Never Eat More than You Can Lift~Miss Piggy,6/22 Update

[catne]

So it actually was DH’s birthday that day, and his request for dinner was Le Cellier (when he asked, he had full confidence that I could get it booked…there must have been a lot of pixie dust when I called, because they had a table for 4 within 5 minutes of his requested time of 5:30.)

We were seated almost immediately. Our server was Laura, and she was a darling…very attentive throughout the meal. Have to apologize in advance – it was very difficult to get good pictures in Le Cellier – it’s very dark in there & I had a heck of a time with either way too bright pics or way too dark, so some just didn’The girls both opted for the pina colava smoothies (non alcohol version) while I chose the boozed up one…the version with rum has a pineapple hanging from it. Le Cellier is one of the places you can get the smoothies as your DDP beverage. I thought the girls’ smoothies tasted like an overdose of coconut, though…not near as good a blend of raspberry/coconut as the pina colava. The girls liked them, though. DH chose Molson Canadian. Smoothie and pina colava (sorry, no pic of the beer…it came out too dark):

Both girls decided to try the Chef’s Choice with the prime rib. BFF chose the Garden Greens Salad, with was large & tasty:

DD wanted the cup of cheddar soup (sorry, pic didn’t come out) but DH & I ordered a bowl of the cheddar soup for the table to share as dip, because we loved it last time. It did not disappoint: among the 4 of us, we ate most of this bowl, and two helpings of the breadsticks…which were also as good as we remembered. Here’s the soup with a pretzel breadstick:

Have to apologize for no picture of the prime rib – the picture overfilled on the flash first so just a blinding flare, then tried with no flash & you couldn’t begin to see what’s what on that photo so I gave up. BFF had hers cooked medium well, DD requested rare…both came out correctly. The girls ate most of the meat, but did want to save room for dessert.

DH & I both had the mushroom filet, cooked rare. These were cooked perfectly (Laura did check to make sure we knew what rare was…once she was assured we were from a farm state where they know how to cook rare beef, she laughed & said just had to be sure. ) The filet was wonderful…I don’t know how they get the meat so tender there, but it is a treat, for sure. We both finished the filets, and left most of the risotto…just barely had room for dessert so no sense filling up on rice!
mushroom filet:

DD & BFF both chose the Chocolate Mousse Moose, and had great fun eating these (and then playing with the remains once they were full…they got quite creative making art on their plates. Tried to take a picture of that, but it didn’t come out. The picture of the moose did, though:

chocolate mousse

Even though it was his birthday, DH wanted a lighter dessert than cake, so he asked if they had any ice cream. Lauren said they had coconut ice cream like they have at Les Chefs. I had that back in January and it was good, so DH asked for a bowl of that for dessert. They brought it out with a candle, and sang Happy Birthday to him. Sorry, the photo is bright – flash problems in the dark room again!

I chose my favorite maple crème brulee – this is my 2nd favorite crème brulee in all of WDW. The maple taste is subtle (doesn’t taste like pancake syrup, lol) but it is just enough extra flavor to give a Wow factor to the dessert. They do get a perfect amount of crackle on top, too, without a burnt taste…I ate most of this, with DD & DH just taking a taste:

All in all, a very enjoyable meal – it was a good as we remembered. Give the ambiance a 9 (just a teensy bit TOO dark in there.) Tables are close, but didn’t think it was too close. Service was a 10, as was the food. So total rating would be just a tad under a 10. We’d go back, for sure. Had we paid cash for the meal, before tip the total would have been $181.78 (including the beer & cocktail.) With the DDP portion deducted, our actual cash cost was $21.55 before tip (cost of beer, my cocktail & the extra bowl of cheddar soup.)

 

[catne]

So, the plan for Thursday was Hollywood Studios, all the way. We had chocolate muffins for breakfast, courtesy of Sassagoula Bakery. These were good, but not as good as I thought they would be. For as dark as they were, you’d think they would be super-chocolately tasting…but they weren’t…actually a fairly weak chocolate flavor. But they were fresh, soft & filling...just not as good as expected. Next time I'll try the ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls instead. Live & learn.

We had a great morning at DHS…we were there at actual rope drop – near the front of the crowd. DH got to the TSM fastpass machines near the front of the pack, so the by the time the girls & I caught up and made it to the stand-by line entrance, he was joining us with fastpasses for later. So we rode TSM stand-by – basically a walk through with a few slow-downs (but not even enough stoppage in the line to take photos along the way), then we also had fastpasses for an hour later. DHS was much better on Thursday (without the Star Wars extra stuff, DHS was just regular-crowded, not crazy-crowded like Sunday.) After TSM, we headed over and walked on ToT, then had a short wait for RnR. We then headed over to GMR, followed by Muppets 3D (which is showing it’s age, but we love it anyway.) Given the title of my reviews, just had to visit the fountain with beloved Miss Piggy on the plaza outside Muppets:

Since we were in the neighborhood, and wanting some lunch, we headed for Toy Story Pizza Planet. Last time DH & I were there, we arrived around 11:30, and it wasn’t busy at all. This time, it was just after noon and was getting really, really busy in there. And loud! Guess last time we sat outside where you don’t actually hear all the arcade game noise…this time it was a kazillion degrees outside so everyone voted for air conditioning. Now I know why people were sitting at the outdoor tables even with 90F & horrendous humidity levels.

