My First & Long Overdue DxDP Review..with PICTURES!!

[ilovegrumpy]

The DH & I went to the world Nov 27 - Dec 3 for a belated 20th Anniversary trip...our first trip we ever took for longer than 2 nights without our 2 boys. We also had never had a honeymoon, so after 20 years of marriage we decided to have one..

I had everything planned so well. Got all of the ADR's I wanted. I even scored a prime ADR time during "Wishes" at Narcoossee's for a very special dinner....Unfortunately, I got VERY sick that same day. I was starting to not feel well after breakfast, but pushed it off as just being tired. We had lunch and it went all downhill after that...I had to go back to the room and went straight to bed. This was Thursday afternoon...I didn't get out of the bed until LATE Friday afternoon...needless to say I was VERY disappointed with myself..

On to a better note: FOOD PORN & Meal Reviews. I have pictures of almost all of the meals except the buffets. I will do a review of the buffet, however no pictures..

Sunday-November 27-
Dinner-Artist Point

Monday-November 28-
Breakfast-Crystal Palace
Lunch-Tony's Town Square
Dinner-Liberty Tree Tavern

Tuesday-November 29-
Breakfast-Cape May Cafe
Lunch-Le Cellier
Dinner-Rose & Crown

Wednesday-November 30-
Breakfast-Boma
Lunch-Wolfgang Puck Cafe
Dinner-Captain's Grille

Thursday-December 1-
Breakfast-Crystal Palace
Lunch-The Plaza Restaurant
Dinner-scheduled Narcoossee's ended up being Shutters at Old Port Royale

Friday-December 2-
Breakfast-Captain's Grille
Lunch-Via Napoli
Dinner-Coral Reef

Saturday-December 3-
Breakfast-Quick Service at Old Port Royale

 

[ilovegrumpy]

Arrival Day!!

DH & I left at "Oh My Lord it's Early"..to get to the world...we had breakfast & lunch on the road. Breakfast was some biscuits at Hardee's. Lunch was at one of my favorite burger places to eat, Steak 'N Shake....OMG!!! I am in love with the Frisco Melt and of course I had to get my other favorite, chocolate malt...My oldest DS told me that I can smell a Steak 'N Shake a mile away. It never fails, when we travel and there is a Steak 'N Shake around, I WILL FIND IT!!! They have the BEST burgers. They aren't just burgers, they are steakburgers..made from trimmings of filet, sirloin and strip steak. The Frisco Melt is the bomb!!! Two thin juicy steakburgers cooked to perfection on the flat-top grill. This gives it a nice "crust" on the outside while still maintaining the juiciness on the inside. Those luscious patties sandwiched between buttered & grilled sourdough bread with swiss and american cheese and thousand island dressing...sorry, I veered off the Disney Food path, just love me some Steak 'N Shake and the closest one to me is over 2 hours away..

On to the Disney Food:

DH REALLY wanted to eat at Artist Point because he wanted to try buffalo. We had dined here on our 5th anniversary (many, many, many) moons ago and enjoyed it. So we decided to try it again. We arrived a little before our ADR. We waited for maybe 10 minutes, and our pager went off. We were shown to our table..our drink order was taken, and we were given a complimentary glass of champagne to celebrate our belated anniversary. We were brought a basket of fresh baked bread with black sea salt butter...it was very good..I confess I am a "bread girl" my grandmother owned a bakery, so I grew up on fresh bread..

We both decided to order for our appetizer the Crab Cake with Asian Slaw. We both were a little skeptical about the asian slaw, but we went with it. This was by far one of the best crab cakes I have EVER had. The crab cake was not greasy and was full of crab meat!! If you have ever had crab cakes, some of them have a lot of filler and only some meat. This had more meat than filler. I honestly don't know how it stayed together. They also had the right balance of spice as well. Then we went for broke and tried a bit of the slaw, it was ok, HOWEVER, when you took a bite of the slaw and a bite of the crab cake at the same time...an AMAZING combination!!!

For our main course we both had the chef's special of buffalo filet with scallops. It came with a side of fried mac & cheese and roasted root vegetables...we both ordered the buffalo cooked medium, wait on second thought, we got it medium rare which was recommended by the waiter. DH's was cooked right, mine was slightly overdone, but I didn't send it back. Personally, I don't see what the big deal was about the buffalo. I didn't think it was that fantastic. I was expecting something different. I didn't notice any "gamey" taste or smell. To me it tasted like an overcooked filet. it was a little tough to cut and chew. Probably cuz it was overdone. DH on the other hand LOVED his. He said it was the second best steak he had that trip. He said it was tender and he tasted a little of the "gamey" quality.

