We Came, We Saw, We Ate...But Mostly We Ate! A January DxDDP Review! U/D Via Napoli!

Sorry I have been lagging behind in posting new reviews...laptop power cable died, and I've been sadly too busy at work to get anything done during the day. I am going to try to get back to it over the next day or two. Hang in there!
 
Before we get to the goodness that is Narcoosee's, here are few snacks we enjoyed at the Main Street Bakery:




I had the chocolate muffin and DH had the brownie. We also had milk to go with it. In this case, I think my muffin turned out to be the better of the two. It was moist, chocolate-y and really delicious. DH wasn't a huge fan of his brownie. It wasn't terrible, but it was a little dry and not really good chocolate. Finally, I made the better choice! :lmao:

We also enjoyed a Mickey ice cream bar during our day, but I guess we didn't take a picture because 1) everyone knows what they look like, and 2) I started eating it before DH could even get a picture!
 

The morning of our Narcoossee's visit, I was looking at one of the maps inside the GF, and I noticed that Narcoossee's was described as having a fantastic view of the MK fireworks! Our ADR time was 7:20pm, and fireworks were at 8pm...perfect! That got me really excited, since our big fireworks viewing experience at CG was rained out.

Once again, we thought it would take longer to get to the restaurant than it actually did, so once again we were early. We hung out for a few, but still ended up checking in 15 minutes early. We were handed a buzzer and told that we probably wouldn't be seated until closer to our reservation time. So, we decided to walk around on the outside veranda. No sooner had I made it most of the way around the building and started to sit down, then our buzzer went off! We were seated about 10 minutes ahead of our ADR time!

Our waiter was Tom, and he came over right away. He was a great waiter...very attentive, but still gave us whatever time we needed. The only thing was, he did seem a little fake in his kindness to us. He was friendly, but that "part of the job" kind of friendly. Otherwise, I can't complain about his service all night.

For our non-alcoholic beverage, we split another bottle of San Pellegrino. We also ordered two glasses red wine. Mine was a Pinot, while DH had a Shiraz. Neither one of us liked each other's choices, but we were both really happy with our own glasses. I can't remember the exact names, but the receipt shows mine as "La Crema Pnr" and DH's as "Gls Amavi Sra."

Tom brought us some warm bread to get started:

This was a very tasty sourdough, but we tried not to eat too much since we knew we had a lot of food coming.

After we ordered, Tom saw me taking a picture of my menu, and he said that I could keep it! I hadn't realized that they print most of the menus on a weekly (or sometimes daily) basis, so it was no trouble for me to keep one! I ended up getting menus from every signature restaurant after Narcoossee's, and I went back to CG to get theirs. Sadly, I didn't get the ones from Citrico's or Jiko, but I guess I can get those next time.

DH decided on the Shrimp and Crab Chowder for his appetizer:

We can't remember if the two large chunks are crab, or the special crackers. I think the picture shows it was pretty heavy on the cream, but DH really enjoyed that. He said it had a lot of flavor, so he could really tell the shrimp and crab were in there.

Guess what I got? That's right, another cheese plate!

The cheeses are: Buttermilk Blue, Tete de Moine, and Manchego. I think the accompaniments were fresh honey, pear slices, and apricot jam, but I might be mistaken on that. Those could be apple slices. Either way, my favorite was definitely the Manchego. It had a semi-sharp taste, and it was very smooth. Every cheese on this plate was a winner, though. I ate almost the whole thing (it's nearly impossible to eat that much blue cheese).

I could not resist ordering the Steamed Whole Maine Lobster:

I seriously love shellfish, and I've rarely had lobster in my life, so this was a real treat. It came with baked sherry-cheddar orecchiette pasta and asparagus. I am not going to lie, I devoured this plate! I am not a fan of butter, so I just eat my lobster straight up, and it was amazing! The head didn't have any meat, it was just decorative, but the other parts had a ton of meat in them. I thought I would need some kind of shell-cracker to get inside, but they had already cut it up so that it was pretty easy to get the meat out. That pasta side was pretty good, too, but very rich. I'm not a fan of most mac-n-cheese style dishes, but I loved this one. I can tell you right now, I will go back for this meal again.

