Two first timers take on free dining...was it a success? 13-27 Sept 2011- Complete...

[dizneeat]

No wonder I missed the start of this! You started while I was on vacation! But I am here now eagerly awaiting the next installment!

I was happy to see that you started out your trip with two of my favourite places, WPE and CG!!! Glad you enjoyed them both!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Excellent start! We are staying at Pop after our cruise in January and can't wait to read more.

By the way, I think I've seen a few other reviews with plane food as well and for some reason I love to see what they serve on international flights! Glad your trip has started out so well with the Cali Grill meal. That dessert sounds heavenly!

Thanks! We loved Pop - hope you enjoy it just as much in January.

I'm glad you like seeing aeroplane food - think I may also have some of the return leg. Cali Grill was absolutely amazing and a great way to start our trip! I can't rave about that dessert enough - it sure was heavenly!

Mmmmmm, that pizza from WPE looks yummy!

Love the sunset photo... what a view!

Your CG dinner sounds lovely. Not sure I'll ever have a chance to go there myself, though. I don't see it as being a place the kids would want to go to, LOL!

That pizza sure was yummy - we got another one later on in the trip but I enjoyed this selection more. WPE sure is a great CS place!

I loved having that view and seeing the sunset! We don't get many opportunities to see the sunrise/set in the UK so seeing it so close up was beautiful!

CG was great! Aaw hope you get to go one day as think you would enjoy it - maybe you need to plan another girls only trip so you can get to experience it

That pizza from WPE looks amazing! I love it there!

I'm so glad you got to experience CG as your first WDW TS! I think it's an essential WDW experience everyone needs to try at least once.
Glad you liked my cake suggestion. I've been to CG five times and haven't been able to bring myself to order any other dessert besides that cake!

WPE sure was amaazing!! I loved this place!

I agree - I'm so happy that we got to experience this place on our first visit as it was definitely worth it! Lol, I totally understand why you would get that cake each and every time! If I ever ate here again I would not hesitate to order this dessert.

Well now I want a cupcake and a steak! You meal at CG looked vey good! And the view...Beautiful!

We didn't get mugs, but now I wish I had.

Hope you managed to get your cupcake and steak! The meal at CG was amazing and the view was equally beautiful - it was a nice way to see parts of MK without actually being in the park.

Oh well...there's always next time. We loved our mug and it was used a lot.

This meal at CG looks amazing!!! This restaurant is definitely on my Disney wish-list. The chef seems so attentive and you cannot beat that view!

Even though I remember the tie-die cheesecake from Everything Pop I don't think I had ever seen the cupcake. It looks cute.

Cannot wait to read more.
Q

It sure was amaazing!!!! Oh, you definitely have to try it on your next trip - I can't recommend this place enough. It is Zaheer's favourite meal of the whole trip and rates highly for me as well. The chef was great and that view was a great experience after our first full day at Disney.

The cupcake is cute and tasted very nice. Zaheer got the cheesecake later but I never got to try it

Hoping to have the next installment up soon.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Mmmmm, food.

Okay, so on our trip in July, Jason and I were looking around like crazy for the jalapeno pretzel because we smelled them and for the life of us, we could not find them! Oh well. Glad you enjoyed it.

California Grill looks really good. I'm glad that you liked it. I have to admit that I've never eaten there before, but it's definitely on my list.

Mmmm, am sure I will gain weight whilst typing this DR!

That jalapeno pretzel was sooo yummy - oh no on not being able to find them in July! You sure can smell them from far away! We got one in Africa because I thought it was the only place you could get it. We then went further on and saw them again. Zaheer just looked at me and said 'I thought you said we could only get them at one place' He wasn't hungry when we got it and would've rather waited until later!

Oh, hope you get to eat at Cali Grill one day soon...it sure was a great experience!

Just found this one and I'm definitely subbing!

glad to have you here! Hope you enjoy the reviews!

Subbing for more really good dining reviews. Thanks.

and aww thank you for the compliment - it sure means a lot! Hope you enjoy the rest of the reviews.

