WDW food odyssey Apr 4-12 (with pix!)
- Thread starter Jock Wu
- Start date
undertheseas
DIS Veteran
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- May 16, 2004
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- 1,302
Great reviews so far!
SmallWorld71
DIS Veteran
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- 6,019
Count me in...Wow! She was being super adventurous! I like fish and I don't even know if I could go there. It's such a bummer about the imitation crab and Wolfgang's the general quality has gone down there so much. It used to a must and it's drop down to a maybe.
Keep the reviews coming...I love the pictures, I wish my family would let me take them.
We still find Wolfgang Puck Cafe to be very good. We went back later in the week and my wife tried the Spinach salad, which was an amazing combination of flavours and textures. Their crab cakes are also very good.
Cheers,
Joe
punkin413
feel the magic, dang it!
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2007
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- 9,581
great photos and your son is a cutie! i'm in for the ride.
by the way, i know this is off topic, but how did you find the walk from SSR to DTD (if you walked)? we're staying there in 2 weeks and i'm hoping it's not too bad - i wanna do plenty of shopping and eating over there!
by the way, i know this is off topic, but how did you find the walk from SSR to DTD (if you walked)? we're staying there in 2 weeks and i'm hoping it's not too bad - i wanna do plenty of shopping and eating over there!
Thanks again for the comments!
On Sunday Apr 6 we did AK in the morning, and then went to Tusker House for lunch. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos, but the buffet lunch was very good. The Cape Malay chicken curry, the pork loin and in particular the rotisserie chicken were excellent. I also liked the delicately spiced (and crispy) vegetable samosas, though Sarah said she found them to be of supermarket quality only. She did like the couscous though.
Desserts are to die for here. I have a weakness for pecan tarts, and the ones here were superlative, with a buttery sweetness that grows on you and then lingers. This is my first time at Tusker House, and I would say it's a great buffet, in the mould of Boma.
In the afternoon we went to DTD to get some caricatures done (it's a tradition for us, going all the way back to our first trip (before kids) back in 1997). The rains came again, and we thought, why not head back to Turf Club Bar & Grill (Saratoga Springs' table service eatery) for dinner? Well, a lot of people had the same idea, and when we found out the wait for a table was over an hour, we declined.
So we tried the counter service Artist Palette instead. The boys had chicken nuggets, Sarah a grilled vegetable wrap, and I a cheeseburger flatbread. The food sounded appealing but all I can say is the flatbread wasn't all that good. A real burger or pizza would have been better.
On to Monday. This was a day we had tentatively set aside to visit Seaworld, which we hadn't done before. The news on TV reported there would be rain again, so we nixed the Seaworld idea and spent the morning at the High Rock Springs pool (great slide, by the way). We made sure to have an ADR for lunch at the Turf Club.
The outdoor tables at the Turf Club are great - the quiet ambience, the everpresent breeze, and the views of the waterway and surrounding golf course made for a very pleasant lunch.
I started off with their crab cake bites:
These were crunchy and fully of crab meat but nothing special. (For reference, the best crab cakes I've had were at Wolfgang Puck Cafe, when they were called Puck's Pucks.)
Sarah had the steak salad, on tossed arugula, with vine-ripened tomatoes:
and I had the Angus Chuck cheeseburger, topped with cheddar cheese and applewood smoked bacon:
The slices of steak were tender and flavourful. My burger was OK - it needed some ketchup and mayo to make it more palatable.
The Turf Club is not a place you'd go out of your way for, but if you're in the vicinity, and the weather's nice, you could do worse than having a meal outdoors here.
(You'll notice a theme throughout our meals over the week - plenty of seafood and burgers for me, and plenty of salads for Sarah.)
In the afternoon, we went to Epcot, but Ethan complained of hunger and so we stopped at Nine Dragons for dinner.
Now I understand Nine Dragons is not the most popular restaurant in WDW, but this makes it easy to get into and I've had reasonable if not great meals there in the past. I'm of Chinese descent so I know it's not the most authentic representation of Chinese food, but I don't mind as long as the food tastes fine. (As an example, General Tso's chicken is an American-Chinese concoction, but a well-prepared General Tso's can be excellent!)
We ordered the Cantonese sweet and sour pork and the honey sesame chicken, with a side of vegetable fried rice for the boys:
This time, however, Nine Dragons has really fallen prey to the oversaucing of the dishes. A small amount of sauce goes a long way, but look at the flood of red stuff in the sweet and sour pork! It's drenched!