DH had the Surf & Turf:

See that huge lobster tail butt??? He was very happy with that. The filet mignon medallions were in a caramelized onion demi-glace. The other sides were duchess potatoes and broccolini. The potatoes weren't anything special, but he ate the entire lobster tail and at least one medallion. The problem is, DH isn't a big eater, so he sadly couldn't finish most of his plates.

In the middle of our dinner, it was fireworks time! Some people chose to stay inside, since they pump the music into the restaurant, but we wanted to go outside. We didn't tell Tom, and we just went right outside. The view of the fireworks was great! We also got to see a tiny bit of the electrical water pageant beforehand. This was the only time we got to see the MK fireworks on this trip, and it was perfect. When we returned to our table, Tom had covered our plates for us and re-folded our napkins.

When dessert was upon us, Tom brought out the tea and dessert menu. I ordered the Vanilla Rooibos tea again, but this time it was served in a press pot. That let some of the tea leaves escape, but it was still delicious. I got sooo addicted to that tea!

My dessert was the gelato sampler:

From left to right: chocolate, raspberry, cappuccino and pistachio. Each of these had a very strong flavor to it. I think the chocolate was actually my least favorite, even though I was happy with all of them. If you like coffee, the cappuccino was really good, and the raspberry was divine.

DH had the mango sorbet w/melon and berries:

He was pretty full by this point, but there's always room for sorbet! The fruit was a nice touch, too. Definitely one of those light and refreshing desserts.

When the check came, I was surprised to see that we were charged for the tea! This was the first time this happened to us, and it was one of only 2 signatures where the tea would be charged as a second drink. Very disappointing, but one person later explained to me that WDW is cracking down on second drinks on the dining plans. Whatever.

We received our final check at 9:15pm, which means we were there for about 2 hours.

Total OOP cost before tip? $175.71

Service? This is a 4. Tom was very attentive, and we even had some good conversation a couple of times, but like I said, it seemed like he was just doing his usual job and not going the extra mile. Besides, we got charged for the tea without being told we would...boo.

Atmosphere? Narcoossee's really isn't a very large restaurant. It's right on the water, and we loved the setup. The decor wasn't anything too special, but it gets a 4 just for intimacy and setting.

Food? 4.5 Nearly perfect. Can't go wrong with lobster and filet mignon!

Overall rating? Can't wait to go back!
 
When planning this trip, I first had us eating breakfast at 'Ohana because DH likes Stitch. Then we both decided we'd rather limit character meals, so we switched to Kona, which was fine because I badly wanted to try the Tonga Toast.

ADR was for 9:50am, and we barely made it due to some monorail delays. We checked in and got a buzzer, but were seated about 5 minutes later. Still, it was hard to believe they were running late at all when the restaurant had quite a few empty tables.

We sat at a half-booth towards the back. At this point, I think it's worth mentioning that DH never gets the booth when we get half-booths. He said something about it once, and a waiter agreed that men never get the booth. Poor guy :rotfl:

Anyway, our waiter, Jerry, came out in about 5 minutes to take our drink orders. I went for the lilikoi juice, which was my third time with that juice blend. DH had pineapple juice.

For the main meal, DH had the two eggs your way w/biscuit, bacon, and home fries:

Can't say too much for the biscuit or the bacon. The home fries were so-so, and the eggs were good. It's pretty hard to mess up eggs, though. This was just an average breakfast...in fact, maybe a little disappointing.

Of course, I got the Tonga toast with a thick cut of ham:

Let me preface this by stating that I am not a fan of sugar on desserts. I don't like the crystallized texture at all...it's like grains of sand in my teeth. I was expecting powdered sugar, so that was kind of an unpleasant surprise. Nevertheless, I was determined to eat it. They bring out strawberry sauce (kind of like the strawberry soup at 1900 PF) and syrup to go with it. The strawberry sauce was outstanding, so I used it liberally. As many have mentioned, Tonga toast is very sweet, but I managed to eat quite a bit of it. Despite my aversion to the sugar, it was really good. Probably not something I'd want to eat for breakfast all the time, but a nice treat. The ham was good, too, so I was happy with the meal.

