larry's girl
Dead last finish is better than did not finish, wh
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2003
- Messages
- 675
Friday, January 27
Breakfast - Artists Palette, Saratoga Springs
I got a blueberry muffin and bottled water, which was a light breakfast and suited me just fine this morning. Larry and Tara shared a cheese danish, which they both enjoyed. In addition, Tara got the breakfast flatbread and Larry requested an order of biscuits and gravy. He had two HUGE biscuits which had been split in half and covered with white sausage gravy. This was a plateful and he said it was very good. Taras flatbread was a wheat crust with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and mozzarella cheese on it. She is not normally a big breakfast eater, but we had been on the road all night and she was hungry, so she ate every bite of this and said it was scrumptious.
Lunch Teppanyaki, Japan pavilion at World Showcase in Epcot
We were seated at the hibachi grill with a couple from Boston who were enjoying a trip to Disney World without their kids and an elderly woman with her adult daughter from Dallas who were enjoying a mother/daughter trip. The hostess brought warm moist towels for us to wash our hands and faces before our meal. I personally think this is a wonderful custom I would love to see other restaurants offer moist towels before a meal! After receiving sodas, water, and a strawberry-melon smoothie (this was Taras beverage, and she was very happy with it), we were each given a small bowl of seaweed salad. This had a strong salty/pickled taste to it it was good, but a little strong for Tara and myself. Larry, on the other hand, loved his and ate most of mine and hers as well. For our entrees, Tara ordered shrimp, while Larry and I got shrimp and chicken. The chef engaged us in conversation while he prepared the grill and items making up our lunches, asking each of us where we were from and how we were enjoying our vacation. He made an onion volcano almost immediately, which I had heard about but had never seen. I told him that I had heard the chefs here do tricks while they are cooking, and he said he does one or two (he flipped a couple of shrimp tails up into his hat to give me an example), but generally prefers to concentrate on his cooking. None of us could fault him for that the food was excellent! The shrimp were grilled to perfection and the chicken was lightly seasoned and perfectly cooked. We also had noodles and vegetables which had a delicate flavor with a nice crunch. We each received bowls of steamed white rice which was done so perfectly you could separate each grain of rice easily (no clumps like what I make at home!!). We also had two dipping sauces, a peanut teriyaki type of sauce and a mustard-based sauce that was flavored with ginger. Larry preferred the mustard sauce, while Tara and I polished off our teriyaki sauce quickly. We were too full for dessert, but will definitely come back another day for lunch here! Our chef told us he had been doing this kind of cooking for over 20 years, so we asked him if he cooked this way at home. He said he could, but he prefers Burger King! We all laughed and I sincerely hope he was joking!! (And remember that Burger King reference it will come back again later in this report!!)
Dinner Artist Point, Wilderness Lodge
We received our pager here and had drinks in the lounge while we waited. We brought them with us to the table and sipped while we perused the menu. Tara and I decided on the salmon and Larry had the buffalo steak. Our server brought sourdough bread with butter for us to munch on while we waited. The restaurant was very busy tonight, and we waited some time for our meals, but we really didnt mind the wait. We were a little concerned that our service was somewhat slow we went without drink refills more than once during this dinner. Our server was very pleasant, but she didnt seem to have good timing when it came to pacing the meal and keeping our drinks refilled. At any rate, our dinners finally arrived and we began to eat. Larrys buffalo steak was very good, with a sweet taste that I found intriguing (I had a small taste strictly for the purpose of doing my restaurant report, of course!!). My salmon was perfectly done, but Taras was seriously undercooked. Almost all of it except for the two ends had been left raw. She was not happy with this, so I switched with her thinking that I could just eat around the raw areas. Unfortunately, there wasnt much to eat around it was almost all raw! When our server finally came to check on us, I showed her the raw piece of salmon and she responded that this was medium rare salmon. I told her that I could not eat raw fish, and she took the plate back to the kitchen and returned very quickly with a new plate of salmon that was perfectly cooked. I was grateful for the quick turn around, and I suspect I received someone elses entrée so that I wouldnt have another lengthy wait for my meal.
I had ordered a no sugar added berry cobbler ahead of time, which was served warm with no sugar added vanilla ice cream. Tara chose a pear tart with an ice wine mousse which she raved about. Larry was too full for dessert, but he tasted each of ours and proclaimed them both very good. All in all, we were happy with our meals here eventually, and I would definitely return for another dinner, but I would probably order the buffalo next time.
