emmabemmainc
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2007
- Messages
- 753
I know...quick and deluxe dining in the same title??? 
I'm sorry, there are no pictures-I did take a few, but have not downloaded them yet.
We just returned yesterday from 8 nights on the deluxe plan. I went with my 7 year old daughter, a good friend and her son. I will mostly be reviewing only what I ate and what my daughter thought of her food. I will say one thing, and it's been said many times on disboards, the food selection for children is sadly lacking. Almost every picture I have of my daughter in a restaurant, she is sitting there with a sad or bored look on her face. Well, except when she's posing with the characters. I was even bored after a while, asking her which selection she wanted.
Restaurants to be reviewed:
Sci-Fi Dine-In
50's Prime Time Cafe-Return visit
CRT
California Grill
Crystal Palace-Breakfast Return visit
1900 PF-Breakfast
Narcoossee's
Wolfgang Puck Express
LTT-Lunch
'Ohana
Yak & Yeti
Jiko
Pop Century Food Court
Coral Reef-Return visit
Norway Storybook Breakfast-Return visit
Raglan Road
Sci-Fi Dine-In
This was our first meal of the trip. I had never been here and was excited to see the inside of this place. I thought it was a neat idea, but in a way, it just reminded of a big warehouse with some stuff thrown in it. However, I must say, we had the "car" closest to the door where everyone walks in, so I think that may have put a damper on things. It's hard to feel like you're at a drive-in when you can see almost down the hallway to the entrance.
Food-I had the ribs and my daughter had the pasta w/ meat sauce.
I thought the ribs were good. Not the best I've ever had, but good. There was a cole slaw type salad and beans. The beans were hard and the cole slaw had almost no flavor. I didn't eat much of either of those two things. Between my daughter and I, however, we did eat all of the ribs.
She did not like the pasta w/ meat sauce, which is a bummer, since that is one of the few selections on tons of other restaurant menus. We did have a nice waitress and she did a good job.
50's Prime Time Cafe
I have been here twice before and loved it both times. Although our waitress was not even close to performing the antics I had observed before, she was still decent.
Food: I had the pot roast--wow, this was good. I did receive a "Clean Plate Club" sticker.
It was the best thing I think I have ever eaten there. I also had the sundae, which was excellent, as well. My daughter had the macaroni and cheese, which was ok. One very nice thing was, the waitress let her get the S'mores dessert from the adult menu at no extra charge. She loved it.
CRT
I have to say, this was a perfect Disney experience. I was so impressed after we left here, I couldn't have been happier. We had a 12:00 lunch reservation-to anyone looking to go there for lunch, I would advise you to make it for 12. We were one of the first seatings for lunch and we were sat at the best table in the whole restaurant. There were only 2 of us for this meal and we received the table that is in the center of the window. We had the perfect view. It was also much quieter for most of our meal. Our waitress was wonderful and my daughter loved it. The princesses included (Besides Cinderella in the lobby), Jasmine, Snow White, Aurora and Belle.
Food: I had the Major Domo's Favorite Pie--another good dish. People complain about the food here, but I actually thought it was really good. Oh, we got the appetizer plate beforehand--that included, salami, cheese, a salad mixture of artichoke hearts, olives, roasted red peppers and a great dressing, some greens and dressing and some bruschetta (I know I spelled that wrong). I really loved everything on that plate, although I thought it was odd that they would serve those things when they know that children are the main focus at the meal like that (no offense to all the adults going there alone). My daughter, needless to say, did not like anything on there.
I had the chocolate cream cheese buckle for dessert which was eh. It was dry to me and did not have much flavor. My daughter had the sundae which had the cute chocolate crown on top. She liked it.
California Grille
We had reservations for 7:50 and I didn't have high expectations for being seated before Wishes, but they made it happen and it was great. However, it was PACKED up there and their waiting section (if you're not in the bar) is not very well thought out. It seemed like there were lots of people standing in clumps and it was awkward. We had a decent waiter, but I have to say, that at the signature restaurants, I always felt like we were disappointing the wait people b/c we did not order wine or any alcohol--I don't know, maybe it was just me.
Food:
I had the goat cheese ravioi--YUM. I love goat cheese, so this was a no brainer for me. It was good. There bread here is also very good and we had to get refills.
I also got the pork tenderloin with the goat cheese polenta and mushrooms. I loved the tenderloin and the mushrooms but the polenta tasted odd to me. Again, I love goat cheese, but I wasn't crazy about that. For dessert I had the butterscotch creme brule w/ banana cakes. The creme brule was fantastic. Really really really good. The banana cakes? YAWN. They were dry and didn't have a lot of taste. Besides, who wants to eat banana bread on the sides when you have creme brule in the center?
