**LIVE** First we eat, then we do everything else! Sept Dining Review - Update 5/5/14

[goofy4prez]

I'm sorry to hear about your experience at Le' Cellier; like you I will never eat at that place again. When we went there a few years ago we were placed right next to the aisle leading into the restroom hallway and next to a server station. When we asked politely if we could be moved the server directly and shortly said, "No." I asked for the manager and when he arrived he told me, and in his words, "You can sit where you are seated or you could choose to eat somewhere else instead." I should have just left but chose to stay there. It made for a rather miserable dining experience... Never again at LC.

 

[JillMSH]

So glad to see your review of La Hacienda. I've been dreaming of those shrimp tacos for months. We have a reservation in November.

 

[Linda67]

Really excellent reviews, so much great details and wonderful photographs

The story that took my breath away was the soup and bread at Le Cellier story!!! That's just awful service to say the least

 

[RGirl]

Joining in (rather late)!!!

I am really enjoying your reviews - very thorough and informative.

I just have to say, I totally agree with your description of beans - they DO taste like dirt, and they have the worst texture in the history of the world.

Anyway, I will be keeping up from now on - loved reading your review of AP; that may have been my favorite signature meal of our trip last month, and I ordered the same thing - scallops.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Sunday, September 8th 2013

Lunch: Teppan Edo



DMom requested that we try this restaurant. In fact, I was amazed that we hadn't tried it sooner. We arrived shortly before our 12 noon reservation time and were handed a pager and directed to wait. The remainder of our table arrived moments later and our buzzer went off. We were led to the first room, and seated at one of the teppan tables. We were seated with a couple from Fort Myers Florida. So our table of 8 had only 5 people. Of the 4 tables in the room, only 2 were in use.

We were presented with the standard menu and a lunch special menu.



For drinks, I had the Mt Fuji, which is blue curacao, tequila, pineapple juice and sprite.



DMom & DDad each had a Kirin.

I ordered the Tuna Tataki special, DMom ordered the sirlion and chicken combo and DDad ordered the sirloin and shrimp combo. Because the lunch special comes with an appetizer, DMom & DDad decided to get a salad and edamame to start.



Our chef was perfect! He was funny and entertaining and everything was cooked perfectly. We all started with noddles stir fried with vegetables and beef fried rice.



Here is my seared tuna, serves with tempura crunch on top. It was fantastic. I like mine barely seared and raw in the middle, but I was offered further cooking if desired.



Unfortunately at this point my camera battery died But the rest of the meal was great. We fell in love with Teppan Edo (particularly for lunch as it was more peaceful than we expected!) We will be returning in just over 2 weeks!


Dinner: Via Napoli

Dinner brought us to one of our favorite places in World Showcase: Via Napoli! We love the atmosphere of this restaurant, the servers tend to have a great sense of humour and the food is delicious and consistent.

We started off with prosecco and beer.



I was thrilled to be seated near the ovens and the open kitchen. It's so entertaining to sit and watch them prepare the pizzas. It's shocking how quickly they cook and how much of a dance it is to stay on top of all the orders.



For dinner we shared two items; the first was a large pizza - half pepperoni and half margherita.



The second was Candele pasta - tubes of pasta, ricotta and veal meatballs.



Everything was delicious, but next time we are going to get two individuals as we found the large got a bit soggy in the middle.

For dessert we shared the Zeppole.



They were crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside. The chocolate sauce and whipped cream are perfect accompaniments as the zeppole themselves aren't overly sweet.

We can't wait to return on our next trip ​

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Day 7: Monday, September 9th

Dinner: California Grill OPENING NIGHT

The day had finally come! We were dining at the California Grill on OPENING NIGHT! And we had a *perfect* reservation time. I knew there was little chance of getting a window table. Heck, I was thrilled to have a reservation. I couldn't wait to see what they had done to the place. Now I will say I was a bit nervous. The California Grill was our absolute favorite WDW restaurant pre-renovation. Would we still feel the same after? I am going to withhold my judgement to the end of the review.

We arrived just after 7 for our 7:30pm reservation. The check-in desk had moved to the right side of the elevator banks on the 2nd floor. The logo was different as well! We were quickly whisked up to the 15th floor and when the elevator doors opened - WOW! The renovation really is stunning. The wine wall as you exit the elevators is very impressive and a fantastic use of space.

As it was nearing sunset, the entire restaurant was bathed in that lovely warm light.



