Thanks again everyone for the positive feedback. And thanks, Swankybeth, I think he's rather adorable myself...but then, I am biased.
On to the review...
After suffering major, MAJOR disappointment
when we discovered that Goofy's Barnstormer was closed to paint the cars
we had been redeeming the day with a first time visit to Disney Quest. So we found ourselves in DTD and hungry in the late afternoon. I now had some unscheduled TS credits due to our Citrico's cancelation, so I called Disney Dining to see what would be our options. Low and behold, nothing in DTD takes same day ADRs, but most will accept walk ups. It was after 3:00 pm, so I thought we had a pretty good chance of getting in somewhere quickly. Wolfgang Puck Express was so good, I wanted to try the Cafe. That, and it was fairly close to DQ.
The dinner menu starts at 4:00 pm, so we were ordering off the lunch menu, which had many dinner selections, so not a problem.
This restaurant is a beautiful setting. The majority of the back of the restaurant are walls of windows overlooking the water of the DTD area. Funky decor lends a fun atmosphere. At this time of day, this restaurant was basically empty, maybe half a dozen tables taken. It was quiet...aaaaahhhh...a very welcome break after the constant noise and stimulation of DQ.
We were shown to a wonderful table...
It's too bad the window view isn't clear. I think it's SSR across the water.
Anyway, the first thing we have to talk about is the bread. Wow. I really like good bread. And this stuff was FANTASTIC. They call it focaccia, and it is brought to the table already cut into wedges in a basket. It's the best focaccia I have ever had!! It was tall and spongy and soft and melted in your mouth and it just soaked up the olive oil that they pour for you to dip the bread. This is not an herbed olive oil, just a wonderful fresh, fruity olive oil. The bread has all the flavor you need. They brought three each of kalamata olive/rosemary focaccia and a garlic (and cheese?) focaccia.
DH and I ordered salads for appetizers. DH ordered the same spinach salad I had ordered at the Express,
Spinach Salad - Made with spinach, radicchio, blue cheese, apples, and caramelized pecans.
As good as that salad is, I wanted to try something new, so I ordered
Mixed Field Greens - Served with Sherry vinaigrette and goat cheese crostini.
And I finally took a perspective picture to show how big these salads are, keep in mind, these are NOT the entree salads, but the entree salads were piled high like these
Again, GREAT salads. That dressing is so good. This appetizer spinach salad had just as many goodies as my entree salad at the Express, but you can see the goodies so much better in this pic. The Mixed Greens had no added goodies, but I was in the mood for something plain so this suited me fine. The goat cheese croistini was fresh, fabulous goat cheese spread on a super crusty, crunchy piece of bread, almost crouton quality was this bread, which was a great complement to the simple salad.
We were told that DS didn't have an appetizer included. WPC only participates in the program and they have their own rules, one of which, is that children DO NOT get an included appetizer on the
DDP. Not a problem for us with the bread. But something to note. Also, the waiter needed to take my card in order to ring up our order properly.
DH ordered
Mahi Mahi - Served over warm Israeli couscous salad and lemon caper butter.
The Mahi Mahi was fresh and cooked well, perfectly flaky and still moist. The cous cous salad was unlike regular cous cous, it was large and firm. There were slices of zuchinni and other summer squash mixed into the cous cous. The greens on top were some sort of herb dressed with olive oil. The red additions are sun dried tomatoes. I had a bite of this, and it was outstanding. Really, really good. It almost made me wish that I had ordered it. I am not sure what the prevailing herb taste was though, and I am not sure that I would have wanted to eat the whole thing.
I ordered
Macadamia Nut Crusted Breast of Chicken - Served with papaya marmalade, micro greens salad, and roasted garlic mashed potatoes.
The chicken was very moist with wonderful crust. I think I expected it to be more nutty in flavor, but my taste buds couldn't discern that. It was a great crunchy crust though. The papaya marmalade was a wonderful addition. The potatoes were yummy. I like mashed potatoes a lot, and these were well done, creamy, not too garlicy, and definitely not too salty.
DS ordered
Spaghetti & Meatballs - Spaghetti and meatballs.
He really enjoyed his meal. These were the fattest speghetti noddles I have ever seen. I thought they might be mushy, but not, they were just the opposite of angel hair pasta, super, duper fat.
When you are seated, the hostess will walk you past the dessert display. Heeeeeeeellloooooooooo. YUUUUUUUM. She will explain how the desserts are made fresh daily and may change daily as well. I think this may be why the desserts are not included on the menu here on the Dis. Anyway, saving room for dessert is one reason why we opted to order salads for our appetizers.
It had to be done. We ordered the
Creme Brulee
the
White Chocolate Cheesecake
and the included child's dessert of
Make Your Own Sundae Artist's Palette - Vanilla ice cream, chocolate chip cookie, chocolate and caramel sauce and sprinkles.
It was ALL GOOD!!!! I'm happy just thinking about it. The additional fruit on the creme brulee was nice. The cheesecake was rich and creamy and just the right amount of chocolate added flavor. The artist's palette was a lot of fun for DS.
This was an excellent, excellent meal. I noticed that many items from the dinner menu were included in the lunch menu, for a smaller price, so if you are paying OOP, I would highly recommend doing as we did and eating here right before the change over. Also, just from an atmosphere perspective, this was a relaxing, quiet time to dine. When we left it was almost 5 pm and this place was LOUD. Really LOUD. Here come the cranky, hungry kids and tired, hungry parents. And there aren't any real divisions in the restaurant to hold back the noise level. If you do go at this time, be prepared for what might happen...
That is, we waited and WAITED for the check. Our server had been assigned to his dinner section which was on the other side of the restaurant and so, he was having a hard time getting back to us. He was very apologetic. It's not a big deal, if you don't have a schedule to keep, but if you do, keep this in mind and maybe ask about getting the check cleared out after you ORDER dessert.
Oh, one last tid bit. The Cafe also has the wonderful Mango flavored unsweetened iced tea. Yum. Also, the bread was so fabulous, I really could have just eaten the bread, the salad, and dessert and been a happy camper. I couldn't finish half my meal, it was so heavy, and I didn't want to, because I wanted dessert. Ditto for DH. Just something to keep in mind for the budget conscious. You could easily split a meal here.
Coming up next...a simple snack dinner for DS and breakfast at the Yacht Club Galley...