Sanaa was AWESOME!!!!

[AlohaPolynesian]

I plan on doing a dining review later, but Sanaa is my new favorite restaurant. We had lunch there and everything was wonderful. It was something different than you would find at other restaurants, the atmosphere was amazing, and the staff was very friendly. Our waiter was Giovanni and he was EXCELLENT. He knew the entire menu front and back and always had our refills ready. He made sure we were enjoying our food without hovering over our table or rushing us.

I ordered the vegetarian sampler which comes with your choice of 2 items and rice. He said I could get all three instead and not get rice if I wanted and so I did that. However one of the items wasn't ready so he brought me out rice instead and then the other food when it was ready - which wasn't even 5 minutes later!

I plan on writing to Disney about this awesome experience, but I just wanted to let you guys know that you are in for a treat and that you should request Giovanni!

 

[LindaBabe]

looking forward to the rest of your food report! I *will* be trying Sanaa!

 

[MomsOf2boys]

I'm very glad to hear how much you liked it there. We haven't yet tried it so hopefully we can soon.

 

[dizneeat]

I am SO glad you liked it!!!!!

It's an awesome restaurant, with awesome service and yum yum food! Glad it worked for you!
Can't wait for your review!

 

[Evita227]

Also my favorite dinner during my trip!

 

[BillandChris]

Just got back from DW visit and this was a great find of a restaurant. We probably shouldn't talk about it so much or it too will be next to impossible to get into.

 

[AlohaPolynesian]

That's what I was thinking. Maybe I should start another thread called "Sanaa was GROSS" lol!

 

[MomsOf2boys]

That's what I was thinking. Maybe I should start another thread called "Sanaa was GROSS" lol!

Hahaha too funny! What was your favorite thing from there? Are the sandwiches you order from Kidani pool from there?

 

[pumba]

thanks for your review....I just read the menu and it sounds very good ......

 

[BriarRosie]

I have to agree. I had dinner there about a week and a half ago, and I really loved my sustainable fish entree.

The server, while really friendly and informative about the menu, failed at a basic thing I rate all servers by:

The water glass.

She did not fill my water, even when she was chatting with us during dinner. I did not point out that I needed water. It was more than halfway gone. I would have thought she was a good server if she would have filled my water glass without me asking.

But still, in most ways, Sanaa was really good.

 

[AlohaPolynesian]

Oooh...see, our server kept our water glasses filled!! Next time ask for Giovanni!

My favorite thing from there was probably the bread appetizer with the different dips. And I had the rice pudding for dessert which was perfect. I plan on doing a dining review and posting all my pictures soon!

 

[scanne]

Would you choose Sanaa over Jiko or Boma? We've dined at Boma many times and it is one of our favorites. We've never tried Jiko or Sanaa...which would you choose? Why? Thanks!

 

[FredQc]

I'm looking forward to try Sanaa during my next trip, scheduled for early January. I plan to eat there for lunch. I guess that I don't need to get an ADR for a lunch there... Am I right? How crowded is the place during lunch time?

 

[AlohaPolynesian]

Would you choose Sanaa over Jiko or Boma? We've dined at Boma many times and it is one of our favorites. We've never tried Jiko or Sanaa...which would you choose? Why? Thanks!

Well, I'd say Boma for breakfast, Sanaa for lunch, and Jiko for dinner! But really, Sanaa I think would be best for lunch because you can see the animals out and about. I'm not sure what that's like at dinner. Also, I'm a vegetarian and it seems like Sanaa offers more options for me, so I would probably choose it over Jiko. Although Boma has a ton of vegetarian options at dinner, I'm not a huge dinner buffet fan so I would also probably choose Sanaa in that case. Really just the service, selection, and atmosphere of Sanaa puts it on the top of my list!

I'm looking forward to try Sanaa during my next trip, scheduled for early January. I plan to eat there for lunch. I guess that I don't need to get an ADR for a lunch there... Am I right? How crowded is the place during lunch time?

You should be fine just walking in - it wasn't very crowded when we were there at all. But with such great food, service, and atmosphere, I think it will start filling up quick!

 

[athenna]

So glad to find more Sanaa fans!
I stayed at Kidani in May, brought my senior citizen dad with me on that trip, we ate at Sanaa 4 times He just didnt care to eat anywhere else
And Giovanni was the very first server we ever had there! He's fabulous! Sharon is the manager, and she is wonderful, she actually hugged dad and I goodbye when we had lunch there on our last day!
And if you get a chance to chat with Kat @ the bar @ Sanaa (she works at the pool bar, too) she is so nice!

When I went to WDW in Sept, I stayed @ SSR with a good friend of mine from Germany...We went over to Sanaa for dinner one night, she loved it!

My next trip is 4 wks from today, this time it's my BF and I...And we have Sanaa dinner reservations..Staying @ the Poly this time, though.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I agree, Sanaa is awesome!

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Thanks for the review. I agree with you 100%. Sanaa is awesome. We had lunch here on 12/13 and it was fantastic. We had there bread sampler and split the lamb sandwich. Wow, what a great combination of spices and textures. Lets just hope they keep it the way it is now and they don't change the menu to make it like all the other WDW restaurants.

 

[septbaby]

We had dinner here on New Years night, what a wonderful meal and dining experience. We chose the bread service: naan, onion kulcha and paratha with the roasted read pepper hummus, mango chutney and cucumber dips. I love naan, but was surprised to find that I enjoyed the others equally well. I loved the combination of the cucumber dip with the onion bread.

I had the sustainable fish which was fantastic. My friend enjoyed the tomato soup(no cheese) and Tandoori shrimp. Neither of us were able to devour our entire entrees. We had the dessert sampler and loved the fulati and chai cream. The chai dessert is really rich and we could only enjoy half of it, but we loved it. I didn't want the chocolate cake (don't love chocolate enough to spend the calories here) and asked them to simply leave it off. Instead they surprised me with a substitution, the orange sesame cake. That turned out to be my favorite item on the plate. Presentation and portion size of desserts were perfect.

We also found our server to be exceptional. Prompt, courteous, familiar with the menu, favors, portion sizes, etc.

Sanaa is definitely on the "do over" list.

 

[donald...really]

I was coming here to post the exact same thing. We just got back from a three day weekend at Kidani and we ate at Sanaa for lunch two out of the three days. We couldn't get over how delicious and interesting EVERYTHING was. And as was noted here, the service was amazing. It is our new favorite place and we WILL be going back, many times.

I agree with a previous poster. I hope they don't water down the menu and make it like every other place at Disney.