TravelinGal
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2003
- Messages
- 2,064
After getting my hair done at the Ivy Trellis Salon I went back to our room to get ready for dinner. DH and I dressed up and headed out, joyfully leaving DS (4) at the Mouseketeer Club at the Grand Floridian. (He had a blast and didn't want to leave!)
Here we are at the table:
The walls are covered with fabric, not wallpaper! It was gorgeous!
We were greeted upon entering and taken to our table. We walked past a woman playing a harp. The music was beautiful - fitting of the restaurant. We were seated in a smaller room to the left of the main dining room. I was happy with this as I've read some posts that suggested the main area is a bit louder (the shape of the ceiling makes even quiet sounds from the other side of the room easy to hear). There was a fire in the fireplace and above the fireplace there was a picture of Victoria and Albert. From the start I could tell the service would leave nothing to be desired!
Our menus were presented to us and they also advised us of the vegetarian menu we could order from as well. Wayne appreciated that because he is not fond of fish and that gave him a safe place to choose from on the fish course.
The personalized menus (I blurred our last name out since the photobucket account these are in is public)
Sorry this next one is so huge, but I wanted people to be able to read it:
As you can see some of the items have a price next to them. This is in addition to the $125 per person cost!
The items not in bold were the wine suggestions for each course.
Since neither of us are drinkers we declined the wine pairing. I took full advantage of the water though. I am afraid I kept our server running with that... LOL One time he was tied up with another table and I happened to finish off my water. When he looked up after finishing with them his eyes popped open wide and he looked alarmed as he rushed to our table to refill my glass. After that I made sure to not drink it empty (and he was always prompt about refilling it at about half way). I certainly wouldn't want to be the cause of him having a stroke or something! lol I ended up drinking about a bottle and a half! (and it wasn't a small bottle! You can see it on the corner of our table)
Our other server had a heavy accent and he was hard to understand. He was kind and gracious, but I do wish I could have understood what he was saying when he brought out each of the plates! All I know for sure about the first of 7 courses (6 plus the starter) was that the little egg was a quail egg with caviar on top. I tried the caviar and still don't like it. But I did try it.
I failed at getting good pictures of each course. I was trying to be discreet and so the pictures I did take were a bit blurry and then we'd be finishing the last bite of a dish and I'd remember I hadn't taken a photo. (darn it!)
So, here we go...
Amuse Bouche - the starter. Not really a 'course' as they advertise it as a 6 course meal and this is in addition to that:
The creamy soup had a mild fish flavor, the little roll thing had salmon in it (I think!), I already mentioned the quail egg and inside the eggshell was a custard like egg mixture that also had a mild fish flavor to it.
Since DH does not like fish they made his plate a little different. (no caviar on the quail egg, a veggie roll instead of the fish and I'd assume no fish stock/flavor in the soup or egg, which was a white shell instead of the brown shell I had)
For our first course we both choose the Spiced Colorado Buffalo with Apple-Radish Salad and Curry. (no photo) It was delicious! The Buffalo medallions were quite small (as were all the dishes) and that was one I wish had been a bit bigger. (We both enjoy buffalo meat a lot)
For our second course (no photo) I chose the Yellow Edge Grouper with Artichokes, Fennel, Leeks and Jamon Iberico. OMG! I've never enjoyed a fish more! So light and mild with a very light crust on it. This was the course Wayne ordered off the vegetarian menu. I don't remember what he ordered but it had a small serving of Ratatouille on the side.
Our third course Wayne tried the Minnesota Elk Tenderloin and I tried the Duck Breast. Both were, of course, wonderful! I was a bit concerned that the duck might have a 'gamey' taste but it didn't. It was quite tasty!
Our fourth course (no photo) we both selected the Kobe Beef Tenderloin ($30 each additional). We had not had Kobe beef before and wanted to try it. I would have to say that, while it was very good, we probably would not pay that much again. There wasn't a noticeable difference to us between that and the bison fillet we have been eating lately. (very low fat/low cal!!) The smoked Garlic Potato Puree was served in what looked like a miniature gravy boat. It was cute! And yummy, of course!
