catne
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2008
- Messages
- 8,420
We headed over to the Grand Floridian a little early for our 6:00 reservation so we could explore a little. I swear we were in here before maybe years ago but DH thinks Im losing it, says weve never been. Maybe its because I spend too much time on the DisBoards
and Ive seen so many pictures of everything, I get the déjà vu when I havent really been there. Whatever
its a beautiful resort
the grounds were so pretty, but a lot of the flowers were covered by plastic sheeting due to the crazy freezing temperatures:
Im not sure if Id want to stay there its just a little over-the-top fussy looking to me, but DH thinks we should try it at some point, maybe on another quick 2-day jaunt like this one. He really, really liked the monorail convenience: not having to drive/park at all on this little trip since we only went to MK & Epcot. I have to agree with him, the monorail really cuts down on the bite travel takes out of your time.
Well, on to the food. We went to check in at about 5:50, following the check in 10 minutes ahead suggestion. Wasnt necessary, at all they seated us immediately. The place was EMPTY. I mean super-duper EMPTY. Dont think there was 10 other people eating in there while we were there. You can see all the empty seats behind DH, and we were actually seated fairly close to the front of the restaurant there were tons of empty tables behind me, in the main part of the place:
It stayed empty the entire time we were there. So, needless to say, we got really good service since we were practically the only diners there! I think our water glasses were refilled every time we took a sip
For drinks, DH had the Blue Moon beer, and I had the Blackberry Mojito o.k., Im typically a slushy-frozen-umbrella-beverage type. But as cold as it was, I just could not bring myself to order frozen slushies. When I commented on that, the waitress suggested the blackberry mojito. Wowzers, the mojito is my new favorite drink! That drink was tremendous honestly, it was the first time Ive been very, very tempted at WDW to get a refill on an adult beverage. Usually the prices on their drinks is enough to keep me firmly at one. But, I did decide to stick with one, here, but mainly because I decided not to fill up on beverages, and also the fact we knew we would probably go back to the Contemporary Club and get free cordials later while watching the MK fireworks. Well, I refrained from a refill. But I was REALLY tempted. Dee-lish beverage. DH liked his Blue Moon, but then, it was beer. Of course he liked it.
The waiter brought out the bread basket & butter there was a nice variety in here:
The breads with raisins or currants or whatever it was were very tasty. But we knew there was much more to come, so we really just nibbled a bit on this. For appies, I was still cold, so went for the Onion Soup:
This was good, but I shouldnt have ordered it in the same trip as having the Le Chefs de France Fr. Onion Soup not near as good as Le Chefs. I ate most of it, though.
DH went for the Lobster Salad appy and he was marvelously UNDERwhelmed by this dish. Thought the lobster part was spectacularly tasteless. I reminded him that almost every time weve had lobster hes thought it mostly tasteless (we much prefer crab!) Anyway, he only ate a little of this, helped me with my onion soup & returned to the bread basket some.
He did much better with his entrée: he ordered the shrimp & prosciutto fettucine. On a small taste, I thought it was maybe too much garlic, but he loved it. Just about licked the bowl clean:
I was in the mood for a steak, so I ordered the New York strip, which came with some green beans and mashed potatoes.
The steak was seasoned well & cooked perfectly. The beans were fresh, and the taters were tasty I finished most of the steak (DH polished it off) but only about ½ the beans & taters. I was getting full, but wanted room for dessert.
The waitress brought over a sampler platter to show us what the desserts were they all looked spectacular. As we sat there debating which to choose, she suggested we just order the sampler platter so we did:
Isnt that a cute presentation with the little sign and all the mickey sprinkles, plus the artful little swooshies of syrup or sauce dribbled by each dessert ( well, except the little blob of (s)lime syrup next to the key lime pie DHs description of what that looked like almost put off my appetite. Almost but I do agree, they could work on the syrup-décor for that corner, lol. The waitress assured us the little celebrate today easel thingy was completely edible (looked like it was made from almond paste or something like that.) So anyway, Top left, thats Key lime pie was o.k. but not the best weve had. Then clockwise, thats new york style lemon cheesecake topped with a raspberry this was wonderful tasting, we finished most of it. Next, bottom right, is Tiramisu ooh mouthwatering delicious. We finished that one completely! Bottom left, is chocolate-hazelnut mousse cake: OMG, this was outstanding. Way too rich, though we really, really, wanted to eat all of this but just could not finish it. Id say the tiramisu & chocolate mousse cake about tied for best here delicious. And I really like being able to get a sampler that lets you taste multiple desserts. Although, once again, could not finish the dessert. We didnt even try a bit of the Celebrate Today sign too full.
Do not know why this place was soooo empty. Maybe everyone was eating late because parks were only staying open until 8 or 9 that night? Just was amazed at how empty the place was when we left, there was about 6 employees waiters, bus people & greeters all standing near the entrance chatting quietly because there was obviously nothing for them to do (they all thanked us for coming & wished us a wonderful evening.) Wed definitely come back give it a 9 out of 10 (taking it down a notch for the appetizers not being all-that.) If we'd been just on the regular DDP, like we normally are, there would have been no appies for us...I would give it a 10 out of 10 on a no-appy menu. Because our entrees, drinks, desserts & service were all 10s. We would go back in a flash...definitely on our list of good place for a steak, too.
