Niki Andiokno
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2003
- Messages
- 1,086
I am going to try my hand at a little dining report. I know, no photos. Alot of the restaurants aren't even Disney ones. I thought I would throw them in, as every once in awhile someone might go off site. This includes alot of Universal places, too. If this should be in the Universal thread, please move it.
Dinner our first night was at Maggiano's Little Italy on I-Drive, just a couple of minutes from WDW near the convention center. I just LOVE LOVE LOVE this place. Family style meal for $24 per person. We had fried calimari and stuffed mushrooms for appies, chopped and ceaser salads, roasted pork loin and chicken francese for entrees, Rigatoni with chicken and mushroom marsala and lobster ravioli for pastas, and apple crostada and crème brulee for dessert. All for $24. Plus you got to take home any leftovers. Since we were staying at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club at Sea World, leftovers found their way home. The food was excellent. The raspberry martinis (notice plural) were awesome. If you can get off site, try this place. It is family friendly and far from the nasty I-Drive traffic.
The next day, I needed my football fix. Since da Bears weren't on at the room, we went to BW for ESPN Zone. ESPN was a nightmare. DH and I want to stay in the bar, while our guests insisted on the restaurant. We got beer and watch at the bar while they stand in line. I am NOT missing kick-off. Da Bears got hammered. Our food was not nearly as good as we usually get there. Nachos we got were significantly smaller than the table next to us. Wings were still good, though. Even though we eventually got a table in the main room, we got better service at the bar. This was the worst service we had at WDW EVER!!! It was so bad, I had to track down our waiter to get a refill of my brew. I waited over half an hour for it, even after ordering. And the waiter was just standing around. I had to argue with DF about how much tip to leave. And he worked in the industry before! I ended up leaving extra, but this was the pits. I don't think I will be back, even though this is almost always in our plans. Bummer.
Day 3 we went to USF. After a long frustrating day of USF (everything was closed, we decide we need real food, and I need a quiet place to make some work phone calls. We decided we would try Latin Quarter at Citywalk. Closed. Thought to try Tchoup Chop for lunch at the Royal Pacific Resort. Closed! We always lunch here, and even that was closed! I had read good things about Bula's Bar at the Royal Pacific Resort pool. We ended up there.
Bula's has to be the best meal I had all week. What a sleeper. It is worth the drive from WDW just to eat here. And the food is inexpensive by WDW standards. We all stared out with a Mai Tai. I could still work with one, LOL. Excellent. I ordered a steak fajita wrap and fries. This was wonderful tender steak, lots of it, wrapped with avocado, peppers, grilled onions and chimichurri sauce. Just wonderful. The steak was as flavorful as anything you would get at a steak house. I could only eat half, and a few of the crispy, well seasoned fries. Had it wrapped to take home. DF had a huge burger. DH had a Huli Huli chicken sandwich. Huge chicken breast with polynesian sauce, avocado, lettuce and frsh tomato. He was greatly impressed. Our waitress was always there, very helpful, and always had our sodas full. In fact, she brought us each a refill in a to go cup because she said we looked like we needed liquid refreshment for the road. All the refills on pop were free. The kicker was she had an 18% tip already built in. She didn't have to be so good, but she was. We left her the extra tip we didn't give at ESPN. I will return to this wonderful respite again.
Later that night, we went to a wine tasting right at the resort. I was really impressed at all of the adult activities. We had wine, cheese and fruit. The winery was local and used fruits other than grapes. I was really impressed with this resort's adult activities. While there, we had a Wine tasting, scotch tasting and $1 beer during the football games shown poolside. Really nice, and good stuff, too.
