Nothing A Little Sangria Can't Fix! A Thanksgiving 2016 Dining Report update 3/21 MK eats

[Lisa F]

Hi guys, and HAPPY NEW YEAR again Hope you all had a fun time celebrating and nobody and !!
And now, back to our regularly scheduled updates which should come more often since I don't have any extra people in my house since the holidays are over!

NARCOOSSEE'S
Wait. What? Narcoossee's? But Ariane, when you left off last you said you were going to do HS snacks and a Disney Springs update! What gives
Well.......I messed up. Misspoke. Had a brain fart Failing to consult my notes both here and over in my TR, I mistakenly thought our DS night was the same day as Capt. Grille, but alas it was not. I'm sorry We DID eat in Disney Springs and I WILL get to that review, you guys will just have to be patient with me and follow along a bit longer!
Here's what really happened that day:
We walked to HS rather than taking the boat. It surprised me that Chris was ok walking since he's, well, not a fan of the walking, but it felt good to get some exercise after our big meal. We arrived at the entrance about 11:28, so 2 minutes shy of the end of our FP window for TOT, a FP I made when we were supposed to be a foursome today. Ricky and I LOVE TOT, Steve generally enjoys it, but Chris has no love for the Hollywood Tower Hotel. Last Nov. he rode if for the first time and I thought he was going to disown us and find another family lol!

I used my mommy powers of persuasion (aka guilt) to get him to ride with me, and he did good this year! Not exactly thrilled but not screaming like someone is pulling off his appendages:


I was pointing out how you have a great view of the park from the very top but he wasn't interested in looking
I didn't think we'd spend much time in HS since it's Chris's least favorite park, but we ended up being there long enough to need snacks. I won't bore you with pictures of his Disney hot dog or my Disney popcorn, but I will show you a picture of our fresh, warm, sugary sweet and fun to eat......


NUTS!!!
covered up of course. I do have a little class.

No recollection of what that is we're holding our nuts over......
So, glazed nuts in a paper funnel: one has walnuts and one has pecans, and I love both equally. Big, small, some bites sweeter than others, I don't discriminate when it comes to these nuts. Really, can you go wrong putting sugar glaze on anything? And can anyone argue nuts can often use something to sweeten them up?
Alright, I'm done! I couldn't resist all that and I'm a bit tired since I was up late last night partying as if I'm still in my 20's, so there's my excuse. I do wish I had a picture of the actual nuts for those of you who've never tried them, but I wasn't thinking like a good Dis'er and took this picture mainly to send to Ricky and Steve since this is one of their favorite snacks and they were missing out.

Someone wanted to swim and it wasn't me, so we left the park early enough to give ourselves time for the pool before Narcoossee's dinner. Unfortunately the someone who wanted to swim also refused to get out when I told him to, so I had to threaten to walk away and eat dinner myself before he finally got out and we could go back to the room to get ready! This meant getting to the bus stop later than I'd wanted: 6:00 instead of 5:30, since we had to bus to MK and then get to the GF.

We got to the MK around 6:35 and I still felt good since our reservation wasn't until 7:05, but it was too cold for the boat and the resort monorail line was down almost to the end of the ramp. Then once we were next to board, the CM's announced that TWO monorails were going out of rotation for the night, and it takes some time to back them in to the garage blah, blah, blah, and of course no other monorails can come down the track while this is happening, and bottom line we got to Narcoossee's at 7:30. Luckily they were running behind like Capt. Grille was so no problem, and we still waited 10 mins for our table. As we were being walked to said table I was handed this neat menu with a little greeting on top:



I know others' have gotten these but we never have, and I was especially surprised because I wasn't asked at the podium if we'd eaten there before. I just thought it was a nice little touch! We all ate dinner here for the first time last Nov. and loved it, but Ricky and Chris especially did and both asked to eat here again. Unfortunately for Ricky after we knew he wouldn't be with us tonight I couldn't find another reservation for when he and Steve would be down. It was a week before Thanksgiving and while there was more ADR availability in general than I thought there would be, no other Narcoossee's. But Chris and I were going to take one for the team and rather than cancel we'd muddle through a meal there without them

We both knew what we were getting to eat but decided to not rush our waitress, and just started with our drinks - soda and another cute Mickey straw for Chris, and since I was told "NO" at breakfast, I got myself a glass of Moscato:



Actually I got myself 3 glasses of Moscato-notice in the picture how Chris is on his Ipod? Well, I readily admit my boys have tons of electronics and spend tons of time on them, but one thing I hate are electronics at the table. He'd been really good up until now conversing with me at meals and of course playing my all-time favorite game, I Spy, but tonight he just wouldn't put it down. And since I had nobody to talk to, I decided I'd try to drink enough to talk to myself!
Next came the bread. I don't think their bread is anything that special but I do love the butter with sea salt:



Chris does not like the sea salt and scraped some off the butter. I promptly dipped my piece of bread, already buttered and salted up, in the salt he'd scraped off onto the butter plate. No wasting the water-retention substance!
For our entrees we both ordered what we'd gotten last Nov., and since it was the same thing here's one picture:



Mmm, grass fed Filet Mignon, Boniato potato mash, broccollini, with a red-wine oxtail reduction. This was as good as the first time and yes, Chris got the "adult" meal just like I did. The potatoes are so good, a tad sweet since apparently boniato potatoes are a kind of sweet potato which I normally don't like. We both finished the potatoes and our meat, and Chris ate his broccollini and some of mine.
I know some people like Kari @kastoney will disagree with me, but as much as I enjoy Narcoossee's I prefer Citricos. There was absolutely nothing wrong with my meal, it was perfect, and Citricos doesn't have Moscato (or at least didn't in Aug.) so Narcoossee's wins there. But overall Citricos nudges out Narcoossee's for apps and entrees.
For dessert however, nothing in the World has topped this for me:



Oh yeah, their famous almond-crusted cheesecake with Lambert cherry sauce. The cheesecake reminds me of Good Humor toasted almond bars that I used to eat when I was younger but 100x better. It's heaven alone but if you put some of the cheesecake, some of the cherry sauce and some of the cream on your spoon together, you'll forget all your problems for a minute You'll also forget for a minute that there's a weird kid sitting across from you who, for the 2nd night in a row, didn't get dessert-this concept is foreign to me. I did let him eat the chocolate pieces from mine, though. You can see him reaching for one as I'm taking the picture!
We really enjoyed our meal again and I'll go back, especially since Ricky was sad about not getting the lobster mac & cheese this time. I know @Lisa F did not have a good experience here and I hate that, because I think it's a great signature. I also think that every restaurant has bad nights, even the best restaurants on property, which unfortunately is what I think she got. And even a restaurant that is LOVED by many here on the Dis isn't to everyone's liking; one example is Kona. We did not enjoy our breakfast there at all a few years ago but many swear by it.
One more thing I do love about Narcoossee's is the view across the water. Last year we watched Wishes from the deck; it wasn't my plan this year and we left before they started, but I still went outside to have a look and took one blurry picture:



Not my best attempt at photography and much prettier in person, but you get the drift
On our way out of the GF I found a new store to love and spend $$ in on all future trips (Basin) and we took an up close look at the gingerbread house which never fails to impress. Then it was back to the Beach Club to brag about dinner to those we left behind and catch some zzzz's, we had a PPO breakfast in the morning!


UP NEXT: GARDEN GRILL BREAKFAST

yeah see, your filet looks great. In reviewing my pictures you can see that it is still purple in the center of the sides on kiddo's even in the pictures. Also I don't think there is any butter on top either, maybe that is what they meant by plain? But have to review my pics to see for sure. I do agree that every place has a bad night and given just how many meals we had and how good most of them were (the next worst was "just ok" and the next after that was "pretty darn tasty" all the way up to "amazeballs" per the kid, which is pretty much his highest compliment) we did real well with that.. it is just a shame that our finale meal on the DxDDP that was also around $240 with tip was the horrible one!

also if I had been able to get the 2nd glass of wine I wanted (let alone a third) I might have been more mellow. but the bathroom thing might have been a lot worse of an issue too

 

[kastoney]

Hi guys, and HAPPY NEW YEAR again Hope you all had a fun time celebrating and nobody and !!
And now, back to our regularly scheduled updates which should come more often since I don't have any extra people in my house since the holidays are over!

Happy New Year to You!!!!!!!! No here in VA but you know there was lots of this

I didn't think we'd spend much time in HS since it's Chris's least favorite park, but we ended up being there long enough to need snacks. I won't bore you with pictures of his Disney hot dog or my Disney popcorn, but I will show you a picture of our fresh, warm, sugary sweet and fun to eat......


NUTS!!!
covered up of course. I do have a little class.

Key being the word "little" which is why we get along oh so well

I know others' have gotten these but we never have, and I was especially surprised because I wasn't asked at the podium if we'd eaten there before. I just thought it was a nice little touch!

Nice touch indeed. I think we've eaten there for 3 or 4 straight trips and never got one of those. Of course maybe that is because we don't decide to eat there until 5 minutes before we show up We do have an actual ADR for next month so we'll see....

Actually I got myself 3 glasses of Moscato-

Girl after my own heart

I readily admit my boys have tons of electronics and spend tons of time on them, but one thing I hate are electronics at the table. He'd been really good up until now conversing with me at meals and of course playing my all-time favorite game, I Spy, but tonight he just wouldn't put it down. And since I had nobody to talk to, I decided I'd try to drink enough to talk to myself!

We're the opposite (at least out to dinner) we always have an ipad or phone in tow for Casey so she can last for a whole meal. I'm sure in a time in our not too distant future we're gonna try and take it away

And how was your conversation with yourself????