My daughter had the steak and the rice krispie sushi. She loved both.
Ok--one other thing--why is it that at most Disney restaurants, they serve fat free ranch to the kids? I mean, really. It's sickly sweet and just yuck. Only the signature restaurants served good ranch. Also, why no other dressing options? At almost all places, the kids salad only could come with ranch. Like, there's no way they can pour any other kind of dressing over the lettuce? Ok, rant over.
Crystal Palace
I love this place. I really do. This is our 3rd time going back. The food is good, the setting is pretty and who doesn't love Pooh with your breakfast (ok, a little childish humor)?
I loved everything I ate, but my favorites were the puffed french toast-omg, ok so I could see a little grease when I cut it with my fork, but it was good grease, I swear! I also loved the breakfast pizza, and pretty much everything else. I'm not a big sausage person, but on this trip, I could not get enough of it. Whoever cooks the sausage at each restaurant should get a medal, b/c it was g-o-o-d.
The only problem we had here was--we were waiting for Piglet to finally get to our table--he was the last one to come around. He goes around the other side of us and promptly gets mobbed by a ginormous tour group from Brazil. I'm not kidding, they held him hostage for over 15 minutes. Someone who works there (not his handler, wimpy pigs don't need one, I guess) finally had to come over and drag him away. The leader of the tour group then started yelling at the woman. I have nothing against people from Brazil, but wow, they caused quite a few problems this trip. I could go on and on, but I'll stop now. I may start again in a minute, but I'm done for now.
1900 Park Faire(is there an e on the end? i always forget and i'm too lazy to go and look it up now
We went here for breakfast one morning and it was ok. I was so excited to eat the eggs benedict and wow, what a bummer. It had a very orangey taste to it and I just didn't like it. Plus, the egg yolks were hard and I'm a runny egg yolk kind of girl. Bleh. Everything else was good though, but it didn't seem like there were nearly as many choices as CP. The characters were cute though, and the Mad Hatter was great.
Narcoosees
This restaurant is just beautiful. I loved being able to look out and see the castle and going out on the deck for Wishes actually brought me to tears. I'm not a touchy emotional kind of person, but I almost lost it out there. It was our last night too, so maybe that had something to do with it. We sat next to an incredibly annoying man who bugged the you know what out of me the whole time. I could hear him talking to his companion, saying things like, "I have no clue why this place is 2 credits on the dining plan. Now, Victoria and Alberts is the best place here and that's not even 2 credits"--I wanted to interrupt and set him straight--maybe say something really mature like, "Yeah, doofus, that's b/c V & A's isn't even ON the dining plan! DUH!"--but I restrained myself. I'm classy like that.
Ok-food:
I had the crab cakes for an appy and YUM. I don't even like crab cakes that much (yeah--why I ordered them is beyond me), but they were excellent. I then got the surf and turf (of course!). Yum again, although the sauce on the beef had tarragon in it (I believe) and I'm not a big fan. But, I managed to march on and devour the whole dish. The lobster was good--it's funny, b/c I remember reading on here--someone said that they thought they had a raw lobster tail here and I was thinking to myself--how is that possible? But, I can relate now--no, it wasn't all raw, but I know I had a bite or two that had a raw texture. But, eh--I called it sushi and kept eating. For dessert, I had the cheesecake--Ok--BEST DESSERT I HAD ALL TRIP. Just fabulous. I would go back just for that. So good! My daughter had the filet and it was passable. Sort of tough. She also had the brownie sundae and loved it. It was the only time I saw her eat her whole dessert--yeah, she's odd, but I still love her.
WolfGang Puck--the CS place
Ok, here's what I would do if I got the CS dining plan that is available now. No matter what park I was at, when I got hungry, I would get on a bus or two and make the trek to eat here. What an amazing deal. I mean, come on, you have a waitress and by far, better food for a CS credit? It's the perfect situation!
Food:
I got the meatball/parm pizza and it was seriously some of the best pizza I had ever had. The only issue I had was when you'd take a piece to eat it, the pointy part would flop over so you had to be a total slob eating it. I can manage that quite well, thank you very much, so I was ok with it.
My daughter had the linguini and tomato sauce and she really liked it too. I got some cookies for dessert (they were out of the creme brule-the horror!), and they are on my counter right now. They will be eaten, I assure you. No need to worry.
Liberty Tree Tavern
This was probably the most forgettable meal we had. We went for lunch and it was just ok. In its defense, it was on a 3 meal day, so it was in between CP and 'Ohana, so I was feeling pretty piggish and not really in the mood for eating when we got there.
