Our Quest for American Food - and Pictures of it
- Thread starter Flossbolna
- Start date
Flossbolna
Sea days are just so relaxing!
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- Sep 8, 2006
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Well, work is quite hard this week, so I don't know when I will be able to post the next installment, but I am working on it!
I wanted to thank all of you for your nice comments on my review as well as on Germany. It is really great to see that there are so many people here who have good memories of my country. We Germans always feel always a bit ashamed of our own country (considering the history, we really have reason for it), so its great to see all those positive remarks on Germany!
Quicklabs, I really love the "Schöner Brunnen" (a fountain called "beautiful fountain"), all my visitors have to go there and admire it!! It is amazing that you actually have a poster of it in your office! FYI, you can allways transcribe an "Ö" with oe
Hi John's Mom, unfortunately I only managed to have a virgin Pinacolava at the pool, which I did not like (and I had no camera with me, sorry!). I had some great wine at Jiko's, recommended by our fantastic server there! Another reason to return to AKL, try all those speciality drinks...
andiepie, yes, reading dining reviews is going to make your life hard! I was reading many really great reviews here on the boards before we went and at some point decided to just stick with the ADRs we had and not get nervous about them. Especially Wolfgang Pucks Cafe got so mixed reviews that I was so afraid that we would have a horrible meal there! But then I tried to remind myself that travelling is about new experiences and seeing things with fresh eyes and not expect it to be exactly as someone had written in their review! We were working on a plan to first decide where would we want to be when (looking at park opening times, when would we want to see wishes etc.) and then decided to choose restaurants that would fit in there. This already narrowed choices down a bit!
I wanted to thank all of you for your nice comments on my review as well as on Germany. It is really great to see that there are so many people here who have good memories of my country. We Germans always feel always a bit ashamed of our own country (considering the history, we really have reason for it), so its great to see all those positive remarks on Germany!
Quicklabs, I really love the "Schöner Brunnen" (a fountain called "beautiful fountain"), all my visitors have to go there and admire it!! It is amazing that you actually have a poster of it in your office! FYI, you can allways transcribe an "Ö" with oe
Hi John's Mom, unfortunately I only managed to have a virgin Pinacolava at the pool, which I did not like (and I had no camera with me, sorry!). I had some great wine at Jiko's, recommended by our fantastic server there! Another reason to return to AKL, try all those speciality drinks...
These are awesome reviews!Some of these places, I've not considered for my trip, and now I am. This is really making it hard to narrow down our dining choices.
andiepie, yes, reading dining reviews is going to make your life hard! I was reading many really great reviews here on the boards before we went and at some point decided to just stick with the ADRs we had and not get nervous about them. Especially Wolfgang Pucks Cafe got so mixed reviews that I was so afraid that we would have a horrible meal there! But then I tried to remind myself that travelling is about new experiences and seeing things with fresh eyes and not expect it to be exactly as someone had written in their review! We were working on a plan to first decide where would we want to be when (looking at park opening times, when would we want to see wishes etc.) and then decided to choose restaurants that would fit in there. This already narrowed choices down a bit!
Disneyolic
DIS Legend
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- Mar 25, 2002
- Messages
- 11,203
Thanks for your reviews so far! Loving them, of course. Add me to some of the other fellow DISers who have roots in Germany. My mother was born there and came to American with my grandmother after a divorce. My grandfather lived in Munich until he passed in 1988. I always wished I had been able to meet him and whenever I see someone from Germany, especially Munich, I get a warm feeling...
Flossbolna:
I just now realized that you're the same person that posted all those wonderful pictures of the AKL over on that thread! You have a great talent with the camera and with your clear descriptions in your reviews. Love it! Thanks!
I just now realized that you're the same person that posted all those wonderful pictures of the AKL over on that thread! You have a great talent with the camera and with your clear descriptions in your reviews. Love it! Thanks!
estherhead
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2004
- Messages
- 3,394
Thanks for the great reviews, pics, and international take. Thoroughly enjoying it.
