September/October 2009 Dining Reviews - Updated 11/1

[disneyfav4ever]

Love the rating system!!!

Thank you.

That rating system is too cute!!!

Great reviews so far!! Thank you!!

Thanks for reading.

Ah, I really need to get this blood orange margarita!! I will be travelling with my sister who has a lot of food intolerance issues, and one is lemon juice. So she won't be drinking any cocktails, but I am determined to drag her to the tequila bar - she will just have to drink the tequila as it is! Pure spirits aren't any problem for her...

It is so worth it to go there, I see it being a must-do for me every trip.

Thanks for the reviews, you're doing a great job so far!

Thank you!

I completely agree about the Sunshine Seasons' seared tuna salad. It was horrible last year during Lent (hey Catholics!) on a Friday while being on a protein diet. I got the salad and my husband went to England and got Fish and Chips. I was so miserable. Lack of dressing and lack of appetizing flavor left me still hungry and wishing I wasn't on the stupid diet. However, I did lose 20 pounds and won a Biggest Loser contest at work only a few weeks after the trip!

I just wish it'd had more dressing, then it wouldn't of been so bad. The tuna was tasty. Good job on the weight loss!

I am going to try and get started on day two's reviews tonight or tomorrow morning. I really don't want to take forever to finish them like I did with my last set of reviews, coming up next, breakfast at Kona.

 

[Tatania]

The Remy rating system is a hoot. I'm suscribing just because I laugh so hard when I see the horror-stricken Remy. More of those please

Did you find the food booth dessert sizes to be small? I didn't order any of them because they all looked to be about quarter sized to me.

I found the dessert portions very small - esp. the tiny cookie for $2.25. I'd never pay that at a bakery for a cookie that's about 1/2" across.

 

[oybolshoi]

If I liked oranges I might be tempted to order the blood orange margarita ... sans foam of course because that still grosses me out. Maybe Jay will be brave and try it next week.

Thanks for the reviews so far ... enjoying them!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

The Remy rating system is a hoot. I'm suscribing just because I laugh so hard when I see the horror-stricken Remy. More of those please

There is at least one still coming up. Luckily for me not that many though. And I do have a few more critics to give out, but they are few and far between.

I think the lack of critics is due to me skipping the majority of signature restaurants this trip. As you can see from my list in the first post, the only signature meal I had was Jiko, and that was the only dinner I had that was truly memorable, though Sanaa was very good. Other then that the food was just not anything spectacular, though none of my TS meals were horrible, and I wouldn't not recommend them, but I won't be saying oh my God, you have to eat there.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

If I liked oranges I might be tempted to order the blood orange margarita ... sans foam of course because that still grosses me out. Maybe Jay will be brave and try it next week.

Thanks for the reviews so far ... enjoying them!

Thank you, and enjoy your trip! I know you're leaving in a few days, and I hope you have a wonderful time, and birthday party, which I'm so sorry I'll be missing.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I woke up at 6:30 on Wednesday morning, planning on trying to get a walk up at Kona as soon as they opened at 7:30. I had kept on being told no availability every time I tried to book it, but I was certain that there was no way Kona, a resort restaurant, that was not a character meal, would be completely full at 7:30.

I dealt with my hair, which is always a pain, but especially in Florida, but is much easier to take care of since I've chopped the majority of it off, and headed to the Magic Kingdom bus stop.

I was staying at All Star Movies, but my room was at the far end of the Mighty Ducks building, so I actually would walk over to Music's bus stop most mornings since it was actually closer. Actually, I think the only time I ever did use Movie's bus stop was when I had packages waiting for me, or my departure day when I needed to check out there anyway.

Anyway, so there was me, and another family at the bus stop, and a bus came quickly. The bus driver was super, he asked us if any of us were actually going to the Magic Kingdom, or were we just trying to get somewhere in the area, I answered I was going to the Polynesian, and the other family said they were going to the Contemporary. He took us to the resorts themselves, and saved us a little time, which I was very appreciative of since I wanted to be there right at 7:30 when Kona opened, since I didn't have an ADR, and even though I knew it wouldn't be full, I was worried it would be, if that makes any sense.