Saturday, January 28
Lunch Sci-Fi Dine-In, Disney MGM Studios
After we were seated in our car and watched the film clips for a few moments, we decided on our orders here. I got the turkey sandwich on multigrain bread, which was an excellent sandwich very fresh and filling. Larry ordered a reuben sandwich, which he said was almost as good as the reuben he had at the Plaza and that is high praise from him! Tara had the shrimp alfredo, which she was very happy with. I got a small taste of this, and it had a creamy garlic sauce that was outstanding. The best part of this meal was listening to the servers recite the lines from the film clips before they were said, or shouting in reaction to something that was being shown on the screen. Although this startled me the first time they did it, I soon realized that they must see these clips hundreds of times each day and they have to do something to relieve the monotony! We found them highly amusing and we will definitely be back for another lunch here.
Dinner The Flying Fish, Boardwalk
For those of you who have read my restaurant reviews before, you know that The Flying Fish is a must do for our family on each visit to Disney World. Even with an ADR, we waited an hour to be seated tonight they were really busy! In spite of the hectic pace, Joe and Bob recognized us from across the room and came over for handshakes and hugs of welcome. Joe was serving a large party tonight, so Bob was voted to be our server and he was his usual crazy self. We told him that he and Joe now had groupies, because if they left Flying Fish to serve at another Disney restaurant, we would just follow them there! Bob laughed and said that he has other customers who ask for him each time they dine at Flying Fish, and as an example, he related the story of a doctor from one of the northeast states who vacations at Disney fairly frequently. He always eats dinner at Flying Fish, and Bob always waits on him. On this particular occasion, a Disney VP was sitting at the next table and although Bob was aware of who he was, he knew that the doctor expected him to engage in his normal banter especially since the doctor had shared with Bob that his day-to-day routine at home was grueling, and when he comes to Disney he wants things to be lighthearted and upbeat. So Bob begins by asking the doctor what he would like to order, and when he places the order, he asks for variations to the dish. Of course, Disney chefs do that sort of thing all the time, but Bob says no, you cant change what we make, you have to take it as it comes out of the kitchen. The doctor insists that he wants his variations to the meal, at which point Bob throws his order pad down on the floor and asks the doctor if he sees a Burger King sign outside the door You dont get it your way here, you get it the way we make it! (See, I told you that Burger King reference would come back around again!) By now, the Disney VP at the next table is about to have a conniption fit, and he quickly takes Bob aside to help him see the error of his ways. Bob explains that his customer expects this kind of thing from him and would be disappointed if he did not receive it, but the VP is not convinced. So he spends the next 30 minutes talking with the doctor and making sure he is not upset with Bobs treatment of him. We assured Bob that we understood exactly where the doctor was coming from, and related how we always enjoy his conversations with us, even when he makes fun of our thick Southern accents and gives us a hard time! Chef Tony stopped to say hello and Larry told him how much he enjoyed his char-crusted steak the last time we were at Flying Fish. I also let him know how happy I was with my potato encrusted red snapper the first time we ate there, which he had modified with a sauce with no sugar that was absolutely incredible. He was happy with our praise, and after we ordered our meals he stopped by again to see how everything was. At this point, Bob wants to know why the chef is talking to us so much and do we HAVE to make so much trouble every time we come into the restaurant? We laughed and joked with him at short intervals, keeping in mind that he had lots of other people to serve, but even though he was busy we still thoroughly enjoyed our time with Bob and our meal.
Oh, yeah, I guess you want to hear about the FOOD!! Okay, we each had a spinach salad with pine nuts, feta cheese and orange sections which was to die for the combination of flavors was outstanding. I had the aforementioned char-crusted steak, which I ordered cooked medium and it was perfect Larry ordered the veal medallions, which he said were very good. Tara ordered the whole roasted grouper, but asked that the head be cut off after it was cooked and before it was served to her (she said she couldnt eat something that was looking at her). Joe stopped by to talk with us briefly and he asked Tara where the head of her fish was, so she explained to him that she requested it be cut off before she ate it and he found that amusing. He went on to say he would like to stay and chat with us, but it had been a crazy night he had received requests from eight different parties that he be their server that evening. We told him that we did not doubt it, and based on our experience with him as our server, we were sure more people would request him as time went on. He thanked us for the praise, explaining that he and Bob love what they do and thats why people enjoy having them for servers. We decided that on our next trip, we will request Joe and give Bob a rest from dealing with us!
