Last May my wife, my mother and myself took my 5 year old (at the time) on a surprise trip to Orlando. It took me a lot of time but I secretly planned the whole trip out with out my son finding out until we pulled into a rest stop just south of Jacksonville. It probably was the best way to do it since he would been asking every 5 mins how much longer all the way from Virginia. It would have gotten old quick. Anyway the trip coincided with my wife's birthday so after a lot of thought on my side I made a reservation for her birthday at Victoria and Alberts. I was really apprehensive about it since I am such a picky eater and I didn't want to drop all that money on a meal I wasn't going to like. Not to mention its not the type of place where you say hold this hold that. The only reservation I could get about 30 days out was the last one for the day, which turned out to be great for a couple reasons. We don't eat early anyway, and if I remember correctly it was for 8:45 pm and for me it could have even been later. It also gives you more time in the parks before you need to go back to the room and get ready. Also the best reason for the late res. is that by the time you are on course 3 or so there are few people in the dining room and you will probably be the last table there well before the dessert course. I did mention in the reservation it was my wifes bday. Then at a week out I got a phone call to confirm the reservation at which time I said that I would like to advoid seafood and the woman on the phone verified that it was my wifes birthday.
After a few days at the parks the big night came. We got ready and traveled over to the Grand Floridian. We were staying off property, one thing I will say is if you are driving allow a little extra time as getting to it can be a little tricky, we did get there with no problem. When we arrived at V&A the host immediately escorted us to our seats and got a stool for my wifes purse. The dining room iss phenomally decorated. Our waiter came over almost immediately and explained the menu and took our drink order. Our drinks came and we placed our selections for all the courses at once which is requested. From there it was like everything was on autopiolot and you just sit back and enjoy. The staff anticipates and takes care of your every need almost to the point of excess. During the meal I had to use the restroom and as soon as I removed my napkin from my lap the host was there to help with the chair, the napkin the restroom door and was there when I returned. The whole experience was phenomenal. The meal ended with the inevitible check which is a lot but worth every penny of it and since it was my wife's bday she got a breakfast loaf of bread along with the customary rose for the women. In short it was the shortest 2.5 hour meal that wish had never ended. BTW by the time we got back to the valet the car was awaiting us at the door ready to go. Now that is service.
Let me break it down a little further.
The Wait Staff: One of the most important aspects of any fine dining restaurant is the wait staff. You can have the best food in the world but if your wait staff is horrible it will ruin that meal in a second. This is by far not my first fine dining experience, and most of the time I find the waiters to be very pretentious and stuck up, to the point of being totally annoyed with them. Still they are great waiters. At V&A this was not the case, I don't know if I got lucky or if the waiter read from me that I didn't need the stuck up waiter like some people do enjoy. Our waiter Jon if my memory serves me correctly, could read my mind he knew when to linger a little and talk when we wanted him too, and when you didn't want him to linger he backed away just as fast as he came. In my opinion almost every fine dining meal the waiters while excellent detracted from the meal, in this case they took my best meal ever and somehow made it even better.
Food: As I said before I am a very picky eater and I checked the menu before I made the reservation and I knew there were things I do not like, but there looked like there was enough stuff I would eat and could leave the things I like behind and still feel like I wasn't wasting my money. I quickly realized that things I normally don't like try them here, because they are so differently prepared that you will probably end up liking them. This was the case for almost everything except the little cup of squash soup in the very first course. I still don't like it. Rarely did I leave anything on the plate even when I normally don't like something that was in that course. The meal bar none was the best meal I have ever had by leaps and bounds. You will be surprised on some of the combinations, and think why would you put this with this, and in no time you know why they do put these things together. That reason is that it makes it even better. I was so full by course 5 it almost was too much but the taste left you wanting more not matter how close you are to bursting. Believe me the food is so good that by the end you will be eating small candied flowers that are so good that you wish your whole dessert was a big bowl with thousands of the flowers alone. If you had told me that morning that by the end of the day that I would be eating a flower and enjoying it, I would have had to have you admitted into a mental word for craziness.
