We Came, We Saw, We ATE The World! 11 Nights Dlx DP *9/2 Yak & Yeti*

[englishrose47]

I love the setting at Coral Reef but the menu is not appealing to me at all!! I really only would eat the steak , I had eyed tth crab cake but after seeing them here am not so sure !!!

 

[butiflfeet]

No more Red Stag Lemonade? This breaks my heart! Nothing but beer drinks in America is a travesty!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Loving this report! I have been looking for pics of the drinks around WS! Thanks for sharing!

You're welcome!

Well that is too bad your lobster pasta wasn't that great at CR. Oh well right! I love your drinking around the world pics and reviews!! Being 7.5 months pregnant I so long for a tasty adult beverage

Oh I can't even imagine! Cheers to the next month and a half going quickly and smoothly for you!

I love the setting at Coral Reef but the menu is not appealing to me at all!! I really only would eat the steak , I had eyed tth crab cake but after seeing them here am not so sure !!!

The person next to us got the steak and it did look quite delicious!

No more Red Stag Lemonade? This breaks my heart! Nothing but beer drinks in America is a travesty!

Yours and mine both!

 

[JessicaKnits]

We finished our World Tour of Alcohol in Mexico, where we also ate dinner at La Hacienda.

We requested a table at the window in hopes we could catch Illuminations. We checked in for our 7:00 PM reservation at 6:45, so were more than willing to wait. We got a table in the corner about as far from the windows as physically possible. It wasn't a huge deal, I understand requests are requests. This was the only place that we didn't get our seating request though.

I do apologize, since we basically ordered the same meal there won't be a ton of variety happening.

We started with chips and salsa. The green was mild and the red was slightly spicier with a very smoky flavor. I liked them both.

Then came the star of the day...

It was called the Rosita. I don't remember much about it other than it was made with top notch tequila, was incredibly strong and not fruity at all. It looked lovely.

Megan ordered the same. Unfortunately, hers came out tasting like salt water. It was horrible and had to be sent back. I'm not sure what happened since we ordered the same thing and they were made at the same time.

For appetizers, Megan ordered this....

Queso Fundido - melted cheese with poblano peppers, chorizo, and flour tortillas $12.75

Ordered without chorizo to make it veggie-friendly. This was the biggest disappointment of the night, including the salty-rita. The cheese was solid to the point that it could be cut with a knife and fork and plopped onto a chip.

I ordered this little beauty...

Camarones a la Parrilla - grilled shrimp served over caramelized pineapple and chile de arbol sauce $12.75

This was AWESOME. I've always loved caramelized pineapple, but this...OH. MY. It was the perfect blend of sweet and spicy and the shrimp were cooked beautifully. My only criticism, if I had to have one, is that I wished they would have taken the tails of the shrimp. The sauce they were in was very sticky from the pineapple and I didn't want to eat them with my hands, but eating them with a knife and fork lead to precious shrimp meat being lost!

For entrees, we both ordered the same thing...

Tacos de Camarones - Fried shrimp, chipotle-lime aioli, cabbage, lime and salsa verde, all served over flour tortillas served fresh homemade corn tortillas and rice $24.95

Normally, I would never order shrimp tacos at a restaurant. I make a pretty incredible shrimp taco myself, and restaurant tacos never compare and I'm always left disappointed. These however, fit the bill. This was a HUGE portion. There are FIVE tacos in there! There is a lot happening there, but overall, everything works together. Again, the only criticism, if I HAD to have one, is that I wish they offered the shrimp grilled or broiled instead of fried. But it was a great little indulgence and we both at ALL of these tacos!

For dessert we both went with this...

Empanada de Manzana - puff pastry filled with sauteed caramel apples, served with dulce de leche ice cream and cajeta (caramel sauce) $7.95

This was also amazing. I could drink a glass of that caramel sauce. I had to restrain myself because there was another snack on the other side of the World Showcase that I had my heart set on.

