Tasting session for California Grill????

[SarahInMN]

Hi y'all -

My fiance and I are planning on having a rehearsal/welcome dinner the night before our wedding and reception. We have a menu picked out (sort of) from their pre-set catering menu but aren't certain on a few items. We had asked about the possibility of a tasting session there while we are at WDW for our site visit but were told that there are no Cali Grill tastings.

Has anyone been able to arrange a tasting at a restaurant?

Has anyone held a dinner at the Cali Grill and do they have any comments on our tentative menu (see below)?

Our tentative menu is as follows (it is the Occidental menu):

Flat breads
Sonoma goat cheese ravioli with sundried tomatoes
Tuna tartar salad
Pan-seared Snapper with Crispy Rice Galette and Coconut Curry Sauce
OR
Sliced Oak-grilled Beef Tenderloin with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Caramelized Onions, and Red Wine Butter Sauce
OR
Oak-fired Chicken Tenderloin with Polenta and Zinfandel Glaze
Valrhona cake with vanilla ice cream

Thanks in advance!!

 

[BaBeeCee14]

I was also told that CG doesn't do menu tastings and that you would have to actually make a regular ADR and eat there.

 

[SarahInMN]

That's what we were told too! We already have an ADR at the Cali Grill planned for our site visit, but wanted to order whatever sounded good and not view that as a tasting. Oh well.

I'm sure everything on their catering menus are excellent. I'm hoping another Disney bride has had a dinner at the Cali Grill and has some menu feedback or opinions for us.

Thanks!!

 

[Wazzo]

Hello!!

I can't help you out from a bride's perspective, but I can help you out as a fan of the Cali Grill! Here is a picture of the Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli, which is a favourite of mine:

And here is my oak-fired filet (with some different sides):

Both were amazing! HTH!

 

[lov2b@disney]

We have eaten there too and the food was excellent.
I had the filet, the sauce was really good. DF had fish? some kind , sorry not helpful there! OK found my receipt(scrapbook junky) he had Salmon-good too

Ravioli has yummy too! And we had a Romaine salad.

Everthing was really good!

 

[SarahInMN]

Wazzo -

Those are awesome pics!!! Thanks so much! Despite how early it is in the morning, I could totally eat up that goat cheese ravioli!

Sandy -

Thanks for the input on the filet...everyone seems to love the ravioli which is great!

So let me amend my request Does anyone (brides who have had events OR anyone who likes the CG) have any comments on the menu???

Thanks a bunch y'all!!

 

[BaBeeCee14]

Jaclyn (Jaxteach) had her reception in the Sonoma Room back in December and I remember in her TR she was saying the food was really good. I haven't seen her on the boards much lately, but maybe you can PM her or search for her TR.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Our tentative menu is as follows (it is the Occidental menu):

Sonoma goat cheese ravioli with sundried tomatoes
Tuna tartar salad
Pan-seared Snapper with Crispy Rice Galette and Coconut Curry Sauce
OR
Sliced Oak-grilled Beef Tenderloin with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Caramelized Onions, and Red Wine Butter Sauce
OR
Oak-fired Chicken Tenderloin with Polenta and Zinfandel Glaze
Valrhona cake with vanilla ice cream

Thanks in advance!!

I've had the Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli and LOVE it. Great choice.

My best friend had the filet last time we were there and thought it was very good. She said Le Cellier was better, but it was her 2nd favorite steak of the trip.

The Chicken Tenderloin sounds like a variation of the Pork Tenderloin with Goat Cheese Polenta and Zinfandel Glaze. That is THE BEST DISH EVER! And its totally the polenta and glaze that make the dish.

Lastly, the Valhrona Chocolate cake is killer.

You'll be thrilled with your choices.

 

[SarahInMN]

Babeecee -

I will definitely do a search for Jaclyn's trip report...thanks for that tip!

Tink -

Those pics look delish! I suspect we'll be pleased with whatever we end up with at the CG...yum!

*sigh* time to log out...Rob and I need to head for the airport (we're returning today from a weeklong trip to Mexico).

Thanks again y'all!

 

[Stucas]

Dfi and I ate there the night we got engaged. I had the "Sliced Oak-grilled Beef Tenderloin with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Caramelized Onions, and Red Wine Butter Sauce" and it is hands down the best meal I have EVER had. We are going back in November for our honeymoon and we upgraded to the deluxe meal plan so we will have enough meals to trade in to go to the CG 2-3 times. I think I am more excited about going back for dinner than going to the parks themselves. I HIGHLY recommend that dish!!!!

-Lauren
man...I am so hungry now!

 

[SarahInMN]

Dfi and I ate there the night we got engaged. I had the "Sliced Oak-grilled Beef Tenderloin with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Caramelized Onions, and Red Wine Butter Sauce" and it is hands down the best meal I have EVER had. We are going back in November for our honeymoon and we upgraded to the deluxe meal plan so we will have enough meals to trade in to go to the CG 2-3 times. I think I am more excited about going back for dinner than going to the parks themselves.

Mmm...better than the parks? That is a great endorsement!

