This was a much anticipated day for Gary and I. We had agreed to leave our girls with Liz and Roly for the day so that we could see Disney as an adult! This meant oh so many things. Space Mountain, the Haunted House and so much more! It also meant that we could eat in a classier restaurant and peacefully we hoped.
So our plan was to go to Magic Kingdom first thing and then head over to MGM after lunch. I had read a lot of good things about Columbia Harbour House so off we went around 11:45. It was already pretty busy but we managed to find a table in one of the many rooms. Being a maritimer at heart I ordered the fish and chip while my husband opted for the chicken strips and apple slices. It seems at Disneyworld, apple slices are the chosen alternative to fries. Nice to have a healthy choice but variety would have been nice too. We often collected the apple slices and the kids ate them while waiting for the bus the next morning. I enjoyed the fish, but I felt like there was not a whole lot of fish inside the batter. I prefer to have big chunks of fluffy white fish with my batter but these were pretty spare. Gary found the chicken strips pretty flavorless. He really made use of a dipping sauce. Next trip I will be on the hunt for the best fish and chips so feel free to offer your suggestions!
Now here was the best part of the day and the reason for the title. We had 6:10 ADRs at the California Grill. We wanted to make it back down to Magic Kingdom in time for Spectromagic since our girls were going to be there and I really didnt want to miss their faces for that. So we checked in around 5:25 at the desk on the second floor. They said absolutely no problem and gave us a pager and then had us escorted upstairs to the fourteenth floor. A few minutes later we were shown to a beautiful table by the window overlooking Magic Kingdom.
Our waiter, Abdou was fantastic. I started out with a Kir royale which I had seen on other posts and it lived up to the pictures. It was beautiful and so nice after a hot day at the parks to relax with such a nice fizzy drink.
We placed our order and then Abdou suggested we take our drinks out to the observation deck and look around. We took his advice and walked out. It was truly beautiful up there and being Florida you could see different rain showers happening around but where we were the sun was shining and Florida heat was abounding so we didnt stay out there too long.
We came back in and perused the wine list for a nice glass to accompany our meals. I just couldnt decide, so Abdou being the wonderful waiter that he is, came back with a few glasses and poured me a fair sized tasting of a few he recommended. I found one that was definitely to my taste, but of course by then I was already feeling a bit tipsy. Ok on to the meal!
We started out by sharing Yoshis Deluxe sushi platter. The sushi was very good but I kind of wish we had gotten one of the more artistic platters like the yellowfin tuna three ways or the double crunch rainbow roll. This platter lacked a bit in the presentation but we enjoyed it very much none the less.
For our second course we chose very carefully because we didnt want to end up so full that we couldnt eat the main course. I ordered the "Simply" Heirloom Tomatoes - Served with red onion, reserve sherry vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and sea salt. This was absolutely delicious. There were so many different coloured tomatoes and they were so flavourful with the onions and vinegar. It was exactly what I had been looking for in the lightness department. I could never have handled a big flatbread. I highly recommend this dish.
Gary ordered the Hearts of Romaine Salad - Made with roasted garlic dressing, marinated anchovies, olives, aged parmesan, and croutons. He was looking for a Caesar salad and this for all intents and purposes was a Caesar salad but with olives in it. He just picked out the olives and polished off the rest.
When ordering the main courses, for Gary it was a no brainer. There was a steak on the menu so why look further. For me it was so very hard to choose. I had heard so much about the pork tenderloin but I was a little concerned about the goat cheese polenta. Abdou assured me that it was not strong tasting at all and complimented the meat perfectly so I went for it. I was served Grilled Pork Tenderloin - Served with creamy goat cheese polenta, cremini mushrooms, Zinfandel glaze, and sage. This was fantastic! By far the best main course that I had eaten all week and remains so. The pork was cooked to candy like perfection and has a Dijon mustard coating around it. The polenta was to die for and I normally dont like goat cheese and the mushrooms and whatever else was in this dish was just amazing. I would go back again just for that in a heartbeat. I even looked up the recipe on-line and printed it off, but it is long and complicated on not particularly diet friendly so I dont know if I will ever attempt it myself. But I can dream right?
Gary of course ordered the Oak-fired Beef Filet - Served with crushed red potatoes with Nueske's bacon, green beans, and teriyaki bbq sauce. He said this was the best steak he had eaten at Disney and as you are reading you can see he tasted quite a few. Nothing was left on his plate at the end either.
Ok we barely had any room left but there was no way I was missing out on dessert. By this time we were feeling very relaxed and a little happy from the drinks and Abdou was our new favorite person. Gary looks at me and says Lets give Abdou a car! Now I assure you that we didnt have enough cash hanging around to give this man a good bicycle let alone a car. But he inspired some very nice feelings from us. Gary is not easy to impress either being one of the most skeptic people I know.
Now for dessert. Again there were so many things I wanted to try, but I figured I would be able to choose when the time came. I couldnt. So being a normal woman, I decided to convince my husband to order something I wanted too. This wasnt as hard a sell as I had anticipated. He is more of a chocoholic that I am so he ordered the Valrhona Chocolate and Cherry - Warm chocolate cake with molten center, house made cherry ice cream, and cherry sauce. I have to say looking at the pictures now I dont remember the cherry part. I am pretty sure it was all chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream. Either way the cake is the important thing right? I have to say it was sinful. Garys comments went something like It was chocolate and had ice cream. Whats not to like? It was mmm mmm good!
I went for the more creative Bananas and Butterscotch "Buzz" - Caramelized bananas and butterscotch custard stack with coffee caramel, cocoa nib, and crunchy plantain. Now this did not disappoint. It was spectacular. I have never had a more artfully presented dessert and the flavour had me wanting more even though I really had no room left. It was like layer after layer of butterscotch goodness. The bottom was like butterscotch soaked fried wontons with a disc of butterscotch ice cream between. Then there were some butterscotch sautéed bananas and then a disk of what looked like sesame seeds and poppy seeds which was a great contrast to the rest of the dessert. Finally the there was like a dollop of cream and a fried plantain on top. I could not have asked for more in a dessert.
Here are Garys comments on the restaurant as a whole: This was the best restaurant we went to. They were very well organized and we were able to advance our reservation from 6:10 to 5:30 simply by showing up earlier. This helped to accommodate our schedule better. The view of Disney World and the other resorts was tremendous and we could even walk out onto the roof to stand outside and take in the view. Service was outstanding and the Maitre-D even found time to come to our table to ask us how we enjoyed our meal. Our kickass waiter even took a nice photo of us.
I loved The California Grill! We watched the sunset over the horizon and had we not had to meet our children at magic Kingdom, we would have stayed until Wishes. It was a very romantic ending to a fun kid-free day! I will definitely return next time.
Up next: Riverside Mill Food Court and Boma