Hello!
Last night, we visited Yachtsman's Steakhouse. My sister and I are in town moving her here for the Disney College Program, and we decided to have a fancy dinner out. After choosing between several excellent Disney restaurants (not in a park - no tickets) we decided on Yachtsman's Steakhouse. We got all dressed up and headed over for our 8:35 reservation.
We waited maybe ten minutes for our table to open up in the bar area off to the side of the hostess area, and then we were off to a cute little table for two. Our waitress, Bev, was very attentive to my needs, but my sister was ignored. I asked her if that was a problem, though, and she quickly said she liked it that way
I had noted on the reservation that we were celebrating a personal achievement, my sister's acceptance to the College Program, and we were given special keepsake celebration menus. Both the hostess and the server made sure to congratulate her. It was a very nice touch!
For drinks, my sister ordered a diet coke and I had an iced tea. I also had a Strawberry Lychee Margarita, which was excellent! Very creamy, very fruity, and heavy on the alcohol, although you couldn't taste it at all. The iced tea came with a little side plate that had lemon wedges, sweetener packets and a little container of house made simple syrup. Such a nice touch! I don't drink sweet tea, but it was nice to know the option was there. The drinks were refilled very quickly throughout the meal, even without requesting new drinks. And also, as a side note, that was some of the best iced tea I've ever had!
Almost immediately after we were seated, the bread basket was brought out. The basket contains two varieties of rolls, pull apart onion and sourdough. We were also given roasted garlic cloves and butter that was topped with Hawaiian sea salt and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. The rolls were amazing! I think topping anything with roasted garlic makes it better, but these were definitely the best rolls I've ever had. We had our bread basket refilled once during the meal, and we decided that we would come to the restaurant again if only for the rolls!
As an appetizer, we decided to split the Heirloom Tomato Salad. It was down to a choice between that and the Artisan Cheeses, but we let our server make the final decision, and it was a great one! The dish came out with a variety of tomatoes, green, red and yellow, small and large, interspersed with large slices of fresh mozzarella. There was also a basil pesto on the plate as well as some fresh basil and a crisp, thin piece of bread drizzled with aged balsamic. The balsamic had also been drizzled over the plate. The salad was plenty big enough for us to share, and it was very fresh and satisfying. We're very big on tomato mozzarella salad, and this was definitely one of the best versions I've had. It was a wonderful, clean, seasonal start to the meal.
As entrees, we both ordered the Yachtsman Filet Mignon, cooked medium. The filet comes with a red wine sauce and mashed potatoes. My sister kept the mashed potatoes while I substituted the potato gratin from the strip steak entrée. Both steaks were perfectly pink throughout with not a bit of fat on them. The red wine sauce was delicious and complimented the flavor of the steak. Both the mashed potatoes and the gratin received high marks. The steak was quite good and perhaps one of the best steaks I've ever had. To be blunt, though, I thought it was overshadowed by the rolls and the tomato salad. As I said, though, it was quite good, and I would absolutely order it again.
We wanted to space our meal out, so we spent a bit of time before ordering each course. Bev, the waitress, did not rush us at all to make decisions, which was much appreciated.
For dessert, I chose the Crème Brulee topped with fruit and rolled chocolate, while my sister opted for the Signature Banana Napoleon, a small tower of crispy phyllo dough pieces between banana custard with a white chocolate and banana mousse. Just before our desserts came out, though, my sister was brought a small plate that said "Congratulations" in cocoa. The plate had two truffles, one white chocolate and one milk chocolate mousse along with two fruit cubes in sugar. Such a nice touch! My sister said the truffles were quite delicious.
The desserts were both quite good. The brulee was exactly how it should be, carmelized without being burnt on top, crispy sugar crust, creamy, chilled custard on the inside. It was nice to have the fruit atop the dessert as well. The banana Napoleon was the clear winner, though. The phyllo was perfectly crunchy, and the banana custard was just perfect. The white chocolate banana mousse was good but outshined by the Napoleon. Based on this dessert and the banana white chocolate toffee tower at Brown Derby, I'd say banana desserts are the way to go when at Disney.
In the end, we were at the restaurant for three hours. It certainly didn't feel that way, though! We had wonderful food the entire time, and the breaks between courses were just what we needed to be able to tackle the next item coming up. I'd give Yachtsman Steakhouse five out of five stars, and I'll definitely be going back soon!
