The 8 of us 6/24-6/30 Updated 7/21

[Rafikifan]

I'll be reviewing the following places:

Tutto Italia
Grand Floridian Cafe
Chefs de France
Beaches n' Cream
Planet Hollywood
ESPN Club
Pop Century Food Court
Yakitori House
Other misc. snacks etc.

Our party consisted of 3 of us moms with our 3 dds and two of the girls boyfriends all 18 - 19. On occasion we ate seperately but we ate most of our meals together. Sorry but no pics. Couldn't embarrass the girls you know.

 

[ciera321]

I'm ready...

 

[MickeyNicki]

Count me in

 

[danalee]

bring it on!

 

[Rafikifan]

Grand Floridian Cafe dinner - As hard as we tried we arrived for our ADR about 10 minutes late. The lady at the podium was very friendly and got us seated right away. The restaurant itself is lovely. Very relaxing. Our server was nice but he forgot some things - no big deal though. He brought a basket of two types of rolls which were good. I asked about prime rib which was on the menu online but they've changed their menu a bit and the prime rib has been replaced by a rib eye steak. 3 of us ordered the N.Y. strip, one had the rib eye,both with mashed potatoes The steaks were cooked as ordered, the potatoes and red wine glaze were delicious. The steaks were ok. but not as tender and flavorful as I've had elsewhere. My friend and her daughter both got the mahi mahi but didn't care for it too much . It wasn't the fish so much but they didn't care for the sauce and veggies that were on it. One of the girls got the shrimp prosciutto pasta and she loved it.

One thing that bothered me just a tad was that when our server took everyone's order he said "Would you prefer a soup or salad with that?" it was the way he said it. In a manner which implied you automatically got one or the other. Now I've dined at WDW enough to know that very few places offer a side anything for free. But back home just about all the steak restaurants offer a soup or salad with the entree. So, 6 out of 8 ordered $6.99 Caesar salads. I reminded myself this was miniscule in the scheme of things so I tried not to cringe when I saw $42. worth of salad barely touched. My mind instantly went to how many Mickey ice cream bars or margaritas from Mexico or a combination of the two I could buy with that 42 bucks but...no...don't go there Missy.

More to come.

 

[TigerKat]

I'm signing on!

 

[Rafikifan]

Tutto Italia - The teenagers went off on their own so my 2 friends and I found ourselves hungry in Epcot. I TRIED to tell them that we would need to wait to try to get in anywhere. There's NO way to just walk in with no ADR. After all, this is my 10 trip in 11 years, 3 of them all this year. I know what I'm talking about! Right? We walked up up to the podium and asked how long to get in without reservations and they said no problem. We were seated in 7 minutes. Wow. I had eaten here 2 times when it was Alfredo's and each time was hit or miss. Especially the service. This time our service from the podium to our waitress, and waiter was all wonderful. Bread and olive oil is brought out.We all ordered lasagna. We are picky about our lasagna and a lot of restaurants skimp on the cheese and meat. Pasta and sauce with just a sprinkle of cheese does not constitute lasagna to me and Tutto Italia did not disappoint. It was a thick piece full of meat and cheese. We all agreed it was excellent. No room for dessert. This was our best meal of the trip. The "kids" were jealous that they missed it.

 

[suzimar57]

great reviews so far - waiting for more!

 

[Rafikifan]

Beaches 'n Cream- the teens tried to get in one day about 2:00 and were told an hour and a half wait so they gave up. We all walked up the next day expecting more of the same and were told an hour wait. I took a peek inside and saw a big booth that was clean, 3 or 4 dirty empty tables and 6 YES 6 empty bar stools. All the employees were hustling. I guess they just don't have the staff needed as it is always busy. We were finally seated and the burgers got raves by all and my friend and I both got the roast beef with french dip - onions and peppers on the side. Attentive service and the food sure did hit the spot. Space is their only problem. They know it but apparently nobody is going to do anything about it.

 

[iluvpluto27]

Enjoying your reviews and pleased to read another good review of Tutto Italia. I'm really looking forward to trying it on our next trip.

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent

 

[mcrabeck]

Enjoying your reviews! Thanks for sharing

 

[Rafikifan]

Sorry I have been away so long. Baseball All Stars for both our sons ages 12 and 14 have been keeping us hopping. I do still have reviews left though.

Pop Century food court - Here goes. I'm not naming who had what just how that person thought the food was.

Cheeseburger - Ok not great but fries were.

Kids pasta and meatball - Very good.

Tuna sandwich got excellent reviews from those who had it. I can't speak for it myself but if they raved about tuna it must have been good.

Parmesan crusted Chicken penne pasta with alfredo sauce and bread stick - thumbs up.

Shrimp lo mein only so-so.

Pre-made salad and fruit bowls were excellent. Very fresh

Chicken strips - good.

It is very busy, Go at off times if you can.