With a newly booked trip - heading over on the 1st July - I'm eager to dive into some recent dining reviews and these are great. Kona sounds very good and, as you highlight and quick and easy respite from the parks. I think I'll try and get an ADR for this...
Ciciwoowoo
DIS Veteran
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- Jan 25, 2007
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- 1,414
I'm enjoying your review! Thank you for sharing! 
Flossbolna
Sea days are just so relaxing!
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2006
- Messages
- 13,988
Thanks for your reviews so far! Loving them, of course. Add me to some of the other fellow DISers who have roots in Germany. My mother was born there and came to American with my grandmother after a divorce. My grandfather lived in Munich until he passed in 1988. I always wished I had been able to meet him and whenever I see someone from Germany, especially Munich, I get a warm feeling...
Hi Disneyolic, I was actually born in Munich and Carola lives there. It is a fantastic city!
Dis Ohana, thank you! Actually this was a new camera and just after the trip I was a bit dissapointed with my pictures as they did not turn out as I would have hoped for. But by now I really like them, too!
Bozza, I can absolutely recommend a meal at Kona. I think having an early ADR made this meal especially relaxed as the restaurant was just filling up while we were eating. And going there by boat was such a nice little trip.
estherhead
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2004
- Messages
- 3,394
I've been to Munich once long ago & the thing I remember best is the fabulous public transportation. Clean, efficient, and well-run!
Flossbolna
Sea days are just so relaxing!
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2006
- Messages
- 13,988
Sunday, February 11
Today was our "long" Epcot day meaning that we would spend morning and evening there. However Carola wanted to have a later start while I did not want to sacrifice my early morning touring for more sleep. So I headed out for another rope drop at AK before meating up at Epcot later on. Expedition Everest became one of my favourite rides!
Breakfast at Kusafari Coffee Shop (Animal Kingdom)
I was not hungry in the morning, but got a drink from Mara and had a few bites of my Macadamia Nut Tart, which was absolutely delicious! Full of these great nuts. If you like macademia nuts and caramel (I do) I can very much recommend the tart! I totally forgot to review our Kona desserts yesterday, but since we did not eat them yesterday, this might be the right time anyway. Carola loved her Kilauea Torte, but it was very rich and I found it to be a bit too chocolatey.
After rope drop I went on EE twice and the strolled over to Africa thinking that I actually could eat something again... I decided to see what they offered at the Kusafari Coffee Shop as I remembered that there were baked goods to be had and we really had not used that many snack credits so far.
Before I got there I took a picture of the Harambe tip board a very nice cast member offered to take a picture of me with it. Since John's Mom asked for a picture of me, this one was taken just before I went to eat, I actually have no picture of me in a restaurant. So, sorry for being a bit off topic, that's me neither with food nor in a restaurant.
At Kusafari Coffee Shop I found this:
a cinnamon roll! You might wonder, why I was so excited. First, it was really big! But then, even though we have lots of really great and delicious baked goods here in Germany, the only place that sells cinnamon rolls is Starbucks. Actually we have the same concept, but instead of cinnamon we fill it with ground hazelnuts or ground poppy seeds. The roll was very good, I was just regretting that I had not got any coffee to go with it (I thought I needed to save the money/snack credits... why???) and I got it for one snack credit.
Lunch at La Cantina (Epcot)
Carola and I met at Epcot to continue our tour around the world. Just as a side note: I answered someone questions on my opinion of the German pavillion already, I think it is extremeley well done. I really had certain prejudices against the World Showcase before my first visit to Epcot and expected it to be very cheesy. I have been to quite a few of the countries around the World Showcase and I have totally revised my illfounded opinion of it. I think it is incredible in its detail and how it actually conveyes the special atmosphere of the countries represented.
We started on the Mexico side and thought that we should get a good lunch into us before heading to the other countries. We got our lunch at 11:30 am and there was plenty of tables to choose in the outdoor seating area of La Cantina.
