I've been lagging a bit on the reviews, so it's time to get back to it!
Continuing along with our jam-packed first day, we tried to work off our Hollywood Brown Derby meal with a day at DHS. We didn't even have room for a snack before it was time to head to dinner at Citrico's. We weren't sure how much time we would need to get to the Grand Floridian, so we left our room over an hour early. We took the boat from WL to the CR, then the monorail to the GF. Luckily, the Disney transportation gods were with us, and we got to the GF around 8pm. Our ADR wasn't until 8:40, so we walked around to kill time.
We checked in at 8:25, and the hostess told us to take a buzzer, and that we we probably wouldn't be seated until our actual reservation time, which was fine with us. We were seated at 8:43...not bad at all.
Some not-so-focused menu shots:
Our waitress, Nancy, was very nice and we never felt forgotten. This time we decided to start off with some
real drinks. I ordered a Citropolitan:
This was pretty good...not quite as strong as the Torontopolitan at Epcot, but a nice blend of flavors.
DH went with a Stella Artois, which he decided needed no picture, but look for the cameo appearance in the bread picture, and the bottom of his glass peeking out in the cheese plate picture.
Here's another shot of my cosmo, along with the bread basket:
I think there were two pieces of sourdough and two pieces of multigrain. You can see the butter up-close in my earlier drink picture. We ate a little of the bread, but it wasn't anything special. We also ordered our standard iced tea and Sprite because we only planned on having one drink each.
In what is about to become a trend, I chose the cheese plate for my appetizer:
I took a picture of the menu, in case I forgot what the cheeses were. Let me just say, I am a cheese freak...I really love all cheeses, and in my normal life, I rarely get to go to restaurants that are fancy enough to have a cheese plate, so I decided I would take advantage of it at the WDW signatures. I wasn't disappointed. The lemon ricotta was light and refreshing. The P'tit Basque was definitely a sheep's milk cheese, which gave it a distinct taste, mild but delicious. My favorite cheeses are usually extra sharp, so the Fourme d'Ambert was right up my alley. This was my first cheese plate, so I wasn't quite sure what piece of silverware to use, but I think I used my butter knife to put the cheeses on the bread with a little of the accompaniments. The honey was especially nice. Ok, enough about the cheese...I could go on forever!
DH had the seasonal soup for his appetizer, which was a butternut squash soup:
As I've mentioned before, he's a big fan of squash, so he enjoyed it. It was very creamy and thick, though. In fact, in the picture you can see it's really thick on the side of the bowl. To me, that looks a little icky, but I don't remember DH having any complaints.
I doubt he even remembers the soup, though, since he is so in love with his main course, the Braised Short Ribs:
I had a taste of this, and it was soooo good! Very tender and cooked to perfection. We did find out that neither one of us is a fan of mustard greens...very strong flavor, and nothing like mustard. Maybe they're an acquired taste?
For my main course, I had the Black Grouper with fregula pasta, clams, and rock shrimp:
This looked eerily like a dish I got at
Coral Reef in December. It was good, but I wouldn't say it was any better than that Coral Reef dish. The fish was probably exactly how it should be, but I guess I just wasn't dazzled. I think DH came out better on the main courses...yet again.
I ordered hot tea again with dessert, and again it was allowed as part of the DxDDP. I can't remember what kind I tried, but it was in a press pot again, which made me happy.
DH and I both ordered the same dessert. Normally, I just can't allow that to happen, for reasons of variety, but I couldn't help it this time around. The chocolate banana torte was too much to resist:
Don't know how to describe the goodness...the chocolate banana explosiveness of delight. In fact, here's a banana dance just for this dessert
It could be the best dessert we ate.
Our receipt came at 10:14pm, so it was about an hour and a half before the end of the meal.
Total OOP cost before tip? $153.28
Atmosphere? Similar to CA Grill, except quieter, which was nice. I'd give it a 3 overall.
Service? Very good. As usual, I chatted up our server a bit about Canada (she was Canadian). Can't complain, so this is a 4.
Food? There wasn't anything bad, and some of it was really great, so this is also a 4.
Overall rating? I think we'd both really like to go back, if for no other reason than to eat that dessert again!
Take all the juice out, and it's tasteless.
That crab cake just might make me go!!