Chris does not like the sea salt and scraped some off the butter. I promptly dipped my piece of bread, already buttered and salted up, in the salt he'd scraped off onto the butter plate. No wasting the water-retention substance!

BLASPHEMY!!!! How does not one like salt on butter? Two of the worlds great substances melding into one. At least you got to eat double the salt!

Mmm, grass fed Filet Mignon, Boniato potato mash, broccollini, with a red-wine oxtail reduction. This was as good as the first time and yes, Chris got the "adult" meal just like I did. The potatoes are so good, a tad sweet since apparently boniato potatoes are a kind of sweet potato which I normally don't like. We both finished the potatoes and our meat, and Chris ate his broccollini and some of mine.

This looks oh so good. Especially love the sound of the oxtail reduction. About once a year I make gnocchi with an oxtail ragu and it is so rich and amazing!!!! Who knew a cow's tail could be so good?

I know some people like Kari @kastoney will disagree with me, but as much as I enjoy Narcoossee's I prefer Citricos. There was absolutely nothing wrong with my meal, it was perfect, and Citricos doesn't have Moscato (or at least didn't in Aug.) so Narcoossee's wins there. But overall Citricos nudges out Narcoossee's for apps and entrees.

Now, the world don't move to the beat of just one drum,
What might be right for you, may not be right for some.
....But they got, Diff'rent Strokes.
It takes Diff'rent Strokes.
It takes Diff'rent Strokes to move the world.

Funny how what you feel about Narcoossee's is the exact same way I feel about Citricos. It's always good, but never wows me. I just looked at the last menu and I think what it is is a lot of their food is similar to what we make when we want to make a "fancy" meal at home. Short ribs, roast chicken, pork, risotto, its all pretty similar to a lot of what we do which is why it doesn't seem as special to me. We don't do a ton of seafood at home which is why I think Narcoossee's sings to me.

Oh yeah, their famous almond-crusted cheesecake with Lambert cherry sauce. The cheesecake reminds me of Good Humor toasted almond bars that I used to eat when I was younger but 100x better. It's heaven alone but if you put some of the cheesecake, some of the cherry sauce and some of the cream on your spoon together, you'll forget all your problems for a minute

Speaking of singing....AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! So good

 

[Jenny Sanders]

That's funny that you didn't enjoy Kona for breakfast. We ate there a few years back, because I was dying to try the Tonga Toast, and I was VERY disappointed in the entire breakfast...I was NOT impressed in the least.

 

[disnmooner2013]

I like your dining report

 

[Saphire5742]

You'll have to put Cape May dinner on your list for next time

The list for next time is getting loooong. Part of the reason next time has got to be two weeks. And there'll still be places I won't get to. The misfortunes of living far away - I don't get to go very often. Well, to be honest, I suppose I could go every year but there are too many other places in the world to see...

But Chris and I were going to take one for the team and rather than cancel we'd muddle through a meal there without them

Poor unfortunate souls....

And since I had nobody to talk to, I decided I'd try to drink enough to talk to myself!

Did it work? Although we all know that's just an excuse. No judgment here.

Oh yeah, their famous almond-crusted cheesecake with Lambert cherry sauce. The cheesecake reminds me of Good Humor toasted almond bars that I used to eat when I was younger but 100x better.

Used to LOVE those bars. Was my fave from the ice cream truck. Now I'm gonna have to add Narcoosee's to the list too. This might be the time to have an actual written list

I did let him eat the chocolate pieces from mine, though. You can see him reaching for one as I'm taking the picture!

Curious child refusing dessert.

But this did remind me of a story - When we were in Morocco my mom and I stopped by a cafe at the mall on a cold and rainy day for a nice cup of coffee (for her) and hot chocolate (for me) topped with whipped cream (YUM!) of course. The place kind of reminded me of Starbucks but better. Anyway we also ordered a slice of cheesecake to share. My mom took a picture to share with the fam right as I was reaching for some cheesecake. As such the resulting photo was less than flattering. Would've been nice had she warned me first. She claims she didn't have a chance as I was too fast. I still think it was on purpose.

 

[Lisa F]

That's funny that you didn't enjoy Kona for breakfast. We ate there a few years back, because I was dying to try the Tonga Toast, and I was VERY disappointed in the entire breakfast...I was NOT impressed in the least.

Add me to the list of "meh on Kona" and "did not like the tonga toast"... It was a long time ago but I should have known better not being a sweets person. I had it on the list to try this time because I LOVE eggs benedict and was going to try the samoan but then we ended up doing room service instead. The food was just okay in room service. I actually preferred 'Ohana because they will mainline the POG juice if you want, lol.

 

[Niki Andiokno]

I NEED that cheesecake. Great report.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Happy New Year! I am behind in updating my report too...need to get that done this week. That steak looks awesome--yum! I think Narcoossee's will be our signature next trip.