So, cost here at the GF Café was one table service each on the DxDDP was very well worth it, we thought. Actually cash cost without the alcohol would have been $81.80. (drinks were $5.75 for the Blue Moon beer and $8.25 for the blackberry mojito.)
Im not sure if Id want to stay there its just a little over-the-top fussy looking to me, but DH thinks we should try it at some point, maybe on another quick 2-day jaunt like this one. He really, really liked the monorail convenience: not having to drive/park at all on this little trip since we only went to MK & Epcot. I have to agree with him, the monorail really cuts down on the bite travel takes out of your time.
Well, on to the food. We went to check in at about 5:50, following the check in 10 minutes ahead suggestion. Wasnt necessary, at all they seated us immediately. The place was EMPTY. I mean super-duper EMPTY. Dont think there was 10 other people eating in there while we were there. You can see all the empty seats behind DH, and we were actually seated fairly close to the front of the restaurant there were tons of empty tables behind me, in the main part of the place:
It stayed empty the entire time we were there. So, needless to say, we got really good service since we were practically the only diners there! I think our water glasses were refilled every time we took a sip
For drinks, DH had the Blue Moon beer, and I had the Blackberry Mojito o.k., Im typically a slushy-frozen-umbrella-beverage type. But as cold as it was, I just could not bring myself to order frozen slushies. When I commented on that, the waitress suggested the blackberry mojito. Wowzers, the mojito is my new favorite drink! That drink was tremendous honestly, it was the first time Ive been very, very tempted at WDW to get a refill on an adult beverage. Usually the prices on their drinks is enough to keep me firmly at one. But, I did decide to stick with one, here, but mainly because I decided not to fill up on beverages, and also the fact we knew we would probably go back to the Contemporary Club and get free cordials later while watching the MK fireworks. Well, I refrained from a refill. But I was REALLY tempted. Dee-lish beverage. DH liked his Blue Moon, but then, it was beer. Of course he liked it.
The waiter brought out the bread basket & butter there was a nice variety in here:
The breads with raisins or currants or whatever it was were very tasty. But we knew there was much more to come, so we really just nibbled a bit on this. For appies, I was still cold, so went for the Onion Soup:
This was good, but I shouldnt have ordered it in the same trip as having the Le Chefs de France Fr. Onion Soup not near as good as Le Chefs. I ate most of it, though.
DH went for the Lobster Salad appy and he was marvelously UNDERwhelmed by this dish. Thought the lobster part was spectacularly tasteless. I reminded him that almost every time weve had lobster hes thought it mostly tasteless (we much prefer crab!) Anyway, he only ate a little of this, helped me with my onion soup & returned to the bread basket some.
He did much better with his entrée: he ordered the shrimp & prosciutto fettucine. On a small taste, I thought it was maybe too much garlic, but he loved it. Just about licked the bowl clean:
I was in the mood for a steak, so I ordered the New York strip, which came with some green beans and mashed potatoes.
The steak was seasoned well & cooked perfectly. The beans were fresh, and the taters were tasty I finished most of the steak (DH polished it off) but only about ½ the beans & taters. I was getting full, but wanted room for dessert.
The waitress brought over a sampler platter to show us what the desserts were they all looked spectacular. As we sat there debating which to choose, she suggested we just order the sampler platter so we did:
Isnt that a cute presentation with the little sign and all the mickey sprinkles, plus the artful little swooshies of syrup or sauce dribbled by each dessert ( well, except the little blob of (s)lime syrup next to the key lime pie DHs description of what that looked like almost put off my appetite. Almost but I do agree, they could work on the syrup-décor for that corner, lol. The waitress assured us the little celebrate today easel thingy was completely edible (looked like it was made from almond paste or something like that.) So anyway, Top left, thats Key lime pie was o.k. but not the best weve had. Then clockwise, thats new york style lemon cheesecake topped with a raspberry this was wonderful tasting, we finished most of it. Next, bottom right, is Tiramisu ooh mouthwatering delicious. We finished that one completely! Bottom left, is chocolate-hazelnut mousse cake: OMG, this was outstanding. Way too rich, though we really, really, wanted to eat all of this but just could not finish it. Id say the tiramisu & chocolate mousse cake about tied for best here delicious. And I really like being able to get a sampler that lets you taste multiple desserts. Although, once again, could not finish the dessert. We didnt even try a bit of the Celebrate Today sign too full.
Do not know why this place was soooo empty. Maybe everyone was eating late because parks were only staying open until 8 or 9 that night? Just was amazed at how empty the place was when we left, there was about 6 employees waiters, bus people & greeters all standing near the entrance chatting quietly because there was obviously nothing for them to do (they all thanked us for coming & wished us a wonderful evening.) Wed definitely come back give it a 9 out of 10 (taking it down a notch for the appetizers not being all-that.) If we'd been just on the regular DDP, like we normally are, there would have been no appies for us...I would give it a 10 out of 10 on a no-appy menu. Because our entrees, drinks, desserts & service were all 10s. We would go back in a flash...definitely on our list of good place for a steak, too.
So, cost here at the GF Café was one table service each on the DxDDP was very well worth it, we thought. Actually cash cost without the alcohol would have been $81.80. (drinks were $5.75 for the Blue Moon beer and $8.25 for the blackberry mojito.)
Funny we had the same entrees as well, glad you had a great meal!!!
I think CM's is a very Disney way to start the day too. 