All the lines were going at the counters, so we thought we’d have a long wait, but actually the people working there really had the system down so it only took about 10 minutes from the time we got in line until when we had our trays of food. Basically, we all either got the cheese pizza combo, or the pepperoni pizza combo. Here’s the cheese pizza combo – came with the side salad, a soda and chocolate chip cookie (I think there was another option on the dessert – like different kind of cookie or rice krispie treat maybe, but we all went for the chocolate chip cookie.)

When they saw DH’s birthday button, he scored a Pizza Planet cup. Here’s his tray (he has pepperoni pizza on his.)

The pizzas were fresh, and good. Not the best, not gourmet…but hot & tasty. Really enjoy the side salads…so nice to get non-chips/non-fries as the side dish on fast-food. The cookies were absolutely wonderful last time we were there –as in straight out of the oven (chocolate chips still melted—that fresh.) This time…totally different. These cookies were hard as rocks…and seriously stale tasting. In fact, they really didn’t even taste like chocolate chip cookies. These looked like a choc chip cookie, but tasted like eating a saltine cracker – without the salt for flavor. I think these had been made at least the day before, and not stored in an air-tight container so totally dried out. None of us ate more than a bite of these cookies.

Sorry, I can’t tell you what the actual cost was-that receipt is missing in my stack.We actually paid 4 counter service credits. Checking the on-line, looks like the meals were roughly $12.50 each with drink & dessert, so cash would have run about $50.00. To rate the experience – well, ambiance – if you love the arcade scene (and find game noise attractive) this would be the place for you. Us, not so much…we prefer being able to hold a conversation where we don’t have to shout over electronic buzzes,bongs, dings, clonks, etc. So ambiance – about a 2 (o.k., it looks cute – it looks like the movie. So I’ll change that to a 5.) Service was good. The salads were good, the pizzas were acceptable…but the cookies - total yuck. And unfortunately, this is a meal that is NOT the usual overly-large servings – the pizzas are most definitely single serving sized so we could have eaten those cookies had they been any good. So overall, I’d have to say this meal just barely made it over the halfway mark—5.5, maybe 6 tops. Will we go back…I’m thinking not.

After lunch, we went to ride TSM a second time using our Fastpasses. Love that ride! We headed back to the hotel for a break…DH & the girls to the hot tub, and me to the air conditioning.

 

[catne]

We had the Fantasmic Dinner Package at Mama Melrose with a 5:10 seating. We checked in around 4:55 or so and it was a good 20 minutes until we were seated…which was kind of surprising because when we got in there it looked like the vast majority of the tables were empty. WTH? Now I know some restaurants that just open at 4:30 or 5:00 so they don’t fill the tables all at once. But Mama Melrose is a Fantasmic restaurant, so they actually have dinner reservations starting at 2:30! They did not just start serving a few minutes before we got there. Well, anyway, our server was quick to arrive and take our drink orders, but those drinks took another 10 minutes to get back to our table. Which was odd, because we were just on the other side of a divider from the bar…maybe 12-15 feet away from it, actually - and I could see bartenders standing around chatting with each other? Where were our drinks all that time? So I have to say right off the bat that we loved the food there, but not the service. You so often hear that people felt rushed at other WDW places, yet at Mama Melrose it seems to be moving at a snail’s pace. Now we actually were out of there in about an hour & 15 minutes, which isn’t terrible…but there was really quite a bit of waiting between things. And I just don’t understand where the help disappears too? It’s not just your own server that can’t be found – no one’s around for multiple minutes so you can’t even flag down someone else to help you or find your server. And we needed help, this time

So, anywho…the girls just ordered soft drinks, but I wanted the Bellini cocktail (“A refreshing combination of Sparkling Wine, White Peach, and Raspberry”) and DH ordered a Moretti beer. When the drinks finally came, it was just as tasty as the one I had in September. While it is peach colored, it’s not an overwhelming peach taste…but it is delicious.

Shortly after we sat down, some of the DHS street characters were making the rounds in Mama Melrose, and came over to wish DH a Happy Birthday…the actress (I think her character name is Dora Nesmond) made a big production of flirting outrageously with DH, lots of behind the hand, stage whisper “call me” and such – she’s almost as funny as the stepsisters with her exaggerated acting.

Well, anyway, on to the food. Since we were on the Fantasmic Dinner Package, we were entitled to appetizers. DD ordered the brushetta…described on the MM menu as “Marinated Tomatoes served with Crostini”. Now this was an interesting item: it was a very attractive presentation, and looked like it should be wonderful. But DD said it was “just o.k…well, not much to it.” While the crostini looks like there's some sort of butter & seasoning broiled onto it, the taste was just plain toasted white bread – no nothing flavor. It looked “golden brown” – just didn’t taste like golden anything. And the marinated tomatoes could have used some seasoning…she couldn’t guess what they were marinated in because they just tasted like plain tomatoes, albeit wet. Marinated in water? Who knows. Anyway, would not repeat on this one.

BFF ordered the caesar salad…a perfectly acceptable rendition. Nothing spectacular, but a good salad. She ate most of the salad, but left the crostini – it was the same tasteless toasted-nothing-bread as DD had on the bruschetta plate.

