Our gang really likes Columbia Harbour House.
It's a nice change of pace if you're tired of burgers and fries. Plus, we've found in the past that it's not quite as busy as other CS restaurants.
Apparently the word's getting out on CHH, however. We arrived around 11:30, hoping to beat the lunch rush, but found it very busy already. They opened a new station and took our order after a wait of a few minutes. Apparently the folks cooking the food were behind on some items, however, because it took almost 10 minutes for them to prepare our order and bring it to us.
DS and DNeph had the combo basket
while DW and I had the half sandwich and bowl of soup.
The basket was chicken strips, fried fish and fries. The wait for the food was worth it, IMHO, because these items were crispy and HOT, like they were right out of the fryer. They weren't overly greasy, either. Good, basic, American, artery-clogging, fried food.
DW and I thoroughly enjoyed our soup and sandwich. It was very hot and humid that day, and I just didn't feel like fried food. The sandwich looked like it had just been made. Everything was fresh, and the lettuce and tomato was cool, like it had just been taken out of the fridge and sliced. The ham was tender and sweet.
I'm guessing the clam chowder was not made from scratch in the restaurant, but it sure tasted like it. The clams in the chowder were plentiful and not tough, and there was some herb in it (parsley?) that added a little extra.
For dessert, the guys all got the chocolate cake
while DW got the apple crisp.
DW definitely won. The chocolate cake was your basic Disney pre-packaged chocolate cake--OK, but nothing special. Her apple crisp looked fresh-made, with a flaky crust and chunks of sliced apples and a cinnamony filling. She could only eat half, and she was nice enough to share with me.
So even though we had to wait a little longer than usual to get our food, we thought it was worth the wait. This is a very good CS restaurant and we'll definitely return.
Our TS meal that day was one that we were all looking forward to experiencing--Narcoosees at the Grand Floridian. We'd never eaten at a Signature restaurant, and based on the reviews we'd read here on the DIS, we decided to pay OOP for CS one evening and use 2 TS credits to try Narcoosees. We booked a 9:10 ADR, hoping to see Wishes here at 10.
We arrived around 9 and were given a beeper to wait. We went outside and sat on the bench, enjoying the cooler evening air and the view of the lake. Our beeper went off around 9:15 and we went inside.
We were hoping for a table next to a window, but we didn't get it. That was fine, though, because the table we received was positioned so that we still had a great view of the MK for the upcoming fireworks. Narcoosee's is generally arranged with a lower tier of tables, with one row along the windows and another row back a few feet behind those. Then there's a top tier of tables above that. Even if you're not sitting right at a window, there's a still a good chance you're going to have a good viewing spot. While we were waiting for our server, the water pageant came by--it was our first time seeing it, and it was very enjoyable to watch. And later, we had a great view of Wishes. Nobody was standing or sitting on the bench outside the window where we were viewing Wishes, so we had a relatively unobstructed view, and it was a magic moment for us.
Our server was--well, it's hard to describe--she seemed odd. She had this huge, plastic smile, like she was trying to overdo it. The smile wasn't there at all if she was speaking, but then she immediately went right back to this overly full smile, like someone was taking her picture and she was doing one of those fake "cheeeeeeeese" smiley poses. And when she came to take our drink order we asked if the lobster was on the DDP, she rolled her eyes and said "I'm afraid so." Just--odd. Service from her would continue to be odd throughout our meal.
For our appetizers, DW ordered the artisan cheeses
DS had the Narcoosees chowder
DNeph had the chilled shrimp
while I had the fried oysters.
While we were waiting for our apps, we were given bread and butter.
The oysters were breaded a little too heavily for my liking, but they were still very good. They weren't tough, were warm, tasted sweet and the breading had a peppery seasoning that was very tasty. They came with two dipping sauces, one that was creamy and spicy, like a chipotle. The other was like a teriyaki--soy with a little sweet. Overall, a nice appetizer.
