The food report that almost didn't happen but I figured better late than never (m)

[franandaj]

Loving your dining reviews! Keep them coming! i will post my Jan trip if you keep going! Love to see what others do! especially DVC members, I may even take some pics of our in room meals and post the trip review in the DVC section!

 

[Flossbolna]

I am so sorry about your nephew!!

The Hawaii food pictures are wonderful. I always wanted to go there, but it is sooooo far away from Germany. If I ever manage to get there, I wil make a point to go to that restaurant, it sounds wonderful!

I love the Lighthouse Sandwich from CHH and I think it is fairly healthy!! Not a lot of fat in it - of course if you eat it with chips (or as I did substitute the chips for fries), it becomes less healthy!

 

[OurDogCisco]

Coming up next... CRT for dinner... The girls had their hair done at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. It was a fun experience for both girls and afterwards we went to Mickey's Toontown Fair and got pictures with princesses there. Then, we came back to CRT to check in and get pictures with Cinderella...

Here's a picture of the girls when we got seated in the restaurant:

At the table they had bread with butter. It was nothing special.

My youngest ordered a kids' salad with ranch dressing and loved it!

My oldest dd and my dh and I ordered BLT salad: BLT Salad - Applewood Smoked Bacon, Tomato, Egg, Red Onion, and a wedge of Iceberg Lettuce drizzled with Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette.... I liked it but thought the vinaigrette was a bit strong. I also like Mixed greens over iceberg lettuce.

My oldest dd was not impressed with the kids' menu so, she ordered off the adult's menu. She decided to get Cavatappi Pasta - Spiral Pasta with Summer Vegetables, Garlic, Basil, fresh Tomatoes, Ricotta, and grated Romano

I will have to say this was a bit too adult for her. I thought it would taste similar to pasta with a cream sauce but it wasn't to her liking. I on the other hand thought it was great. So, I shared my meal with her so she wouldn't starve.

Dh and I ordered the Prime rib with potatoes and asparagus. It was very good and tasted like any other Prime Rib that we ever had. So, nothing special or out of this world.

Once again... I forgot to take a picture of dd8's food. Not sure why. In one of my pictures I noticed she was eating green beans but not sure what she got as a main course.

For dessert I ordered the Chocolate Cream Cheese Buckle - A single layer of Chocolate Cake stuffed with Cream Cheese topped with Créme Chantily and finished with Créme Anglaise Sauce. It was very good and I loved it. Dh ordered the same thing and didn't like it. I think it was too many flavors for him. He should have ordered the creme brulee.

The girls' ordered Ice cream. Both got the kids' meal ice cream with the crown on it. That was nice since the older one did order off the adult menu.

We enjoyed the meal but I do think the girls prefer the breakfast especially when you go before the park opens. Also, there are princesses at breakfast. This is our 1st experience eating here for dinner. The restaurant was a bit noisy as we were seated right next to the stairs leading into the restaurant. So, I doubt we will return especially since we have eaten here many times and have lots of pictures of the stock castle picture with our photo package. I think, next time we'll try some other restaurants in MK like Liberty Tree Tarvern.

 

[OurDogCisco]

ooooh lovin the look of that Cocktail

It was really good. It even made me a bit tipsy... LOL....

so sorry for your loss...

you have just brought back some very special memories of our honeymoon in Hawaii and Roys, we have nothing like it in the UK, so thank you!

Thanks for the kind words. What a great place to go on a honeymoon.

So sorry for your loss.

Thanks...

I'm so sorry about your loss...It seems like it was unexpected...Prayers to your family


I am joining in kind of late, but I am loving your reviews!! It is tough joining another family on vacation. Last year, we went with 10 people-- too many different food ideas and touring styles! This year, it was just the two of us and it was much, much better!

Thanks for the kind words... Yes.. it is tough to travel with others especially at WDW with all the activities & travel time.

Loving your dining reviews! Keep them coming! i will post my Jan trip if you keep going! Love to see what others do! especially DVC members, I may even take some pics of our in room meals and post the trip review in the DVC section!

