Lost front teeth! Still gonna eat-UPDATED 7/22- FINISHED!

[jabead]

Thank you for the Pecos Bill review. I haven't been there for several years, but I think I remember liking the taco salad there??? (but then again, my memory ain't what it used to be ) Anyway, I'm sorry that it (possibly?) upset your stomach. Stomach problems are no fun...especially when you are at WDW, where you are surrounded by all that yummy food and you feel like this

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Thank you for the Pecos Bill review. I haven't been there for several years, but I think I remember liking the taco salad there??? (but then again, my memory ain't what it used to be ) Anyway, I'm sorry that it (possibly?) upset your stomach. Stomach problems are no fun...especially when you are at WDW, where you are surrounded by all that yummy food and you feel like this

It probably wasn't the taco salad since I ended up catching my daughter's stomach virus, but seems like I've read some other posters saying the taco salad caused them some digestive problems as well.

It was so sad for us to not feel like eating. Eating is one of our favorite things to do at WDW.

That Mother's Day cookie is so cute! Too bad it didn't taste good! And I love oatmeal raisin cookies, they're the best!

The Mother's Day cookie was cute, but that didn't make to taste good unfortunately. Oatmeal cookies are DH's favorite.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Hollywood Brown Derby

We headed over for lunch at the Brown Derby. I hadn't eaten anything since yesterday's lunch so I was feeling hungry. Brian unfortunately said he felt sick at his stomach now. I felt so sorry for him since the Brown Derby is one of his favorite restaurants.

On side note, I have an interesting story. Before our lunch we had been at the Animation Academy. The creators of Phineas and Ferb were there and we got to draw Agent P. I felt so sorry for the instructor. He was very nervous since there were lots of suits there along with having to draw the character for the guys who created it. But he did a great job, and the guys who created the show seemed very nice. The creators and the suits were also having lunch at the Brown Derby as well. Our waiter, David, told us he gets to wait on famous people from time to time. Anyway, here's my drawing of Agent P...


Agent P by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

Back to the food, Brian was adamant he couldn't eat anything. He was blaming it on an earlier ride of Star Tours, and I was hoping that was all that it was. Brianna was still skittish of food so she only ordered french fries. At least she did eat most of them this time. I had my heart set on the pork tenderloin, a dish I've always wanted to try. Here it is in all its glory before it was touched by me.


Pork from HBD by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

I'm so glad this dish met my expectations. I ate the whole thing! The pork was tender and juicy. The spatzle was probably my favorite thing on the plate. I loved the bits of bacon in it. While I'm not usually a fan a red cabbage I even ate all of it too.

To make the meal even more enjoyable for me, David was one of the best waiters I think we've ever had during our many trips to WDW. He shared some stories about some of his experiences working at the Derby which I loved hearing about. Since Brian had told him his favorite thing to order is usually the cobb salad, he brought us the recipes for it and the grapefruit cake. He did all this while also taking care of our food needs too.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

The Brown Derby gets an

A+

I'm giving the Derby an A+ in all the grading categories. I love the old hollywood looking scenery. And I like having a fine dining choice in the parks. We couldn't have asked for better service from David and my pork was excellent.

Up next will be dinner at Shutters.

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

So glad to hear you had a great meal at Brown Derby - even though it seems to draw a lot of criticism on the boards, I've usually had great meals there. It's my favorite in-park restaurant (I prefer it over Bistro de Paris).

 

[Linda67]

We've only eaten at HBD once before (lunch) and it was wonderful

Great drawing of Agent P by the way

 

[emmysmommy]

So sorry you and your family were slowed down by illness... Your pork dish looks magnificent!! Your choice at Goofy's Candy Co. certainly looks like the clear winner! Looking forward to more.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

So glad to hear you had a great meal at Brown Derby - even though it seems to draw a lot of criticism on the boards, I've usually had great meals there. It's my favorite in-park restaurant (I prefer it over Bistro de Paris).

I can honestly say the Derby is one of the places we've never had a bad meal. I've never tried the Bistro, but would like to some day. The Brown Derby is easily my favorite in park restaurant too.

We've only eaten at HBD once before (lunch) and it was wonderful

Great drawing of Agent P by the way

So glad you like the Brown Derby too.

Thanks for noticing my drawing. I'm not much of an artist, but I thought it was pretty good too.

So sorry you and your family were slowed down by illness... Your pork dish looks magnificent!! Your choice at Goofy's Candy Co. certainly looks like the clear winner! Looking forward to more.

