Need help convincing my wife to try Palos!!!

[jtjcwise]

My wife and I will be on the 4 day Wonder on June 19, and I am trying to get her to try Palo's, considering brunch if it is offered. She insists that she does not want to pay the extra $ if we can get free food that is included in the cruise. We will be celebrating our anniversary while on board and wanted to do something special, and thought Palo's would be nice.

 

[yogibigdog]

We just got off the Wonder and did the brunch at Palo's. It was easily worth the ten extra dollars per person. The food was absolutely fantastic and the service was even better. We are not big gourmet restaraunt fans, but even my wife agreed that this was worth it. The atmosphere was great, very comfortable and relaxed. It is not crowded at all as the tables are spaced out very nicely.

For brunch they have a great variety of food. Something for everyone. We started with a pizza which four us split, and it was the absolute best pizza I have ever had. The beef tenderloin and pasta were absolutely fantatstic.

We will certainly go there again for brunch again on our next cruise. We highly recommend it.

 

[GenieDana]

Make sure Disney knows it is your anneversary (the reservationist can add this to your reservation).

We were treated to a sampling of several different appetizers and main dishes each, besides our ordered main courses, plus the same for dessert. Our waiter brought the rest un-prompted on plates, so we got to try a little of everything.

We had chicken, lamb, veal, tortelloni, and rosotto, calemari and one of those wonderful Italian pizzas. For dessert we had the obligatory chocolate souffle, tiramisu, frozen cassata, and ice cream followed by coffees.
On top of that, we got an anneversary cake with a white chocolate rendering of the Magic and "Happy Anneversary" - and I got a rose!

Needless to say, it was very special Worth it !

 

[Hollyster2]

Tell her the view is worth it alone! Do brunch, and you will see what I mean about the view.

 

[RobinMarie]

While your servers are great in the dining rooms, you get extra special attention at PALO. For brunch you get delicious stuff! It seemed so fresh!

The atmosphere was casual/elegant and the views second to none. I think you each get a glass of champagne too.

Strawberries, cream, shrimp cocktail mmmm! I live in Pizza Town USA and thought the mushroom pizza was to DIE for! I'm Italian and I loved the meal, thought it was worth it.

Tell her, 'it's a nice meal, you're gonna fuss over another 20 bucks?"

 

[minniemoms]

Would you do brunch instead of dinner then?? Want to try the dinner, have only eaten brunch there once, but I don't want to miss any of the rotation dinning. Suggestions for those that have done both?

 

[Mickeyhugger]

Also, the price per person at Palo is a gratuity. Any additional tipping is optional. When figuring the tips at the end of the your cruise, Palo was already paid.

 

[CM_Mom]

While kids are wonderful and I love being around them, for anniversaries I prefer ADULTS ONLY so Palo's is a great choice. It's less hectic than the resaurants. The view for BRUNCH is fantastic especially if you get one of the outside tables for two - and if you tell them it's for your anniversary, I bet they seat you with the best view.

Palo's dinner is wonderful but since it's dark outside, the windows act as mirrors so you can't see the view. The dinner menu is different than Brunch but fantastic.

 

[lbgraves]

Actually the $10 per person is not a gratuity but a kind of service charge. It does not all go to your server so you should budget an additional tip for them if you are happy with the service...and I would be very surprised if you weren't. We did both dinner & brunch on our last cruise & I would definitely do the brunch if given a choice. The dinner was fantastic but the brunch had such variety offered.

 

[ksjayhawks]

We did dinner and brunch, but brunch was our favorite. Wide selection of food and the view was great!

 

[minniemoms]

Is it hard to get into Brunch? Do you stand in lines for that too? Is it the same line as dinner at Palo's? What day, a sea day???

 

[GritsGirl]

I also understood that the extra fee is NOT a tip for the server....a dad (or mom, I have never been sure) of one of the Palo servers who is a DISer stated that the server only gets 40 cents of the $10 fee. I guess he/she could be making that up to get his/her offspring larger tips but I seriously doubt it.

We decided that the meal would have been $100/person on land in a nice restaurant (dinner) so we tipped $20/person and would have tipped more to cover alcohol or specialty drinks. Of course tipping is a very personal decision, but I had never felt so special in a restaurant as I felt that night.

I had always thought it would just be a waste with all of the other food on board but it was WONDERFUL and now I am hooked.

YUM YUM
GritsGirl

 

[RonnieJo66]

I can't believe that anyone would need convincing to try Palo! They have my fav dish on the ship!!! I Love the orrechetta pasta from the brunch menu ....make in even better by dropping little bits of Boursin cheese into it

Wait, now I'm hungry!!

Is it October yet...I wanna go , I wanna go!!!!

Hugs,

RonnieJo

 

[jgalecpa]

She insists that she does not want to pay the extra $ if we can get free food that is included in the cruise.

Tell her that SHE is worth that and a hundred times more.

