Quick dining grades from our vacation last month...

[Belle5]

My intentions were really good. I am usually one to do a simple dining review after one of our trips, but this time I just can't seem to get it together. I will just assign a grade to our meal and service.

We were at the world last month and had some GREAT dining experiences. Our most negative experiences had to do with surly service...That can really change your whole perception of the food, if you let it! One the occasions where we would have bad service I kept telling myself to try and remain objective about the food. The most unfriendly service we had all week was from a server named Kim at the Wave. I am not sure why she is working at Disney as she clearly has problems with people. Anyway, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Here are the places we dined or snacked:

Kouzzina for dinner service C food B
Gasparilla's lunch food A
Roaring Forks lunch food A
The Wave dinner service with Kim D-, food B
Sanaa dinner service C food C
Boma dinner service with Jeff A+ food B
Captain Cook's breakfast food B
Sassagoula Float Works lunch food D (beignets yummy, don't go out of way)
Tangerierine Cafe lunch food B
Boulangerie France lunch food B+
Contempo Cafe for cupcakes!! food A+
Jiko dinner service from Tiffany C, food B
Karamel Kuche snacks food C (Caramel does NOT go well with sour strawberries)
Goofy's Candy snacks B
Pepper Market breakfast (twice) service B+, food B+
Kona Cafe breakfast and dinner service with Debbie was A+, food was B+
WPE breakfast, food not as good as we remembered C+
Flame Tree BBQ lunch, food A-
Tea Cart in AK delish chai products! B
Sci-Fi lunch service (Ken was just horrid) D-, food C
Le Cellier dinner LOVED Jarrod service A ( food C-) This was just before 2 credit change over...
Riverside Mill snacks snack food B+
Via Napoli lunch service B, food A+

I would be happy to answer any questions about our meals...

I would love to see all managers come to tables to ask you if everything is alright...just so there would be accountability for the servers! All problems are ultimately about BAD MANAGEMENT!!! If the managers would do their job, they would know which servers were doing well and which were not.

Jarrod at Le Cellier is an example of how even lousy food can seem much better with an awesome server!

Can't wait to go back...for our 27th family trip. Via Napoli will be a must-do for us! Loved it!

 

[ccgirl]

Thanks so much. Would you mind expanding on Boma, Sanaa, and Jiko? Staying at AK for the first time in October and trying to decide between the 3. I am not a big fan of spicy or curry if that helps. Thanks!

 

[jakenjess]

I'm sorry to see Sanaa with a C for service. We had lunch there twice in February and both times service was fantastic.

 

[Belle5]

Thanks so much. Would you mind expanding on Boma, Sanaa, and Jiko? Staying at AK for the first time in October and trying to decide between the 3. I am not a big fan of spicy or curry if that helps. Thanks!

How fabulous to be staying at AKL! Let me see if I can help with your restaurant choices.

Jiko, as you probably know, is a signature restaurant. We have dined there three or four times. There are a lot of food items there that don't come across as spicy, just flavorful. I was really excited to try the amarula creme brulee, but it really did disappoint! I had LOVED the amarula mousse filling in our custom cake last May, so I was sure that I would love this creme brulee (besides the fact that I had read rave reviews about it) but I didn't... My son's tile fish was awesome. DH loved his steak, wine sauce w/ macaroni, as usual. I still moaned as I devoured each bite of my short ribs. My son's cheesecake at Jiko was great. DH's chocolate dessert was great. We had French presses of coffee at the table. I had the eros tea in a tea press. It was wonderful! My younger son had the kid's filet and macaroni. He licked the plate clean...and he is a very picky eater.

Sanaa--not as good as last time. We still enjoyed the naan bread service (we only order naan) and I think we received 9 relishes/chutneys with our two orders. The first batch had some raw pieces that we sent back. We all had the NY strips which were pretty disappointing. Our dessert trios were WONDERFUL. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the chocolate cake since everyone seems to report that it's dry. It is one of the few Disney chocolate cakes that isn't sickeningly sweet. DH and DS shared Kenya AA in a French press, which they loved. I ordered an almond rooibos tea in a tea press which I drank with cream (server tried to talk me out of cream...but I know my tea and my preferences) and it was FABULOUS! Service was ok.

Boma--we have probably dined here about a dozen times. It was really crowded and that seems to take away from the experience and the buffet for me. I remember feeling as if I was not finding the number of selections on the dessert pod to choose from that we had last May. I really didn't find one dessert that I was crazy about...except for the special treats that Jeff brought us to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Those were to die for! There was a new soup with peanut butter that I went crazy over! I put the coconut rice in it just because it sounded good...and was it EVER! Everything was really good. I love Boma which always surprises me since I generally hate buffets.