I think this was the course that had this incredible garlic on it. It had been cooked (baked for 3 days? Don't remember exactly what he said) and was nothing more than this thin black wafer - but it was SOOO good! It didn't taste like garlic at all. It had a sweet taste!
The fifth course I chose the White Chocolate Gelato (very very good!) and Wayne had the Cheese plate. (must have been good - he ate it all!)
The sixth and final course was dessert. Upon our servers recommendation ("If you like chocolate you must try...") I ordered a chocolate sampler platter: Tanzanian Chocolate Pyramid (with a bit of gold leaf on top), Hawaiian Kona Chocolate Soufflé (OMG! pure heaven!) and Peruvian Chocolate Ice Cream and Puff Pastry.
Wayne ordered the Chocolate Soufflé and I was jealous that he had a larger serving than me after trying it! (I liked my other choices though and always enjoy variety)
After that I had a cup of Vanilla (and Jasmine?) Black Tea (wonderful) and DH had the coffee service. I can say THAT is a must do! It is such a unique process - and for anyone who has said there is not a decent cup of coffee to be found anywhere on Disney property, all I can say is FOUND IT!
Oh - another amazing service point -- I had stepped away to... ahem... "powder my nose" and when I returned the hostess was a few steps behind me and she then apologized for not getting to my chair before me to pull it out.
Wayne also told me that when I left the table one of the servers rushed over and took my (barely used) napkin and replaced it with a clean one.
After our dinner I was presented with a long stem rose (red, of course), our server put our personalized menus in a bag along with a tasty treat for later and we strolled around the GF building for a little bit. We looked in a couple of the shops and then stopped and asked a CM if they would please take our photo on the GF Staircase:
It was an expensive but highly enjoyable evening and we both agreed that we would like to do it again on a future trip. If it fits in your budget, I highly recommend it to everyone!!! (and no kids is certainly a bonus
-- I love my son dearly, but a peaceful all adult break was divine!)
Here we are at the table:
The walls are covered with fabric, not wallpaper! It was gorgeous!
We were greeted upon entering and taken to our table. We walked past a woman playing a harp. The music was beautiful - fitting of the restaurant. We were seated in a smaller room to the left of the main dining room. I was happy with this as I've read some posts that suggested the main area is a bit louder (the shape of the ceiling makes even quiet sounds from the other side of the room easy to hear). There was a fire in the fireplace and above the fireplace there was a picture of Victoria and Albert. From the start I could tell the service would leave nothing to be desired!
Our menus were presented to us and they also advised us of the vegetarian menu we could order from as well. Wayne appreciated that because he is not fond of fish and that gave him a safe place to choose from on the fish course.
The personalized menus (I blurred our last name out since the photobucket account these are in is public)
Sorry this next one is so huge, but I wanted people to be able to read it:
As you can see some of the items have a price next to them. This is in addition to the $125 per person cost!
The items not in bold were the wine suggestions for each course.
Since neither of us are drinkers we declined the wine pairing. I took full advantage of the water though. I am afraid I kept our server running with that... LOL One time he was tied up with another table and I happened to finish off my water. When he looked up after finishing with them his eyes popped open wide and he looked alarmed as he rushed to our table to refill my glass. After that I made sure to not drink it empty (and he was always prompt about refilling it at about half way). I certainly wouldn't want to be the cause of him having a stroke or something! lol I ended up drinking about a bottle and a half! (and it wasn't a small bottle! You can see it on the corner of our table)
Our other server had a heavy accent and he was hard to understand. He was kind and gracious, but I do wish I could have understood what he was saying when he brought out each of the plates! All I know for sure about the first of 7 courses (6 plus the starter) was that the little egg was a quail egg with caviar on top. I tried the caviar and still don't like it. But I did try it.