DH & I were here last September and had the calamari appetizer back before it was labeled “for two” – and we really like it then. So the description on the menu is “Crispy Calamari for Two topped with Peppers and Onions served with a side of spicy Marinara Sauce.” Which is the same description as before except for adding “for two” now. We both love calamari, so we ordered the “for two” version. Here’s our take on this…it’s the same size serving as before – same size bowl of dipping sauce, same coverage, on the same size plate, as in September (I even went back & looked at the picture from our September outing there.) But now it’s “for two.” Granted, it was way too big of a serving for one person before, even as an entrée it would have been large…and in fact, it’s still too much of an appetizer even for two if you’re also getting an entrée & a dessert. We just thought it was funny that the size is the same as before. But there was one difference we noticed – this was actually a good difference, for us – in September, it was close to half peppers & onions, half fried calamari. This time, the peppers & onions actually were in “Topping” quantities – there was a lot more calamari than veggies. And this was the standout appetizer – breaded correctly and then served hot & fresh. It was fried exactly crispy without getting hard & oil-logged. The dipping sauce is a little spicy – tangy, but even I like it (and I’m the wimp on “hot” spices.) We loved this stuff – and DD soon totally gave up on her bruschetta and started helping out with the calamari. This was a keeper, even as a “for two” appetizer. (We actually left some of it on the plate – with three of us eating it. There was no way we could finish this off with entrée & dessert still to come.)

For entrees, DH chose the Shrimp Pipette. Which is actually listed on the menu as “Chicken Pipette” and described as “Wood-grilled Chicken over Pipette Pasta tossed
with Artichokes, Peas, Roasted Peppers, and Sweet Onions in a Basil Four-Cheese”…he couldn’t figure out what to get because he was hankering for fishy-pasta…so I pointed out that “substitute shrimp” was an option on this dish. And that’s what he did. The shrimp were large & grilled nicely…he loved this pasta & sauce and actually cleaned the plate.

All three of the girls ordered the “Oven-Baked Chicken alla Parmigiana over spaghetti” which is a slightly inaccurate description, since they actually serve the chicken parmiagiana next to the spaghetti, not on top of it. That’s a good thing, as far as I’m concerned because I do not like chicken parm when the breading is soggy from sitting on pasta sauce. We all thought this was excellent. The breading was crispy, the sauce was good (more of a sweet tomato sauce than a tangy one) nd the spaghetti was cooked al dente, which is how we all prefer it. The meat was probably at least an 8 oz. Chicken breast, and the spaghetti serving was about 2 cups worth…definitely a good-sized meal but we all three at most of it. Would definitely order this dish again.

DD went for the warm chocolate truffle cake…was very good, but exceptionally rich. She would order it again.

DH ordered spumoni…which as you can see, sat somewhere for awhile before the waitress brought it out, since it arrived at the table looking like this. And the waitress made no effort to clean up the edge or give extra napkins or anything. Weird. It was very good ice cream, but quite the mess with the melt all over. He enjoyed it anyway.:

BFF & I both ordered the Honey-Hazelnut Ricotta Cheesecake. This was every bit as good as I remembered (had a bite in September when DH ordered it.) We both finished most of our dessert. I also had coffee with my dessert (as my DDP beverage, since I’d been drinking a cocktail with my meal.)

Now a word about service…it was slow, and at times non-existent. Refills took forever…both DH & I requested water when our appetizers came. Now we did not see the water until our entrees arrived & we reminded her about the water. The waitress never checked between servings to see if we needed anything…she just showed up with the next step of the meal. If we forgot to ask while she was around, we were out of luck because she never checked back, and there never seemed to be anyone else around that we could ask for anything. EXCEPT, at one point a different waiter walking by actually slipped and almost dumped a tray of full ice-water glasses on our table. As it was, DD jumped up & caught the edge (over my head, no less) so most of the glasses & water stayed on his tray. But at least two glasses-worth spilled all over the remains of our entrees, table & us. That guy gave a hurried “sorry” and disappeared. No one came to clean it up…when we mentioned the obvious mess on the table (and who had made it) several minutes later our server just said “sorry, I’ll get you some towels.” And came back about 15 minutes later with a stack of paper towels…and left again. I guess we were supposed to clean this up ourselves (and what were we supposed to do with the extra ice cubes all over our table – put them in our water glasses? You can see some of the ice cubes still on the table in some of the dessert pictures.) I probably should have complained to the manager or someone before we left, but after our server brought our KTTW cards & receipts…surprise, surprise there were no Mama Melrose employees in sight, anywhere. Not even at the podium out front. What were they doing, having a mandatory safety meeting right in the middle of dinner? We waited a couple of minutes…no one came back out. We had TSM fastpasses burning a hole in our pocket, so we gave up & left.

Will we be back…yes, we will. Because that’s the best choice for us on the Fantasmic Dinner Package, and the way they’re running so few shows, we really liked the reserved seats. And we actually do like the food there – the calamari, the entrees and the desserts were very good. Just wish the service hadn’t been so lacking.

So, anyway, the total cost of the Fantasmic meal package for 4 and our adult beverages, with tax was $155.98…but of course, using the DDP, the cash cost after deducting four TS credits was $15.45 plus tip. Do have to say this was one place we did not do our customary over-tipping.

