Reviews - Kouzzina, Fulton's, Bisto de Paris

[nigel-bigel]

I spent the past several days in WDW on a girl's only trip. The players are me, Nicole, and Susan, whom I hadn't seen in nine years. We are both 45 y-o mothers of two who have been to WDW enough to be relaxed about it. We were NOT on any dining plan. I like most food except eggs and hot spicy foods, but I do like strongly flavored food, just not too much heat. Susan is kind of adventurous and happy to try anything. She is also an amazing cook herself, and talks about preparing food a lot. We had some great dinners, described below. Sorry, I didn't think of taking photos.

First up was Kouzzina. I started with Spiro's Salad, Susan with the Avgolemono soup. The salad was wonderful, very fresh and lemony. The feta was a nice big slice of cheese, as opposed to crumbled - I prefer slices as I expect crumbled cheese is always leftover cheese. The cucumber and tomatoes were also big slices and fresh - no pink tomotoes here. All in all the salad was very refreshing and not too big, either. It was the perfect amount for before a meal.

Susan started with the Avgolemono soup. Cat is known for her presentation and she didn't drop the ball here. The soup was brought out in a covered white soup bowl. When you lifted the lid you found a ball of rice in the middle of the soup, which fell apart easily when flaked with a fork. It was very charming. Susan, a big fan of lemon rice soup, pronounced it wonderful and ate every drop.

Next up was appetizers, and we decided to share the appetizer sampler for two. Again, the presentation was very nice, everything on a large rectangle with a few smaller divided sections off to the side. In the divided sections were some hommus - very good - and tzadziki - good but too spicy for me. Susan loved it. Also included were dolmas (delicious), lamb meatballs - (flavorful and spicy but not too spicy), and grilled prawns that hinted at lemon and herbs (yum!). Also scattered on the plate were kalamata olives and little spicy chickpeas that were kind of boring. All of this was served with grilled pita bread and everything was devoured except the chickpea thingys. Definitely a good choice of appetizer.

For dinner we decided to share the fish of the day. That night's selection was a yellow-tailed snapper served whole. When brought to the table the waitress removed the skeleton and the head for us. The fish was prepared with lots of herbs - Susan kept commenting that she tasted the oregano (among others), and there was also a subtle zing of red pepper. The fish was also prepared with olive oil and lemon. All in all it was delicious, Susan even happily ate the skin! And it was quite a generous dish as well. The two of us couldn't finish the entire fish!

The fish is usually served with some type of green veg, but our servers substituted Cat's famous brussels sprouts for us. AH-MAY-ZING!!! Loved 'em, and I usually can't even stand the idea of brussels sprouts. They were carmelized in olive oil and finished with lemon and capers. I kept eating them after I was full, I couldn't get enough. Who eats more veggies once they are full? That is how good they were.

We were too full for dessert, which is too bad because I really wanted to try to baklava.

I have read mixed reviews about this place but the night we were there the service was excellent and the food wonderful. That may be because Cat Cora was in the house! She was actually sitting right next to us for the majority of our meal. We were in a booth and she was seated, visiting with a family next to our booth. Susan was offended that she didn't come and say hello to us when she got up and visited other tables nearby. The wine steward asked if she stopped by and made sure she did. She is a tiny thing, smaller than on TV, and I think she was even cuter in person. I loved that she was wearing a Disney name tag that said, "CAT Jackson, MS". We chatted for a minute, mostly about the afore mentioned Brussels Sprouts, and it was a nice little surprise. But the highlight of the evening was the meal, by far.

Oh, beverages! I have some kind of Pomegranate-Vodka Fizz thingy that was wonderfully refreshing. Susan had some type of Key Lime Martini that was very thick and creamy. She ended up eating it with a spoon, it was like unset pudding. She loved it, however, even though it probably would have been better after dinner. She also ordered a glass of Cupcake Merlot because she is a serious ametuer baker and liked the name. She declared it very enjoyable.

Kouzzina was a hit and I will make it a point to return!

Nicole

Next up... Fulton's

 

[MishyMouse]

I am eating at Kouzzina on the 17th and I am so excited. How great that you got to see Cat. I would flip.

 

[TigerKat]

How exciting you got to see Cat! We're trying Kouzzina for the first time in May and can't wait!

 

[jeminni]

great review

 

[lymah]

great review! I'm hoping to squeeze Kouzzina restaurant in for breakfast. Does anyone know what time they serve breakfast till?

 

[saintstickets]

We had ressies for Kouzzina during our trip the week after Thanksgiving 2010 but they were canceled due to the refurb. I'm glad to hear you liked it so much. We'll have to try it when we return. It's really cool you were able to meet Cat. Gotta love those Miss'ippi gals - I'm married to one!

I can't wait to hear your opinion of Bistro de Paris. We tried it for the first time during the aforementioned trip.

 

[podsnel]

WOW!!!!! Two great Kouzzina reviews that I've read today- how fantastic!! I am definitely putting this on my list for November! Thanks!

