree BBQ
Pizzafari
Pizza Planet
Columbia HH
Everything Pop
Sunshine Seasons
French Bakery (can't remember the name)

TS
California Grill
Kona Cafe
Ohana
Narcosses
Coral Reef

 

[wilma-bride]

Looking forward to this

 

[TigerKat]

I'm in.......

 

[krystalleigh1]

Ok. I'm planning on posting pictures, but won't do that for a few days. But let's get started with the reviews, shall we?

Day 1, Sept. 17th
Our plane arrived at MCO around noon. We grabbed a quick bite to eat on the way to the ME check in and ate on the bus. Nothing remarkable, just your typical airport, overpriced, fast food. So I won't go into any detail.

We arrived at Pop around 2:00 and checked in. Then we were off to Epcot!
After reading the dining reviews I knew that I wanted to try out Sunshine Seasons and Tangerine Cafe. I just figured we'd eat at one or the other that evening depending on where we were when we got hungry. It worked out that we ate around 4:45 pm at Tangerine Cafe. Since it had only been about 4 hours since we ate the greasy airport food we decided to get 2 meals and share. (And honestly, I was a little afraid that if we waited much longer to eat we would have to fight our way through the sea of free dining patrons.)

Here's what we had:

Me, Dm, Ds: Shawarma Platter (chicken and lamb) - served with side of hummus, tabbouleh and Tangierine CousCous salad with fresh Moroccan bread. This was wonderful! I am a big fan of any Greek or Greek tasting food. I don't know if this exactly qualifies as Greek food or not but it was great. It really hit the spot. The chicken and lamb were perfectly seasoned and sooooo tender. And the sauce they put over the meat was amazing too. The hummus was typical hummus, but tasted very freshly made. The tabbouleh was just. . . ehhh. Not bad, but not remarkable. The CousCous salad was wonderful too. It had a lot of different spices in it that I couldn't quite place, but they all blended well together. Now, I've had the CousCous here before and remember it having golden raisins in it in the past. I don't think ours had any, but it was still great. My Dm commented on how she'd eat the CousCous for breakfast too. Of course Ds just nibbled on everything. I don't think he ate more than a couple teaspoons of food, but I guess that's better than nothing. Although he did eat half of our dessert, baklava, which was your typical baklava (but good baklava).

Dh: Lamb Shawarma Sandwiche- served with hummus, marinated red onions, lettuce & tomato, topped with Taziki sauce. This had the same meat, sauce, and most everything else we had on our schwarma platter. It was just rolled up inside a wrap. A large wrap. Dh liked it and was happy with his meal choice. He had the baklava for dessert too.

Overall everything was great. I'd definitely eat here again. The food was great. It's funny, but when I ordered my food I looked at the plate and thought, "That's all?" It didn't look like a very big portion on the plate to me, but it really filled me up. I thought I'd have to order another platter just to keep from getting hungry later, but I was pretty full by the time it was gone.


Food: A
Atmosphere: A- (the only reason it gets a - is that the music, although festive, was very loud. We had to yell to talk to each other. But maybe it had to do with were we were sitting?)

Next up Columbia Harbour House and Kona Cafe!!

 

[Luv2Roam]

Great start! Looking forward to reading more!

 

[dmja716]

Cant wait for more

 

[Minniespal]

Great start, looking forward to reading more

 

[Booknut]

Great start, looking forward to the review on the French CS!!!

 

[granmaz]

Great report, thanks.

 

[angela3676]

Great report. Can't wait to read more.

 

[krystalleigh1]

Day 2, Sept. 18th
Today we woke up and had breakfast in the room then headed over to the Magic Kingdom! This day was suppose to be a slower day for the MK according to TGM and ************ but it seemed really busy to me. The last time I was in WDW was during Jersey week in 2006 and the crowd was very comparable to that week. All the parks we went to were very crowded. We even followed TGM's suggestions on days to visit and the parks were still crowded on those days! I can only immagine what the "busy" parks were like if the "slow" parks were so packed.

Anyway, I'm getting off the subject. . . on to lunch! We arrived at CHH around 11:15 and there was already quite a line. Fortunately they were pretty organized though and we waited less than 5 minutes to place our ourder and get our food. We walked upstairs and found there were still pleanty of available tables. Here's what we ordered:

Me: Half Anchors Aweigh Sandwich and cup of Clam Chowder. The sandwich tasted fresh and was served on a multigrain bread. There was only one slice of lettuce and one tomato and I could have used a little more of each but other than that it was nice. Now the soup was the best part of the meal for me by far. I love chunky soup and this was no exception. There were big chunks of clam and potatoes. The soup had a great rich flavor and the clam was tender, not chewy at all like I have had at other restaurants. I'd go back again just for the clam chowder. I had the chocolate cake for dessert and although it was tasty it had a LOT of thick frosting on it. I'm not a big frosting person so I shared my cake with ds. We didn't finish it either.
Dm:Fried fish basket with fries. She said she liked it but only ate about half of the meal. There was thick breading on the fish and so I think that filled her up. Plus fried foods are always more filling than non fried foods I guess. Chocolate cake for dessert. She took it back to the room but never did end up eating it.