Since I just had this enormous cinnamon roll I wanted a light lunch and opted for the chicken salad:
This is the only meal at WDW that I did not enjoy at all. First of all it was so cold that it did taste of nothing. Well, it was warm enough that this should have just been a temporary problem. But even when it got warmer it still did not taste of anything. It was a lot of iceberg lettuce with very tasteless tomatoes, extremely mild cheese and then the chicken that was strange. It was not nice pieces of chicken, and they were somewhat seasoned, but not very much. Also, there was no dressing at all on the salad, so I had to try to improvise a dressing with the sour cream that came with it and the salsa I picked up. I was very unhappy and angry with me for having spoiled my appetite and chosen the healthy version!
I am not sure whether this is the one time that I fell into the trap of not understanding foreign food. Perhaps a chicken salad in Mexico and/or the USA is supposed to be like that. Well, I will rather stay away from anything called that name unless I read on the menue that it will be served with a dressing!
Carola on the other hand was very happy with her choice, the Combo Plate:
I tasted a bit of it, but I think I was not in the best mood regarding my dish that I cannot really tell you whether it was good or not. At that moment I did not enjoy it very much.
I did not want any dessert for this meal, especially no Churro (perhaps I should have gotten it, it might have improved my mood), but Carola opted for the other dessert option:
it was fried dough covered in sugar, however there was nothing soft in it, it was all very crispy. I had some of it and it was pleasant enough to have something sweet to munch on, but it was in no way memorable. We kept the rest of the package for some days thinking we might want to eat it at some point, but never did.
As you might have guessed, we used two CS credits for our meals.
When we left Epcot this afternoon we were asked to take part in a customer survey regarding the dining options and were asked our opinion about our meal. While I wanted to give La Cantina rather not so good marks, Carola was absolutely pleased with her meal and we ended up giving La Cantina a very good review since I was not sure my dislike was not caused by some cultural misunderstanding.
However, before we left, I had to get a snack at Japan, the Kaki Gori:
I got the rainbow version and as you see, it is huge!! It is very difficult to eat, you need to sit down. At first, I did not and I lost quite a bit of the snack. And I was totally afraid I would get some of the coloured ice on my clothes! It acutally is shaved ice mixed with different sirups. I remember that one was watermelon and one was tangerine, but can't remembe the third... It was refreshing, but nearly too sweet for my taste. I am glad that I tried it, but it is not going to be a must do in the future.
Dinner at Sunshine Seasons (Epcot)
We returned to Epcot in the evening and had dinner again at Sunshine Seasons. We really enjoyed our dinner there a few days ago. Planning our ADRs I had found it very dificult to decide where we would want to dine at Epcot. Of course, first I was thinking table service in Epcot is a must. But then we excluded Germany, Italy, France and UK from our list as this was food that we could easily get at home (or at a place that we would regularly visit anyway, i.e. Italy, France or the UK in Europe not in the World Showcase). China regularly had not so favourable reviews, Japan was closed for rennovations, Maroccan food can be found in Germany regularly, too. So this left us with Canada, Norway or Mexico. I personally did not like the look of the Mexican food I had seen here in other people's reviews. Neither did we want to go to a character meal. And Carola was not very much interested in a steakhouse in a cellar (i.e. Cellier). There were so many other table service restaurants that we were more interested in! So our Epcot day became our counter service day, thinking that we would just get some interesting food from around the world showcase...
But already after lunch I had thought that I would love to return to Sunshine Seasons for a meal as I had really liked this place and the quality and diversity of the food offered there. I did not really want to suggest it for dinner because we officially had different plans and should make use of the many options around World Showcase. But when we got on the bus bakc to Epcot after our break Carola mentioned Sunshine Seasons and how much she had enjoyed her meal there. So, we quickliy settled on a second meal there which neither of us regretted. FYI, obviously we used another two CS credits for this meal.
Carola had exactly the same meal again, while I tried the other salad option, Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese Salad with Cilantro and Lime dressing. It was served with a slice of crispy bread:
For dessert I got the strawberry shortcake as well. The salad was very good again, The beets were good, but I think there is not very much you can do to beets to change their taste. The goat cheese was very mild and creamy and it went very well with the fresh tasting dressing on the salad. This was so much better then the salad I had for lunch!!!
So, this day ended with a very good meal and later on a good view of Illuminations!
