(Job interview on Friday went great! Found out there are two positions open now, crossing my fingers!)
Mike and I had visited Ohana in July on a whim and were less than impressed with it, unlike usual. We decided we needed to give it a rest, and probably wouldnt be back for a long time. However, I had heard about all the changes coming, most of which would affect the parts of the meal that I didnt care for. We figured we could give it one more try to check out these new changes.
We made a priority seating at the last minute and were only able to get one for 9:30PM the next night. We figured wed get there before opening and see if theyd take us early anyway, and if not, just head over to the Magic Kingdom until dinner. Thankfully they did let us check in at 4:30PM, because even though it was booked with priority seatings, it wasnt terribly busy. We sat in the Tambu Lounge with our pager, and had a great discussion with one of the servers there. She was impressed that I knew all about the new menu changes, even about the new drink apparently I was the first one to order the Yellow Tang ($8.00) in the Tambu Lounge. Mike decided to try out the drink as well, surprisingly no diet Coke for him this time.
The martini glasses were brought out rimmed in sugar and cinnamon, with a cinnamon stick garnish. The beverage shakers were left on the side for us to shake and pour ourselves, which I appreciate I can be a control freak at times. We toasted to the start of our holiday season (from our birthdays next week through New Years has always been the holidays for me) and tried out our drinks. I wasnt sure about the combination of banana liquor, Frangelico, butterscotch schnapps, sour mix, and pineapple juice, but it came out wonderfully. There was no hint of alcohol in the flavor at all; it was only slightly sweet, fruity, with a little underlying banana flavor. Even though there was no flavor of alcohol, it was fairly strong, and I dont say that lightly I love my drinks strong. We both highly recommend this one, especially if youre looking for something with no alcohol taste.
In the middle of our drinks, the pager beeped, so Mike went off to pay the tab while I collected everything and went to the hostess stand. We were taken to our table by one of the hostesses in the usual manner, describing the new dessert and a few of the drinks. One new thing I noticed is that they greet you with a hang ten hand sign, which we were unable to do with our hands full. And even though we didnt ask, we were brought to a table at the window with a great view of the castle. It was too bad we werent going to be able to see fireworks!
When we sat down, I poured the rest of my martini and much to my surprise, a small bug poured out as well. Our server, Leroy, came up at that moment and he said he would bring me a fresh drink. A little unnerving that I had been drinking something that was marinating a bug, but I tried not to think about that. He came back after a little while with that promised fresh drink, and took our regular soda order diet Coke for Mike, unsweet tea for me. One theme of the evening was that he was not quick in returning for anything refills on food or drinks, to check on us, things like that. He was very helpful and answered all of our questions; its just that dinner took a while longer than even were used to. Not a big deal to us, but it may be to some.
We started with a large bowl of the wonton chips and the old shrimp wontons. At this point, I made sure to ask immediately whether the shrimp wontons were staying, or whether they were just being used up. Leroy said that both versions would be served from now on, which I knew would please many people. The wonton chips are the same as are served at the bar, wonton skins deep fried. Theyre like fried wontons from a Chinese restaurant, minus the filling. The wontons were served with three dips: peanut sauce, chimichurri sauce, and harissa sauce. The peanut sauce seemed thicker and sweeter than the previous sauce so I wasnt as happy with it as before, but it was still enjoyable. I love chimichurri sauce, a mix of olive oil, garlic, oregano, and parsley often served with beef, and this was a great version. The harissa sauce had a tomato and red pepper base, but there was an odd vegetal note that I never quite identified. Mike thought it was green pepper, but it tasted more green than even a pepper. Im still not sure whether I liked that part of it or not, but overall the harissa sauce was delicious as well.
Almost immediately after the wontons, the salad was brought out. Theres not much of a noticeable difference besides the fact that its a larger serving, and there are a few different baby greens in the mix along with the carrots. Also right after the salad arrived, the wings and the new sautéed shrimp were brought out. The wings are now sprinkled with white and black sesame seeds what a nice touch, and really added to the flavor as well. I almost never eat wings, but I love these. The shrimp was sautéed in a light brothy sweet and sour flavoring with red peppers and chunks of pineapple, not deveined and not shelled. I dont like the flavor of shrimp but I was willing to give it a try until I saw the legs and the vein and just couldnt do it. Mike tried it and said, Well, the flavor didnt make me gag like it usually does so I suppose its a compliment. Were nowhere near picky eaters, we just dont like shrimp. As a nice touch, they remove your first plate at this time its nice to have a fresh plate in the middle now!
After a bit of a wait, the new potatoes and the new veggies were brought out. Honestly, these were the best part of the meal now! The potatoes are made as a potato, onion, and cheese gratin, and are highly flavored. I only let myself have a small spoonful because I was still looking forward to the meat, but they were amazing. Mike considers them his favorite thing at Ohana now. We never liked the rice before it was bland, flavorless, and never really did anything for us. Now were very happy with the starch. And the new veggies were also much, much better than the green beans. I love vegetables, and this veggie mix ended up being my favorite part. Its made of fresh veggies, not frozen, and contains red bell peppers, carrots, onions, celery, napa cabbage, and sugar snap peas. The veggies tasted very fresh and flavorful, and I ate nearly the entire bowl myself! I could have made a meal of just the veggies alone.
