Victoria & Albert's Chef's Table

[mlill]

We did it! We had a wonderful dinner at Victoria & Albert's Chef's Table on Oct. 30th. We took our kids, ages 15, 12, and 10. It was an unbelievable experience for all of us --- way better than I had hoped for. We ate everything (except for the blue cheeses of the world, but we tried them all). The food is so good it's hard to even describe. My kids are still talking about it! It was the highlight of our entire trip, and we were at WDW for 11 days and did two MNSSHP's! I don't regret the cost of all of us going one bit. (It was only a little more than what we spent on our pre-show dinner and La Nouba tickets on our last vacation.) My kids have now experienced fine dining at it's best, and I know that they will be able to appreciate what an art fine cooking is after seeing the work that went into preparing our dinner at V&A's. I posted some pictures of our dinner here...

http://www.familyphotoquilt.com/chefstable.htm

-Michelle

 

[BCV23]

What a treat for your children and what a special memory for all of you!

 

[musicmom3]

Your pictures are lovely! Can you tell me if a chef's table is different from a regular table, and if so, how it is different?

 

[Uncleromulus]

Nice pictures!!
Am pleased that you had a fine meal!!
By any chance, do you recall who you had as Victoria and Albert??

 

[Calcio]

Thanks for the report! This coming January the three of us, myself, lovely spouse, and 19 year old college sophomore young lady type have reservations for the chef's table.

All this does is make me more excited.

 

[mlill]

Now that we're home, it's been a hard adjustment for all of us to go back to eating 'regular' food! We had so many nice meals this trip!


musicmom3- The Chef's Table is in a very nice alcove in the kitchen area. You get 10 courses that consist of smaller portions of all of the evenings offerings. It's ALOT of food by the end of the night. At first you look at the dishes and think - oh, how cute the small servings are, but by the end, you are full! I'm glad we were by ourselves, because more than once I exclaimed with delight at how delicious the food was! It was very cool being able to give a nod to the chef that prepared each of our courses. They each kept an eye on our table to see how well we liked what they prepared. The kitchen is divided up into sections and each chef has a specific task, cold appetizers, hot appetizers, grill chef, pastry chef, etc.


Uncleromulus- Hi! Now I understand why you've been to V&A's so many times!!! My hubby & I are going back to WDW in 3 weeks for a long weekend without the kids, and we're going to try to get a reservation at V&A's in the dining room. He had read your reviews and was upset that he didn't get the Chimay beer with our Chef's Table wine pairings!!! Anyway, we actually had all of the Victoria's take care of us. They took turns - I think they all wanted to see how well the kids did, and they thought my youngest was cute when she got up halfway through the meal so she could 'twirl' in her new dress. Our 'Albert' stuck with us the entire time. He was wonderful. Here he is with our coffee...

Have a great time in January, Calcio!!!

-Michelle

P.S. I wanted to mention that when we got to V&A and found out that executive chef Scott Hunnel was not there, we were a bit disappointed. His assistant chef, Aimee, was our host for the evening. She was soooo good with us and took time to explain everything and answer all of our questions, that by the end of the dinner, we fell in love with her! We're very glad that Aimee was our host chef!

 

[meuseman]

Michelle-

I see you had the Kobe Beef! Isn't that the best beef you have ever had? It just melts in your mouth.

My wife and I went on Sep. 30 for our honeymoon. Scott was our Chef and John was our Albert. What a meal we had!

Kristen likes all of her food well done and Scott was very conscious about that. He even cooked the Foie Gras well. (that didn't mean that Kristen ate all of it )

I'm glad you had a great time.

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

OMG! That is IT! I am officially JEALOUS! I long to visit the chef's table at V&A's! My DH knows this and we will probably do it for our 10 year wedding anniversary, which is 2 1/2 years away. That's ok, I can wait...I want to have it to look forward to! How far in advance should I make a PS for this experience?

Also, my only concern is atmosphere. It doesn't seem too "romantic" in the kitchen. I think the chef's table might be more fun with other "foodies"like myself. My DH and I are talking about going with another couple that are also into fine dining. What do you think about that?

Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your pics! You have a beautiful family. I love to see a whole family enjoying the finer things in life!

 

[musicmom3]

I tried to make a reservation today for the chef's table for a Wednesday in April...but the person on the other end of the phone said that my date "had not come up yet" even though my date is less than 180 days out. She said it comes up tomorrow. This was a CM from WDW Guest Services. The first number I called, which I thought was the special number, was voice mail to confirm for the day's diners. The voice mail referred me to the second number to make the reservation, and that number was WDW Guest Services. The CM could not have been more pleasant, but I am still confused....but I will try again tomorrow!

 

[lark]

How far in advance should I make a PS for this experience?

Also, my only concern is atmosphere. It doesn't seem too "romantic" in the kitchen. [/B]

I believe the PS period for the chef's table is 180 days. You should call the first moment you are eligible to call -- at 7:00 in the morning. Use the advice given for Cindarella's table; same deal. Call 180 days before the first day of your vacation. If you don't get it, try again the next day, for the next day, etc.

The table is bigger now than it was when we did it. I've also heard reports that they will put more than one party at the table if there are small parties. (Has anyone confirmed that?) That obviously would make it less romantic. Depends on what you consider romantic, but it really isn't in a traditional sense. For example, when we went, they were preparing foie gras for the next night, so there was a very large 5 gallon clear bucket of milk about 4 feet from where we were eating filled with huge, oversized goose livers. It's also a real operating kitchen devoted to plated orders for defined seating times in the main room, so it gets very busy and hectic at main course and desert times. The way it was situated when we did it, we were looking pretty much at the grill, which gets very very busy.

I'd say it's more "interactive" than "romantic."

 

[musicmom3]

My date is April 20, and according to my math on the 180-day rule, I should have been able to book on October 22 or sometime around there. Yet I could not for some reason. Unless my math is flawed (which I would fully expect it to be!).

If the chef's table reservation doesn't work, do you have to wait until you're 90 days out to book a regular reservation?

Good to know about the interactive part, Lark! I like your description!

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

Thanks for the quick responses. Lark, I am very curious to know if other parties could possible be seated with you. I would definitely NOT like that!