MK Area Restaurant Reviews (12/9-12/22)

[ransom]

Here are my reviews of the restaurants from the Magic Kingdom area that we visited on our recent trip:

California Grill: We had a very nice dinner here. We started with the triple cheese flatbread, DW had the scallops, and I had the filet. We finished with the torte. Everything was very good, but I have to mention that DW found the scallops to be the best she's ever had. In her words, "They had a great scallop flavor, they were cooked to perfection, and the accompaniments were very well matched." The service was excellent, and we enjoyed watching Wishes from the platform right after we finished our dessert. The only bummer was being seated right next to a drink station, but since we were seated right by the window overlooking MK last year, we let it slide. Everyone should get a chance to do that, so we didn't want to hog the view.

Chef Mickey's: We had breakfast here for the first time, and found it to be a lot of fun. Watching the kids with the characters was a particular highlight. The characters came around twice during our meal, which was pretty impressive. Seating-wise, we were placed in the room nearest the side of the Contemporary, and at the time of morning we were there it was a little dark in there. But it was fine, and more intimate than being out on the main floor. Service was the best here of all the buffets we tried -- very prompt with refills, which is important to me since I tend to go through a lot of water/milk/soda or whatever during a meal. As far as the food goes, the selection wasn't as varied as at the Crystal Palace, but it was of good quality. We saw items being refilled with fresh food regularly. The Mickey-head waffles were particularly good -- just the right size for DW, and we both enjoyed the texture and flavor of them..crispy on the outside, with a good waffle flavor.

Crystal Palace: We returned to the Crystal Palace for breakfast this year, because our experience last year had been so good. Once again, we were delighted! The atmosphere is delightful, the food is varied and well-prepared, and the service is good. One note: if you get an early ADR, make sure to load up your plate. With so many folks being seated all at once, the buffet lines get quite long and going back for seconds becomes very time-consuming. We didn't plan well, and ended up not having a chance to try as many of the items as we would have liked to. Lesson learned!

Liberty Tree Tavern: This was our first experience eating dinner inside MK, and it was a good one. The atmosphere was nice -- dark woods, and early American decor. Our waitress was great -- very friendly and solicitious -- and the food was good. We really enjoyed the turkey, but didn't care for the other entrees. We asked our server if it would be permissible to ask for only Turkey the next time, and she said it would. So we'll do that for sure! Still, we had plenty to eat, so there's no real loss. It would have just been nice to stuff ourselves with a few more slices of that delicious turkey.

Narcoossee's: This is where we had our best dining experience at WDW this trip. We were seated by the window with a great view of MK and Wishes. Our waitress was fantastic, making good suggestions and keeping the meal moving along without rushing us. DW started with the shrimp appetizer, while I had the squash soup. Both were excellent. We then ordered surf & turf for DW, and the filet for me. We paired both with the suggested Northstar Merlot, which turned out to be perfect and one of the best by-the-glass wines we've had. DW finished with key lime creme brulee while I had the chocolate cake. It was an absolutely perfect meal, and we plan to return here every time we're at WDW.

Ohana: Our dinner at Ohana was...good. Not bad, not great, but just fine. Of course there was way, way too much food. We were full after the won tons, salad, chicken wings, and shrimp! As for the skewers, we liked the turkey best, followed by the sirloin. The pork was OK, and we didn't care for the sausage (although maybe we were just too full at that point to enjoy any kind of food). By the time the bread pudding came around, I just took a taste to see what it was like after hearing so much about it on here. It was good, but there was no way I could take another bite by then! As far as atmosphere, Ohana is of course noisy, and we were seated on the aisle so the kids were trooping by now and again chasing after coconuts and so on. But the furniture and appointments are nice, and the view of MK and Wishes was pretty good. As for the service, it was neither as bad as I'd heard nor as good as it should ideally be.

For those who have read my other posts on Epcot, MGM, and AK area eateries, you may be interested to know that we plan to eventually go back to all of the ones we tried this time. Yeah, Yachtsman had a bad day, but that could happen anywhere. We'll try it again.

But the ones we will return to every time for the foreseeable future are Narcoossee's, California Grill, and Brown Derby. Those were definitely a cut above, and provided us with great food and great dining experiences.

We also like going to Crystal Palace for an early breakfast once per trip. It's a great start to the day!

Of the other restaurants we tried this time, we're most eager to go back to Liberty Tree Tavern, Prime Time Eatery, Tusker House, and Rose and Crown.

We'll get to the rest as we can. But next trip is special: we're bringing my parents! Hopefully we'll be able to share some great meal experiences with them.