I'd love to see you post your January trip. I'll have to dig up some pictures of BCV that I took. Where are you staying?

I am so sorry about your nephew!!

The Hawaii food pictures are wonderful. I always wanted to go there, but it is sooooo far away from Germany. If I ever manage to get there, I wil make a point to go to that restaurant, it sounds wonderful!

I love the Lighthouse Sandwich from CHH and I think it is fairly healthy!! Not a lot of fat in it - of course if you eat it with chips (or as I did substitute the chips for fries), it becomes less healthy!

You should definitely try and get to Hawaii one of these days. It is a beautiful place!

 

[franandaj]

I'd love to see you post your January trip. I'll have to dig up some pictures of BCV that I took. Where are you staying?

We're doing a 10 day split stay at the Treehouses and Kidani. It's my parents first trip to WDW and we are kind of doing 1 night out 1 night in, but a little more "out" than "in". There will be lots of "food porn" because we are dining at places like Fulton's, Jiko, CA Grill, V&A's, and in between we'll be eating things like tacos, meatloaf, and I can't wait to grill chicken and vegetables outside our treehouse!

I hope to do a "live from WDW" post since we'll have a day off inbetween our days at the parks, but we'll see how it goes. According to my coundown widget I think it's 41 days now!

 

[oybolshoi]

So sorry to hear about your nephew; losing loved ones is always hard but when they're that young ... well, it's hard on your heart.

Loved the Hawaii food porn ... if you have more come share it with us on the Bendy thread. We're on the third one and we miss having you around.

Be well.

 

[OurDogCisco]

We're doing a 10 day split stay at the Treehouses and Kidani. It's my parents first trip to WDW and we are kind of doing 1 night out 1 night in, but a little more "out" than "in". There will be lots of "food porn" because we are dining at places like Fulton's, Jiko, CA Grill, V&A's, and in between we'll be eating things like tacos, meatloaf, and I can't wait to grill chicken and vegetables outside our treehouse!

I hope to do a "live from WDW" post since we'll have a day off inbetween our days at the parks, but we'll see how it goes. According to my coundown widget I think it's 41 days now!

Woo hoo... can't wait and I love live reports. It will definitely give you something do for those nights in!

So sorry to hear about your nephew; losing loved ones is always hard but when they're that young ... well, it's hard on your heart.

Loved the Hawaii food porn ... if you have more come share it with us on the Bendy thread. We're on the third one and we miss having you around.

Be well.

I miss you guys too. I'll definitely stop by and say "hi"...

 

[OurDogCisco]

Okay... back to the food report... It is now July 4th!!! Today, we decided to take it easy and go back and do things we missed. One thing my girls really wanted to do the Kim Possible missions at Epcot. These are TOTALLY fun!!! I highly recommend them. We had such a fun morning do the tasks. It was definitely the highlight of the trip. I gotta say, I love Disney. You can come back year after year and still find new things to do.

It was perfect that we were in Epcot that day because our lunch reservations were in Italy at Tutto Italia. I heard a lot of mixed reviews about this place. We don't have a ton of good Italian restaurants here in California so, I don't know if this was good or not. I'm not a huge Olive Garden type restaurant fan at all. We have a ton of Macaroni Grill & Spaghetti Factory type restaurants. So, anyways... we were pretty full as always near the end of our trip plus, we had dinner reservations later that night for The Wave. So, at this point we were on food overload.

The decor of the restaurant was very cute. It reminded me a lot of Italy especially with the tables close together:

I loved the display of lemons, too...

When you sit down they have olives and a bread basket on the table. I'm not a huge olive fan. I love olive oil but I don't like olives whole. I know, I'm weird. So, it was a waste to have the olives on the table for us but they looked beautiful in the bowl. I think, one of these days I'll have to try them as I'm sure they taste much better than the canned variety...

Here's the bread basket...

They also put out a plate of olive oil for dipping... but my picture came out too blurry to post so, just imagine a saucer plate with olive oil.