Despite Megan's salty margarita and brick of cheese, I really enjoyed our meal here. The restaurant is beautiful and vibrant and all of my food was excellent!

 

[klacey1]

You guys are absolute champions for making it around the world!
You know I love the idea of lobster mac and cheese, but I don't think I've ever had one out that I've LOVED. (I did have a fab lobster risotto in Vegas once, though!) Yours definitely looks oily and not deliciously cheesy. Unfortunate!
I'm glad you guys liked La Hacienda, though! The Rosita was a bit too floral tasting for me, but those shrimp tacos look amazing! Fried instead of grilled was an interesting choice on their part, but I'm glad you liked it!

 

[JessicaKnits]

You guys are absolute champions for making it around the world!
You know I love the idea of lobster mac and cheese, but I don't think I've ever had one out that I've LOVED. (I did have a fab lobster risotto in Vegas once, though!) Yours definitely looks oily and not deliciously cheesy. Unfortunate!
I'm glad you guys liked La Hacienda, though! The Rosita was a bit too floral tasting for me, but those shrimp tacos look amazing! Fried instead of grilled was an interesting choice on their part, but I'm glad you liked it!

If you're ever in Manhattan, try MacBar in Soho. their lobster mac is insanely good, and very reasonably priced. It's a really small place though, only 4 or 5 tables, so I usually get mine to go. They have some other interesting Macs, like Duck Confit and Reuben.

 

[klacey1]

If you're ever in Manhattan, try MacBar in Soho. their lobster mac is insanely good, and very reasonably priced. It's a really small place though, only 4 or 5 tables, so I usually get mine to go. They have some other interesting Macs, like Duck Confit and Reuben.

Haha, I used to work in SoHo. Mac Bar was my place! I always had the Mac Shroom. Mmm truffle oil!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Haha, I used to work in SoHo. Mac Bar was my place! I always had the Mac Shroom. Mmm truffle oil!

Ah! Small world. I will be back in New York next month and have absolutely no reason to be in SoHo, but am desperately trying to find something, just so we can go to MacBar.

 

[kimgof]

Great Reviews!

 

[budafam]

Love your reviews! Drinking around the world looks like so much fun!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Great Reviews!

Thank you!

Love your reviews! Drinking around the world looks like so much fun!

It was! I encourage everyone to try it. We wouldn't have made it through if we didn't split drinks most of the way though. I think the only times we got our own were in Mexico and Norway and Italy. Everything else we shared.

 

[MrsB1228]

I fell behind on your wonderful reviews, so going back to:

Tony's: how lovely to read a positive review of Tony's for a change. I agree it's not exactly gourmet Italian, but we've always enjoyed our meals there and it certainly is lovely inside.

Kona Cafe: my DS and I had lunch at Kona during our last trip and had an enjoyable meal. Service seems to be a real issue there now as we too experienced a less than stellar server. The food is good enough to keep you coming back though! I loved the look and description of both sushi dishes, I'm going to have to try one of them next time!

The Wave: I keep reading wonderful reviews of the breakfast buffet at the Wave but sadly haven't tried it yet. We're big fans of dinner there, the food is always fresh and delicious. How great the chef made special eggs benny just for you, and they looked soooo good!

Drinks around the world Part 1: LOVE the look on your face when you discovered La Cava was closed! And OT, I love the nail polish you were wearing, very pretty! That coffee drink from Norway is calling my name, as well as the Peach Snap and Rosa Regale.

Coral Reef: My first thought after seeing the picture of your app was "wow, that really looks burnt!" Glad to hear it didn't taste that way. I tried lobster mac & cheese at House of Blues in Downtown Disney last September and was pretty underwhelmed. I love lobster and I love mac and cheese but I've discovered I don't like them in combination. It didn't help that the lobster was rubbery, something that will turn me off pretty quick. Sorry your experience at CR wasn't any better than mine. I often find mango desserts can have a rather artificial taste, I'm sorry that Megan's dessert was like that but your Chocolate Wave looked wonderful! The tank pics are great, the stingray looks like he's smiling at you, lol!