The scallop (this being only the 2nd time in my life I have eaten them), didn't have a taste to me at all. It was just a fleshy piece of meat. DH agreed. He had never tasted scallops before. he agreed, it was VERY bland and chewy.

For the sides, I LOVED the fried mac & cheese. It was presented to look like a mozzarella stick. It had a light herb breading. It was not greasy or oily tasting. The noodles inside were not overcooked and had a nice strong cheddar (with a hint of swiss) cheese taste. The roasted root vegetables, were AWFUL!! DH was in total agreement. They tasted like hot dirt. Very Nasty!!

For dessert I ordered the Creme Brulee with chocolate hazelnut biscotto. DH had the Baked Apple Upside Down Cake. DH is NOT a big dessert person. He said he enjoyed it. I tried a bite. The apples were very nicely cooked, not too soft; not to crisp with just the right amount of cinnamon & nutmeg. The cake part was very moist and delicious. It was served with vanilla ice cream. Every Christmas his Granny would make an Apple Crunch Cake. It was an apple cake with nuts and butterscotch chips that would sink to the bottom of the cake while baking. He LOVED his Grammy's Apple Crunch Cake. He said the cake tasted almost like it, without the crunch part. For DH not liking sweets very much, this was one cake he would eat..

My creme brulee had a little burned sugar on top and a smooth vanilla taste. The chocolate hazelnut biscotto was very crisp with a rich chocolate taste. I noticed a hint of hazelnut, not very much..

Overall we are split about the meal. They call this a Disney Signature Dinning Restaurant that will cost you 2 credits per person. Do I think it was worth the 2 credits per person? Not Really. DH thinks it is. Was it a nice restaurant, yes. There were some families there with small children, which for being around 7 pm, they were very well behaved. The dress code for the signature restaurant was NOT strictly enforced. That is one of the reasons I can't agree with the signature status. Would I eat there again? Probably because DH loved it, I however, would order a different main course.

DH-loved the whole meal
me-loved appetizer & dessert

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Better late then never! Seriously though, you ate at some really good restaurants. Can't wait to hear about Captain's Grille as I'm trying that for the first time on my next trip.

 

[AwkwardTurtle]

Oh man, now I'm homesick for steak 'n shake. When we lived in Indiana, we were right across the street from one, and would go have many late night plates of cheese fries. Also the chili deluxe... and the frozen yogurt shakes.... mmmmmm. I miss the midwest sometimes.

Sorry you didn't have a great experience at Artist Point I've heard Buffalo gets really quickly over cooked anywhere above medium-rare, so it stinks that yours was way over done. If you go back, try the mushroom soup! It's AMAZING.

Anyway, I hope the rest of your dining was more enjoyable. Can't wait to read the rest!

 

[ilovegrumpy]

Our first full Disney Day!! We woke early since we were staying at CBR and were going to the Magic Kingdom today..we decided since it was just the 2 of us, we decided to not use the Disney buses and drive ourselves to the park.

We had 8:30 ADR's at Crystal Palace..we were there for extra magic hours so we were able to get really good pictures of the castle with all of the Christmas decorations without the crowd. We arrived about 8:00 at the park and went thru the ADR gate and started our stroll up Main Street taking pictures along the way. We arrived early for our ADR since I have been to the Crystal Palace before, I knew that you could stand in line to just check in for 10 minutes or longer. We were given a pager and waited about 15 minutes.

We were seated and our waiter came right away to take our drink order. I HAVE to have my coffee in the morning or I am no good the rest of the day. DH went over to scope out the buffet and got in line for the fresh made omelette station. I have read on this board from so many other reviewers about the Pooh Puffy Franch Toast, so that is where I headed. OMG!! It was delicious...you find it on the kids bar part. It was deep fried french toast rolled in sugar...it was nice a fluffy without being overly greasy. I did not taste an overwhelming oil flavor. The bread and sugar flavor came out very well. I had to put syrup on it. I mean, you can't have french toast without syrup, at least I can't.