Finally after having been there about an hour, the meats were brought out. Last time we were at Ohana, the meats were brought out immediately, but I would have preferred a happy medium between that previous time and this time. First were the pork and steak, and both of us opted just for the pork were not thrilled by the quality of the beef they serve here. The pork was overcooked and dry, so I passed that up. Soon after were the turkey and the new sausage. The turkey was much better than the pork, still a little dry but not as bad as the pork. The sausage was great, however. The grill flavor is fantastic on the sausage, and it looks as though there are bits of herbs mixed in the sausage as well. This was the best meat weve had at Ohana since weve been going, and we look forward to the sausage in the future.
Finally for dessert, Mike had been voicing his concerns over the new bread pudding not because we missed the pineapple and caramel, but because he claimed he didnt like bread pudding. There wasnt much to worry about, though, he ended up scraping the plate clean and finishing my portion as well! For those with concerns about coconut, I did not notice much if any coconut flavor and no coconut flakes. I love coconut, so was a little sad, but the dessert was excellent anyway. The bread pudding is a standard sweet, cinnamon-y pudding, with vanilla bean ice cream on top (I love the flecks in vanilla bean ice cream), and the bananas fosters sauce on the side. The sauce was amazing compared to the fake caramel sauce that used to be served it was thick and rich, with a rum flavoring and bananas floating in it. Mike just about started dipping his spoon in it, he liked it so much!
I decided to have a coffee at this point, but I think my tolerance for Nescafe is gone. I ended up ordering a Kona press pot the next time Leroy came around. When he brought it he said hed be right back to press it, but didnt return for a while. I ended up pressing it myself, which I prefer anyway. Of course, this was much better than the Nescafe, and I never have to share my press pot because Mike dislikes coffee. When Leroy came around at the end, we remembered to ask about the pineapple bread. They wont be serving it any longer, which is sad, but we didnt really notice the change that much.
Overall, we are extremely pleased with the new changes everything new was excellent, especially the potatoes and vegetables. We wouldnt hesitate to recommend the new menu to anyone, although we wont be coming back for a while because there are so many more restaurants to check out. I hope everyone enjoys the new menu as much as we did!
Pictures, of course!
http://www.wdwfood.com/gallery/ohana2
Mike and I had visited Ohana in July on a whim and were less than impressed with it, unlike usual. We decided we needed to give it a rest, and probably wouldnt be back for a long time. However, I had heard about all the changes coming, most of which would affect the parts of the meal that I didnt care for. We figured we could give it one more try to check out these new changes.
We made a priority seating at the last minute and were only able to get one for 9:30PM the next night. We figured wed get there before opening and see if theyd take us early anyway, and if not, just head over to the Magic Kingdom until dinner. Thankfully they did let us check in at 4:30PM, because even though it was booked with priority seatings, it wasnt terribly busy. We sat in the Tambu Lounge with our pager, and had a great discussion with one of the servers there. She was impressed that I knew all about the new menu changes, even about the new drink apparently I was the first one to order the Yellow Tang ($8.00) in the Tambu Lounge. Mike decided to try out the drink as well, surprisingly no diet Coke for him this time.
The martini glasses were brought out rimmed in sugar and cinnamon, with a cinnamon stick garnish. The beverage shakers were left on the side for us to shake and pour ourselves, which I appreciate I can be a control freak at times. We toasted to the start of our holiday season (from our birthdays next week through New Years has always been the holidays for me) and tried out our drinks. I wasnt sure about the combination of banana liquor, Frangelico, butterscotch schnapps, sour mix, and pineapple juice, but it came out wonderfully. There was no hint of alcohol in the flavor at all; it was only slightly sweet, fruity, with a little underlying banana flavor. Even though there was no flavor of alcohol, it was fairly strong, and I dont say that lightly I love my drinks strong. We both highly recommend this one, especially if youre looking for something with no alcohol taste.
In the middle of our drinks, the pager beeped, so Mike went off to pay the tab while I collected everything and went to the hostess stand. We were taken to our table by one of the hostesses in the usual manner, describing the new dessert and a few of the drinks. One new thing I noticed is that they greet you with a hang ten hand sign, which we were unable to do with our hands full. And even though we didnt ask, we were brought to a table at the window with a great view of the castle. It was too bad we werent going to be able to see fireworks!
When we sat down, I poured the rest of my martini and much to my surprise, a small bug poured out as well. Our server, Leroy, came up at that moment and he said he would bring me a fresh drink. A little unnerving that I had been drinking something that was marinating a bug, but I tried not to think about that. He came back after a little while with that promised fresh drink, and took our regular soda order diet Coke for Mike, unsweet tea for me. One theme of the evening was that he was not quick in returning for anything refills on food or drinks, to check on us, things like that. He was very helpful and answered all of our questions; its just that dinner took a while longer than even were used to. Not a big deal to us, but it may be to some.