Sarah also suffered some food poisoning later on in the night. We're not sure how, but she figured it was probably something to do with the meal at Nine Dragons. So, the quicker they close down the current incarnation of the restaurant and revamp the place, with the new open-air kitchen, the better.
Next: Tokyo Dining lunch and dinner at Hollywood & Vine.
On Sunday Apr 6 we did AK in the morning, and then went to Tusker House for lunch. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos, but the buffet lunch was very good. The Cape Malay chicken curry, the pork loin and in particular the rotisserie chicken were excellent. I also liked the delicately spiced (and crispy) vegetable samosas, though Sarah said she found them to be of supermarket quality only. She did like the couscous though.
Desserts are to die for here. I have a weakness for pecan tarts, and the ones here were superlative, with a buttery sweetness that grows on you and then lingers. This is my first time at Tusker House, and I would say it's a great buffet, in the mould of Boma.
In the afternoon we went to DTD to get some caricatures done (it's a tradition for us, going all the way back to our first trip (before kids) back in 1997). The rains came again, and we thought, why not head back to Turf Club Bar & Grill (Saratoga Springs' table service eatery) for dinner? Well, a lot of people had the same idea, and when we found out the wait for a table was over an hour, we declined.
So we tried the counter service Artist Palette instead. The boys had chicken nuggets, Sarah a grilled vegetable wrap, and I a cheeseburger flatbread. The food sounded appealing but all I can say is the flatbread wasn't all that good. A real burger or pizza would have been better.
On to Monday. This was a day we had tentatively set aside to visit Seaworld, which we hadn't done before. The news on TV reported there would be rain again, so we nixed the Seaworld idea and spent the morning at the High Rock Springs pool (great slide, by the way). We made sure to have an ADR for lunch at the Turf Club.
The outdoor tables at the Turf Club are great - the quiet ambience, the everpresent breeze, and the views of the waterway and surrounding golf course made for a very pleasant lunch.
I started off with their crab cake bites:
These were crunchy and fully of crab meat but nothing special. (For reference, the best crab cakes I've had were at Wolfgang Puck Cafe, when they were called Puck's Pucks.)
Sarah had the steak salad, on tossed arugula, with vine-ripened tomatoes:
and I had the Angus Chuck cheeseburger, topped with cheddar cheese and applewood smoked bacon:
The slices of steak were tender and flavourful. My burger was OK - it needed some ketchup and mayo to make it more palatable.
The Turf Club is not a place you'd go out of your way for, but if you're in the vicinity, and the weather's nice, you could do worse than having a meal outdoors here.
(You'll notice a theme throughout our meals over the week - plenty of seafood and burgers for me, and plenty of salads for Sarah.)
In the afternoon, we went to Epcot, but Ethan complained of hunger and so we stopped at Nine Dragons for dinner.
Now I understand Nine Dragons is not the most popular restaurant in WDW, but this makes it easy to get into and I've had reasonable if not great meals there in the past. I'm of Chinese descent so I know it's not the most authentic representation of Chinese food, but I don't mind as long as the food tastes fine. (As an example, General Tso's chicken is an American-Chinese concoction, but a well-prepared General Tso's can be excellent!)
We ordered the Cantonese sweet and sour pork and the honey sesame chicken, with a side of vegetable fried rice for the boys:
This time, however, Nine Dragons has really fallen prey to the oversaucing of the dishes. A small amount of sauce goes a long way, but look at the flood of red stuff in the sweet and sour pork! It's drenched!
Sarah also suffered some food poisoning later on in the night. We're not sure how, but she figured it was probably something to do with the meal at Nine Dragons. So, the quicker they close down the current incarnation of the restaurant and revamp the place, with the new open-air kitchen, the better.
Next: Tokyo Dining lunch and dinner at Hollywood & Vine.
Frankiesmom
DIS Veteran
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- Aug 25, 2005
- Messages
- 1,611
I can't wait for the rest! Thanks for taking the time. It's nice to read about old faves and some new places to try! Thanks again!
Hi,
unfortunately I didn't send my room requests in, so we were placed in the Carousel area (room 7101), which is about an 8 min walk to the lobby and restaurants, and just about the farthest building from DTD. 7101 was a great location for the bus, as it was just across the road (and it was the 2nd stop for all buses except the DTD bus). However, I'm guessing this would have meant approximately a 25-30 min walk to DTD.