We were all too full for appetizers so, we skipped. I was very sad too but 2 sitdowns in one day I knew I couldn't handle it. Anyways... I ordered the lagasna. Lasagna al Forno - baked pasta, meat ragu, bechamel and parmesan.... I would have to say this did not impress me. The sauce was very bland. I was expecting a lot more flavor to the meat sauce too. So, I was very bummed with my menu choice. I only ate less than half. I should have listened to the waitress and ordered what my dh ordered.

Dh ordered the Casarecci - Cavatelli pasta, sweet sausage ragu, tomatoes, pecorino romano... I took one bite and thought I had died and gone to heaven. It was delicious. The sauce was very flavorable. It was so good that I requested the recipe when I got home. However, when I got the recipe I couldn't believe how simple it was so, I don't think I got the REAL recipe. Either that or my tastes buds were really off center that day! I felt bad for DH as everyone took samples of his dish. Even my kids loved it.

The kids ordered the pizza. It looked really good. Almost like it was handmade:

One bad thing about doing a review this late is that your notes aren't in all one place. I can't find my receipt but I had this DELICIOUS dessert at Tutto. I even looked on the AllEars.net to see if any of the desserts there sound like it but they don't. This was wonderful!!! I LOVED IT.

My kids ordered the Chocolate Gelato Sundae. They both said it was delicious.

Dh was being good and did not order dessert!!!

 

[OurDogCisco]

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at Epcot and I had a few Grey Goose Slushies too (yummy).... It was VERY hot that day too. Our idea was to eat at the Wave for dinner then go over to the Polynesian to watch the fireworks. Alot of other people had the same idea. We were getting hot so, we decided to check out the BLT and the Contemporary until our dinner reservations. The store at the Contemporary was AWESOME. I bought a lot of stuff. It was finally our dinner reservation time so, we went looking for the restaurant. We got a little lost on the way. But finally found it. I was taken aback because there were no windows. It felt like I was in a banquet room. I didn't like it. They had bread on the table:

And, butter with seasalt:

Dh and I ordered Iced tea since, it was hot...

The kids got carrots and celery with ranch as an appetizer:

Dh and I both ordered the salad with avocado and mandarin oranges. This was very good. It came with an orange viniagrette.

My dd12 ordered the Grilled Marinated Flank Steak - with seasonal vegetables, chimichurri and guacamole... I have to say all the Disney restaurants were very accomandating to her. For example, here she wanted the kid's appetizer but the adult entree and they didn't even bat an eye. They were very accomandating. Also, they never had a problem giving her the children's dessert even when she ordered the adult meal. This worked out great for her as she isn't a child anymore but she didn't always want the adult portions or food.

I ordered the Cinnamon-rubbed Grilled Pork Tenderloin - with Honey-roasted Root Vegetables and Apple Cider Sauce. It was perfect. Very good dish:

Dh ordered Grilled Beef Tenderloin - with oven- dried tomatoes, roasted fingerling potatoes, cabernet sauce and local greens but he got mashed potatoes instead. He thought it was good. But not as good as my meal.

dd8 orderd the kids' nachos with apple slices. She loved this option. We hadn't seen this on other menus.

For dessert, I knew I had to try the dessert trios. I ordered the Crispy and Crunchy - Vanilla-braised Pineapple Spears, Almond-Pineapple-Raisin "Baklava", or Zucchini-Carrot Cake with Vanilla Panna Cotta $7.99

It was delicious. I loved the variety and it was small enough to get a taste without over indulging. Although, I was very full at the end of this meal:

The girls ordered a vanilla milkshake. Since, there were no windows it was very dark in there so, my picture came out too blurry to post.

Dh ordered a chocolate martini for dessert and once again it wasn't too good as it was missing the creamy part:

After dinner we slowly made our way to the Polynesian with the other billions of people. It was crowded but totally worth it. I got to see the sun set (my favorite thing to do in the world is to watch the sun set):

They also had a really nice Electric Water parade before the actual fireworks show. They pipe in the music. It was an amazing experience. We really enjoyed it.