Of course when I got up to the restaurant, there were only a few tables there, and the other guy waiting to get seated joked about how they were "full." Needless to say, I got seated right away.

My waitress was very nice this morning. She had three tables, and since I was sitting inbetween the other two, I know she kept glasses refilled, plates cleared, and gave prompt service.

I started my meal with a diet coke. I actually drank a lot more water this trip then coke. But it was early, I needed caffiene, and I don't really drink coffee, lattes and cappucinos, sure, but not coffee.

I had wanted to try the macadamia-pineapple pancakes, but MickeyNicki actually told me that the same thing comes on the Kahuna platter, and the pancakes are really rich and filling, so I got the platter instead, and I am so glad I did. I would've never been able to eat a full order

Starting with the eggs, and going clockwise, are potatoes, sausage, bacon, ham, French toast, and the macadamia-pineapple pancakes. Overall this gets an

as all the food was decent, though some was better then others.

The eggs, and I'm a pretty picky egg eater. I hate them over cooked, but I think they're yucky undercooked, and it's a very delicate balance and happy medium for me to like eggs, get an

So they were pretty good.

The potatoes get an

They were hot and fresh, and had a nice seasoning on them, and may be the same as the one served at Ohana, but I'm not sure.

The sausage gets an

It wasn't greasy, and was served nice and hot. The sausage was my favorite of the three meats served.

The bacon gets an

would've been a Remy approved rating had it been a little crispy, but it's Disney bacon, what do you expect?

The ham gets a

I was going to give it an Emile, but I honestly only took one bite, and decided it was pretty flavorless and dried out. Not at all very appetizing.

The French toast gets an

It was a little on the cold side, though it seemed to be cooked well. I didn't eat much of it.

The macadamia-pineapple pancakes, and the reason I had really wanted to try Kona for breakfast gets a

The pancakes were nice and light and fluffy, and the topping was very tasty. Like I said before though, was very rich, and I never would've been able to eat a full order. Actually the lady sitting next to me did get the full order, and couldn't eat them all, as I know half of her meal went uneaten.

Overall Kona is a nice restaurant. I've eaten all three meals there, and have never had a bad experiance, though I've seen a lot of more negative reviews lately then usual, so maybe I'll have to give dinner another try there next year and see what's up.

 

[englishrose47]

Yay for the Remi Ratings of Kona ! I have yet to eat there!! It is onmy list of places to try !!!

 

[ChelleinNC]

Glad you were able to get in What did you see as far as fullness of restaurants compared to availability when calling?

 

[natalielongstaff]

im glad you got in at Kona

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Yay for the Remi Ratings of Kona ! I have yet to eat there!! It is onmy list of places to try !!!

I have a lot of places on my list to try; next year I hope to try quite a few Downtown Disney restaurants, and hopfully I can fit in Victoria and Alberts next year too.

Glad you were able to get in What did you see as far as fullness of restaurants compared to availability when calling?

Jiko was pretty busy, and suprisingly that was one of the easiest ADR's to get, Sanaa was not busy, and that was also pretty easy to get into, taking lots of walkups, I don't think a lot of people know it's there. Kona and Kouzzina were both pretty empty at breakfast, the Kouzzina ADR I got just a couple days before my trip. Plaza was pretty empty when I was seated, got a little full during my meal, and then was kind of empty again when I left, I was able to get an ADR there a few weeks prior to my trip. Kouzzina at dinner was pretty busy, but there were still quite a few empty tables, but they were taking walk ups. Hollywood and Vine was kind of busy when I ate there, but I didn't book that one, so I don't know how hard that was to get.

im glad you got in at Kona

I'm glad I got in too.

 

[MickeyNicki]

I had wanted to try the macadamia-pineapple pancakes, but MickeyNicki actually told me that the same thing comes on the Kahuna platter, and the pancakes are really rich and filling, so I got the platter instead, and I am so glad I did. I would've never been able to eat a full order

Arent you glad you listened to me THose little pancakes pack a filling punch dont they!

Next time try customizing your platter to what you like...I usually do a Meg Ryan from When Harry Met Sally..something like this

I want sausage only, no ham, no bacon unless it is crispy and well done. If it isnt like that please skip the bacon and add more sausage. I would like just pancakes, no french toast, and I want the butter, nut pineapple sauce mixture on the side. I would like my eggs wet, not well done or I will send them back...