Day 4 we went to US/IOA. This day was much better, and I love this park. It was lunch time. I wanted to do Dueling Dragons before eating, but I was outvoted. I had read so much about Mythos, the "best theme park restaurant in the USA." My group wanted to take some rest, so we decided to try it. I did not think it stood up to the hype, but the food was good and the atmosphere is really great. YOu eat in a cave-like area. Really cool. I had french onion soup, which was good. I didn't want to eat much because I wanted to go on a coaster. DH had the blueberry crusted pork loin. This was very yummy. Of course, I tasted it. DF had some kind of salad with goats cheese. He seemed to like it alot. DFW had a salad as well with fillet on it. She gave me some of the steak, and it was flavorful and very tender. Also, it was alot of steak for a salad. The entrees were reasonably priced. I think the most expensive was $16 for a steak. The price was right. Although I don't like to eat and ride a coaster, drink and ride a coaster is a whole different ball game. I had Potion of the Gods. This was worth the trip to Mythos! It is a fruity concoction with rum. It came in a 24 oz. glass that looks almost like a wine glass. Of course it was for me to take home, although I would have preferred the drink without it. The price of this was almost as much as an entree, LOL. Totally worth it though. That is why I ate a little steak. My buddies thought I needed something of substance if I intended to ride a coaster. Although I really didn't need it, who can turn down tender fillet? Especially since it took two times for the chef to get it right. DFW ordered it medium. It came from the kitchen oozing blood all over her salad. They brought her a new one when she requested it in a timely manner. Potion of the Gods notwithstanding, this was not the best theme park restaurant I have ever had, but it was pretty good. Next time, I'm just going for the drinks.
That night we went to dinner at Kona Cafe with some friends we met on another board. I love the Poly. Anyway, we started with the obligatory Mai Tai at the bar by O'Hana. I just love these. DH and I split the dumplings. Yummo, as always. I was disappointed that my macadamia crusted mahi mahi was off the menu. I just loved that dish. The replacement was a miso soup with mahi. OK, but not nearly as good. Too few noodles and too much bok choy. Also gone from the menu was the Macadamia Chocolate torte. Service was slow, though so we didn't make it to dessert. We wanted to see Hallowishes from the beach.
The next day we bummed around DTD and went to Paradiso 37 for lunch. This place is visually appealing, with high ceilings, and a large bar with a wall of tequila. This is a great place to drink. We ordered really great margaritas. I also got a shot of some wild named tequila, but unfortunately I don't recall what it was. We ordered a corn appie of roasted corn on the cob with chili spices and cheese on top. This was really awesome. I have to make this at home. The guacamole and chips were really great, too. I say this is a good place to drink because the drinks and appies were so good. I wish the entrees had lived up to our first course. I had a salad that tasted like lettuce with lime sprinkled on. My DF's burger was raw, and I mean a real blood gusher. DFW had a quesadilla with almost no meat on it that tasted of liquid smoke flavoring. Totally inedible. DH had an enchilada that he liked, but the rest of us thought tasted a bit funky. We skipped dessert and decided to forget the entrees altogether.
The next evening we went to Roy's on Sand Lake Road. This place is great. Mai Tai leaves a little to be desired, but the food was excellent. The second drink was a far superior pineapple martini. I had two more of these, they were so good. We had a complimentary bowl of edamame. DFW had never had this, and was greatly impressed. The spicy salt on them was great. We then ordered a pre fixe menu. I had steamed dumplings, one of my favorites, as you can see. Everyone else had some kind of sausage thing. It was tasty, but not as good as mine. Everyone was jealous. We all had sirloin steak, which was really tender and flavorful for that cut. The polynesian spices were tasty. Next came the moment I had been waiting for. Chocolate soufle for dessert. I had been craving a chocolate dessert for days. The small bite of the lackluster mini-dessert at Mythos just didn't cut it. This sure did. It was yummy, fluffy chocolate. I was in heaven. DH was slow eating his, and had to fight me off with his fork. Roll me outtathere and straight to bed.
Our final night, we went to USF Royal Pacific Resort. I really love this resort. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge Poly fan and would purchase DVC there in a heartbeat. This resort just reminds me more of Hawaii, has a more adult vibe and is much more elegant. Upon entering, you find a lanai. It is a beautiful indoor garden, but the ceiling opens up to see the stars. It has a rectangular pond, with statues of elephants, budda's and other asian inspired scenes. The plants are beautiful. The whole place is extremely peaceful. The lobby is filled with dark wood chairs that have leather cushions that are extremely cushy. They also have some funky shaped loungers that are uber-comfortable.