Ds:Mac & Cheese with grapes and applesauce. Typical WDW mac & cheese, nothing special. By the way, the mac & cheese they serve at CHH tastes the same as what they served at Coral Reef, so I assume it's the same type (Stoufers I think?). Ds ate about half of his meal

Dh:Fried fish basket with fries. All he would say was that it was good. So I guess that means he liked it? He ate it all. I tried it and found it to be a little better quality than Long John Silver's breaded fish, but not as well seasoned. Kind of bland in my opinion. But they do have vinnegar available and that does add a little more flavor. He had the chocolate cake for dessert and commented that he should have gotten the other dessert. He didn't like it too much.

Food: B
Atmosphere: B+


Next: Kona Cafe

 

[TigerKat]

I've read so much about that tuna sandwich at CHH, I can't wait to try it! Now you've got me thinking about the chowder too!!!!

 

[familyS]

Thanks for writing reviews, looking forward to reading about Kona!

 

[krystalleigh1]

Day 2 continued: Kona Cafe

We had a 5:00 ADR for Kona Cafe and arrived at the Poly around 4:30. We were getting really hungry so I was hoping that if I checked in early they would seat us a little earlier. However, they weren't even allowing check ins until 5:00 since the restaurant didn't open until then. So at 5:00 I made it through the mass of people checking in and gave the hostess my name. I recieved a pager and looked around the gift shop on the second floor for about 10 minutes until they paged us.

I have to say, the whole check in process was a little unorganized. When our pager went off there was still a sea of people standing by the hostess podium waiting to check in. I waited a few minutes behind this sea of patrons and realized it was making no real progress so I finally cut through the crowd toward one of the hostesses and she seated us right away. But the crowd was sure not happy about us cutting through to the hostess, but there was no other way to do it. Our pager had gone off and it was time for us to be seated.

We sat down and I was suprised to see that there were still quite a few empty tables. They didn't fill up for about 15-30 minutes and I expected the tables to be full immediately. But I bet they plan it that way so that the waitors aren't flooded with hungry diners all at once. That would be pretty overwhelming.

Anyway, we sat down and were greeted within a few minutes by our server (sorry, can't remember her name but she was very good). She brought us the bread and the macadamia nut butter. The bread was just ok, but the butter was wonderful. The nuts gave it a great textural feel and who dosen't love butter? She explained what we could get on the dining plan and took our drink orders. Here's what we got to drink:

Me: A virgin pina colada, strawberry daquri mixed concoction. (can't remember the name)
Dm: Virgin strawberry daquri
Ds: Orange juice
Dh: Smoothie (I think it was an orange mango smoothie?)

For appetizers we got:
Me: Crab cakes-3 crab cakes with a lot of crab filling, not much bread filler at all. Good. There was also some kind of salad in the middle but nothing too remarkable. I didn't eat it.
Dm: Duck pot stickers. These were amazing! These were everyone's favorite appetizer. The flavors were great and all mixed well together. I could go for some of these right now. Yummo!
Dh: Kona Salad. This salad had small shavings of apple slices that made it really interesting. The apples added a little sweetness and crunch to the salad and were really good in the salad. I'm going to add apples to my salads from now on. Tasty, but not remarkable. Dh said he should have gotten something else.
Ds didn't get an appetizer because he ordered one of those combo kid's meals.

Entree:
Me: Macadamia Mahi Mahi - served with mushroom rice, sauteed bok choy, lime-butter sauce and crispy fried onions. This was great! The rice was really rich tasting with very subtle hints of mushroom flavors. There were chunks of mushroom in it as well, which is fine with me since I love mushrooms. The mahi-mahi was cooked perfectly. Flaky and tender. When I eat fish I typically don't think of it being "rich" but this dish was. Mostly because of the creamy rice underneath the fish. I couldn't finish it all.
Dm and Dh:Beef Teriyaki - 10 ounce sirloin strip, grilled with pineapple teriyaki sauce, mashed Yukon gold potatoes, and stir-fried broccoli florets. Good steak prepared well. My Dm was in heaven and my Dh said he should have gotten something else. And the potatoes. . . let me just say they were extremely addicting. Delish!
Ds: Grilled Chicken Strips with macaroni topped with marinara sauce and mozzarella, served with veggies and fruit salad. Ds ate all of the pasta and nothing else. The chicken strips were unbreaded chicken breast chunks that had been grilled or fried maybe. They were tasty, but unfortunately, my ds will not touch chicken unless it's disguised with breading.