A huge bummer--I was all excited b/c I was going to order the cheese sticks for an appy--my daughter loves them--but NO--I couldn't--they are an appy for TWO. Our waitress would not let me. Mean woman!
I got the clam chowder, which was very good. I love Chunky soup Clam Chowder, so obviously, I know my clam chowder. It was THAT good. No, really--it was good.
I also had the colony salad--which was ok. No major surprises, although it was nice to finally eat some raw vegetables during our trip.
I got the Toffee cake for dessert--it was good, but I was so anti-food at that point, that my daughter ate most of it. She loved and what I tasted of it, was good.
I don't remember what entree my daughter got here, but I do remember the salad had the fake dressing on it. Yuck.
'Ohana
We had a late reservation time and we were late on top of that (who knew that it would take over an hour to get from Pop to the Polynesian via Downtown Disney? NOT ME!). Anyways, there was only one hula lesson thingie when we were there and no coconut races. We were sort of bummed. We had a great waitress though, so that made up for it a little bit.
Ok-food:
Salad--very good. I'm not kidding, my daughter at a whole bowl herself--and I'm talking the bowl they bring to the table. She is a salad freak.
Dumplings: I really liked them, but the edges were hard and it actually hurt my teeth a little to chew them.
Wings: I liked them--I think I had 3 or 4. Or 6, but who's counting....
Noodles: why are they there? I mean, really--they didn't stand out at all to me. I think I had a little, but I don't remember being blown away--heck, I don't even remember eating them, so what does that tell you?
Meats--ALL dry. My daughter did get one piece of steak that was not, and I fought her over it--but she won--halfway--we split it. I did enjoy the dry turkey in the peanut sauce though--that stuff is YUM-O!
Bread Pudding--very good--OF COURSE. I mean, come on--this has to be the millionth review of the bread pudding at this place and maybe one was negative. We all know how good it is, right?
Yak and Yeti
We did not have reservations for this place (we had them at Chefs de France that night)--but we were at AK and just didn't feel like going all the way to France, so we stayed put. And yes, reservation police, I did cancel the reservations at France, like a good girl should!
This place is pretty cool. I like the decor and the waitress we had was great. I also have to say that they give you so much food, it's unreal. I took some back to the room and it was one of only 2 times I did that (other? WGP).
Food:
I got the lettuce wraps first. Yum. I think I do like P.F. Chang's better, but these were still good.
I then got the ribs--these were good, too. My daughter, again, ate a lot of them and I still had some leftover.
Dessert were the cream cheese potsticker dumbling thingies. They were good too, but a little bland. I'm all about cream cheese, but I don't know--I wanted to really like them, but I didn't reach that point.
My dd had the vegetable lo mein and she liked it. I think she had the make your own sundae too--and how hard is it to screw that up?
So, overall, I was ok that we switched--next time we will make it to France--I do love me some escargot!
Jiko
CRT might have been the most magical place we went to, but this place won for everything else--hands down. My cousin is going next month and after I bugged him, he made a reservation here. The restaurant itself is just beautiful. We had a table right next to the glass wall and you can look out and see the little pond right there. Just perfect.
Food:
I had a flatbread for an appetizer--it was the chef's speciality, but not the one listed on allears. It had goat cheese on it and other stuff, but I just love goat cheese so much, I could have been eating bug larvae and I wouldn't have noticed. It was good, though, whatever it was.
I then had the filet and mac and cheese--OMG. Now, I've had some good steaks in my life, and this definitely ranked at the top. Just fabulous. I mean--I'm still thinking about it good. The mac and cheese was ok--I thought the pasta was a little too al dente, and the cheese sauce was sort of bland, but who cares, right?
I had the pistachio creme brule for dessert and it was fabulous, too. Overall, a perfect meal.
My daughter had the salad and filet and she loved hers as well--good ranch, here.
She got the make your own s'mores and loved that. She kept sticking it in my face though, telling me to taste it. I have to tell you, it didn't look that appealing, but I'm sure to a 7 year old, it looked golden.
Pop Century Food Court
One of those moments when you want to cry, b/c you realize you are wasting 2 food credits on food court food--but you can only eat at sit down places so much, right? That's what I keep telling myself, anyways.
This only happened once with an actual meal--I got the rueben flatbread which was really good, actually. I also got the chocolate cake, which, and I swear to you, had an inch of chocolate frosting on it. I'm not one to go against an overloading of chocolate, but I only managed to eat 2 bites of it and then my daughter took over. She had the child's cheeseburger and took only 2 bites of that, so we were even.
