Marathon Weekend Food Review (in progress, updated 26 JAN)

[ChloroFiend]

Hey All-

So I'm inspired by many of y'alls food reviews so I thought I'd take some time to start doing them for our travels to the World. Please forgive my first-time faux pas as I didn't think to take pictures of dinner.

The Players:

Me, Jon, a 28-yr old computer geek from Chicago. I love to both eat and cook almost anything.

Katy, my fiancee, a 24-yr old PR maven, who will likely smack me for that description. She's a bit...culinarily conservative. Although she loves shows like Top Chef and anything on Food Network, getting her to try many ingredients or preparations is a bit challenging.

The Scoring:
I'll be rating our meals on a scale of 0-3 hockey pucks. I've played hockey forever, so it seems apt. It'll be an overall ranking combining service, atmosphere, food quality, presentation, taste, and overall enjoyment of the meal.

This trip's lineup:
This was just a quick trip down so that Katy could run the marathon. We usually stay for much longer and spend a lot more time in the parks, so this isn't very representative of our normal trips or eating patterns; I deferred to her for most all the final decisions since it was her race to run, her eating and rest needs, etc.

Cosmic Ray's (Thursday late Lunch)
Pop Century Food Court (Thursday Dinner + Sunday Lunch)
Mara (Friday Lunch)
Planet Hollywood (Friday Dinner)
Sunshine Seasons (Saturday Lunch)
California Grill (Saturday Dinner)
Chef Mickey's (Sunday Breakfast)

And now on with the show...

 

[ChloroFiend]

Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe

One of our perennial favorites, this was our first stop in MK for a late lunch.

Both of us selected the 6 Chicken Nugget + Fries combo which is something we both crave back here at home. Nuggets were nice and hot with the very tasty + crispy breading on the outside. The fries were warm and satisfying, but definitely not the best fries ever. It also seems they didn't give us as many fries as in visits past, for either order. A share Diet Coke washed it down.

We were eating fairly late (3pm-ish), so it wasn't very busy at all. Often, the lines to order are long although fairly fast moving. Also, there are 3 distinct ordering bays. We're lucky in that we ordered the same thing, but if Katy had wanted a wrap, she'd have had to go to the other side of the restaurant to Bay #3 while I ordered my nuggets at Bay #1.

One of the nice things about Cosmic Ray's (and also Pecos Bill's) is the topping bar. While the exact same nuggets are available other places in the World, not all of them have hot cheese sauce available. Cheese is one of those ingredients (along with bacon) that makes everything better so that definitely adds to the appeal. The other thing that keeps us heading back is Sonny Eclipse, an audio-animatronic performer similar to those found at Showbiz Pizza or Chuck-E-Cheese back in the 80's. He's extraordinarily campy but a lot of fun.

Overall, Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe gets 2.5 pucks out of a possible 3. We feel its one of the best quick services on property and a highlight of the trip. It's not exactly haute-cuisine, but a good meal at a reasonable price with some amusing entertainment.

 

[skellingtonfreak]

Great start! I am in!

 

[TigerKat]

I'm in too!

 

[ChloroFiend]

Pop Century Food Court

It may very well have a different name, but I've got no clue what it is.

I'm also going to do a double-whammy review since we ate here twice in the weekend and cover both times in one post.

The food court is set up with 4 serving lines as well as a grab-and-go area with bottled drinks, baked goods, and various snack foods. Like a cafeteria, you get what you'd like and proceed to the checkout line. There's a pretty wide variety of foods, including nightly specials. Burgers, pizza, flat bread, fish sandwiches, pasta, asian food, desserts...all sorts of stuff to be had for lunches and dinners, while the breakfast menu is eggs, waffles, pancakes, and the like.

As mentioned, everyone checks out through the same cafeteria lines. At peak dining times, these get INCREDIBLY backed up. I believe there are 8 registers yet i've never seen more than 4 of them ever manned. It can be kind of disappointing when your food gets cold by the time you can pay for it, much less eat it.