 

[tink1957]

We had the same experience as you with Mama Melrose, good food, poor service. I guess that's why they schedule the Fantasmic Dinner pkgs so early, it takes forever to get your food & when you finally do get it, it takes forever to get the check. We decided to take our chances on our Sept trip & wait in line since you have to line up with everyone else instead of having the separate entrance at Oscar's.

 

[catne]

We had the same experience as you with Mama Melrose, good food, poor service. I guess that's why they schedule the Fantasmic Dinner pkgs so early, it takes forever to get your food & when you finally do get it, it takes forever to get the check. We decided to take our chances on our Sept trip & wait in line since you have to line up with everyone else instead of having the separate entrance at Oscar's.

Yeah, it really is a bummer, especially since last September, DH & I had far better service there...hopefully it was just an odd night in May. The server was much younger & appeared less experienced. We'll see.

By the way, those posts about having to "line up with everyone else" are not the way it actually works...it's true there's no separate entrance anymore, but you do not actually line up, or wait in line at all with the Fantasmic Dinner Package tickets. In May 2009, we walked straight in at 8:00 for a 9:00 show, gave our ticket to the CM at the top of the entrance ramp and they showed us exactly where to go...there were plenty of reserved seats to choose from at 8:00, an hour before the show. (but the rest of the theater was almost full. In fact, the line for people without tickets started forming two & 1/2 hours before show time -- there was quite a number of people waiting at 6:30 for a 9:00 show. By 7:00, the line was huge and went all the way down the block to the area in front of Beauty & the Beast. But they opened the theater at 7:30 (90 min. before show time), so when we walked in at 8:00, that huge crowd had progressed into the theater & taken their seats. There was just a steady stream of people going in when we went in, not really a "line" at all, and certainly no waiting.)

 

[catne]

The last day of our Disney vacation arrived...and Friday was “which park day?” on our schedule. We were closing the vacation out that night at the Magic Kingdom – open until midnight on Friday – so we knew MK was covered.

So in discussing which park to go to on Friday morning, DH & I didn’t really have a preference. We actually had two requests from the girls – BFF has never seen Nemo the Musical at AK— and we hadn’t been able to fit it in on our AK day earlier in the week, so she wondered if we could do AK for awhile. They both wanted one more time on Everest, as well. And, it came out that they’d “over-shopped” at Epcot (is that possible?) and had run out of time to make it onto Spaceship Earth…and BFF has never seen the updated SSE with the program-your-future part on the ride down. DH & I thought one more time on SSE would be fun, too...we actually love that ride (but then we're both history fanatics.) And we could eat lunch in Epcot - great counter service choices there, better than AK. So we decided we’d go out with a real whirl & make Friday a 3-park day. That's something I don’t think we’ve ever done before - 2 parks a day, often, but never 3. Well, we fortified ourselves with cereal bars, and headed for AK first thing…got there just a couple of minutes after rope drop at about 9:05. The girls took off at full speed for a last ride on Everest while DH & I just meandered towards Nemo since the first showing wasn't until 10:00 a.m.. We had time to look at some of the animal exhibits along the way, as well as admire the scenery around the lagoon -- love that spot on the way to Nemo when you can look across the water & see "Everest" in the distance...really a tranquil scene (except for every now & then when the breeze carries the sound of screams across the water, lol.)

We met up with the girls outside Nemo about 10:45, and found great seats right in the first row of the upper half tier -- so the wide aisle was right in front of us. That's where the actors walk several times during the show so we had the advantage of being able to see the "big picture" sitting back aways, but also got to see Nemo & some of the other characters up close because they paused to say some of the dialogue very close to us. The first showing wasn't even 1/2 full. The show was excellent – first time I saw this show last year, I was not impressed – I don’t know why. Just thought it was too much of a repeat of the movie, and didn't think the singing/dancing etc. was all that. Anyway, this time we really enjoyed it. Maybe it grew on us? All in all a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours - leisurely stroll through AK & then a 45 show in the air conditioning.

Well, after that we dashed off to Epcot, to ride SSE. We had about a 10 minute wait at SSE - only about 1/2 of that outside line was in the shade and it was really getting hot & humid by then...the dark coolness inside SSE was a very welcome relief. After SSE, it was lunch time, and the girls wanted to repeat Asian at Sunshine Seasons for lunch. They actually ordered exactly the same meals they had on Saturday, except this time one of them got strawberry shortcake and the other got the butterfinger cheesecake. The girls enjoyed their Asian plates & loved the desserts. Sorry, I didn't take pics of their entrees this time, but here's a replay on the desserts (always good to look at desserts)

DH & I both decided to try the grill station….He got the grilled pork loin, with two sides, and the strawberry shortcake for dessert. The pork chop was huge—extra thick, moist and well seasoned. He really liked this meal – he loves grilled food (cave-man at heart – cook it over a fire & it’s good.) The strawberry shortcake was every bit as good as previously.

