Uncleromulus
Plain grey will be fine
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2001
- Messages
- 15,529
Well-it was Saturday evening and our "first night" WDW dinner. We were looking forward to Narcooossee's , along with the nice view the fireworks, which were set for 9:00. There were 6 in our party and things got off to a poor start right away. When we arrived at 10 minutes until 8 (our ADR's were for 8:00) the podium hostess announced (in a rather abrupt way) that there was a 30 minute wait. Then, to add insult to injury, quickly added '"And that's from your scheduled ADR time".
How nice.
So that made it a 40 minute wait. No room for us in the tiny waiting area, and seats at the bar were out since two of our party didn't drink--which left standing out on the deck as the only option. So with pager in hand, out we went. Walking around outside, I couldn't help looking in the restaurant and seeing several large, freshly set, EMPTY tables. So no real idea why the delay. Turned out that our wait was 20 minutes, and at 8:20 we were seated.
Our server appeared promptly--and I guess we should have better appreciated that, as she was absent for long periods throughout our meal. Worse still, when she did happen by the area (and was serving other tables), we couldn't even get her attention!! She wouldn't even look our way, and was then off for another spell. (Should say tho that when she did appear at our table, she was pleasant and efficient). I also noticed that many of the other servers appeared "robot-like" in their mannerisms. Even when they passed each other serving food, etc, they really didn't acknowledge each other. Sort of everyone just going through the motions, wishing the evening were over. And the Disney manager that night seemed to have a perpetual scowl on his face. Didn't stop at any table (including ours) to inquire about how things were--just walked around looking mad.
Anyway--the food. Mrs. U and the ladies had wine (from a pretty good list) and I had a beer. Seems each year their beer offerings are less and less (I once could get Blackened Voodoo there) and now there are mostly the usual suspects. I got a Bass Ale--which I should have savored more dearly, as it was almost 1/2 hour before I was finally able to order another!! Our server (in one of the moments when she DID look our way) finally said "That looks empty". Well--yes it was!! By the time I got my second beer, we had gotten our entrees and the fireworks had started. Not good...
Turned out that Mrs. U and I were the only people who wanted appetizers, so we split the crabcakes. There were two on the plate and were "tasty-sweet", but small enough that I could have eaten both. But being the gentleman that I am, I shared with Mrs. U. It took a little while for the appetizers to arrive and we had barely put down our forks when the dinners came! No one had cleared the table, and the "runners" who brought the main course made no attempt to do so. They simply shoved our empty crabcake plate aside, and put down the other plates!! MAJOR FAUX PAS!!! Not only wasn't there a decent interval between courses, the empty appetizer plate still sitting on the table wasn't "becoming" in a good restaurant like Narcooossee's.
As for the dinners themselves.. As I mentioned there were 6 of us, but only 5 dinners arrived!! No explanation from the runners, but the person who ordered the "Wild" salmon didn't get her dinner. A good 5 minutes later, the Salmon appeared. The person who brought it (again, NOT our server) did apologize and stated that the original dinner had been "dropped" in the kitchen. Since I'm discussing the Salmon, I should say that she didn't like it. It was a nice size piece of fish, but under-cooked. Perhaps because they had to rush it since the first was dropped(?), it was not cooked entirely through. Not exactly raw inside, but not really cooked either. So she wound up eating the "outside" half, and leaving the inside.
Two of the ladies ordered the grilled chicken breast and both liked it. Two others had the filet mignon--well done and butterflyed. They prounounced it as good, but it looked to me like a mighty small piece of meat at $30.00+ I had the Wahoo. A nice portion of tasty fish--but served with a blend of white beans and an almost tasteless tomato sauce. "Bland" is the perfect description, and coupled with the fish which really had no sauce or seasoning, it was ALL pretty bland. When our server appeared to clear the table, she remarked--'" I see we didn't like our beans!"
No--we didn't.
Mrs U and I were the only two ordering dessert--I got the Key Lme Creme Brulee, and she got Tropical Sorbet with berries. Both were excellent, as was the coffee we had all around. And we did enjoy the fireworks, which we watched from the deck outside.
