Two Adults & Free Dining August 15th-20th, 2010: Table Service Meals

[teacherlisa1978]

Going along with my thread about our quick service meals, I'll include some short reviews of our table service meals. Getting up at 4:30 am West Coast time at our 180 day mark was well worth it as I was able to score all the ADRs we wanted at exactly the times we wanted, too.

We were able to eat at:
Beaches & Cream (lunch)
'Ohana (dinner)
Le Cellier (dinner)
Sci-Fi (dinner)
Crystal Palace (breakfast)

Beaches & Cream

Being cheeseburger and ice cream lovers Beach & Cream seemed like a natural choice for us. We'd flown in on the red eye from Seattle early that morning, toured Epcot, and around 1:00 were ready for a break and some lunch. We walked over to the Beach Club and finally found Beaches and Cream after asking for directions...twice. Anyway, we were told there was a 30-40 minute wait so I sat at one of the outside tables and enjoyed the view of Stormalong Bay while my husband spent some time in the arcade. Our pager went off after only 20 minutes which was a great surprise. We had told the hostess we were fine with sitting at the counter since there were only 2 of us, which is where we ended up being seated.

Everyone was so friendly here, from the staff to the other diners, too. Just a fun, friendly place for a meal. This was our first dining plan meal of this trip and our server made sure we knew exactly what our options were. We both had the cheeseburgers and fries and sodas, which were refilled extremely promptly and often. Even though we'd read about it on the disboards we were still shocked at our dessert choices. My husband had the mudslide sundae with oreos and I had the famous No Way Jose. Our eyes were probably the size of the sundaes when they brought those out-the person next to me asked if she could take a picture of them!

They were absolutely as good as they looked. So much peanut butter and fudge mixed all throughout in mine...absolutely delicious. Sadly, neither of us were able to finish them-and we have very good appetites. My husband has recently lost 160 pounds (yes, you read that right!) and I'm down 40...we decided we wanted to eat what we wanted to eat on this trip without worrying about the diets and we did (and came back at exactly the same weights we left at, as a matter of fact, due to lots of water and lots and lots of walking in the heat!), and even so, we couldn't finish these bad boys as much as we wanted to. It pained us to leave them sitting there, that's for sure. We love the dining plan but that's the one complaint-the portions are so large you do feel wasteful at times. We found that to be less of a problem this time than in 2007 when you each got an appetizer with your meal as well, but it's definitely hard to leave good food sitting there by itself!

This was a great way to kick off the table service meals for our trip and is another one to add to our 'must do' list!

 

[teacherlisa1978]

'Ohana
We've heard so much about 'Ohana, including some very mixed reviews on it, but were eager to give it a try for ourselves. Last time at WDW we'd watched the Electrical Water Pageant from the dock at the Poly and had wandered around a bit and really loved the feel there. My husband dreams of staying here someday so until then, a nice meal here was a good compromise.

We took the bus from POFQ to the Magic Kingdom and then the monorail over to the Poly. We gave ourselves 1 hour and 15 minutes from leaving our room until the time of our ADR and arrived about 25 minutes early. We were able to browse in the gift shop a bit before checking in 15 minutes before our ADR, and then waited about 10 -15 minutes before being seated.

We were celebrating our 5th anniversary on this trip and had noted it on our reservation. We didn't expect any special treatment because of that (but were told 19 times in one day Happy Anniversary which made us feel really special and it was nice of the cast members to take the time out to wish us well), but had several fun little surprises on this trip. At 'Ohana our server wished us a happy anniversary right away, and we were seated at a table for 2 right next to the window with a great view of the grounds, the lagoon, and the Grand Floridian. The bread was warm and delicious and was a great start to the meal. I ordered the famous 'lapu lapu' although I had to ask about it-it wasn't shown anywhere and the server didn't mention it-I don't know if that's standard procedure or not. I'm not much of a drinker so I did find it a bit strong but tasty. And it's such a fun presentation, I'd recommend it. Although at this meal, filling up on a drink is definitely not advised.

The salad was brought out soon after our drinks and we loved the dressing on it. Slightly sweet but with a great flavor. The bread and salad alone would have made a delicious meal. At this point the server brought out the 3 sauces that go along with the meat (peanut, sweet & sour, and spicy-which definitely was spicy--too spicy for my hubby but I enjoyed it with the shrimp and chicken), and suggested we might like mixing the peanut sauce in with the salad. We did, and it made it even better! But we like peanut sauce, if you don't like it-well, it wouldn't make sense to do it!