I also tried the various ready made omelette offerings that they had. I tried the vegetable omelette. If you do not like squash, don't get it..there were very BIG pieces through out it.

Another reason I LOVE Crystal Palace....Chocolate Mickey Waffles. This is the only place I have found that offers them...A must try if you like chocolate!! Nice and fluffy waffle with just enough coco added to the batter that you know it is chocolate...

All items on the bar looked fresh and I did see cast members changing the food often. You know most buffets have food on it that looks like it has been there for awhile, not here. They were constantly replenishing the supply. I don't think I ever saw an empty platter, if it was getting low, a cast member was right there filling it up.

I am pretty picky about my bacon. I like it crisp. When I reached the bacon platter, there was bacon at every stage ranging from limp barely cooked all the way to my crisp. You may have to move some around with the tongs, but I think you will find some pieces to your liking.

I am not a breakfast sausage person. I like it, it doesn't like me..DH loves sausage. These were nice plump links with a golden caramelization on them. They weren't the dried out little shriveled up links you get from the freezer section of the grocery store. I had to try a bite..they had a robust pork flavor and a nice spice component.

All the fruit look fresh and lovely. No bad looking fruit. Strawberries had a deep red color. DH said the were very juicy and ripe. He also said the blackberries were very ripe as well.

All in all, this is a very good place for a hearty breakfast. However, I will warn you. If you are on the DxDP beware, you can over eat and not be hungry for lunch...Since it was just the 2 of us, we weren't concerned about seeing and getting our pictures with the characters. Eeoyre and Tigger did stop by our table. If you are there for the characters, plan on spending at least an hour if not more trying to see all of them..don't get me wrong, they had very good interaction and spent plenty of time with the children once they got to your table. However, they do take breaks and then they do have the "Poohrade" around the restaurant, so this does take up time. The handlers were very understanding in dealing with children that would walk up to the characters. I mean, it is going to happen. I know at that age, if I saw my favorite, I would run up to them.. the handlers would very politely tell them that they would be at their table shortly and to wait for them there.

This is one of my favorite places at the world to get breakfast.

DH-loved it
me-loved it

 

[ilovegrumpy]

Since we were on the DxDP, I tried not to over eat at breakfast since I knew we had lunch reservations. I ate enough at breakfast until right before I was feeling full. I took my time eating so I wouldn't reach the point of "OMG!! I am miserable and in a food coma and trying to ride rides and all I want to do is take a nap"

We were at the back of the park and decided to take the train to the front of Main Street since that is where Tony's is located. We checked in for our ADR and given a pager. We knew we were about 15 minutes before our time so we knew we had to wait. Much to our surprise, our pager went off within 2 minutes. We went back to the desk and was told "I'm sorry it must have malfunction, your table is not ready yet" then the took the pager and said they would call our name. We knew right then, we were in for it..we stood there waiting and waiting watching all of these other people who checked in after we did get to their tables. I tried not to be a witch about it. I figured they had an ADR before us and were running late. We stood there for more than 30 minutes. Finally we asked them and they said, oh yeah it's ready..gee thanks...any who....the restaurant is themed to Lady & the Tramp, it was like a nice cafe with heavy iron chairs and tables on the patio. I can't comment on the inside of the restaurant as we just walked quickly thru it. I know some people try to get a table here in time to see the Main Street Electrical Parade. Honestly, with all the strollers parked out front and people that would be in the way, IMHO I don't think it would be a good viewing area.

We were seated at one of the tables on the patio..our waitress was over quickly to take our drink order..OMG!!! Disney FINALLY has sweet tea...being a yankee born, southern transplant, I have gotten addicted to sweet tea..I needed a 12 step program for my addiction...although it was not as good as I can get at home, it was better than regular non-sweet tea...

For our appetizers we both ordered the Toasted Cheese and Garlic Bread. The bread was a like a torpedo roll. It was nicely toasted on the outside, and the inside was still fluffy and soft. I noticed a "hint" of garlic but not much. It was topped with parmesan cheese and top with "fresh tomatoes & basil". I didn't think the tomatoes tasted that fresh, they were too acidic. They tasted like they came out of a can. I didn't notice that much basil either. Regardless, combines with the bread it was pretty good. There was enough tomato mixture for the amount of bread that was given. I hate when you run out of "topping" and still have bread left. Would I order again, probably.

