Mike and I decided to wait until we got to Disney to have lunch on the way back from visiting my dad near Tampa. We had a hankering for sandwiches, so we went back to one of our new favorites, the Earl of Sandwich. We parked at Downtown Disney, walked over to the restaurant, and entered the ride-like queueing system they have. The menu is against the wall, with many items to choose from. Someday I'll try the interesting sounding club salad, but for now I can't get enough of the sandwiches. In the past, between us we've had the All American, the Hawaiian BBQ, the Earl's Club, and the Caprese. We decided to choose two sandwiches to split this time, and compromised on the Caribbean Jerk Chicken and the Earl's Club.
When you reach the counter, at the first register you come to, you give your order to the person on the register. They print out a slip with your order, and if you're ordering a salad, you choose your bowl of mixed greens. You hand your bowl to the salad maker, and they toss it freshly with the ingredients in front of them. This time they also had fruit salads which looked interesting, bowls of mixed greens with cottage cheese and cut fruit salad. We just had sandwiches, though, so we by-passed the salad stations and went right to the cashier. They have a selection of brownies, cookies, fruit, chips, bottled drinks, and the like, which I regretfully didn't snap a picture of this time, but there will be a next time. I easily conned Mike into sharing the rasperry white chocolate macadamia nut brownie with me. This is also where you place your non-smoothie drink order, and I ordered the Earl Grey lemonade and Mike ordered a soft drink. The Earl Grey lemonade is a half and half, with Earl Grey tea as the tea half. I love half and half, and thoroughly enjoy this version. I ran to grab a booth on this busy Sunday afternoon while Mike paid and waited for them to call our order number. We sat inside to catch some air conditioning before braving the Flower and Garden Festival, in a booth next to the window where we could people watch. There are also tables outside with people taking advantage of a rare Florida spring.
While I was waiting, I opened the brownie, split it, and tasted it. It was divine! There were actual large pieces of rasperries in it, which I don't see too often in "rasperry" baked goods. There's usually just a ribbon of rasperry jam. The texture was perfect for a brownie, dense and moist. We'll try the double chocolate version next time. Mike brought over the sandwiches, and we split them up. The first thing I noticed was that the Caribbean Jerk Chicken had sliced chicken, even though the menu stated "grilled chicken." I suppose it was sliced grilled chicken, but I was expecting a breast, not slices. It only slightly took away from the quality of the sandwich. The other thing I noticed was that the jerk sauce was a mayonnaise based sauce. It was spicy, but there was also way too much of it, and I had expected more of a red sauce instead of a mayonnaise based sauce. The roasted red pepper was great, though, firmly textured and not "squishy" like some roasted red peppers I've had. Overall it was a good sandwich, but I won't order it again. It needed another layer of flavor, but I'm not sure what I'd add to it. Maybe just a lettuce leaf?
The Club sandwich had a "sandwich sauce," which also was a mayonnaise based sauce. I'm not a big mayonnaise-sauce fan, and there was also too much on this one. I scraped off the excess. I liked the Club better than the Jerk Chicken sandwich over all. The "apple smoked bacon" just tasted like plain bacon, which was fine. It was a little too fatty, though, and I pulled some off. The turkey and swiss were good, and the lettuce leaf (romaine) was fresh and crunchy. I used some of the HP sauce they have at each table (they also have Grey Poupon, worcestershire, salt, and pepper), which is a British worcestershire-based sauce and goes well on some of the sandwiches. Generally, it's a good sandwich, and one of our favorites. They use the same bread for all of the sandwiches, and I love the bread. They're thick white mini-loaves that are split in half lengthwise, and are dense. They toast the sandwiches like Quizno's does, which makes them hot and toasy, and the bread is excellent after the toasting. It's one of my favorite parts of the food.
On the walls are decorations including the year "1762" - the year that the sandwich was invented by John Montagu, who is also featured. The store has a mini giftshop off to the left, and also a grab and go section featuring bottled drinks, cold sandwiches and wraps, and pre-made salads. The back of the store feeds into the candy store, which we made a quick walk through, but were too full from our lunches.
