Sanaa lunch - We really wanted to like it!!

[jwfla422]

I've been contemplating putting this up because well, it was not one of our better dining experiences and I wanted to like it, I really did, we couldn't make our dinner reservations but I wanted to go so bad we went the next day for lunch...but it really didn't turn out to be one of our better meals I'm sorry to say (please don't flame me because I know so many people love this place)...

Here's a summary...with some photos...

Let me start by saying this is such a beautiful, amazingly themed restaurant. The decor is just extraordinary and unique. That alone is so inviting.

Our table by the window (they originally sat us in the middle of the restaurant but I saw the table by this window opened & asked to sit there):

Great view of the wildlife, something we would have missed if we went for dinner since it would have already would have been dark.

We started with the bread service and dips. Our server recommended we get just the Naan bread so we mixed it with the traditional naan and the garlic ginger naan. She said the least spicy dips would be the red pepper hummus, the cucumber raita which she said was like tzatziki sauce and the mango chutney

The cucumber raita was not like tzatziki sauce, it was much spicier. I like some spice and it was ok but it has cayenne pepper in it. DD does NOT like spice and she was taken back when she thought it would be "cool" like tzatziki and suddenly that cayenne surprised her.

The Naan was delicious but it had a lot of oil on it and I don't understand why because it didn't need it. It made it quite greasy actually.

I had the salad trio next (you can choose from 5). I chose the Watermelon, cucumber and fennel salad, the Chick Peas with cucumber and tomato salad and the Bhel Puri salad.

I found the first 2 bland. The Bhel Puri salad was pretty good, nice combo of flavors.

For my entree I ordered the Tandoori Chicken Salad (after contemplating and TRYING to get a recommendation or "some" idea from out server):

Wish she would have told me it was dark meat chicken with lettuce DRENCHED in dressing. I so didn't care for this but we had already been there over an hr, she was gone again (see more details in my review, link to follow)...I just dealt with it and barely ate it.

DD had the kid's burger and potatoes. She said it was good but later confessed everything was dry.(which is supposedly why they don't use "white" meat chicken for the tandoori chicken salad which I wish she had told me before I ordered it?)

Ok, we also ordered dessert because dd really wanted the chocolate cake which ended up being placed on top of raspberry sauce which is a "no-no" even though I asked if there was any fruit sauce on it, she said no it's on the side (I guess I should have asked if the cake was ON any fruit sauce...)

Anyhow...it was not the experience I expected after reading so many great reviews on the boards.

I so wanted to like Sanaa, but we left, pretty disappointed. Maybe we should have stuck with dinner with different food options?

Maybe I should have gone with the shrimp...?

Maybe our server should have told me the chicken was dark meat (am I the only one who eats dark meat-I asked how the dish was prepared)?

Maybe she could have been a little more informative? Was I asking too much of this?? All of her answers to my MANY questions were so vague....

Maybe if we had a different server we would have been steered in the right direction?

I don't know, but what I do know, is it didn't "wow" us, it didn't "agree" with me either, not sure if it was the variety of food I had in conjunction with the disappointment, but my stomach was doing flips the rest of the day, so I'm sad to say I don't think we'll be returning anytime soon, I'm sorry to say.

For the full review with lots more photos and more details feel free to check out my review:
http://www.disneydiningreviews.com/sanaa-lunch-review.htm

 

[Mac4life30]

Thank you for your honest opinion!
I have ADR at Sanna for lunch in April. Im hoping for the best.

 

[jwfla422]

Thank you for your honest opinion!
I have ADR at Sanna for lunch in April. Im hoping for the best.

I try to be a "gentle" critic because I know even the "best" restaurants have their "off" days as do the best servers. I would probably try it again at dinner (for some different menu options), but would still try to go during daylight to take in the "most" of the experience.

 

[melindaPR]

So bummed you didn't have a good experience! We love the lamb "burgers" there for lunch, which are said to be open-face, but are like nothing we've ever had before. Glad you tried it; sorry it didn't live up to expectation. :-(

 

[jwfla422]

So bummed you didn't have a good experience! We love the lamb "burgers" there for lunch, which are said to be open-face, but are like nothing we've ever had before. Glad you tried it; sorry it didn't live up to expectation. :-(

But see, that's maybe something the server "should have" recommended?? There was just no feedback and she even asked if it was our first time there but had no recommendations...I think Sanaa is a place where it is really important to have a good server (or at least a very informative one).

 

[nfggirl5454]

I'm sorry you didn't like it. Sanaa is one of my favorites, though my sister isn't as fond of it. I love the butter chicken!

 

[jwfla422]

So bummed you didn't have a good experience! We love the lamb "burgers" there for lunch, which are said to be open-face, but are like nothing we've ever had before. Glad you tried it; sorry it didn't live up to expectation. :-(

melindaPR-Is that the "lamb kefta"??

...and nfggirl5454I- Is the butter chicken white meat or dark meat?? How is it prepared?

Thanks!

 

[rcraw45425]

I hate to say it but the choices you wound up with aren't a true indicator of their menu. First, you need to enjoy Indian food, which can be spicy. We have had two wonderful meals there, lunch and dinner. We started with the bread service with raita (which I never found spicy at all), the brown tamarind chutney (looks like A 1 sauce) and the red bell pepper hummus. I believe we've had the coriander one as well. The naan should have been just a touch shiny. We generally get the slow cooked in gravy with the butter chicken once with the shrimp with green curry sauce, once double butter chicken which we split between the two of us. Basmati rice always. Eating Indian style you generally use your bread to mop up the sauces and gravies. I've never had the salad as they don't appeal enough to me to try. I hate that you all didn't enjoy the meal, but I really don't think that a chicken caesar type salad was a true indicator of their diverse menu. I wish that you would try it again, the server really does make a difference too. Both times we've dined there we have had a wonderful male server that gave some good suggestions and opinions of the various dishes as well.

