Signature Restaurants--try eating at the Bar!!

[waltskids]

Lizziejane: Not many at all, but as we learned to our dismay several times before, all it takes is one such group to spoil a dinner. It can and does happen at the Signature spots. For us it's some insurance against it happening.

BCV23: Narcoosee's was good and this time I did not order Surf and Turf--the lobster last time was AWFUL. I'll be doing the reviews at some point.

Paridiso when we ate at lunch (twice in fact!) was not loud at all--nothing like when we ate at Bongo's for lunch. And the servers we saw seemed attentive, not dancing w/each other like at Bongo's. My guess is that a place like Paridiso at dinner will be louder than other places because they think most patrons like it that way....
In my review I'll be suggesting menu-wise it's great for lunch, but not sure if I'd do a full dinner there. The beer IS cold!! And the pork BBQ items are quite good.

Did you see children dining at the bar as well? We have encountered this in the past, and it seemed like the bartenders were annoyed but didn't ask the families to leave. I wasn't sure what the law in Florida is regarding minors at the bar.

 

[Uncleromulus]

No kids at the bars this trip..but once in a great while that does happen.
And although the Bistro has no childrens menu of it's own, we saw 3 or 4tables with kids this trip. I was somewhat suprised, so I asked our server what they could possibly be ordering.
The answer--food from the kids menu at the downstairs Chefs restaurant. Yep--they'll be only too happy to bring it upstairs to the Bistro.

 

[TDC Nala]

There is no Florida law that prohibits minors from being seated at bars.

 

[Mom of 2 Wife of 1]

There is no Florida law that prohibits minors from being seated at bars.

It's inappropriate for children to be allowed in a setting specifically geared towards serving alcohol. Also, it's a safety issue to have children sitting on stools wherein their feet are 2-3 feet about the ground.

It should be a Floridian law or at the very least a Disney policy. Not that I believe this will ever happen, but it should.

 

[luvpooh]

We have been doing this for years, both at home and at Disney. We really enjoy it.

Still stumped why on one visit a few years back (2006?) we were told at Flying Fish that they do not serve food at the bar...especially since the bar was near empty. It's turned us off from returning even though we enjoy the food there.

We want to try out Paradiso 37, especially since they tout their beer is kept at 37 degrees!

 

[DebºoºS]

Did you see children dining at the bar as well? We have encountered this in the past, and it seemed like the bartenders were annoyed but didn't ask the families to leave. I wasn't sure what the law in Florida is regarding minors at the bar.

Yes, we saw it at FF when I was dining with my DS who was 23 at the time. The children were loud and creating a scene. Coming from NY & now NJ I've never seen minors sitting at a bar. I thought it was odd at the time that they didn't move the family to the next available table.

 

[waltskids]

No kids at the bars this trip..but once in a great while that does happen.
And although the Bistro has no childrens menu of it's own, we saw 3 or 4tables with kids this trip. I was somewhat suprised, so I asked our server what they could possibly be ordering.
The answer--food from the kids menu at the downstairs Chefs restaurant. Yep--they'll be only too happy to bring it upstairs to the Bistro.

Oh No! We are dining here during Christmas week and we were hoping for a quiet adult meal. We didn't splurge for V&A's this trip but maybe we should have. Well we can only hope for some peace and quiet

And I agree with other posters, kids shouldn't sit at a bar. Like my dad ( who frequented bars often) used to say; it takes a seat away from a customer who most likely would buy alcohol and adults sitting at a bar to have a nice evening out don't want to sit near your kids.

 

[BCV23]

Good to know about Paradisio. Thanks. We talked about trying it for lunch and will have to do that.

Glad Narcoossee's was good. Funny about the lobster. We had a wonderful dinner there in March except my husband's lobster was tough. Now the menu warned that it was tough so I'm not sure why he ordered it.

I will look forward to your reviews.

 

[Robert P]

That's what we did almost exclusively. This trip we ate at the bar (full meals, not just bar snacks) at California Grill, Blue Zoo, Citricos , Flying Fish and Narcoossee's.
Also at Paridiso 37 in DD.

UncleRomulus,
Great info! We have a few days of adult dining coming up, so we were thinking about this very idea. Two quick questions though.

1 - How early did you eat at BlueZoo, and were they still doing the happy hour thing with drinks and select appetizers?
2 - Your take on Paridiso 37, value wise? Anything mindblowing that you had?

Thanks for any info you may have.
Robert P

 

[wwaleye]

I like the sound of this since DH and I are going by ourselves this April. Do you make ADR's and then request a table at the bar when you check-in?

 

[Uncleromulus]

WWaleye: That's what we did. We requested bar seating when we got to the podium. Just in case there were no seats at the bar, we still could get a table.

Robert P: We got to the Zoo at 6:00 and there were plenty of seats at the bar. Since we did a full meal, we didn't ask about the Happy Hour/appetizer thing.
Paridiso did take the Disney room charge and when we asked about TIW, the reply was "not yet". If you check the main dining page on the Boards and see Kevin's review, that was about how I looked at things. Great place for a drink and lunch, maybe not so great with a full dinner meal. I liked our pork BBQ "sliders" and also the Taco taster, with 5 different kinds of Tacos. Also good were the Quesadillas--pork BBQ, steak, and chicken.
As I noted my Dos Equis Amber was quite cold. They have all kinds of drinks at the bar, and wine as well.
We'll undoubtedly return for lunch next trip.

 

[MickeyNicki]

are there really that many food-throwing, tag-playing kids at the signature restaurants? We're going dxDDP in January because I figured the signature restaurants would be quieter.

We have been to Jiko, Cali Grill, Blue Zoo, Il Mulino and Flying Fish (3 times) and just once at Flying Fish did we have kid issues...there was a large party next to us with 4 young kids just acting wild, running wild and really ruining our meal. Their server had asked them to check their kids but they never did a darn thing about it...when the kids started coming too close to our table and staring at us I lost is and made a not too nice comment very loudly to their parents...who got up and left shortly thereafter...

I had asked to be moved but there wasnt any other 2 seaters available. I tell ya what, if they were just starting their meals instead of ending it we would have walked out.

 

[Leota]

Great Idea, UR! We eat at BlueZoo Lounge alot, but I hadn't thought of doing it at other signatures.

I do know that we have completely given up on California Grill for a nice adult meal. We've had too many bad experiences with overtired & overstimulated kiddos whose parents are bent on seeing those fireworks no matter what. It's a shame because we enjoy so many things there. Perhaps an earlier or later seating at the bar might help.

I think we'll give this a whirl on our upcoming trip.

I have definately noticed an increase of kids dining at signatures since the DDP. While that is not always a bad thing, those times when the parents are unable or unwilling to contain their little darlings does put a damper on dining for everyone else. We have been doing alot of our dining at Swolphin restaurants because they're good & it's a more adult atmosphere.

ETA-
After hearing your comments on lunch at Paradiso 37, we decided to check out the menu. DH & I will be heading over there for lunch. We love the street food theme. Dos Equis Amber is my current favorite brew, so that was the final selling point.

 

[PamelaKay]

Can anyone tell me if there is a bar at the Yachtsman and if so if you can dine at the bar?

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Can anyone tell me if there is a bar at the Yachtsman and if so if you can dine at the bar?

There is a limited menu from the Yachtsman available at the Bar attached to it. However they do not take the Dining Plan at that location.