Thanks for reading. The pork was excellent, but I'm looking forward to trying the steak next time. It looks amazing. Yes, my pretzel was defintely the best thing we had at Goofy's that night. Looking forward to trying more things there in the future.

 

[Mariep26]

Thanks for the reviews!! I am thoroughly enjoying each and every one! I ate at the Flying Fish while at WDW for a conference and I did not like it at all. I enjoy seafood (living in MA, I have always had wonderful seafood available) and am fairly adventurous but I didn't find much on the menu that appealed to me( this was in 2010 so that could have changed). I don't remember what I had but I definitely didn't love it. I might try it out again one day but it is not tops on my list of places to go.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Thanks for the reviews!! I am thoroughly enjoying each and every one! I ate at the Flying Fish while at WDW for a conference and I did not like it at all. I enjoy seafood (living in MA, I have always had wonderful seafood available) and am fairly adventurous but I didn't find much on the menu that appealed to me( this was in 2010 so that could have changed). I don't remember what I had but I definitely didn't love it. I might try it out again one day but it is not tops on my list of places to go.

I have to agree with you, I would try Flying Fish again, but it is not a must do.

So glad you are enjoying the reviews.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Shutters

I think I have been procrastinating finishing my dining review because this is when it all went downhill. Anyway, I will carry on. After such a large lunch, I wasn't much hungry that evening so I decided to have one of those large pickles and a bag of Doritoes from Sleepy Hollow while waiting on the parade. By midnight I was feeling mighty sick at my stomach and really regretting those choices. After spending most of the night throwing up I decided to spend the next day in bed. I sipped on Coke and laid there feeling sorry for myself while Brianna and her Daddy had gone on to the Magic Kingdom. I probably only throw up once every 5 years, so why does it have to be while I am at Disney World?

By the evening I was feeling brave enough to try to put something bland in my stomach. We had reservations at Shutters for dinner and after looking at the Allears menu I saw a baked potato listed under side dishes, so we decided to keep our reservation.

We entered Shutters through Old Port Royale with Brianna in her stroller. There are people all through Old Port Royale with strollers so we didn't think anything about Brianna being in her stroller until the 2 ladies at the Hostess desk at Shutters fussed at us for bringing the stroller in. These were possibly 2 of the grumpiest CMs I have encountered at WDW ever. We didn't realize there was another outside entrance for Shutters where the stroller parking was and certainly didn't mind to leave the stroller there. Just wish we could have been told in a nice manner.

After waiting about 10-15 minutes and being led through a virtually empty restaurant, one of the grumpys sat us at a table. We were met by our server, Jairak. The best thing I can say about her was at least she wasn't grumpy. After looking over the menu I see that there are no side dishes listed so the Allears one must have been out of date. Jairak told me I could not get a baked potato, but after hearing I had been sick she suggested the chicken noodle soup that comes with Brianna's kids meal. So I decided on that and Brianna got the kids chicken nuggets. I couldn't eat hardly any of the soup because it was full of celery. Brianna ate about half of her food and every time Jairak came by our table she took it upon herself to chastize Brianna for not eating all of her food. While I find this somewhat endearing at 50's Prime Time Cafe, I was getting pretty upset with Jairak's interference. I wanted to scream at her that Brianna had been sick but decided to sit on that urge. Sorry I don't have pictures of the chicken nuggets or the soup, but I can assure you that you're not missing anything.

Brian decided on the New York Strip steak that is served with mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables. Here is a picture of it along with the bread that is served before your meal.


Bread from Shutters by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr


steak from Shutters by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

Brian describes this steak as tough and chewy. Not good at all.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

So here's my final honest evaluation of Shutters...

Atmosphere- D

The restaurant is nothing special to look at. You can here the thumping of the music from the pool through the walls and it is a good distance from the pool.

Value- F

Looking at my bill I see Brian's steak was $28.99. I'm feeling cheated.

Service- F

There was the grumpy hostesses and our waitress trying to parent our daughter. I wish I could give them less than F.

Quality- F

Brianna's meal was the exact same one they serve at Old Port Royale. My soup was not good and Brian didn't like his steak at all.


So I've asked Brian his opinion as well because I thought maybe since I'd been sick I was just not in a good mood, but we both agree that Shutters deserves an

F

Up next will be some meals we had at Old Port Royale.

