SPECTACLEFEST dining review--*COMPLETE*--with pics

[Mouse's Shadow]

great reviews. After seeing your Kona review I'm thinking about switching from Artist Point. Thanks for such a detailed report.

 

[Praying Colonel]

DW was in the mood for fried fish on Day 7 in Epcot, so we stopped for lunch at the Yorkshire County Fish Shop.

After a very short wait, a nice CM from Wales took our order of--what else?--fish and chips. As with other CS restaurants we'd experienced that week, there was 1 choice for dessert, shortbread.

The fish was hot and breaded with a thick, savory breading. For those who've experienced Long John Silver's fish, the taste reminded me a little of that. The fries were hot and crispy (we had really good luck with WDW fries that week--they were excellent at every restaurant). The shortbread was a nice change of pace--it was very buttery and not too sweet.

Overall, this was a pleasant CS experience. We noticed that several families from the UK were also eating lunch here, so it must've measured up OK.

For dinner that night we ate at Cap'n Jacks in Downtown Disney.

This was the one TS restaurant we picked on our trip where we were trying to maximize our DDP TS credits. DD and DS had never had lobster before, so DW wanted to eat here so they could try lobster.

We arrived about 30 minutes early for our 5:30 ADR, so we checked in and intended to come back a little later. But they seated us immediately beside a window with an excellent view of the water. Our server did an absolutely outstanding job throughout our meal, always there with menu suggestions, drink refills and otherwise prompt service.

We'd promised the kids some virgin drinks with dinner, so we started with those.

^Left to right: virgin pina colada, virgin strawberry marguerita and not-virgin marguerita for DW!

The drinks were excellent. DS loves coconut, and is now in love with pina coladas. DD loved the fruitiness of her strawberry marguerita. DW meant to order a frozen marguerita instead of on the rocks, but she still enjoyed her drink very much. It was too much for her to drink by herself, so I had to help her out a little.

For appetizers, DS ordered the spinach & artichoke dip

DD ordered the caesar salad

while DW and I each ordered the crab cakes.

DS shared a little of his dip, and it was the best s&a dip I've ever had. It was extra creamy and cheesy. I'm a big fan of artichokes, and there were large chunks of them throughout.

DD's caesar looked like your basic caesar, but as I stated in a previous installment, the kids love caesar salad and she was very happy with her salad.

The crab cakes were topped with a spicy horseradish cream sauce and served with fresh greens topped with a vinaigrette. DW and I had a difference of opinion on these. I thought they were OK, but I've had better--I thought they were a little greasy. But DW loved hers and thought they were perfect. Maybe my problem was that I'd had crab cakes at the Kona just 2 days before and I was still comparing these to the outstanding Kona crab cakes.

The server advised that we could do a free lobster tail add-on to the sirloin entree, so that's what I had.

The rest of the family had the twin lobster tails.

Top sirloin is a lean cut of beef and easy to overcook. This sirloin was cooked just right--crusted on the outside and medium on the inside, hot off the grill. The ragout (a gravy-type sauce with onions and horseradish cream drizzled on top) made a perfect accompaniment.

I was disappointed in the side items. The mashed potatoes were lukewarm and flavorless. Adding a little of the ragout allowed me to eat a couple of bites. The vegetables were cold and closer to raw than al dente, and I couldn't eat them.

But we didn't come here for the side items--we came for the lobster tails, and they were perfect! They were thick, plump, juicy and hot without being overcooked. DW and I loved them.

As for the kids' first experience trying lobster: they were...underwhelmed. DS thought it was OK but nothing special. He prefers shrimp. DD liked it, but didn't like having to work it out of the shell. Oh well, at least they had the chance to try it....

For dessert, DD and DS each had White Chocolate Raspberry New York Cheesecake:

DW had the key lime pie:

while yours truly had the double chocolate lava cake with ice cream.

We all enjoyed our desserts very much. The cheesecake was exceptionally thick and creamy. The white chocolate made it very rich, and DD couldn't finish hers. (Dad had to help out a little bit. )

I had a taste of DW's key lime pie, and I thought it was too sweet--I prefer key lime pie to be very "limey," and I thought the overt sweetness detracted from that. But DW absolutely loved it, so again we had a split of opinion.

I thoroughly enjoyed the chocolate lava cake. It was moist and chocolaty, and the rasberry sauce drizzled on it gave it a little something extra.

