Sorry for the delay in postings. I blame the cruise I went on, and the flu that I caught on the cruise.
My battery's at around 80% now, so on with the posting!
After Wall*E and I had breakfast at the Crystal Palace, we spent the rest of the morning wandering around the Magic Kingdom. It was then that I made the single most adorable purchase ever:
M-I-C-K-E-Y W-A-L-L-E!
Getting the ears to stay on was quite the project, and wasn't perfected for two days. Later in the week there was even some ear-tear-age and he had to go without it till superglue could be procured. But seriously, who knew they had hats in size 5/8?
King of the world!
Into the early afternoon I was starting to feel peckish, and tired (red-eye and all that). We took a quick boat ride to the Grand Floridian for some relaxing tea. Our boat captain was Bruce and he informed us to keep all heads, arms, and Wall*E's in the boat.
No, not yet Wall*E. That's later this week!
So what
is supposed to come to mind when you think of the Grand Floridian? Beauty, elegance, peace and quiet? How about massive re-flooring and construction noise? Truely the perfect accompaniment to a relaxing tea-time is the sound of powerdrills and mallets. During my whole stay (and I was at the GF more than a few times this trip) they were adding marble to the floor in the big lobby room. I felt bad for the couples trying to get wedding photos and crop out the construction mess.
I don't have a really nice photo of the Gardenview Tea Room from the outside due to the construction mess. I was able to get one later in the week, but I forget what day it was on so you'll just have to stay tuned to this report if you want to see it later.
Do you have a reservation?
Our reservation was @ 2:10PM, but at 2PM when they opened up we were able to be seated. They had no window seats for us! They said they all had been
reserved. All of them. At 2PM, when the place wasn't even full up.
And so began my week long experiance of being seated at the most terrible tables ever. I have seriously never had such bad table luck as I did on this trip. I can't imagine them shoving a couple at these two-tops, let alone leave a solo person at some crappy table with no view and bad lighting. My table here was right next to the swinging doorway to the "backstage" area.
If I looked straight out the view was nice and pleasant, I could see the whole restaurant. I just had to ignore all the servers rushing past me.
and the the right all the serving trays:
Somehow, despite being in the easily most un-ignorable seat in the whole place, nary a server glanced my way for 8 minutes. And then I was only aknowledged by my server
name withheld so she could tell me she would be with me in a few minutes. I was the third person seated! I dunno, seemed kinda crazy to me. I understand that it's free-dining and what not, but the restaurant had only opened 10 minutes ago! And this is a non-dining plan place! I'm not a nit-picker, but in some ways this trip tried my patience.
Looking in these eyes, how can I stay angry?
My server finally came over and asked if I was ready to order. No menu explanation, no "so sorry", no recommendations. I inquired if the Mad Hatter came in a teapot, because I want nothing to do with that press-pot business. She said it did, so I ordered the Mad Hatter, Tea Sandwiches, and the Scones. I did it all ala carte. If I had been hungrier (and less annoyed) I might have sprung for something bigger like the Grand Tea. I did have Jiko planned for the evening, along with the Boma/Jiko culinary tour (which I will be reviewing!) so I just got some little bites to tide me over.
Let there be tea!
Everything is right with the world now.
The
Mad Hatter is described as; A blend of passion fruit, pomegranate, and vanilla for a clean and sweet finish. Perfect with decadent desserts and companions.
It was indeed very nice. I've always been a tea lover, but have in the past year given up on coffee, due to it's kidney-stone inducing tendencies, and have been 100% drinking tea. I usually brew iced tea at home from Teavana as well and I can't think of any beverage I drink more than tea, except for water. The Mad Hatter was pretty mild, and I don't add sweetner to my tea and found it to be plenty sweet. It went well with both the sandwiches and the scones.
Also, the cozy was adorable:
You don't get this with a press-pot.
At this point my server started feeling bad about the crappy service I had already recieved. Either that or she was confused about my note and picture taking. She really started to step up the friendliness and I must say that the last part of my meal was great. She even described all of my sandwiches and kept asking me how I was doing. Perhaps she was just a bit off at the beginning of her shift? I dunno but I'm glad she got with the happy.
Sandwiches- my favorite food.
left to right (then bottom):
Apple gorgonzola- alright. little sweet, it was a nice size. I wouldn't eat a full sandwich of it
Chicken salad- pretty good chicken salad. I've had better, but this was tasty
Shrimp salad- feh, not really "shrimpy" at all. very mayonnaise-y
Egg salad- passable
Watercress- refreshing! the way lawn should taste
Onion tart- the best thing on the plate to me. sweet num-num! I could have eaten half a dozen of these slimy things.
I know what you're thinking
Sandwiches? Tea and Sandwiches? Where's the strawberries? Cakes? Swan shaped pastries? And for those of you new to these things I will let you know that I will always choose savory over sweet. But I will always choose dairy over savory. And always
anything over melons, blech...
Here's your sweet side:
Homemade raisin scone- very warm, soft and tasty, but very tiny
Jam Tart- alright, kinda store-bought
Devonshire cream- Oh, please sir, can I have some more? That serving size isn't even big enough for a smurf, let alone a 27 year old woman. Luckily I was able to ask for more.
We wants it!
And that is what takes the scone from yum to YOWZA. And the tart from ho-hum to HUMINA-HUMINA. I didn't take a picture of my jam/cream slathered scone but for those of you who are curious I do jam first cream on top. I know some people take that kind of thing very seriously and I'd hate to leave you out of the loop.
And that was my meal. I didn't rush it at all and I had a good time, once I got served and all that. My server was quick with my check, and as I said she kinda woke up partway into my meal and turned very friendly and attentive. Better to improve than decline in service in my opinion.
I will go back to tea again, it was just so much fun. I'd like to do it on a day when I don't have two other full meals planned so that I could get the Grand Tea.
So we can mark this up in the redo column. It wasn't fabulous, but I know that it has the potential to be so.
Next up: Boma-Jiko culinary tour. Just me and about 25 of my closest strangers.
I just got over a 10 day bought of something not quite the flu either but totally zapped me. I will be here waiting for your great reviews when you come back!!
Wall-E!!