 

[emmysmommy]

So sorry that you were not feeling well and your experience at Shutters was lousy. There's no excuse for the staff to be rude and try to parent other people's children. I really appreciate candid reviews like yours because although it may be an exception for service issues, if the food is just not good, I really don't want to waste my time and $ there. I hope you bounced back from your illness soon.

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Sorry to hear that you still weren't feeling well. As for Shutters, it seems to get consistently negative reviews. I've considered trying it, but it doesn't sound like it's worth the time or money.

 

[Linda67]

Sorry you weren't feeling well
Shutters sounds awful!
It's bad enough that the food wasn't great but to have such grumpy hostesses and interfering service just makes it worse!
I hope you were feeling better the next day

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

So sorry that you were not feeling well and your experience at Shutters was lousy. There's no excuse for the staff to be rude and try to parent other people's children. I really appreciate candid reviews like yours because although it may be an exception for service issues, if the food is just not good, I really don't want to waste my time and $ there. I hope you bounced back from your illness soon.

I hate to sound so mean, but that's how it was at Shutters. I have this idea that I would like to try all the restaurants at WDW, but there are some that are so poorly reviewed, like Shutters, that I think I just need to skip.

Sorry to hear that you still weren't feeling well. As for Shutters, it seems to get consistently negative reviews. I've considered trying it, but it doesn't sound like it's worth the time or money.

Having the stomach bug sure did impact one of favorite things to do at WDW- eat. I know we only tried one entree, but it was so bad that I can't think of ever going back to Shutters.

Sorry you weren't feeling well
Shutters sounds awful!
It's bad enough that the food wasn't great but to have such grumpy hostesses and interfering service just makes it worse!
I hope you were feeling better the next day

It acutally took me a good while to recover from the stomach bug. It was probably a week before I was back to normal. I guess I was lucky it hit me at the end of our trip.

The whole experience at Shutters was awful! Probably the worst meal as whole we've ever had at WDW.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

[Old Port Royale/SIZE]

I almost didn't finish since I only have a couple of pictures of meals at Old Port Royale. But Mom always said, "if you start something, you gotta finish."

So here's a picture of a Cubano sandwich Brian had


Cubano from Old Port Royale by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

And an omelette he had one morning for breakfast


omelette from Old Port Royale by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

I remember that Brian said he liked both of these, particularly the omelette but they weren't anything special. I ate very little at Old Port Royale, maybe some fruit for breakfast. Brianna had a few chicken nugget meals. These were served in the sand pails, which I thought was cute the first time she ordered it. But then I realized I was paying about $2 extra than the other chicken nugget meals at other food courts that weren't served in the pails.

My final thoughts about Old Port Royale is that it wasn't one of my favorite food courts. I much prefer Riverside's and the French Quarter's or even Pop Century's. My biggest complaint was that the tables were so incredibly close together.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

I have to say food wise, this trip was somewhat of a disappointment. But that had more to due with my illness than anything.

We have one more trip planned in September of this year. I am currently booked for 5 nights at Riverside. We haven't stayed there in about 3 years. But one of our best WDW trips ever was the last time we stayed at Riverside so I'm hoping for a repeat.

I've booked very few ADRs yet because I'm not sure who in my family will be coming. My son, who is 15, and I will definitely be going. My husband is not sure due to his work schedule. If he is able to go, I know that we will have to cut a day of our vacation short.

Since my son hasn't been to WDW in about a year, I'm trying to make plans to eat at his favorites. So far this includes...

Tutto's
Le Cellier
Rose and Crown
Crystal Palace
Yak and Yeti
Sci-Fi Dine In

These are all for party of 3, so I'm not sure what will happen to my ADRs if Brian decides not to go.

I'm also thinking of trying Boatwright's since we are staying at Riverside, and would love to find a Chef Mickey breakfast, but so far no luck.

Thanks everyone for reading. Looking forward to writing the next review...

 

[deenbrad]

These are all for party of 3, so I'm not sure what will happen to my ADRs if Brian decides not to go.

The only time I had to drop someone from a reservation it was extremely easy! I called, they said sure and that was that! Hopefully your DH can go though!

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Thanks so much for finishing up the reviews! I wish you hadn't gotten sick, since that has to put a damper on the whole trip, but I'm sure next time will be better.

Shutter's isn't in the plans for next time? I'm so disappointed. In all seriousness, you have some very nice meals planned - a solid mix of fun meals and decent food.