We started with a large bowl of the wonton chips and the old shrimp wontons. At this point, I made sure to ask immediately whether the shrimp wontons were staying, or whether they were just being used up. Leroy said that both versions would be served from now on, which I knew would please many people. The wonton chips are the same as are served at the bar, wonton skins deep fried. Theyre like fried wontons from a Chinese restaurant, minus the filling. The wontons were served with three dips: peanut sauce, chimichurri sauce, and harissa sauce. The peanut sauce seemed thicker and sweeter than the previous sauce so I wasnt as happy with it as before, but it was still enjoyable. I love chimichurri sauce, a mix of olive oil, garlic, oregano, and parsley often served with beef, and this was a great version. The harissa sauce had a tomato and red pepper base, but there was an odd vegetal note that I never quite identified. Mike thought it was green pepper, but it tasted more green than even a pepper. Im still not sure whether I liked that part of it or not, but overall the harissa sauce was delicious as well.
Almost immediately after the wontons, the salad was brought out. Theres not much of a noticeable difference besides the fact that its a larger serving, and there are a few different baby greens in the mix along with the carrots. Also right after the salad arrived, the wings and the new sautéed shrimp were brought out. The wings are now sprinkled with white and black sesame seeds what a nice touch, and really added to the flavor as well. I almost never eat wings, but I love these. The shrimp was sautéed in a light brothy sweet and sour flavoring with red peppers and chunks of pineapple, not deveined and not shelled. I dont like the flavor of shrimp but I was willing to give it a try until I saw the legs and the vein and just couldnt do it. Mike tried it and said, Well, the flavor didnt make me gag like it usually does so I suppose its a compliment. Were nowhere near picky eaters, we just dont like shrimp. As a nice touch, they remove your first plate at this time its nice to have a fresh plate in the middle now!
After a bit of a wait, the new potatoes and the new veggies were brought out. Honestly, these were the best part of the meal now! The potatoes are made as a potato, onion, and cheese gratin, and are highly flavored. I only let myself have a small spoonful because I was still looking forward to the meat, but they were amazing. Mike considers them his favorite thing at Ohana now. We never liked the rice before it was bland, flavorless, and never really did anything for us. Now were very happy with the starch. And the new veggies were also much, much better than the green beans. I love vegetables, and this veggie mix ended up being my favorite part. Its made of fresh veggies, not frozen, and contains red bell peppers, carrots, onions, celery, napa cabbage, and sugar snap peas. The veggies tasted very fresh and flavorful, and I ate nearly the entire bowl myself! I could have made a meal of just the veggies alone.
Finally after having been there about an hour, the meats were brought out. Last time we were at Ohana, the meats were brought out immediately, but I would have preferred a happy medium between that previous time and this time. First were the pork and steak, and both of us opted just for the pork were not thrilled by the quality of the beef they serve here. The pork was overcooked and dry, so I passed that up. Soon after were the turkey and the new sausage. The turkey was much better than the pork, still a little dry but not as bad as the pork. The sausage was great, however. The grill flavor is fantastic on the sausage, and it looks as though there are bits of herbs mixed in the sausage as well. This was the best meat weve had at Ohana since weve been going, and we look forward to the sausage in the future.
Finally for dessert, Mike had been voicing his concerns over the new bread pudding not because we missed the pineapple and caramel, but because he claimed he didnt like bread pudding. There wasnt much to worry about, though, he ended up scraping the plate clean and finishing my portion as well! For those with concerns about coconut, I did not notice much if any coconut flavor and no coconut flakes. I love coconut, so was a little sad, but the dessert was excellent anyway. The bread pudding is a standard sweet, cinnamon-y pudding, with vanilla bean ice cream on top (I love the flecks in vanilla bean ice cream), and the bananas fosters sauce on the side. The sauce was amazing compared to the fake caramel sauce that used to be served it was thick and rich, with a rum flavoring and bananas floating in it. Mike just about started dipping his spoon in it, he liked it so much!
I decided to have a coffee at this point, but I think my tolerance for Nescafe is gone. I ended up ordering a Kona press pot the next time Leroy came around. When he brought it he said hed be right back to press it, but didnt return for a while. I ended up pressing it myself, which I prefer anyway. Of course, this was much better than the Nescafe, and I never have to share my press pot because Mike dislikes coffee. When Leroy came around at the end, we remembered to ask about the pineapple bread. They wont be serving it any longer, which is sad, but we didnt really notice the change that much.
Overall, we are extremely pleased with the new changes everything new was excellent, especially the potatoes and vegetables. We wouldnt hesitate to recommend the new menu to anyone, although we wont be coming back for a while because there are so many more restaurants to check out. I hope everyone enjoys the new menu as much as we did!
Pictures, of course!
http://www.wdwfood.com/gallery/ohana2
I cancelled our 'Ohana ADR for next week, but I'll be sure to try it in January! (DS12 is going next week, but not in January. 'Ohana was iffy for him anyway, but with the menu changes there wasn't much left he would eat...he would have eaten green beans, but not mixed veggis...he would have eaten rice, even if it was bland, but not cheesy potoatoes...he loves pineapple, but wouldn't eat bread pudding.)
