Summer food trip report - 20 places onsite and off

[bubblefactory]

This a report my DW has kindly typed up from our July trip.

We live in the UK and took a flight from MAN to MCO with Virgin Atlantic.

First up was our delightful meal in PE on the plane.....not! :lol:

All pretty horrible apart from the champagne and chocs IMO, but here are pics anyway. DH ordered the surprise as we flew on my birthday.

VA champers

VA choccies

VA kids meal ~ some kind of pasta and meat (?) DD2 declared it 'puke'. :lol:

VA adult meal ~ Beef of some sort, could sole your shoes with it.

The hot bread I chose was olive bread, I HATE olives! :hehe:

Also served were a sandwich (ham and tomato chutney or cheese and coleslaw ~ I skipped both) and a vanilla ice cream which was probably the best thing offered. Glad I took some snacks.

 

[bubblefactory]

We arrived on time and picked up our car. A quick check in at Tree House Villas and we freshened up for our next taste of real food which was my birthday dinner at Artist Point. We arrived 10 minutes early and asked for a window table. My wish was granted! :wand:

DH was driving but I started with a Margarita. :beer2:

We noticed people stood on the balcony and wondered what was going on and our server reminded us the shuttle was about to launch. We popped our heads out just in time and saw it leave. Though it was a distance away, at least we can say we've seen it now!


The server brought us some bread to start:

We both decided on the portobello mushroom soup for starter. I'd been dreaming of this for months, it's soooooo good! :eat:

DD1 chose the kids plain pasta:

DD2 also chose the kids pasta but with cheese sauce:

DH decided on the Wild Boar ~ very tasty apparently!

I had the Buffalo Tenderloin ~ it was okay but despite it being medium as I asked for it was a bit tough. Not bad though!

Side of sweet potatoes

and garlic fries

With a glass of wine, 2 Shirley Temples (with refills) and 3 x O'Douls, the bill was $170 with tip. Service was excellent!

A lovely start to our vacation!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Great start! I can't wait to eat at Artist Point ... those garlic fries look delish!

 

[natalielongstaff]

omg !!! Artists point is now on my wish list

 

[pinkxray]

signing on, can't wait to see more
Artist Point looks great!

 

[bubblefactory]

We hadn't booked to go to Paradiso 37, but were in the area so decided to call in for lunch.

The restaurant is quite nice inside, but doesn't seem very big. I believe they have an outdoor area with views of the river to DTD but it was way too hot to think about sitting outside. Gimme that air con!

Food was pretty good overall. Not wow, but nothing bad either.

We shared the potato cakes ~ $5.99 they were a bit bland.

DH had the Street Cart Chillidogs ~ $9.99

DD2's kids cheeseburger ~ $6.95

DD1 chose pulled pork sliders ~ $12.99

I had the Mahi Mahi sliders ~ $12.99

With 4 drinks and tip the total was $63.00. We couldn't use our DDE card or AP here for discount.

 

[bubblefactory]

Next up is Jiko! :wiggle:
This is one of my faves. I've had one bad meal here in all our visits but i'm glad we tried it again as it's been spot on ever since. Everyone agreed everything was delicious. :eat:

I started with a 'Mount Kilimanta' cocktail. Not a clue what was in it, but it was good! :drunk: ` $9.25

Along came the yummy bread and curry butter

I wanted to try something different, but just couldn't resist what I had last time.....the ostrich app ~ $13.00

DH and DD1 shared the chicken apple flatbread ~ $10.00

For main course, DD2 had the kids filet ~ $13.00

DH had the pork fillet ~ $29.00

DD1 had the signature Filet Mignon with mac cheese ~ $39.00

I had the short ribs....TDF! :eat: ~ $37.00

I was absolutley ready to pop but the server brought me a complimentary birthday desert!

DH chose the no sugar pear dessert ~ $8.00

Chocolate 'fun-do' for DD1 ~ $7.00

and Ice cream for DD2 which we don't have a pic of for some reason. Must have been just a plain one ~ $4.00

I also ordered a glass of chardonnay. I let the server choose for me after telling him I didn't want anything too oaked. He chose well.......but when I checked the bill it was $16.00 a glass I want 2 bottles for that at home. :lol:

A wonderful meal though in a wonderful setting. If you haven't been there yet, give it a try, you won't be disappointed! :thumbs:

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Oh man, I cannot wait to eat a Jiko one month from now! Those short ribs ... mmmm, mmmm, mmmm!

 

[bubblefactory]

Here comes our review of the new kid on the block! We booked lunch at Sanaa and used our DDE card to valet for free. The lobby at Kidani Village is pretty small compared to AKL, but very pretty.

Sanaa is down the stairs and we were greeted by several CM's doing not very much. It was midweek though and I guess everyone else was hitting the parks.

The restaurant is really well themed IMO, very colourful! We were lucky enough to be shown to a window table with a view of the savannah.

Let's get to the food!

