Recent California Grill reviews?

[Slapster]

I'm debating whether California Grill is worth 2 TS credits. We've never eaten there. Anyone have recent opinions? I read some on allearsnet but was hoping to get some more input.

 

[bleeps]

We dined at CG in December. It was our third time -- we've gone every trip and it has a permanent fixture on our list for every trip. The food, service, and views are out of this world. We live in the Boston area, have travelled extensively, and eaten in fine dining places all over the US and beyond. CG is a world-class restaurant. We did use the DP last trip, we did use it for CG, and found that it was totally worth the 2 credits. I hope this helps. We also ate at Artists Point, Coral Reef, and Brown Derby in Dec. -- we paid OOP for those because we found those were NOT worth the 2 credits (and yes I know that CR has/will change to 1 credit).....

 

[Mickey4me!]

We ate there this past Nov. and while we weren't on the DP, we thought it was well worth the $$ and look forward to eating there again. Below is a link to the dining review I wrote about that trip. If you scroll to the bottom you'll see the CG part.

Nov Dining Reviews - Long

 

[GeorgiaAristocat]

I am pasting in my review from our meal there last September - there is a lot of extraneous information, so, you are warned!

Sunday, September 25, California Grill:
First, I have to say that I choose to eat here more for the location and atmosphere than the menu. While I analyzed EVERY menu on AllEars, I knew that given the opportunity, I really wanted to eat at the top of the Contemporary with the fireworks going off outside. I was NOT disappointed in my choice. We arrived at the Contemporary about 10 minutes before our PS time and checked in. We arrived close enough to our time that they didn’t even give us a pager, just told us to stand by as a table was ready. Straight up in the elevator. Very nice young man ushered us up, and I recall some degree of humor, but couldn’t tell you what it was about. We were walked all the way around the restaurant and ended up sitting at the next to last table adjacent to the window beside the wine “cellar”. We were looking at the roof, and not at the roof that you look beyond to see the Castle. The roof that you look beyond and see Epcot very far in the distance. I quickly got over that small disappointment.

Our server was Charmaine. She was very nice and helpful (I thought, until I got the bill for my ONE glass of wine, but I am getting ahead of myself). Since this was our first meal on the dining plan, I was very forthright with her at the beginning to make sure we were getting everything right. We carefully analyzed our menus to decide on appetizers and deserts. Once I chose those, I then asked Charmaine for a wine recommendation, which she gladly gave. Brian ordered the Tomato Extravaganza as his appetizer, which was very good, kind of earthy tasting. I had the Dungeness Crab salad, which was stacked between poppyseed phyllo sheets with avocado shavings and tropical fruit. Really excellent.

I think I had my wine by now. I was somewhat intimidated by the whole “why don’t you taste before you decide routine” since I am only very rarely going to refuse what I ordered or was recommended, but went through it anyway and approved the choice.

On to the entrees: Brian had the standard steak (which I could have predicted), and, as it turned out, none of the days choices really interested me, so I ordered the standard pork loin. Both were very, very good. The potatoes with the Steak were incredible. Brian said they would “make you want to slap your mama.” I still don’t understand why this indicates that they are so good, but it does. They were so excellent that I have requested the recipe. I should mention that I dutifully reviewed the desert menu before deciding on the other two courses and was determined to save the appropriate amount of room. I ate less than half of my entrée. It’s all about priorities. If we had a microwave in our room, and if I hadn’t known that we were going to be overwhelmed with food over the week, I really would have taken the leftovers with me. Brian and I could easily have shared our meal here and both been more than full.

On to dessert. Brian had the Blueberry Bliss (basically a blueberry tart, but an extremely good blueberry tart. Again with the elder abuse comments.) I had the “L’Opera Sings” which was quite good, but not what I was expecting. I thought I would be getting lots of mocha crème between pastry layers. Yes, but this was an extremely dense hazelnut cake with very thin layers of mocha crème. I should have taken these leftovers and didn’t. Foolish, weak mortal.

I should also mention that we took a break to watch the fireworks and they were wonderful. Wishes (the only time I got to see the show that week as it turned out) was magical, and this meal was a perfect start to our trip, since we were two adults trying to reconnect and get romantic. This did the trick.
Then the bill: Charmaine (who had been very attentive throughout the meal) brought our two tickets to sign, one for the dining plan, and one to charge the ONE glass of wine I got to the room. Now, I asked for it when I requested a recommendation and didn’t pick my wine myself. I can pick my own wine, but it might not be the PERFECT wine to accompany the meal I chose. Hence the request for a recommendation. It was very good wine and a perfect accompaniment to my meal. It was also $20 for a single glass! We are not gourmands, I don’t drink wine that costs $20 a glass, I really have a hard time differentiating that wine from the one that costs $9 a glass. I sucked in my breath and just paid it (without even consulting the wine list to see if it was right.) I hope I wasn’t overcharged, but I figured it was a small price to pay for the wonderful meal we had just enjoyed. Brian didn’t get alcohol b/c he was on antibiotics for a sinus infection. Poor man.
We finished and went downstairs intending to take the monorail back to the MK to catch a bus to our resort. Turns out that taking the monorail would have caused us to miss our last bus, so we hot-footed it to the bus stop (hopping a rail we weren’t supposed to cross) to get the bus back to the resort. We needed to walk anyway after that wonderful, extremely filling meal.

Total cost (w/o the wine): $127.81(4 TS credits), wine: $19.53
Overall grade: A to A- (because of the price)

 

[Slapster]

Thanks for all the great info. That's why I love this board!