So-how would I rate things overall? Well-it wasn't a disaster by any means, but none of us really enjoyed ourselves. Probably a C-. Maybe because it was a Saturday night things were a bit too busy for the restaurant. I don't know. All I can say is that it wasn't among the better meals we had at WDW this trip, and we'll probably be skipping it next time.
How nice.
So that made it a 40 minute wait. No room for us in the tiny waiting area, and seats at the bar were out since two of our party didn't drink--which left standing out on the deck as the only option. So with pager in hand, out we went. Walking around outside, I couldn't help looking in the restaurant and seeing several large, freshly set, EMPTY tables. So no real idea why the delay. Turned out that our wait was 20 minutes, and at 8:20 we were seated.
Our server appeared promptly--and I guess we should have better appreciated that, as she was absent for long periods throughout our meal. Worse still, when she did happen by the area (and was serving other tables), we couldn't even get her attention!! She wouldn't even look our way, and was then off for another spell. (Should say tho that when she did appear at our table, she was pleasant and efficient). I also noticed that many of the other servers appeared "robot-like" in their mannerisms. Even when they passed each other serving food, etc, they really didn't acknowledge each other. Sort of everyone just going through the motions, wishing the evening were over. And the Disney manager that night seemed to have a perpetual scowl on his face. Didn't stop at any table (including ours) to inquire about how things were--just walked around looking mad.
Anyway--the food. Mrs. U and the ladies had wine (from a pretty good list) and I had a beer. Seems each year their beer offerings are less and less (I once could get Blackened Voodoo there) and now there are mostly the usual suspects. I got a Bass Ale--which I should have savored more dearly, as it was almost 1/2 hour before I was finally able to order another!! Our server (in one of the moments when she DID look our way) finally said "That looks empty". Well--yes it was!! By the time I got my second beer, we had gotten our entrees and the fireworks had started. Not good...
Turned out that Mrs. U and I were the only people who wanted appetizers, so we split the crabcakes. There were two on the plate and were "tasty-sweet", but small enough that I could have eaten both. But being the gentleman that I am, I shared with Mrs. U. It took a little while for the appetizers to arrive and we had barely put down our forks when the dinners came! No one had cleared the table, and the "runners" who brought the main course made no attempt to do so. They simply shoved our empty crabcake plate aside, and put down the other plates!! MAJOR FAUX PAS!!! Not only wasn't there a decent interval between courses, the empty appetizer plate still sitting on the table wasn't "becoming" in a good restaurant like Narcooossee's.
As for the dinners themselves.. As I mentioned there were 6 of us, but only 5 dinners arrived!! No explanation from the runners, but the person who ordered the "Wild" salmon didn't get her dinner. A good 5 minutes later, the Salmon appeared. The person who brought it (again, NOT our server) did apologize and stated that the original dinner had been "dropped" in the kitchen. Since I'm discussing the Salmon, I should say that she didn't like it. It was a nice size piece of fish, but under-cooked. Perhaps because they had to rush it since the first was dropped(?), it was not cooked entirely through. Not exactly raw inside, but not really cooked either. So she wound up eating the "outside" half, and leaving the inside.
Two of the ladies ordered the grilled chicken breast and both liked it. Two others had the filet mignon--well done and butterflyed. They prounounced it as good, but it looked to me like a mighty small piece of meat at $30.00+ I had the Wahoo. A nice portion of tasty fish--but served with a blend of white beans and an almost tasteless tomato sauce. "Bland" is the perfect description, and coupled with the fish which really had no sauce or seasoning, it was ALL pretty bland. When our server appeared to clear the table, she remarked--'" I see we didn't like our beans!"
No--we didn't.
Mrs U and I were the only two ordering dessert--I got the Key Lme Creme Brulee, and she got Tropical Sorbet with berries. Both were excellent, as was the coffee we had all around. And we did enjoy the fireworks, which we watched from the deck outside.
So-how would I rate things overall? Well-it wasn't a disaster by any means, but none of us really enjoyed ourselves. Probably a C-. Maybe because it was a Saturday night things were a bit too busy for the restaurant. I don't know. All I can say is that it wasn't among the better meals we had at WDW this trip, and we'll probably be skipping it next time.
That's why we love V & A's. 