And the best part: Dessert
Everyone was so stuffed by this point that my Dm and Dh got their desserts to go. I ate mine at the table.
Me: Caramel-banana crem brule: Let me just say that this was the BEST creme brule I've ever had. It was amazing! There were caramelized banana slices on the top but that was about the only banana part to the creme burle. It was rich and carmely. Delishous! I'd highly recommend this dessert.
Dm: Kilauea Torte - an explosion of warm liquid chocolate inside a brownie volcano. Dm took it home and liked it even cold. She did however say later in the week that the chocolate wave at Coral Reef was better.
Dh:Chocolate Macadamia Nut Tart - chocolate tart shell with chunks of macadamia nut and chocolate served with vanilla ice cream and caramel rum sauce. Since Dh took it to go he just got the tart itself. I guess he liked it, but he didn't say it was amazing or anything. But he did eat it all and not complain about "I should have gotten something else" so I guess he liked it. I didn't try it. In fact, I was planning on trying it but it disappered rather quickly from our refridgerator.
Ds: no dessert since he got the combo kid's platter.

Food: A
Atmosphere: C (only because of the unorganized crowds around the hostess section and because of the loudness of the restaurant)
Service: A

 

[whogirl'smom]

I'm in! We leave for Pop one week from tomorrow, and I'm loving your reviews! I'm glad to hear that CHH has good chowder; this is where I planned one of our lunches b/c DD LOVES clam chowder. I'd hate for it to disappoint, but it doesn't sound like it will!

Ready to see more food, please!

 

[my3disneygirls]

Great so far. Can't wait for more.

 

[krystalleigh1]

Day 3: Pizza Planet for Lunch

We went to MGM this morning and it was rainy all morning. The crows were the lowest we had our whole trip, but maybe it was due to the rain, and maybe it was because RNR was closed for refurbishment so it made MGM attendance lower. Either way I was thankful there were less crowds.

So this day I was planning on going to DTD for lunch, but we decided it would be easier to just eat at MGM and then head back to Pop for a break before continuing to AK for the EMH's that evening.

I hadn't heard many good reviews on CS food at MGM, but we had been to Pizza Planet before and liked it so we decided to just go there again.

We got there at 11:00 and there was already a line, but not a very long one. By the time we got our food the line was much longer. We ordered:

Me: Junkyard Pizza, (veggie pizza) salad, Mickey rice krispie bar, Diet soda
Dm: same as me but with Iced tea
Dh: Pepperoni Pizza, salad, Soda
Ds: Pepperoni Pizza, salad, Root Beer

The pizza exactly how we remembered it. The sauce was a little tangy and garlicky. Tasted fresh. We had no complaints other than we couldn't eat it all. We saved 2 of the salads and 3 of the rice krispie bars for later.

Food: B nothing special, but decent pizza
Atmosphere: C (the outdoor seating is nice, but there's not much of it. I think there's seating inside the arcade but never checked out. Nothing too special as far as seating is concerned. It's an arcade.)

Next up. . . Flame Tree BBQ

 

[krystalleigh1]

Day 3 continued: Flame Tree BBQ

This evening we decided to go to the EMH at AK. It was pretty busy. Anyway, we snacked a lot in the room that afternoon so weren't very hungry at dinner time, but wanted to use up some CS credits so we decided to get 2 meals and share. The register was pretty busy, but the lines didn't appear very long. It took about 10 minutes to order and get our food, which I consider acceptable for how busy they seemed to be. We got:

1/2 Slab of St. Louis Ribs served with baked beans and corn muffin-These are the "dry" style ribs, different than they have at Cosmic Ray's. They were good, nice and tender, but personally I prefer the ribs at CR's more. We ate at CR's last November and LOVED the ribs there. My dh liked the beans but I thought they were gross. Kind of vinnager-y. The corn muffin was good, but nothing special. We got key lime pie for dessert and it was great. Very tangy and creamy. Yum!

Smoked 1/2 Chicken served with baked beans and corn muffin (we substituted the beans for cole slaw) This too was tasty, but not remarkable. Nice and tender. The cole slaw was your typical cole slaw. Nothing unique. We got the chocolate cake for dessert and it was the typical CS chocolate cake too. We ended up taking it back to the room and DS ate some for breakfast the next day.

The amount of food we ordered here was perfect for us. It filled us up but didn't over fill us. We didn't even finish everything as it was, so I couldn't imagine getting 4 CS meals here. The portions were pretty big.

Now, don't get me wrong-this TS was completely satisfying and we were happy with it. But it was one of those meals where nothing stands out as being great (except the key lime pie). And the kind of meal you forget about. So, needless to say, we'll probablly try somewhere else on the next trip.

Food: C (good, but nothing too remarkable. Forgetable.)
Atmosphere: B (we didn't check it out too much, but there is supposed to be some cool seating here. We sat outside in a big gazeebo type covered deck. It was nice and I wish we had time to explore the seating more here).

Up next: Sunshine Seasons and Ohana