 

[ArielSRL]

But Chris and I were going to take one for the team and rather than cancel we'd muddle through a meal there without them

Actually I got myself 3 glasses of Moscato-notice in the picture how Chris is on his Ipod? Well, I readily admit my boys have tons of electronics and spend tons of time on them, but one thing I hate are electronics at the table. He'd been really good up until now conversing with me at meals and of course playing my all-time favorite game, I Spy, but tonight he just wouldn't put it down. And since I had nobody to talk to, I decided I'd try to drink enough to talk to myself!

For our entrees we both ordered what we'd gotten last Nov., and since it was the same thing here's one picture:



Mmm, grass fed Filet Mignon, Boniato potato mash, broccollini, with a red-wine oxtail reduction. This was as good as the first time and yes, Chris got the "adult" meal just like I did. The potatoes are so good, a tad sweet since apparently boniato potatoes are a kind of sweet potato which I normally don't like. We both finished the potatoes and our meat, and Chris ate his broccollini and some of mine.

I'm drooling.....

For dessert however, nothing in the World has topped this for me:


Oh yeah, their famous almond-crusted cheesecake with Lambert cherry sauce. The cheesecake reminds me of Good Humor toasted almond bars that I used to eat when I was younger but 100x better. It's heaven alone but if you put some of the cheesecake, some of the cherry sauce and some of the cream on your spoon together, you'll forget all your problems for a minute

Uh, yum! I'm all for something that makes me forget my problems...

One more thing I do love about Narcoossee's is the view across the water. Last year we watched Wishes from the deck; it wasn't my plan this year and we left before they started, but I still went outside to have a look and took one blurry picture:



Not my best attempt at photography and much prettier in person, but you get the drift

Nice! Definitely on the list when the boys are a tad older.

UP NEXT: GARDEN GRILL BREAKFAST

Looking forward to the review!

 

[Whit64130]

And since I had nobody to talk to, I decided I'd try to drink enough to talk to myself!

That always works for me! Especially if we go out and sit in the bar area and Nick is glued to the game.

Chris does not like the sea salt and scraped some off the butter. I promptly dipped my piece of bread, already buttered and salted up, in the salt he'd scraped off onto the butter plate. No wasting the water-retention substance!
For our entrees we both ordered what we'd gotten last Nov., and since it was the same thing here's one picture:



Mmm, grass fed Filet Mignon, Boniato potato mash, broccollini, with a red-wine oxtail reduction. This was as good as the first time and yes, Chris got the "adult" meal just like I did. The potatoes are so good, a tad sweet since apparently boniato potatoes are a kind of sweet potato which I normally don't like. We both finished the potatoes and our meat, and Chris ate his broccollini and some of mine.

This looks amazing!

 

[cinderkelly]

Hi guys, and HAPPY NEW YEAR again

Happy new year Ariane! My evening was blissfully spent on the couch in my jammy pants and a tall glass of vodka and cranberry juice

Not exactly thrilled but not screaming like someone is pulling off his appendages:

Oops, that would be me..ToT scares the bagezzus out of me!

NUTS!!!

You crack me up

soda and another cute Mickey straw for Chris, and since I was told "NO" at breakfast, I got myself a glass of Moscato:

I could totally rock that Mickey straw in my glass of moscato too

Mmm, grass fed Filet Mignon, Boniato potato mash, broccollini, with a red-wine oxtail reduction.

That looks Amazing!

I know some people like Kari @kastoney will disagree with me, but as much as I enjoy Narcoossee's I pre

I haven't been fortunate enough to try Narcoossee's yet but we went to Citrico's on our last trip and thought it was fantastic. Looking forward to the day that almond encrusted cheesecake is sitting in front of me!

You'll also forget for a minute that there's a weird kid sitting across from you who, for the 2nd night in a row, didn't get dessert-this concept is foreign to me. I did let him

What!! I'm kind of impressed and shocked all at the same time.

 

[ariane37]

I am impressed that he lasted as long as he did!

True, it could have been worse! But boy let me tell you, I really HATE those stupid electronics. I know it's just what they do now but I find it so annoying when there's a few kids at a table and they're ALL looking down at screens and not talking. It's old fashioned I know but, that's me!

And I'm pretty sure Narcoosees is going on our "to try" list solely because of that almond cheesecake DH and I are considering a trip for just the two of us more seriously than ever before

DO THE ADULTS ONLY TRIP! You will not regret it and you'll be amazed how different it is without your kids (whom you love dearly, of course )

because I'm tired of trips where everyone's happiness comes before mine (self inflicted, I'm just constantly worried about everyone else enjoying themselves that I give in on things I want way too much!), and I think we'd just signature meal it up!

