We had a reservation at Rose & Crown for 7:20 pm. In part we decided on this restaurant because of the Illuminations viewing and in part because it seemed to have some yummy sounding meat options for GF. As we walked through Epcot to the UK part of World Showcase we saw that people were already starting to crowd around for Illuminations--wow...I don't think I could stand around waiting for more than 10 minutes prior to such a show. We checked in and were given a beeper. They told us to please stay in the UK so the beeper would work. (How can their beeper work in the entire UK section of Epcot, yet Ohana's beeper doesn't work just 20 feet below the podium?
) I asked if there was any chance of getting a window seat. The host told me that they couldn't guarantee it because they seated people according to whatever table was first available, but they did gurantee that all of their diners would get to see Illuminations.
We took a seat on a nearby curb and waited a little less than 10 minutes until the beeper went off. We were escorted inside to a seat by a window. The table was a little bit like the one at Ohana--one seat was a booth attached to the wall and one was a chair and the tables next to us were somewhat closer than usual. Still, it was a lot better than the first table at Ohana, so we were happy with it.
GF and I decided to split the fruit and cheese plate for an appetizer. She got cottage pie for her entree and I got a salad and potato and leek soup. The only vegetarian entree on the menu was veggies in phylo dough with curry and mustard sauce. I thought this entree would either be really good or really unappetizing depending on whether it was well done. I didn't want to take the chance on the latter, so I opted for soup and salad instead.
The cheese plate had two kinds of cheese--one I believe was 5 county and one (the green block) which I don't remember but GF said tasted like herbs. I liked both of the cheeses, but didn't love them. GF couldn't eat much of the green one because she doesn't like herbs very much. There was also a blue cheese croissant and a stilton biscuit which were tasty, but I would have rather just had more cheese. There were also strawberries, grapes, apples, some type of jelly I think, and sugar toasted nuts. We ate up the nuts (we love them!) and had a bit of the fruit, but we were really more interested in the cheese. Also, it didn't come with any crackers which we thought was odd. But luckily there were dinner rolls.
GF said she wouldn't bother to get the cheese plate again. I probably would though, although I don't think we'll be going back to Rose and Crown again any time soon.
During our meal we saw two groups near us get dreams--you know, year of a million dreams. The server delivered sometype of strawberry dessert to the woman sitting next to us and told her happy b'day. We overheard a bit of the conversation and the server said it was a dream. The woman seemed confused and not all that excited. She asked if the dessert was something that's not on the regular menu which it wasn't. A little while later we saw another couple nearby receive the same thing and heard them mention an anniversary. With all that going on our server didn't seem to check on us very often, but luckily we didn't really need anything.
GF's cottage pie arrived and looked good. Last year she had ordered one at Ragland Road and did not enjoy it, so she was hoping this one would be better. Thankfully, it was. I helped myself to some of the cheese covered mashed potatoes on top and the green beans that accompanied it. GF said the entree was good, but she just didn't think it was worth price--especially not compared to the kind of food we had just had at Ohana the night before.
My salad arrived looking a bit disppointingly plain. I should have read the menu more closely because the menu said "stilton cheese or mustard dressing" but I thought it had said there was stilton cheese on the salad. Oops. It was a pretty large portion as far as appetizer salads go, but it was just lettuce and some tomatoes. Nothing special.
My potato and leek soup was more interesting. I was excited to get soup because so many soups at restaurants have meat in them. I didn't bother asking if this one had some kind of chicken of beef based broth (couldn't taste it if it did) because almost all restaurant soups do, and I've just given in on that. The soup was very creamy, which I kind of enjoyed, but GF thought it was more cream than she would have been able to handle. We both agreed it was too salty. Still I enjoyed it a good amount.
GF finished off her entire entree and was pretty full. I had eaten less than half my salad but was still pretty full having eaten a lot of bread and cheese and all of my soup. We had been planning to get dessert, but nothing on the menu struck us and we didn't have that much room left. We had also decided to go to Downtown Disney after dinner by way of the boat from World Showcase to the Boardwalk or Beach Club and then a bus from there. When I heard we'd be going near the Beach Club I thought, "hey, what a great time to get a no way jose sundae!" (I just love the peanut butter sauce!) so that took care of the dessert needs.
We still had over 20 minutes til Illuminations so when our server cleared our plates and we told him we didn't need dessert, he said he'd just leave us alone for a bit before he took us out to the viewing area. A few minutes later GF decided she wanted some coffee and tried to flag him down, but she was never able to catch his eye. After another almost 15 minutes he brought the bill and by then GF figured she could just get coffee at Beaches and Cream. After running my room charge he left me to sign the receipt and started to take the large group at the table next to us out to the viewing area. As they started on their way out he made a hissing sound "psst" at me and said "let's go!" and motioned for us to follow. This was while I was trying to figure out what tip to leave and to do the addition
I hurried that up and tried to follow. I don't know why it was such a big deal that we followed. The viewing area was right there once you got outside.
We headed down and were surprised at how small the area was. There was already a group of people who filled in all the space by the railing, so we took a spot behind them. Unfortunately a couple of these folks were pretty tall, and one of them had a child on his shoulders while another was holding a video camera high over her head once Illuminations started. We only watched for a few minutes because GF wasn't enjoying the close quarters with people who kept bumping into her and she got a little bored when nothing was happening except the ball turning some colors. I didn't mind either way so we just started walking toward the boat to the Epcot resorts. It was kind of lucky that we left because we were close to the front of the line for the boat, whereas if we'd waited we probably would have been left standing there for quite some time.
GF's slogan for Rose & Crown: "Pleasant, but unremarkable."
Food: We're likely not going back. Too expensive for entrees that weren't that impressive to us. Not great options for vegetarians either.
Atmosphere: Tables a little too close together and a bit loud. I think we would have enjoyed an outdoor table much more.
Service: Not great, but we were happy with it.
We love you, too!
I hope you found other good veggie meals during your trip!
We were seated in the back of the restaurant in a room with only about 6 tablesnice and much quieter than the rest of the place. 
, the three cheese flatbread 
. It's some kind of combination of phyllo pastry, custard, coffee, and plaintains 
.
I'm glad you enjoyed O'Hana. We are eating there for the 1st time in August and I will totally be the mom encouraging the kids to join in all the reindeer games. I will be sure not to venture too far from the podium too!
