Looking for Carthay Circle Restaurant Reviews

[Malin]

The few reviews I've read on the Carthay Circle Restaurant have been mostly mixed. Thanks it seems to it being a new Restaurant. But as someone who has two meals at this particular location lined up soon. I'd love to read more thoughts and perhaps some recommendations from the online community who have so far been fortunate enough to eat here, thanks.

 

[nunzia]

I've seen quite a few reviews scattered around..most seem positive to me. I ate there June 10 for a preview meal. I was with a friend and our opinons varied a bit. We were seated in the higher dining area..you go up a ramp from the main dining area so we were seated by the balcony, but not actually on the balcony. My friend did not like the type of seating in that area..think of a long rectangle for the room with like a big bench down the center and then tables along the bench, so if you sit with your back along the bench you are really sitting by folks dining at other tables. This didn't bother me..just her persepctive. We had samplings of appetizers and got the Heirloom Tomato, Watermelon and Gorditas. I don't know if these were full size appetizers or not, but they were not large at all. The menu says 'good to share' but what we were given were really not a big sharing size. They were all interesting, fresh, and tasty. We did not have the full menu to order off of for our entree. My friend and I both got the steak with mushroom/grape sauce and blue cheese. Delicious and the kind of dish that you think about later and want to have again. There were no sides served with the entree, which bothered my friend, but not me. We had a sampling also of desserts. We got the pie and the lemon pound cake. Both very good IMO..my friend didn't care for the pound cake so I gave her my pie. The dessert portion was fine..not huge but not tiny. I came away just loving this restaurant..a gorgeous oasis in the park. My friend much prefers Steakhouse 55. When we go back in August we are doing both, since I prefer Carthay. I don't think you'll be disappointed. I hope more chime in here, because I'd like to see reviews on more menu items. To me the noodle bowl choices seem odd in this type of restaurant so am interested in reading about those. I think I must try the Biscuits as those sound great. Oh yea..we had a tablemate with some dietary requests and Chef Sutton came out and spoke to him. The dish he got he said was the best he'd ever had at a restaraunt. Hope this is what your looking for and hope many more chime in.

 

[Malin]

Thanks for the thoughts. I'm hoping we'll get more contributions here soon. It does look like a fantastic Restaurant. Its just a shame the few things I've read so far seem to be 50% positive and 50% negative. Although some of this is down to it not being to everyone's preference and very likely the staff having to get use to the opperation and running of the place. I also feel having Andrew Sutton behind the Restaurant has already set the expectation level high.

 

[lulubelle]

Ceviche Halibut...soooo good. Every bite delicious.

Heirloom tomatoes. The sorbet was to die for. This dish was wonderful.

Udon noodle bowl. Spicy, but so full of flavor.

These three were highlights for us. I had the Kobe beef sliders as well. They were ok, kind of fatty tasting. Our server was Jen, and she was fabulous.

 

[lulubelle]

The peach dessert was really good but the pastry shell that holds the mousse was too hard. You couldn't cut it or gracefully take a bite. We shared it.

We sat in the middle by the wine fountain. Really good location. We could see the chefs to the left (and the food runners going by with various dishes) and the beautiful ceiling.

This is the Bloody Mary which was very good! Refreshing and light. I had the Daquiri which was too sour and nothing special.

I hope you give it a try, we really enjoyed it. And we did get 15% off the food portion with our Premium AP.

 

[lulubelle]

Here are the sliders if you are interested.
Others at our table had the Pork Satay which was very good and full of flavor and the Chicken Meatballs with housemade pasta. This dish was the largest (volume wise) of all and again, very good. None of our alcoholic drinks came with ice. The water served is cold but no ice. I guess to be reminiscent of the era represented. I did see iced tea at a nearby table with ice though.

We also had the cheese biscuits which I thought were just ok, but most tables seemed to have a basket of them on their table. While downstairs in the lounge waiting to be seated we heard the host tell many walk ups that they were booked into mid July.

 

[sacteach]

I had lunch there on Thursday 6/21 with my mom and we loved our meal. We were a walk-up and waited less than 5 minutes to get a table at around 11:45am. I am not a food critic at all and we both have pretty simple tastes. We had the following:

Our meal started with sourdough bread and butter. The bread was not warm and the butter was too cold to spread, but it was fine.

Drinks: we both had the Wildberry Lemonade which was delicious. If it had free refills, I would have easily had 3 glasses, but I tried to savor it throughout the meal.

Appetizer: we shared the soup (California grilled corn and tomato broth with smoked chicken) - great flavor with a little spice, but not too spicy at all. We dunked our bread to get all of it.

Lunch: My mom had the burger which she enjoyed. She said it was cooked a little more than she expected (she ordered it medium and there was no pink at all and she was expecting a little pink). She had to ask 2 people and wait about 5 minutes to get mustard, mayo, and ketchup. She got raw onions instead of grilled onions with no problem. The burger was good and too big for her to finish. The fries were crispy and the pickles were really good also.

