buffett010
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2003
- Messages
- 115
We just returned from a great stay at the Poly. While we were there, we had free dining. As others have stated, we ended the week with several counter service and snack credits left - simply because it was so hot and we just weren't that hungry. So, on the last night we got a couple cheese plates, then had breakfast the next morning. Plus, we bought rice krispy treats to bring home.
Our group was me (34 and a foodie), DH (34 and eats anything), and DS (8 and willing to try new things, but loves salmon, steak and potatoes).
Anyway, we started our vacation with lunch OOP at Kona Cafe. This was probably the best meal on the trip. I had the Mahi Mahi, which was excellent. I kept asking DS if he wanted to try my fish as I knew he would like it and he refused. However, when I asked if he wanted to try my "chicken" he readily agreed and loved it. This dish came with sticky rice, which reminded me of sushi rice and was just ok. DH had the duck potstickers (4 to an order) and thought they were good, and he generally doesn't care for them, plus he ordered a burger, which was huge! DS had chicken and fries. He also had the Pirate Punch with came with a clip on Capt. Hook. I had iced tea, and DH alcohol of some kind. The iced tea here and at all table service we te at was brewed, not fountain; however, it had a strange aftertaste because of the water used - similar to a light sulfur taste.
That evening, we ate at 'Ohanas. Our server, Pedro, was fantastic as was his helper Leo. The scalloped potatoes were delicious, as was the shrimp. My favorite is the salad, with the lightly sweet honey lime vinaigerette. The turkey was extremely moist, and I don't usually eat turkey. We eat our steak medium rare, and it was no problem to tell Pedro that we would like our steak this way. The lady doing coconut races was not annoying at all, as she invited the kids to join her and passed out leis to them all. We ate here again later in the week, and while the food was just as good, the service was a bit slow due to our station being short staffed. There was just one helper for 3 stations, so our waitress was a bit harried, but having been a server myself I completely understood. She did not offer this information to us, we just made a joking comment about how busy it was in there, and then she explained why.
On Sunday we went to MGM for the day. We ended up eating at Toy Story Pizza Planet as DS wanted to play some arcade games. I wasn't that hungry, so we just got 2 pepperoni pizza combo meals that came with salads. Then we got 2 sodas and 2 chocolate chip cookies. Surprisingly, the pizza wasn't that bad. And, I was expecting a small cookie, but they were rather thick and delicious. Seating here is a bit sparse, and when we went upstairs, all the tables were in use. A lady with her nephew was sitting at a larger table, and she allowed us to sit with them. DS and her DN got to be friends, then went to play the games together when they were done eating.
That evening, we went to Chef Mickey's. I pretty much filled up on shrimp, DH and DS sampled a lot of everything. DS's favorite was the prime rib, but I did not care for the seasoning on it. The Mickey ravioli was pretty good, and I loved the chocolate Oreo dessert (although I didn't eat the Oreo part!). The characters came around frequently, and our server told us their pattern so we would know how close they were getting to us. All in all, I would only return here for the characters, not so much the food. It wasn't horrible, just not great.
The following day, Monday, we went to the MK. Lunch today was at Cosmic Ray's. DS just wanted chili, so we got 2 ribs and chicken combos, as I knew he would want more than just chili. With our meals we ordered our sodas and I substituted fries for the mashed potatoes. Our desserts were chocolate cake and carrot cake. The chocolate cake was very chocolatey and DS ordered this several times. If I were to return here, I would get just the chicken. The ribs were fatty and of a lower grade. But, keep in mind that we purchase a steer and a hog up here for our freezer, so we're spoiled with good meat.
That evening, dinner was at Coral Reef. They were running about 20 minutes behind schedule, and there is limited seating. Once we were seated, we ordered our meals. They brought bread baskets to the table, and I filled up on the bread. We ordered 2 lobster bisques - Dh said his was ok, but neither DS nor I cared for it. I felt it had a yeasty quality to it. DS was hungry for steak, so I ordered the mahi off the kids menu for me, and the steak off the adult menu for him. DH also ordered the adult mahi, and that portion was not much bigger than the kids'. The steak was the better of the 3 meals, but again, not of a great quality. The Bavarian cheesecake had just been removed from the menu, and in it's place was a key lime tart. DH ordered that and enjoyed it, while DS got the sundae, and I ordered the chocolate wave. It is very chocolatey and tastes like a molten chocolate cake like I make at home. DS tried this and like it, although we gave the cherries to DH - they were strong!
Tuesday we went to Typhoon Lagoon and had lunch at the Leaning Palm. DH and DS had the double bacon cheeseburger with fries, a cookie, and an ice cream bar. I ordered the kids grilled cheese pretzel with fries. It was ok but needed salt and mustard.