But there was more deliciousness to come! Next up was the chicken wings (which I just gave to hubby-I'm not a chicken wing eater at all but he thought they were great), the broccoli and the noodles. We were even raving about the broccoli at this point! We eat a ton of vegetables at home as part of our weight loss, so they're not something we usually get too excited about, but thought this was cooked with a great seasoning. The noodles were definitely salted but we didn't find them too salty if that makes sense. I cut some of the broccoli up and mixed it in-oh yum. Could have eaten a huge bowl of this and again thought that's it, just give me bread, salad, noodles and broccoli and I'll be happy all night!

Clearly they are trying to fill you up before bringing out the meat-I understand that but didn't mind a bit. I am not a big meat eater and know the shrimp tends to come on and off the menu according to online reports and so was completely overjoyed at being served it this evening. When he brought it over, our server asked how many I'd like, 5? 10? I would have felt ridiculous asking for 10 shrimp (these are a nice size, and remember, I'm from Seattle-we are big seafood people here) so asked for 5 and he must have given me 11 or 12! Oh, they were so good! I don't mind peel and eat shrimp, and thought these had a very nice seasoning to them. I know some people don't like to 'work' for their food so if you don't like having to peel the shrimp then you might be annoyed, but it's not a problem for me.

In the meantime, hubby had some pork and some beef (I passed on both of these) and then the chicken was brought out which was also really, really good. Again, as we try to eat very healthy food at home we've eaten a TON of grilled chicken lately but because of the nice spice on this we really enjoyed it. If you read my quick service report you'll know that I'm picky about my chicken but the 'Ohana chicken was very tender, well-trimmed, and good. I only had one piece as I was enjoying all the shrimp so much but could have definitely eaten more if only I wasn't so full!

We never felt rushed through this meal at all although they did definitely keep the food coming. We knew we could have sat and enjoyed the meal for much longer-our server kept encouraging us to take our time and sit and enjoy as long as we wanted to, and was very willing to bring us more of whatever we wanted. During this time the entertainment was going on around us but it was not too loud or distracting as we'd heard it might be. The coconut races and parade and limbo with the kids were cute, and they had a time when engaged, honeymooning, and anniversary couples could come up for a special dance. We declined because 1)our hands were covered in shrimp and chicken wings and 2)we really don't care for a lot of attention or all eyes on us. But it was a really special thing for the couples that took advantage.

Finally, it was dessert time. First, we were given a cute cupcake in honor of our anniversary. We each had a few bites and it was a good cupcake. Then we were brought our bread pudding with the ice cream and caramel sauce. My hubby is still talking about this dessert! I am not a bread pudding person but even I thought it was good, and I just had a bit more of the ice cream and caramel sauce. Again, we could not finish all that was served to us despite finding it all absolutely delicious.

When it was time to pay the bill we were a little confused-or maybe it was just me with my lapu lapu brain...we had budgeted cash for our tips, and wanted to pay for the lapu lapu rather than charge it to the room...it took us a bit to figure out how to do that but we did...once we realized we should just give the server our KTTW card for the dining plan, cash for the drink, and then not worry about the tip until he brought the bill back to us. I still don't know why this seemed so hard, but it did!

After dinner we took a leisurely walk to the boat dock at the Polynesian and took the boat over to the Magic Kingdom where we stayed until the park closed. This could very well have been the best night of a truly wonderful vacation. Can't wait for another meal at 'Ohana!

 

[teacherlisa1978]

Le Cellier
I was excited to get this ADR but nervous about the actual meal. This restaurant gets so much hype and there are so many good and bad reviews out there. But, in looking through reviews I tried to see what people who like other restaurants that we've enjoyed had thought about this one and I thought we'd be okay. I am not a steak eater at all so I was not excited about the entree choices. I was coming for the pretzel bread, cheese soup, and creme brulee, period.

After checking in up above on the main World Showcase walkway we walked down to the restaurant itself. There was a bit of confusion here as to whether we had to check in again or not (you don't) but once we all figured that out we found a place to stand and wait. After a few minutes some seats opened up and one of the hostesses began asking trivia questions (both Canadian and Disney) to those waiting so our wait seemed very quick and painless.

When seated, we found out our waiter was from Edmonton, Alberta-which is where my grandfather was born so we had a few minutes of bonding over that which was nice. What was funny is that he talked kind of fast-I understoood him perfectly but after he'd leave my husband would look at me and wait for me to tell him what the waiter had said. He pointed out that we could have smoothies as our drinks on the dining plan-love that! It works out especially well for us since we rarely drink alcohol, and get enough soda with our refillable mugs. We both had the red maple-which is raspberry blended with sprite-very refreshing.

Even though I know it's not a good deal when paying cash, I went with the Chef's favorites menu and had the cheese soup and the gnocchi. I did not want to order the salmon since I'm from Seattle and have fresh salmon frequently-I figure I'm a bit spoiled and salmon flown into Florida and served in a theme park wouldn't live up to my expectations.

