my surprise birthday trip dining review!

[byoung]

Thanks.

 

[caitann24]

Day 3 - Saturday, January 28th

Lunch - Cosmic Ray's (2 CS)

I really didn't want to have lunch here. I wanted to go back to Columbia Harbour House as planned cause I've never tried it there and I've heard so many wonderful things. But, when lunchtime came around we were in Tomorrowland and DBF didn't want to go all the way back to Liberty Square, so he convinced me to eat at Cosmic Ray's.
DBF - He decided to go for the 1/2 chicken and ribs combo that came with mashed potatoes and a seasonal vegetable. He likes ribs, what can I say? They give him a big portion of both the ribs and chicken. He said that he liked them, but not nearly as much as he liked the ribs from Flame Tree the day before. He said that the mashed potatoes were just okay. They kind of reminded me of elementary school when the lunch lady would scoop them out in an ice cream scoop, cause that's exactly what it looked like they did here. I never really liked that look. I had a bite of them though and they were okay. They gave him carrots for his vegetable which he didn't touch. I had one or two and they were good, they had a nice herb basting on them. For dessert he got the chocolate cake. It was much smaller than the portion at Flame Tree and not nearly as good. It had a decent taste, but it wasn't anything special. They also allowed him to have a larger sized drink here.
Me - I went for the grilled chicken sandwich. I put some lettuce on it and again added a little of the honey dijon sauce that I need to find at home. This meal disappointed me a bit. The roll wasn't anything like the great one I had at Flame Tree and the chicken was a little overly cooked. I had a bag of chips on the side and they were good...I mean, they were chips. I didn't eat too many of them. I had the sugar free brownie for dessert. It was a good sized brownie and I only had a couple bites out of it as I was so full. I thought it was great for having no sugar in it. When I first looked at it I thought it might be kind of hard since it was pre-packaged but it was nice and soft. I would definitely recommend this to someone who is on the dining plan but didn't want a heavy dessert with their meal. I also had a bottle of water.
Food: B (I wasn't too impressed with my chicken. Should've stuck to the original plan and gone to Columbia Harbour House. Oh well, next time.)
Service: A (nice and efficient and the CM at the counter was very nice this time around)
Atmosphere: A (I loved sitting outside and eating my food. The talking trash can also came by and made an appearance, which was really fun.)

Dinner - Le Cellier (2 TS credits)

I was looking forward to this meal more than any other because of all the hype I had heard about it from here on the DIS. We finished going around the World Showcase a little faster than expected and were at Canada a half hour before our 7:10 ADR. I went to check in and see if they could fit us in a bit earlier than expected, but the CM at the front politely told me that they couldn't as they were booked for the night. That wasn't a problem. We went and got a half yard to share from Rose and Crown pub and enjoyed that on a bench across the street before it was time for our ADR. When we went back to Le Cellier, the girl gave us our buzzer and we waited an additional fifteen minutes before we were seated. This wasn't a problem as we were in no rush. Once we were seated our lovely server came over and told us about where she was from. We had a nice conversation before she took our drink orders. DBF ordered a Labatt Blue Light and I decided to try the Torontopolitian. My drink was essentially a Cosmopolitian, but I thought it was cute that they gave it a different name to correspond with the country we were eating in. This was no Starburst Martini (I'm telling you, go try it, you won't be dissapointed!) but it was good anyway. Our breadsticks came out right away and DBF immediately went for the sourdough while I jumped for the pretzel bread. After hearing oh so much about the pretzel bread, I think I got a little too excited about it. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was great, but it tasted like a pretzel. I don't know what I was expecting. Anyway, I liked the little balls of butter that they gave us to go with the bread. We both tried pieces of all the bread and I thought they were great. Onto our own selections...
DBF - I don't know if they used to have scallops on this menu as an appetizer, but for some reason he seemed to think they did and was very disappointed to find that they weren't there. He decided to go with the Grilled Beef Tenderloin Kabab instead. When it came out he was a little put off by the polenta they served with it. But after trying a bite he ate the entire thing extremely quickly. I was lucky to try a piece of the beef and it was delicious. For his entree he ordered the New York Strip Steak and asked if he could have the cream cheese mashed potatoes instead of the roasted. Our server said this wasn't a problem. His cut of steak was very large and he received a huge portion of mashed potatoes as well. I didn't get a chance to try it, but he ate every last bite and said he enjoyed it very much. For dessert he ordered the Chocolate Whiskey Cake. Originally he was going to ask for it without the orange sauce but I talked him into trying it. The cake was great but he didn't really care for the orange sauce. He's a simple guy. He doesn't like fancy sauces ruining his chocolate cake. I happened to really like the orange sauce and thought it went really well with the chocolate. He also ordered a glass of milk to go with the cake. They brought it out in a martini glass, which I thought was very odd, but DBF got a kick out of it. All in all, he said he really enjoyed his meal here.
Me - After hearing all the endless raves, I ordered the cheese soup as my appetizer. Thank you again to all the DISers for pointing me in the right direction. I never would've tried this without reading about it first and I'm so happy I did. I thought it was excellent and really loved dipping the pretzel bread into it. I ate every last bite and after DBF tried some he wanted to get his own bowl, haha. I keep trying to explain to him that the almighty DISers know all, but he keeps telling me I'm crazy. Oh well, he'll learn one day. I ordered the petite filet for my entree. I'm not a steak girl, and this was one of the best pieces I have ever had. I thought the maple barbecue sauce was delicious and my meat was cooked to perfection. I LOVED the cream cheese mashed potatoes. They were so delicious. I finished my entire meal, which normally never happens as I'm a light eater, but I couldn't help myself cause it was sooooo good. After seeing all the cute pictures from the food photo thread I had to have the chocolate "moose" for dessert. It did not dissapoint. I loved how adorable it was and the mousse was excellent. Again, DBF wished he had ordered my dessert instead of his own.
Food: A (I loved everything we had! I thought the presentation was great as well. I really enjoyed this meal and we will definitely be back in the future.)
Service: A (Our server was great. She was so conversational and helped us out with everything. She made up for the bad service we had received the night before.)
Atmosphere: B+ (I thought it was nice in there and we had a table that was kind of on its own, which was great. DBF thought it looked nothing like Canada and I tried to explain to him the wine cellar theme, but he just didn't get it.)

