Wow, so many people reading, makes me feel all
Interesting that my dining reviews are always 10 times more popular than my trip reports . Hey, what can I say.. we're boring, but we eat at nice places!!!
Back to our scheduled program...
1900 Park Fare breakfast (GF)
Booked this one to make sure we would go to the Grand Floridian and see the Christmas decorations. I was a little apprehensive about the characters,because it was our first FACE character meal. And they talk back.
The food was typical breakfast fare, eggs, bacon, sausage, french toast, pancakes... nothing really stands out to me, but everything tasted good. The fruit was just OK, a little on the mushy side.
Now, if you think Chef Mickey's is chaotic, you might want to rethink 1900 Park Fare. First it's much, much smaller and cramped. For some reason we didn't see any character the first 15mns we were there, then all of a sudden 3 of them were at the table behind us. The interaction was quick, which was fine by me. We saw Pooh, Tigger, Mary Poppins, Alice and the Mad Hatter.
It was fun to do once, and the Grand Floridian is breathtaking, but I doubt we'll go back.
Beaches and Cream (BC)
We'd moved over to the BC that day, and had no ADRs for dinner, so we thought we'd try to get us a table at Beaches & Cream. There was a line, but we got lucky, as we were the only party of 2 and they had 2 seats at the counter.
My mom wanted chili or soup, but they were out of both, so she got a hot dog instead. With fruit. I got a cheeseburger because I'd read here that they are great, and boy it was. I eat maybe 2-3 burgers a year so I'm hardly an expert, but it sure was better than the one from Backlot Express. For one thing, it wasn't square !!
My mom liked her hot dog fine, although she said it was a little weird to eat fruit with it.
How can you go to Beaches & Cream and NOT eat ice cream ?? We split a banana split (you know, because it can't be that bad if there's fruit in it).
That was soooooooooo good. It comes with 3 scoops of ice cream : vanilla, strawberry and chocolate. Plus fudge sauce and chocolate sauce. Plus whipped cream.
Did I mention I'm lactose intolerant ?
This was totally worth being up with stomach cramps half the night.
The restaurant itself is very cute in a 50's Peach Pitt kind of way. We chatted with the guy who was working at the To Go counter and he was very fun and nice.
Just one more reason we the Beach Club.
We'd canceled Cape May twice on previous trips and I was really looking forward to this one. Plus, we were about 2mns away !!
The restaurant is very cute, with sand castles in glass cases. The buffet area is in the middle of the room. There were several kinds of breads, bagels, mini pastries, a granola & yogurt "bar" as well as the usual eggs/bacon/potatoes/waffles.. and asparagus!!!
I tried a cheese blintz, which is someting I'd never had before, and it was very very weird. The outside was OK but I really didnt care for what was inside. Another thing I didn't like on the buffet is that the bacon was barely cooked, not crispy at all. I like my bacon ultra crispy. Apart from these 2 things all the food was yummy.
The fruit was great, fresh and plentiful.
We saw Minnie, Goofy and Dale. They all came to our table twice, and looked so cute in their swimming outfits.
I'm glad we finally go to try it, and we'll definitely go back when we stay at the Beach Club.
Nine Dragons - Candlelight Processional Package
We'd been to Nine Dragons before and enjoyed it. Originally I'd booked San Angel for our CP package, but after reading a lot of bad reviews, and not finding anything I liked on the menu, I switched it to Nine Dragons. Plus, since this place is going to be closed for all of 2008 , we wanted to enjoy it again before the change.
The CP package dinner includes appetizer, entree and dessert plus a non-alcoholic beverage.
For the appetizer, my mom got the Shrimp and Pork Spring Roll (they are served hot).
She liked them a lot, but wished they'd come with lettuce to wrap around - less messy!
I had the Sha Cha Beef Skewers, which was one of the very few shrimp-free appetizers on the menu.
This was pretty good, the sauce reminded me a little of the one they serve with the wontons at 'Ohana.