 

[pinky4disney]

Here are my reviews of the restaurants from the Magic Kingdom area that we visited on our recent trip:

California Grill: We had a very nice dinner here. We started with the triple cheese flatbread, DW had the scallops, and I had the filet. We finished with the torte. Everything was very good, but I have to mention that DW found the scallops to be the best she's ever had. In her words, "They had a great scallop flavor, they were cooked to perfection, and the accompaniments were very well matched."

Can you tell me more about the scallops dish? It wasn't on the menu when I ate at CG back in October. A couple of other posters have raved about it as well so I'm hoping that they are still serving it when I go back in 2 weeks.

 

[ransom]

Can you tell me more about the scallops dish? It wasn't on the menu when I ate at CG back in October. A couple of other posters have raved about it as well so I'm hoping that they are still serving it when I go back in 2 weeks.

I'm sorry, but we don't remember the details of those scallops very well. DW says she thinks she remembers some really thin julienne sliced pieces of horseradish and perhaps celery being in the center of the plate. The scallops were pan seared. Other than that, she can't recall anything other than the great flavor!

 

[mom22boys]

I would love to hear more about your dinner at Tusker House.

Thanks!

 

[ransom]

I would love to hear more about your dinner at Tusker House.

Thanks!

We actually had lunch at Tusker House..twice! But according to the servers we had, there's not much difference between lunch and dinner there.

So...

Going from left to right, the "pods" (much like at Boma) have the following, as I recall:

1) Breads. Many different kinds of sliced breads, plus rolls and even some sweet breads and fruit breads. There is a toaster nearby for those who prefer their bread toasted.
2) Lettuce-type salads. I think there may have been a fruit salad, too.
3) Cold sliced meats. Ham, turkey, roast beef, etc. Plus sliced cheeses. Makes it very easy to prepare a familiar cold sandwich for a little one, along with the sliced breads.
4) Cold, non-lettuce salads. Cous-cous salad, bean salads, etc.
5) Hot side dishes. There was a bread-wrapped vegetable dish and something else here.
6) Kids pods. Sorry, didn't really look at what was here.
7) More American-style hot vegetable side dishes, such as fried potato wedges, green beans, and so on.
8) Salmon. Sorry, we didn't try that, so can't offer an opinion on it.
9) Carving station. It was always two meats when we were there. I recall one being beef and the other pork one time, while I think it was beef and turkey another time. Both were cooked as normal for the US, but with different accents. For example, the pork was cooked with coffee. I'm not a coffee drinker, and I still thought it was good! The beef was tender and juicy.

That's the left-to-right tour of the pods. In the center is a circle of pods that offer desserts. Here we saw a wide variety, from puddings to pies, cakes, brownies, donuts, and danishes. There were also fruit tarts, bread puddings, and a bunch of other stuff I don't even recall.

As far as the process goes, you get to the podium and check in like at any other restaurant. The podium is outdoors, and both times we were there, an african drum band was playing very nearby, drawing crowds and making it difficult both to get to the podium and to be heard. Then you get your little pager like at most other restaurants on property. Once it goes off, they direct you to a person around the corner -- still outside. That person takes you through the main entrance, and gives you a tour of the pods/buffet, explaining the overall layout and offering to answer any questions you may have.

Once that's done, they take you to your table. From here it's pretty much like every other buffet on site. Server arrives, gets drink orders from you, and invites you to indulge. From there, the server pretty much just handles refills and the removal of dirty plates. In our case, both servers were very prompt with both tasks, as well as friendly and knowledgeable.

As far as decor, we really enjoyed the look of the place. You'd never know it used to be a counter service location. The dining area is off, away from the buffet area, which makes things a lot calmer than they could otherwise be. The dark, heavy wood tables give the place a solid presence, while the wall coverings and accents, as well as the windows, give it a touch of lightness to keep it from feeling too somber or oppressive.

Neither DW nor I jumps at the chance to try something new, but on our first visit to Tusker House we had no problem finding many things that were familiar to us, or that were familiar foods with one small difference. All were delicious. So on our second visit, we became bolder, and tried some things that were more exotic and unfamiliar to us. I think we tried a little bit of everything they offer, except for the stuff in the kids' pods and the lunch meat selections, and didn't find anything we regretted tasting. To be sure, we liked some things more than others, but trying everything made for a fun experience!

We expect to have one meal at Tusker House each day we're in AK on our future trips. We'll probably keep it a lunch thing so we can try out Jiko as well as Yak and Yeti, but Tusker's definitely a must-do for us!

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reviews ~ Thanx for posting.