Here is that new logo I mentioned.



They had also moved away from the signature green colour on the napkins for a bright and cheerful orange.



As luck would have it, we scored a window table in the section to the right as you enter the restaurant. The floor to ceiling windows really do make a difference. The view has never looked more beautiful!





Shortly after we were seated or server greeted us. She was attentive, if not a bit run off her feet by a VERY large and VERY dominating party that was seated in our section (I'll talk about that later).

She dropped off the new bread basket - lavender focaccia and whole wheat sourdough I believe.



These were good, but to be honest I missed the old school sourdough and butter with that amazing crunchy sea salt.

Traditionally we start with sushi. I was a bit apprehensive as Yoshie had retired, but I couldn't pass up my beloved shrimp tempura roll and spicy kazan roll.





This is still the best sushi roll on the planet to me AND I have been to Nobu! (His sashimi and nigiri however blow this place out of the water). The combination of tuna, shrimp, spicy firecracker sauce, tender scallops, tiny cubes of mango, salty strands of seaweed and crispy tempura crunch....ok I'm drooling. It was still as good as ever!



In complete contrast, the Shrimp Tempura Roll might be the simplest and most satisfying. Crispy tempura shrimp, juicy mango and sweet orange ginger sauce. I could an entire roll all by myself.

But, to be completely honest, neither was as good as the previous iterations. It may have been the fact that it was opening night, but I would give these an 8/10 and normally they would be an 11.

Next up we wanted to try one of the new appetizers from the wood-fired oven. We opted for the meatballs. One word - blah. These were dry and flavourless. They weren't juicy and succulent as one would expect a meatball to be and I didn't detect any smokey flavour from the wood oven. Disappointing.

Another flop coming up. DDad tried the sous vide short rib that was supposed to be a culinary innovation. It was disgusting. You can see from the picture that it is grey tinged and the fat had not rendered at all. It didn't even appear that they had seared it before the sous vide process. The first mouthful he took....was of gristle and fat. Sadly we saw MANY of these going back to the kitchen and it has since been removed from the menu.



It is at this point I will delve into the service issues that were no fault of our server. Perhaps 15 minutes after we were seated a party of 24 people came in. They occupied three 8-top tables that were in the middle of the room behind us. I have no issue with large parties generally. But this one just took over the north end of the dining room. There were three servers waiting on the three tables and they were constantly being called upon by the "host" of the party. This "host" didn't stay seated for more than 10 minutes the entire night. He was constantly hovering from table to table, sweeping past our table and those near us more than any of the actual servers in the restaurant. He bumped our table and our chairs on more than one occasion. He spoke at a very loud and boisterous volume the entire evening. It was beyond irritating. We actually started to laugh about it to keep from snapping as he brushed past our table time and again.

Back to our meal. As a result of the large party mentioned above, our server was occupied and did not stop by to check on our entrees. However, as soon as DDad set his fork down and looked around a manager appeared within seconds. He very quickly offered to get DDad any replacement entrée he would like - no questions asked. DDad opted for the filet and with the speed it arrived it was clear the manager pulled it right off the line.



DDad was skeptical about the tomato risotto, but it ended up being the true star of the plate. I am generally not a fan of tomatoes but the concentrated sweet tomato flavour was a wonderful compliment to the beef!

DMom had the Halibut and raved about it. I can't remember the exact accompaniments but she said everything worked perfectly together.



I tried the new take on an old favorite - the Pork Duo. The tenderloin with goat cheese polenta remains, but they have added pork belly with spiced apple. I loved every bite!



I knew exactly what I wanted for dessert. The moment I saw it on the Disney Parks Blog I had to try the Sundae Sampler. I'll admit I was completely won over by the sheer cuteness of this presentation.



From left to right: Caramel popcorn pot de crème, Coke float, strawberry basil parfait. All delicious, if a tad on the small size for the cost.







We also tried the Banana Fritters. These were a miss for me. Too dense and doughy. I prefer lighter, crispier doughnuts.



Overall we were disappointed. While stunningly beautiful, the California Grill seems to have lots its consistency. I've heard this complaint quite a lot since the refurbishment and I can only chalk it up to them cramming in more tables and completely gutting and re-doing the kitchen. I don't think they have fallen back into their stride. As a result, on our next trip (in 12 days) we will be willingly skipping the California Grill for the first time since 2007.​