Thanks!

Sarah

 

[sajilunni]

Oh I'm glad I found this thread! We're having our dinner there as well. We're having the Calistoga Plated Dinner which is:
Oven baked flatbreads
Shrimp tempura roll
Jumbo lump crab salad with avocado, citrus fruit and cilantro vinagrette
Wood-fired quail with salad of frisee, medjool dates, crispy ****take, & xeres
Maine lobster with risotto
seasonal sorbet
Sliced oak fired beef tenderloin with whipped truffle potatoes, wild mushrooms,
and red wine butter sauce
Chocolate terrine with brandied cherries and creme chantilly

I'm hoping its all good since I don't know what kind of flatbreads they're talking about. I've never tasted quail or anything in the quail salad. I had asked our WC if it's a whole lobster and she said no, it's a deshelled lobster. Does that mean only the lobster tail? Has anyone had the lobster from there? Does it really taste like Maine lobster, or is it more like Red Lobster lobster?

Jil

 

[sajilunni]

Oh my goodness, I just noticed that the boards have automatically censored the type of mushrooms I'm having on the salad. That's hilarious!

 

[suprgrlx]

We had our reception dinner at the California Grill and it was amazing. It was a different menu, we had:

Healdsburg Plated Dinner
Reception
Hand Passed Assortment of Oven Baked Flatbreads
Appetizer
Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli with Sun-dried Tomato Nectar, Shiitake Mushrooms, and Basil
Salad
Wine Country Salad with Marinated Dried Tomatoes, Olives, Sourdough croutons, and Cabernet-Herb Vinaigrette
Sorbet
Market-inspired Seasonal Sorbet (it was mango-passion fruit)
Entrees
California Style Platters
Slow-roasted Atlantic Salmon with Farro Wheat Risotto and Crustacean Sauce
Sliced Oak-grilled Beef Tenderloin with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Caramelized Onions, and Teriyaki Barbecue Sauce
Oak-fired Chicken Breast with Semolina Gnocchi, Wilted Arugula, and Sauce Vierge
Seasonal Vegetable
Desserts
Banana Bread Pudding with “Drunken” Butterscotch, Toffee Bits, and Banana “Bisque”

Everyone loved all the courses (except for the salad course) and we were extremely pleased. I'm very excited about going back just to have another one of those goat-cheese raviolis!

One thing that happened with us is that since we chose a cheaper dinner menu, we had to add things to make the minimum. We ended up adding "Crispy Potato Cakes with Caviar, Crème Fraîche and Chives" and "Handmade Pork Egg Rolls with Voodoo Mustard Sauce " and they went over soo well also.

Good luck with your decisions and your wedding! The California Grill dinner will be amazing!

 

[SarahInMN]

Jil -

That sounds like a delish menu! I got a kick out of how it edited out the mushroom name.

Suprgrlx -

We had seriously considered the heraldsburg but decided against it because I don't like banana pudding! But we loved everything else on that menu. I am so glad you had a great dinner and that the food was fabulous. I am so looking forward to the goat cheese ravioli!!

Thanks!

 

[meryll83]

We are thinking about having our reception at the Cali Grill also (either here or Citrico's), am I right in thinking that if we sit in the main restaurant we eat from the normal menu and have no minimums, but if we want one of the private rooms we have to choose from a catering menu and there will be a minimum spend?

 

[SarahInMN]

I think that's how it works but the catering menus are essentially a bundled up assortment of items that are usually on the Cali Grill menu (an appetizer + salad + entree choices + desserts), and they each have their own cute names (heraldsburg, petulama, occidental, and the calistoga) as well as enhancements like extra appetizers or sushi choices.

I'm not sure how the catering menus look at Citricos: we weren't intending on holding the reception there, so I don't think we ever got the catering menus from our planner. We have 59 guests and there is no private room in Citricos, so we crossed that off the list pretty quickly.

As for minimums, that depends on which type of wedding I believe: we have a minimum to meet (for a Wishes wedding) and with 59 guests we have just been planning on a private room, but I suspect whatever is spent in a main dining room/area counts towards the wedding minimum. I'm not sure if there are catering minimums for a regular group (ie dinner after an escape wedding) who rent out the Sonoma or Napa room at the California grill.

Hope that helps a bit!

 

[meryll83]

Thanks for this!

There is a private room at Citrico's but it's only for about 14 people so maybe that's why you don't know of it!

We think there may only be 11 of us, so this would be the best room, but I love the Cali Grill food

 

[SarahInMN]

Meryl -

Ya, that size of a room would have been way of our radar!

I agree: food at the cali grill is so good AND the view is unbeatable.

You have a really tough choice ahead of you for dinner places!

 

[cp_princess]

I'm loving this thread. Our reception is in the Napa Room (we have just under 50 people) and I've been so nervous about the food. I hear so many rave reviews but as a picky eater no single menu jumps out at me as something I would eat every course of. Oh well everyone is telling me I won't be eating anyway so maybe I can just sample while everyone else eats. The rest of our party is less picky!

Christine