Drinking around the world Part 2: You gals did a great job on your quest! I've never tried the Pear Magners but as I'm also a fan of Strongbow I think I'd probably like this one too. I've been known to indulge in a glass of plum wine (or two) when dining in Japan, delish! The Red Stag lemonade is no longer on the menu at the America pavilion?? Oh the humanity!! I really hope they bring it back tout de suite! What exactly is an angry orchard, another cider drink?

La Hacienda: I too had the queso app last October and it was exactly the same as Megans. Hard as a rock and impossible to cut, let alone dip your chips in. Very disappointing. The rest of your meal looked incredible! I had the shrimp taco offered at the Mexico booth during Food & Wine and it was amazing! Those look exactly the same so I know how awesome they are.

Ok, I really shouldn't read these reviews before lunch because now I'm really starving, lol!

All caught up and looking forward to more!

 

[JessicaKnits]

I fell behind on your wonderful reviews, so going back to:

Tony's: how lovely to read a positive review of Tony's for a change. I agree it's not exactly gourmet Italian, but we've always enjoyed our meals there and it certainly is lovely inside.

Kona Cafe: my DS and I had lunch at Kona during our last trip and had an enjoyable meal. Service seems to be a real issue there now as we too experienced a less than stellar server. The food is good enough to keep you coming back though! I loved the look and description of both sushi dishes, I'm going to have to try one of them next time!

The Wave: I keep reading wonderful reviews of the breakfast buffet at the Wave but sadly haven't tried it yet. We're big fans of dinner there, the food is always fresh and delicious. How great the chef made special eggs benny just for you, and they looked soooo good!

Drinks around the world Part 1: LOVE the look on your face when you discovered La Cava was closed! And OT, I love the nail polish you were wearing, very pretty! That coffee drink from Norway is calling my name, as well as the Peach Snap and Rosa Regale.

Coral Reef: My first thought after seeing the picture of your app was "wow, that really looks burnt!" Glad to hear it didn't taste that way. I tried lobster mac & cheese at House of Blues in Downtown Disney last September and was pretty underwhelmed. I love lobster and I love mac and cheese but I've discovered I don't like them in combination. It didn't help that the lobster was rubbery, something that will turn me off pretty quick. Sorry your experience at CR wasn't any better than mine. I often find mango desserts can have a rather artificial taste, I'm sorry that Megan's dessert was like that but your Chocolate Wave looked wonderful! The tank pics are great, the stingray looks like he's smiling at you, lol!

Drinking around the world Part 2: You gals did a great job on your quest! I've never tried the Pear Magners but as I'm also a fan of Strongbow I think I'd probably like this one too. I've been known to indulge in a glass of plum wine (or two) when dining in Japan, delish! The Red Stag lemonade is no longer on the menu at the America pavilion?? Oh the humanity!! I really hope they bring it back tout de suite! What exactly is an angry orchard, another cider drink?

La Hacienda: I too had the queso app last October and it was exactly the same as Megans. Hard as a rock and impossible to cut, let alone dip your chips in. Very disappointing. The rest of your meal looked incredible! I had the shrimp taco offered at the Mexico booth during Food & Wine and it was amazing! Those look exactly the same so I know how awesome they are.

Ok, I really shouldn't read these reviews before lunch because now I'm really starving, lol!

All caught up and looking forward to more!

Thanks for telling me about dinner at The Wave. I have always wanted to try it, but to be honest the menu hasn't appealed to me, but I am running out of restaurants to try! In fact, I think that is the only one left besides V&A's thats on the monorail!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Tusker House is absolutely one of my favorite pre-park opening breakfasts. It is a solid second behind Crystal Palace. The food at Tusker House is hands down better than Crystal Palace though!!

So now onto what I affectionately like to call "The One Where They Have Margaritas for Breakfast."