For her entree, my mom chose the Sichuan Sea Treasures, (seafood casserole with scallops and shrimp sauteed with tender tofu, Cantonese choy sum, Chinese mushrooms, and seasonal vegetables in succulent red rice spice and XO sauce). She said it was soooo good, but the serving size was huge and she probably only ate a third of it, if that.
I had the Honey Sesame Chicken, again. I just love this. The portion was huge too, and even though I loved the dish I could not finish it. I'm guessing that this is going to be gone whenever they reopen Nine Dragons, and I'm going to miss it
For dessert, we tried the ginger ice cream and the red bean ice cream. I only had a spoonful of each - still getting over the banana split from last night. I liked the ginger one, but the red bean didn't taste like anything.
On another note, the place was PACKED ! I've never seen Nine Dragons this busy. And it was 3.45pm. I'm guessing most of the diners were on the Candlelight package. That was Gary Sinise's first night, and for the 6.45pm show, the CP line went all the way to Morocco. I don't think anyone in the stand by line got in, so I'm really glad we decided to get the package - even though our bill was over $100, not including tip, we felt it was worth it.
Really loving your reviews Marina. I am so gutted that Nine Dragons will be closed when we go in April as it's one place I really wanted to try. I am hoping that Yak and Yeti will be similar, though, so I will still be able to get my Asian fix
Like I said before, I'd read many bad reviews on San Angel and decided to switch our CP package to Nine Dragons instead. But since my mom still wanted, I got an ADR for lunch there the next day.
We showed up about an hour early but were seated immediately. The restaurant is very dark, but pretty because of the view into the Three Caballeros ride. We were pretty far from the temple but still enjoyed the atmosphere.
My mom ordered a margarita, I got my Sprite, and they were brought along with a basket of nachos and salsa. The nachos were just the supermarket kind of chips, nothing great, but the salsa tasted good.
My mom got the Carne Asada Tampiquena, which she said was very good. She didn't eat the chicken enchilada that came with because she was too full.
I got the Plato Mexicano , which includes a Grilled beef taco, chicken enchilada, and cheese quesadilla. The beef taco and cheese enchilada were very good, but the chicken was mushy dark meat and I didn't like it at all. The rice that came with was nice.
The refried beans came in a small separate dish, they were good, exactly the same they serve at the CS outside though.
Our server was just so-so. He never came to ask if we liked the food or if we needed refills.
Overall, it was a nice lunch, but I'm in no hurry to go again.
Crystal Palace
This is a favourite of ours, we've tried lunch and breakfast already. It was our first time for dinner. We had lunch at noon and our ADR for CP was at 9.40PM - we were STARVING and although the price was higher than usual due to the Holiday pricing, it was worth it. We've yet to be disappointed in Crystal Palace.
Our server was very nice and helpful, brought us refills without being asked, and told us to take our time after I asked what time the restaurant closed (I've never had such a late ADR in a park before).
On to the food...
My mom's first plate, a selections of salads and chilled shrimps.
Second plate, pulled pork and chicken, rice, salmon, and either spoonbread or cornbread.
She had apple crumble for dessert and it was gone before I had the time to take a pic. My mom's nuts about crumble
My first plate : mac'n'cheese, green beans and chicken tenders from the kids buffet, plus garlic mashed potatoes and garlic broccoli
Second plate : thai curry mussels (very good) with rice and vegetable pasta (very weird, but not bad).
Dessert plate, sorry bad pic (you can see my salad plate in the background, but I don't remember what was in it).
If I remember well, there was chocolate mousse, key-lime pie, chocolate mocha cake and a pink strawberry cake.
Why do I *always* take chocolate desserts when I know perfectly well that I won't like them ?? The key-lime pie was very good. The pink cake, however, tasted like bubble bath. We had a short discussion with our server about it - how could I know was bubble bath tasted like ? Years of drinking my own bath water, that's how