Live from the World - Food Reviews!!...More Just added...

[rysmama215]

We've been here for 5 days now, and I decided I'd better start adding in some food reviews before I forget.

First off, we're off-siters, so no dining plan and only 5 or so meals on site. It's working out pretty well for us, actually.

Our cast is me, DH, DS(4), MIL & FIL. All fairly adventurous eaters, except for DS, who is a chicken fingers/mac & cheese/cheeseburger kind of kid.

Meal #1 - DH & I at California Grill

In all seriousness, this was flat out one of the best meals & dining experiences I have ever, ever had. We had a 7:00 ADR. Wishes was at 6:00, which I didn't find out till after I had made the ADR, and we really didn't want to eat that early anyway. We also found out about a week before we left that some friends would be eating there the same night, so we planned to meet for a drink at the bar prior to eating. We arrived at 630 & were told at the podium that they were running about 25 minutes beyond reservation time. Fine with us, as we were planning on sitting at the bar for a bit anyway. They gave us a buzzer thing, and we ordered drinks at the bar. And the buzzer went off. EEEK. So, I sent DH to find out if we could wait till the next available table, so we could at least chat with our friends for a bit. he said the CM at the desk was wonderful, and said she'd call us when she thought the time was right. We sat for about 20 minutes, enjoyed a drink & some conversation & then were seated. As we were being led to our table, we were informed that there was a second Wishes at 9:30. As we sat at our table, right next to the window, and I caught a glimpse of the view, I decided we WOULD make this meal last 2 1/2 hours. I was going to see Wishes from there.

On to the food - For starters, I ordered the goat cheese ravioli, and DH a Hurricane roll. The ravioli was phenomenal. DH said the sushi was equally as good, very fresh and yummy. We both ordered salads - mixed greens with apples, dried cranberries, candied walnuts & blue cheese with a cranberry vinaigrette. It was great! For dinner, I had the oak grilled Filet, and DH had the butternut squash ravioli. The filet was so tender that I could have cut it with a spoon & DH's ravioli were so, so good. After dinner, we decided on dessert (remember, I'm still trying to streeetch this dinner out!). The Almond crusted cheesecake is no longer on the menu, and I was a little disappointed, because I had heard so much about it here, and I love cheesecake!! We ordered the Banana & Butterscotch buzz - layers of carmelized banana, pastry & a frozen butterscotch custard. It was unbelievable, and made up for the disappointment over the cheesecake.

Our waiter, Rob, was WONDERFUL. Attentive, without being annoying & he made some great food/wine suggestions. And yes, with his help, we managed to be there for Wishes. It was everything I expected it to be & more. Wonderful.

I'd go back to CG in a heartbeat, even if I did pay more for the meal than I normally would for a week's worth of groceries!!

Meal #2 - MIL & FIL at Jiko

Obviously, I can't give a detailed review on this, as I wasn't there, but MIL & FIL are still raving about it. Both had the mac & cheese/filet & said it was delicious. They loved it! It comes highly recommended to anyone!!


Meal #3 - All of us at Sunshine Seasons

This wasn't intended to be a meal, per se, more like a snack to tide us over until we had dinner. It was delicious! DH & FIL went to the Asian noodle place & had something that looked like a rather large plate of food for a "snack", but they said it was great! (It was noodles, beef & chicken of some kind). I had a vegetarian Cuban sandwich from the soup/sandwich place. It was half the length of my arm and stuffed with grilled veggies and cheese. Very hot, very fresh, and very delicious! MIL had sushi - prepackaged, but she said it was fresh & yummy. DS (the only one who decided to have an actual "snack") had a rice krispie treat the size of his head, which he loved. He was also asked to be in a parade around the place, which he thought was terrific!!


Meal #4- All of us at Chef Mickey's

Great, great, great!! We had breakfast. We were seated right away. The food was fresh & hot & very tasty. DS loved the Mickey waffles. The biscuits with sausage gravy were a highlight for FIL & I. MIL said the oatmeal was yummy. I have no idea what DH ate, but I know his plate was full at least 2 or 3 times...

The characters all came to our table at least once & we saw Minnie, Mickey & Donald twice. DS was thrilled (and we thought he would be afraid). It was really a wonderful meal, and a highlight for DS - he's still talking about it.

Meal #5 - All of us at Sci-Fi

Taking the advice of the Dis'ers here, we stuck to basics - we all had burgers, vanilla shakes & fries or onion rings. DS had the kids mac & cheese, which he really liked. The burgers were delicious, cooked perfectly & yummy. The onion rings were crispy & yummy. And the shakes were out of this world. All in all, a really good meal & far better than I expected. We had also ordered a cake for MIL's bd, which was very good & very pretty!

That's all our meals for now - we've got one or two more coming up....more to come!!
-

 

[disneyjunebug]

Thanks for the reviews! We leave tomorrow AM!!

 

[John's Mom]

Thanks for your great reviews!