For the main course, even though I said I didn't overeat, I knew we were having dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern and was still a little full, I ordered the Caesar Salad with Chicken. The romain leaves were crisp and fresh, no brown edges. It has shaved parmesan cheese. Personally I didn't care for the croutons. I am pretty picky about my croutons. I took them off the salad. There seemed like there wasn't enough dressing on the salad for me either. I had to ask the waitress for more. By the time I was able to flag her down and get some more, DH almost finished his entree. The dressing was your standard caesar style, probably out of a bottle.

DH ordered the Baked Ziti. He LOVED it. DH doesn't like plain marinara sauce, his pasta has to have meat in it. He said it had plenty of meat in it. He said the sauce was not too acidic (we like our pasta sauce on the sweet side) with chuck of tomatoes. It looked like a hearty dish. He said the noodles were cooked alright, not too hard. If you haven't noticed yet, getting DH to describe a dish is like trying to pull teeth...his usually answer was "it's ok" or "it's good"..I have to ask specific questions to find out information..like: "it is like my spaghetti sauce?" "are the noodles hard?" etc..

For dessert I ordered the Pistachio Creme Brulee and DH ordered the Vanilla Gelato. They presented our desserts on a shared plate since it was our anniversary trip...the creme brulee had just the right amount of burnt sugar topping. The way to know this is if you hear the "crack" when you hit it with a spoon...it did crack..the inside was a nice smooth and velvety light green. You could tell it was pistachio, without it being overwhelming.

DH has never had Gelato before and didn't know what it was..I told him it was a "better version of ice cream"..he liked it..he said it had a good vanilla flavor and smooth texture.. He said "it's better than ice cream" DUH!!!

All in all a good meal...the restaurant can get loud at times..but any restaurant can...would we eat here again, yes!

DH-loved it all
me-liked the appetizer, ok entree, loved the dessert

 

[CatNipRules]

Subbing to read more.

I'm sorry that you buffalo filet was overcooked. I love buffalo and it is an acquired taste. DH & DS won't touch it with a ten foot pole. LOL!

Loved your meal at Tony's. We are eating there in October and have been having thoughts about cancelling because of the mixed reviews, but the food there just looks so yummy!

Great start so far!

 

[Avery&Todd]

we'll be there in 2 more weeks - and you ate at SEVERAL restaurants we'll be eating at, so Im here for the long haul to hear about your food experiences!!

 

[ilovegrumpy]

Thank you everyone for your comments so far...I hope you enjoy my reviews.

 

[ilovegrumpy]

I had made our ADR for this restaurant so we could watch the Main Street Electrical Light Parade and then go eat dinner. We timed it just right. DH had never seen the Main Street Electrical Light Parade. I was REALLY excited to try this restaurant after reading the other reviews on the Dis... We staked out a place to watch the parade right under the restaurants sign. Only bad thing, it had been raining slightly all afternoon. I didn't care, I was at my happy place..DH enjoyed the parade and then we went to check in for our ADR. We were right on time. They checked us in, gave use a pager and within not even 5 minutes we were called for our table. This is a nice restaurant. There are no big frills, decorated along the Colonial theme..Our waiter stopped by to take our drink order and he was off again..on the topic of our waiter, I try to think that I am the kind of person who understands those that work in food service and having to deal with screaming kids, mean customers etc. I try to give them the benefit of the doubt and not scrutinize too hard. Unfortunately, we (along with some other tables around us) were not of the same ethnicity as our server. A table kiddie corner from us was...our waiter spent all of his time and attention on that table and basically ignored the rest of the tables in his section...

He very quickly told us that the food was served family style and he would be back with the salad...and he started to run off..I asked him to wait a minute I had a question about the salad..could we change the dressing choice. I didn't care for a vinaigrette dressing. DH might but I wanted to know if I could get another one..He blew out a big breath and said well, we have a ranch. I asked if we could get a little on the side for DH of the vinaigrette for him to try and he told me no, I had to choose now which one we wanted and couldn't have both...Ok, whatever..DH told him to just bring the ranch...for the rest of the service we couldn't get his attention and neither could any of the other tables around us..except for his "favorite" table. He stood there talking up a storm and laughing..etc with them..when one of us tried to flag him down..off he would run. He would come back, literally almost throw the food bowls down on our table or at our faces and leave again..

On to the food...

