Sanaa for us fussy eaters?

[fd1972uk]

Hi,

We're staying at the AKL for a couple of nights and had originally planned a meal in our first night (2nd night we're at Rainforest Cafe in the evening so unlikely to fit anything else that night).

Plan was The Mara, as the menu we can get by with, I was contemplating the African Stew, and believe me that's me being very adventurous - no doubt I'll be picking bits here and there.

What I'm am thinking about in my head now is The Sanaa. It looks lovely, but obviously it's kinda hard working through the menu as we are fussy eaters and kinda stick to what we know.

Out of the menu, there is probably the Tandoori Chicken, Red Curry Chicken (possibly), New York Strip.

Our little one might be a tad better off as it does show a few meals she may have a liking to sandwich, cheeseburger, nuggets?

Also can you order fries along with meals?

As said we are quite poor with our lack of delicacies that we can atune to.

I'm not sure if it's better just to eat at The Mara, but we did plan to get a little dressed up and not sure if it might be over-doing it in The Mara?

Just the Sanaa looks a lovely restaurant, very nice inside and also you can view the animals. Believe there is a Lounge also that can be used, but not sure if you can see the animals and even if a kid is allowed (although wouldn't want to mess around a lounge with the little one).


FD

__________________

 

[MEK]

I believe they will prepare fries for you if you ask. I remember another DISer requesting fries for her son.

It is a gorgeous restaurant. No doubt about it. The bread service is delicious. I would definitely recommend that.

I love Sanaa, but I am not picky. I just don't like super spicy and I had the tandoori shrimp was just a little over my spice comfort zone. Still relish.

What about Boma? There is enough variety on that buffet to please picky/less adventurous eaters.

 

[bumbershoot]

The flatbread pizza on the kids menu is great and is more normal than the flatbreads at Mara. My son loves that pizza and has since before his tastes expanded.

 

[Herbie]

Sanaa is a great place, but i think you need to be a little more adventerous to enjoy eating there. The service is great, as is the setting. But if you need plain normal basic food, you may be happier somewhere else.

 

[smiths02]

Getting dressed up would be overdoing it at the Mara.

The Mara is counter service...mall food court/college cafeteria/McDonald's...the food might be a little better or more unique than McDonald's, but people aren't more dressed up than they would be for that. You are not served at the Mara, you order your food at a station and a casier rings you up. There are tables to sit at.

There is nothing wrong with the Mara, but we always chose to get our food to go back to our room and sit on our balcony and eat.

 

[fd1972uk]

Thanks for the feedback.

Maybe I was a bit over-cooking it when I said 'dressed up', just not like t-shirt and runaround shorts, running shoes, more a little nice top, nice long shorts etc.

I liked the look of Sanaa, but as you say maybe our tolerance ain't the best for adventurous eating.

Boma is another option, although did prefer the Sanaa looking at it, but once again we're kinda a tad restricted to a few meats and if they do any curries that we could do. Buffet is obviously slightly better as at least you can jump ship if you don't like the food and try something else. Are drinks (obviously non-alcoholic I'm guessing) included in the buffet?


FD

 

[dmccarty]

Boma is a buffet.

Jiko's is right next to Boma and Jiko's is a very nice sit down dinner restaurant but expensive.

Mara, Jiko's and Boma are on the pool level of AKL meaning you have to take the elevator DOWN to them. The main lobby is really the second floor which you will notice as you walk uphill from the bus stops. We think Mara's is the best counter service place on site.

Sanaa is at AKV so you will have to walk, drive or take the bus from AKL. Sanaa is basically Indian food and we like it. They can be spicy and my DW will ask them to lower the spice heat level. We really like the food at Sanaa and the DW is kinda picky.

Our kids are VERY picky eaters and they have always found things to eat at Sanaa.

Sanaa is on the ground level at AKV meaning you have to go down stairs or take an elevator down to the restaurant. The savannah is actually a bit above the floor of the restaurant which is nice because the view is look at the same level or maybe even up at the animals. It is a very unique view. We were eating one time at Sanaa and for some reason the Zebras just started running all over the place for a few minutes. Very nice.

The lounge is not very big and I seem to remember they have tables as well as seats at the bar. You will need ADRs or try to get the Sanaa early. We have seen wait times for a table that are well over an hour.