We got the check at 10:21, but we were still eating at that point, so I'd say we were there around 35-40 minutes.

Total OOP cost before tip? $29.46

Service? Fine, but not great. Let's give it a 3.

Atmosphere? The dining room is open to the second floor of the hotel lobby area. That can be good for people-watching. There was some nice Poly-style decor, too. Nevertheless, we didn't feel like it was a place where we'd want to spend a leisurely meal. Not cozy or inviting. Another 3.

Food? DH's meal wasn't great, but mine was pretty good. He'd say 2.5, I'd say 3.5. Guess that averages out to another 3, huh?

Overall rating? I don't see much of a reason to go back. The Poly isn't really our favorite resort in terms of layout or restaurants. It always seems like the lobby and second floor are really crowded. When we left, there were huge lines for the monorail, and tons of people waiting to get into 'Ohana. We couldn't wait to leave.
 
Yay you're back with more reviews!!! :yay::yay::yay:

Good job on making the better MK snack choice! The muffin does look delicious! :thumbsup2

How nice you were able to take a stroll around the veranda before dinner! Narcoosees looks like it's situated in such a pretty area - but unfortunately when we went it was (of course) chilly, so we pretty much went from the main building directly there and back!

That's so cool you were able to keep the menus from a lot of your meals! Our Narcoosees menu was personalized, so I have that, but didn't think to keep any of our others!

How lame that they started cracking down on your tea! :sad2: Hope it didn't stop you from enjoying more of the Vanilla Rooibos throughout the trip!
 
Subbing in since we're locals and I'm too tired to finish this review tonight!

Thanks for signing on :goodvibes

No, unfortunately it was enough being able to wear t-shirts by the end of the trip! :laughing: Most of trip we were bundled up in gloves and coats! I'd love to go in one of those hammocks though, they seem so relaxing (even more so in warm weather) :goodvibes

I guess I am going crazy...probably another review I read where they went in the hammocks. It was crazy cold when we were there in Dec. Not my fav weather for a vacation.

Great amazing reviews!!

Thank you

Thanks!

Boo laptop power cable :sad2:!! Looking forward to reading more of your reviews!!

Yeah, we are still waiting for a new cable to arrive. I am using DH's iMac, but I just don't usually have time to sit here, so it's always more convenient to use the laptop wherever I'm at.

Yay you're back with more reviews!!! :yay::yay::yay:

Good job on making the better MK snack choice! The muffin does look delicious! :thumbsup2

How nice you were able to take a stroll around the veranda before dinner! Narcoosees looks like it's situated in such a pretty area - but unfortunately when we went it was (of course) chilly, so we pretty much went from the main building directly there and back!

That's so cool you were able to keep the menus from a lot of your meals! Our Narcoosees menu was personalized, so I have that, but didn't think to keep any of our others!

How lame that they started cracking down on your tea! :sad2: Hope it didn't stop you from enjoying more of the Vanilla Rooibos throughout the trip!

It was a little cold the night we were there, but I had a big coat on. Unfortunately, I was also wearing a dress, so my legs got cold. Still, it was nowhere near the cold of December.

I kept going with my tea, for the most part, but I learned to ask about whether I'd get charged.
 
Yay!! More reviews!!! :woohoo: Kona looks delicious! Between my next two trips, I am going there 3 times, and I can't wait! The surf n' turf at Narcoossee's looks heavenly. :cloud9:
 
Great reviews! I always thought I was alone in my dislike of butter so am glad to hear I am not alone ;) You wouldn't happen to be the one who doesn't like melted cheese as well???
 
Yay!! More reviews!!! :woohoo: Kona looks delicious! Between my next two trips, I am going there 3 times, and I can't wait! The surf n' turf at Narcoossee's looks heavenly. :cloud9:

The buffet set-up that we saw on our way out of Kona had me wondering about lunch or dinner there, but I'm not sure when we'll make it back. Hopefully, I'll get to read some of your reviews of it!