Overall, we wouldn't place this meal in our top 3 of the week but enjoyed it very much. The service was wonderful and with a couple of exceptions, the food was very good, too. It didn't rise to the level of some other TS meals we had during the week, and I wouldn't recommend making a special trip to eat here unless you were on the DDP and were jonesing for lobster. But if we're in the Downtown Disney area in the future and need a good TS restaurant, we won't hesitate to return.

Next: Departure Day and Final Thoughts

 

[kaylie&laurensmom]

Wow - these are awesome reviews!! We are going to several of the restaurants you reviewed and my mouth is watering! Thanks for sharing!

 

[serendipity]

yummmm

 

[dixiedizfan]

Colonel, I've enjoyed reading your thread more than any others, and will hate to see it come to an end. Your reviews and pictures have been fantastic ... thank you!

 

[MinnieGirl33]

Colonel, I've enjoyed reading your thread more than any others, and will hate to see it come to an end. Your reviews and pictures have been fantastic ... thank you!

I have to agree!

 

[Praying Colonel]

Aw, y'all are too nice.

As you can probably tell, our family loves to eat! Thanks to the DDP, this was our 1st trip eating on site for every meal, and it was really a lot of fun to try the places I've read so much about here on the DIS. It's been a labor of love documenting our foodie adventure.

 

[PrincessPatty]

Loved the review!! Thanks for your time...you did a great job

You have encouraged me to try some new places, especially Captain Jacks...free add on lobster tail?!?!? And it looks huge!!

Once again thank you!

 

[Dani&TJsMom]

Your reviews are great! I've enjoyed looking at the mouth-watering pictures and your descriptions! Thanks so much for taking the time to put them together.

 

[Julieh22]

Thanks for the great reviews with pics!!!!!

 

[3DisneyBuggs]

Excellent reviews and pictures. Too bad your trip wasn't longer!!

 

[purpliequeen]

Awesome reviews! Thanks! I want to try Spoodles next time and Kona, since we cancelled Kona this past month.

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

Thanks for all the time and effort you put into the reviews. They were great coming from a daughter of a chef that says alot. This Kona Cafe looks wonerful I will definately have to try it out sometime. The pictures were wonderful also.

 

[i<3Disney]

Thanks for the reviews! And I loved your reference to My Cousin Vinny, lol, SO TRUE.

 

[angelmav]

Great reviews and thanks for the pics!

 

[Muushka]

What a great dining report!!

I loved the reviews, and the pictures of the meals and I love the way you took a picture of the outside of the restautant. How fun!!!

A great big THANK YOU to you!!!

 

[Praying Colonel]

Day 8 was, unfortunately, Departure Day for us. No going to the parks--the plan was to check out and then spend some time at the CSR Dig Site pool area.

We still had mucho, mucho snack credits remaining, so breakfast that morning was 4 big honkin' pecan cinnamon rolls from the Pepper Market bakery. I enjoyed these rolls so much during the week--freshly baked, layered with a glaze of pecans and filled with cinnamony goodness. Oh, and did I mention they were big? I miss those rolls!

We had 4 CS credits remaining, so after swimming at the Dig Site we got cleaned up and headed to Pepper Market for lunch. DW got the Wet Burrito

while the rest of us got the Market Nachos.

^Due to a mixup by the server, mine was served in a to-go box. No problem--they still "ate good," as we sometimes say in Kentucky

DW and I split our lunches and had half of each. I'd read good things on the DIS about PM's wet burrito so maybe I was expecting too much, but I was a little disappointed. It was basically a large soft taco filled with chicken filling and covered with enchilada sauce and cheese. The condiments went nicely with it, but I thought on the whole it was average. Like I said, maybe I was expecting too much--by CS standards, it was very good.

The nachos were delicious. As I said in a previous installment, they put most of the cheese sauce on the bottom of the bowl so your chips don't get soggy so quickly. The nacho filling was spicy and not too salty, and the veggies were fresh. I enjoyed adding some of the corn/bean/onion salsa served with the wet burrito.

We were more limited in our dessert options at this meal than we had earlier in the week. We were informed by the nice lady working at the bakery that they'd just made a change in what bakery items were on the DDP. Previously, all bakery items were DDP snacks/desserts. Now, only "Bakery I" items (muffins, rolls, danishes, cookies, croissants and baguettes) were on the DDP--"Bakery II" items (creme brulees, tarts, slices of cheesecake and cake, tiramisu, etc.) were now excluded from the DDP. No problem--for dessert, DW and kids each got big chocolate chip cookies

while I got 1 more pecan cinnamon roll (for the road, because I was too full from lunch to eat another bite). Everybody enjoyed their cookies. They were still warm, as if they'd just come out of the oven.

