Hi All!
Last night, my hubby surprised me with a trip to DTD, and dinner at Artist Point in the Wilderness Lodge! Grammy came to stay with the kids and we were off to DTD to wander a bit and get some charms for my charm bracelet that I was given for my birthday on Wednesday. Then off to Artist Point for our 6:15pm ADR!! Hubby and I walked into Wilderness Lodge and I directed him to Artist Point. We checked in and were given a buzzer. Then hubby and I watched some fairly badly behaved middle school kids chasing one of the resident bunnies around. Poor bunny. After tiring of watching the kids, we walked down the ramp and looked at the menu. On our way back up the ramp discussing the resort and how pretty it is, our buzzer went off. We were seated in a terrible spot. The seat was uncomfortable and there was zero view of anything but tables and the wait-station. BUT, I decided not to complain as this was hubby's birthday gift to me. So, as we peruse our personalized menus our server is extremely nice and very helpful, making it hard for hubby to decide on his entree. So, after much discussion and description, we order the Crispy Venison Spring Rolls with Hot Sweet-and-Sour Sauce as our appetizer and Hubby decides on the Cedar Plank Salmon as his entree. I decided on the Grilled Buffalo Sirloin Steak with Sweet Potato-Hazelnut Gratin and Sweet Onion Jam--Medium Rare. (Oh, and I ordered my first glass of red wine since my kids were born)
Well, service, though nicely done, was a bit slow. 15mins to 20mins later, our appetizer arrives and is quite good. The spring rolls (2) arrived HOT and very crispy. It was really quite tasty. Then the wait was on. I would say at least 20-30 minutes past before our food arrived. But mine was oh soooooo good! My buffalo was perfectly done, and the sweet potato-hazelnut gratin was excellent, sweet and nutty. Hubby was less thrilled with his salmon. He felt that it lacked pizzaz. And I have to say that both meals, though tasty, were somewhat boring visually. So, I shared my buffalo with hubby to keep him happy. Then came dessert. I was given a dessert as a gift for my birthday and it was one that I would not have chosen given the opportunity. Hubby chose his own and again, was not happy. BUT, it was dessert and not a big enough deal to whine about! I was given the Artist Point Cobbler, which I found sort of strange, but tasty. The cobbler consists of a small cake topped with a very small scoop of black Raspberry ice cream, with a sprinkling of seasonal berries--strawberry, blackberry, blueberries and raspberries with small amount of a raspberry sauce poured around the cake. Not really my idea of a cobbler, but it was still tasty...just not what I would have chosen. Hubby chose the Heirloom Apple Tart, with carmel sauce and white chocolate-ginger ice cream. This was served on a large tray with the tart (more like an easy bake oven sized pie) on one end and a very small scoop of the ice cream on the other end, with carmel sauce in a line at the top and the bottom of the tray. The tart had a very strong ginger and cinnamon flavor that overpowered the whole thing. And the apples were not a strong enough flavor to compete with the ginger. And the ice cream he did not care for at all.
Overall, we enjoyed the meal at Artist Point. It was a quiet, calm, pretty casual restaurant with interesting flavor combinations and polite and helpful service. If I had to rate it on a scale of 1-10, I'd rate it an 8 3/4. OH, and I have seen Artist Point rated as unfriendly for kids--and that couldn't be more wrong. There were kids all over in that restaurant and they were treated wonderfully and given certificates for the drawings they posted on the wall.
Our meals at top Disney restaurants and their ratings (in our opinion):
Narcoossee's 10
Artist Point 8 3/4
California Grill 0---yes I mean ZERO. The worst meal EVER.
After our meal, hubby and I walked around the Wilderness Lodge looking at the grounds, sat in front of the fire, bought the kids some cotton candy that hubby promised them and hubby bought a rice crispy treat to replace his dessert! All in all, I've had a great Birthday week! Thanks for reading!
Last night, my hubby surprised me with a trip to DTD, and dinner at Artist Point in the Wilderness Lodge! Grammy came to stay with the kids and we were off to DTD to wander a bit and get some charms for my charm bracelet that I was given for my birthday on Wednesday. Then off to Artist Point for our 6:15pm ADR!! Hubby and I walked into Wilderness Lodge and I directed him to Artist Point. We checked in and were given a buzzer. Then hubby and I watched some fairly badly behaved middle school kids chasing one of the resident bunnies around. Poor bunny. After tiring of watching the kids, we walked down the ramp and looked at the menu. On our way back up the ramp discussing the resort and how pretty it is, our buzzer went off. We were seated in a terrible spot. The seat was uncomfortable and there was zero view of anything but tables and the wait-station. BUT, I decided not to complain as this was hubby's birthday gift to me. So, as we peruse our personalized menus our server is extremely nice and very helpful, making it hard for hubby to decide on his entree. So, after much discussion and description, we order the Crispy Venison Spring Rolls with Hot Sweet-and-Sour Sauce as our appetizer and Hubby decides on the Cedar Plank Salmon as his entree. I decided on the Grilled Buffalo Sirloin Steak with Sweet Potato-Hazelnut Gratin and Sweet Onion Jam--Medium Rare. (Oh, and I ordered my first glass of red wine since my kids were born)
Well, service, though nicely done, was a bit slow. 15mins to 20mins later, our appetizer arrives and is quite good. The spring rolls (2) arrived HOT and very crispy. It was really quite tasty. Then the wait was on. I would say at least 20-30 minutes past before our food arrived. But mine was oh soooooo good! My buffalo was perfectly done, and the sweet potato-hazelnut gratin was excellent, sweet and nutty. Hubby was less thrilled with his salmon. He felt that it lacked pizzaz. And I have to say that both meals, though tasty, were somewhat boring visually. So, I shared my buffalo with hubby to keep him happy. Then came dessert. I was given a dessert as a gift for my birthday and it was one that I would not have chosen given the opportunity. Hubby chose his own and again, was not happy. BUT, it was dessert and not a big enough deal to whine about! I was given the Artist Point Cobbler, which I found sort of strange, but tasty. The cobbler consists of a small cake topped with a very small scoop of black Raspberry ice cream, with a sprinkling of seasonal berries--strawberry, blackberry, blueberries and raspberries with small amount of a raspberry sauce poured around the cake. Not really my idea of a cobbler, but it was still tasty...just not what I would have chosen. Hubby chose the Heirloom Apple Tart, with carmel sauce and white chocolate-ginger ice cream. This was served on a large tray with the tart (more like an easy bake oven sized pie) on one end and a very small scoop of the ice cream on the other end, with carmel sauce in a line at the top and the bottom of the tray. The tart had a very strong ginger and cinnamon flavor that overpowered the whole thing. And the apples were not a strong enough flavor to compete with the ginger. And the ice cream he did not care for at all.
Overall, we enjoyed the meal at Artist Point. It was a quiet, calm, pretty casual restaurant with interesting flavor combinations and polite and helpful service. If I had to rate it on a scale of 1-10, I'd rate it an 8 3/4. OH, and I have seen Artist Point rated as unfriendly for kids--and that couldn't be more wrong. There were kids all over in that restaurant and they were treated wonderfully and given certificates for the drawings they posted on the wall.
Our meals at top Disney restaurants and their ratings (in our opinion):
Narcoossee's 10
Artist Point 8 3/4
California Grill 0---yes I mean ZERO. The worst meal EVER.
After our meal, hubby and I walked around the Wilderness Lodge looking at the grounds, sat in front of the fire, bought the kids some cotton candy that hubby promised them and hubby bought a rice crispy treat to replace his dessert! All in all, I've had a great Birthday week! Thanks for reading!