Great reviews! I always thought I was alone in my dislike of butter so am glad to hear I am not alone ;) You wouldn't happen to be the one who doesn't like melted cheese as well???

Yes, I am! There are so few kindred spirits in the world when it comes to the foods I dislike. Butter and melted cheese are most people's favorites.

Great review of Narccoosees!

Thanks! :)

review score 2.5 ,lol

I think this is an attempt at humor??? :confused3

I would disagree, I give them a 5. Keep the reviews coming. I love your review! Thank you for taking the time to post them.

Thanks for the support :goodvibes
 
Our waiter was Tom, and he came over right away. He was a great waiter...very attentive, but still gave us whatever time we needed. The only thing was, he did seem a little fake in his kindness to us. He was friendly, but that "part of the job" kind of friendly. Otherwise, I can't complain about his service all night.

Tom was our server twice on on trip last June. We thought he was fantastic and was wonderful to our children. He was from PA, like us, and we chatted with him all night. We had such a fantastic dinner that we went back the next night and requested his service again.

When I made our ARD for Narcoossee this June, I called the restaurant directly and asked for our party to be seated in his section. My kids still talk about him.
 
Tom was our server twice on on trip last June. We thought he was fantastic and was wonderful to our children. He was from PA, like us, and we chatted with him all night. We had such a fantastic dinner that we went back the next night and requested his service again.

When I made our ARD for Narcoossee this June, I called the restaurant directly and asked for our party to be seated in his section. My kids still talk about him.

It might just be what we're projecting on him. The service was great, and we loved being so well taken care of. I guess I was just comparing him to our waiter at Flying Fish, who was really the ultimate on our trip. Glad to hear your family had such a good experience with Tom :)
 
After breakfast at Kona, our plan was to spend the day in Epcot before heading to the Yachtsman Steakhouse for dinner. Instead of a formal lunch, we decided to grab a few snacks around World Showcase.

We also planned on drinking a bit, too, but margaritas in Mexico didn't work out, so it was on to Norway. Here's what was left of our almond pretzel:


China provided our first alcoholic beverages, a Green Tea Plum Slush and a Canto-Loopy:


Originally, I wanted the Canto-Loopy, but it was really heavy on the Vodka. I'm not a lightweight, but I do like my drinks mixed well. I made the mistake of sipping before I mixed, and the top was allllll vodka. DH wanted the Green Tea Slush, but didn't like the taste that much. So, we switched drinks, and we were both happy. The slush didn't really taste like green tea...I can't explain the taste. It was strange, but good.

We've both had a cream cheese pretzel at Disneyland before, but we were craving one, so we picked one up at the Fife and Drum:

This is a snack that never disappoints. Sweet and cream cheese-y :woohoo:

Our next drink was the infamous Grey Goose Slush:


This was definitely worth it! Just the perfect combo of the Grey Goose and the lemonade.

We took the drink with us to the U.K., where we decided to get a side of chips for a snack credit. No picture of the chips, because I think I told DH that he didn't have to take one. I do have our December fish 'n' chips picture:

The chips seemed tastier than ever to me (of course, that could've been the influence of the alcohol), but DH wasn't as happy as he was in Dec. I added some vinegar to mine, so maybe that made the difference.

We wanted to get more drinks, but we had to get to our dinner ADR, so that was the end of our snack adventure for the day.
 
Signing on! I have a lot of the adrs you did so I'm psyched! Bf and I make our first trip together in august with deluxe dining! I'm so excited (and I'm hoping for a Disney engagement!)
 
Our dinner ADR at Yachtsman was for 7:30. We arrived about 10 minutes early, got a buzzer, and waited about 5-10 minutes before it went off. Thus, we were seated right on time. Our waiter, Eric, was very cool. He took his time explaining the menu and suggesting some steaks. We decided to start with, you guessed it, a bottle of San Pellegrino. I think we're getting a little predictable.