I'll bet there's a lot of us guilty of this; I do it too, and it really got to me one day this trip. Most of the time, like you said, it's self-inflicted and in no way is brought on by anything the boys say or do, just my constant worrying and wanting to please everyone. And then when I say "screw this, I want to do xyz", I end up feeling guilty Much easier when it's just Steve and I so I'm really pushing for you and DH to go by yourselves. Try it, you'll like it lol!

I'm really interested to read about you GG breakfast. We did it this time around...and I have mixed feelings about it! I wonder if it's just me.

I'm hoping to get that review done in the next day or two and now I'm curious to hear about your experience. I totally wouldn't say it was bad, at all. But was it as good as last year? Would I do it again? You're going to have to lay awake tonight in anticipation of the answers

Made our ADR for Narcoossee can't wait to try the filet looks so good. We have it scheduled on our first full day. Afterwards we can stop by the Basin so DD can get her bath bombs

Sounds like a great night and I hope it's as enjoyable as ours was Are you planning to watch Wishes from there?

You crack me up! Happy New Year! I didn't even party like I was in my 20's.. maybe my 60's.. I was in sweatpants with a glass of Moscato by 9 pm!

Well I had some kind of blue drink at the restaurant followed by a bottle of Moscato at my friends house I should have been in sweatpants because after all the food I ate I needed something stretchy!

Speaking of, can't remember if I told you this, but since I know you love Moscato - I've recently discovered a new fave, Bartenuro Moscato. It's in a blue bottle. Delicious!

Thank you! Going to look for this next time I'm at the liquor store I found one in an Italian restaurant here that I love and then found in the liquor store, it's called Moscato Castello del Poggio. I really wish I could find the one they serve at Il Mulino around here because it's the best, but so far no luck.

I've yet to try Citricos, but it must be good if it's even better than Narcoosse's!! I've seen a few people say they walked in and got the cheesecake to go before.. I think that sounds like a great idea.

Wow, that's cool if you can walk up and get the cheesecake to go! Now remember, I think Citricos wins over Narcoossee's, but not like, a runaway win. But many people prefer Narcoossee's so your best bet is trying both and comparing. And by the looks of your signature you have enough trips coming up to try both lol! The perks of moving closer And speaking of I can't believe you're going so many months but not the month we're going (May). We'll also probably end up going in August and that's not on your list, either

 

[ariane37]

yeah see, your filet looks great. In reviewing my pictures you can see that it is still purple in the center of the sides on kiddo's even in the pictures. Also I don't think there is any butter on top either, maybe that is what they meant by plain?

Yeah, yuck purple no good. But yeah they probably did leave the butter off if you requested it plain because I think it might be truffle butter? It wasn't plain old regular butter I know that, it was 1000x better than regular butter Oops, sorry lol, don't mean to brag more about our meal!

I do agree that every place has a bad night and given just how many meals we had and how good most of them were (the next worst was "just ok" and the next after that was "pretty darn tasty" all the way up to "amazeballs" per the kid, which is pretty much his highest compliment) we did real well with that.. it is just a shame that our finale meal on the DxDDP that was also around $240 with tip was the horrible one!

The good thing there is that other than Narcoossee's your next "worst" meal was "just ok"! At least overall you enjoyed what you ate; not much I dislike more than hating a meal, mainly because then it's like calories I consumed for no reason Plus I'll still have to eat something good to be satisfied!

but the bathroom thing might have been a lot worse of an issue too

LOL! Now see when we were there not long before you, it was the mens that was being worked on. So they were letting women in the womens room and men had to wait until it was "all clear". Chris and I both used it before we left but it just happened to be free when we walked up; I went first and nobody else needed it before Chris went in.

Key being the word "little" which is why we get along oh so well

Nice touch indeed. I think we've eaten there for 3 or 4 straight trips and never got one of those. Of course maybe that is because we don't decide to eat there until 5 minutes before we show up We do have an actual ADR for next month so we'll see....

Hopefully you'll get one, if that Disney Magic works for you Seriously though I'd assume with all the times you've been there you will, and you're right it probably is because they don't have enough time to locate a "welcome back" menu when you decide to show up whenever you want. Must hide them somewhere really really hard to find to need a lot of time to find one..................

We're the opposite (at least out to dinner) we always have an ipad or phone in tow for Casey so she can last for a whole meal. I'm sure in a time in our not too distant future we're gonna try and take it away

We did that for awhile, made sure they had something with them. And we don't NOT allow them to bring them to restaurants-can't really do that with Ricky anymore anyway-but I do try to draw their attention away from them once in awhile. But mainly I don't care as much if I have Steve to talk to or another couple. It's all about me, ya know?

And how was your conversation with yourself????

I am a bright, funny, entertaining person if I do say so myself

This looks oh so good. Especially love the sound of the oxtail reduction. About once a year I make gnocchi with an oxtail ragu and it is so rich and amazing!!!! Who knew a cow's tail could be so good?

That sounds GOOOOOOD. I think we'll be in the D.C area the next time you make that.