No wonder I missed the start of this! You started while I was on vacation! But I am here now eagerly awaiting the next installment!

I was happy to see that you started out your trip with two of my favourite places, WPE and CG!!! Glad you enjoyed them both!

Lol Karin and you did the same - satrted your DR whilst I was at Disney World! I'm all caught up now. Hoping to have another installment up soon.

Yay, I'm happy to read that WPE and CG are both your favourites! They sure are great dining places!

 

[disneymomof1]

subbing in, now to go back to the beginning, looks great !!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Mmmmm Cali Grill...it was our favorite meal last September when Jasmine and I went on our own! She would agree 150% with you on your dessert, it was her favorite too! I love how the Chef's come to your table when you have special requests to make sure everything is just right...I love it!

Glad you were impressed with WPE...oh and that cheesecake looks devine!

 

[PixieMama]

CG was great! Aaw hope you get to go one day as think you would enjoy it - maybe you need to plan another girls only trip so you can get to experience it

I would be completely on board for another "girls only" trip!

 

[TanzUnited99]

subbing in, now to go back to the beginning, looks great !!

thanks for subbing! Hope you enjoy the read!

Mmmmm Cali Grill...it was our favorite meal last September when Jasmine and I went on our own! She would agree 150% with you on your dessert, it was her favorite too! I love how the Chef's come to your table when you have special requests to make sure everything is just right...I love it!

Glad you were impressed with WPE...oh and that cheesecake looks devine!

I loved Cali grill!! Yay on getting to go here with Jasmine last September...that must have been a great experience! Lol, Jasmine and I have the same taste in desserts - I loved this one and then tried the No Way Joe later as well Having the chef come to our table was great - I loved it too!

Yes, WPE sure lived up to it's high expectations and the cheesecake sure was devine!

I would be completely on board for another "girls only" trip!

Lol, get planning! I want a 'girls only' trip too...

 

[TanzUnited99]

I totally forgot to include Restaurantosaurus in my last update! We got a Shrimp Po Boy to share which was very nice. I loved the fish and the sauce that was on top went very nicely with the other contents.

We also got some iced water which was needed and for dessert we got the chocolate mousse. This was good but I never saw much of it as Zaheer munched his way through this dessert very quickly!

 

[TanzUnited99]

The next morning I knew we were having breakfast at a park so I went to get some morning coffee in our refillable mug. Zaheer met me outside and a bus was already waiting for us! We got to MK and walked down Main Street - loved the atmosphere! We went to Main Street Bakery and I got a chocolate croissant which was very yummy!! Zaheer got a cinnamon roll with grapes and milk. This was very nice. He actually wanted a croissant with just cheese but we were told that the croissant were prepared in advance and all contained ham and cheese in them.

For lunch we ended up at Columbia Harbour House - we fell in love with this place and different food that was on offer! We got the Anchors Aweigh Sandwich with fries. This was very nice and I loved the healthy option. For dessert we wanted the strawberry yoghurt but it contained gelatine so we went for the apple crisp. This was meh and neither of us really enjoyed it. It would probably be one of the desserts at the bottom of our list.

We also got Diet coke and lemonade to drink - this became my favourite drink at Disney World and I had it many times during our trip. At home I normally drink Diet coke or water so it was nice to have a change.

CHH gets an A and we would definitely return but just order a different dessert.

We got an ice cream cone from the parlour on our way out and this was very yummy and a great way to cool down.

Our evening meal today was at Kona Cafe. We took a bus to Epcot, got the monorail to TTC and walked it to Poly from there. We loved the resort and the tropical feel it had to it.

We got to Kona Cafe and checked in. We were called approximately 5 minutes later and were going to be served by Maurice. He was okay but we could definitely tell the difference between the service at California Grill and that we received here. I suppose we shouldn't compare the two as they are completely different restaurants but we couldn't help it. We asked to speak with the chef and Chef Tony came out a couple of minutes later. He was great and told us what we could order from the menu.