All and all we enjoyed the Wave but we were disappointed with the decor. It really felt like you were in a banquet room. I wasn't impressed but the food made up for it...

 

[mossyflossy]

we were disappointed with the entrees at Tutto as well. The food at the Wave looks good

 

[Linda67]

Thanks for another great review
Your photo of the sunset looks beautiful

 

[franandaj]

I got this when we were there in September, it was fabulous, the Chocolate and Mascarpone Torte!

 

[OurDogCisco]

I got this when we were there in September, it was fabulous, the Chocolate and Mascarpone Torte!

Thanks... this was really good. I'd love the recipe for it. I just might have to ask them for it.

 

[franandaj]

Thanks... this was really good. I'd love the recipe for it. I just might have to ask them for it.

I wish you luck on getting and if you do, let me know! Here is the website www.patinagroup.com, I was amazed to find out that Tutto Italia was part of their chain. I have loved this restaurant group in So Cal for years. Every one of their restaurants that I have been to here are great and we even ate their restaurant in Vegas. I had no idea that they had expanded across the US and were even in Disneyworld now, but they have a long affiliation with Disney in CA, and I've eaten at their places before the theater in LA, at the Hollywood Bowl and just as a destination dinner in Orange County (Costa Mesa). They have a very strong reputation as a fine eatery, so I'm not suprised the Tutto Italia was GREAT the night we ate there....

 

[OurDogCisco]

Okay... on with the report. Today, I bought the Fantasmic Dinner Package. We had dinner reservations for 4 pm with the package. At this point in the trip we were tired of eating so, we just ate a light breakfast in the unit and then, skipped lunch. This worked out good. We got a few snacks too throughout the day. However, I wasn't sure if we were going even see Fantasmic today at all with all the rain. I've never seen so much rain in my life (but isn't saying much since I live in CA). Anyways... here's a picture. We hung out in the Animination area for the morning after we did Toy Story Mania twice and this is what we walked out into:

We were very happy we had an early dinner reservation at Hollywood Brown Derby.

So, now onto our early dinner. We were seated next to a rather LOUD family of about 20 people in a nearly empty restaurant. I wasn't sure of the logic of that except that they were almost done with their meal so, we didn't have to endure them for very long. It was also a very cool day considering the day before was SWELTERING hot. So, I was happy that I could order soup with dinner. I love soup.

They brought out rolls. These were very nice and hot. I loved them:

DD8 ordered the kids' grilled cheese sandwich with apple slices. It didn't come in the cute Mickey head shaped plate She loved it but she is 8. LOL...

Since, we prepaid for dinner dd11 was ordering off the adult menu. Both dh and dd11 shared the cobb salad. She wasn't sure of it at first because it had so many items in it but she ended up loving it. It is dh's favorite salad so, he was happy to have someone to share it with.

I ordered the soup --- Sweet Corn Bisque - with Lump Blue Crab and a thyme emulsion . I thought it was very good. I love soup with different flavors so, this was right up my alley

My dd11 ordered the safest thing on the menu. I would have to say that this menu wasn't very teenage friendly. Char-grilled 12 oz Rib-Eye Steak - with herb-roasted fingerling potatoes, Cremini mushrooms, Cippolini onions and Cabernet syrup ... She enjoyed the steak but did not eat the potatoes (but this girl doesn't even like mashed pototoes that much).

I decided to go the healthy route and ordered the salmon. It was DELICIOUS. The sauce with salmon was incredible. I really enjoyed this... It was a really good strong vingrette sauce and it was served over polenta. This was AWESOME.

Dh ordered the Ahi Tuna here. Hijiki Crusted Ahi Tuna Cobb - "Seared Rare" with mizuna, palm sugar cucumbers, pickled diakon, flavored soy and wasabi sauces He loved it. He liked it as much as the one he ordered at the Flying Fish.

For Dessert.. dh ordered the Strawberry Cheesecake - with shortcake crust and strawberry Grand Marnier caramel sauce . He liked it and he is a cheesecake lover.