You get the picture right?

I am so glad you got into Kona without a ressie..we were shocked how all the TS places were supposed to be booked solid yet they were accepting walk ups and we ourselves got into Sci Fi for lunch no problem (thanks to hubby). Once we were seated inside these booked up places there were empty tables all over the place...what is going on!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Arent you glad you listened to me THose little pancakes pack a filling punch dont they!

Next time try customizing your platter to what you like...I usually do a Meg Ryan from When Harry Met Sally..something like this

I want sausage only, no ham, no bacon unless it is crispy and well done. If it isnt like that please skip the bacon and add more sausage. I would like just pancakes, no french toast, and I want the butter, nut pineapple sauce mixture on the side. I would like my eggs wet, not well done or I will send them back...

You get the picture right?

I am so glad you got into Kona without a ressie..we were shocked how all the TS places were supposed to be booked solid yet they were accepting walk ups and we ourselves got into Sci Fi for lunch no problem (thanks to hubby). Once we were seated inside these booked up places there were empty tables all over the place...what is going on!

If I go to Kona again for breakfast and have the platter again, (though I think I have to try tonga toast if I go again,) I'd get get sausage instead of ham, and extra pancakes instead of french toast.

I think the empty tables are a result of double bookings. I think it's much easier for people to do it since ADRs are now available online. It's kind of a pain while making ADRs but it was nice to get walkup while in Disney, but I wish they'd do something to control the online ADR system.

 

[PNO4TE]

I made it!! So glad to have found this TR and I am looking forward to reading your "take" on F&W

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I made it!! So glad to have found this TR and I am looking forward to reading your "take" on F&W

Thanks for reading!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

After my breakfast at Kona, I made it to Magic Kingdom for rope drop, and spent the morning in Frontierland, Liberty Square, and Fantasyland. I got a lot of rides in; Splash Mt, Big Thunder Mt. Railroad, Haunted Mansion, It's a Small World, and Phillarmagic, plus I saw Dream Along with Mickey, and Move It Shake It Celebrate It, before heading to the Plaza for lunch.

I had never been to the Plaza before, and didn't even have it on my original plan for this trip, but after booking the Wishes dessert party for tonight, I decided I didn't want a table service dinner, cancelled the Grand Floridian Cafe ADR I had, and booked the Plaza for lunch. Plus now I've eaten at every Magic Kingdom table service restaurant, which in my mind is some kind of accomplishment.

I was seated immediatly, though the restaurant wasn't really all that busy. It did strike me as odd though when I was seated next to a family of four who was also at a two-top. I thought they'd be cramping me in my space, but they seemed to deal with the lack of space really well. I know I would not be happy if I was with three others, and we were sitting at a two-top.

The service here was all right. It was a little slow, and not that friendly, though nothing to complain about really, she just wasn't very personable.

For my entree I had the cheesesteak sandwich.

It came with onions, mushrooms, and peppers, except I had them leave off the mushrooms. I want to preface this, by saying I'm from Philly, so I am slightly spoiled and biased when it comes to cheesesteaks. I thought this was good, not great, but good.

The meat was well cooked, and there was plenty of it, and there was lots of cheese. The onions weren't noticeable, but the peppers did add a little bit of sweetness that was nice. The bread was soft, too soft, and I wish the crust had been crustier. The fries it came with were delicious, nice and hot and fresh.

The sandwich gets an

the fries get an

Even though I didn't really feel like dessert, it was included with the plan, so I ordered a hot fudge sundae. In hindsight I should've paid for this meal out of pocket, and used the credit at Sanaa, where I skipped dessert too, but I would've rather tried a dessert there then had ice cream here.

The ice cream was full of ice crystals. The hot fudge on it was really good, so I just ate that out, and left most of the ice cream.

It gets an;

Only because the hot fudge was so good, and the ice cream problem wasn't that distracting, but when I'm paying for one dish what I can get a whole half gallon for at home, I expect it to be fresh.

