Old Favorites and New Eating Adventures- Quick Reviews May 3-8

[ariane37]

I am dying to try Trail's End dinner and your review is making me rethink our November ADR's to add it!

 

[disneyAndi14]

We also tried Trails End dinner after reading a DR on here, we also loved it and got 10% off with our Disney visa so another plus.

 

[crazycatlady]

Great reviews! There is definitely some issue with the way CP checks people in because the same thing happened to us....TWO YEARS IN A ROW! Both years we had 8:05 reservations and after waiting for almost 15 mins and watching multiple people get seated before us, I went to the desk to ask what was going on and was told that our names were missed on the list and we would be seated next. Luckily, the last time it happened, it was just DH and me, so we didn't care how many characters we saw, but we raced through our breakfast and still left the restaurant as the rope droppers were streaming by. Very frustrating!
We enjoyed TE too, but agreed that it is kind of a hassle to get to so don't have it planned for this trip.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your reviews!

 

[walker0829]

May 6th- Raglan Road- Late lunch/early dinner

Our first visit to Raglan was last year and DS who was 3 at the time passed out on the way over and slept through all of dinner. The food was excellent and we knew DS would love it if he was awake. He loves to dance to some good tunes and being my son, he had to have some Irish blood in him(if just a wee bit).

We got there around 4:15 and the show was scheduled for 5. I was a bit bummed and thought about heading somewhere else since it seemed like a long wait for the dancing. We figured it would hard to get seating at any of the other good restaurants so we stuck it out. They had a band playing between the dancing sets and they were absolutely awesome. We got seated right in the front and DS got a smile out of the violinist/singer(I believe it was the Marianne Fraser Band) by acting like he was playing violin with her.

We started off with the Dalkey Duo which are like mini German(or Irish?) sausages that are battered and fried. Super addictive. I think I filled up on these things instead of my meal. Unfortunately they were out of the same Raglan Road Stout I wanted to try last year. Apparently it comes all the way from Ireland and takes awhile to make. After knocking down most of the sausages that DW was supposed to help me with, it was on to the main course. We both got fish and chips. Typically, I'm used to the equivalent of fish tenders when I order fish and chips. This is just one massive slab of fish so it wasn't my favorite way to eat it. A little too thick for my tastes and a bit pricey considering the single slab. The Shepherd's Pie we ordered last year was much better.

We ended up getting to see the dancing(always a treat) and DS even got to go up and dance with them. Truly a great experience for those with and without kids. I love Raglan but with so many other places popping up I'm not sure if we'll go back our next trip. If we always go to our usual spots, we'll never know what other hidden gems(like Trails End) are out there.

It's definitely an internal battle until you've tried everywhere that you want.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Great reviews - we love CP but admit the service and character contact is hit and miss. My kids always loved it when they were little and so it has become a WDW tradition.
Trails End sounds fantastic - we have dinner booked for our upcoming trip based on some of the fab reviews on disboards.
Raglan Road was a definite miss on our last trip - our food was dreadful (all but the amazing bread and butter pudding). I would just go for pudding next time.

 

[walker0829]

Great reviews - we love CP but admit the service and character contact is hit and miss. My kids always loved it when they were little and so it has become a WDW tradition.
Trails End sounds fantastic - we have dinner booked for our upcoming trip based on some of the fab reviews on disboards.
Raglan Road was a definite miss on our last trip - our food was dreadful (all but the amazing bread and butter pudding). I would just go for pudding next time.

We can never make it to the pudding with the Ghirardelli ice cream store nearby! Of course, that's the only place I've ever paid $8 for a milkshake! They seem to know they are a hot commodity and charge accordingly.

 

[walker0829]

May 7th- Tusker House- Breakfast

Here's a review I'm sure some of you have been waiting for. We discovered Tusker House thanks to this great forum last year(how many people owe this forum to the discovery of great places to eat??). We're already a family that loves breakfast so it works out great that we get to enjoy great good(at the cheapest price all day) and see some classic characters. I mentioned this in my CP review but Tusker has their character pacing/timing down to an art form. It couldn't be done any better. I'm not sure if it's related to the size of the restaurant or if they just do a better job having all the characters out but they certainly get it. Most people do a pre-park opening ADR because they want to be done before the masses swarm the park(are you listening Crystal Palace?!?).

Our waiter came over and started us off with the famous POG juice(I think they call it jungle juice here). The glowing orange liquid is addicting! I just wish the glasses were bigger! There are 2 sides of identical items to choose from along with a center pastry section. The great thing about the food here is that it all has so much flavor. I've never had African food so not sure of the authenticity but the spiced corn beef hash definitely has an ethnic flavor of some sort. The tator tots are one of my favorite side items. I'm a sucker for tator tots! The ham is wonderful with the honey mustard sauce. The red potatoes were a little over seasoned but I'll take that over under-seasoning any day!

The pastry section in the middle is my favorite. I'm torn between the Krispy Kreme donut holes, the chocolate croissants and the banana cinnamon bread pudding. I'm getting hungry just writing this review. You seriously cannot go wrong here. You'll want seconds and thirds but struggle because you stuffed so much on your first plate and meanwhile you are throwing back the POG juice like it's your favorite shot.