I chose the grilled salmon, with mashed potatoes and a salad. Sorry about the acute angle on that picture, really messed up the perspective on the plate, size-wise. I know it looks like all salad & very little salmon or potatoes...and you can barely see anything but the salad, but it was actually a good sized portion of salmon- 6-7 oz. I'd guess. And a very large scoop of potatoes.The salmon was grilled to perfection…had to remind myself this was a counter service meal! Love the Disney mashed taters – I know some have reported them as “box potatoes” but I’ve never seen (or tasted) boxed mashed potatoes that have chunks of unmashed potatoes & flecks of red peel in them? Or that taste soooo good. The salad was fresh & tasty – kind of a tangy Asian dressing for it. I loved this lunch. For dessert, I was feeling a chocolate craving that needed a fast fix…the triple chocolate cake hit the spot. This was fabulous – very rich, frosting was outstanding. And I love those little chocolate-stripe straws they use.

So, after quick trips to two different parks, we were actually ready to head back to the resort & rest up for awhile…then off to Sanaa for dinner, followed by Magic Kingdom until late for a grand finish to our week.

Gosh, on the totals, well don't know what happened to the girls' receipt -- but for DH & I, the total was $34.97...so girls had to be somewhere in that same neighborhood because the hot entrees prices were all similar (and of course desserts & sodas were all the same.) What it actually cost - well, it just took our last 4 counter service credits to pay for it. How sad that was to see our "0 CNTR SVC Cpns Rem" at the bottom...vacation almost over.

Noisy as usual, so ambiance...well there ain't any! Crowded & loud...and very busy. But cleaners going around all the time. And service is fast. The food - 10+ on both entrees & desserts. We LOVE Sunshine Seasons...highly recommend it for excellent variety of non-burger/non-nugget meals. And the desserts are fabulous.

 

[catne]

Our Friday Finale started with dinner at Sanaa, the new table service restaurant in Animal Kingdom Lodge. The restaurant’s décor reminded me very much of Boma…with the carved wooden pillars & such. It was very peaceful in the restaurant – apparently it’s not well known yet, because it never even reached ½ full while we were there…now granted, we had early dinner reservations (5:00) but it was after 6:00 when we left and it was still very tranquil in there…and still at least ½ empty. It is amazing place to eat if you can snag a window seat, though, because the view of the animals is astonishing…they are so close. These are pictures I took from my chair at a window table…these are NOT zoomed!
unzoomed zebras

unzoomed zebra and giraffe

unzoomed giraffes running

Now here’s a picture I did zoom…to see the giraffe eating leaves off the tops of the trees, and the baby giraffe running along with another giraffe (not sure it was a baby, maybe a yearling or something, but it was smaller than the others)

We really, really enjoyed watching the animals. Disney does quite an artful job of placing their feed & treats just so the people will get a great, close-up view!

So, on to the restaurant…the waiter was extremely knowledgeable…it was obvious that even though the place had been open less than a month, he had the menu memorized, and already has his own favorites. He was very good with exact descriptions & comparisons. Like I’m not very good with hot/spicy foods…he was able to give me a good indicator of “how hot” the various dishes were (as my example, I told him Pace Mild Picante Sauce is about my limit…he laughed along with my family at the wimpiness of that, but steered me correctly through the menu choices. He was right on the money telling me which dishes I wouldn’t be able to handle since the others did order some of the hotter items, and I had some teeny tastes.)

So the girls opted for ice water & smoothies with their meal. (These are not covered on the Dining Plan) They both enjoyed these very much, and finished most of them. BFF had the mega berry smoothie, and DD had the green apple smoothie (I believe both of these are listed in the generic drinks notebook that’s available at all Disney restaurants.) Anyway, since they ordered these more than once, they must be good!

DH ordered the Kingfisher Beer…supposed to be one of India’s most popular beers: DH enjoyed it. I ordered the Poolside Lemonade. This is a lovely drink…looked like pink lemonade, and tasted like it too. But has a wonderful kick to it, courtesy of vodka It’s one of the Disney drinks that’s available all over, too…but some places it comes as pink lemonade, and others it looks just like regular lemonade. I’ve had it several different places, and it didn’t disappoint anywhere. My only objection (and the girls too) was that even at this indoor restaurant, due to the animal/ecology issues, they use the paper straws just like in the AK park. Well, try sipping on a smoothie or tall alcoholic beverage for any extended length of time...you can guess what happens. Our waiter was very good at leaving us a handful of extra straws to change out as needed.
sanaa poolside lemonade and kingfisher beer

Our waiter talked us into an appetizer (clever man!) But really we were leaning towards getting one anyway, just so we could have the novelty of trying items that are not usually available back in the middle of nowhere (go Huskers!) So we ordered the “Indian Style Bread Service” which is basically a choose 3 each on a breads & spreads list. We had no idea which 3 of anything to choose, so we took our waiter’s suggestion and got this:
sanaa breads and spreads

Our nice waiter actually brought out 4 spreads/dips for us…he added one free of charge just to give those that liked “hot” another option. But here’s the problem…I had written down what was what & how it tasted on the receipt. Which I cannot find! I do know we liked all the breads…and that two of these dips were too hot for me (one was just too hot, the other was way too hot.) One reminded us of a tomato/pickle relish. Can’t remember for sure what the other tasted like but I think it was a cucumber-based dip. Between the four of us, we ate most of this appetizer. There was a little bit of the hot stuff left, but DH & DD ate most of that with their entrees & to jazz up the plain rice with the entree. So the consensus was, the Indian Bread service is very tasty (and ask your waiter for help choosing!)

