"We're Just Here For the Free Food"--One vegetarian & one omnivore 8/25-9/4 (w/ pics)

[smartestnumber5]

GF and I were not all that excited to go to dinner this night. I had actually tried to switch our Boma reservation for Coral Reef a few weeks before, but there were no openings at Coral Reef for dinner. We’d gone to Boma once before together and I had gone numerous times on earlier trips with my family. I had really, really enjoyed Boma on the trips with my family, but only marginally so on the previous trip with GF. GF had not loved it either, but said it was just "okay." Given this, I'm not really sure why I made a reservation for it again .

I think the first few times I ate at Boma I hadn’t been a vegetarian for long so there were a lot of varieties of vegetarian food I had never experienced. I was also younger and hadn't had a chance to try more exotic flavors of food. With my family we also went to various meat heavy places so it was a nice treat to go somewhere picked out just for me. Going with just GF on free dining it didn’t seem like such a treat anymore--honestly I kind of felt like we should try something new rather than go with something we've already experienced and weren't wowed by.

So our expectations weren’t very high in the first place. The meal was fine—nothing bad about it, but just nothing very good or exciting either (though maybe we were just fulfilling the low expectations we had).

There were no specialty drinks allowed on the DDP (we asked about them), so we both had iced tea.

My First Plate. Starting from the pineapple at the bottom and going right--pineapple, peanut rice, cous cous, fufu, bread, potatoes w/ afritude, falafel, carrot-raisin slaw, and some other salad I've forgotten

My Soup and Salad. Salad with Mango Dressing, and the three kinds of hummus with crackers on top. The brown soup is my mushroom.

GF's First Plate--I know it's prime rib in the middle, but I'm not totally sure what anything else is. She also tried one of the soups (on the right), but I'm not sure what it was.

GF's Dessert Plate--again, I don't know what things are.

My Dessert Plate. Those are zebra domes, of course, at the top with coconut tiramisu above them. Continuing to the right--Bread pudding w/ rum sauce, chai rice pudding, milk tart, baklava-like nut tart, and chocolate mousse.

As for favorites on the buffet I liked the falafel (more potato like than any other falafel I’ve had), the three kinds of hummus, almost all of the desserts except the chai pudding (yes I ate the zebra domes even though I know they have gelatin in them—bad vegetarian ), potatoes w/ afritude, and mushroom soup. There was really nothing that I found really unpleasant.

GF really liked the salmon w/ coconut curry which she thought was the best thing there. (GF: "It tasted just like a Thai yellow curry.") She also liked the peanut rice, but not as much as the coconut rice they had last time. The prime rib was good of course, but she preferred it with gravy. My response to this comment was, "Do people actually put gravy on prime rib?" It reminds me from a line from Sex and the City when Carrie is expressing horror about Samantha's latest guy who talks baby-talk in bed--"It's like putting ketchup on prime rib. Stop! You're ruining it."

GF had numerous least favorites--she's so picky ! Though she liked the potato salad's taste, she was a bit deterred by it's unnatural bright yellow color. She said the fufu reminded her of baby food that had gone bad and found the watermelon rind salad “disgusting”. None of the desserts really did much for her--they were probably all too sweet, and alas her favorite (creme brulee) was absent.

Buffet—25.99
Buffet—25.99
Tax—3.38
Tip—9.96
Total—65.32 --> 2 TS credits

Food: 3 out of 5.
Atmosphere: 2.5 out of 5. (Very busy, hard to maneuver around tables and people to keep getting up and going to buffet. Lots of noise.)
Service: 2.5 out of 5.

This one is definitely not going to be on our usual rotation since were just not excited about it. We certainly might go back at some point in the future, but probably not anytime soon. Maybe absence will make the heart grown fonder.

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent, looking forward to reading more.

 

[budbeerlady]

Thanks for the veggie reviews. I am thinking of trying Ohana and it was nice to see and read about the vegetarian dish.

 

[BabyPiglet]

Really nice reviews! I'm a sugar-holic too.

:

 

[smartestnumber5]

Today was our MGM day. We’d only hit one ride (Tower of Terror) and I started getting kind of hungry. GF also decided she could use some coffee.

I decided to grab a pretzel from Anaheim Produce near ToT and we thought we’d then walk over to the Writers Stop (where they actually have non-Nescafe coffee ) and sit for awhile.

The pretzel was your average theme park pretzel. Nothing special but good enough.

GF chose a double espresso at the Writers Stop. Again nothing special here, but it sure as heck was a lot better than the Nescafe crap.

Snack—Anaheim Produce (1 S)
A&R: pretzel

Pretzel: 3.29
Tax: .21
Total: 3.50 --> 1 S

Snack—Writers Stop (1 S)
R: double espresso

Dlb espresso: 3.00 (estimate)
Tax: .20
Total: 3.20 --> 1 S

Food: 3 out of 5.
Atmosphere (of the Writers Stop): 3 out of 5. A nice quiet place to sit for awhile, but very little seating and a bit cramped.
Service: N/A.