I just saw where you asked about the butter chicken. I make this at home with different jarred sauces from Fresh Market and other places. The chicken is generally boneless thigh which stays moister when simmering (this is what I use). Sauce is a gravy like consistency with curry, some tomato paste and sometimes spices like coriander. It is not spicy hot yet is flavorful. Anything labeled Durban is spicy.

 

[MickeyGs]

Aw that's too bad, it was my favorite dinner this year. We had the bread service with 5 spreads and two were genuinely spicy, a jalapeño one and a red one, but the raita was really not at all for us, my two and five year olds ate it and they don't do spicy. I recommend trying the slow cooked in gravy, I thought it was wonderful. I did get Durban chicken and didn't find it spicy at all, just flavorful.

 

[::danielle::]

Hmmmm....your review has me a bit concerned for our December trip. From the experts on this thread, are there any dishes made with white meat chicken?

 

[jwfla422]

Hmmmm....your review has me a bit concerned for our December trip. From the experts on this thread, are there any dishes made with white meat chicken?

I most certainly wouldn't let my experience steer anyone away from here, I'm just reporting what we've experienced to maybe make more people that are interested in dining here to do their homework before dining here, that's all.

It's not like meat and potatoes, (or at dinner maybe you do have that choice LOL!), but I'm not a meat and potatoes eater. The food served here is unique to most of the other restaurants at WDW.

I like to try new things and this is just my experience so please take it with a grain of salt. Quite honestly I think a different server would have made a WHIRL of a difference.

I was thinking about the shrimp next time, any experiences with that? Because it does sound like there aren't many choices with "white" meat chicken (if any)? I really want to like this place (it has such an amazing atmosphere). My biggest challenge is getting dd back there...

 

[kbmaggs]

We tried Saana for lunch last year, and although we both ordered completely different items so that we could taste lots of things, we really didn't like the food.... didn't hate it, but really didn't want more than a taste of anything. Different strokes for different folks, right?

 

[jwfla422]

We tried Saana for lunch last year, and although we both ordered completely different items so that we could taste lots of things, we really didn't like the food.... didn't hate it, but really didn't want more than a taste of anything. Different strokes for different folks, right?

Absolutely... (wondering what you tried)

 

[Minnesota!]

We LOVE Sanaa. If it was more centrally located - I could see us eating there 3 times or more on a trip.

We get the bread service each time and the raita has never been spicy. I wonder what happened there? We get that, the garlic pickle, and the jalapeno one. YUM!

Your salad looks....sad. I wish the server would have steered you right! The shrimp dishes are out of this world!

I truly love Sanaa...I hope you will give it another chance sometime...definitely sounds like an off day!

 

[jwfla422]

We LOVE Sanaa. If it was more centrally located - I could see us eating there 3 times or more on a trip.

We get the bread service each time and the raita has never been spicy. I wonder what happened there? We get that, the garlic pickle, and the jalapeno one. YUM!

Your salad looks....sad. I wish the server would have steered you right! The shrimp dishes are out of this world!

I truly love Sanaa...I hope you will give it another chance sometime...definitely sounds like an off day!

LOL...you really think the salad looks sad...you should have been there, LOL!! It really was a fluke that day. I didn't mention in my review above (but it is noted in the review on my website) that the server brought me the wrong thing. She had brought me out ANOTHER round of a salad trio which was a mistake I know, but she just kinda said sorry and took it back and then it was another 10 min until that "sorry" looking salad came out.

I really think the service was an extreme issue here...and it can "make" or "break" any dining experience anywhere (especially when the service is not too good).

And it is because of reviews and praises like yours on the boards as to why I was looking so forward to it and why I wanted to like it. I am willing to give it another try although I think I may do the dinner thing next time and ...run for the hills if we have the same server......I'm not trying to be mean, but it's just too bad. (next time...it's the shrimp for me!!)

 

[rcraw45425]

LOL...you really think the salad looks sad...you should have been there, LOL!! It really was a fluke that day. I didn't mention in my review above (but it is noted in the review on my website) that the server brought me the wrong thing. She had brought me out ANOTHER round of a salad trio which was a mistake I know, but she just kinda said sorry and took it back and then it was another 10 min until that "sorry" looking salad came out.

I really think the service was an extreme issue here...and it can "make" or "break" any dining experience anywhere (especially when the service is not too good).

And it is because of reviews and praises like yours on the boards as to why I was looking so forward to it and why I wanted to like it. I am willing to give it another try although I think I may do the dinner thing next time and ...run for the hills if we have the same server......I'm not trying to be mean, but it's just too bad. (next time...it's the shrimp for me!!)

We had the shrimp with the green curry sauce on our dinner there and I remember that it wasn't very spicy at all. I wish I could remember our servers name that time, he was awesome. OF course, as I mentioned, hubby and I eat Indian frequently and have Indian friends so we knew about some of it. He was very forthcoming about whether a dish would be mild or spicy or just eh. We also had the banana kulfi sundae for dessert, something we never would have tried without his explanation of the flavors. I agree whole heartedly, servers can make even a mediocre menu better by steering you toward things that may be to your taste. One thing that would help Sanaa tremendously would be a description of each dish so that the unfamiliar could have an idea what each dish is.