Thursday night was a spur of the moment thing...mainly because I realized it was 9PM EST, I hadn't eaten since around 4PM, and I was ravenously hungry. Looking around at the various options, I settled on a Bacon Double Cheeseburger with fries and a Bud Light. The burger itself was pretty marginal...it had definitely been sitting, prepared, under a heat lamp for a while. The meat was thin, a bit overcooked to the point of crispiness on the edges. Also, with no topping bar like found at Cosmic Ray's or Pecos Bills, you're left with only your choice of ketchup, mustard, or mayo to put on the thing. Fries were adequate and seemed to be fresh. Bud Light was Bud Light, always great in my eyes.

We returned Sunday afternoon to grab a late lunch before catching our flight home. This time, Katy grabbed a meatball sub (her favorite) which surprisingly came with a salad. I had a personal pizza. She found the sub to be excellent, with 3 meatballs, some provolone cheese, and a nice bun. She did ask to get some extra marinara sauce on the side, but she's a condiment junkie. The salad was nothing more than some green lettuce with italian dressing,...but the dressing itself was excellent and was applied in a near-perfect quantity. My pizza was fresh out of the oven with a doughy crust and a good amount of sauce and toppings. Had it been sitting around for a while, it likely would not have been as good but I saw the CM's pull it out of the oven as we neared the front of the line.

Overall, I give the POP food court a single goal, 1 puck out of 3. It's got a wide variety of food that will likely satisfy most wishes though it suffers from obvious mass production and thus holding under heat lamps. It's very convenient for those staying at Pop Century, even though it sometimes suffers from crowding at the register bottleneck and in the seating area. Were we to stay at POP again (not likely), we'd most likely eat here again if we needed a quick and easy bite, but its not something we'd be looking forward to.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Cool Im in!

 

[natalielongstaff]

Great reviews so far

 

[jessily]

Enjoying your reviews so far Congrats to your fiancee on finishing the marathon! I'm looking forward to reading what you thought of California Grill as we ate there the night after you. Looking forward to more...

 

[emmabemmainc]

As a lifelong hockey player/lover--I must say I love your rating system!

 

[DWFan4Life]

Great start for your review. I'm glad you had a great time. I'm looking forward for more reviews to come and some pics.

Have a nice day.

 

[ChloroFiend]

Hey guys, a quick update.

First off, thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate them!

More reviews are coming, I promise...I'm currently in a 6-day training class for a pretty intense industry certification, so that's eating up most of my time. I'll try and push one out tonight though.

 

[msce2]

Great reviews! Thank you for the review on Cosmic Rays!!! That is on our list for May!

 

[KatMark]

I'm in--can't wait to read more.

 

[ChloroFiend]

Mara

For those of you that don't know (and I sure didn't) Mara is the quick serve option at Animal Kingdom Lodge, located just steps from the pool.

We picked this quite on accident...we'd hit up the Marathon Expo around noon and went over to AKL with a friend staying there, with the intention of poking around, enjoying the savannah view, and soaking in the hot tub for a while (Damn you, POP, for not having a hot tub!). My stomach quickly reminded me that I'm not a breakfast person, it was approaching 2pm, and boy was I hungry.

Mara itself is a pretty small facility, with 3 (if memory serves) serving stations and a grab-and-go cooler. The menu is a bit more diverse than some other Quick-Serve locations, serving both some common favorites (cheeseburgers, fries, pizza, chicken strips) and some options with a bit more flair befitting the African theme (falafel pitas, chicken + hummus pita, African Stew).

Seating is available both indoors as well as outside near the pool. There's a small topping bar with onions, pepperonici peppers, and similar such items to be found.

I selected the Chicken pita, which was topped with lettuce, tomato, and a yogurt sauce. The chicken was very well seasoned and tender. The pita had a great texture and was quite soft while the red pepper hummus it had spread on it making for a good complement to the flavors of the chicken. I'm not normally a fan of most yogurt-based sauces (or yogurt itself, for that matter!) but I didn't notice it at all. It came with my choice of fries or a couscous salad; I selected the fries which were the same as can be found at all other Disney operated locations.

While my brain is somewhat slipping, I believe Katy had some form of turkey sandwich. I think its one of her favorite things to have anywhere, so she was quite happy with her selection. She opted to go with the couscous salad which proved to be both surprising and excellent. We were expecting a hot dish, but rather it was served cold. It was exceedingly flavorful and quite refreshing on the warm day...in retrospect, I wish I'd have ordered that instead of the fries.