I had the Pappardelle Pasta with Chicken Meatballs. The pasta was a little rubbery, but the sauce, tomatoes and meatballs were delicious. I saved some bread to dip in the sauce and it was very tasty. The meatballs were good sized (it came with three) and had a great flavor.

For dessert, we asked the waiter for a recommendation. He suggested the "Peaches in All their Glory" and it was by far our favorite part of the meal. It was light yet so flavorful. Neither of us are big peach fans, but it was so good, we were sad we had to share it. Every part of it was delicious and there was not a drop of anything left. I wanted to go back another day just to get the dessert again.

 

[msteddom]

I don't have any pictures to share, but I have had two outstanding dinners at Carthay Circle, once on my own and once with a large group of friends.

For dinner on my own, I skipped the appetizer, and I had the bacon wrapped shrimp. They were excellent!!! For dessert I had the lemon pound cake, which was also excellent.

My friends and I enjoyed a variety of apps:

the biscuits were a huge hit
the halibut ceviche was the agreed upon favorite
the herloom tomato salad was raved about by the tomato fans (I am not one)
the grilled corn soup with chicken was very good, but the smokiness got to be a bit much
the gorditas were jujged good, but not great

entrees:
the ribeye was excellent
the cavatelli pasta with braised lamb was very good
the clear standout of the evening was the paparedelle pasta with chicken meatballs

We all split the monte christo sundae for dessert, and the few bites I had were good.

The service I had both times was beyond outstanding. I can't wait to go back!!!

Melissa

 

[RandFamily]

Has anyone had any vegetarian options at Cathay Circle? If so, did you let them know ahead of time or were you able to just order pasta without meat or fish? And how was the quality?

 

[DisneytheKid]

Great pictures! It looks so good!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Here is my review:

06/19/12 - Carthay Circle Restaurant, a Taste of Elegance

 

[PinkBudgie]

Carthay House Biscuits. These were very good and came with a sort of sauce they called Apricot Honey Butter. That was really good too! And this counted as an appetizer for the WOC tickets.

Crispy Gorditas. We loved these too. We chose two appetizers rather than desserts because they seemed more special and none of the desserts appealed to us.

Pappardelle Pasta with House-made Chicken Meatballs - Tear Drop Tomatoes, fresh Basil, and Yellow Tomato Essence.
DH had this and it was very yummy!

I had the Kobe Beef Sliders. Again- very good but I should have asked for a little more horseradish sauce. I don't even like horseradish but I loved this one. The beef was meat pieces, not a patty.

We found the service to be excellent and friendly. Someone was always there checking on us and making sure we had enough water. DH wasn't sure what wine he wanted so she suggested two based on what he said he liked. She brought over two bottles for him to sample first and he picked one of those. When the waitress went on our her break she brought over her replacement and introduced us to him. We will definately go back.

We asked for WOC tickets to the second show even though we were at lunch. CCR does have it's own WOC viewing section. It is in the "Reserved Viewing". But then when you go in they directed us to different areas based on our tickets CCR vs WCT. We were off to the right of the middle circle.

 

[pixiewings71]

We sat in the middle by the wine fountain. Really good location. We could see the chefs to the left (and the food runners going by with various dishes) and the beautiful ceiling.

From this photo you can sort of see where we were seated, see where the server is standing? We were at a table for 2 right behind her. Loved it, we were right by the kitchen so we could see everything!

Carthay House Biscuits. These were very good and came with a sort of sauce they called Apricot Honey Butter. That was really good too! And this counted as an appetizer for the WOC tickets.

We found the service to be excellent and friendly. Someone was always there checking on us and making sure we had enough water. DH wasn't sure what wine he wanted so she suggested two based on what he said he liked. She brought over two bottles for him to sample first and he picked one of those. When the waitress went on our her break she brought over her replacement and introduced us to him. We will definately go back.

We asked for WOC tickets to the second show even though we were at lunch. CCR does have it's own WOC viewing section. It is in the "Reserved Viewing". But then when you go in they directed us to different areas based on our tickets CCR vs WCT. We were off to the right of the middle circle.

I wasn't a fan of the biscuits, I won't get them again. I was the only one who really ate them, DD didn't like them at all, the cheese is in the middle of the roll and it's gooey, I wasn't expecting that and didn't enjoy it. The Apricot Butter was good tho, I had that with the regular bread they brought out.
DD had the burger, she enjoyed it very much (she's a burger aficionado LOL) and she was able to get it served with the toppings she likes, so no onion at all. lol I ended up eating her pickles because they are slightly sweet, very good IMO but she didn't like them much. I had the bacon wrapped shrimp, it was sooooooooooooo good. I loved it! I also had a glass of wine, the Francis Coppola Rose, made with grapes named after his daughter Sophia. It was very very good wine! And they were generous with the pour as well. For dessert we had something with chocolate and ice cream. I can't remember what it was called but man, it was good! I highly recommend eating at CCT, it was our second favorite meal, second only to Club 33.