Tasting session for California Grill????

[SarahInMN]

Christine -

I have to say that the ravioli and the desserts popped out at me before I saw pictures on them and now I'm practically salivating!

I do know that they will make minor changes to the menus: for example, the Occidental has a pork dish and are substituting in the chicken dish from the Heraldsburg because I'm Jewish and don't eat pork and a portion of our guests won't either. So, maybe they would accomodate minor changes so that you would be excited about every course. It is your reception! And, despite all warnings, I fully intend on eating well on my wedding day and the night before at the welcome dinner (which is when we'll be at the Cali Grill).

Yum!

 

[meryll83]

Christine -

I have to say that the ravioli and the desserts popped out at me before I saw pictures on them and now I'm practically salivating!

I do know that they will make minor changes to the menus: for example, the Occidental has a pork dish and are substituting in the chicken dish from the Heraldsburg because I'm Jewish and don't eat pork and a portion of our guests won't either. So, maybe they would accomodate minor changes so that you would be excited about every course. It is your reception! And, despite all warnings, I fully intend on eating well on my wedding day and the night before at the welcome dinner (which is when we'll be at the Cali Grill).

Yum!

I'm jumping on that bandwagon, I love my food!

That's good that they seem to let you sub items. I would think that as long as it's on one of the menus it shouldn't be too much of a problem....

 

[SarahInMN]

I'm jumping on that bandwagon, I love my food!

I know my reply will be a bit off topic but I agree: I like good food. I eat healthily daily but for special occasions I love good food. I have friends who barely ate at their weddings which I don't know if it was because they had huge weddings (about 300 people) and had to be socialable/hosts OR if it was because they were so wound up and nervous about everything being perfect.

My fiance and I are having a low stress, intimate wedding: with 59 guests, we know everyone. I am not wearing a wedding dress and Rob is not wearing a suit. Very elegantly casual. And fun, fun, fun!!!

Tirimisu anyone???

 

[Poohnatic]

I attended a wedding reception there a year ago. We were served many of the things that you've listed, with both my DH and I choosing the filet. I'd dined there with the bride a couple of years previously and raved to DH about the filet so tender you could cut it with a fork, so that made his decision.

The flat breads and cheeses were fantastic. We had the flat bread pizzas and our favorite was the ham and fig-amazing.

I'm friends with one of the bridesmaids and she'd gone with the couple for their meal that substituted for a real tasting. Between the three of them, they'd ordered the beef, chicken and salmon and I was told all three were fantastic.

It was a great location for a reception. They timed it perfectly for us to view Wishes at the end of the reception. Very cool.

I've been to some fantastic weddings in my life, but the combination of the Cali Grill and a wedding will be hard to top.

Suzanne

 

[SarahInMN]

They timed it perfectly for us to view Wishes at the end of the reception. Very cool. Suzanne

Suzanne - Thanks for the info...I was hoping that they would time dinner to end for us to also see the fireworks...very cool!!

 

[cp_princess]

Yep that's why I chose it too. Location, Location, and timing ! Now hopefully the park will co-operate and give me Wishes before 8:30 as a wedding gift.
I figure if I'm not full, due to my own stubbornness and lack of food, I'll fill up on wedding cake! Seriously though, thanks for the input Sarah! I'm sure I can find a way to make at least one of the meals work for me. I'm just probably going to be nervous until we go down for our planning session in July (when hopefully I can get an ADR and do a tasting on my own.) I may try to time for fireworks for that visit as well!

Thanks,
Christine

 

[suprgrlx]

Suzanne - Thanks for the info...I was hoping that they would time dinner to end for us to also see the fireworks...very cool!!

Just to let you know. We had CG time ours to have the fireworks after the entrees and before the dessert/cake (since there were so many courses before I thought people might like a little break! Plus I didn't want to rush dinner). However, early in the reception a server came to me and told me that the fireworks schedule had changed and they were now at 8:00 instead of 9:00 so they held the entrees until after the show. We never had any idea they were going to change the schedule. So that type of thing can happen.

Good luck!

 

[SarahInMN]

Christine -

Yah, our site visit is in May, and we have had an ADR lined up at the Cali Grill for like the last 2 months.

Suzanne -

We'll check with the Cali Grill about timing: that would be so cool!!!

 

[cp_princess]

Sarah that's awesome I can't wait until our visit in July. I really do need to make that ADR I'm pretty sure that I'm under the 180 day mark. So much to do so little time!

Christine

 

[meryll83]

Are all you girls eating in the main restaurant for your wedding meals or are you all getting private rooms?
With only 11 of us I'm not sure we'll meet the minimums, and we're going on to Epcot for a dessert part afterwards, so I was kinda hoping just to do starter, entree and cake for the courses!

Maybe we'll be best using the private room at Citrico's after all, it has a nice low minimum, and it's on the right side of the lagoon for where we want our pictures taken anyway, which means our guests could head on over to a bar at the GF if we are just having some bride and groom shots done without having to wait to go round to the Contemporary!

I'll miss the Cali Grill food though
Never eaten at Citrico's before, can someone sell it to me? (She says on a Cali Grill thread!)

 

[SarahInMN]

Meryl -

We're getting one of the private rooms at the Cali Grill: our welcome dinner will be at most 59 people, so it really isn't feasible for us to use a main dining room.

Sarah

 

[cp_princess]

Meryll, yeah we also will be having one of the private rooms, The Napa Room, since our party is between 45 and 50 people at this point. Plus since it's a wishes wedding we need to meet the higher minimum anyway.