Snacks:
Fiesta Margarita - Haha, okay, so not exactly a snack but I like to look at it as one. DBF and I shared this on a bench in Mexico while waiting for our fast pass for Soarin' to go into effect. I thought this was great and it was surprisingly strong. Although, tequila has such a strong flavor that you can taste it in just about anything. I liked this very much though. My favorite flavor was the lime.

Frozen Mocha something or other from a stand by Mission Space - I was needing a pick me up badly mid-afternoon after our night at Pleasure Island, so while DBF rode Mission Space I got one of these. It was great and did exactly what I asked for.

One more meal left...breakfast at Kona...I'll post it tomorrow...
Thanks for reading everyone! Again, if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!

 

[eeyoregirl]

And yes, the water is very hit or miss at WDW. Sometimes we got really lucky and the fountain water was fine, but at other times it was completely nasty.

I thought it was just me. Whew! Disney must know that their water is bad; Dasani is sold everywhere.

 

[tazz23]

Excellent reports! Im eating at most of the same places as in June, so you've been really helpful- thank you!

Can you not order bottled water with meals?

 

[labdogs42]

It isn't just you, Florida water can be pretty nasty. It has very high total dissolved solids and often contains a high amount of sulphur (the compound that gives it that "rotten egg" smell). My mom used to live in Florida and her water was horrible without a softener/filer system. I will only drink bottled water in Florida and even that isn't so great sometimes!

 

[caitann24]

Excellent reports! Im eating at most of the same places as in June, so you've been really helpful- thank you!

Can you not order bottled water with meals?

I always ordered bottled water with my counter service meals, but at my table service meals the servers I had said that bottled water wasn't included in the dining plan...

That confused me quite a bit as well.

And I'm happy to know that so many other people don't like the water in Orlando either...good to know I'm not insane! And thanks labdogs for explaining the water situation...I kept wondering what that awful smell coming from the water was whenever I brushed my teeth!

 

[Alice Sr.]

Day 3 - Saturday, January 28th
Frozen Mocha something or other from a stand by Mission Space - I was needing a pick me up badly mid-afternoon after our night at Pleasure Island, so while DBF rode Mission Space I got one of these. It was great and did exactly what I asked for.

Were you allowed to use one of your snack credits for the Frozen Mocha or was this oop?

TIA

 

[budbeerlady]

Sounds like a delicious trip!!

 

[Belle23]

I have really enjoyed your dining report. I am glad to hear Le Cellier was good, I am thinking of going there in May. Also I think I may try Ohana's because it sounds delicious. I am glad you all had a great time and thanks for the report!!!

 

[tinkamom]

Was anything excluded from the DP at Wolgang Pucks? Were there any surcharges?