DW loved her artisan cheeses. This is her kind of food--little bits of different tastes and textures. The accompaniments and the walnut toast made the appetizer, she thought.
DS loved his chowder. Although it was listed as a chowder, the soup looked and tasted more like a bisque, with chunks of fish and seafood throughout. It was warm and full of flavor. He loves soup, and he was not disappointed with this.
Although DNeph wasn't too sure about the stuff that came with his shrimp
, he liked the shrimp themselves. He said they were plump and juicy.
While waiting for our appetizer, DW decided she'd like a glass of wine with her appetizer. She told our server this when the server brought the appetizers to our table, and this was the beginning of a series of significant delays in bringing items to our table. It took the server about 15 minutes to return with the glass of wine. The server then took our finished appetizer plates and stayed gone for about another 15 minutes. She returned with candles and small crocs to hold butter and keep it warm for the lobster, but 1 of the candles did not light. She said she'd grab another candle, but did not return with one--instead, she brought our lobsters about 15 minutes after that.
Yes, we all ordered lobster.
It came with roasted asparagus and potato gratin. We were disappointed with our entrees. The lobster and potatoes were barely warm. The asparagus was at room temperature. The lobster had a rubbery texture, as if it had been steamed and allowed to sit for a while afterward.
I just got the feeling from the uneven nature of our service and the temperature and texture of our entrees that it had been plated and ready to bring out for quite some time, but had been allowed to sit and cool before it was brought to us. Combine that with our server's reaction when she learned we were on the DDP, and I got the feeling she was blowing us off because we were on DDP and she was guaranteed a tip regardless. It was the only time we've eaten on DDP at WDW and had that feeling.
We might have said something to our server, but we didn't get the chance. After she brought our plates, we didn't see her again. She didn't return to fill our empty drink glasses, to ask how our meals were or to take our dessert orders. She just stayed gone. And gone. And gone.
By this time it was 11:05. We were almost 2 hours into our meal, and not only had our server not even taken our dessert order, but given that she'd been gone for so long, we had no idea when or if she might return to our table. We were concerned that if taking our dessert order and bringing our dessert orders went with the same efficiency (or lack thereof) as things had gone to this point, we might miss Disney transportation back to our resort. Around 11:15 DW said she'd take the boys back to the MK bus stop via the monorail and let me order desserts to go. A couple of minutes after they left, our server finally returned and asked if I'd like dessert.
I ordered 2 almond-crusted cheesecakes and 2 key-lime creme brulees--to go.
I finally left the restaurant around 11:35, 2 hours and 20 minutes after we started dinner, with desserts in hand. I didn't take pics of these because we didn't eat them until the following afternoon, for a snack. It's probably not fair to comment since we didn't eat them until much later, but I will say that I enjoyed the cheesecake and think it would've been awesome if we'd been able to eat them when intended.
So, to summarize our experience at Narcoosees:
1. Wonderful atmosphere;
2. Magical venue for viewing the water pageant and Wishes;
3. Great appetizers;
4. Inattentive service which probably resulted in
4a. mediocre entrees and
4b. unsatisfactory dessert experience.
I read so many positive reviews of Narcoosees that I have to believe our experience is the exception rather than the rule. I think our dinner here probably would've been much more positive if we'd had a different server.
Would we try it here again? We could never afford to do it OOP, and I'm not sure if I'd want to spend another 2 TS credits in the hopes that it would be better, especially with the upcoming DDP changes.
The cost for this meal OOP for the 4 of us (not counting DW's glass of wine) would've been $344.56, excluding tip. If we were on the 2008 version of the DDP, we would've had to pay about $47 for the appetizers and $52 for the tip, for a total of $99 OOP. Add to that the $155 we would've had to pay OOP for appetizers/tips on this trip so far, and at this point we'd be paying $254 more OOP in 08 to have the same dining experience we'd had so far on this August 07 trip.
Next: We return to 2 old favorites