Overall, I didn't enjoy this PM meal as much as I'd enjoyed my ribeye and fries meal at PM earlier in the week. But the bar is set pretty high at PM--much higher than you might set it for other CS restaurants. It's hard to beat PM, both for value and overall food quality.

We checked our ticket and were surprised to learn that we still had 3 snack credits remaining! DS had used very few snack credits throughout the week, so DW let him use the remaining credits to buy to-go goodies at the gift shop, Panchito's. He selected Jelly Belly jellybeans because they had the WDW logo on the bag--we shared a bag on the way home and he's saving the remaining bags for later in the fall when he's wishing he could be at WDW. Awwwww....


**********

Final thoughts on our dining experience:

--My TS restaurant ratings:

Top-tier: food, service and atmosphere were beyond exceptional in every way--these are must dos on our next WDW trip:

Kona Cafe
LeCellier
Spoodles

2nd tier: food, service and atmosphere were very good and we look forward to returning, but it didn't quite rise to the level of the top tier:

Teppanyaki

3rd tier: food, service and atmosphere were good but not great and/or there were a couple of hiccups in 1 or more areas--we don't see these as destination dining experiences, but wouldn't hesitate to eat here if we happened to be in that area:

Cap'n Jacks
Hollywood & Vine

4th tier: Not bad, but disappointed by our experience here and since there are other very good TS restaurants to experience, we probably won't return:

Cape May clambake

--My CS ratings (from top to bottom):

Pepper Market
Tusker House
Pecos Bill's
Yorkshire County Fish Shop
Kringla Bakeri og Cafe
Columbia Harbor House

None of them were bad and I wouldn't hesitate to return to any of them in the future.

--Service: We were so impressed with the quality of service we received throughout the week at our TS restaurants. We never had to wait longer than 10 minutes past our scheduled ADR time, and we were sometimes seated well before our scheduled time. We were always asked ahead of time if anyone in our family had any food allergies or dietary restrictions. I expected our servers to be at least a little disinterested once they learned we were on DDP, since they were guaranteed an 18% tip. Not only did this not happen, but at several of our meals we received the best service I've ever had at any restaurant. Our servers handled our DDP very nicely, never making us feel like 2nd-class citizens and oftentimes pointing out certain things we could do to maximize our DDP usage. It was really a magical experience.

--DDP: It added a whole new dimension to our trip. With a couple of exceptions, we'd always eaten our TS meals offsite. Getting DDP allowed us to pre-pay and cap our dining costs and also experience food and restaurants we never would've experienced otherwise. Free dining started the week after our trip, but we couldn't reschedule due to the kids' school schedules. But we still felt like we got more than our money's worth, even though we had to pay for it. We got an upgraded WDW experience, and WDW got what they wanted by having us stay onsite. Everybody wins!

--"Too much food": With the exception of eating at Cap'n Jacks to get lobster, we never tried to "maximize" our DDP value. We just went to places we thought we'd like and ordered things that looked good. But even with that happening, we were never, ever hungry--ever. And that's saying something with 2 teenagers in the group! In fact, we found that if we didn't eat a relatively early lunch (around 11:30 or so) that we wouldn't be hungry for dinner. The one time we ate a late lunch, we weren't really hungry for dinner.

So what worked best for us was an early lunch (which was also great because you beat the lunch crowd), no afternoon snack and then dinner at the regular time (or even a little later, as we did on a couple of occasions that week).

As it was, we had about 7 snack credits left as of the morning of our last day. So I guess it was "too much food" in a way, but only because we had some leftover snack credits at the end. Timing our meals properly helped us avoid feeling like we were forcing ourselves to eat.

Well, that's it for my dining reviews! Thanks to all for reading, and thanks for the nice notes. It was almost as much fun writing about eating as it was to do the eating!

 

[Danadisney]

Thanks for taking the time to post. We are going to try Kona Cafe in December based on your reviews.

Have a Disney Day!

 

[Cruz Family]

Thank you so much! I really felt like I was there with you on your trip. We leave in 23 days for free dining and I just can not wait. I am sorry you missed the free dining, we had already booked paying for the DDP when they came out with the free dining. You are a beautiful family and have given me many ideas for new things for my family to experience and make our trip that much more special. Thanks again, Melissa

 

[Blondie]

Excellent reviews! Thanks!