Christine

 

[meryll83]

I'm really torn between the main room (only about 11 people so couldn't meet a minimum for a private, or the private room at Citrico's.

I just love the food and the view at the CG.

Does anyone know where in the GF Citrico's is located, I've never been? It doesn't look like there is any kind of view from the private room (Chef's Domaine) there - or do we get a view of the Chef?!

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

I'm bumping this because I'd love to see more info on this mystery. If I go for my planning session, but say I am interested in Cali Grill, I can't taste anything, well, maybe besides cake??

Maybe I"m misunderstanding, but there are preset menus for catering, BUT I still have to make a reservation to dine there if I want a tasting. Doesn't this mean I wouldn't be able to taste the actual items from the catering menus? I wish Cali Grill offered a normal tasting.

What about prereception items? Are they the same at Cali Grill as elsewhere?

I am interested in having a plated lunch reception at Cali Grill with a decent pre reception for about 80-100 people. I really want to have the lobster crab bolognese from their regular menu, too. So confusing!

Thanks for the info so far, ladies. I can't imagine how other girls plan without talking to other Disbrides!

 

[Gillian]

I'm really torn between the main room (only about 11 people so couldn't meet a minimum for a private, or the private room at Citrico's.

I just love the food and the view at the CG.

Does anyone know where in the GF Citrico's is located, I've never been? It doesn't look like there is any kind of view from the private room (Chef's Domaine) there - or do we get a view of the Chef?!

Citricos gets good reviews on the Restaurants board. Have you tried asking over there for info? I bet they'll know!

It sounds like it's a lot better for your wedding than Cali Grill, seriously.

 

[SarahInMN]

Maybe I"m misunderstanding, but there are preset menus for catering, BUT I still have to make a reservation to dine there if I want a tasting. Doesn't this mean I wouldn't be able to taste the actual items from the catering menus? I wish Cali Grill offered a normal tasting.

What about prereception items? Are they the same at Cali Grill as elsewhere?

I am interested in having a plated lunch reception at Cali Grill with a decent pre reception for about 80-100 people. I really want to have the lobster crab bolognese from their regular menu, too. So confusing!

Lulu -

The "preset" catering menus consist of certain items from their regular menu put together in different ways. Basically, you can order those items off the regular menu at the restaurant, so you can taste the actual items off the catering menu while dining/ordering off the regular menu. But yeah to taste the catering food at the Cali Grill you have to get an ADR and dine there.

It is confusing and my fiance is frustrated by the lack of a tasting session. I think the menu we've chosen will be fine, but he is a serious cook in his spare time and isn't sure how certain items will go together.

Our planner emailed us the Cali Grill's lunch, dinner, and pre-reception catering menus. Ask your planner to email them, then you'll get a sense of what your options are.

Hope this helps. Our planning session is in mid-May; I'll definitely update this thread once we're back.

Sarah

 

[JaxTeach]

Hi Sarah-
I'm not sure if you were able to find my TR. We had our reception @ the CG Sonoma Room this past December. Since we ate there for dinner, we had to meet a $2000 minimum. We had about 23 people in our party (1 infant and 2 children included in that number). I can't say enough about how great our meal was! The service was spectacular as well. My dad, who is pretty hard to win over, was extremely impressed with the quality of the food and the service. We had 3-4 servers dedicated to our room. They served the courses in a timely manner and kept all of our glasses full.

Since our wedding was in December, Wishes! was at 6pm. We had our guests arrive at 5pm for drinks and an appetizer (which was the potato cakes--- AMAZING! The servers were even thoughtful enough to save some for DH and I.), DH and I, along with Randy Chapman, arrived at 5:30pm and had the soup, salad and maybe sorbet courses. Everyone then headed outside to watch Wishes! from the rear catwalk. Randy, DH and I went down 1 story to get better photos. There were only a few people on the back catwalk and as soon as they saw me, they went to the front catwalk which was nice. After Wishes! (which all of our guests loved) we returned to the room and had our main course (we had a fish course, chicken and the filet), we had a special dessert (Figment) and then wedding cake.

Our planner told us we would have to collect all of our things before leaving the room, but the servers were so nice. My dad and I talked to one of them who looked at me like I was crazy when I said we had to take everything down. He assured me they would handle it and leave it in one place for us to pick up the next afternoon. Which is exactly what we did.

All in all we had a phenomenal experience. DH and I are trying to think of way to have another celebration there because we all had such a magnificent time.

Oh, we did not have a tasting, but DH and I did eat there just to try it out. If you can believe it, we'd never been there and we go to Disney at least once a month! They are very particular about the menu, but they did let us remove things (such as the flatbreads and regular dessert) which lowered the price of our menu. Everything they serve is seasonal so, for example, it is very possible that what you try in June won't be available in December.

I have loads of pics and I'm sure I forgot some things. Feel free to ask away here or PM me.

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

Sarah, I would so appreciate an update!

Jac, that sounds amazing! If you have any menus or other pics you think would help, I would LOVE them.

 

[SarahInMN]

Jac -

Thanks for the info! I'm sure we won't go wrong with the Cali Grill. Our site visit is in May and we have ADR's for the Cali Grill then.

Lulu -

I don't have any updates to share really! Our site visit is in about 6 weeks. We're going in May, staying for 6 days (at the Grand Floridian), and have reservations at the California grill. Both sets of parents are going too because they've never met, and we thought it would be fun to take our moms with us to the planning sessions. My parents are divorced, so each of my parents is bringing someone with them: this means there will be 8 people at the California Grill so hopefully we'll be able to try tons of different entrees and hit potential item on the catering menu.

Sarah