If your room location is appropriate (somewhere near the Congress Park area), the walk would be at most 5-10 min.
Hope this helps!
Joe
Minniespal
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Excellent
mom2fivecs
Mouseketeer
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- Feb 14, 2006
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- 455
Thanks for sharing...looking forward to more
mickeysgirl17
Wish I was at Disney
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- Aug 16, 2006
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- 5,687
Great reviews so far...........
tinkerbeth
Goin' back soon!!
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- Apr 13, 2004
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- 1,025
subbing and looking forward to reading and see your food!!
Amy7979
Mouseketeer
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- May 31, 2007
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- 473
Ethan had the cheese pizza (which is superb):
Next: Dinner at Raglan Road
Ethan is so cute!
donaldtutter
DIS Veteran
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- Sep 5, 2004
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Great reviews and pictures!!
OK, next instalment.
On the Tuesday we did Epcot EMH, and headed over to Tokyo Dining for a 12pm ADR. We also had a 4:20pm ADR later that afternoon for Hollywood & Vine, so something light was desired.
The service was wonderfully Japanese - supremely polite and respectful. After being shown to our table, our waiter and 2 assistants came over and bowed to us!
Sarah wanted to try some sushi, but after the bout of food poisoning the previous night, she decided raw fish was not the way to go.
She selected edamame and some vegetable croquettes:
The croquettes were fine but not great quality. For the kids, we selected the chicken teriyaki, and this came on a plate that was the shape of a monorail (no pic, sorry!). The chicken was very tasty.
I had the grilled salmon roll and shrimp tempura roll:
These were quite good, though in future I would probably order the raw salmon and the shrimp tempura roll could have done without the cooked gourd. A slice of avocado would have been better. I was tempted to try one of the complex roll creations but I usually like to keep my sushi pure and simple. I would also like to return to try their tempura. (My favourite tempura experience was back in Sydney, Australia (where I grew up) at a genuine Japanese tempura restaurant which served the lightest, fluffiest battered tempura shrimp I have ever tasted, accompanied by 3 different types of salt and light soy sauce - awesome.)
For dinner at H&V, we didn't take any pictures, but there was plenty of variety and the food was decent. Mediterranean chicken, salads, chicken nuggets, and good desserts filled the trays. Not as good as the buffets at Boma, Tusker House or Crystal Palace, and quite expensive for dinner ($24.99/adult) but not bad if you're hungry, you're at the Studios and you want to stuff yourself.
Next: Whispering Canyon lunch and California Grill dinner
On the Tuesday we did Epcot EMH, and headed over to Tokyo Dining for a 12pm ADR. We also had a 4:20pm ADR later that afternoon for Hollywood & Vine, so something light was desired.
The service was wonderfully Japanese - supremely polite and respectful. After being shown to our table, our waiter and 2 assistants came over and bowed to us!
Sarah wanted to try some sushi, but after the bout of food poisoning the previous night, she decided raw fish was not the way to go.
She selected edamame and some vegetable croquettes:
The croquettes were fine but not great quality. For the kids, we selected the chicken teriyaki, and this came on a plate that was the shape of a monorail (no pic, sorry!). The chicken was very tasty.
I had the grilled salmon roll and shrimp tempura roll:
These were quite good, though in future I would probably order the raw salmon and the shrimp tempura roll could have done without the cooked gourd. A slice of avocado would have been better. I was tempted to try one of the complex roll creations but I usually like to keep my sushi pure and simple. I would also like to return to try their tempura. (My favourite tempura experience was back in Sydney, Australia (where I grew up) at a genuine Japanese tempura restaurant which served the lightest, fluffiest battered tempura shrimp I have ever tasted, accompanied by 3 different types of salt and light soy sauce - awesome.)
For dinner at H&V, we didn't take any pictures, but there was plenty of variety and the food was decent. Mediterranean chicken, salads, chicken nuggets, and good desserts filled the trays. Not as good as the buffets at Boma, Tusker House or Crystal Palace, and quite expensive for dinner ($24.99/adult) but not bad if you're hungry, you're at the Studios and you want to stuff yourself.
Next: Whispering Canyon lunch and California Grill dinner
A quick interlude: Sarah said it was not fair that Ethan was in one of the food photos (and getting all the compliments - thank you!) and little brother Brendan wasn't...so to make up for that, here they are at the California Grill:
Cheers,
Joe
Cheers,
Joe
Disney owl
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great review & photos thanks
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