That night, we went to Whispering Canyon Cafe. Our server was Harmonica, who threw straws at us. She gave us so many that we threw some back at her. We joked back and forth and had a great time. All of us ordered the skillet. Our favorites on it were the redskin mashed potatoes, the shrimp, and the pulled pork. DH and DS had milkshakes, then for dessert we took chocolate cake, worms in dirt, and something else to go.
Wednesday took us to Epcot, where we had lunch at Sunshine Seasons. This was not memorable, and we would have gone someplace else, but we were killing time between the Behind the Seeds tour, and the Jr.Chef program. The guy at the cash register was rude, and the food lukewarm. The best part was the desserts - key lime cheesecake, chocolate cake, and a fruit tart.
In the evening we ate at Chefs de France. DH had the escargot, French onion soup, and seared tuna - all of which were delicious. DS had the chicken and macaroni and a cheese puff pastry, while I had the calamari (shared with DH) and the braised short ribs. These were the best - you could taste the flavor or the cabernet in the beef. For dessert, we had the clafoutis, a chocolate chip cookie, and an apple caramel crepe. DH also had a glass of merlot.
Our last day at the parks we went to the MK. We had started at Epcot so DS could ride Test Track, then went to MK around lunchtime. DS is a clam chowder fanatic, so we went to Columbia Harbour House for him. He, of course, had a bowl of chowder plus half a ham sandwich, which DH ate. DH ordered the fish and chicken combo, which he shared with DS. I had the tuna sandwich - it was flavorful, but I prefer more mayonnaise on my tuna. That, however, was easy to remedy as there is mayonnaise at the condiment stations.
For dinner we ate at 'Ohanas again, so I won't review it here.
For breakfast our last morning, we went to Captain Cooks while we were waiting for our limo to pick us up. We ordered 2 adult combos, plus a Tonga Toast. The combos each came with 2 drinks, which confused me, so we had juices and flavored milks and added coffee and hot chocolate.
Breakfast the majority of the time was Krispy Kreme donuts in our room, and we generally did not need snacks. DS would order a Nestle Crunch ice cream bar now and again, and I had an itzakadoozie, but that's it. DH and DS both have Camelbacks, so we never needed to buy water, although I did buy a bottle once or twice OOP as I felt the need to have a lot of water in a very short time (i.e. chugging!)
If you have any questions, let me know and I'll answer the best I can!
Our group was me (34 and a foodie), DH (34 and eats anything), and DS (8 and willing to try new things, but loves salmon, steak and potatoes).
Anyway, we started our vacation with lunch OOP at Kona Cafe. This was probably the best meal on the trip. I had the Mahi Mahi, which was excellent. I kept asking DS if he wanted to try my fish as I knew he would like it and he refused. However, when I asked if he wanted to try my "chicken" he readily agreed and loved it. This dish came with sticky rice, which reminded me of sushi rice and was just ok. DH had the duck potstickers (4 to an order) and thought they were good, and he generally doesn't care for them, plus he ordered a burger, which was huge! DS had chicken and fries. He also had the Pirate Punch with came with a clip on Capt. Hook. I had iced tea, and DH alcohol of some kind. The iced tea here and at all table service we te at was brewed, not fountain; however, it had a strange aftertaste because of the water used - similar to a light sulfur taste.
That evening, we ate at 'Ohanas. Our server, Pedro, was fantastic as was his helper Leo. The scalloped potatoes were delicious, as was the shrimp. My favorite is the salad, with the lightly sweet honey lime vinaigerette. The turkey was extremely moist, and I don't usually eat turkey. We eat our steak medium rare, and it was no problem to tell Pedro that we would like our steak this way. The lady doing coconut races was not annoying at all, as she invited the kids to join her and passed out leis to them all. We ate here again later in the week, and while the food was just as good, the service was a bit slow due to our station being short staffed. There was just one helper for 3 stations, so our waitress was a bit harried, but having been a server myself I completely understood. She did not offer this information to us, we just made a joking comment about how busy it was in there, and then she explained why.
On Sunday we went to MGM for the day. We ended up eating at Toy Story Pizza Planet as DS wanted to play some arcade games. I wasn't that hungry, so we just got 2 pepperoni pizza combo meals that came with salads. Then we got 2 sodas and 2 chocolate chip cookies. Surprisingly, the pizza wasn't that bad. And, I was expecting a small cookie, but they were rather thick and delicious. Seating here is a bit sparse, and when we went upstairs, all the tables were in use. A lady with her nephew was sitting at a larger table, and she allowed us to sit with them. DS and her DN got to be friends, then went to play the games together when they were done eating.
