Here's another short review of a dinner we recently ate at the Grand Floridian Cafe.
Date we ate: Tuesday, Feb 10th
Time we ate: ADR was for 5:40pm, arrived early & were seated at 5:20pm.
Service: Prompt and courteous, but lacking that specific type of attentiveness that can be experienced at the hands of true professional career wait staff. We received diner-level service in a upscale environment, which detracted from our overall experience.
Atmosphere: Very quiet, serene and peaceful. A lovely setting for a romantic dinner or a quiet upscale meal.
Food: Summary - every dish presented was just one shade away from being good. And unfortunately, it all added up to a meal that was acceptable, but not quite top-notch. A shame, really.
Specifics? DH ordered the grilled rib-eye steak done medium rare. The steak was presented beautifully, but was seared on too high a heat, producing a bitter charred crust on the exterior, and the meat was actually just slightly too rare. Not enough to cause an outright complaint, but just... not perfectly done. The french fries were over salted and just slightly overcooked and the haricot verts, while tasty, were far too few. My choice for dinner was the pork chop entree. It was again, beautifully served, but also suffered the same problem as my husband's steak: a bitter charred exterior. The grit cake was nicely done with a crispy brown crust and creamy inside that was unfortunately, highly oversalted. The savoy cabbage mix was good but when mixed with sauteed bacon, made for a dish that was overwhelming in its porkiness.
Our daughter's meal was started with a chicken noodle soup, which again, suffered from being far too salty. It was, however, quite hot, with plenty of chicken meat and curly noodles. Her grilled chicken entree was changed at our request from breast meat to a leg. The meat was tender and flavorful. It was served with a very plain piece of steamed broccoli, which my daughter scornfully refused to touch.
We all refused dessert, but after some pleasant coaxing from our waitress, received a surprisingly delicious fruit smoothie as a substitution instead.
Negative: Oversalted items, grilled meats with too bitter/charred exteriors.
Conclusion: Again, we were served nothing that was exactly bad, but nothing that was exceptionally good either, which was very surprising given the setting & atmosphere. The Grand Floridian Cafe presents itself as a restaurant with high aspirations and there was some talk of it becoming a signature dining meal; unless the quality of the food improves dramatically, I can't see this happening. Would we eat here again? Highly unlikely, as there are much much better meals to be had at the same price point.
Date we ate: Tuesday, Feb 10th
Time we ate: ADR was for 5:40pm, arrived early & were seated at 5:20pm.
Service: Prompt and courteous, but lacking that specific type of attentiveness that can be experienced at the hands of true professional career wait staff. We received diner-level service in a upscale environment, which detracted from our overall experience.
Atmosphere: Very quiet, serene and peaceful. A lovely setting for a romantic dinner or a quiet upscale meal.
Food: Summary - every dish presented was just one shade away from being good. And unfortunately, it all added up to a meal that was acceptable, but not quite top-notch. A shame, really.
Specifics? DH ordered the grilled rib-eye steak done medium rare. The steak was presented beautifully, but was seared on too high a heat, producing a bitter charred crust on the exterior, and the meat was actually just slightly too rare. Not enough to cause an outright complaint, but just... not perfectly done. The french fries were over salted and just slightly overcooked and the haricot verts, while tasty, were far too few. My choice for dinner was the pork chop entree. It was again, beautifully served, but also suffered the same problem as my husband's steak: a bitter charred exterior. The grit cake was nicely done with a crispy brown crust and creamy inside that was unfortunately, highly oversalted. The savoy cabbage mix was good but when mixed with sauteed bacon, made for a dish that was overwhelming in its porkiness.
Our daughter's meal was started with a chicken noodle soup, which again, suffered from being far too salty. It was, however, quite hot, with plenty of chicken meat and curly noodles. Her grilled chicken entree was changed at our request from breast meat to a leg. The meat was tender and flavorful. It was served with a very plain piece of steamed broccoli, which my daughter scornfully refused to touch.
We all refused dessert, but after some pleasant coaxing from our waitress, received a surprisingly delicious fruit smoothie as a substitution instead.
Negative: Oversalted items, grilled meats with too bitter/charred exteriors.
Conclusion: Again, we were served nothing that was exactly bad, but nothing that was exceptionally good either, which was very surprising given the setting & atmosphere. The Grand Floridian Cafe presents itself as a restaurant with high aspirations and there was some talk of it becoming a signature dining meal; unless the quality of the food improves dramatically, I can't see this happening. Would we eat here again? Highly unlikely, as there are much much better meals to be had at the same price point.