The salad was your standard mixture of bib lettuce, red cabbage and what I would call "normal" lettuce with tommy toe cherry tomatoes and some shaved carrots..but the Buttermilk Garlic Ranch Dressing was the bomb!! You could tell this did not come out of a bottle. Thick and creamy with a hint of garlic and other spices...I could eat this stuff on just bread!!! This was served with rolls and butter. The rolls were alright, tasted like the frozen Sister Shuberts you get in the grocery store..

Our server couldn't be bother to take our salad plates away as he tried to dump our main course platters on the table and ended up showing them in our faces for us to grab. Now we were seated on a two top, which does not have a lot of room for plates, etc..thankfully we had a couple of windows at our table and we just piled our salad stuff on the window sill...it was kinda comical DH & I trying to juggle all the plates to make room as the waiter was tapping his foot getting annoyed with us for not being fast enough in grabbing the platters he was shoving in our faces...

For the main course....

Meats:Roasted Turkey Breast, Carved Beef and Sliced Pork.
Vegetables: Mashed Potatoes, Steamed Califlower, Green Bean Casserole
Other Sides: Herbed Cornbread Stuffing, Mac & Cheese, Turkey Gravy

This was by far one of the BEST meals we had..it was simple food, however, it was done RIGHT!! I had mostly the Turkey because DH doesn't do any kind of foul..it was moist, very tender and flavorful, seasoned well...best turkey I have ever had..I was going to leave the rest of the meats for DH due to his aversion to foul..The Carved Beef was a perfect medium and seasoned well. The sliced pork was the winner of the night as far as DH was concerned. Usually he can take or leave pork..he asked for seconds of the pork...he made me try a slice and boy was I glad I did. It was the absolute best pork I have ever tasted...it had a nice slight smoke flavor and tasted like a apple/cranberry glaze on top...it was WONDERFUL!!!

The mashed potatoes were perfect. Usually when I get mashed potatoes in a restaurant, I try a little bit and end up having to add more salt & butter to them. These were PERFECT. They were silky and creamy with a nice butter flavor. Yes, we got seconds of the potatoes..

We tried to get our server to just take the bowl of steamed califlower when he shoved it at us, DH & I both DO NOT LIKE CALIFLOWER..the server was having none of it..he wouldn't take the bowl..neither if us ate any of it, so I can't comment on those..

DH does not like Mac & Cheese, so he didn't eat any of it, I did. I like mac & cheese..this tasted like it was Stoffuer's..with that said, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, I like Stoffuer's mac & cheese when I am in the mood for it..just a warning to those who don't...the noodles were cooked well, held their shape and the cheese sauce (I say sauce, cuz that is what it was) had a strong cheddar flavor, not bad

Green Bean Casserole..let me start by saying green bean casserole used to be my favorite part of Thanksgiving. I had a bad experience with it after one Thanksgiving, and let's just say I can take it or leave it...usually just taste it, then I am good. We both had some and did not care for it at all..green beans were crunchy and had a very heavy cream taste and not much else..

The Turkey Gravy-I think you could pour this on a shoe and make the shoe taste good...it had a nice turkey flavor, not overpowering (otherwise DH wouldn't have eaten it, he put it on his mashed potatoes and herbed stuffing) nicely peppered. Now I am not a pepper person, I do not voluntarily pepper my food..

Herb Stuffing-very nice chunks of soft bread, tasted like cornbread, not overly strong in your face herb taste..soft vegs in it for flavor, this was under all of the meat...not served in a separate bowl, so if you are one of those who doesn't like your food to touch, make sure you ask for it in a bowl by itself.

Dessert-Johnny Appleseed's Cake-I couldn't find my picture of the dessert, I'm sorry about that. I honestly didn't think I could have eaten another bite after stuffing myself to the point of food coma with all of the deliciousness I just inhaled, but it looked and smelled so good I couldn't help myself. It was an apple and cranberry cake served warmed with vanilla ice cream..OMG!! It was good. It was stuffed with cranberries, so if you don't like those, you may not enjoy it..DH tried to eat around them and couldn't so he just gave up and ate only the ice cream..The cake was moist with a nice apple flavor with tons of cranberries. With the ice cream melting into the cake, it was heaven...

Would we eat here again? DEFINITELY!! This is now on our "must do" list of restaurants at the world...

DH-one of the best meals he had the whole week
me-ditto

 

[tnkrbl289]

Loving the reviews, next time we go (which won't be for a while unfortunately) Liberty Tree is going to be a must. The food looks sooo good!!

