The good, the bad, and the ugly: Our December dining experience w/pics: COMPLETE

[Glynis]

I don't know about the lentils, but the couscous looks amazing! Sure wish I had a WDW trip planned!

 

[TigerKat]

I love lentils so I know this is going on my list for May!

 

[Linda67]

Count me in

I loved the Veg Platter at Tangierine Cafe and can't wait to try it again in May

 

[liamsaunt]

Hi everyone!
So, our first full dinner was at Flying Fish cafe. This had been one of our favorites in previous years, so expectations were high for this meal.

To start, we ordered a couple of appetizers to share. The chef's thunder special was a fried Ipswich clam dish. We are all suckers for fried clams, so ordering that was a given!

It came with a spicy avacodo dipping sauce. The clams were excellent--tender and briny, not at all greasy.

Continuing on with our healthy choices we decided to try the fried calamari with asian dipping sauce:

Again, very nice job on the fry--light and crispy.

We also ordered a salad of arugula with gorgonzola dolce and pears. The picture came out too blurry to share, but I highly recommend this salad--it was so delicious!

Moving on to the mains, my sister and I decided to share an order of the sea scallops with butternut squash risotto. We had this last year and it was amazing. This year....not so much. The squash in the risotto was undercooked, and the scallops were badly undercooked. I like my scallops rare, but this was beyond rare, entering into the raw zone. Oh well. The appetizers were so good that it didn't bother us too much (again, picture too blurry to share--this is the only restaurant that my camera gave me trouble at).

My husband ordered the signature dish: red snapper wrapped in potato with veal glace and red wine butter sauce and leek fondue.

He said it was good but very, very rich. I have had this before and agree it is super rich--too rich for me.

I don't have notes on the kids meals, which means they probably ordered off the kids menu. Maybe my sister will pop back with what they ate. Caili did order off the adult menu for dessert, and she selected one of her favorites, creme brulee:

She said it was "awesome!" I was too full to try a taste. None of the adults ordered dessert.

Next up: Raglan Road

 

[shovan]

Woohoo! Flying Fish!! FF has consistently been one of our favorites!

Ooooo Fried Clams! Sorry we missed that chef's special. I think the calamari there is the lightest most tender we have had. Sorry about the raw scallops! That sounds like a rare mishap at FF.

I love that snapper, but it is very rich. We've ordered it like an appetizer to share with the whole table, because it tastes so good but we can't eat much of it.

 

[Rogue26]

Germany has the best pretzels!

I really love the lentil salad too, it's the first time I had ever had lentils. I like to get double the lentils and no couscous.

 

[TigerKat]

I'm with Sheryl, FF is one of our faves!!!!! Too bad the squash & scallops were undercooked, that's one of our fave dishes along with that rich snapper. Those apps look really good, great pics as always Becky!

 

[liamsaunt]

Raglan Road was a kids request meal. Liam likes it here because they make their fish and chips without egg and the fries are fried in separate oil, so he can have both without worrying about his allergies.

Starting off, the kids skipped appetizers, and the adults shared a sampler platter. This consisted of three items: scallop forest (battered, fried scallops) dalkey duo (battered, fried sausages) and drunken chicken. Each came with its own dipping sauce.

Of the three, the scallop was my favorite. It was a little greasy, but the flavor and texture were good. The chicken was a little bland and I did not try the sausage.

Moving on to mains, Liam, Laura, and John all had the fish and chips. This was a good portion—again, a little greasy, but everyone enjoyed it. I don’t remember what Caili ate.

I had the Pie in the Sky—a chicken pot pie with a mixed greens salad. The description of the dish said that the pie included mushrooms, but I could not find any in my pie, which was a little disappointing. The portion was huge—two people could easily have shared this dish and walked away satisfied.

Adults skipped dessert. Liam had a fruit plate with jugs of sweetened cream and honey for dipping (the only item on the dessert menu he could eat)

Caili had the Bailey’s Crème Brulee cheesecake, which was pronounced “pretty awesome.” I was too full to try a bite.

 

[TigerKat]

We were huge RR fans until our last meal there in '09. The calamari was so greasy it was inedible.

 

[Miffy2003]

Super reviews. Looking forward to the rest

 

[jacksmom]

Love your reviews! thanks for sharing!

 

[Linda67]

Just caught up
Great review of Flying Fish, what a shame your entree was undercooked but the rest looks great

 

[OurDogCisco]

Yum, your platters at Tangerine Cafe look so good!!! I'm loving your reviews and can't wait to read more.

 

[liamsaunt]

I am glad people are enjoying my reviews. So far, things have been mostly "good." Now, here is a little bit of "bad."