We also got a few other things there-a really good hot fudge sundae (DUH!) and some snacks. They had gluten free brownies there, which I thought was cool. I dated someone with Celiac, so I appreciated them more than the average person.
Coral Reef
This was our second time back to this place and I don't think I will ever go again. I didn't like it much the first time and I pretty much felt the same this time. We went for lunch and had a great table (not right by the tank, but the next row over--perfect seats), but our waiter was pretty rude and just not interested in us.
Food:
Ok, why can't they make an entree out of the beef part of the land and sea appetizer? Would it be so hard? I would be there for lunch and dinner if that was the case. Obviously, I got that and I had ordered that the last time I was there. The beef part comes in at a close second to Jiko's filet as my favorite thing at WDW to eat. It's so good. The shrimp this time were blah--and I hated the little cucumber salad underneath it--I liked both before, so I don't know what happened.
I ordered the mushroom lasagna for my entree. Ok, when you wrap a bunch of cheese (the good part) in pasta and bake it--you'll never believe it, but the pasta gets hard. Really hard. Like break your tooth hard. I know it's not rocket science, but I guess it goes above the chef's heads at CR. Ok, not the entire little package (it looks like a round present) was hard, but the top part was. They also put parm cheese on top and that makes a lovely cheese chip when you peel it off, which, of course, I did. The inside of the present was good--cheese and mushrooms--yum. I don't know, the whole dish just didn't make it for me though--not sure why.
I can't find my dessert on the allears menu--I'm pretty sure it was a creme brule (surprised you, didn't I?). It was ok-nothing special.
My daughter had the cheese pizza and it was terrible. Totally bland and gross. I think she had the fruit cup for dessert. She did--I remember her saying, "there's only one grape in here!". Sad day for both of us.
Norway Breakfast
Second visit and it was good again. It was so cold that day though--not very pleasant walking to the restaurant. The food was good--all of it. Princesses were nice (and Mary Poppins). Waitresses (we had 2) were nice as well. Overall, a good experience. OH--they have these little muffins there w/ some kind of berry in them--when you split them in half and spread the fruit cream cheese on them--wow. I had 3, no joke. I felt like a huge pig, but atleast I was a happy pig. They were great.
Raglan Road
This was our last meal of our trip and it was fitting, because man those Irish songs are sad! The place was pretty empty, it was sort of dark and then you have the sad songs and it does not make for a happy send off meal!
I had the Goat cheese salad thing--and it was excellent. Another one of my favorites. Really really good.
I then had the lobster sandwich and the soup (the cabbage and potato kind). The soup was great, but the lobster sandwich was completely dry. I guess I could have dipped it in my soup and let it sit for 10 minutes, but who has time for that? I didn't eat very much of it.
I then got the bread and butter pudding and again, we all know how great it is, so I won't get too much into that. The sauces though?? Man, I could drink either one with a straw.
My dd had the crispy shrimp--she didn't like them at all and she loves friend shrimp. It's almost like a rice papery kind of coating. It was like eating water. I know, weird. She then got the Chocookberry--this was cool. It was cookies, ice cream and berries in a martini glass. She loved it. Another favorite of her's.
OH--we also got 4 sandwiches from Earl of Sandwich the day we left (I know--FOUR credits left over--the shame)--I have to say, as much as I love their sandwiches--they are not quite the same after they've been sitting in their wrapping for a few hours. Yes, I am aware of the food poisoning risks, but it was a risk I was willing to take. We even at a Tuna Melt sandwich a few hours after ordering it--in the airport no less, and I am proud to say that I am still alive and kicking. Miracles DO happen in Disney!
Oh-snacks! We had 2 funnel cakes (YUM), a cappucino float (eh), Mickey Bar (good), Mickey ice cream sandwich (ok), root beer float (good), a cookie ice cream sandwich (total disappointment--I got it at the funnel cake place and the guy took two really hard cookies and put 3 tiny scoops of ice cream on them--you could not even see the ice cream if you were holding the cookies in your hand--I took it back), cotton candy, a strawberry slushie thing (good), 4 make your own treats at Goofy's (BTW--you can still get the rice krispie treats and the marshmallows on the dining plan-they are one snack credit) and I'm sure more, but that's all that comes to my mind now.
Wrapping it up before my hand cramps up beyond recognition:
Favorites: Jiko, CRT and Cali Grill (RR is a runner up).
Least Favorites: Sci-Fi, CR
I would probably do the deluxe plan again, just because I loved being able to eat wherever and whenever. It was also great to be able to try all the different places. I will say, though, after the 4th or 5th day, eating became boring to some extent. I never, in my life, thought I'd say that, but it's true. I would maybe try a shorter trip.
If anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.
I'm sorry, there are no pictures-I did take a few, but have not downloaded them yet. We just returned yesterday from 8 nights on the deluxe plan. I went with my 7 year old daughter, a good friend and her son. I will mostly be reviewing only what I ate and what my daughter thought of her food. I will say one thing, and it's been said many times on disboards, the food selection for children is sadly lacking. Almost every picture I have of my daughter in a restaurant, she is sitting there with a sad or bored look on her face. Well, except when she's posing with the characters. I was even bored after a while, asking her which selection she wanted.
Restaurants to be reviewed:
Sci-Fi Dine-In
50's Prime Time Cafe-Return visit
CRT
California Grill
Crystal Palace-Breakfast Return visit
1900 PF-Breakfast
Narcoossee's
Wolfgang Puck Express
LTT-Lunch
'Ohana
Yak & Yeti
Jiko
Pop Century Food Court
Coral Reef-Return visit
Norway Storybook Breakfast-Return visit
Raglan Road
Sci-Fi Dine-In
This was our first meal of the trip. I had never been here and was excited to see the inside of this place. I thought it was a neat idea, but in a way, it just reminded of a big warehouse with some stuff thrown in it. However, I must say, we had the "car" closest to the door where everyone walks in, so I think that may have put a damper on things. It's hard to feel like you're at a drive-in when you can see almost down the hallway to the entrance.
Food-I had the ribs and my daughter had the pasta w/ meat sauce.
I thought the ribs were good. Not the best I've ever had, but good. There was a cole slaw type salad and beans. The beans were hard and the cole slaw had almost no flavor. I didn't eat much of either of those two things. Between my daughter and I, however, we did eat all of the ribs.
She did not like the pasta w/ meat sauce, which is a bummer, since that is one of the few selections on tons of other restaurant menus. We did have a nice waitress and she did a good job.
50's Prime Time Cafe
I have been here twice before and loved it both times. Although our waitress was not even close to performing the antics I had observed before, she was still decent.
Food: I had the pot roast--wow, this was good. I did receive a "Clean Plate Club" sticker.
It was the best thing I think I have ever eaten there. I also had the sundae, which was excellent, as well. My daughter had the macaroni and cheese, which was ok. One very nice thing was, the waitress let her get the S'mores dessert from the adult menu at no extra charge. She loved it. CRT
I have to say, this was a perfect Disney experience. I was so impressed after we left here, I couldn't have been happier. We had a 12:00 lunch reservation-to anyone looking to go there for lunch, I would advise you to make it for 12. We were one of the first seatings for lunch and we were sat at the best table in the whole restaurant. There were only 2 of us for this meal and we received the table that is in the center of the window. We had the perfect view. It was also much quieter for most of our meal. Our waitress was wonderful and my daughter loved it. The princesses included (Besides Cinderella in the lobby), Jasmine, Snow White, Aurora and Belle.
Food: I had the Major Domo's Favorite Pie--another good dish. People complain about the food here, but I actually thought it was really good. Oh, we got the appetizer plate beforehand--that included, salami, cheese, a salad mixture of artichoke hearts, olives, roasted red peppers and a great dressing, some greens and dressing and some bruschetta (I know I spelled that wrong). I really loved everything on that plate, although I thought it was odd that they would serve those things when they know that children are the main focus at the meal like that (no offense to all the adults going there alone). My daughter, needless to say, did not like anything on there.
I had the chocolate cream cheese buckle for dessert which was eh. It was dry to me and did not have much flavor. My daughter had the sundae which had the cute chocolate crown on top. She liked it.
California Grille
We had reservations for 7:50 and I didn't have high expectations for being seated before Wishes, but they made it happen and it was great. However, it was PACKED up there and their waiting section (if you're not in the bar) is not very well thought out. It seemed like there were lots of people standing in clumps and it was awkward. We had a decent waiter, but I have to say, that at the signature restaurants, I always felt like we were disappointing the wait people b/c we did not order wine or any alcohol--I don't know, maybe it was just me.
Food:
I had the goat cheese ravioi--YUM. I love goat cheese, so this was a no brainer for me. It was good. There bread here is also very good and we had to get refills.
I also got the pork tenderloin with the goat cheese polenta and mushrooms. I loved the tenderloin and the mushrooms but the polenta tasted odd to me. Again, I love goat cheese, but I wasn't crazy about that. For dessert I had the butterscotch creme brule w/ banana cakes. The creme brule was fantastic. Really really really good. The banana cakes? YAWN. They were dry and didn't have a lot of taste. Besides, who wants to eat banana bread on the sides when you have creme brule in the center?