I honestly thought it was going to be a one shot deal, now I can't imagine going to Disney with out going there. If I was in Orlando and didn't go there it would be a wasted opportunity.
Now for the question: I need the help of some of the other V&A diners. I was so full and drunk on the wonderful food (not drinks since I had soda with diner) that I can't remember the least bit of the explanation of the dishes from the waiter when they arrived at the table. One of the courses I think near the end of the meal had a couple small slices of strawberry on top of it. They had the flavor of 100 strawberries in one little dried slice. I know it had to be more then just a dried strawberry, does anyone know what they are actually called. I would love to look them up and try to make some on my own. If you know anymore about them please share.
Thank you
Camlgt
After a few days at the parks the big night came. We got ready and traveled over to the Grand Floridian. We were staying off property, one thing I will say is if you are driving allow a little extra time as getting to it can be a little tricky, we did get there with no problem. When we arrived at V&A the host immediately escorted us to our seats and got a stool for my wifes purse. The dining room iss phenomally decorated. Our waiter came over almost immediately and explained the menu and took our drink order. Our drinks came and we placed our selections for all the courses at once which is requested. From there it was like everything was on autopiolot and you just sit back and enjoy. The staff anticipates and takes care of your every need almost to the point of excess. During the meal I had to use the restroom and as soon as I removed my napkin from my lap the host was there to help with the chair, the napkin the restroom door and was there when I returned. The whole experience was phenomenal. The meal ended with the inevitible check which is a lot but worth every penny of it and since it was my wife's bday she got a breakfast loaf of bread along with the customary rose for the women. In short it was the shortest 2.5 hour meal that wish had never ended. BTW by the time we got back to the valet the car was awaiting us at the door ready to go. Now that is service.
Let me break it down a little further.
The Wait Staff: One of the most important aspects of any fine dining restaurant is the wait staff. You can have the best food in the world but if your wait staff is horrible it will ruin that meal in a second. This is by far not my first fine dining experience, and most of the time I find the waiters to be very pretentious and stuck up, to the point of being totally annoyed with them. Still they are great waiters. At V&A this was not the case, I don't know if I got lucky or if the waiter read from me that I didn't need the stuck up waiter like some people do enjoy. Our waiter Jon if my memory serves me correctly, could read my mind he knew when to linger a little and talk when we wanted him too, and when you didn't want him to linger he backed away just as fast as he came. In my opinion almost every fine dining meal the waiters while excellent detracted from the meal, in this case they took my best meal ever and somehow made it even better.
Food: As I said before I am a very picky eater and I checked the menu before I made the reservation and I knew there were things I do not like, but there looked like there was enough stuff I would eat and could leave the things I like behind and still feel like I wasn't wasting my money. I quickly realized that things I normally don't like try them here, because they are so differently prepared that you will probably end up liking them. This was the case for almost everything except the little cup of squash soup in the very first course. I still don't like it. Rarely did I leave anything on the plate even when I normally don't like something that was in that course. The meal bar none was the best meal I have ever had by leaps and bounds. You will be surprised on some of the combinations, and think why would you put this with this, and in no time you know why they do put these things together. That reason is that it makes it even better. I was so full by course 5 it almost was too much but the taste left you wanting more not matter how close you are to bursting. Believe me the food is so good that by the end you will be eating small candied flowers that are so good that you wish your whole dessert was a big bowl with thousands of the flowers alone. If you had told me that morning that by the end of the day that I would be eating a flower and enjoying it, I would have had to have you admitted into a mental word for craziness.
I honestly thought it was going to be a one shot deal, now I can't imagine going to Disney with out going there. If I was in Orlando and didn't go there it would be a wasted opportunity.
Now for the question: I need the help of some of the other V&A diners. I was so full and drunk on the wonderful food (not drinks since I had soda with diner) that I can't remember the least bit of the explanation of the dishes from the waiter when they arrived at the table. One of the courses I think near the end of the meal had a couple small slices of strawberry on top of it. They had the flavor of 100 strawberries in one little dried slice. I know it had to be more then just a dried strawberry, does anyone know what they are actually called. I would love to look them up and try to make some on my own. If you know anymore about them please share.
Thank you
Camlgt