I hope this helps you decide. I don't know what your looking for (romance, signature, family spot) so the only think I would say is that Sanaa was the weakest of the three restaurants for us this time. Last time we tried the curry dishes and knew we wanted to move away from those this time, so we went with the strip steak. Now I know I would order the fish if we were to go again(my mom enjoyed that entree last year). It is truly a beautiful restaurant.

 

[Belle5]

I'm sorry to see Sanaa with a C for service. We had lunch there twice in February and both times service was fantastic.

Our server a little difficult. Kind of bossy. Kept trying to talk us out of things. Didn't want to let us touch our own French press, etc. She disappeared a lot... We had Ken last year...much better.

 

[ccgirl]

Thanks so much. That was exactly what I was looking for. It is just my DH and myself this time. Celebrating our anniversary and the F&W. Think we may do Boma since it's a buffet I will probably have better luck finding something I like.

Thanks again!

 

[Belle5]

Thanks so much. That was exactly what I was looking for. It is just my DH and myself this time. Celebrating our anniversary and the F&W. Think we may do Boma since it's a buffet I will probably have better luck finding something I like.

Thanks again!

Ask for Jeff. He is the best server we have ever had at Boma! Our guy last year was an absolute DUD! Make sure you let him know it's your anniversary and congratulations in advance!

 

[Tiggerella]

We have dinner reservations at both for our trip this August. Just wondering what you ordered at each and any comments- good or bad-on that.

Also at Kouzzina, the service you rated a C: was that due to inattentiveness, staff attitude, or slow service?

Also since I got ya, did you notice if the tuna sandwich was still on the menu at Roaring Fork? Did they have a plate and/or soup of the day, too?

Thanks for sharing in general and helping with above.

 

[lissawynn]

Ken was also our server at Sci-Fi last June. I clearly remember this because he told us it was just like Ken from TS3. He was terrible. He clearly cared more about padding out bill than anything else. We had the DxDP, and he kept trying to upsell everything. He got very nasty when my DH declined dessert. He is not a dessert person to begin with, and he was just too full to even think about eating more. I was terribly disappointed with the entire experience because I kept telling my DH what a great meal I had there in July 2009. The server in 2009 was amazing and treated my kids so well! She even brought my son another serving of mac-n-cheese after he finished his first plate (shared with little sister). She didn't even charge us!

 

[Belle5]

We have dinner reservations at both for our trip this August. Just wondering what you ordered at each and any comments- good or bad-on that.

Also at Kouzzina, the service you rated a C: was that due to inattentiveness, staff attitude, or slow service?

Also since I got ya, did you notice if the tuna sandwich was still on the menu at Roaring Fork? Did they have a plate and/or soup of the day, too?

Thanks for sharing in general and helping with above.

Hi Tiggerella!
We all ordered the trio at Kouzzina. We all loved the lamb burger. We weren't overly impressed by the Greek Lasagna, but it was fine. The stewed cinnamon chicken was good. The desserts were unremarkable with the exception of the espresso (or some kind of coffee flavored) creme brulee that the server kept trying to talk my son out of ordering because she thought it was too strong. He went crazy over it and I wished that I had ordered it! We had French presses of coffee that was a Joffrey blend (we asked). Our server was just strange. She seemed really uneven in her moods. One moment she was our best friend and just ooed and gooed over my son, and the next she seemed ticked off and mad at the world, next time around she was bouncing off the walls happy and then crashing again, irritated with our requests, etc. I've never observed such dramatic mood swings in a server and I personally found it draining. I do not want to have to nurture a good relationship with our server to keep her happy with us...too much work on vacation! She was slowwwww....would show up to chat without having the food items we'd requested long before with her...then she'd go off to another table. Weird!

Roaring Forks... I cannot tell you whether the tuna was still on the menu. I can honestly say I didn't notice it and I believe I would have considered it had it been there...We ordered the beef and blue sandwiches, some kind of great side and those to die-for Magic Bars...

 

[Belle5]

Ken was also our server at Sci-Fi last June. I clearly remember this because he told us it was just like Ken from TS3. He was terrible. He clearly cared more about padding out bill than anything else. We had the DxDP, and he kept trying to upsell everything. He got very nasty when my DH declined dessert. He is not a dessert person to begin with, and he was just too full to even think about eating more. I was terribly disappointed with the entire experience because I kept telling my DH what a great meal I had there in July 2009. The server in 2009 was amazing and treated my kids so well! She even brought my son another serving of mac-n-cheese after he finished his first plate (shared with little sister). She didn't even charge us!

Yep! Same horrible server...
The only thing he did right was to recommend the Reuben sandwich when he showed up to take our order. It was DELICIOUS! He was so bad, we finally had to turn around and ask the people in the car behind us if we could borrow their ketchup...he NEVER came around to see if we needed ANYTHING except...he showed up with the bill to collect his tip...