My daughter had the steak and the rice krispie sushi. She loved both.
Ok--one other thing--why is it that at most Disney restaurants, they serve fat free ranch to the kids? I mean, really. It's sickly sweet and just yuck. Only the signature restaurants served good ranch. Also, why no other dressing options? At almost all places, the kids salad only could come with ranch. Like, there's no way they can pour any other kind of dressing over the lettuce? Ok, rant over.
Crystal Palace
I love this place. I really do. This is our 3rd time going back. The food is good, the setting is pretty and who doesn't love Pooh with your breakfast (ok, a little childish humor)?
I loved everything I ate, but my favorites were the puffed french toast-omg, ok so I could see a little grease when I cut it with my fork, but it was good grease, I swear! I also loved the breakfast pizza, and pretty much everything else. I'm not a big sausage person, but on this trip, I could not get enough of it. Whoever cooks the sausage at each restaurant should get a medal, b/c it was g-o-o-d.
The only problem we had here was--we were waiting for Piglet to finally get to our table--he was the last one to come around. He goes around the other side of us and promptly gets mobbed by a ginormous tour group from Brazil. I'm not kidding, they held him hostage for over 15 minutes. Someone who works there (not his handler, wimpy pigs don't need one, I guess) finally had to come over and drag him away. The leader of the tour group then started yelling at the woman. I have nothing against people from Brazil, but wow, they caused quite a few problems this trip. I could go on and on, but I'll stop now. I may start again in a minute, but I'm done for now.
1900 Park Faire(is there an e on the end? i always forget and i'm too lazy to go and look it up now
We went here for breakfast one morning and it was ok. I was so excited to eat the eggs benedict and wow, what a bummer. It had a very orangey taste to it and I just didn't like it. Plus, the egg yolks were hard and I'm a runny egg yolk kind of girl. Bleh. Everything else was good though, but it didn't seem like there were nearly as many choices as CP. The characters were cute though, and the Mad Hatter was great.
Narcoosees
This restaurant is just beautiful. I loved being able to look out and see the castle and going out on the deck for Wishes actually brought me to tears. I'm not a touchy emotional kind of person, but I almost lost it out there. It was our last night too, so maybe that had something to do with it. We sat next to an incredibly annoying man who bugged the you know what out of me the whole time. I could hear him talking to his companion, saying things like, "I have no clue why this place is 2 credits on the dining plan. Now, Victoria and Alberts is the best place here and that's not even 2 credits"--I wanted to interrupt and set him straight--maybe say something really mature like, "Yeah, doofus, that's b/c V & A's isn't even ON the dining plan! DUH!"--but I restrained myself. I'm classy like that.
Ok-food:
I had the crab cakes for an appy and YUM. I don't even like crab cakes that much (yeah--why I ordered them is beyond me), but they were excellent. I then got the surf and turf (of course!). Yum again, although the sauce on the beef had tarragon in it (I believe) and I'm not a big fan. But, I managed to march on and devour the whole dish. The lobster was good--it's funny, b/c I remember reading on here--someone said that they thought they had a raw lobster tail here and I was thinking to myself--how is that possible? But, I can relate now--no, it wasn't all raw, but I know I had a bite or two that had a raw texture. But, eh--I called it sushi and kept eating. For dessert, I had the cheesecake--Ok--BEST DESSERT I HAD ALL TRIP. Just fabulous. I would go back just for that. So good! My daughter had the filet and it was passable. Sort of tough. She also had the brownie sundae and loved it. It was the only time I saw her eat her whole dessert--yeah, she's odd, but I still love her.
WolfGang Puck--the CS place
Ok, here's what I would do if I got the CS dining plan that is available now. No matter what park I was at, when I got hungry, I would get on a bus or two and make the trek to eat here. What an amazing deal. I mean, come on, you have a waitress and by far, better food for a CS credit? It's the perfect situation!
Food:
I got the meatball/parm pizza and it was seriously some of the best pizza I had ever had. The only issue I had was when you'd take a piece to eat it, the pointy part would flop over so you had to be a total slob eating it. I can manage that quite well, thank you very much, so I was ok with it.
My daughter had the linguini and tomato sauce and she really liked it too. I got some cookies for dessert (they were out of the creme brule-the horror!), and they are on my counter right now. They will be eaten, I assure you. No need to worry.
Liberty Tree Tavern
This was probably the most forgettable meal we had. We went for lunch and it was just ok. In its defense, it was on a 3 meal day, so it was in between CP and 'Ohana, so I was feeling pretty piggish and not really in the mood for eating when we got there.