DH had the samosas. They were a touch to spicy for me, but he enjoyed them! $7.99

I chose the lamb kefta. It didn't look like I expected and I hate meatballs but these were delicious. The sauce was sweet and not too spicy. $8.99

The kids menu was pretty good, a bit different to the usual and they chose tomato soup with cheese toast. Kids meals were $7.50 for 3 courses

For my main course, I had the Angus Burger. This was sooooo good! It was sat on a naan bread with lots of crispy salad and raita dressing. $10.99

DH had the choice of two slow cooked curries and chose beef rib and green thai shrimp ~ $18.99

DD2 had the kids chicken

DD1 had the kids burger

kids ice cream sundae

Kids choc cake

We shared the sample desert, just because we wanted to see what it looked like. :lol: $6.99

It was a lovely relaxed lunch and we enjoyed everything. Service was good and we had a great view. We wandered out the back for a look at the animals up close before taking a peek at the pool and decided we'd definitely like to stay here some time.

 

[bubblefactory]

On to Coral Reef!

We hadn't made an ADR, but got to Epcot not having had any breakfast and decided to ask where we could get a lunch ressie as we had no dinner plans. We had our pick of anywhere except Le Cellier (had an ADR for there later in the trip anyway) so we chose Coral Reef as we hadn't been for a while. We got a great table on the lower tier opposite the tanks.

Kids lobster soup ~ $1.75

Shrimp and Lobster Cake ~ $11.49

Scallops ~ yum! $10.99

Beef Short Rib ~ $24.99

Mahi Mahi ~ also yum! ~ $20.99

Kids chicken

Kids pizza

It was all nice and service was very good. We all love the theming in here. The bill was $90.00

 

[bubblefactory]

Next up will be Applebee's ~ Dinner and Grand Floridian Cafe ~ Lunch

 

[PrincessTrisha]

wow - great reviews and looks like some really great food!

Can't wait to read the rest including the off site stuff (we tried Bob Evan's off site this last trip for breakfast and it was so good and cost pennies compared to Disney food).

 

[Linda67]

Great reviews and wonderful pictures
We always fly with VA from the UK as well and if you think the food in PE is nothing to write home about you should try Economy

 

[natalielongstaff]

Love the pics of Sanaa, i never got further than the bar

 

[bubblefactory]

Another offsite place we decided to try for the first time was Applebee's. We've passed it many times and wondered what kind of food they served so Al ran in and got a menu while we waited in the car. A quick glance and we all agreed we could find something we fancied so in we went. It was pretty busy but we were seated straight away close to the bar. The kids loved watching the cocktails being made!


The server came and took our order for a few starters to share:

Mozzarella Sticks ~ $6.79

Onion rings ~ $5.29

They were pretty good and more than enough for the 4 of us! :hehe:

3 of us chose sliders at $7.49

I had the cheeseburger sliders

DD1 had the pulled pork sliders

DH had southern chicken sliders ~ apologies for his starting before i'd took the pic! :lol:

DD2 had kids sliders at $4.99, same as mine but 2 sliders rather than 3.

We all really enjoyed it and thought the prices were great, we'll definitely go back. With drinks and tip, the total was $50

 

[bubblefactory]

On to the Grand Floridian Cafe. Again, no ADR and it was DH's birthday today so we just strolled across from The Poly and it was pretty quiet.

Our server here was a bit strange, he seemed really distracted and we had to keep reminding him of things. It was all a bit Fawlty Towers, but in a harmless funny kinda way. :lol:

Anyway......on to the grub!


DD1 decided to try the broccoli cheddar soup. She didn't like it but DD2 did and finished it all. Very tasty! :thumbs: $5.49

DH went with his favourite.....french onion soup. $6.99

This was my starter. It was shrimp on corn pancakes (?) with brandy sauce. Couldn't taste the brandy but it was delicious. :eat: $9.99

DH had the Grand Fl burger. It had lobster on it and looked very yummy! $17.99

I went with my trusty reuben sandwich. They're so good her I couldn't resist. $10.49

DD1 had a cheese burger $11.99

DD2 had the kids filet $8.99

Birthday boy got a special birthday cupcake and we sang Happy Birthday very quietly!

Total came to $80

 

[Linda67]

Great pictures from the Grand Floridian Cafe
We thought this would be a great place to grab a bite to eat in on our Magic Kingdom day (probably lunch) but didn't want to make ADRs
Did you have much of a wait as you didn't have an ADR ?

 

[bubblefactory]

Great pictures from the Grand Floridian Cafe
We thought this would be a great place to grab a bite to eat in on our Magic Kingdom day (probably lunch) but didn't want to make ADRs
Did you have much of a wait as you didn't have an ADR ?

No wait at all, there were lots of empty tables

 

[Linda67]

No wait at all, there were lots of empty tables

great - thanks for the info

 

[msce2]

Great reviews! Looks like you had some wonderful meals!!!!

***As a side note, never good to read reviews on so little sleep. I was amazed that your 1 year old and 2 year old daughters could eat so much food, and had such a mature palate.