California Grill

Dinner at California Grill is usually our favorite meal at Disney. While our food this time was a mixed bag, we still enjoyed ourselves. To begin, we ordered some sushi. It had seared tuna, jicama and (I think) apple, and a spicy sauce. I thought it was really good. I don’t seem to have a picture though. Too bad, because it was really pretty!
Next, we shared a wild mushroom flatbread with truffle oil. This was really great! Wild mushroom flatbread:

Then we had a mid-course of the vegetarian entrée split three ways. It was a butternut squash dumpling with Brussels sprouts. The dumplings were good but the sprouts were undercooked. I would rate this dish OK, not great.
For entrees, my husband and I both ordered the seared red snapper with fig risotto. This dish was a disaster. The fish was horribly overcooked—it looked and tasted like it had been left under a heat lamp. Yuck!
Laura fared a little better with the chicken dish. The confit of leg and thigh was moist. The breast was a little dry. Probably the best element of this dish was the pot of cheesy grits that came on the side.
Chicken

Moving

Moving on to dessert, Caili ordered the chocolate molten cake with chocolate peppermint bark. The waiter subbed in vanilla ice cream for the peppermint ice cream that was on the menu:
Chocolate dessert

And

the adults sampled the fall celebration dessert, an apple tart with ice cream and almond brittle. I think we all got one bite before Caili commandeered it!
Apple dessert

Overall, we were a little disappointed in California Grill this time. In fact, I would rate this as the worst meal we have ever eaten there. We’ll probably come back, because it is such a nice setting, and aspects of the food were good, but a restaurant at this price point should not be sending out overcooked fish and raw Brussels sprouts! We were not there for the fireworks, we were there for the food, and it just didn’t live up to our previous California Grill experiences.

 

[Linda67]

Wonderful pictures from California Grill

What a shame that your food was a bit hit and miss

The mushroom flatbread looks so delicious, I would love to try it

 

[liamsaunt]

Hello again! Today's installment brings us to Jiko.

Jiko is always one of our favorite meals, and this evening’s dinner did not disappoint. We started with the bread basket and spiced butter:

We also ordered the Taste of Africa, which is a selection of five different dips with various breads. I didn’t get a picture of it, but it was tasty.

Then we moved on to the Kalamata olive flatbread with goat cheese and microgreens. This is probably my favorite flatbread at any Disney restaurant:

My sister and I then shared a bowl of the butternut squash soup, which was too rich for our tastes—very thick and overly creamy.

John and Laura also shared an order of beef bobotie, which they very much enjoyed:

For mains, Laura and John both ordered the maize crusted wreckfish with vegetables of the moment and tomato buerre blanc. They said the fish was perfectly cooked and the sauce was amazing. I was in the mood for something lighter, so I ordered the vegetarian platter, Aleecha, Shimbra Asa, and Inguday Tibs. The item not seen in the photo was a layered tian of eggplant, zucchini, pepper, and tomato—very similar to ratatouille but with African spices. The middle item had wild mushrooms in a crepe with a savory goat cheese sauce, and the final item, which was my favorite, was a chickpea cake with spicy tomato sauce.

The adults were too full for dessert, but Caili ordered the Tarzanian Chocolate, Chery and chocolate- Chocolate cremeux with chocolate crunch, chocolate-cherry mascarpone and cocoa nibs:

Which she pronounced “super awesome!” and the best dessert of the trip so far.

Overall, we were extremely pleased with our meal at Jiko. We had excellent service and the majority of the food was quite good. I was also very happy with the children’s meals here. Though they ordered off the kids menu, they got a very good meal of steak, broccoli, and mac and cheese.

In fact, we liked our dinner at Jiko so much that we cancelled our reservation at Via Napoli and changed plans to come back another night. The best laid plans….

 

[TigerKat]

Great installment Beck! I'm looking forward to a return trip there in May, it's Kyle's favorite restaurant!

 

[Meteora]

Thanks for the reviews!

We tried the Cali grill for the first time on this last trip, and while it was good, it wasn't as amazing as we felt like it should have been given the price and the reviews. The flatbreads were delicious, the salads were good, and the entrees....eh. They were fine. My ravioli was extremely al dente to the point of being slightly undercooked. And the server was, for lack of a better word, weird.

 

[WDW Fan]

Great food pics! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on these restaurants. I was disappointed in the CG the last time I was there too. I enjoy the ambiance but for what they charge I feel the food should be better.

 

[Colleen27]

I ordered the vegetarian platter, Aleecha, Shimbra Asa, and Inguday Tibs. The item not seen in the photo was a layered tian of eggplant, zucchini, pepper, and tomato—very similar to ratatouille but with African spices. The middle item had wild mushrooms in a crepe with a savory goat cheese sauce, and the final item, which was my favorite, was a chickpea cake with spicy tomato sauce.[/FONT][/COLOR]

That looks and sounds amazing. I seldom order vegetarian dishes, but I like everything about that description so much that it is making me wish I could fit Jiko into the plans on our next trip!