One of the most outstanding things about the meal were the CM's behind the serving station. There was a lady cook and a younger guy that were positively radiant in their exuberance and helpfulness in explaining what came on the various menu items. I only wish I'd gotten their names as they were some of the best CM's we've ever had the pleasure of coming across in our plethora of trips down to the World.

Overall, Mara puts 2 biscuits in the baskets (that's 2 pucks out of 3 for those of you that don't know hockey lingo). Great staff, tasty, intriguing and non-standard menu selections, and a good atmosphere to enjoy a meal make this a location that we'd visit again, should we find ourselves over at AKL. While we wouldn't trek all the way over there solely for the meal, its' definitely worth it if you're staying at the property or maybe even as a break from a day at AK.

 

[suzimar57]

enjoying your reviews so far - we stayed at Pop in December and have to say the pizza there was pretty good!

 

[ChloroFiend]

Planet Hollywood

Strap in, cause this one's about to get nasty....

After hanging out by the pool at AKL for a while, Katy wanted to go hit up DTD, walk around for a bit, and check out some of the stores for God-knows-what (most likely something wedding related). We decided that we may as well eat, but had some back-and-forths as to what. We finally decided on Planet Hollywood since it was close and she was trying her best to not walk too much more, as she had to run the 1/2 marathon the following morning. It's been our tradition to eat there the first night we've arrived on property, so we thought it'd be a safe bet.

Big. Freaking. Mistake.

Let's start off with the initial process. When you walk up the stairs, you have to get your picture taken in front of some cheesy backdrop, in order for them to attempt to sell you some overpriced kitschy keepsake later. It's a waste of time for all involved since we're not going to buy it. Let us skip that bottleneck and get inside.

We get seated upstairs and our waiter shows up. I'm not sure if he was having a bad day or what, but dude...he should have called in sick as he obviously didn't want to be there. His attitude was that of general disdain and disinterest while his approach to highlighting menu items was to stab his finger into Katy's menu so hard I thought he was going to punch a hole through it.

Having eaten only a few hours prior, we decided to forego an appetizer and just go straight to the entrees. Katy picked the fajitas while I selected the BBQ bacon cheeseburger.

First issue...our meals showed up in under 5 minutes....a sure sign that the food wasn't cooked to order but rather was sitting under a heatlamp. Not what I like to see when eating out...I don't even like to see that at McDonald's, but I can tolerate it there.

Next issue...the food. Well, my barbecue bacon cheeseburger came without any barbecue sauce. I would have let the server know, but I didn't realize it until after the first 10 minutes it took to flag him down the first time in order to get ketchup for my fries and ATTEMPT to get some salsa for katy's fajitas. Service ding #2...not only was that a ludicrous time to get attention from our waiter, he was a prick when Katy asked for some salsa for her fajitas. Apparently they don't keep that on hand at PH and he's not fond of being asked for it. So anyways...i sucked it up and just used ketchup on my burger since it'd most likely be frigid by the time we got more "service". The meat and bun themselves were marginally ok. The fries on the other hand...rock hard...to the point where my jaw was sore from trying to eat more than a few. Katy's fajitas were mediocre...apparently those found at Chili's are superior, but she didn't have any glaring complaints, save the availability of some condiments/toppings. It's a very good thing we each ordered a Diet Coke and a water, else we'd have likely gone without liquid for most of the meal.

After the entree debacle, we decided to pass on dessert and, after experiencing a minor miracle by attracting our server's attention, we asked for the check. Except, you see, the guy hawking the aforementioned kitschy picture keychain and 5x7 hadn't made it to our table to try and push that crap on us. Our waiter promptly disappeared for 20 minutes....until said souvenir sales-dude showed up, we said no...and then bam, the waiter is there in 30 seconds. Pretty skeezy, PH. I handed him my credit card right away, so as to not have to flag him down again to run the tab. The waiter (I only wish I'd noted his name) netted the 2nd lowest tip I've ever handed out...5%. I briefly considered leaving him nothing, but as a guy that's worked for tips before, I couldn't find it in myself to do so.

All in all, Planet Hollywood gets a goose egg....ZERO pucks. Both the food and service are sub-par to the point of being unacceptable. We will not return again, past tradition be damned.

 

[TigerKat]

WOW. I'm so glad we decided against dining there. Sorry you had to endure it.