And here I am, finally reviewing Nine Dragons, so sorry for the delay. Now, this place is what DD6 choose for her favorite of the trip, here is here photo at the end of the meal
But beyond it being her pic, we all give our waiter, Jun Pei, the best CM of the trip award; I hope my review does his wonderful service justice.
We booked Nine Dragons with the Candlelight Processional package, thought Chinese food would be nice, and its something we all like. Now when you book with a package you get an appetizer, entrée and dessert. Adults order off the adult menu, kids off the kids (uh-oh). DD6 is pretty set in her Chinese ways
hot and sour soup, egg rolls, fried rice are the norm for her. I believe her app choices on the menu were pot stickers or vegetable spring rolls. And entrée she had the choice of sweet and sour chicken or lo mein meatballs. I was prepared to let her order some fried rice a-la-carte and just pay for it along with my alcoholic beverages on the TIW discount, this was after all vacation, no need for any unhappiness!
We were sat very quickly after checking in. Our waiter was quick to show up, DH was all alcoholed-out so he got a coke, DD6 had her usual ice water, and I can never be alcoholed-out so I went with
A Jade Beauty, and it was a beauty! Had a great flavor, I did enjoy this beverage!
I also let Jun Pei, the wonderful CM, know that we would be ordering some alcohol and possibly food to be billed separately. Now, he was quick to point out that the CP Package included A LOT of food and we likely wouldnt be able to finish it all so he doubted there was a need for extra food. So I explained the DD6 situation, and the best waiter ever said just to let him know what she wanted and he would make it work for us. I told him I really just thought she wanted fried rice as her meal, the rest should be fine, and we went on to order apps, I ordered DD6
Pot Stickers, I know, I know, she likes egg rolls which were her other choice, but DH and I both got
hot and Sour soup, which she LOVES, so I tasted a bite of mine and then swapped appetizers with her. I like pot stickers so this swap worked best for all of us. We had also alerted the best CM ever (our waiter) that we loved out food spicy, so he had brought out red pepper sauce for us to spice up our food, which I did with the pot sticker sauce (it was then perfect) and DH and DD6 did with the soup.
Jun Pei stopped by to see how we liked the apps and noticed the switch; this is where the fun began. He could not believe DD6 was eating the soup, and loving it. He made her feel so special to be eating the soup, it was so nice to see! The pot-stickers were very good, and the soup was fabulous!
As requested, DD6 was served not one, but two bowls of
Fried Rice! Was really nice that he did that off menu for us. Usually restaurants can be so rigid; Jun Pei gave us no problems at all and just made magic happen! She ate every bite of her fried rice, so I know it must have been great.
I went with
Kung Pao chicken, hold the peanuts. I love Kung Pao but peanuts in my food just are too much for me. This Kung Pao was really good, nice flavor, not too spicy but he make sure they added extra spice for me! DD6 had some of this as well and she kept asking for more. I also was ready for another drink and went with a Tsing Tao draft beer. It was a beer, I like beer, but dont do well at distighushing one from another unless it is something really dark or hoppy, this one was just a nice light flavored beer, refreshing!
Finally, DH went with
The Canton Pepper Beef. He said it was fantabulous! As a non-red meat eater, I took his word for it and did not have a try.
At this point we are all stuffed, there is no way I could eat a dessert. Our wonderful waiter had stopped by several times to joke with DD6 throughout the meal, and we were all in good spirits, so I felt ok asking him if it was at all possible to pool our 3 desserts together and forgot the menu, we just want a mango milkshake to go. Jun Pei said we will have to see, then a few minutes later he re-appeared with 2 to-go cups filled with mango milkshakes and said he had a deal for us, 2 milk shakes in exchange for DD6! We gave her the chance, told her wed pick her back up in Oct when we have a return trip planned, told her it was the chance of a lifetime to stay and work at Disney, but she choose to stay with us! Jun Pei was disappointed, but gave us the milkshakes anyway!!!
And now for the bottom line:
Would we recommend to a friend? Certainly, we liked all the food and had a great time with a wonderful CM.
Would we eat here again? I think it will be a must for DD6, she loved it, and if we get lucky enough to find Jun Pei there again it would be a bonus.
Cost: $117.12 for the CP Package, we also added a large tip on top of this for the fabulous service, $17.12 for my drinks (including tip) TIW food/drink discount $2.79, total on drinks $14.41
TIW savings tally (running total): $81.79