The BEST bathroom at WDW is the one near Sanaa. It is just soo nice. It really is.

Later,
Dan

 

[Happy99]

I am not a big fan of curry or that type of flavor and I loved Sanaa. I ordered the Tandori chicken with the sauce on the side. I didn't care for the curry sauce as I thought, Dh liked it. I also like the Samosas

DS is very picky but enjoyed his cheeseburger at Sanaa. There wasn't much else for him but he was happy with it

 

[Kae]

I would consider Boma.

Kae

 

[fd1972uk]

Thanks for the detailed info.

Yeah the tandoori chicken is the one that seems to be possibly the one we can probably manage, would like some sauce for the rice at least, but not sure if we'd like it or not. We ain't huge Indian food fans, but can do it.

Just fancy sampling the restuarant and it's theming, however don't want to throw money away and in all honesty I wouldn't be distraught at missing it and would be quite happy to use The Mara anyway. If we did do Sanaa, would quite like to get there before it is dark, but not too early in the afternoon. Not sure what time the sun sets at the start of July?

Btw, I'm staying at Kidani Village.


FD

 

[JimmyV]

Sanaa is a great place, but i think you need to be a little more adventerous to enjoy eating there. The service is great, as is the setting. But if you need plain normal basic food, you may be happier somewhere else.

I would consider Boma.

This. With so many restaurants to choose from, it baffles me why anyone would want to go to a restaurant that serves food that they don't care for only to hope that they can dance around the menu to avoid land mines, or worse, expect that the restaurant will change their food or prepare dishes that they don't otherwise serve. The whole: "I really want to go to "X", but I don't like the food on the menu" concept is bizarre. The food is the sine qua non of the restaurant. If you don't like that style of food, then you don't like the restaurant.

 

[MarkF0wle]

Hi,

We're staying at the AKL for a couple of nights and had originally planned a meal in our first night (2nd night we're at Rainforest Cafe in the evening so unlikely to fit anything else that night).

Plan was The Mara, as the menu we can get by with, I was contemplating the African Stew, and believe me that's me being very adventurous - no doubt I'll be picking bits here and there.

What I'm am thinking about in my head now is The Sanaa. It looks lovely, but obviously it's kinda hard working through the menu as we are fussy eaters and kinda stick to what we know.

Out of the menu, there is probably the Tandoori Chicken, Red Curry Chicken (possibly), New York Strip.

Our little one might be a tad better off as it does show a few meals she may have a liking to sandwich, cheeseburger, nuggets?

Also can you order fries along with meals?

As said we are quite poor with our lack of delicacies that we can atune to.

I'm not sure if it's better just to eat at The Mara, but we did plan to get a little dressed up and not sure if it might be over-doing it in The Mara?

Just the Sanaa looks a lovely restaurant, very nice inside and also you can view the animals. Believe there is a Lounge also that can be used, but not sure if you can see the animals and even if a kid is allowed (although wouldn't want to mess around a lounge with the little one).


FD

__________________

I'm not sure if this has been covered in the previous comments, I couldn't see it. They cannot give you fries, even if you ask. We ate there 10 days ago, my Sister is extremely fussy. They can work with spice levels, but on her request of fries with her steak was told they don't have a fryer in the restuarant & can't do fries. She was offered & given the potato wedges with the promise they would give her some chips (crisps, in my world ) if she didn't like the potatoes.

I'm not very good at handling spicy food & I think it is certainly not the easiest place to find a meal if you're not adventurous eaters, but I like Sanaa. My last note would be to check the date on the menu you're looking at, when we were there we were told they had recently changed the menu in the "last week" & it was different than I was expecting but not by much. The tandoori chicken was still on the menu but the steak has changed.

 

[fd1972uk]

Cool, thanks for that.

Can someone advise what time it would expect to get dark over there (start of July), I'm thinking sometime after 8, but not sure.

The plan is we leave AoA mid-morning (probably have a late lie-in), head down to I-Drive to take a look around and then a quick bite early afternoon and then head straight to AKL. Then we'll get checked-in, probably hit the pool for a bit and then go back to the room and get ready and then head for something to eat. Was thinking if we booked dinner for 7pm, it'd still be light?