 

[Rafikifan]

Chefs de France (lunch) - We had ADR's at Kona Cafe in the Poly but were having so much fun in the WS that we decided to skip it. I figured we would do counter service but the girls really wanted to go to Chefs de France. I was thinking (once again) that there would be no way for a party of 8 to get in without an ADR but I was proven wrong when we were seated at a lovely corner table within 5 minutes. I have never been happier being proven wrong. 4 of us girls have eaten here a few times and love it, but 2 of the other gals and the boys (ok they're 18, they're men but they won't read this and they are still boys to me since I've known them since they were little) haven't been here before so we were encouraging them to order the chicken or steak. They surprised us! One ordered the French menu and the other the quiche. Quiche? I didn't know they knew what quiche was haha. They loved it. The rest of us ordered the French menu which is a bowl of French onion soup topped with cheese, a toasted ham and gruyere cheese sandwich, green salad, and creme brulee for dessert. This was a hit with everyone. None of us are really soup eaters but this is good soup. Even the dressing on the greens was very good but I'm not sure what it was. And I must not forget to mention the delicious rolls they bring out at the beginning of the meal. Service was terrific as always. A++ from all of us.

 

[Rafikifan]

Planet Hollywood - This wasn't planned. We had planned to go to see Illuminations in Epcot but it was raining so we hopped on the bus to Downtown Disney. I've been to the Planet Hollywood they used to have in Dallas a couple of times and wasn't impressed with the food so this wouldn't have been my choice but the teens wanted to go and after all this trip was for them. We waited for a few minutes but then got to sit in the bar area to wait for our table. Much to my surprise my IndyCar race was on the tv set and so I got to watch it while we had drinks and shared buffalo wings. It was about a 30 minute wait and then we were seated in the dining area. It was a Saturday night and it was CROWDED and VERY loud. After a couple of drinks we didn't mind much though Now the bad part. The service. When the waitress seated us she took our drink orders. Then she disappeared. I wish one of us had checked the time so I could give you an idea how long it was but we had no way of knowing what kind of waitress we had. Until...she came back and had the teens ice tea orders correct but had our adu"lt drinks all wrong. We asked if we could go ahead and order and good thing she did because she disappeared again. Finally brought out our drinks and our food. Here's what we had. Some of us had cheeseburgers. Very large and were good. My dd's bf got beef fajitas and liked them. Other male teen got the L.A. lasagna and cleaned his plate. Our friend got some kind of chicken quesadilla although I don't know if it's called that. She said it was just so so.

The highlight I mean lowlight of the night came when our waitress came to bring iced tea refills. this was only 5 minutes after delivering our food. I thought, "Finally she's moving... YAY". She moved alright. She leaned over my friend sitting directly next to me to pass a glass of tea over her head and knocked my friend's drink onto her plate all over the cheeseburger she had only taken about 3 bites of. I don't know what the drink was called but it reminded me of a Gorillas in the Mist at RFC. Some kind of liquor like Kahlua and milk etc. She says "Sorry. I'll get some napkins." Now what do you do in this situation? People make mistakes. We were all in a bit of shock but figured she'd be back with a new plate of food and if they were nice...another drink since she spilled hers. It was a mess and seeing the burger and fries swimming in milk was not appetizing at all. We wait and wait and no waitress. We finally flag down another waiter and asked to have friend's plate removed. He wasn't saying anything so my friend spoke up and said,"The reason this is such a mess is because our waitress knocked my drink over." He acted like he didn't know what to say and said, "I'll get her for you." She comes back with our bill and says," let me know when you're ready for me to take this." We quickly look at the bill and friend's burger plate and her drink were still on the bill." She came back and my other friend spoke up and said, "Don't you think it would be fair to take her meal off the bill since she didn't even get to eat it?" It was like that snapped her out of whatever lala land she was in and finally realized what she'd done and said, "Yes. I forgot. Sorry." It wasn't about the money it was the principle of the thing. I still hate to say don't go there because with a different server things could have been much different.

 

[dreamin_disney]

Planet Hollywood -
The highlight I mean lowlight of the night came when our waitress came to bring iced tea refills. this was only 5 minutes after delivering our food. I thought, "Finally she's moving... YAY". She moved alright. She leaned over my friend sitting directly next to me to pass a glass of tea over her head and knocked my friend's drink onto her plate all over the cheeseburger she had only taken about 3 bites of. I don't know what the drink was called but it reminded me of a Gorillas in the Mist at RFC. Some kind of liquor like Kahlua and milk etc. She says "Sorry. I'll get some napkins." Now what do you do in this situation? People make mistakes. We were all in a bit of shock but figured she'd be back with a new plate of food and if they were nice...another drink since she spilled hers. It was a mess and seeing the burger and fries swimming in milk was not appetizing at all. We wait and wait and no waitress. We finally flag down another waiter and asked to have friend's plate removed. He wasn't saying anything so my friend spoke up and said,"The reason this is such a mess is because our waitress knocked my drink over." He acted like he didn't know what to say and said, "I'll get her for you." She comes back with our bill and says," let me know when you're ready for me to take this." We quickly look at the bill and friend's burger plate and her drink were still on the bill." She came back and my other friend spoke up and said, "Don't you think it would be fair to take her meal off the bill since she didn't even get to eat it?" It was like that snapped her out of whatever lala land she was in and finally realized what she'd done and said, "Yes. I forgot. Sorry." It wasn't about the money it was the principle of the thing. I still hate to say don't go there because with a different server things could have been much different.

OMG! i would have been so mad. She should have cleaned up the mess, removed the plate and brought a new order out for free, since she ruined her meal and a free desert for spilling it all over her.