Last night, we visited Yachtsman's Steakhouse. My sister and I are in town moving her here for the Disney College Program, and we decided to have a fancy dinner out. After choosing between several excellent Disney restaurants (not in a park - no tickets) we decided on Yachtsman's Steakhouse. We got all dressed up and headed over for our 8:35 reservation.
We waited maybe ten minutes for our table to open up in the bar area off to the side of the hostess area, and then we were off to a cute little table for two. Our waitress, Bev, was very attentive to my needs, but my sister was ignored. I asked her if that was a problem, though, and she quickly said she liked it that way
I had noted on the reservation that we were celebrating a personal achievement, my sister's acceptance to the College Program, and we were given special keepsake celebration menus. Both the hostess and the server made sure to congratulate her. It was a very nice touch!
For drinks, my sister ordered a diet coke and I had an iced tea. I also had a Strawberry Lychee Margarita, which was excellent! Very creamy, very fruity, and heavy on the alcohol, although you couldn't taste it at all. The iced tea came with a little side plate that had lemon wedges, sweetener packets and a little container of house made simple syrup. Such a nice touch! I don't drink sweet tea, but it was nice to know the option was there. The drinks were refilled very quickly throughout the meal, even without requesting new drinks. And also, as a side note, that was some of the best iced tea I've ever had!
Almost immediately after we were seated, the bread basket was brought out. The basket contains two varieties of rolls, pull apart onion and sourdough. We were also given roasted garlic cloves and butter that was topped with Hawaiian sea salt and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. The rolls were amazing! I think topping anything with roasted garlic makes it better, but these were definitely the best rolls I've ever had. We had our bread basket refilled once during the meal, and we decided that we would come to the restaurant again if only for the rolls!
As an appetizer, we decided to split the Heirloom Tomato Salad. It was down to a choice between that and the Artisan Cheeses, but we let our server make the final decision, and it was a great one! The dish came out with a variety of tomatoes, green, red and yellow, small and large, interspersed with large slices of fresh mozzarella. There was also a basil pesto on the plate as well as some fresh basil and a crisp, thin piece of bread drizzled with aged balsamic. The balsamic had also been drizzled over the plate. The salad was plenty big enough for us to share, and it was very fresh and satisfying. We're very big on tomato mozzarella salad, and this was definitely one of the best versions I've had. It was a wonderful, clean, seasonal start to the meal.
As entrees, we both ordered the Yachtsman Filet Mignon, cooked medium. The filet comes with a red wine sauce and mashed potatoes. My sister kept the mashed potatoes while I substituted the potato gratin from the strip steak entrée. Both steaks were perfectly pink throughout with not a bit of fat on them. The red wine sauce was delicious and complimented the flavor of the steak. Both the mashed potatoes and the gratin received high marks. The steak was quite good and perhaps one of the best steaks I've ever had. To be blunt, though, I thought it was overshadowed by the rolls and the tomato salad. As I said, though, it was quite good, and I would absolutely order it again.
We wanted to space our meal out, so we spent a bit of time before ordering each course. Bev, the waitress, did not rush us at all to make decisions, which was much appreciated.
For dessert, I chose the Crème Brulee topped with fruit and rolled chocolate, while my sister opted for the Signature Banana Napoleon, a small tower of crispy phyllo dough pieces between banana custard with a white chocolate and banana mousse. Just before our desserts came out, though, my sister was brought a small plate that said "Congratulations" in cocoa. The plate had two truffles, one white chocolate and one milk chocolate mousse along with two fruit cubes in sugar. Such a nice touch! My sister said the truffles were quite delicious.
The desserts were both quite good. The brulee was exactly how it should be, carmelized without being burnt on top, crispy sugar crust, creamy, chilled custard on the inside. It was nice to have the fruit atop the dessert as well. The banana Napoleon was the clear winner, though. The phyllo was perfectly crunchy, and the banana custard was just perfect. The white chocolate banana mousse was good but outshined by the Napoleon. Based on this dessert and the banana white chocolate toffee tower at Brown Derby, I'd say banana desserts are the way to go when at Disney.
In the end, we were at the restaurant for three hours. It certainly didn't feel that way, though! We had wonderful food the entire time, and the breaks between courses were just what we needed to be able to tackle the next item coming up. I'd give Yachtsman Steakhouse five out of five stars, and I'll definitely be going back soon!