We made our way downstairs, past the pool and Bula's, to Tchoup Chop. The decor has alot of purple in it, so I really like it. There is a long rectangular pond between the booths, complete with lilly pads. This is one of my favorite places to eat. DH and I had Mai Tais. This place has a really nice wine list, but it was too hot for me to drink wine. We started out with a Spicy Tuna Roll appie. It was awesome. Really fresh sushi. The rolls were interesting, as they seemed inside-out. DF had the dumpling basket, of which I was immediately jealous. Although the sushi was probably better, I get a twinge every time I see this little basket, as it is so good. DFW had edamame. I created a monster. She loves this now. It had really course sea salt on it. We all had some. She also had the wedge salad, which I make at home often for DH. DF got a pre fixe menu that was only $35. Not a bad deal, but the rest of us had our sights on entrees not available on it. I had huge sea scallops with a butternut squash risotto. The risotto was a little sweet, but still so good I ate almost all of it. The scallops were the best ever, a chef special. The seasoning had a lemongrass flavor. Really wonderful. DH had the Polynesian Platter. I just remember it had pork on it and sausage. He gets this often and really loves it. DF had braised short ribs. They looked absolutely fantastic. He gave me a bite, and it just melted in my mouth. I have never had short ribs that tasted so good. Not sure if it was the fact they were Kobe beef, or just the way they were prepared. Wow! DFW had a great steak, NY Strip. It was cooked to perfection, and had a great polynesian taste. The steak was huge, and came with some great garlic mashed potatoes. We each tasted the other's dinners and were all greatly impressed. Desserts were all good, like every other thing we had here.
Normally DH and I will share a dessert. Here all bets were off. I wanted Hawaiian Vintage Chocolate cake. This is the best chocolate for baking. My friends always bring this back from Hawaii for me, or I order it online, and I use it in my chocolate grand marnier souflee. This is incomparable chocolate. This was all mine, even though everyone could have a small, small taste without the knife coming out to stab them. DH really wanted pineapple upside down cake. He said this was one of the best. Although other people like mine (which is a spicy cake,) DH does not. He likes the classic yellow cake that was used in Emeril's. I have to admit, this was mighty tasty. DF had a dessert sampler that came with his pre fixe menu. It had tiramisu, key lime pie, pecan pie and something else. None of these interested me, and were small so we left them all for the big guy. DFW had the most humungous piece of banana cream pie I have ever seen. It had a couple of layers of really thick banana slices, banana cream pudding in between and a thick layer of whipped cream. Some kind of caramel sauce was involved too. DFW thought is was good, but was expecting more of a classic cream pie. I am a banana cream hater, but this was exceptional. I could have eaten much more of this had I not stuffed myself with carefully guarded chocolate cake. I would eat this again. The rest of us loved it.
Again, I needed to be rolled outta here. We did walk through this beautiful resort for awhile to work off what we just ate. Now I can say two of my favorite restaurants are in this resort. Now I just need to try the sushi place and the buffet at the RPR. I hear they are both really good.
Dinner our first night was at Maggiano's Little Italy on I-Drive, just a couple of minutes from WDW near the convention center. I just LOVE LOVE LOVE this place. Family style meal for $24 per person. We had fried calimari and stuffed mushrooms for appies, chopped and ceaser salads, roasted pork loin and chicken francese for entrees, Rigatoni with chicken and mushroom marsala and lobster ravioli for pastas, and apple crostada and crème brulee for dessert. All for $24. Plus you got to take home any leftovers. Since we were staying at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club at Sea World, leftovers found their way home. The food was excellent. The raspberry martinis (notice plural) were awesome. If you can get off site, try this place. It is family friendly and far from the nasty I-Drive traffic.
The next day, I needed my football fix. Since da Bears weren't on at the room, we went to BW for ESPN Zone. ESPN was a nightmare. DH and I want to stay in the bar, while our guests insisted on the restaurant. We got beer and watch at the bar while they stand in line. I am NOT missing kick-off. Da Bears got hammered. Our food was not nearly as good as we usually get there. Nachos we got were significantly smaller than the table next to us. Wings were still good, though. Even though we eventually got a table in the main room, we got better service at the bar. This was the worst service we had at WDW EVER!!! It was so bad, I had to track down our waiter to get a refill of my brew. I waited over half an hour for it, even after ordering. And the waiter was just standing around. I had to argue with DF about how much tip to leave. And he worked in the industry before! I ended up leaving extra, but this was the pits. I don't think I will be back, even though this is almost always in our plans. Bummer.
Day 3 we went to USF. After a long frustrating day of USF (everything was closed, we decide we need real food, and I need a quiet place to make some work phone calls. We decided we would try Latin Quarter at Citywalk. Closed. Thought to try Tchoup Chop for lunch at the Royal Pacific Resort. Closed! We always lunch here, and even that was closed! I had read good things about Bula's Bar at the Royal Pacific Resort pool. We ended up there.