BFF went for the Tandoori lamb chops (not surprised!) and rice. She loved the lamb chops, thought the sauce it came with was too mustardy-tasting, did not like whatever that is below the chops (some sort of pudding-consistency stuff) and she thought the rice was boring (no flavoring on the rice at all.) She ate all of the lamb chops, but left most everything else.

I chose from the “Slow cooked in Gravy, Simple and Well Seasoned” section – you choose two entrees which are served with rice. I chose the short ribs and green curry shrimp.

Now I wasn’t listening very well when the waiter was describing these choices to me, because the green curry shrimp is hot! Not burn-your-tongue spicy, but hotter than I like. DH tells me he was quite surprised when I chose the shrimp, since the waiter “clearly” told me that the red curry chicken was much milder than the shrimp…oh well. I enjoyed the shrimp anyway, once I scraped off most of the sauce. The short ribs were very good – extremely tender without being mushy. Agree with the girls the rice is nothing but plain rice. Which is o.k. with me, I like plain rice. This dish was very good, but I would choose the red curry chicken with the short ribs if I was to order this again.

DD chose the Tandoori shrimp, which also comes with rice. She liked the shrimp, but agreed that the rice was a big nothing…although she at least had some sauce on the shrimp to stir into her rice. She ate all the shrimp, but only about ½ of the rice.

DH went to the “African Cooking with Indian Flavors” section of the menu, and chose the New York Strip “with spinach & mushroom pancake” served with oven-dried tomato chutney. He was fairly sure he’d like the tomato chutney and not like the spinach pancake. He was wrong…he actually really enjoyed the veggie pancake and didn’t care much for the tomato chutney. The steak he loved…cooked just as ordered, and tasty seasoning.

Now we came to the dessert portion of the evening…and have to start off by saying, I seriously let my crew down! I’d only read a few reviews of Sanaa and some of them didn’t have desserts reviewed. But I’d seen at least a couple that mentioned the rice pudding as a good dessert, as well as the dessert sampler and the cardamon cake as all being good choices. Well, we didn’t agree.

First, I chose the dessert sampler:

This is no sugar added mango pudding, egg-less chocolate cake, and cardamom-butter cake. The stand-out in this trio is the chocolate cake. It’s nothing unusual – just a very tasty chocolate cake. The cardamom-butter cake is interesting – not too sweet, but it is a sweet dessert. Not sure I’d order a whole dessert of it, but it was good. The mango pudding..what can I say. It says “no sugar added” …they should have described it as “absolutely ugghh, this tastes like a pureed vegetable that you would feed to a baby…and the baby would spit orange goo all over the place refusing this.” I give up on mango after this trip. First the mango margarita which was so horrid in Epcot, then this travesty on dessert. Yuck. Luckily I saved a bite of the chocolate cake to get the taste of the mango mush out of my mouth.

BFF ordered the Cardmom-Butter Cake – this was a very pretty presentation

She liked this, but could not finish it. Although the cake part is not excessively sweet, it is a rich dessert with the sauce.

Now here’s where we really fell down on the desserts…both DH & DD thought the “Vanilla-Coconut Rice Pudding” sounded perfect to finish off the meal. Again, a very nice presentation on this dessert, love the “antlers”:

Unfortunately, the wafer-thin chocolate antlers were the only edible part of this dessert. How the menu can describe this as either “vanilla” or “coconut” was beyond us…this stuff was absolutely flavorless…literally no taste to it. If they put any vanilla in this dessert, it was like one drop in a 50 gallon vat. And the only coconut apparent in this thing was the 5-6 tiny toasted pieces sprinkled as decor on the top (look closely, you can see them near where the antlers are sticking in the pudding)- certainly not enough coconut to add any flavor. Then, on to the texture…Don’t know what’s holding this together, other than the gloppiness from the rice pushed into a mold or something? DD described the texture of this as a cross between Styrofoam and totally drained, dried out cottage cheese & as tasteless as the rice with her entree. Only she was expecting some flavor with this, given that it was supposed to be a dessert. DH said Styrofoam was an apt description for both the texture & the taste - mentioning cottage cheese in connection to this dessert was an insult to cottage cheese. Perhaps the flavor of this is meant to be “subtle”…if so, it was way too subtle for any of us. Would not recommend this dessert to anyone. Now, to be fair, our waiter did offer to bring a different dessert out when he saw the both of these had just one small bite taken but neither of them wanted to try anything else at that point.

So, to sum up on the desserts…I think Sanaa really falls down in this area. The typical Disney restaurant has 4-5 dessert choices & at least 3 of the choices are usually very good or even outstanding. In our experience, even the not-so-good choice is still pretty good. Not here. They really only have one dessert that I would whole-heartedly recommend – that was the egg-less chocolate cake. Feel bad about that, because that’s the one dessert on the menu that is more “American” than anything else. If you’re wanting a more exotic choice, then the cardamom cake would be it – but I’d only put that in the “pretty good” category. The others…um, no way.