 

[Tatania]

There is at least one still coming up. Luckily for me not that many though. And I do have a few more critics to give out, but they are few and far between.

I think the lack of critics is due to me skipping the majority of signature restaurants this trip. As you can see from my list in the first post, the only signature meal I had was Jiko, and that was the only dinner I had that was truly memorable, though Sanaa was very good. Other then that the food was just not anything spectacular, though none of my TS meals were horrible, and I wouldn't not recommend them, but I won't be saying oh my God, you have to eat there.

I know exactly what you mean. My criterion is - do I want the recipe for this and there weren't many TS places that I answered affirmative. I had just spent a month on various RCI cruises and the food from those kitchens was generally so much better than what I had this year at Disney. Loved Jiko though!

 

[MickeyNicki]

I love the fries from the Plaza, the best at WDW!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I know exactly what you mean. My criterion is - do I want the recipe for this and there weren't many TS places that I answered affirmative. I had just spent a month on various RCI cruises and the food from those kitchens was generally so much better than what I had this year at Disney. Loved Jiko though!

Exactly. Nothing was horrible, but on a whole this was my least favorite trip food-wise.

I love the fries from the Plaza, the best at WDW!

They were really good.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

After my lunch at the Plaza I spent a few more hours at the Magic Kingdom. I spent some time in Tomorrowland, rode the TTA and Crousel of Progress. Again I noticed the extreme lack of knowledge people had for what they were doing, someone asked me what is this, after sitting down in the Carousel of Progress. Not in a rude way, but in a way that made me wonder how do you not even know what you were in line for? The same thing had happened at Phillarmagic earlier that morning, right after the show had started, the man sitting next to me stated, (and sounded dissapointed,) that it was "just a cartoon."

I also ran into my first rude guest encounter that afternoon at the Hall of Presidents. I am usually very good about moving all the way down to the end of the row. But my one exception is if the theater's huge, and it obviously won't be full, plus the CM's are announcing don't bother moving all the way down, and stop 2/3 or so in, then I'm not going to go to the very last seat. I was kind of close to the middle, but there were people for a few seats after me, though I did leave one space open between me and the next people, since there was no reason to be crammed together. Anyway, the lady coming in right behind me, started complaining that no one had moved all the way down. She was just really rude about it, and spent most of the show galring at me. Kind of distracting to have someone staring at me for that long, though I only really went there to take a break from the park so it's not like I was paying that much attention to the show anyway.

Anyway, back on to the food review. I did see the afternoon parade before leaving the park, which is now Celebrate Your Dreams or something similar, I can't keep track of it every time they change the name, since it is still always the same parade, except now the villians float is gone.

I had been on Main Street for the parade, and had planned afterwards to take the monorail around to all the resorts, have dinner at the Contemporary, and then drinks at the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian. As I got to the monorail platform, I saw CMs standing there and sending everyone away. That did not look good.

Turns out the monorail was down. My first thought was oh my God, I hope there wasn't another crash, but thankfully it was just a technical issue. Some people were really annoyed though, even with Disney doing a very good job at getting people where they needed to go. And I managed to get to everyone of the resorts with it down.

Anyway, I ended up walking to the Contemporary, and went up to the Contempo Cafe. I was very excited to try this place, as I thought for counter service they had a very interesting menu.

I ordered the marinated beef flatbread.

It was topped with lots of beef, oven-roasted tomatoes, garlic, onions, arugula, and goat cheese. It was so good. The only thing I didn't like was the arugula on top. Everything else was yummy, and it had some sort of tangy sauce, almost like bbq. It was actually one of my favorite things I ate all week, and is worth leaving the Magic Kingdom for.

It gets an

For dessert I had the black forest cupcake.

It was a cherry-filled chocolate cupcake, with lots of icing, topped off with a chocolate-covered marischino cherry.

If the flatbread was one of the best things I ate all week, this was one of the worst, though it just avoids the broken plate rating, and gets an Emile.

The cherry on top was just gross. The icing was all right, but much too sweet, and the cake was kind of dried out, thank God for the filling in the middle, which gave it some moisture. I wouldn't get it again, but it wasn't bad enough to get the broken plate rating.

 

[TigerKat]

That flatbread looks delicious!!!!!