Bula's has to be the best meal I had all week. What a sleeper. It is worth the drive from WDW just to eat here. And the food is inexpensive by WDW standards. We all stared out with a Mai Tai. I could still work with one, LOL. Excellent. I ordered a steak fajita wrap and fries. This was wonderful tender steak, lots of it, wrapped with avocado, peppers, grilled onions and chimichurri sauce. Just wonderful. The steak was as flavorful as anything you would get at a steak house. I could only eat half, and a few of the crispy, well seasoned fries. Had it wrapped to take home. DF had a huge burger. DH had a Huli Huli chicken sandwich. Huge chicken breast with polynesian sauce, avocado, lettuce and frsh tomato. He was greatly impressed. Our waitress was always there, very helpful, and always had our sodas full. In fact, she brought us each a refill in a to go cup because she said we looked like we needed liquid refreshment for the road. All the refills on pop were free. The kicker was she had an 18% tip already built in. She didn't have to be so good, but she was. We left her the extra tip we didn't give at ESPN. I will return to this wonderful respite again.
Later that night, we went to a wine tasting right at the resort. I was really impressed at all of the adult activities. We had wine, cheese and fruit. The winery was local and used fruits other than grapes. I was really impressed with this resort's adult activities. While there, we had a Wine tasting, scotch tasting and $1 beer during the football games shown poolside. Really nice, and good stuff, too.
Day 4 we went to US/IOA. This day was much better, and I love this park. It was lunch time. I wanted to do Dueling Dragons before eating, but I was outvoted. I had read so much about Mythos, the "best theme park restaurant in the USA." My group wanted to take some rest, so we decided to try it. I did not think it stood up to the hype, but the food was good and the atmosphere is really great. YOu eat in a cave-like area. Really cool. I had french onion soup, which was good. I didn't want to eat much because I wanted to go on a coaster. DH had the blueberry crusted pork loin. This was very yummy. Of course, I tasted it. DF had some kind of salad with goats cheese. He seemed to like it alot. DFW had a salad as well with fillet on it. She gave me some of the steak, and it was flavorful and very tender. Also, it was alot of steak for a salad. The entrees were reasonably priced. I think the most expensive was $16 for a steak. The price was right. Although I don't like to eat and ride a coaster, drink and ride a coaster is a whole different ball game. I had Potion of the Gods. This was worth the trip to Mythos! It is a fruity concoction with rum. It came in a 24 oz. glass that looks almost like a wine glass. Of course it was for me to take home, although I would have preferred the drink without it. The price of this was almost as much as an entree, LOL. Totally worth it though. That is why I ate a little steak. My buddies thought I needed something of substance if I intended to ride a coaster. Although I really didn't need it, who can turn down tender fillet? Especially since it took two times for the chef to get it right. DFW ordered it medium. It came from the kitchen oozing blood all over her salad. They brought her a new one when she requested it in a timely manner. Potion of the Gods notwithstanding, this was not the best theme park restaurant I have ever had, but it was pretty good. Next time, I'm just going for the drinks.
That night we went to dinner at Kona Cafe with some friends we met on another board. I love the Poly. Anyway, we started with the obligatory Mai Tai at the bar by O'Hana. I just love these. DH and I split the dumplings. Yummo, as always. I was disappointed that my macadamia crusted mahi mahi was off the menu. I just loved that dish. The replacement was a miso soup with mahi. OK, but not nearly as good. Too few noodles and too much bok choy. Also gone from the menu was the Macadamia Chocolate torte. Service was slow, though so we didn't make it to dessert. We wanted to see Hallowishes from the beach.
The next day we bummed around DTD and went to Paradiso 37 for lunch. This place is visually appealing, with high ceilings, and a large bar with a wall of tequila. This is a great place to drink. We ordered really great margaritas. I also got a shot of some wild named tequila, but unfortunately I don't recall what it was. We ordered a corn appie of roasted corn on the cob with chili spices and cheese on top. This was really awesome. I have to make this at home. The guacamole and chips were really great, too. I say this is a good place to drink because the drinks and appies were so good. I wish the entrees had lived up to our first course. I had a salad that tasted like lettuce with lime sprinkled on. My DF's burger was raw, and I mean a real blood gusher. DFW had a quesadilla with almost no meat on it that tasted of liquid smoke flavoring. Totally inedible. DH had an enchilada that he liked, but the rest of us thought tasted a bit funky. We skipped dessert and decided to forget the entrees altogether.