Next day will be 50's Prime Time Cafe and California Grill.
Today was our "long" Epcot day meaning that we would spend morning and evening there. However Carola wanted to have a later start while I did not want to sacrifice my early morning touring for more sleep. So I headed out for another rope drop at AK before meating up at Epcot later on. Expedition Everest became one of my favourite rides!
Breakfast at Kusafari Coffee Shop (Animal Kingdom)
I was not hungry in the morning, but got a drink from Mara and had a few bites of my Macadamia Nut Tart, which was absolutely delicious! Full of these great nuts. If you like macademia nuts and caramel (I do) I can very much recommend the tart! I totally forgot to review our Kona desserts yesterday, but since we did not eat them yesterday, this might be the right time anyway. Carola loved her Kilauea Torte, but it was very rich and I found it to be a bit too chocolatey.
After rope drop I went on EE twice and the strolled over to Africa thinking that I actually could eat something again... I decided to see what they offered at the Kusafari Coffee Shop as I remembered that there were baked goods to be had and we really had not used that many snack credits so far.
Before I got there I took a picture of the Harambe tip board a very nice cast member offered to take a picture of me with it. Since John's Mom asked for a picture of me, this one was taken just before I went to eat, I actually have no picture of me in a restaurant. So, sorry for being a bit off topic, that's me neither with food nor in a restaurant.
At Kusafari Coffee Shop I found this:
a cinnamon roll! You might wonder, why I was so excited. First, it was really big! But then, even though we have lots of really great and delicious baked goods here in Germany, the only place that sells cinnamon rolls is Starbucks. Actually we have the same concept, but instead of cinnamon we fill it with ground hazelnuts or ground poppy seeds. The roll was very good, I was just regretting that I had not got any coffee to go with it (I thought I needed to save the money/snack credits... why???) and I got it for one snack credit.
Lunch at La Cantina (Epcot)
Carola and I met at Epcot to continue our tour around the world. Just as a side note: I answered someone questions on my opinion of the German pavillion already, I think it is extremeley well done. I really had certain prejudices against the World Showcase before my first visit to Epcot and expected it to be very cheesy. I have been to quite a few of the countries around the World Showcase and I have totally revised my illfounded opinion of it. I think it is incredible in its detail and how it actually conveyes the special atmosphere of the countries represented.
We started on the Mexico side and thought that we should get a good lunch into us before heading to the other countries. We got our lunch at 11:30 am and there was plenty of tables to choose in the outdoor seating area of La Cantina.
Since I just had this enormous cinnamon roll I wanted a light lunch and opted for the chicken salad:
This is the only meal at WDW that I did not enjoy at all. First of all it was so cold that it did taste of nothing. Well, it was warm enough that this should have just been a temporary problem. But even when it got warmer it still did not taste of anything. It was a lot of iceberg lettuce with very tasteless tomatoes, extremely mild cheese and then the chicken that was strange. It was not nice pieces of chicken, and they were somewhat seasoned, but not very much. Also, there was no dressing at all on the salad, so I had to try to improvise a dressing with the sour cream that came with it and the salsa I picked up. I was very unhappy and angry with me for having spoiled my appetite and chosen the healthy version!
I am not sure whether this is the one time that I fell into the trap of not understanding foreign food. Perhaps a chicken salad in Mexico and/or the USA is supposed to be like that. Well, I will rather stay away from anything called that name unless I read on the menue that it will be served with a dressing!
Carola on the other hand was very happy with her choice, the Combo Plate:
I tasted a bit of it, but I think I was not in the best mood regarding my dish that I cannot really tell you whether it was good or not. At that moment I did not enjoy it very much.
I did not want any dessert for this meal, especially no Churro (perhaps I should have gotten it, it might have improved my mood), but Carola opted for the other dessert option:
it was fried dough covered in sugar, however there was nothing soft in it, it was all very crispy. I had some of it and it was pleasant enough to have something sweet to munch on, but it was in no way memorable. We kept the rest of the package for some days thinking we might want to eat it at some point, but never did.
As you might have guessed, we used two CS credits for our meals.
