Solo Eats and Newbie Treats - Completed 1/28!

[cbg1027]

So if I haven't even finished one DR and am about to start another, does it mean I go to WDW too much?

I can't believe I even asked myself that question! Of course not! You can never go to WDW too much, especially when there are so many delicious eats to be had!

My name is Abby, from the previous reviews "I Can't Come Up With A Catchy Title" and "A Drinker and a Dessert Fiend Dine Around Disney". All you really need to know about me is that I'm not at all picky when it comes to the kind of food and will eat just about anything. Quality though, is another story.

The trip I will be reviewing started off as a solo expedition for four nights. I was determined to go and couldn't find anyone to come with me, so I booked a hotel and made my plans. A few weeks before my departure, my good friends Caitlin and her husband Jun decided they could get out of work and school join me for the last two nights, so I did some ADR rearranging and worked everything out. It was Caitlin and Jun's first WDW trip, and I was sooo excited to share it with them!

The Solo Eats:

Starring Rolls Lunch
Kona Cafe Dinner
Tangierine Cafe Lunch
Boozy Beverage in France
Sanaa Dinner
Wolfgang Puck Express Lunch

The Newbie Treats:

Yak n Yeti Lunch
Jiko Dinner
The Crystal Palace Breakfast
Flying Fish Cafe Dinner - Part 1
Flying Fish Cafe - Part 2

 

[lynn46356]

Can't wait for the reviews to start. We'll be arriving in WDW in two short weeks for our first family trip back to the world in 9 years. I've got so much to do but I'm still trying to keep up on current reviews so I can confuse myself even more. Thanks for sharing your adventures!!!!!

 

[Cinderella94]

I'm ready!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Count me in!

Are you here now? Did you already go?

 

[cbg1027]

Can't wait for the reviews to start. We'll be arriving in WDW in two short weeks for our first family trip back to the world in 9 years. I've got so much to do but I'm still trying to keep up on current reviews so I can confuse myself even more. Thanks for sharing your adventures!!!!!

Wow...9 years! There's a lot of new restaurants and foods to try. Hope can help you make informed choices.

I'm ready!

Thanks for joining in!

Count me in!

Are you here now? Did you already go?

LOL No I'm not there now. This is a trip I took a while back and wasn't planning to do a dining review for since I was going to be so backed up with them, but now since the November trip got postponed, I have time to complete this! Gram and I have rescheduled for January 24-28, but I'm also going with a friend December 11-17.

 

[dawnmichele]

Cant' wait to read all about it!

 

[Tinkerbell2B]

I am lovin' all of your reviews (or should I say food porn!!)! Looking forward to your new reviews!!

 

[cbg1027]

Cant' wait to read all about it!

And wait no longer...I'm abou to do the first review!

I am lovin' all of your reviews (or should I say food porn!!)! Looking forward to your new reviews!!

Aw thanks! I love food porn too - this is def my favorite section on the DIS!

 

[cbg1027]

I woke up really early and drove down to Disney by myself, intent on being able to spend all afternoon at HS. I checked in to my hotel around 11 and was in HS by noon!

After a morning of driving, the first thing on my mind was food. I know every says HS is lacking CS options, but I didn't want to spend the time on a TS since I only had an afternoon to spend in the park. I settled on Starring Rolls since I knew they had sandwiches, which I was feeling more than fried food then.

A word of warning if you decide to do lunch at Starring Rolls - all they have are 2 sandwiches and some sushi now. 97% of the items are baked goods, so unless you want a sandwich or sushi, don't eat here because those are your only options. Well unless you want to skip straight to the desserts, which looked amazing.

This review is lacking in photos...never as many to take with a CS meal. But my new food porn resolution for the future is to take more photos of the location. I wish I had some of the seating area and the baked goods cases to show you!

Back when I went, they didn't have the sushi on the menu yet so my choices were a ham or turkey sandwich. I went with the Turkey Focaccia, with comes with your choice of chips or fruit. I also ordered a Coke.

I thought $9.19 was pretty ridiculous (even by theme park standards) for a sandwich and some chips, but once I saw just how HUGE the sandwich is the price didn't seem so bad. There is seriously about a pound of turkey on there! You would have to have a really large mouth to take a bite since it's about six inches tall!

Mondo sandwich, ready for its close up:

The only toppings are shredded lettuce and some pesto/mayo spread. I would have like some more veggies, but it was tasty sandwich on the good focaccia bread. I opened it and split the turkey between the two halves and ate two open-faced sandwiches so I could take a bite. This is a LOT of food for one person, but I was really hungry at the time so I managed to finish it. I have read about people buying a croissant and this sandwich and splitting the fillings. I think that is a fantastic idea, and a great for your budget. If you're just moderately hungry, I would highly suggest that.

Another note about Starring Rolls - all the seating is outside. The tables have umbrellas so you can sit in the shade, but it's raining, really hot, or really cold, this might not be the best location to eat it.

Since it was just after noon when I was eating, the place got pretty packed and people were standing around waiting for tables. I was sitting at a four top table by myself, so I offered to let a family of three share the table with me. I was pretty shocked when they declined. They opted to go wait on the side...and then after a while try to eat their food standing up. That just struck me as weird....I mean, come on I don't have cooties! You would really rather eat standing up than sitting with a stranger for a little bit? I was almost finished! Oh well....their loss I suppose.