I ordered the Teriyaki Style New York Strip and Zaheer chose the Coconut Almond Chicken.

Whilst our main meals were getting ready we were served the Kona Cafe bread with the Macademia Nut butter - this was absolutely delish! We both loved it and cleaned the plate in a matter of minutes.

Our mains arrived and we both enjoyed them. Think we both agreed that mine was the better one out of the two - loved the sticky rice.

For dessert I had the Kileau Torte and Zaheer ordered the Upside Down Pineapple cake. They were both good but we were too full by that point and so probably didn't enjoy them as much as we should have done.

Sorry, Zaheer had eaten some of his dessert before I got round to taking this photo.

Afterwards we walked to the beach and spent some time relaxing here. We both loved this resort!

Kona Cafe gets an A- as the bread was delicious however think we were spoilt at California Grill yesterday and felt the service here wasn't excellent.

 

[IheartDDuck]

I love CHH! One of my favorite CS locations. I do love all of the options that they have there for sure. Sorry that you didn't enjoy the apple crisp. I've had it different times. There have been times that it's been really good and then times that it hasn't been the greatest.

Glad you liked Kona. I'm a fan of breakfast there, so I've never made it over for dinner.

Love the hammock pictures. I do find those hammocks hard to get out of though. Every time I've been in them, the only way I've been able to get out is by rolling because they're so low to the ground.

 

[mamaboogie]

Great reviews so far!

Glad you had a fantastic meal at the California Grill - we love going there for a special treat.

CHH is probably one of our favourite counter service restaurants - my daughter loves the tuna sandwich.

Can't wait to read more!

 

[Queenofallthings]

CHH is our favorite CS at MK! I love the fact that I can get a tuna sandwich...somedays I just want a tuna sandwich!!! Great options here!

Isn't that bread and butter to die for? Jasmine and I love it too....but we were disappointed in our evening meal the last time we went! I don't want to say I will never go back, but I did prefer breakfast here!

 

[TanzUnited99]

I love CHH! One of my favorite CS locations. I do love all of the options that they have there for sure. Sorry that you didn't enjoy the apple crisp. I've had it different times. There have been times that it's been really good and then times that it hasn't been the greatest.

Glad you liked Kona. I'm a fan of breakfast there, so I've never made it over for dinner.

Love the hammock pictures. I do find those hammocks hard to get out of though. Every time I've been in them, the only way I've been able to get out is by rolling because they're so low to the ground.

I loved CHH as well! We sat upstairs and enjoyed the view - will be sharing pics over on the TR soon. It was hard to make a decision of what to order - we could have had the fried fish/shrimp basket as well. However, we decided that it would be hard to get a sandwich in other places so went for this option. It sure was a yummy eat!

Ooh it's nice to know that about the apple crisp - may be if I give it another try I might enjoy it. Like you said we probably chose a day when they weren't at their greatest!

I want to do breakfast at Kona one day as have heard nothing but great reviews of it. Dinner was okay - the bread was the best part of it!

Lol, I'm glad to read that I am not the only one to have a problem with getting out of them hammocks! Luckily it was late and there weren't many people around to witness this experience!

Great reviews so far!

Glad you had a fantastic meal at the California Grill - we love going there for a special treat.

CHH is probably one of our favourite counter service restaurants - my daughter loves the tuna sandwich.

Can't wait to read more!

Shari and thanks for the compliment!

We loved California Grill and agree it is a great place for a special treat.

We felt the same way about CHH - there was one other CS place that rated as highly and that will be coming up later The tuna sandwich was very good and a nice change from other CS food.

CHH is our favorite CS at MK! I love the fact that I can get a tuna sandwich...somedays I just want a tuna sandwich!!! Great options here!

Isn't that bread and butter to die for? Jasmine and I love it too....but we were disappointed in our evening meal the last time we went! I don't want to say I will never go back, but I did prefer breakfast here!