But first-the cheese soup. Yum! Just as delicious as I'd always heard it was! I was surprised to be served a large bowl of the goodness-not upset, just surprised! My husband ordered a cup on the side as he had chosen the NY strip for his entree and of course, no appetizer was included with the regular dining plan. He said it was well worth paying extra for, as well.

We really enjoyed the bread-I love pretzel bread and you can't find it many places so this was definitely a treat, especially with the soup.

My husband loved the NY strip and said he'd have it again in a heartbeat. As for me, I would not order the gnocchi again. Too salty and too little flavor other than salt. I definitely should have gone with the salmon or the halibut if I'd have been willing to stray from the Chef's favorites menu. I didn't end up eating even half of my entree but I certainly did not leave hungry due to the large Disney portions.

At this point our waiter kind of disappeared. We had a 7:05 reservation and were hoping to have time to watch the film in Canada and then get a spot to watch Illuminations (did not have to be a perfect spot). There were evening Extra Magic Hours that night and we planned to stay and take advantage of them, but the film in Canada wouldn't be playing so we definitely wanted to fit that in beforehand.

We ordered dessert-maple creme brulee for me and the campfire s'mores for my husband. I'd hoped he'd have the chocolate mousse but oh well-it was his vacation too I guess! It took quite a while for our dessert to appear and we were both trying to savor the nice quiet moments in a cool air conditioned restaurant...but we were really ready to hit the road!

When our dessert did appear-oh my! They were served together on a plate that said "Happy Anniversary" in chocolate, and we were given two complimentary half glasses of champagne with a raspberry in each one. What a wonderful surprise! We would never have expected this, it was truly an extra special bit of pixie dust that made everything that much more special. The best part though was when we were served our dessert and our server said, about my husband's s'mores: "We really don't know how you're supposed to eat this either, soo...good luck." And it was true-very hard to eat. Graham crackers with chocolate stuck together, and a long straw stuck into them with two marshmallows on the top. I got so involved in my creme brulee (yum!) that I forgot to watch and see how he was doing...I know at one point he tried to cut the graham cracker with his knife and it very nearly sailed across the room. So, on that one: buyer beware!

The news that LC would become 2 table credits for dinner next year was announced just before we left on our trip. So, I evaluated our dinner from the stance of 'would I pay 2 credits for it?' For me? No. Not worth it, particularly if an appetizer is not included. If we return, we will pay cash (soup, bread, and dessert for me), or just try for a lunch reservation (which I imagine will be even harder to obtain). It was a great meal and we were very pleased. With a Mickey bar on the way out of Epcot that night I was all set!

Oh--and we left the restaurant at 8:41 in time to catch the last showing of "O Canada" and still watch Illuminations-perfect!

 

[teacherlisa1978]

Sci-Fi
The Sci-Fi has been a favorite of mine since my first trip when I was 13. We've eaten here every trip but one since-it's a tradition. I love the cheesy movies, the cool, dark atmosphere, and yes, eating in a car just makes me happy for some reason! I can't wait to have kids and bring them here.

When we checked in for our ADR many people had been coming in and asking for availability only to be turned away. So when I checked in, on time, with an ADR the host said, "Wow, that was easy!" It made me laugh. So many times on this trip I wondered why people were spending many thousands of dollars on a vacation and not doing any research ahead of time-made me happy that I had done mine and made things easier for me and the castmembers!

We were seated for maybe 5 minutes and then brought to our car-the backseat of a vehicle with a family whose entrees were brought soon after we sat down. The kids were quiet and well behaved and polite-we really enjoyed sharing a car with them! (I cannot say the same about the family in the car next to us-but I digress...)

Our server was wonderful. I wish I remembered his name. He made some recommendations on the menu and wished us a happy anniversary and suggested that we order milkshakes for our beverages if we liked. We ordered the cookies and cream and the chocolate and they were really, really good! Then, my husband ordered the ribs and I had the bruschetta chicken sandwich and fries. I was actually surprised at him ordering the ribs-as with the shrimp at 'Ohana, he doesn't like to have to 'work' for his food. He felt they were a lot of hassle but I think he'd feel like that with any ribs anywhere, and he said they tasted good. I liked the sandwich-the bruschetta topping had a nice tomato flavor which kicked a plain grilled chicken sandwich up a notch. Plus, with a milkshake for a beverage I didn't want a really heavy entree too, so this was just right. We were never rushed here, and in fact, when the family in front of us got up to leave, our server let us move into the front seat for a commemorative photo which was nice. For dessert I had the cheesecake and my husband had the chocolate peanut butter cake. Both were very good. We were surprised (pleasantly) at the end of the meal when we were given two plastic sport sipper bottles (the kind with a long straw) filled with caramel corn with the Sci-Fi logo on them. Perfect to take and enjoy at Fantasmic! later that evening.