So what did I think of Starring Rolls? It was pretty decent. Nothing I would make a point of returning to, but nothing to scare me away from returning. It was a good sandwich - but just a sandwich. I was happy they had the Mrs Vicki's chips though, I think those are so much better than Lay's.

I'm startig a new rating system for this review. I used to do a 1-10, but I decided I liked the letter grading system better. You know, the usual:
A - Excellent
B - Good
C - Fair
D - Poor
F - Failing

But to pinpoint how I felt even more, I will use pluses and minuses, where applicable.

So, the first grade, going to Starring Rolls is....

B-

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Count me in...

 

[amandadisney]

Love your reviews! Can't wait to see more

 

[Disneyshosh]

Im in!! Can't wait!!

 

[TigerKat]

I'm in!

 

[cbg1027]

joining in

Count me in...

Love your reviews! Can't wait to see more

Im in!! Can't wait!!

I'm in!

Welcome along everyone!

 

[Schoolbread]

Ready for more~!!!!!

 

[nutz2notz]

Finished reading your last dining review on Sunday and just loved it.

Great start, that sandwich looks yummy.

Looking forward to this one as I will be going solo for the first time in March.

 

[cbg1027]

Ready for more~!!!!!

Finished reading your last dining review on Sunday and just loved it.

Great start, that sandwich looks yummy.

Looking forward to this one as I will be going solo for the first time in March.

Congrats on the solo trip! 99% of the time, it was great - no one to confer with over what to do next. Just go where you want, when you want! You can also make use of single rider lines, and even in some regular lines, they will pull you out a bit early when there is a single space to fill!

 

[cbg1027]

After spending the afternoon at DHS and closing the park, I made my way over to the Poly to watch Wishes and have dinner at Kona Cafe.

Wishes was at 8 that night and my ADR was for 8:30. So when I got to the Poly I went and found a lounge chair on the beach. I think I almost fell asleep waiting for Wishes to start! It had been a long day with driving by myself and then 7 hours running around DHS.

Watching Wishes from the Poly beach is spectacular! It is a really awesome view and I would highly recommend doing it. Most places, you're either standing up, or sitting on a bench. Being able to lounge in a beach chair while watching really made the experience. My only complaint is that the music is a little low on the volume, but it is there.

Anyways, on to the food...

I checked in around 8:20 and there were a ton of people in the lobby waiting for ADRs. But they were mostly for 'Ohana, I'm guessing...because Kona was about half empty. I saw that and was expecting to be seated right away, but they gave me a pager and told me to wait.

I sat down at the Tambu lounge and after 15 minutes or so I considered ordering a drink. But my pager started buzzing after 20 minutes so I skipped it.

I think Kona was short staffed that night because I didn't have the best service, and the place was still half empty!

Here's the poor photo I took of something other than the food:

It's a nice restaurant and I love the open, airy feeling. Being able to look out on the lobby is nice because you can watch all the happenings, but it also make the restaurant pretty loud.

They start you off with Hawaiian Bread and Macadamia Butter:

Apparently, the bread only comes in these loaves, so I got a whole one all to myself! The bread was was sweet, fluffy, light, and delicious. It's a lot like those King's Hawaiian Rolls, but twenty times better! The Macadamia butter was awesome on it - it had honey in it and little bits of Macadamia nuts which made for a crunchy sweet concoction. I was really hungry so I wolfed down half the loaf!

I decided to start with the Kona Salad as I was feeling something green. This has mixed greens, Maytag blue cheese, fresh fruit, red onions, and smoked almonds with a citrus vinaigrette.

I thought this was an excellent salad. Crisp, fresh, sweet and bitter greens, stinky blue cheese, sweet apples, sour onions, and crunchy almonds with a sweet-tart vinaigrette. A tasty melange and it really hit the spot.

For an entree, I went with the Shrimp and Scallops - panko breaded shrimp and pan-seared scallops with sticky rice and ponzu, spicy guava-passion fruit and wasabi cream sauces .

The shrimp were excellent. Perfectly cooked with a crunchy, not at all greasy breading. They were really good dipped in the passion fruit sauce, but they're awfully stingy with it, it was just a stripe on the plate under the shrimp. I wanted to ask for more but my server never came back to check on me.

The scallops however, were a different story. They would have been good if they had been properly scrubbed and washed. They were totally gritty! They were cooked nicely, just melt in your mouth with a nice seared on crust....but the texture was awful because it was like they had been bathed in sand!

I decided to skip dessert, mostly because I was tired, but also because it was almost impossible to find my server. He obviously had too many tables to attend to. I managed to flag him down and get my check after a while though.

The desserts did look really awesome though. I'd like to go back and try them sometime.

Kona was a bit hit and miss. The scallops and the service were misses, but I could see why the service was lacking so I don't really hold it against them. For now, I would rate Kona a B-, but I would return one day and hopefully get to see them improve and give those desserts a try!

 

[dizneeat]

Yikes! I missed the start of this! I blame it on being away with my pupils for a week!

Couldn't agree with you more on Starring Rolls. The sandwiches are HUGE. We split one and a cupcake and were both full!

And our experiences at Kona were really similar! Long wait, good food, not really what I would call perfect service!

Can't wait for more!