For dessert, we shared the banana napoleon and the chocolate dessert where chocolate was served in three different forms as a tea (I know it sounds weird, but it was really good), a mousse and a pastry. We had a grand time as always, and we will be back on our next trip!
Sunday, January 29
Breakfast Ohanas, Polynesian resort
Stitch is Larrys favorite Disney character, so he was looking forward to this breakfast. We started with coffee, milk and OJ, with a basket of cinnamon rolls, pineapple bread and biscuits. The cinnamon rolls were good, but the pineapple bread was OUTSTANDING moist, lightly sweet and very filling, I could have made a meal off of this by itself. Our skillet arrived with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage links, fried potatoes and Mickey waffles. I asked for sugar free syrup and ate TWO Mickey waffles they were so light and tender, I could not resist. The characters were great fun here. We got pictures with Mickey and Pluto including when Pluto licked Tara (her expression was priceless here that is a great picture!). When Stitch came by to say hello, he was most impressed with the fact that all three of us had on t-shirts with his picture on them. He and Larry posed for pictures and then he was off to the next table. Lilo came by and asked if we were enjoying breakfast. We assured her that we were and I told her that I had to try not to eat too much, because I didnt want to go on Splash Mountain and get sick! She pantomimed sick motions, then shook her finger at me as if to say You dont want to get sick on Splash Mountain. I then went on to tell her that if Stitch acted up later in the morning, it was my fault because I had taken pity on him and brought him some coffee. She threw her hands up in the air in a you did what??? kind of way and then grabbed me by the shoulder and shook me back and forth in a what is WRONG with you?? gesture. Tara told Lilo that she had tried to stop me, but I wouldnt listen to her. Lilo sadly shook her head, threw up her hands in an I give up shrug and walked away. A few minutes later when she was leading the kids in a parade around the room, she tapped me on the shoulder and looked at me as if to say Im watching you!! We had a great time at this breakfast and the food was excellent we would definitely eat here for breakfast again.
Well, thats all this for this trip. Thanks for reading!
Susan
Breakfast - Artists Palette, Saratoga Springs
I got a blueberry muffin and bottled water, which was a light breakfast and suited me just fine this morning. Larry and Tara shared a cheese danish, which they both enjoyed. In addition, Tara got the breakfast flatbread and Larry requested an order of biscuits and gravy. He had two HUGE biscuits which had been split in half and covered with white sausage gravy. This was a plateful and he said it was very good. Taras flatbread was a wheat crust with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and mozzarella cheese on it. She is not normally a big breakfast eater, but we had been on the road all night and she was hungry, so she ate every bite of this and said it was scrumptious.
Lunch Teppanyaki, Japan pavilion at World Showcase in Epcot
We were seated at the hibachi grill with a couple from Boston who were enjoying a trip to Disney World without their kids and an elderly woman with her adult daughter from Dallas who were enjoying a mother/daughter trip. The hostess brought warm moist towels for us to wash our hands and faces before our meal. I personally think this is a wonderful custom I would love to see other restaurants offer moist towels before a meal! After receiving sodas, water, and a strawberry-melon smoothie (this was Taras beverage, and she was very happy with it), we were each given a small bowl of seaweed salad. This had a strong salty/pickled taste to it it was good, but a little strong for Tara and myself. Larry, on the other hand, loved his and ate most of mine and hers as well. For our entrees, Tara ordered shrimp, while Larry and I got shrimp and chicken. The chef engaged us in conversation while he prepared the grill and items making up our lunches, asking each of us where we were from and how we were enjoying our vacation. He made an onion volcano almost immediately, which I had heard about but had never seen. I told him that I had heard the chefs here do tricks while they are cooking, and he said he does one or two (he flipped a couple of shrimp tails up into his hat to give me an example), but generally prefers to concentrate on his cooking. None of us could fault him for that the food was excellent! The shrimp were grilled to perfection and the chicken was lightly seasoned and perfectly cooked. We also had noodles and vegetables which had a delicate flavor with a nice crunch. We each received bowls of steamed white rice which was done so perfectly you could separate each grain of rice easily (no clumps like what I make at home!!). We also had two dipping sauces, a peanut teriyaki type of sauce and a mustard-based sauce that was flavored with ginger. Larry preferred the mustard sauce, while Tara and I polished off our teriyaki sauce quickly. We were too full for dessert, but will definitely come back another day for lunch here! Our chef told us he had been doing this kind of cooking for over 20 years, so we asked him if he cooked this way at home. He said he could, but he prefers Burger King! We all laughed and I sincerely hope he was joking!! (And remember that Burger King reference it will come back again later in this report!!)
