'Ohana & Le Cellier live up to their hype!

[mcd2745]

Brief reviews of our dining experiences from just-completed trip:

We were on "free" dining (basic plan) for our 9-night stay. We unfortuantley went home with some unused CS credits - my rookie mistake. We used all of our TS credits, of course.

Our 9 TS meals (6 dinners, 3 breakfasts) were as follows:


Dinners

Le Cellier - My first time eating here and it was worth the hassle it took to get the ADR. The cheese soup, the pretzel bread, the filet, the creme brulee all were outstanding. Service was fantasic as well. I get the feeling all those people who say it's overrated are just people who always think it's "cool" to go against the majority.

'Ohana - Also worth the hassle for the ADR. All the meats/skewers were cooked perfectly - I especially enjoyed the pork. I've read complaints about them being dry but it was not the case at all. The wings were delicious as well and the bread pudding was heaven on a plate. Service was very good, not great.

Whispering Canyon Cafe - Was fun to try, the kids enjoyed the antics and the foood was pretty good (wife and I got the skillet) but I don't see myself going out of my way to go back - only if I were staying in the WL. Service was fine. The all you can drink shakes was a nice plus.

Coral Reef - We picked this for our DS only because of the setting...which is pretty cool. Food was decent, nothing spectacular. The portions were all very small, from my steak to my brother's lasagna. Service wasn't bad but wasn't very good either.

Chef Mickey's - I found the food to be better than I anticipated. The carving station selections - ham and roast beef - were excellent as well as the mashed potatoes. Character interaction was very good. Overall, a very good experience.

Tony's Town Square - Pretty good. Certainly not as bad as most reviews on here but nothing to rave about. I has the pork tenderloin over angel hair with a marsala sauce and DW had her standard chicken parm. Pistachio ceme brulee was quite good. No problems with the service.

Breakfasts

Akershus - Of course, this was all about our DD/princess. The food didn't really matter much. However it was fine albeit limited in choices. Getting DD time with 5 princesses is all that mattered here.

Crystal Palace - Outstanding breakfast. Great character interaction and great buffet selections.

Tusker House - Excellent as well, but just a notch below CP.


We also did the Wishes Dessert Party. While it was nice and the desserts very good, not worth the price tag IMO. Glad I did it, but unlikely to do it again.

As for the CS meals, we stayed at CBR and there were no complaints about any of the food we got from the Old Port Royale food court for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It was all better than expected actually. The biggest problem was that they kept it so cool in there if you didn't eat fast your food got cold in a hurry. The CS in the parks was all pretty much the same...edible.

 

[dixonsontour]

Thanks for taking the time to update.

From your choices really sounds like you had done your research!

We enjoyed alot of those as first time DDP ers in December.

 

[bluejasmine]

Thanks for the reviews! I love Le Cellier and Ohanas myself and look fwd to eatting at both next week!

 

[DW2010]

Great reviews. I just snagged Ohanas last night so I'm looking forward to eating there.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

You ate at all my favorite character breakfasts.

 

[mcd2745]

Thanks for taking the time to update.

From your choices really sounds like you had done your research!

We enjoyed alot of those as first time DDP ers in December.

I did do a lot of research...mostly here on the DIS and with the Unofficial Guide and even the Birnbaum's guide. It's the one down side of a Disney vacation - all the work you have to put in to it prior to leaving to try to maximize your overall vacation experience.

I think the key with dining in Disney is to go in with reasonable expectations. Most places, you are going for the atmosphere and experience (particularly with character meals) more so than you are for the food. I think too many people make the mistake of expecting 'signature restaurant' quality dishes at every location. Le Cellier and (to a slightly lesser extent) Ohana were the only two where I was really expecting a great meal based on the food alone - and they both delivered. The rest was more about being fun locations - although Ohana delivered in that department as well. So if the food wasn't spectacular...no big deal, I wasn't going to let it bother me as we were still having a good time.