She (and you) will be glad you went.



Jim

 

[myboysmom]

I would like to do Palo as well, but I want to be able to see the view and I would like to spend dinner with my boys. We are thinking maybe brunch would be a good alternative. This cruise will be celebrating our 20 year anniversary so we do want to do something a little special as well.

Those of you who have done the brunch is it as good as the dinner?

 

[jgalecpa]

Those of you who have done the brunch is it as good as the dinner?

We've done the brunch and dinner (Twice, each!)

The dinner is nice and romantic.

However, the brunch is spectacular.


And there are more things for the kids to do, I feel, when you are at brunch vs. dinner.


I missed the dinners the nights we did Palo, but the brunches came with none of that guilt.

The most romantic dinner DW and I may have ever had was probably the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Plaza. Not to knock Palo, one bit.

The best brunch wver was in Palo, hands down.

Jim

 

[RickW]

We decided that the meal would have been $100/person on land in a nice restaurant (dinner)

I have heard something similar to this from several different people, and I just don't get it. We have eaten at Palo and I could see perhaps $50/person, but I just don't understand how you could get to $100. I'm surprised that people would consider Palo to be "more expensive" than Victoria and Albert's at WDW. I have eaten in several places that I would consider "nicer" than Palo, and I have never spent $100/person.

 

[scrapperjill]

I'm with your RickW...I also don't see how people can say the meals are around $100pp on land.

And like ANY restraunt...when you tip...only a portion of it actually goes to the server....the rest is split between the rest of the staff that help creates your meal...like the chef, the host, the dishwasher, and the bus person. When you tip your not tipping on the "Service" that your waiter gives you...but on the WHOLE dinning experience....which includes the food, clean dishes, being greeted by the host...and the atmosphere around you (aka...are there a ton of dirty table all around...or is the bus person doing his/her job)....it's the WHOLE team that makes your dinning experence good or bad. And when you pay the $10pp "service charge"..and you figure atleast two people...your tipping $20 for your meal to be split between the "team"...That would be like tipping 20% on a $100 meal...

But now back to the real topic....we did both brunch and dinner at Palo..and in MHO....I liked brunch alot more....the view and the meal were WONDERFUL. Don't get me wrong...dinner is great also...but we really enjoyed brunch best.

And by the way...the reason your tipping or paying the "service charge" at Palo's is because the staff that works there...does not do the other dinning areas....therefore is not given tips at the end of the cruise. It's well worth it...when else will you be able to get such a GREAT meal (food, service, and atmosphere) for ONLY $10pp...and don't forget...you get to eat ALL you can for that fee....that's a better price than any buffet place you'll find...and WAY WAY better food.

 

[logan1_2000]

Bones' Restaurant, Atlanta GA: Shrimp Cocktails, $12.95 each; Lobster Bisque, $5.95 each; Caesar Salad, $6.50 each; Filet Mignon, $25.95 each, sauteed spinach $6.95 and the signature jumbo fried onion rings, $5.95; a pair of desserts will add about $13 or so, DW's cappucino another 5 or 6, and I'm up to 135 before the wine. add tax & tip and there we are. And this does not reflect any kind of surf & turf, by adding shrimps or lobster tails because after all, it is a special evening. Oh, and I didn't pay a babysitter or tip a valet to park my car.

Now, I'll rate Bones over palo's any day, but Palo's is easily comparable to a type of restaurant that can be w/o too much trouble a 100/person dinner. Never mind the annual anniversary dinner in Morton's when DW orders the 5 pound lobster--that is over $100 right there for her entree. Especially considering the same type of "bring me two of those and one of those, and we'll both split one of those to try, and ooh, how about an appetizer sized portion of that one, too" rules apply in Palo's as they do in the dining rooms, it is a tremendous value. I too read the CM parent posting about the service fee not going to the server except for $0.40. I believe it--it is labeled a service charge, not a gratuity. Speciality restaurants are revenue centers. We had a bottle of chianti (but no liver or fava beans), dessert wines, the cappucino for DW, and added on an additional tip and the Palo's bill including the service charge was actually close to $100--but maybe 60 of that would have been charged to us in Animator's Palate, anyway, and the same meal, yes, would have been well over $200 on land. Or you can go, skip the alcohol, and have a tremedous dinner with multiples of everything and the service charge is $20, and c'mon, be a sport and put another 10 or 20 as an additional tip.

We never went until our 4th DCL trip. It was very nice, certainly not the finest we've had in our lives but still very good, and we will go back on our future cruise next year, too. We got more in value than we paid, for sure.

 

[jtjcwise]

Finally convinced my wife to give it a try. Actually she asked what I wanted for Fathers Day while on the ship and I said to go to Palo's. She agreed.

Now, what time should I book. I can book over the disneyworld.com website now and I cannot decide on a good time. Choices are 10:00Am, 10:30AM, 11:00Am, 11:30AM, and 12:00PM.