I don't know, at first I thought it sounded good (mmmmm, especially the antipasto and the pork loin), but in really examining the dinner menu, it just seems like they've spruced up the description or done a "spin" for some pretty basic items i.e. different pasta types with very familiar sauces such as the masses are used to seeing. I think that if people for whom this menu sounds "different" were to taste these items, and could get past the different pasta shapes, they'd say to themselves, "Hey, this just tastes like...." For instance, on the dinner menu:
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]*well, who doesn't know what lasagna tastes like: Lasagna al Forno with meat ragu, bechamel and parmesan $24 [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]*this could potentially just be a Carbonara dish?: [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Bucattini Pasta with Italian prosciutto ham, peas and parmesan cheese $26: [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]*Thinking this would taste an awful lot like baked Ziti: Penne Caprese with crushed tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil $24[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]*Tastes like Spaghetti and meatballs without the sauce covered chin?: Paccheri Large Pasta Tubes with tiny meatballs, papini and pecorino cheese $25[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]*Though I think tagliatelle tastes better than spaghetti or linguini, for most this will just be like eating your basic spaghetti with meat sauce: Tagliatelle Egg Pasta with meat ragu Bolognese $25[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]*Ok, maybe not the green beans, but other than that, pesto is hardly a new thing to most Americans...unless we're still in 1982: Ligurian Trofie Pasta - with basil-pinenut pesto and fagiolini green beans $25[/FONT]
So, to me, this is a potentially boring menu -- ESPECIALLY given the price you're paying for some pretty basic stuff. Consider these items I can get at a local "Tuscan" place:
Taglierini al Funghi: Fresh pasta with cremini mushrooms, white truffle oil, cream and Grana Padano cheese, $18.
Risotto al Zucca e Tartufi Neri: Risotto with roasted butternut squash, goat milk ricotta and black truffles $19.
Yes, Yes, I know, you can't expect to pay real world prices in the Disney World. But it does make you think
I hope the difference in this menu lies in that hopefully it's a little more "fresh" and less "jarred" than in the past. Hopefully people will report in!
Though I wonder...didn't they say that this is just temporary? That after the real and larger refurb in 2008, it will have an entirely different menu than Tutto?