When we left Epcot this afternoon we were asked to take part in a customer survey regarding the dining options and were asked our opinion about our meal. While I wanted to give La Cantina rather not so good marks, Carola was absolutely pleased with her meal and we ended up giving La Cantina a very good review since I was not sure my dislike was not caused by some cultural misunderstanding.
However, before we left, I had to get a snack at Japan, the Kaki Gori:
I got the rainbow version and as you see, it is huge!! It is very difficult to eat, you need to sit down. At first, I did not and I lost quite a bit of the snack. And I was totally afraid I would get some of the coloured ice on my clothes! It acutally is shaved ice mixed with different sirups. I remember that one was watermelon and one was tangerine, but can't remembe the third... It was refreshing, but nearly too sweet for my taste. I am glad that I tried it, but it is not going to be a must do in the future.
Dinner at Sunshine Seasons (Epcot)
We returned to Epcot in the evening and had dinner again at Sunshine Seasons. We really enjoyed our dinner there a few days ago. Planning our ADRs I had found it very dificult to decide where we would want to dine at Epcot. Of course, first I was thinking table service in Epcot is a must. But then we excluded Germany, Italy, France and UK from our list as this was food that we could easily get at home (or at a place that we would regularly visit anyway, i.e. Italy, France or the UK in Europe not in the World Showcase). China regularly had not so favourable reviews, Japan was closed for rennovations, Maroccan food can be found in Germany regularly, too. So this left us with Canada, Norway or Mexico. I personally did not like the look of the Mexican food I had seen here in other people's reviews. Neither did we want to go to a character meal. And Carola was not very much interested in a steakhouse in a cellar (i.e. Cellier). There were so many other table service restaurants that we were more interested in! So our Epcot day became our counter service day, thinking that we would just get some interesting food from around the world showcase...
But already after lunch I had thought that I would love to return to Sunshine Seasons for a meal as I had really liked this place and the quality and diversity of the food offered there. I did not really want to suggest it for dinner because we officially had different plans and should make use of the many options around World Showcase. But when we got on the bus bakc to Epcot after our break Carola mentioned Sunshine Seasons and how much she had enjoyed her meal there. So, we quickliy settled on a second meal there which neither of us regretted. FYI, obviously we used another two CS credits for this meal.
Carola had exactly the same meal again, while I tried the other salad option, Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese Salad with Cilantro and Lime dressing. It was served with a slice of crispy bread:
For dessert I got the strawberry shortcake as well. The salad was very good again, The beets were good, but I think there is not very much you can do to beets to change their taste. The goat cheese was very mild and creamy and it went very well with the fresh tasting dressing on the salad. This was so much better then the salad I had for lunch!!!
So, this day ended with a very good meal and later on a good view of Illuminations!
Next day will be 50's Prime Time Cafe and California Grill.
Flossbolna
Sea days are just so relaxing!
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2006
- Messages
- 13,988
yes, that' s true and this is one of the reasons that the thought of taking a bus at WDW is not in any way horrible for us! 
wilma-bride
<<This space intentionally blank>>
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2005
- Messages
- 22,681
What a shame about your salad at La Cantina - I often think that over-chilled salad woul djust be tasteless. Maybe it was just too cold and, without proper dressing, I can imagine it wasn't particularly nice.
It was lovely to see a picture of you and be able to put a face to the name
sunshine Seasons really looks like a nice option for counter service at Epcot. And, as for that gorgeous looking cinnamon roll at AK, there is only one word that can sum it up - YUM!!!
It was lovely to see a picture of you and be able to put a face to the name
sunshine Seasons really looks like a nice option for counter service at Epcot. And, as for that gorgeous looking cinnamon roll at AK, there is only one word that can sum it up - YUM!!!
richard_andmel
DIS Veteran
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- Oct 11, 2004
- Messages
- 1,121
Great reviews! It's nice to get a different perspective. Looking forward to reading the rest.
John's Mom
Jambo Wildbunch Gang
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- Jun 20, 2004
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- 4,024
Thanks for posting your picture. It's nice to place a face with a name. BTW, what does your DIS name, Flossbolna, mean?
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