So, to rate the place. First of all, ambiance for Sanaa…very nice, and the view of the animals was extraordinary – a 10 there. And part-way through the meal, a trio of Sanaa employees came over and sang a beautiful birthday song in Swahili to DH – that was awesome – and adds a “plus” to the 10 on ambiance. The service was also a 10: our server was fast, efficient, friendly & knowledgeable. The food…well, the consensus was that the rice needs work. Or the sauced dishes need a more generous helping of sauce to mix in with the rice. Speaking of the need for generous helpings, we all felt that Sanaa does not follow the pattern of ample portions which is common to most Disney restaurants. With the exception of DH’s steak, the other entrees were all fairly small - like on my dish, the shrimp bowl had about 6 large shrimp (not jumbo - the one-bite size of shrimp.) And the short ribs were about 4 fork-fulls also...so the protein part of the meal was a total of maybe 10 bites. That's not your usual Disney portions at all. Except the steak, the other three entrees at the table were all small enough that if we had not had the breads/spreads as an appetizer, I think we would have been leaving hungry, especially since we ended up sharing the one & 2/3 edible desserts (the mango mush on the sampler was not edible, hence the “2/3”). So for the foods…well, I’m going to give the entrees a 7 -- they tasted good, but sides were "meh" and portion sizes were small. Desserts…well the 2 servings of rice pudding are a rock-bottom zero for sure, the cake & the dessert sampler about an 8…so that average of all 4 desserts would be a 4. That bad. So, the question now – would we return? Well, someday, probably. I would say to go if you’re interested – much of the food IS very good, and the décor/setting & service were all excellent.

We used our last 4 Table Service credits here (soooo SAD! Zero again on credits remaining) I don’t have the receipts, but using the on-line menu (the actual PDF of the Sanaa menu…notice allears.net has at least one big error on their version – the NY Strip is NOT $19.00!) Anyway, the bill for the part of our meal that was covered by the DDP would have been about $120.00 including tax. I would say that Sanaa is probably one of the less expensive places if you’re paying OOP – DH’s NY Strip steak at $27.99 was the most expensive item on the menu and at many other Disney restaurants, the steaks on the menu are over $30.00. Sanaa has quite a few entrees that are under $20.00.

After finishing dinner, we headed over to the main lodge at AKL to explore that gorgeous lobby, walk out on the verandah to look at the animals over there & then wander the gift shop. We headed over to Magic Kingdom for our final night of Disney fun...adios, or I guess I should say au revoir, Mickey Mouse!

So that’s the end of my May 2009 reviews…we tried a few new places, we went back to a few favorite restaurants and in general had a wonderful time playing & dining around WDW.

So much so that we’re going back for Free Dining in September! See ya then!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Thank you so much for your Sanaa review, I dont think we will eat there anytime soon but the pictures are great!

So sad that your reviews are over but I cannot wait for your Sept edition of reviews! BTW we have changed our Oct reservations to 11 days at the POFQ instead of a split stay and I cannot wait! Since you are there before me please save some biscuits and gravy for DH

 

[catne]

Thank you so much for your Sanaa review, I dont think we will eat there anytime soon but the pictures are great!

So sad that your reviews are over but I cannot wait for your Sept edition of reviews! BTW we have changed our Oct reservations to 11 days at the POFQ instead of a split stay and I cannot wait! Since you are there before me please save some biscuits and gravy for DH

Oh, I hope I didn't wreck Sanaa for anyone -- it is a wonderful place to eat & watch the animals - the view is amazing. And if you really want to eat at Sanaa, the menu I'd suggest would be the breads & spreads for an appetizer, and then have the NY Strip steaks...finish with the chocolate cake and the cardamom cake. That would give you a "little" exotic flavor, but not overboard.

And I'll try to rein in DH on the biscuits & gravy, but he's already referring to the September trip as the trip where "it will be biscuits & gravy, every morning" (which is also his way of describing what heaven will be like, too.) Hey, Nicki -you're doing the Epcot Food & Wine festival, right...hope to see some great reports on that. One of these years, like maybe 2010, we're going to try October, so I'd love to see some extensive reviews of the Food & Wine!

 

[hopeforus]

I went to the lounge a Sanaa a couple to weeks ago and went for a tour of the restaurant while I was there. The staff was great and let me look at a menu. i can't wait to go back for more. Your reviews have been a pleasure!

 

[catne]

I went to the lounge a Sanaa a couple to weeks ago and went for a tour of the restaurant while I was there. The staff was great and let me look at a menu. i can't wait to go back for more. Your reviews have been a pleasure!

Thanks! Were the animals in view when you were in there? We just couldn't believe how close they are when you're eating...and it was kinda funny, cuz we were eating & the animals were eating...and we were watching them, and it appeared that they were watching us. Don't know if the animals could actually see us - I think the windows might be tinted, but one zebra in particular seemed to be staring right back at us.

 

[oybolshoi]

Thanks for the reviews - enjoyed them all.

Too bad you won't be at F&W this year ... and too bad we won't be at F&W next year. Tell you what ... I'll provide you with some reviews this year if you return the favor next year. Do we have a deal?

 

[catne]

Thanks for the reviews - enjoyed them all.

Too bad you won't be at F&W this year ... and too bad we won't be at F&W next year. Tell you what ... I'll provide you with some reviews this year if you return the favor next year. Do we have a deal?