A huge bummer--I was all excited b/c I was going to order the cheese sticks for an appy--my daughter loves them--but NO--I couldn't--they are an appy for TWO. Our waitress would not let me. Mean woman!
I got the clam chowder, which was very good. I love Chunky soup Clam Chowder, so obviously, I know my clam chowder. It was THAT good. No, really--it was good.
I also had the colony salad--which was ok. No major surprises, although it was nice to finally eat some raw vegetables during our trip.
I got the Toffee cake for dessert--it was good, but I was so anti-food at that point, that my daughter ate most of it. She loved and what I tasted of it, was good.
I don't remember what entree my daughter got here, but I do remember the salad had the fake dressing on it. Yuck.
'Ohana
We had a late reservation time and we were late on top of that (who knew that it would take over an hour to get from Pop to the Polynesian via Downtown Disney? NOT ME!). Anyways, there was only one hula lesson thingie when we were there and no coconut races. We were sort of bummed. We had a great waitress though, so that made up for it a little bit.
Ok-food:
Salad--very good. I'm not kidding, my daughter at a whole bowl herself--and I'm talking the bowl they bring to the table. She is a salad freak.
Dumplings: I really liked them, but the edges were hard and it actually hurt my teeth a little to chew them.
Wings: I liked them--I think I had 3 or 4. Or 6, but who's counting....
Noodles: why are they there? I mean, really--they didn't stand out at all to me. I think I had a little, but I don't remember being blown away--heck, I don't even remember eating them, so what does that tell you?
Meats--ALL dry. My daughter did get one piece of steak that was not, and I fought her over it--but she won--halfway--we split it. I did enjoy the dry turkey in the peanut sauce though--that stuff is YUM-O!
Bread Pudding--very good--OF COURSE. I mean, come on--this has to be the millionth review of the bread pudding at this place and maybe one was negative. We all know how good it is, right?
Yak and Yeti
We did not have reservations for this place (we had them at Chefs de France that night)--but we were at AK and just didn't feel like going all the way to France, so we stayed put. And yes, reservation police, I did cancel the reservations at France, like a good girl should!
This place is pretty cool. I like the decor and the waitress we had was great. I also have to say that they give you so much food, it's unreal. I took some back to the room and it was one of only 2 times I did that (other? WGP).
Food:
I got the lettuce wraps first. Yum. I think I do like P.F. Chang's better, but these were still good.
I then got the ribs--these were good, too. My daughter, again, ate a lot of them and I still had some leftover.
Dessert were the cream cheese potsticker dumbling thingies. They were good too, but a little bland. I'm all about cream cheese, but I don't know--I wanted to really like them, but I didn't reach that point.
My dd had the vegetable lo mein and she liked it. I think she had the make your own sundae too--and how hard is it to screw that up?
So, overall, I was ok that we switched--next time we will make it to France--I do love me some escargot!
Jiko
CRT might have been the most magical place we went to, but this place won for everything else--hands down. My cousin is going next month and after I bugged him, he made a reservation here. The restaurant itself is just beautiful. We had a table right next to the glass wall and you can look out and see the little pond right there. Just perfect.
Food:
I had a flatbread for an appetizer--it was the chef's speciality, but not the one listed on allears. It had goat cheese on it and other stuff, but I just love goat cheese so much, I could have been eating bug larvae and I wouldn't have noticed. It was good, though, whatever it was.
I then had the filet and mac and cheese--OMG. Now, I've had some good steaks in my life, and this definitely ranked at the top. Just fabulous. I mean--I'm still thinking about it good. The mac and cheese was ok--I thought the pasta was a little too al dente, and the cheese sauce was sort of bland, but who cares, right?
I had the pistachio creme brule for dessert and it was fabulous, too. Overall, a perfect meal.
My daughter had the salad and filet and she loved hers as well--good ranch, here.
She got the make your own s'mores and loved that. She kept sticking it in my face though, telling me to taste it. I have to tell you, it didn't look that appealing, but I'm sure to a 7 year old, it looked golden.
Pop Century Food Court
One of those moments when you want to cry, b/c you realize you are wasting 2 food credits on food court food--but you can only eat at sit down places so much, right? That's what I keep telling myself, anyways.
This only happened once with an actual meal--I got the rueben flatbread which was really good, actually. I also got the chocolate cake, which, and I swear to you, had an inch of chocolate frosting on it. I'm not one to go against an overloading of chocolate, but I only managed to eat 2 bites of it and then my daughter took over. She had the child's cheeseburger and took only 2 bites of that, so we were even.