Now, the world don't move to the beat of just one drum,
What might be right for you, may not be right for some.
....But they got, Diff'rent Strokes.
It takes Diff'rent Strokes.
It takes Diff'rent Strokes to move the world.

You take the good you take the bad
You take them both and there you have
the Facts of Life,
the Facts of Life,
Doesn't really fit the comment the way your awesome '80's one does, but since it followed your show on TV for a few seasons I had to do it!

That's funny that you didn't enjoy Kona for breakfast. We ate there a few years back, because I was dying to try the Tonga Toast, and I was VERY disappointed in the entire breakfast...I was NOT impressed in the least.

That's exactly why we went! A friend of mine kept talking up the Tonga Toast so I just had to try it; it wasn't terrible but I didn't think it was anything special. I can't even remember what Steve had but he wasn't impressed, and the kids' pancakes came out burned so nobody has the desire to return.

I like your dining report

and thank you! Glad to have you along

 

[ariane37]

The list for next time is getting loooong. Part of the reason next time has got to be two weeks. And there'll still be places I won't get to. The misfortunes of living far away - I don't get to go very often. Well, to be honest, I suppose I could go every year but there are too many other places in the world to see...

I envy your travel, so much easier to do before I had the boys.........but going less often just makes your trips more special

Poor unfortunate souls....

Love it!

Used to LOVE those bars. Was my fave from the ice cream truck. Now I'm gonna have to add Narcoosee's to the list too. This might be the time to have an actual written list

I looked for them in a couple grocery stores around here after I had the cheesecake there last year, but no luck. Wondering if maybe they don't make them any longer? But yes, you should start a list now!

Add me to the list of "meh on Kona" and "did not like the tonga toast"... It was a long time ago but I should have known better not being a sweets person. I had it on the list to try this time because I LOVE eggs benedict and was going to try the samoan but then we ended up doing room service instead. The food was just okay in room service. I actually preferred 'Ohana because they will mainline the POG juice if you want, lol.

Yeah tonga toast wouldn't be my pick for someone who isn't a sweets lover, because that sucker is SWEET! Just another example of something the masses love that a select few don't

I NEED that cheesecake. Great report.

Thank you! I dream about that cheesecake lol

Happy New Year! I am behind in updating my report too...need to get that done this week. That steak looks awesome--yum! I think Narcoossee's will be our signature next trip.

Hi there! It's hard to get back into posting after the holidays, as much as I love updating. I still need to put all my decorations away and can't even find the time to do that!
Yes, if you haven't done Narcoossee's I say try it! Steve wants to go back to Citricos on our next trip which is fine with me, but there are a couple more signatures we haven't been to yet that I'd like to try, too.

Nice! Definitely on the list when the boys are a tad older.

You and Chad are going to have to take like, 5 adults only trips by the time the boys are a tad older if you keep adding restaurants and plans to our child-free trips

That always works for me! Especially if we go out and sit in the bar area and Nick is glued to the game.

That's how I feel on Sundays when my stepsons come over I either have to go upstairs by myself or if I stay downstairs in the family room, I have to talk to myself-and quietly-if the game is on!

Happy new year Ariane! My evening was blissfully spent on the couch in my jammy pants and a tall glass of vodka and cranberry juice

I would love to spend NYE like that! Not that we were all fancy, just dinner at a Texas Roadhouse and then over to our friends for drinking/desserts/games, so very informal but I'd be fine in sweats with wine and cheese and a movie shut off at 11:58!

Oops, that would be me..ToT scares the bagezzus out of me!

Ooh, so I'd probably love to see your ride picture if you ever went on it! The first time I went to MGM after TOT opened I heard everyone screaming and thought, "no way. NEVER". Finally got up enough nerve to ride it 2 years later and on top of that I rode it myself while Steve stayed with the kids, and it was love at first drop

You crack me up

I'm glad I can provide entertainment!

I haven't been fortunate enough to try Narcoossee's yet but we went to Citrico's on our last trip and thought it was fantastic

Love to hear people enjoy Citricos! It doesn't get as much love on the boards as other signatures but I honestly think it's partly b/c of the location (overshadowed by V&A's and even Narcoossee's being at the same resort) and the fact that it doesn't offer any "extras" like fireworks viewing.

 

[Lisa F]

Yeah, yuck purple no good. But yeah they probably did leave the butter off if you requested it plain because I think it might be truffle butter? It wasn't plain old regular butter I know that, it was 1000x better than regular butter Oops, sorry lol, don't mean to brag more about our meal!


The good thing there is that other than Narcoossee's your next "worst" meal was "just ok"! At least overall you enjoyed what you ate; not much I dislike more than hating a meal, mainly because then it's like calories I consumed for no reason Plus I'll still have to eat something good to be satisfied!


LOL! Now see when we were there not long before you, it was the mens that was being worked on. So they were letting women in the womens room and men had to wait until it was "all clear". Chris and I both used it before we left but it just happened to be free when we walked up; I went first and nobody else needed it before Chris went in.