We were seated at Tusker House and told that a chef would be sent out for us. We had a bit of a wait, because the chef had to work with two other families as well. She came over to us and we explained no land animals, and no dairy for Megan. She was super awesome! I wish that we had taken down her name! I'm glad we had her come out, at other restaurants we would have been fine without a chef, but Tusker House was more of a challenge.

While we were waiting for the chef, we had time to look over the drink menu. Last time I was here I was lucky enough to have a Jungle Juice Mimosa and was keen on having that again...until I spotted this on the menu...

I don't remember exactly what it was called now. African Margarita sounds right. It really was a basic margarita with (I believe) elderflower liquer? added in...which had been imported all the way from...you guessed it, Africa.

Being somewhat of a margarita connoisseur (self proclaimed) I couldn't pass up the chance to try a margarita with very very rare (potentially scarce!) African liquer! So, that is how we both ended up with margaritas at our table. One other waiter gave us a fist bump for having margaritas for breakfast and asked us where we were from. "Wisconsin." we replied. "Oh, well that makes sense then." and he walked away. Sorry Wisconsin, we're not helping out with stereotypes AT. ALL. on this trip.

We made our way up to the buffet.

I started with this (so sorry about the bite!)

Counter-clockwise from far right...

Cherry-cheese blintzes (I LOVE them!), yams (or sweet potatoes, I can't remember for sure, but I think they were yams) with coconut, veggie quiche, fried plantain, mealie bread (which I did not care for, it was like sawdust) and potato and leek frittata, which was the special for the day.

I LOVED both the quiche and the frittata. Both were super flavorful.

Megan started with this...

Breakfast potatoes, a banana, some melon and veggie quiche.

Then the characters were making their rounds...

Then I had to go back for more, and end up with some grits and cheese, more blintz, more frittata, and bread pudding with vanilla sauce. But just a smidge!

Overall, everything here was excellent. Can't wait to go back again!

 

[Dislover1991]

Tusker House looks great! I think we will definitely make a stop there on our next trip! Do they still have the Krispy Kreme donuts?

 

[JessicaKnits]

Tusker House looks great! I think we will definitely make a stop there on our next trip! Do they still have the Krispy Kreme donuts?

It is absolutely worth it! I'm not sure if they still have the Krispy Kremes or not. To be honest, I'm from Winston-Salem which is the home of the KK, and so I've never paid much attention to them when I've been anywhere else. I feel like they were, but not positive.

 

[farrahalex76]

I love Tuskers House. The last time we went it was 11:00 and we got both breakfast and lunch and it was so good. The margarita for breakfast is hilarious. I was somewhere years ago for lunch and it was 11 and I ordered a drink and the waiter thought I was crazy he said you do know its 11 o'clock? Ugh yes don't people order drinks at lunch. And I was in Louisiana so you can't tell me that that is early for a drink there. As my uncle says it's 5 o'clock somewhere!

 

[jenjersnap]

Um, jungle juice mimosas?!? This is very important information, thank you.

 

[tiki2014]

What a great review so far! So mush good info w/ some many good restaurants. I will now be trying the cheese blintz @ TH.

 

[JessicaKnits]

I love Tuskers House. The last time we went it was 11:00 and we got both breakfast and lunch and it was so good. The margarita for breakfast is hilarious. I was somewhere years ago for lunch and it was 11 and I ordered a drink and the waiter thought I was crazy he said you do know its 11 o'clock? Ugh yes don't people order drinks at lunch. And I was in Louisiana so you can't tell me that that is early for a drink there. As my uncle says it's 5 o'clock somewhere!

Um...I was in Shreveport, LA once. I remember there being a drive thru daiquiri bar where you could just drive up and get a daiquiri (complete with real alcohol.) They put a piece of tape over the cup so you would not be in violation of open container laws. I feel like any state that allows this, should be declared a judgment free zone when it comes to drinking, at any hour.

Um, jungle juice mimosas?!? This is very important information, thank you.

Here it is, in all its glory. And yes, they are just as amazing as they sound!

What a great review so far! So mush good info w/ some many good restaurants. I will now be trying the cheese blintz @ TH.

So so so good!