Eric brought us some bread with roasted garlic cloves:

The bread was a combo of onion rolls and a sourdough. DH isn't a fan of garlic, but I loved it! I ate enough to keep the vampires away for the rest of the week :rotfl:

I had to get the cheese plate for my appetizer:

Again, predictable, but oh so good! From left to right, there's the Spanish Valdeon with roasted lemon brittle, Nancy's Hudson Valley Camembert with cherry chutney, Fiscalini Bandaged Cheddar with apple salad, and Midnight Moon with a chestnut almond truffle. I liked the two on the right the best, but I think I'm just more partial to hard cheeses. The best accompaniment, though, was probably the cherry chutney. Each accompaniment was perfect, and DH and I shared a lot of cheese.

For his starter, DH had the chilled seafood salad:

He loved the crab and lobster, but the rest of the plate was chilled beets in a lemon foam, and DH doesn't like beets that much. I, however, love beets, so we traded...cheese for beets. I guess it just wasn't what he expected, and there were definitely more beets than seafood.

For my main course, I ordered the New York Strip Steak:

I'm not into most sauces, because most contain butter or cheese, so I asked for the peppercorn brandy sauce on the side. Turns out it did have a buttery flavor, so I'm glad I didn't get it on the steak. I also didn't want potato gratin, so Eric was kind enough to substitute a side of sauteed mushroom caps. I asked for it to be cooked medium well, and it was perfect. It did have some fat in it, but that's typical for that cut of steak (on our way out, we asked the chef about the cuts of meat).

DH ordered the filet mignon:

He remembers the steak fondly, also cooked medium well, but he had already gotten full enough that he couldn't eat it all. He barely ate half. The mashed potatoes were fine, but nothing special. The red wine sauce was good, too. He's just still regretting not being able to eat more.

Of course, despite his full stomach, there's always room for dessert, right? He had to have the tasting of fall apples:

The plate had spiced apple cake, warm compote, and cider sorbet. There was also some sort of apple gel. He loved all of it, even the spice cake, and he's not usually happy with cake. I tried a tiny bit, but I was totally obsessed with my dessert. And guess what? He finished it all! Maybe that's why he felt so guilty about the filet :lmao:

I told Eric my tea story from Narcoossee's, and he said I could order my vanilla roobios, and he would see if the machine would take it as a free drink on our dining plan. It turned out to be no trouble, so I got my tea fix :banana: Again, it was a press pot, so some of the leaves escaped into the cup, but I was too happy to care.

My dessert was probably right up there with the choco-banana goodness at Citrico's. It was the Trio of Valrhona Chocolate:

From left to right, salted caramel, espresso, and peanut chocolates. The best was probably the espresso, but they were all incredibly rich and unique. The chocolate is imported, and I think it's some of the best chocolate I've ever tasted. I think the only one I didn't finish was the peanut, but that's because I just couldn't eat any more.

We got the final check at 9:19, so we were almost there for 2 hours. Eric let us keep copies of the main menu and dessert menu. On our way out, we saw the meat locker and we were casually asking the host about my strip steak, and he called over the head chef to answer all our questions about the various cuts of meat. Really informative and the first time that had happened to us.

Total OOP cost before tip? Approximately $150 (I didn't keep the original receipt)

Atmosphere? The restaurant does have a nice, upscale decor, but nothing terribly fantastic. The view of the meat locker on the way out is a nice touch. This is a 3.5.

Service? Eric was really cool, and very helpful. There were only a couple of times where we might've waited a bit longer than necessary, but he did have a lot of tables. A solid 4.

Food? I loved everything I ate. DH was happy with everything except his appetizer. The desserts alone are a reason to give this a 4.5.

Overall rating? Oh yeah, we'll be back.
 
I had that trio of Valhrona chocolate when were there in Sept 2009, oh it was so good! I love the Yachtsman too, can't wait to go back but there are so many other places I have yet to try! :rotfl:

Have you ever been to the Napa Rose? I would imagine you have....we love that place.
 















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