Well the butter would have been ok, he had it on his CA Grill steak (and the waitress showed up right after it was delivered to cut it for him but I was already started in on that, lol, and asked if the butter was ok - my child is MORE than ok with butter. It is hard to keep his grimy little fingers out of my butter dish!) but it was the wine sauce that was the problem. I scraped it off before sending it back but it still carmelized/burned when they threw it back on the grill.

Honestly if the waitress had been great, the bad food would not have been an issue (I never get upset if they fix it). If the food had been perfect the less than stellar waitress would not have even registered. And with the combo of both, being unable to empty my bladder after dinner sent me over the edge. After a few phone calls back and forth with Disney though they are more than making it right, so there is that. Feeling a lot less ruffled about it right now (although honestly I was fine just after telling the CM about it but he insisted that the experience was not up to disney standards and that they would have to do something for me about it). But I will do my own review in my own thread, lol. I'm about ready to do CA Grill next so afterglowing a bit with that memory, lol.

Yeah tonga toast wouldn't be my pick for someone who isn't a sweets lover, because that sucker is SWEET! Just another example of something the masses love that a select few don't

actually when I tried it I really liked french toast and liked sweet things more than I do now. I found it kind of dry and tasteless on the inside and not ooey and gooey like I like with french toast and the bananas were underripe too. it was a loooong time ago but I'd much rather have benedict these days... although I LOVE the sweet potato pancakes at the wave and I know they have some kind of benedict on the buffet so it is on my short breakfast list for next time!

 

[dnllmz]

Following along! All the nut talk cracked me up.

 

[ariane37]

Hi everyone! Hope the start of the year has been a good one for you all. I'm trying to get around to making some plans for our May trip but I can't seem to find any time! The only restaurant he's requested to eat at is Citricos and we really don't need an ADR, it's easy enough to make one day of unless I just jinxed myself. I'm also considering doing the Wave breakfast, another ADR that can probably wait until day of or day before or at least a few weeks before our trip. I haven't thought about anywhere else; I know we'll snack a much as possible at the F&G booths because back in 2015 we didn't sample as much as I'd have liked. I'm also considering booking another tour That's it! Onwards and around the Land now!


GARDEN GRILL BREAKFAST

We were up early the next morning to finally hit a park um, early. When I was planning our ADR's and asked the boys where they wanted to eat, Chris's main request was doing Garden Grill breakfast again (along with Narcoossee's). We did it last November shortly after they started serving breakfast and had a great experience food-wise if not character-wise, and I believe the food is the main reason Chris wanted to go back. I made our reservation for 8:00 with the idea that once we were done, we'd scoot down to catch Soarin' before the masses hit.
I posted this over on my TR but I think empty WS deserves to be posted here, too!





This was shortly before 8, as in like, 7:59. We didn't arrive at the Land until just shy of 8:10 which was a result of not leaving our room as early as I'd wanted, which was the result of somebody not wanting to wake up. Once we got there we still had a few minutes wait and weren't actually at our table until about 8:20, which started me sweating. I knew they'd let everyone in before 9 so my hope was that all the characters would come around quick! I'd heard that early ADR's saw the characters multiple times. We didn't necessarily need that, just one time with each of them would be nice Last year our reservation was at the tail end of breakfast seatings, 10:15 and they end breakfast at 10:30. Unfortunately Mickey and Pluto left the building without coming over to say hi. Nobody was heartbroken, but I could sense some disappointment in Chris and I'd been looking forward to Mickey in his cute farmer outfit. Our server did give us a golden FP for the character spot, but I really didn't want a repeat this year. Another reason for making an earlier reservation!
We were seated on the bottom as opposed to the top last time, which was cool. Unfortunately I was on edge during the whole meal so I didn't enjoy passing all the Living With The Land scenery, but that's my fault. Everything started off right when Mickey approached our table within seconds of us sitting down. Except he walked right by us LOL I was like, "AGAIN???" Chris looked at me and rolled his eyes. Luckily though, Mickey was alerted that royalty was in the building and quickly returned to us:


Whew! One down, three to go! We also got our beverages quick, apple juice for Chris and another diet soda for me. I know I'll get blasted for drinking a soda by "someone" here, but I didn't want to go through an inquisition by my 11 year old again

Next came fresh fruit and their somewhat famous HUGE warm cinnamon bun:



I think it's a cruel joke bringing these out together. Yes, it's a very nice and healthy idea to eat some fruit at breakfast, but when you bring me a frosted cinnamon bun at the same time, which do you think I'm going to pick??? I did eat a couple pieces of fruit just to say I ate healthy that day and then we dug in to the bun. This was devoured last year and I expected a good chunk of it to go between the two of us, but unfortunately it wasn't as good. It was pretty dry and overcooked around the edges. Disappointment! Chris only had a small piece. I ate a little more, but I just kept cutting the softer middle sections out and leaving the edges there. Oh, well. The rest of the meal was great last year too and we had that to look forward to!
While waiting we caught Chip who kissed my hand when I stood up. The chipmunks are always fun!