DEAL!

I would LOVE to go to the F & W this year...but the September Free Dining is for my birthday...I even get the gift card yippee. So I don't think I could convince DH to go back a few weeks later...for the 4th trip to WDW this year. Since it's a 21 hour drive But I'd still like to do it anyway

 

[MickeyNicki]

Oh, I hope I didn't wreck Sanaa for anyone -- it is a wonderful place to eat & watch the animals - the view is amazing. And if you really want to eat at Sanaa, the menu I'd suggest would be the breads & spreads for an appetizer, and then have the NY Strip steaks...finish with the chocolate cake and the cardamom cake. That would give you a "little" exotic flavor, but not overboard.

And I'll try to rein in DH on the biscuits & gravy, but he's already referring to the September trip as the trip where "it will be biscuits & gravy, every morning" (which is also his way of describing what heaven will be like, too.) Hey, Nicki -you're doing the Epcot Food & Wine festival, right...hope to see some great reports on that. One of these years, like maybe 2010, we're going to try October, so I'd love to see some extensive reviews of the Food & Wine!

Oh no you didnt wreck Sanaa for us, I dont think I could get DH over there to try it...he is not too keen on the menu...it was all I could do to get him to Jiko!

The two things Todd is looking forward to are the biscuits and gravy and the taco salad at POFQ....I am sure there will be lots of pics of that!

Yup we are doing F&W again, we go every single year since it opened, we love it! I promise to take tons of pictures of everything!

 

[catne]

Oh no you didnt wreck Sanaa for us, I dont think I could get DH over there to try it...he is not too keen on the menu...it was all I could do to get him to Jiko!

The two things Todd is looking forward to are the biscuits and gravy and the taco salad at POFQ....I am sure there will be lots of pics of that!

Yup we are doing F&W again, we go every single year since it opened, we love it! I promise to take tons of pictures of everything!

Sanaa really is a cool place to eat at, even if some of the food needs help. Maybe you can talk him into going there for drinks & appetizers -- that "Indian Bread Service" stuff was quite good (and the exotic breads basically taste like pita bread & soft shell tacos) Some of the other apps might be good, too. That way you'd at least get a chance at seeing the animals. Or just go for a drink...and beg a tour like HopeForUs posted.

I so envy you living in Fla! I wanna GO! Just don't know what I'm going to do next year when DH insists we have to go somewhere else in May! Oh, well, guess it's his birthday trip, so he should get to pick

But I know where I'm going in January...and in September 2010 for my birthday. Though I'm seriously thinking about delaying until the beginning of October for F & W.

 

[Pleakleyfan]

Thanks for the Sannaa reviews we are going there in Aug and I am looking forward to trying new foods. I too can’t handle anything spicy hot so I am glad the wait staff will help me choose correctly.

Can you make requests for changes? I know DH would like the steak but not the tomatoes. Can you ask for them to be left off?

Thanks for the idea of checking out AKL and gift shop. It sounds like a fun way to spend the evening.

Take care.

 

[tlynk]

In close- I just wanted to tell you that I loved your reviews. You did an outstanding job- very informative.

 

[catne]

Thanks for the Sannaa reviews we are going there in Aug and I am looking forward to trying new foods. I too can’t handle anything spicy hot so I am glad the wait staff will help me choose correctly.

Can you make requests for changes? I know DH would like the steak but not the tomatoes. Can you ask for them to be left off?

Thanks for the idea of checking out AKL and gift shop. It sounds like a fun way to spend the evening.

Take care.

Oh, sorry for not getting back to you. I would bet you can get the tomatoes left off the steak, unless the Sanaa chef is way different than all the other Disney restaurants...they're usually very good about leaving ingredients off if requested, especially for something that is added at the end anyway. And it was fairly easy to scrape off the excess...my DH liked the tomatoes, just thought there was too much of it so he did scrape quite a bit off.

And I highly recommend going back to the main building at AKL to check out that fabulous multi-story lobby & all the awesome decor in there, as well as walking out on that verandah to view the animals...that is like a private zoo there, complete with knowledgeable CMs out there to answer questions

 

[catne]

In close- I just wanted to tell you that I loved your reviews. You did an outstanding job- very informative.

Thanks for reading...I enjoy sharing info since I've gotten so much great info from the Disboards. Sure makes our vacays go so much smoother!

 

[yooperfan]

Nicki - don't know if you saw my post on that other thread about the beignets yesterday - I see you're heading to POFQ very soon!

Anyway, I tried twice asking if they'd sprinkle the powdered sugar on both sides, and was told "no, sorry, that's not the way they make them." The second time, it was a manager making them (the 2 workers in the bakery had a line a mile long so manager came flying in there & took over the beignets production. So I just took the hot beignets to a table right away, flipped 'em and sprinkled the non-sugared side myself. That worked pretty good...almost as good as last year.

DH was thrilled to find biscuits & gravy for $3.49 at POFQ --so it's a snack credit! Don't know why he likes that stuff so much (has to be a guy thing...I'll take a bite, but no way to eat a whole plate of that stuff)

You mentioned using snack credits for biscuits & gravy because of it's price. We have never used dining plan before, are snacks figured by cost? Also, are the snacks allowed with QS dining the same as the reg. dining plan?