For us, the characters are a bonus for DS. DW and I are there to gobble up all those delicious items! As for the characters, I think we saw them all in about 30 minutes. They spent the right amount of time at our table and I didn't feel rushed at all. CP will likely come off our next trip's list of must eat's. We're targeting 2018 or 2019 and DS will be 6 or 7 at that point. Pooh and friends may not be at the top of his visit list(or they could be). The biggest issue with Tusker is that we're just not big AK fans. For us, it's not even a half day park. Next time, we'll probably want to see what's become of the night hours by then and Pandora may be open so maybe we'll switch to a lunch/dinner at Tusker. Plenty of time to sort it out.

 

[pumba]

we liked Tusker House breakfast too..and Trails end too...we took the boat from MK and it dropped us near by to the restaurant..to me the kids loved this..then our granddaughter fell asleep in her stroller and didnt wake up as we ate...she was almost two...its hard work having fun...thanks for your reviews

 

[walker0829]

we liked Tusker House breakfast too..and Trails end too...we took the boat from MK and it dropped us near by to the restaurant..to me the kids loved this..then our granddaughter fell asleep in her stroller and didnt wake up as we ate...she was almost two...its hard work having fun...thanks for your reviews

I'll need to remember that next time! Our first planned night was from MK but we thought it would be too hard to get there and back. I should come up with vacations for those who just finished their Disney vacation. Always feel like I need a couple days off work after Disney.

 

[walker0829]

May 7th- Ohana- Dinner

This was our final Disney meal since the next day we headed off to Universal Studios bright and early. It was a bit nostalgic because we were just at Polynesian in Sept 2015 and DS was looking at the window asking to go swim in the play area. He kept saying he wanted to go down there and swim and for a minute we wished we had stayed here again(then we remembered it was over 2x the price of the POFQ).

Ohana was to my wife what Trails End was to me. She really wanted to try it out and experience all the great food she'd read about. I was apprehensive because I'd read about how hit and miss it could be but ultimately I got on board. We were seated fairly quickly after checking in and went to work on the Hawaiian bread. Eventually he came over and took our drink order(after servicing the table next to us that had been seated after we were). We didn't know it at the time, but that would be the theme of our service the entire night.

I'm not a big salad fan but I did enjoy this one. I didn't eat too much because there were far better options. The lo-mein was my vice during this meal. I gobbled that stuff up and later asked for more. We both thought the sticky wings would be like the ones at Kona Cafe but they surprisingly weren't. Kona Cafe's were better. I think the sauce at Kona had a thicker and slightly tangier flavor to them. If you've never had Kona Cafe's though, you wouldn't likely find any fault in the flavor of the ones at Ohana. The pork dumplings were also really good. We asked for 2nd's on those also. DS didn't eat any of the regular items so they brought him out a grilled cheese. I do think it's pretty nice that they have a wide variety of kid options. It was also something like a $20 grilled cheese though(yikes).

The main entrees were ok but I think the starters steal the show. Of the 3 main entrees, the shrimp was my favorite followed by the chicken and lastly the steak. The steak was tough, overcooked, and just not that great. The flavor didn't come through like it did for the shrimp and chicken. The chicken was good. The sweet and sour Hawaiian marinade came through really well. It seemed to be chicken thighs which I was mixed about. Thighs probably carry more flavor but are a cheaper cut. Ohana is not cheap by any means. The star of the show(which we asked for more of) was the peel and eat shrimp. They just have an awesome flavor and are good sized shrimp.

Now if you somehow have room after all this(and trust me you'll want room), the bread pudding is a mean closer. Even if you don't think you have room for it, MAKE ROOM! It's just a good bread pudding and it caps the entire meal.

Now that the plus side of the meal was covered, on to service. It's not just Orlando(but did seem to occur often here), but DW and I both got the impression that many waiters seem to think that because we are young(I'm early 30's and DW is late 20's), they can provide us with bad service. Maybe they don't think we'll tip good regardless, maybe they don't think we have the means to tip, I don't know. The joke is on them though because I can and will tip as appropriate. I've tipped 30% on an extremely expensive meal when we had first-class service. While I don't ever do a "no tip", I will go down to 10%. I know the best way to approach it is to discuss with management, but having been through that at DW before, it gets nowhere other than a "sorry".

The whole night, our service was absolutely dreadful. Sure, we got our food(eventually) and we got our drinks(one refill, eventually) but it was a struggle. Our waiter made it a point to serve a family that walked in after us, prior to us, the entire night. Then he would apologize to them when he was delayed. At one point, he gave them the entire skewer of shrimp(we had been waiting for shrimp) and then wandered off to the back. He would disappear for periods at a time. When I finally asked for a refill I got back a snotty "when I get of these skewers" to which I quietly replied "how about I get rid of your tip". Everything seemed to be in slow motion for him. The meal took over 2 hours and I felt like it only needed to take 90min at most. Considering all the reviews about people feeling rushed, I think I would have appreciated being rushed in this case!

DW and I discussed our meal and we both agreed that while large parts of the food were very good, the price point+the service just don't put it into the return category for us. If we were staying onsite and had a night to kill when DS is older, we might give it a try again but not our next visit(whenever that may be).

 

[walker0829]

Also, for those still reading, that marks the end of my "Disney" dining reviews. I have a few Universal reviews I could add but will do those on request.