Now we only had 2 more characters to go, it was looking good! Dale waltzed by as our food was being brought out, but I didn't think anything of it since Mickey had done the same thing. He'd be back......
Here's the family-style platter of food they bring you:


Mickey waffles, sausage, bacon, potato barrels, scrambled eggs hidden underneath the waffles, ketchup and a nutella syrup for the waffles.

The waffles were as good as always and I don't know what they do to those tater tots, but just like last Nov. they were crispy and for some reason better than any I've had anywhere else! I didn't eat the sausage but Chris was happy with it. The bacon is a favorite of both of ours but unfortunately most of it was on the under cooked side. I let Chris have the piece or two that were crispy and turned my attention to the eggs.
Eggs at Disney can go either way. Sometimes they're really good, not too dry or wet and other times they're tasteless. Last year GG was perfect. We all loved the eggs as they had a good taste and weren't dry at all. This time around we weren't so lucky, because they were pretty tasteless.
Since Chris wasn't liking the eggs he asked where his biscuits were! Last year we were given biscuits and sausage gravy as well as ham. I stopped our server and asked about the biscuits-Steve loved the ham last year but neither of us were interested in it now-and sadly we were told they no longer serve the biscuits or ham). Oh, well, Chris was happy enough with the waffles and tater tots. I asked him if he wanted me to get more bacon and request it well done but he said no. An FYI if you haven't been to GG yet, it's AYCTE so you can request more of anything you want.
Meanwhile we were still missing 2 characters and time was flying by. Whitney @Whit64130 and I were texting because she was at Epcot for RD, so I knew when they were holding folks by Innovations and then when they let them run free in the park. My idea of getting to Soarin' before all the people was going out the window.
Dale went by us a few more times but Pluto was nowhere to be found. Chris was insisting he didn't care about seeing the characters and we could go, but I felt bad; I wanted to at least meet Pluto since we missed him the year before. In the meantime I asked our server for the check; he was a nice guy but this took forever. Whitney was on and off Soarin', ahhhhhh!! Finally we were all set with the check, and just when we thought all dogs were lost, one ran over and hung with Chris for a minute:



Dale even walked by AGAIN while Pluto was meeting with us! I called out to him but he ignored me At this point Chris said let's just go, I want to ride Soarin'. I felt ok doing that since we met 3 out of 4 including the 2 we didn't meet last year, but I was pretty disappointed in the experience this time between the food not being as good and all 4 characters not coming to us again. Once I can see; mistakes are made. But again? I realize I could have said something like we did last year but it's a bit much that we have to say something twice. I'm glad most people don't have this issue but since we pretty much are done with character meals I'm sure we won't be back for breakfast. Don't cancel your reservation if you have one, though! I'm looking at you Renee @ArielSRL , I think the boys will enjoy it as long as they actually meet the characters lol!

We did manage to get on 'Soarin, luckily there was only a 10 minute wait when we got down there right about 9. LOVED new 'Soarin! But only one ride because when we got off the wait was up to 40 and we chose not to ride again. We also got to meet up with Whitney again, after meeting her the day before in HS!



This was really the only meal of the trip we weren't satisfied with so that's a good thing, since it was far from terrible. There's one other meal that didn't blow me away but again wasn't bad. After hanging with Whitney a bit we spent some time in FW before going over to WS. Boy, that walk really makes you work up an appetite!

UP NEXT: MEXICO EATS AND FINALLY, DISNEY SPRINGS!​

 

[ariane37]

Following along! All the nut talk cracked me up.

Thanks for joining! I'm glad you liked my "commentary" lol, I hope I can continue to entertain you!

 

[ArielSRL]

Ok, I won't cancel, but you have me a little skeptical now. Actually, I'm not looking as forward to the food as I am the character interactions. I mean, I'm sure the food will be fine...regular breakfast fare, but I'm not expecting anything as good as Crystal Palace, with all the buffet choices. None of us are cinnamon bun fans so that's not gonna do us any good. And I'm a huge biscuits and gravy lover so there goes that. But bacon, eggs, Mickey waffle should be good. And the boys will have fun with Farmer Mickey and his friends!

Skeptical of New Soarin' too...not from your report but several others...so we'll see how it goes.

On another note, I'm sure you have talked with your sister and know we are about to shut down in Georgia...lol. How does your sister handle it now? I'm wondering if her perspective is one - different than it used to be when she was a Notherner (lol) and two - if its different than someone like me, who has only lived in the South?

 

[dnllmz]

That stinks that Garden Grill wasn't as great as expected. That's on our list to try in November. I'll keep my expectations low.