I think I agree with you in the CHH is a favourite CS at MK! Like you said it's refreshing to be able to get a tuna sandwich and some days that's what you want!

Oh my you are making my mouth water by making me think of that bread and butter!! I want some now!! Even though I have just eaten dinner. It was the highlight of that meal. The service was okay and I think the reason the meal was enjoyable was because of the chef coming to see us and making us feel welcome. We had a couple of meals where the chefs gave us better service than the actual servers

I think in the future I would definitely choose this place for breakfast rather than dinner.

 

[archdandy]

Great reviews so far! I have a question about the jalapeno stuffed pretzel. Is there stuff on the inside and if so what is it like? I always imagined it to be a cheese sauce but I guess that wouldnt make sense.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Great reviews so far! I have a question about the jalapeno stuffed pretzel. Is there stuff on the inside and if so what is it like? I always imagined it to be a cheese sauce but I guess that wouldnt make sense.

and thanks!

With regards to the jalapeno stuffed pretzel you are right in thinking it would be a cheese sauce which also contains jalapenos and gives it that little bit of a kick. It is not too spicy though and very enjoyable. I think the cheese sauce mellows it and the combination is just right. Are you thinking of getting one on your upcoming trip? If so enjoy munching your way through one of these yummy treats!

If you have any further questions let me know

 

[cbg1027]

You definitely get spoiled when you eat signatures, so I try not to compare them to the regular restaurants!

I love the Anchors Aweigh sandwich from CHH - it is a nice, cool, non fried option.

 

[KatMark]

Tanz, great start on the reviews. We didn't make it to Columbia Harbor House this trip, but it is one of our all time favorites. We haven't been to California Grill, but really hope to fit it in on the next trip. We did Kona for breakfast (outstanding), but have never had dinner there.

 

[Chaitali]

For some reason, I didn't get an email about any of the updates! But I'm caught up now I'm glad you guys enjoyed the California Grill. We loved it too. I didn't make it to CHH during the last trip but I'm definitely going to try it out in October.

 

[Linda67]

I've finally had chance to catch up with your reviews

You're doing a great job

So glad you enjoyed your dinner at CG

Hopefully there's more cupcake reviews on the way

 

[TanzUnited99]

You definitely get spoiled when you eat signatures, so I try not to compare them to the regular restaurants!

I love the Anchors Aweigh sandwich from CHH - it is a nice, cool, non fried option.

I thought that would be the case. I was sat during our meal at Kona Cafe telling myself not to compare both restaurants but couldn't help it. We were sure spoiled at California Grill!

I loved that sandwich as well - it sure is a refreshing change from fried food.

Tanz, great start on the reviews. We didn't make it to Columbia Harbor House this trip, but it is one of our all time favorites. We haven't been to California Grill, but really hope to fit it in on the next trip. We did Kona for breakfast (outstanding), but have never had dinner there.

Thanks Kathy! It's nice to hear from you - hope you are having a great time! CHH sure is a great MK dining spot - we loved it! Looking forward to seeing which CS place you all ended up eating at.

Hope you manage to fit California Grill in on your next trip as we loved our meal here - it was amazing! I want to do Kona for breakfast one day as have heard it is much better than dinner here.

For some reason, I didn't get an email about any of the updates! But I'm caught up now I'm glad you guys enjoyed the California Grill. We loved it too. I didn't make it to CHH during the last trip but I'm definitely going to try it out in October.

Yay, glad you are here now Chaitali! Have been wondering where you have been. Can't believe how close your October trip is getting!

California Grill sure was great! I hope you get to eat at CHH in October and look forward to hearing your thoughts on this CS place.

I've finally had chance to catch up with your reviews

You're doing a great job

So glad you enjoyed your dinner at CG

Hopefully there's more cupcake reviews on the way

Aaw thanks for catching up and the compliment Linda I sure hope I am doing this right as I have never done a DR before. However, having read yours and many others has helped.

Yes, we loved our dinner at CG - would go back in a heartbeat!

Don't worry - I can assure you that there are more cupcakes along the way!