I ordered the Banana White Chocolate Toffee Tower on cocoa almond cookie and bananas "foster"... It was excellent but I'm a banana, pineapple, caramel sauce kind of girl. Anything with banana or pineapple and I'm all over it.

dd11 ordered the Double Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee with a dark chocolate dipped biscotti . This was definitely a safe choice for her. She loved it.

For some reason I did not take a picture of dd's appetizer or dessert but she did get them.

We love this restuarant. It reminds us alot of the restaurants we have at home. However, we might venture out and try a "new" restaurant at DHS on our next trip.

We did end up going Fantasmic and we were happy that it did not rain on us. We did get some caramel corn and beer & lemonade for snacks. The caramel corn was pretty gross. We ended up having to buy another snack for the kids.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Now, onto our final day. We were pretty beat after our last full day at WDW that we missed our final ADR meal at Tusker House. I was BUMMED because we missed it again. We barely rolled out of bed in time to pack and get out of the room by 11 am. So, instead we decided to go to Downtown Disney and shop. We hit all our favorite stores. Our flight did not leave until 6 pm so we decided to have very late lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express. OMGOSH... what a great treat.

I ordered the BBQ chicken Quesdilla. I loved it. I love anything BBQ chicken too. It came with a sour cream sauce that was delicious.

Both dd11 and dh ordered pizza. Dd 11 got the peperoni and dh got the Italian Sausage. They loved the pizzas as they were cooked in a brick oven type environment. They came out perfect.

dd8 ordered the cheese quesdilla. She liked it. It did come with Kettle chips which I thought was weird. I thought tortilla or fruit would have been better.

We really loved the choices here. The menu was huge that it would be pretty hard for anyone really not to find something on the menu to eat. We liked that it was considered a counter service when they brought you your food. The bus service attendants were excellant. They even checked on us throughout the meal to make sure we had everything we needed. The service was A+++++. We'll definitely come back in the future.

Afterwards we shared on dessert at Ghirardelli Soda Fountain. We decided to share one ice cream sundae amoung the 4 of us. I will have to say this isn't the best idea because they are TINY. I think, we each got 1 to 2 bites each. Not much. It was good though. We ordered the Gold Rush.

Our final stop before leaving to go to the airport was Goofy's candy. We all got one of those miniature candy bins that you filled. It was a great price and perfect for the plane ride home.

We had a great trip and ate lots of food. As usual towards the end of the trip we started getting sick of the food even though this trip was much shorter than our normal trips. We won't be going back to WDW until 2011 but we plan on doing a cruise in the summer of 2010 to the Baltics. I think, this time I'll write a review for all the food.

Thanks for reading!

 

[OurDogCisco]

I wish you luck on getting and if you do, let me know! Here is the website www.patinagroup.com, I was amazed to find out that Tutto Italia was part of their chain. I have loved this restaurant group in So Cal for years. Every one of their restaurants that I have been to here are great and we even ate their restaurant in Vegas. I had no idea that they had expanded across the US and were even in Disneyworld now, but they have a long affiliation with Disney in CA, and I've eaten at their places before the theater in LA, at the Hollywood Bowl and just as a destination dinner in Orange County (Costa Mesa). They have a very strong reputation as a fine eatery, so I'm not suprised the Tutto Italia was GREAT the night we ate there....

I'm gonna have to agree with you. I requested the Casaretti Pasta recipe that we had there that day which I got the recipe for. But it was obvious after making it it wasn't the same. They said to use a jarred or homemade marinara sauce. Obviously, they make their sauce fresh so, when I used jarred sauce it didn't come out the same. Also, my sausage must have been different as well. I can't wait to go back there....

 

[weswife]

Great review!!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing! It gave me a few ideas for our trip in Apr.2010!!

 

[Flossbolna]

Thanks for posting the reviews! The Brown Derby looks like a very good meal. I am sure I will make it there one day...

 

[Linda67]

Really enjoyed your reviews - thanks so much for taking the time