We also got a few other things there-a really good hot fudge sundae (DUH!) and some snacks. They had gluten free brownies there, which I thought was cool. I dated someone with Celiac, so I appreciated them more than the average person.
Coral Reef
This was our second time back to this place and I don't think I will ever go again. I didn't like it much the first time and I pretty much felt the same this time. We went for lunch and had a great table (not right by the tank, but the next row over--perfect seats), but our waiter was pretty rude and just not interested in us.
Food:
Ok, why can't they make an entree out of the beef part of the land and sea appetizer? Would it be so hard? I would be there for lunch and dinner if that was the case. Obviously, I got that and I had ordered that the last time I was there. The beef part comes in at a close second to Jiko's filet as my favorite thing at WDW to eat. It's so good. The shrimp this time were blah--and I hated the little cucumber salad underneath it--I liked both before, so I don't know what happened.
I ordered the mushroom lasagna for my entree. Ok, when you wrap a bunch of cheese (the good part) in pasta and bake it--you'll never believe it, but the pasta gets hard. Really hard. Like break your tooth hard. I know it's not rocket science, but I guess it goes above the chef's heads at CR. Ok, not the entire little package (it looks like a round present) was hard, but the top part was. They also put parm cheese on top and that makes a lovely cheese chip when you peel it off, which, of course, I did. The inside of the present was good--cheese and mushrooms--yum. I don't know, the whole dish just didn't make it for me though--not sure why.
I can't find my dessert on the allears menu--I'm pretty sure it was a creme brule (surprised you, didn't I?). It was ok-nothing special.
My daughter had the cheese pizza and it was terrible. Totally bland and gross. I think she had the fruit cup for dessert. She did--I remember her saying, "there's only one grape in here!". Sad day for both of us.
Norway Breakfast
Second visit and it was good again. It was so cold that day though--not very pleasant walking to the restaurant. The food was good--all of it. Princesses were nice (and Mary Poppins). Waitresses (we had 2) were nice as well. Overall, a good experience. OH--they have these little muffins there w/ some kind of berry in them--when you split them in half and spread the fruit cream cheese on them--wow. I had 3, no joke. I felt like a huge pig, but atleast I was a happy pig. They were great.
Raglan Road
This was our last meal of our trip and it was fitting, because man those Irish songs are sad! The place was pretty empty, it was sort of dark and then you have the sad songs and it does not make for a happy send off meal!
I had the Goat cheese salad thing--and it was excellent. Another one of my favorites. Really really good.
I then had the lobster sandwich and the soup (the cabbage and potato kind). The soup was great, but the lobster sandwich was completely dry. I guess I could have dipped it in my soup and let it sit for 10 minutes, but who has time for that? I didn't eat very much of it.
I then got the bread and butter pudding and again, we all know how great it is, so I won't get too much into that. The sauces though?? Man, I could drink either one with a straw.
My dd had the crispy shrimp--she didn't like them at all and she loves friend shrimp. It's almost like a rice papery kind of coating. It was like eating water. I know, weird. She then got the Chocookberry--this was cool. It was cookies, ice cream and berries in a martini glass. She loved it. Another favorite of her's.
OH--we also got 4 sandwiches from Earl of Sandwich the day we left (I know--FOUR credits left over--the shame)--I have to say, as much as I love their sandwiches--they are not quite the same after they've been sitting in their wrapping for a few hours. Yes, I am aware of the food poisoning risks, but it was a risk I was willing to take. We even at a Tuna Melt sandwich a few hours after ordering it--in the airport no less, and I am proud to say that I am still alive and kicking. Miracles DO happen in Disney!
Oh-snacks! We had 2 funnel cakes (YUM), a cappucino float (eh), Mickey Bar (good), Mickey ice cream sandwich (ok), root beer float (good), a cookie ice cream sandwich (total disappointment--I got it at the funnel cake place and the guy took two really hard cookies and put 3 tiny scoops of ice cream on them--you could not even see the ice cream if you were holding the cookies in your hand--I took it back), cotton candy, a strawberry slushie thing (good), 4 make your own treats at Goofy's (BTW--you can still get the rice krispie treats and the marshmallows on the dining plan-they are one snack credit) and I'm sure more, but that's all that comes to my mind now.
Wrapping it up before my hand cramps up beyond recognition:
Favorites: Jiko, CRT and Cali Grill (RR is a runner up).
Least Favorites: Sci-Fi, CR
I would probably do the deluxe plan again, just because I loved being able to eat wherever and whenever. It was also great to be able to try all the different places. I will say, though, after the 4th or 5th day, eating became boring to some extent. I never, in my life, thought I'd say that, but it's true. I would maybe try a shorter trip.
If anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.