That evening, we went to Chef Mickey's. I pretty much filled up on shrimp, DH and DS sampled a lot of everything. DS's favorite was the prime rib, but I did not care for the seasoning on it. The Mickey ravioli was pretty good, and I loved the chocolate Oreo dessert (although I didn't eat the Oreo part!). The characters came around frequently, and our server told us their pattern so we would know how close they were getting to us. All in all, I would only return here for the characters, not so much the food. It wasn't horrible, just not great.
The following day, Monday, we went to the MK. Lunch today was at Cosmic Ray's. DS just wanted chili, so we got 2 ribs and chicken combos, as I knew he would want more than just chili. With our meals we ordered our sodas and I substituted fries for the mashed potatoes. Our desserts were chocolate cake and carrot cake. The chocolate cake was very chocolatey and DS ordered this several times. If I were to return here, I would get just the chicken. The ribs were fatty and of a lower grade. But, keep in mind that we purchase a steer and a hog up here for our freezer, so we're spoiled with good meat.
That evening, dinner was at Coral Reef. They were running about 20 minutes behind schedule, and there is limited seating. Once we were seated, we ordered our meals. They brought bread baskets to the table, and I filled up on the bread. We ordered 2 lobster bisques - Dh said his was ok, but neither DS nor I cared for it. I felt it had a yeasty quality to it. DS was hungry for steak, so I ordered the mahi off the kids menu for me, and the steak off the adult menu for him. DH also ordered the adult mahi, and that portion was not much bigger than the kids'. The steak was the better of the 3 meals, but again, not of a great quality. The Bavarian cheesecake had just been removed from the menu, and in it's place was a key lime tart. DH ordered that and enjoyed it, while DS got the sundae, and I ordered the chocolate wave. It is very chocolatey and tastes like a molten chocolate cake like I make at home. DS tried this and like it, although we gave the cherries to DH - they were strong!
Tuesday we went to Typhoon Lagoon and had lunch at the Leaning Palm. DH and DS had the double bacon cheeseburger with fries, a cookie, and an ice cream bar. I ordered the kids grilled cheese pretzel with fries. It was ok but needed salt and mustard.
That night, we went to Whispering Canyon Cafe. Our server was Harmonica, who threw straws at us. She gave us so many that we threw some back at her. We joked back and forth and had a great time. All of us ordered the skillet. Our favorites on it were the redskin mashed potatoes, the shrimp, and the pulled pork. DH and DS had milkshakes, then for dessert we took chocolate cake, worms in dirt, and something else to go.
Wednesday took us to Epcot, where we had lunch at Sunshine Seasons. This was not memorable, and we would have gone someplace else, but we were killing time between the Behind the Seeds tour, and the Jr.Chef program. The guy at the cash register was rude, and the food lukewarm. The best part was the desserts - key lime cheesecake, chocolate cake, and a fruit tart.
In the evening we ate at Chefs de France. DH had the escargot, French onion soup, and seared tuna - all of which were delicious. DS had the chicken and macaroni and a cheese puff pastry, while I had the calamari (shared with DH) and the braised short ribs. These were the best - you could taste the flavor or the cabernet in the beef. For dessert, we had the clafoutis, a chocolate chip cookie, and an apple caramel crepe. DH also had a glass of merlot.
Our last day at the parks we went to the MK. We had started at Epcot so DS could ride Test Track, then went to MK around lunchtime. DS is a clam chowder fanatic, so we went to Columbia Harbour House for him. He, of course, had a bowl of chowder plus half a ham sandwich, which DH ate. DH ordered the fish and chicken combo, which he shared with DS. I had the tuna sandwich - it was flavorful, but I prefer more mayonnaise on my tuna. That, however, was easy to remedy as there is mayonnaise at the condiment stations.
For dinner we ate at 'Ohanas again, so I won't review it here.
For breakfast our last morning, we went to Captain Cooks while we were waiting for our limo to pick us up. We ordered 2 adult combos, plus a Tonga Toast. The combos each came with 2 drinks, which confused me, so we had juices and flavored milks and added coffee and hot chocolate.
Breakfast the majority of the time was Krispy Kreme donuts in our room, and we generally did not need snacks. DS would order a Nestle Crunch ice cream bar now and again, and I had an itzakadoozie, but that's it. DH and DS both have Camelbacks, so we never needed to buy water, although I did buy a bottle once or twice OOP as I felt the need to have a lot of water in a very short time (i.e. chugging!)
If you have any questions, let me know and I'll answer the best I can!
We are hoping to try Coral Reef in February,I have read some VERY good reviews lately. We have not eaten there in YEARS and I LOVE the atmosphere! Joan