Dinner Artist Point, Wilderness Lodge
We received our pager here and had drinks in the lounge while we waited. We brought them with us to the table and sipped while we perused the menu. Tara and I decided on the salmon and Larry had the buffalo steak. Our server brought sourdough bread with butter for us to munch on while we waited. The restaurant was very busy tonight, and we waited some time for our meals, but we really didnt mind the wait. We were a little concerned that our service was somewhat slow we went without drink refills more than once during this dinner. Our server was very pleasant, but she didnt seem to have good timing when it came to pacing the meal and keeping our drinks refilled. At any rate, our dinners finally arrived and we began to eat. Larrys buffalo steak was very good, with a sweet taste that I found intriguing (I had a small taste strictly for the purpose of doing my restaurant report, of course!!). My salmon was perfectly done, but Taras was seriously undercooked. Almost all of it except for the two ends had been left raw. She was not happy with this, so I switched with her thinking that I could just eat around the raw areas. Unfortunately, there wasnt much to eat around it was almost all raw! When our server finally came to check on us, I showed her the raw piece of salmon and she responded that this was medium rare salmon. I told her that I could not eat raw fish, and she took the plate back to the kitchen and returned very quickly with a new plate of salmon that was perfectly cooked. I was grateful for the quick turn around, and I suspect I received someone elses entrée so that I wouldnt have another lengthy wait for my meal.
I had ordered a no sugar added berry cobbler ahead of time, which was served warm with no sugar added vanilla ice cream. Tara chose a pear tart with an ice wine mousse which she raved about. Larry was too full for dessert, but he tasted each of ours and proclaimed them both very good. All in all, we were happy with our meals here eventually, and I would definitely return for another dinner, but I would probably order the buffalo next time.
Saturday, January 28
Lunch Sci-Fi Dine-In, Disney MGM Studios
After we were seated in our car and watched the film clips for a few moments, we decided on our orders here. I got the turkey sandwich on multigrain bread, which was an excellent sandwich very fresh and filling. Larry ordered a reuben sandwich, which he said was almost as good as the reuben he had at the Plaza and that is high praise from him! Tara had the shrimp alfredo, which she was very happy with. I got a small taste of this, and it had a creamy garlic sauce that was outstanding. The best part of this meal was listening to the servers recite the lines from the film clips before they were said, or shouting in reaction to something that was being shown on the screen. Although this startled me the first time they did it, I soon realized that they must see these clips hundreds of times each day and they have to do something to relieve the monotony! We found them highly amusing and we will definitely be back for another lunch here.
Dinner The Flying Fish, Boardwalk
For those of you who have read my restaurant reviews before, you know that The Flying Fish is a must do for our family on each visit to Disney World. Even with an ADR, we waited an hour to be seated tonight they were really busy! In spite of the hectic pace, Joe and Bob recognized us from across the room and came over for handshakes and hugs of welcome. Joe was serving a large party tonight, so Bob was voted to be our server and he was his usual crazy self. We told him that he and Joe now had groupies, because if they left Flying Fish to serve at another Disney restaurant, we would just follow them there! Bob laughed and said that he has other customers who ask for him each time they dine at Flying Fish, and as an example, he related the story of a doctor from one of the northeast states who vacations at Disney fairly frequently. He always eats dinner at Flying Fish, and Bob always waits on him. On this particular occasion, a Disney VP was sitting at the next table and although Bob was aware of who he was, he knew that the doctor expected him to engage in his normal banter especially since the doctor had shared with Bob that his day-to-day routine at home was grueling, and when he comes to Disney he wants things to be lighthearted and upbeat. So Bob begins by asking the doctor what he would like to order, and when he places the order, he asks for variations to the dish. Of course, Disney chefs do that sort of thing all the time, but Bob says no, you cant change what we make, you have to take it as it comes out of the kitchen. The doctor insists that he wants his variations to the meal, at which point Bob throws his order pad down on the floor and asks the doctor if he sees a Burger King sign outside the door You dont get it your way here, you get it the way we make it! (See, I told you that Burger King reference would come back around again!) By now, the Disney VP at the next table is about to have a conniption fit, and he quickly takes Bob aside to help him see the error of his ways. Bob explains that his customer expects this kind of thing from him and would be disappointed if he did not receive it, but the VP is not convinced. So he spends the next 30 minutes talking with the doctor and making sure he is not upset with Bobs treatment of him. We assured Bob that we understood exactly where the doctor was coming from, and related how we always enjoy his conversations with us, even when he makes fun of our thick Southern accents and gives us a hard time! Chef Tony stopped to say hello and Larry told him how much he enjoyed his char-crusted steak the last time we were at Flying Fish. I also let him know how happy I was with my potato encrusted red snapper the first time we ate there, which he had modified with a sauce with no sugar that was absolutely incredible. He was happy with our praise, and after we ordered our meals he stopped by again to see how everything was. At this point, Bob wants to know why the chef is talking to us so much and do we HAVE to make so much trouble every time we come into the restaurant? We laughed and joked with him at short intervals, keeping in mind that he had lots of other people to serve, but even though he was busy we still thoroughly enjoyed our time with Bob and our meal.