The food here is good, not incredible, but of course, it's the atmosphere and environment and entertainment value you come for. We were not disappointed and in the spirit of knowing what you're going to get, we will be back!

 

[teacherlisa1978]

Crystal Palace Breakfast
When making our ADRs I had 4 restaurants figured out (Beaches and Cream-but no ADR of course, Le Cellier, 'Ohana, Sci-Fi.) For our last one, I went around and around-pizza delivery at the hotel the night of our carriage ride? Dinner at Boatwrights at POR before that carriage ride? Chef Mickey's breakfast on our last day? We'd been to CM on our last trip and enjoyed the food and characters and I had almost decided to go with that one when I read some trip reports about people getting to go to Crystal Palace before park opening and getting great pictures of an empty park in addition to getting to eat and be out of the restaurant when the park opened. This spoke to me and I was pleased to get an 8:05 ADR on our last morning.

We'd been to the Magic Kingdom the day before and so knew the drill-where to line up, what time they'd let you in, etc...we were the second in line and so, got some great shots in front of the castle when we were let in. It was a pretty neat experience to be in such an empty park, definitely a must do at least once. We were seated and chatted with a few cast members about the differences in Seattle/Orlando weather (there are many!) and Disneyland vs. Disneyworld. Quickly, our table was ready and we were brought in. Our table was decorated with lots of colorful Mickey head confetti in honor of our anniversary and we were given an anniversary card signed by Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet. Those little touches just made everything that much more special-particularly because we didn't expect them and would have been just as pleased without them. We really felt like there were people in Disney who truly and honestly were glad we were there to celebrate with them.

Our server explained how the characters would come around table to table, that it would take about an hour to see them all, that she'd refill our juices and my coffee, and that we had a few minutes right then to head up for food before the characters came out. We were one of the first tables to head up to the buffet and it was so nice to have everything fresh and ready. The breakfast pizza, make your own omelettes and raspberry coffee cake were early favorites. The spot for Pooh's puffed french toast was empty on our first trip so I made sure to head up one more time a bit later, between characters. I had that with the strawberries and whipped cream and oh my gosh! It was as good as I've read it is! I texted my mom and told her it was like eating churros for breakfast. Yummmmmy! We'll go back there just for that.

As I said, we'll go back...but I really do have a hard time with breakfast buffets...we are rope drop people and like to hit the ground running. It's hard to do that when you're stuffed to the gills with absolutely delicious food. We got some fastpasses and took it easy in the morning while our stomachs settled for a while and that was a good idea. We had a dinner here in 2007 and we both definitely preferred the breakfast-and a lot of that did have to do with everything being freshly prepared when we got there.

That's the end of our table service meals on a magical anniversary and free dining trip-thanks for reading and I hope my reviews helped someone else!

 

[Ullis]

Great reviews! We have Ohanas booked for our upcoming trip and hope to walk in at B&C for some ice cream. So I'm glad to learn that you enjoyed them. (We will defiantly make ADR for CP:s breakfast next year - that pooh puffed bread sounds so good, and pics in an empty park is super cool!)

 

[bluejasmine]

Thank you for the reviews! Looking fwd to Ohana, Le Cellier and Sci Fi on our trip soon, I love that they gave you carmel corn to go, its one of my faves! LOL I am excited for DH To try Sci Fi he hasnt been

 

[DLo]

thanks for your reviews. We are trying o'hana for the 1st time this trip so gald you liked it. we are having sci fi for lunch also and hopefully, beaches and cream.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Thanks for sharing a great review...we are trying LeCellier for our first time too (my husband is not a steak person so we never tried this place but I wanted to try it b/c people says its good and a hard to get ADR).
We are trying CP breakfast too for first time...we always go for lunch at CP but wanted to try the breakfast there.

 

[williamson_ja]

Thanks for all the reviews. 'Ohana is one of our favorites. The bread pudding there is just to die for! Sounds like you had a great trip.

 

[KatMark]

Thanks for your great reviews. We've dine at three or your meal places -- LeCellier, Sci-Fi and CP (LeCellier and CP are a must do almost every trip). We've not tried Beaches & Cream or Ohanas yet, but we are anxious to get to Beaches & Cream one of these days.

 

[catne]

and Happy Anniversary!

Also, congrats on the weight loss (and not gaining any with all that good food at Disney...that was a nice bit of pixie dust on your trip...you got those magical Disney calories that don't count!)

 

[TheNewMrsB]

Great reviews!

You really hit the nail on the head when you described Sci-Fi...you don't really go because the food is stellar (though it's not bad) - you go for the experience, which is so fun. It was definitely a great accidental find on our honeymoon, when we were lucky enough to walk in for lunch.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

great reviews, really interested as we are doing Le Celiier and Sci-fi for first time next trip.

 

[NJDisney]

I am amazed at the detail. Did you take notes after each meal just for this board