 

[MOTHERGOOSE3]

sounds like your having a blast.

 

[TigerKat]

Thanks for posting!!!! I'll be at Cali Grill 10 nights from tonight!!!!

 

[rgrgirl]

Thanks for the reviews. Good to hear that you enjoyed Chef Mickey's since it had gotten some bad reviews.

 

[my3disneygirls]

I would love to hear about the places you went to off property if you care to share. We are staying off property in April and would love any feedback you can offer.

 

[rysmama215]

We really didn't eat off property - we had Giordano's pizza the first night we were here, and we were not overly fond of it. The crust was rather like cardboard.

Other than that, we really ate most of our meals here at the house, to save $$. Any non-house meals we ate were at Disney...

 

[rysmama215]

Ok, so we had an ADR for Narcoossee on our last night, in time to see the fireworks at 6. That was tonight, Friday. On Thursday, our plan was to do the countries in Epcot, and grab snacks here and there. So, we started out that way - we had School Bread in Norway (mmmmmmm) and some sandwiches from the Bakery in France (also mmmmmm). By the time we got to Japan, however, we were hungry for "dinner", and FIL and DH wanted sushi, and would settle for nothing less. It was early - probably around 5ish, so I said I'd check in at Tokyo Dining/Teppan Edo to see if there was availability. Teppan Edo was booked solid, but Tokyo Dining had tables available right away. So....

Meal #6 - All of us at Tokyo Dining

First off, the service was phenomenal. Really, really polite and quick without being rushed. DH, FIL & MIL all had sushi - FIL had a Volcano roll and a Dynamite roll; DH had a crispy tuna roll and some other kind of roll that had an entire eel laying across the top of it (eww. I was grossed out, but he loves that stuff). MIL had a spicy tuna roll. All of them are still talking about it - they claim that it was the best sushi they've had, and they're big sushi eaters! DS had the kid's teryiaki chicken (which came in a monorail shaped dish). He didn't like it - however, he is terribly picky on occasion. MIL & I both tasted it, and it was very good. I had the Japanese chicken cutlet - very very tasty. It was crispy and the dipping sauce was really good.

We weren't expecting to be eating a sit down meal that night. It was really a nice surprise.

Meal #7 - Cosmic Ray's

This was also an unexpected "meal". We had planned on just quick snacks for lunch, but DH was starving and starting to whine, so we decided to do Cosmic Ray's. DH, FIL and I had bacon cheeseburgers, which were surprisingly good, especially with the toppings from the topping bar. MIL had a hot dog, which she said was very good also. DS had the kids chicken strips, which he finished. I took that to mean he liked it.


Meal #8 - Narcoossee's. The last hurrah!

We're leaving tomorrow. I'm not quite ready to go home yet. But that's another story. Tonight, we had a 630 ADR at Narcoossee's. I had planned for us to arrive around 5:45, see if we could be seated, and if not, just watch the fireworks from the deck. As it turned out, due to unexpected monorail traffic, we didn't arrive till just before 6. We were seated right away. We didn't have a window table, so we headed outside to watch the fireworks. Great view, great show, as always. The deck was not crowded at all, and it appeared all the people with the window tables could see without trouble.

As for the food....
MIL had the Flounder with mushrooms and crab. She said it was delicious. FIL had the Dueling Tartare, which is listed as an appetizer, but he had as a meal. He said it measured up to the Tokyo Dining sushi on the scale. DH had the Halibut, which he said was very, very good. I had the filet mignon - cooked to perfection and soooo tender. And the au gratin potatoes were just divine. I also had the Pumpkin ginger soup to start. It was very, very good. DS had the Mickey pasta - I can't really review it, as he refused to eat it. He was not having the best night. He did get the kid's Caesar salad and loved it (I can vouch for how good it is, we shared!).

Dessert was sorbet for DH & DS, and the Almond cheesecake for MIL & I. The sorbet had fresh berries all over it, and both DH & DS cleaned their dishes. The cheesecake was sooooo good. I mean, really, just the best cheesecake EVER.

Our waiter, Allen, was great. Very attentive & he even brought DS a plate of fresh raspberries when he decided that was going to be dinner.

Overall, a great experience!!

 

[wilma-bride]

Great reviews - thanks for posting

 

[my3disneygirls]

We really didn't eat off property - we had Giordano's pizza the first night we were here, and we were not overly fond of it. The crust was rather like cardboard.

Other than that, we really ate most of our meals here at the house, to save $$. Any non-house meals we ate were at Disney...

Mmmmm...cardboard!

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent

 

[butterfly8]

Really enjoyed your reviews!

 

[raven69david]

Fantastic reviews. I've got Jiko's and Narcoossee's too, along with a whole slew of other ADR's, so i can't wait to try these two. Thanks again for the great reviews.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you had such great experiences.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Loved your review of CG! I ate there three times on my last trip and two out of the three we had Rob as our server. He is just fantastic! Glad to hear you are having such a great time.