 

[ilovegrumpy]

Another early start..we had an ADR for 8:10..I didn't want to get out of the bed, DH reminded me that I was the ONE who made all of the EARLY ADR times, so I could suck it up and get out of bed...gee thanks, I can feel the love...

This was to be our Epcot day. IMHO there is no good sit down place to eat breakfast in Epcot. DH REALLY didn't want to eat breakfast with the princesses. He was ok eating at the same place twice, he didn't care, just was having none of the princesses at Akershus Royal Banquest Hall. We were on the DxDP and I was not about to waste my credits on quick serve, I wanted my money's worth...so we decided to try Cape May Cafe since it was closer to Epcot than any other of the sit down places. We didn't want to have to drive to the Magic Kingdom area just for breakfast and then drive to Epcot...I had never been to Cape May Cafe. We arrived early because I wanted pictures of as many hotels as I could get with their Christmas decorations up and see the gingerbread creations in their lobbies..we took pictures and strolled around the lobby. When our pager went off, we were shown to our table..our waitress (who I can't remember the name of. I am awful with remembering names..faces, I do better with) came by right away with our drink order and explained how the characters would come around and help ourselves. She was from England and VERY sweet and attentive, we chatted for a few minutes..I just love English accents..I could listen to people from England, Ireland and Scotland all day...but I digress..

Cape May has a smaller set up than Crystal Palace. It is in a square shape and there is only one bar set up and you have to make your way all the way around the whole thing to find your food. This is one draw back for Cape May Cafe. Crystal Palace has a dual bar with the same offerings on both sides. Cape May has some cooking area located in the middle of the square. Since there is only one platter of each specific food, there were times you had to wait for the cast members to replenish the supply. I think we had to wait for 5-10 minutes for them to bring out more scrambled eggs and the line really backed up. Some just went on around us who didn't want eggs.. Of course once they brought out the eggs, since the line was long waiting for them, they vanished pretty quickly and the wait for eggs began again...The egg platter had what looked like water at the bottom of it. Personally, I like my scrambled eggs dry..these were wet, very wet...

This was common for the bacon and sausage as well. The cast members weren't as attentive as keeping the food stocked that day like we had at Crystal Palace.

They had the standard Disney breakfast buffet offering..scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, biscuits, gravy, fruit, some granola, pancakes..the pastries look and tasted to be from a warehouse club type mass produced and pre-packaged.

I didn't hit the jackpot on the bacon like I did at Crystal Palace and get any cooked like I prefer it..

Minnie did come by our table and so did Goofy who were in their beach outfits..again, we weren't concerned with the character interaction since we were by ourselves...I did notice them at other tables, and they seemed to have very good interaction with the children.

All in all it was a decent enough breakfast. Would we eat there again? Probably, as I stated before..not enough sit down breakfast places at Epcot..if I was to pay out cash for this, I probably would feel a little cheated..

DH-indifferent-nothing stood out except the waitress
me-same opinion as DH

 

[ilovegrumpy]

At this point in our food journey thru the world, DH is getting a little disturbed with my food porn picture taking..as DH told me that morning..I told him "suck it up"..it was funny though as I started taking pictures of our appetizers, the lady sitting next to me started to laugh and said "good, at least I am not the only one who does it"...

Anyway, this was THE place that I was most anxious for DH to try. I have eaten here before but DH hasn't. I was able to get a coveted lunch ADR. I don't think this restaurant is worth 2 credits for dinner, IMHO. We arrived a few minutes early for our ADR and was lucky enough to get a seat inside to wait. There is hardly any seating inside the restaurant to wait. Maybe 2 or 3 benches at the most...so beware of that...it is also kinda dark and the tables are close together..they cram as much into that little space as they can. I could touch the food on the plates of the 2 tables next to us. Thankfully we took our showers that morning..

We were shown to our table and they explained the layout of the restaurant to us and that you were seated in the different provinces of Canada. I can't remember which one we were in...