The next evening we went to Roy's on Sand Lake Road. This place is great. Mai Tai leaves a little to be desired, but the food was excellent. The second drink was a far superior pineapple martini. I had two more of these, they were so good. We had a complimentary bowl of edamame. DFW had never had this, and was greatly impressed. The spicy salt on them was great. We then ordered a pre fixe menu. I had steamed dumplings, one of my favorites, as you can see. Everyone else had some kind of sausage thing. It was tasty, but not as good as mine. Everyone was jealous. We all had sirloin steak, which was really tender and flavorful for that cut. The polynesian spices were tasty. Next came the moment I had been waiting for. Chocolate soufle for dessert. I had been craving a chocolate dessert for days. The small bite of the lackluster mini-dessert at Mythos just didn't cut it. This sure did. It was yummy, fluffy chocolate. I was in heaven. DH was slow eating his, and had to fight me off with his fork. Roll me outtathere and straight to bed.
Our final night, we went to USF Royal Pacific Resort. I really love this resort. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge Poly fan and would purchase DVC there in a heartbeat. This resort just reminds me more of Hawaii, has a more adult vibe and is much more elegant. Upon entering, you find a lanai. It is a beautiful indoor garden, but the ceiling opens up to see the stars. It has a rectangular pond, with statues of elephants, budda's and other asian inspired scenes. The plants are beautiful. The whole place is extremely peaceful. The lobby is filled with dark wood chairs that have leather cushions that are extremely cushy. They also have some funky shaped loungers that are uber-comfortable.
We made our way downstairs, past the pool and Bula's, to Tchoup Chop. The decor has alot of purple in it, so I really like it. There is a long rectangular pond between the booths, complete with lilly pads. This is one of my favorite places to eat. DH and I had Mai Tais. This place has a really nice wine list, but it was too hot for me to drink wine. We started out with a Spicy Tuna Roll appie. It was awesome. Really fresh sushi. The rolls were interesting, as they seemed inside-out. DF had the dumpling basket, of which I was immediately jealous. Although the sushi was probably better, I get a twinge every time I see this little basket, as it is so good. DFW had edamame. I created a monster. She loves this now. It had really course sea salt on it. We all had some. She also had the wedge salad, which I make at home often for DH. DF got a pre fixe menu that was only $35. Not a bad deal, but the rest of us had our sights on entrees not available on it. I had huge sea scallops with a butternut squash risotto. The risotto was a little sweet, but still so good I ate almost all of it. The scallops were the best ever, a chef special. The seasoning had a lemongrass flavor. Really wonderful. DH had the Polynesian Platter. I just remember it had pork on it and sausage. He gets this often and really loves it. DF had braised short ribs. They looked absolutely fantastic. He gave me a bite, and it just melted in my mouth. I have never had short ribs that tasted so good. Not sure if it was the fact they were Kobe beef, or just the way they were prepared. Wow! DFW had a great steak, NY Strip. It was cooked to perfection, and had a great polynesian taste. The steak was huge, and came with some great garlic mashed potatoes. We each tasted the other's dinners and were all greatly impressed. Desserts were all good, like every other thing we had here.
Normally DH and I will share a dessert. Here all bets were off. I wanted Hawaiian Vintage Chocolate cake. This is the best chocolate for baking. My friends always bring this back from Hawaii for me, or I order it online, and I use it in my chocolate grand marnier souflee. This is incomparable chocolate. This was all mine, even though everyone could have a small, small taste without the knife coming out to stab them. DH really wanted pineapple upside down cake. He said this was one of the best. Although other people like mine (which is a spicy cake,) DH does not. He likes the classic yellow cake that was used in Emeril's. I have to admit, this was mighty tasty. DF had a dessert sampler that came with his pre fixe menu. It had tiramisu, key lime pie, pecan pie and something else. None of these interested me, and were small so we left them all for the big guy. DFW had the most humungous piece of banana cream pie I have ever seen. It had a couple of layers of really thick banana slices, banana cream pudding in between and a thick layer of whipped cream. Some kind of caramel sauce was involved too. DFW thought is was good, but was expecting more of a classic cream pie. I am a banana cream hater, but this was exceptional. I could have eaten much more of this had I not stuffed myself with carefully guarded chocolate cake. I would eat this again. The rest of us loved it.
Again, I needed to be rolled outta here. We did walk through this beautiful resort for awhile to work off what we just ate. Now I can say two of my favorite restaurants are in this resort. Now I just need to try the sushi place and the buffet at the RPR. I hear they are both really good.
