My dining reviews from May 11 - 16, 2006 ~ WITH PICTURES!

[disneyfansx5]

Loved your reviews! The pictures made it even better. Can't wait to try some of these places on our next trip.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Thanks Debbie. I love your reviews. It was your review and picture of the terriyaki filet at Kona last time that made me order it in april and it was so yummy, looks like from your reviews we will be trying marakesh next time too.

 

[mom2my3kids]

I love reading all of your reviews and pics..We are eating at Ohana,50's prime time, Chef Mickeys as well as others during our big trip..

 

[Blondie]

I didn't get any pictures of the potroast, but they have definitely changed how they prepare this, and the changes are for the worse. I did not care for this pot roast at all, and I am a big pot roast fan. I wish I had gotten a picture of it, but it looked basically like it had in the past. Another friend dining with us also got the pot roast and she agreed with my assessment. I will never again order, or recommend, the pot roast at 50'sPT. My DH got the fried chicken, I took a bite, and I'm happy to say that it was still as delicious as the last time we had it.

DH had the Pot Roast in September and it was so bad we haven't been back since! It was very fatty, almost inedible. He should've sent it back, but that is something he rarely does so he suffered through it.

We'll definitely go back, we're just not in any rush after that!

 

[honeybee213]

Thank you for the wonderful reviews and pictures. Looks like I'll be planning another vacation with some of these restaurants.

 

[myprinceandprincess]

Great reviews....Can't wait to try some of these restaurants!

 

[SeaSpray]

DH had the Pot Roast in September and it was so bad we haven't been back since! It was very fatty, almost inedible. He should've sent it back, but that is something he rarely does so he suffered through it.

We'll definitely go back, we're just not in any rush after that!

That's exactly the situation I found myself in. And it wasn't just me; a friend in our party of 10 also ordered the pot roast and she felt the same way about it; she was not at all happy with hers, either. It's a shame, I used to LOVE that pot roast!

 

[MareQ]

That's exactly the situation I found myself in. And it wasn't just me; a friend in our party of 10 also ordered the pot roast and she felt the same way about it; she was not at all happy with hers, either. It's a shame, I used to LOVE that pot roast!

I agree - I had it in Feb and was disappointed. The vegetables were microscopic - very thin strips of celery and carrot and not many of them - the taters were also flavorless - they HAD to have forgotten to salt them as I had never had taters as bland as that. The meat itself was nice - but again - no flavor. Overall very disappointing - our server was great though - LMAO!

Now quit it with the chit chat and get back to posting some pictures

 

[MadamMim]

The cucumber tomato salad with watermelon dressing was wonderful. It actually tasted better and better with each bite!

Watermelon dressing?? That sounds amazing!

 

[momsgoofy]

Great reviews! I always look forward to reading yours! I wonder if I can convince Dsis and Dniece to go to Marakesh...it really looks good...better than I had been thinking.

Thanks for taking the time to post!

 

[SeaSpray]

This was a new restaurant for us, and after reading about this place for years, we decided to give it a try. I'd seen many pictures of the Cobb salad, and knew that the ingredients were chopped into small pieces. I didn't, however, expect the food to be practically pureed!

When the plate first came out, each ingredient was in a nice row....

(my plate, with the chives and cheese left off)

DH's plate, shown as usually prepared:

Then the server will toss it for you:

That's when it all went down hill. LOL After he combined everything, I could see that every single ingredient in that bowl was very, very tiny. Like I said, I knew the ingredients would be diced/chopped small, but this was WAY beyond small. Most of it I would call "specks", not pieces or chunks. It also was extremely bland, the only flavor that would stick out would be if you got a piece of bacon in your forkful. To say I was disappointed in this meal would be an understatement. Nothing else on their lunch menu appealed to me because I don't eat seafood. The only other lunch entree was a steak, which I was not interested in because we had reservations for Le Cellier for dinner that night.

Fortunately the bread and butter was good:

I was hopeful as we ordered dessert; the famous grapefruit cake, and the vanilla creme' brulee':

While the creme brulee was "ok" (And I'm usually a big fan of this stuff!!!), the grapefruit cake tasted like it came frozen from a supermarket.

We will not be returning to the Brown Derby again, but I'm glad I at least tried it once. Now I know, I just don't care for it.


Ok, I'll give the Brown Derby because it was edible, but just not good at all, in my opinion.


UP NEXT: Le Cellier - dinner

 

[SeaSpray]

This was my second time having dinner here, but DH's first. My first time was back in 2002, while I was on vacation with my brother and his family. At that meal, I had ordered the cheese soup and a filet mignon. The cheese soup was basically flavorless, and what flavor there WAS, wasn't good. The filet mignon was the worst piece of meat I'd ever been served in my life, and I don't just mean the worst filet mignon, but the worst piece of meat, PERIOD.

Ok...so all these years I've been thinking that it was just a bad night for Le Cellier. Everyone still raves about the soup and the steaks there. Also, last fall we were there for the Food & Wine Festival and I tried the cheese soup at the stand and it was WONDERFUL! I thought to myself "Yes, this proves it, I just had a bad batch of soup back in 2002. This is the soup everyone's been raving about!!"

So I walked into Le Cellier last week with very high hopes!

We had a very nice server, she brought us out bread and butter and the pretzel bread was hot, fresh, and wonderful!!!! However... that turned out to be the best part of my meal.