The prices are very reasonable for a Disney restaurant. Our meal was $17.62 (two sandwiches, a brownie, a lemonade, and a soft drink), and that was more than we usually order. I have heard they might have a children's menu that you can ask for, but haven't seen it yet. The sandwiches are definitely enough for two to share one with a side. We will definitely return in the future, and I look forward to trying almost all of the items on the menu!
Edit: Yahoo photo gallery
When you reach the counter, at the first register you come to, you give your order to the person on the register. They print out a slip with your order, and if you're ordering a salad, you choose your bowl of mixed greens. You hand your bowl to the salad maker, and they toss it freshly with the ingredients in front of them. This time they also had fruit salads which looked interesting, bowls of mixed greens with cottage cheese and cut fruit salad. We just had sandwiches, though, so we by-passed the salad stations and went right to the cashier. They have a selection of brownies, cookies, fruit, chips, bottled drinks, and the like, which I regretfully didn't snap a picture of this time, but there will be a next time. I easily conned Mike into sharing the rasperry white chocolate macadamia nut brownie with me. This is also where you place your non-smoothie drink order, and I ordered the Earl Grey lemonade and Mike ordered a soft drink. The Earl Grey lemonade is a half and half, with Earl Grey tea as the tea half. I love half and half, and thoroughly enjoy this version. I ran to grab a booth on this busy Sunday afternoon while Mike paid and waited for them to call our order number. We sat inside to catch some air conditioning before braving the Flower and Garden Festival, in a booth next to the window where we could people watch. There are also tables outside with people taking advantage of a rare Florida spring.
While I was waiting, I opened the brownie, split it, and tasted it. It was divine! There were actual large pieces of rasperries in it, which I don't see too often in "rasperry" baked goods. There's usually just a ribbon of rasperry jam. The texture was perfect for a brownie, dense and moist. We'll try the double chocolate version next time. Mike brought over the sandwiches, and we split them up. The first thing I noticed was that the Caribbean Jerk Chicken had sliced chicken, even though the menu stated "grilled chicken." I suppose it was sliced grilled chicken, but I was expecting a breast, not slices. It only slightly took away from the quality of the sandwich. The other thing I noticed was that the jerk sauce was a mayonnaise based sauce. It was spicy, but there was also way too much of it, and I had expected more of a red sauce instead of a mayonnaise based sauce. The roasted red pepper was great, though, firmly textured and not "squishy" like some roasted red peppers I've had. Overall it was a good sandwich, but I won't order it again. It needed another layer of flavor, but I'm not sure what I'd add to it. Maybe just a lettuce leaf?
The Club sandwich had a "sandwich sauce," which also was a mayonnaise based sauce. I'm not a big mayonnaise-sauce fan, and there was also too much on this one. I scraped off the excess. I liked the Club better than the Jerk Chicken sandwich over all. The "apple smoked bacon" just tasted like plain bacon, which was fine. It was a little too fatty, though, and I pulled some off. The turkey and swiss were good, and the lettuce leaf (romaine) was fresh and crunchy. I used some of the HP sauce they have at each table (they also have Grey Poupon, worcestershire, salt, and pepper), which is a British worcestershire-based sauce and goes well on some of the sandwiches. Generally, it's a good sandwich, and one of our favorites. They use the same bread for all of the sandwiches, and I love the bread. They're thick white mini-loaves that are split in half lengthwise, and are dense. They toast the sandwiches like Quizno's does, which makes them hot and toasy, and the bread is excellent after the toasting. It's one of my favorite parts of the food.
On the walls are decorations including the year "1762" - the year that the sandwich was invented by John Montagu, who is also featured. The store has a mini giftshop off to the left, and also a grab and go section featuring bottled drinks, cold sandwiches and wraps, and pre-made salads. The back of the store feeds into the candy store, which we made a quick walk through, but were too full from our lunches.
The prices are very reasonable for a Disney restaurant. Our meal was $17.62 (two sandwiches, a brownie, a lemonade, and a soft drink), and that was more than we usually order. I have heard they might have a children's menu that you can ask for, but haven't seen it yet. The sandwiches are definitely enough for two to share one with a side. We will definitely return in the future, and I look forward to trying almost all of the items on the menu!
Edit: Yahoo photo gallery
Thanks for sharing a well written reveiw