 

[Belle5]

Cat Cora was in the house! She was actually sitting right next to us for the majority of our meal. We were in a booth and she was seated, visiting with a family next to our booth. Susan was offended that she didn't come and say hello to us when she got up and visited other tables nearby. The wine steward asked if she stopped by and made sure she did. She is a tiny thing, smaller than on TV, and I think she was even cuter in person. I loved that she was wearing a Disney name tag that said, "CAT Jackson, MS". We chatted for a minute, mostly about the afore mentioned Brussels Sprouts, and it was a nice little surprise. But the highlight of the evening was the meal, by far.

How cool is THAT? My kids would just die...they LOVE CAT!

 

[nigel-bigel]

Okay, on to the next night... I actually had ADRs for California Grill, but cancelled them just in time to avaid penalty. Reviews for CG have been pretty bad lately, so I was hoping to go to Il Mulino or bluezoo instead.

I know this is a dinning review and not a trip report, but I do have to tell you this was our best day evah! We started out at the MK where it was pretty deserted. We had a great time at Pirates, where we were the only people in our boat, with no one two boats ahead or two boats behind. This meant we felt perfectly free to sing along! Seriously, two middle-aged women singing "Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho" at the top of our lungs! Definitely one of my favorite times...

After morning at the MK we went o the Spa at the GF for massages - aaahhhh. Then over to the GF for Afternoon Tea, where we had a nice chat with the couple next to us from Canada. Very funny conversation. After tea, back to the MK for another couple of hours.

All of this is to illustrate that we had an amazing day and probably would have enjoyed dinner anywhere, even Sci-Fi Cafe (shudders...).

Called reservations for same-day ADRS and what is that??? Nothing available at either IM or bluezoo? All night??? I found it hard to believe because they both had lots of availability when I checked the day before. I do suspect reservations steer people away from S & D restaurants, but whatever... Oh, what do you know, lots of times available at Fulton's. Because Silly Rabbit, no one is at DTD because they all are at S&D. I've always wanted to try Fulton's, that will be fine.

(Finally, the part of the review about the restaurant...)

Arriving at DTD we asked three different CMs how to get to Fulton's. We got three different answers, all wrong. Finally a boat captain knew the way. Fulton's is bustling, but we have no wait as we are taken to our table upstairs immediatley. There are several empty tables, but many people waiting in the lobby. We are quickly greeted by our waiter whose name I can't remember but I will call him Tom.

Tom was a very good waiter, very attentive, quick and knowledgeable. But Tom was a little too flirty and liked to touch my shoulder. A lot. Nothing offensive, just too familiar for my comfort.

We each ordered Cosmopolitans to drink, which were Cosmopolitans the same as anywhere. (However, if you are lucky enough to live near a Fleming's Steakhouse, be sure to go to their happy hour and try a Clear Cosmopolitan. Different and yummy! But I digress...)

Susan started with a house salad and I had the Caesar salad. Susan's salad was fine, my Caesar was just okay, a little more dressing would have made it better. But who cares about the salad when you are eating the fabulous Boursin and crab spread Tom brought to the table. Serious yummage. Seriously. Just a hint of sweetness from the crab, in a creamy cheese with herbs. Seriously.

My two favorite meals are rack of lamb and snow crab legs, so I was thrilled to see snow crab on the menu. It seems everyone has King Crab, but the shells are too hard and spiny for me to deal with. Not to mention the cost is stupidly high. I find snow crabs to be easy to break and eat, the meat is very tender and sweet, and the cost is much more reasonable than King Crab. So yay! I get snow crab.

And how good it was! 1 1/4 lbs, a perfect amount. Easy cracking, big chunks of meat, lots of butter, I literally was humming (sounds like a fun night after dinner as well... LOL!). Plus I got to eat with my hands, which is always fun. They were very good, and fresh. There really isn't much to describe about crab legs. Oh, they were served with red skin potatoes, which are red skin potatoes and I really didn't pay much attention to.

Susan ordered the Seafood Cioppino (Our version of a San Francisco classic. With king crab, shrimp, clams, mussels, scallops and fresh fish in tomato herb broth, served over linguine.) Tom warned her that she may want to use her napkin as a bib as the Cioppino can splatter. She did not use her napkin as a bib. It splattered. But all-in-all she enjoyed it. I didn't get much feedback from her like I did at Kouzzina about what was in it and what was good about it. She did say that while the Cioppino was good, next time she would just order the snow crab.

We were way too full for dessert so we left and strolled around DTD for a while. We stopped into Ghirardelli and ordered hot chocolate (it was probably 55* outside) which was wonderfully rich and creamy. Really the perfect ending to a perfect day. I will definitely go back to Fulton's. I would definitely do that entire day over again, as well.

On a side note, Fulton's offers a discount to DVC members. We didn't even know about it, but when Tom saw the DVC reference on our room cards he told us about the discount and applied it. We walked out of there for $106, which included a 20% tip. Not bad for a shellfish dinner with cocktails for two at WDW.

Next up... Bistro de Paris.

 

[TigerKat]

I learned last year that even when you call and they say there is no availability at Blue Zoo or Il Mulino's you can almost always walk in and sit in the bar area and dine.