Oh, yeah, I guess you want to hear about the FOOD!! Okay, we each had a spinach salad with pine nuts, feta cheese and orange sections which was to die for the combination of flavors was outstanding. I had the aforementioned char-crusted steak, which I ordered cooked medium and it was perfect Larry ordered the veal medallions, which he said were very good. Tara ordered the whole roasted grouper, but asked that the head be cut off after it was cooked and before it was served to her (she said she couldnt eat something that was looking at her). Joe stopped by to talk with us briefly and he asked Tara where the head of her fish was, so she explained to him that she requested it be cut off before she ate it and he found that amusing. He went on to say he would like to stay and chat with us, but it had been a crazy night he had received requests from eight different parties that he be their server that evening. We told him that we did not doubt it, and based on our experience with him as our server, we were sure more people would request him as time went on. He thanked us for the praise, explaining that he and Bob love what they do and thats why people enjoy having them for servers. We decided that on our next trip, we will request Joe and give Bob a rest from dealing with us!
For dessert, we shared the banana napoleon and the chocolate dessert where chocolate was served in three different forms as a tea (I know it sounds weird, but it was really good), a mousse and a pastry. We had a grand time as always, and we will be back on our next trip!
Sunday, January 29
Breakfast Ohanas, Polynesian resort
Stitch is Larrys favorite Disney character, so he was looking forward to this breakfast. We started with coffee, milk and OJ, with a basket of cinnamon rolls, pineapple bread and biscuits. The cinnamon rolls were good, but the pineapple bread was OUTSTANDING moist, lightly sweet and very filling, I could have made a meal off of this by itself. Our skillet arrived with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage links, fried potatoes and Mickey waffles. I asked for sugar free syrup and ate TWO Mickey waffles they were so light and tender, I could not resist. The characters were great fun here. We got pictures with Mickey and Pluto including when Pluto licked Tara (her expression was priceless here that is a great picture!). When Stitch came by to say hello, he was most impressed with the fact that all three of us had on t-shirts with his picture on them. He and Larry posed for pictures and then he was off to the next table. Lilo came by and asked if we were enjoying breakfast. We assured her that we were and I told her that I had to try not to eat too much, because I didnt want to go on Splash Mountain and get sick! She pantomimed sick motions, then shook her finger at me as if to say You dont want to get sick on Splash Mountain. I then went on to tell her that if Stitch acted up later in the morning, it was my fault because I had taken pity on him and brought him some coffee. She threw her hands up in the air in a you did what??? kind of way and then grabbed me by the shoulder and shook me back and forth in a what is WRONG with you?? gesture. Tara told Lilo that she had tried to stop me, but I wouldnt listen to her. Lilo sadly shook her head, threw up her hands in an I give up shrug and walked away. A few minutes later when she was leading the kids in a parade around the room, she tapped me on the shoulder and looked at me as if to say Im watching you!! We had a great time at this breakfast and the food was excellent we would definitely eat here for breakfast again.
Well, thats all this for this trip. Thanks for reading!
Susan
Thanks for the fantastically entertaining review 