I failed at getting good pictures of each course. I was trying to be discreet and so the pictures I did take were a bit blurry and then we'd be finishing the last bite of a dish and I'd remember I hadn't taken a photo. (darn it!)
So, here we go...
Amuse Bouche - the starter. Not really a 'course' as they advertise it as a 6 course meal and this is in addition to that:
The creamy soup had a mild fish flavor, the little roll thing had salmon in it (I think!), I already mentioned the quail egg and inside the eggshell was a custard like egg mixture that also had a mild fish flavor to it.
Since DH does not like fish they made his plate a little different. (no caviar on the quail egg, a veggie roll instead of the fish and I'd assume no fish stock/flavor in the soup or egg, which was a white shell instead of the brown shell I had)
For our first course we both choose the Spiced Colorado Buffalo with Apple-Radish Salad and Curry. (no photo) It was delicious! The Buffalo medallions were quite small (as were all the dishes) and that was one I wish had been a bit bigger. (We both enjoy buffalo meat a lot)
For our second course (no photo) I chose the Yellow Edge Grouper with Artichokes, Fennel, Leeks and Jamon Iberico. OMG! I've never enjoyed a fish more! So light and mild with a very light crust on it. This was the course Wayne ordered off the vegetarian menu. I don't remember what he ordered but it had a small serving of Ratatouille on the side.
Our third course Wayne tried the Minnesota Elk Tenderloin and I tried the Duck Breast. Both were, of course, wonderful! I was a bit concerned that the duck might have a 'gamey' taste but it didn't. It was quite tasty!
Our fourth course (no photo) we both selected the Kobe Beef Tenderloin ($30 each additional). We had not had Kobe beef before and wanted to try it. I would have to say that, while it was very good, we probably would not pay that much again. There wasn't a noticeable difference to us between that and the bison fillet we have been eating lately. (very low fat/low cal!!) The smoked Garlic Potato Puree was served in what looked like a miniature gravy boat. It was cute! And yummy, of course!
I think this was the course that had this incredible garlic on it. It had been cooked (baked for 3 days? Don't remember exactly what he said) and was nothing more than this thin black wafer - but it was SOOO good! It didn't taste like garlic at all. It had a sweet taste!
The fifth course I chose the White Chocolate Gelato (very very good!) and Wayne had the Cheese plate. (must have been good - he ate it all!)
The sixth and final course was dessert. Upon our servers recommendation ("If you like chocolate you must try...") I ordered a chocolate sampler platter: Tanzanian Chocolate Pyramid (with a bit of gold leaf on top), Hawaiian Kona Chocolate Soufflé (OMG! pure heaven!) and Peruvian Chocolate Ice Cream and Puff Pastry.
Wayne ordered the Chocolate Soufflé and I was jealous that he had a larger serving than me after trying it! (I liked my other choices though and always enjoy variety)
After that I had a cup of Vanilla (and Jasmine?) Black Tea (wonderful) and DH had the coffee service. I can say THAT is a must do! It is such a unique process - and for anyone who has said there is not a decent cup of coffee to be found anywhere on Disney property, all I can say is FOUND IT!
Oh - another amazing service point -- I had stepped away to... ahem... "powder my nose" and when I returned the hostess was a few steps behind me and she then apologized for not getting to my chair before me to pull it out.
Wayne also told me that when I left the table one of the servers rushed over and took my (barely used) napkin and replaced it with a clean one.
After our dinner I was presented with a long stem rose (red, of course), our server put our personalized menus in a bag along with a tasty treat for later and we strolled around the GF building for a little bit. We looked in a couple of the shops and then stopped and asked a CM if they would please take our photo on the GF Staircase:
It was an expensive but highly enjoyable evening and we both agreed that we would like to do it again on a future trip. If it fits in your budget, I highly recommend it to everyone!!! (and no kids is certainly a bonus
-- I love my son dearly, but a peaceful all adult break was divine!)