First the bread-I LOVE PRETZEL BREAD. I had been looking forward to this..DH said it was ok...WHAT?? are you insane, he liked the other bread offered better. Oh well, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

For appetizers DH ordered the Tomato Stack. He said it sounded the best out of what was offered. If you haven't figured it out yet, let me just tell you, DH is not a foodie. He likes what he likes and does not veer far from it..he is a very picky eater..I will broaden my food tastes..the first thing he did after getting his appetizer was scrape off the blue cheese. He doesn't like blue cheese. Other than that, he said it was ok. The tomato seemed fresh and he liked the cucumber on it. Sorry, that is all the information I could get out of him on the dish..I tried to get him to order the Cheddar Cheese Soup., I had it before and thought he would really enjoy it. DH loves the taste of beer. I told him it had a very strong beer aftertaste. He wouldn't hear of it, he didn't want soup. After he ate the tomato he said to me.."maybe I should have gotten the soup" DUH!!

I ordered some kind of Spinach Artichoke dip that came with some crostinis. I wanted to try something new and it sounded good. There was definitely not enough of the crostinis for the amount of dip that they gave me. It was ok. It didn't have that much artichoke in it. It did have a creamy cheesey taste. I had some of it, but once my crostinis were gone, I tried it with my coveted pretzel bread and just couldn't handle it any more..I did eat all of the molten melty cheesey goodness off of the top though...

For our entrees we both ordered the Le Cellier Mushroom Filet. DH was almost going to order the burger but I twisted his arm and told him he would be sorry if he didn't order the filet. He was singing my praises and glad I convinced him to order the filet. He took one bite and sat back and his eyes literally rolled back into his head..he had died and gone to heaven..He said that was the best steak he has ever eaten. It was cooked to the perfect medium as ordered. Seasoned well. So tender we almost didn't need the knife to cut it. Nice thick cut filet. Almost melted in your mouth. He even like the mushroom white truffle butter sauce over it..and he is not big on mushrooms any more. That sauce MAKES the dish IMHO. I thought the man was going to lick the plate!! Now every steak DH eats, he compares to this one..

DH is a very big rice fan. He said he has never had risotto. Honestly, in our 20 years of marriage, I can't say that I remember him ever having it. Most of the time he has to ask me what things on the menu are (remember he is not a foodie and does not know what a lot of things are called) He knew what risotto was from watching Gordon Ramsey on Hell's Kitchen. The risotto was cooked well., it was not overly sticky and not crunchy at all. I have had some that have been crunchy and dry..it was rich and creamy with just the right amount of mushroom sauce. PERFECTION ON A PLATE!!!

For Dessert DH ordered the vanilla ice cream. He really didn't want anything else. He said he wanted to savor the taste of that meal on his tongue and not ruin it with anything else. He did end up eating it though. He said he preferred the gelato though.

I had the Maple Creme Brulee....can you tell yet, that I like creme brulee?? I get a kick out of hearing that top crack..It had a very nice maple flavor. Smooth & silky. The maple did get a little overwhelming to me after a few bites though... to me, it was just too much maple after a few bites..nice burnt sugar top.

BEST MEAL OF THE TRIP HANDS DOWN!!

Will we eat here again? You bet your sweet bippy we will!! I didn't mention the waitress. She was so-so. Not outstanding and not the worst we have had..

DH-AWESOME
me-ditto

 

[starousse]

I'm loving your reviews so far.

 

[iloveeeyore]

Great reviews so far! I'm looking forward to the rest. We will be dining in many of the same places in August. Thanks for taking the time to do it. Better late than never!

 

[wilma-bride]

Great reviews so far. I am so pleased you got around to posting them.

 

[TheNewMrsB]

So...they only gave you 4 pieces of bread for that entire dip? Baffling!

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Fantastic start can't wait for more

 

[ilovegrumpy]

So...they only gave you 4 pieces of bread for that entire dip? Baffling!

That is EXACTLY what I thought...nowhere near enough...

 

[ilovegrumpy]

Oh man, now I'm homesick for steak 'n shake. When we lived in Indiana, we were right across the street from one, and would go have many late night plates of cheese fries. Also the chili deluxe... and the frozen yogurt shakes.... mmmmmm. I miss the midwest sometimes.

Sorry you didn't have a great experience at Artist Point I've heard Buffalo gets really quickly over cooked anywhere above medium-rare, so it stinks that yours was way over done. If you go back, try the mushroom soup! It's AMAZING.

Anyway, I hope the rest of your dining was more enjoyable. Can't wait to read the rest!

I know, Steak 'N Shake is an addiction...whenever we go visit family in Chicago that is one of the first places we go...