FD

 

[rcraw45425]

Hubby and I loved Sanaa but we enjoy Indian food. With that said I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the Butter chicken on the slow cooked part of the menu. While flavorful, it was by no means hot. The bread service that others mentioned has some bland offerings as well. But, if you truly dislike spiced foods, I don't think that this will be the place for you

 

[magicbob]

One of the things I love about AKL is that ALL the restaurants there are quite good.

Yes, Mara is just a food court. And you shoouldn't over-dress. People will be there in park/pool wear. The African stew is good and not too exotic. It's a pretty typical beef stew over rice as I recall. The flatbreads are really good there, too. And you can get zebra domes for dessert (people seem to either love 'em or hate 'em).

Boma is a great buffet with a lot choices. The meats are seasoned with African "inspiration" but nothing too "out there."

Sanaa is wonderful, too. The food has a more Indian theme. It's definitely more adventurous for the pallete than Boma. But not so spicy that only afficianados can enjoy it.

For a simple, inexpensive meal, Mara is great. But the atmosphere is far from that of a "sit-down" restaurant. Sanaa is reasonably priced, but might be a bit adventurous for picky eaters. My recommendation would be Boma. That seems like it would be the best fit for your circumstances.

 

[fd1972uk]

Thanks for that.

I actually looked at the Boma buffet menu, and tbh I thought the Sanaa likes of their Tandoori, Spicy Durban Chicken and Chicken Red Curry Sauce looked far more appealing.

The Indian side of it, is probably more appealing that a more African aimed menu.

Hot and Spicy ain't too big a worry, it's more the likes of fighting through tonnes of veg and greens to find a bit of chicken or beef or whatever.

Rice with Chicken and some sort of sauce sounds quite nice actually.



FD

 

[dmccarty]

...
Btw, I'm staying at Kidani Village.

FD

Sanaa is at Kidani while Mara is at AKL. I have never walked between AKV and AKL but it is not far. We usually just hop on a bus. The nice thing about staying at AKV over AKL is that the buses stop first at AKV then go to AKL. One bus, I think the DTD bus goes to AKL first then to AKV. You have to ride that bus to get to AKV from AKL.

We like the pool at AKV much better than AKL and the pool at AKL is REALLY nice.

We mostly eat lunch at Mara but you could eat dinner there as well but the menu is fairly limited.

If you want to eat at Kidani at 7:00pm you will need ADRs or you will wait for a table.

Later,
Dan

 

[tinkerhon]

Hubby and I loved Sanaa but we enjoy Indian food. With that said I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the Butter chicken on the slow cooked part of the menu. While flavorful, it was by no means hot. The bread service that others mentioned has some bland offerings as well. But, if you truly dislike spiced foods, I don't think that this will be the place for you

The butter chicken is amazing--- and the Bison Marsala as well !! And they added mussels to the appetizer menu, and soooo good !!

DW and I are not big fans of curry and/or real spicy foods, but we LOVE "Sanaa"--- we were there last week, and overheard the chef telling one of the families next to us that the curry that they use for flavoring is not traditional Indian curry that people are used to---

Its much more mild-

 

[Hopefully]

I have a few thoughts. Basically I agree with JimmyV. I don't understand considering a restaurant where the menu does not appeal to you.
I don't think you will enjoy Sanna based on your posts. As you have seen, many people do love it, but I don't think you will be one of them. I think you will be better off going to a different resetaurant.
And as you describe your idea of "dressing up", even that is too dressy for Mara. It really is not dressy at all.
With over 100 restaurants available to you on WDW property I would look for one where the menu appealed to me.
There are so many places to view the animals while you are at Kidani that you do not need to go to Sanna for that experience.
Good Luck

 

[fd1972uk]

Thanks for the input.

We're doing enough eating out at WDW, so it will be in here, as we're staying in this resort for a couple of nights we'll be eating there and want to enjoy the place.

I'll let the wife have a look again at some of the stuff on the menus that look good, think the kid will be catered for no matter where she goes.

As clearly stated in my earlier post the chicken dishes look pretty appealing and nice from what I've saw, as did the ribs, just hoping for some insight into the actual food as opposed to not being able to 'like' the whole menu. It's a pretty expensive holiday and we ain't local enough to go every year etc, so trying to tick off a lot of things we would quite like to do. Boma as recommended is also appealing for some of the stuff I saw and obviously Mara has more easier foods to consider.


FD