The cheese soup was just as bad as I'd remembered it. What the heck?!?!?!? Why am I not tasting whatever else seems to be tasting? And more importantly, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WONDERFUL CHEESE SOUP I HAD LAST FALL DURING THE FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL?!?!?!?!? I was so disappointed

I ordered the "7 oz filet mignon" (I loathe mushrooms, that's I didn't order the other filet mignon), which comes with a maple-BBQ glaze. Well, I guess this was ok, but I really think I'd have been better off with just a PLAIN filet mignon. There was just something not right about covering a decent piece of beef with that heavy of a sauce. But at least this time, in contrast to my 2002 visit, the filet mignon itself seemed to be a decent cut of meat. But by this point, I just wasn't interested in eating any of it. I think I had a couple of bites and then pushed the plate away.

My pretzel bread and soup:

DH's caesar salad which he said was very good:

Our entrees; in the front, my glazed filet mignon sitting on a pile of dry, tasteless mashed potatoes; back left is the mushroom filet mignon; back right is the prime rib, which was grilled on both sides which I thought was unusual with prime rib, but..whatever... I had a taste of it and it was ok and DH said it fine:

Desserts: some sort of strawberry thing in the front, maple creme brulee in the back:

I don't think I'll be returning to Le Cellier again. This was my second try for this restaurant and my experience this time, while a big improvement over the first time, just wasn't good enough.

I give Le Cellier because while it wasn't totally terrible, it was below average, in my opinion.

Wait, I'm going to change that to because after thinking about it, it really was just the soup that wasn't good. The piece of meat was fine, it was my mistake to order it with a glaze on it, I should've just asked for a plain piece of meat. Everything else was Ok, and I think I was very disappointed by the end of that meal more so because I'd just had two very disappointing meals in one day.


Time to end my reviews on a happy note: UP NEXT: KONA CAFE - breakfast!

 

[dixiedizfan]

SeaSpray: Thanks so much for the heads up about the Brown Derby. The Cobb Salad and grapefruit cake were on my list of want-to-try's, but I didn't want to pay out-of-pocket for a test run. So now I won't have to, as the way you described them so perfectly makes me realize I definitely would not care for them. I mean, who wants minced toppings on a salad?! But it's unfortunate about your experience(s) at Le Cellier. I think that all the flavor from your filet and soup must have all gone into mine, as my meal was superb ... easily the best of our trip. Although DH's NY Strip was tough and gristly. Oh well, I adore your reviews, food descriptions and those excellent pictures. Great job!

 

[SeaSpray]

SeaSpray: Thanks so much for the heads up about the Brown Derby. The Cobb Salad and grapefruit cake were on my list of want-to-try's, but I didn't want to pay out-of-pocket for a test run. So now I won't have to, as the way you described them so perfectly makes me realize I definitely would not care for them. I mean, who wants minced toppings on a salad?! But it's unfortunate about your experience(s) at Le Cellier. I think that all the flavor from your filet and soup must have all gone into mine, as my meal was superb ... easily the best of our trip. Although DH's NY Strip was tough and gristly. Oh well, I adore your reviews, food descriptions and those excellent pictures. Great job!

I need to clarify something: Even the SALAD GREENS were minced!!!! LOL That's what DH and I couldn't get over! LOL Notice how in the pictures, you can't even SEE any of the greens?? LOL I normally like finely-chopped foods and salads, but this was overboard, in both my DH's and my opinions. You literally could've fed this to a baby with no teeth and he wouldn't have choked on it. LOL

I'm glad you enjoyed Le Cellier, most people do! LOL I have NO IDEA why I just can't taste what everyone else tastes, with that soup. I have to laugh about it, I guess!

 

[momsgoofy]

SeaSpray...I'm right there with you on that cheese soup, although DH loves it, I just don't get it...maybe I'm just not into cheese soups. We do find LeCellier to be a good meal...I think I like the lunch better than dinner though. Have you tried it?

And yep, I'm with you on Brown Derby! We tried it for Thanksgiving lunch in 2003 and we were all sadly dissappointed and won't go back...even just to try the regular menu. I can't imagine eating a smooshing almost pureed salad...gotta have my crunch like the Ceasar from LeCellier...it's really good just like your DH said.

Thanks for the great reports! What's next?

 

[letterdavidman]

SeaSpray: Thanks so much for the heads up about the Brown Derby. The Cobb Salad and grapefruit cake were on my list of want-to-try's, but I didn't want to pay out-of-pocket for a test run. So now I won't have to, as the way you described them so perfectly makes me realize I definitely would not care for them. I mean, who wants minced toppings on a salad?! But it's unfortunate about your experience(s) at Le Cellier. I think that all the flavor from your filet and soup must have all gone into mine, as my meal was superb ... easily the best of our trip. Although DH's NY Strip was tough and gristly. Oh well, I adore your reviews, food descriptions and those excellent pictures. Great job!

You know, I have to concur with you about the NY strip (and, incidentally, with SeaSpray about Le Cellier in general). I mean, the steak sure looked mouth-wateringly good (if you peruse the Food Porn thread, you can see for yourself), it sure was a chewy piece of meat. Which was kind of a letdown after having eaten literally the best steak I'd ever had just three nights previously at Jiko.

Although I think we're going to take momsgoofy's advice and give Le Cellier one more try... for lunch.

 

[PlutosFriend]

The same thing happened to me regarding the Le Cellier cheese soup. Loved it at the Food and Wine Festival in 2004. Thought it tasted a bit strange this May

 

[luvfigment]

Thanks so much for the reviews SeaSpray! We will be eating at some of the same restaurants in 11 days!

 

[PolyAddict]

Seaspray,

I with ya on the Grapefruit cake. It was very tart and dry. Everything else we had at BD was VERY good. I had a thankgiving plate (I could have licked the plate) and my DH had steak with shrimp add ons and loved it.

 

[hfrink13]

great thread. I loved it thanks for the reviews and pictures. The only one we have planned is Ohana for breakfast. But I will try to post pictures and reviews when we get back. This is a great idea for others planning their trips.