 

[smartestnumber5]

During our break at the Writers Stop we discussed where to eat lunch. MGM isn’t known for wonderful counter service options, so there was nothing we were particularly excited about. We thought about the ABC Commissary but GF didn’t see anything appealing on the menu, and the vegetarian hummus and tabouli wrap wasn’t very appealing to me given I had eaten hummus twice the day before. We thought about taking the boat over to World Showcase in Epcot and eating there. But that just seemed like it would require a lot more energy than we had. So we eventually decided to just head on back to Pop and eat there.

Back at Pop I had a pizza, slushie (I like to mix frozen coke and blue raspberry together) and ice cream while GF chose the Asian chicken salad, a cupcake, and a power aid.

(sorry about the bad picture--the flash is bouncing off the salad I think)

My pizza was good—you really can’t ever go wrong with pizza--and I actually was sort of craving it. GF’s Asian Chicken salad was decent—lots of chicken and lots of veggies which made her feel that it was lighter than some things she had been eating. On the downside, though, she said there was too much dressing and that it had strange noodles on it that didn’t go at all with salad.

For my dessert I chose two scoops of cookies and cream in a cone. This was yummy of course (you also can’t go wrong with ice cream), but I made the mistake of trying to eat it as we walked back to the room. It took a lot of work to keep it from melting everywhere with the 102 degree heat index which made the experience a little less enjoyable. GF took her cupcake back to the room and ate the cake part later that night; not only did she manage to get crumbs all over the floor, but she ate the cake part and tossed away the icing part. --what a waste of perfectly good sugar.

Pizza—5.89
Asian Chicken Salad—6.39
Ice Cream—3.09 (estimated)
Cupcake—1.89 (estimated)
Poweraid—2.5 (estimated)
Drink—2.39 (estimated)
Tax—1.33
Total—23.48 --> 2 CS

Food: 3 out of 5.
Atmosphere: 2.5 out of 5. (It’s always too loud and crowded in the food court at Pop.)
Service: N/A

 

[bluedolph1n]

Love your reviews!

 

[anabelle]

Enjoying the vegetarian reviews !

 

[smartestnumber5]

After Boma was a bit disappointing, we tried to pump up our excitement for this dinner. On our trip last August we had a reservation for Le Cellier for our last night but we were so tired and GF's feet were hurting so badly that we cancelled it. (Stupid, stupid us ). I was excited that GF would be getting a great meal and a fancy cut of meat—she often remarks how odd it is that as a vegetarian I’m so happy for her to have yummy/fancy meat dishes --but I can’t say I was that excited for my own meal. It is a steakhouse, after all, so I wasn’t expecting that much. Well I was badly mistaken to not be expecting much—this was one of the best meals of our trip!

We arrived a few minutes before our reservation. I checked us in and we were told that they were running behind and that they’d have to seat others who’d been waiting awhile before us. So it sounded like we’d be having a bit of a wait and went to sit outside. Within 5 to 10 minutes, though, someone came out calling my name. I told her I thought it would take longer since we’d only been there 5 minutes and she said we were pretty lucky because, indeed, others had been waiting for quite awhile. I guess the issue must have been table size—guess it paid for us to have only two of us!

We were seated close to the entrance of the restaurant in an area which seemed to usually be an area where 2-person tables were lined up next to one another. We’d heard that tables could be close together here, but ours seemed a fine distance from those next to us. On our left was a family taking up about 3 of the 2-person tables pushed together and the same on the right as well. Maybe that was why we had so much room—the other tables were pushed together hence opening up some extra space.

Our server (Patrick from Ontario) came by to introduce himself and said he’d be back in a minute to take our drink orders. He asked if we were on the DDP and when we said yes he encouraged us to get specialty drinks. I chose the chocolate raspberry shake and GF went with the mango smoothie. As we looked over our menus we noticed the folks on our left seemed to be kind of unhappy—we just got an angry vibe from that table and it seemed they weren’t getting along with Patrick very well (or at least, that’s what we thought). (GF: “they did have several small, slightly bratty children … no wonder they were unhappy” )

My appetizer was a no brainer since I only had a choice of salad or the beefsteak tomato stack. I went with the more exciting of the two—the tomato stack. GF had some trouble choosing, though, so when Patrick came back she asked for his opinion. He asked what types of things she likes and suggested the Mussels for something different. My entrée choice was also a no brainer—the black bean cake—the only vegetarian entrée on the menu. GF, on the other hand, had another tough decision to make. She was pretty sure she wanted fillet mignon—but should she get the bbq maple glaze or the mushroom? She went with the mushroom and actually ended up craving bbq for the rest of the trip. (GF: “Yeah, I think I made the wrong decision there … though it was still really good.”)

Shortly after we ordered our drinks arrived and Patrick dropped off some bread (pretzel, multigrain, and sourdough). He explained them—each one represented a different area of Canada—and let us know that the “the pretzel bread is from Ontario…which is where all the very good looking men are from” . (GF: “I actually forgot he was from Ontario and just assumed he was gay!”) GF preferred the multigrain bread, while the pretzel bread was my favorite. I can really see why DISers dream about dipping pretzel bread into the cheese soup—I can just imagine how good it would taste dipped in cheese. (Darn that cheese soup having bacon in it ).

Our appetizers arrived and we dug right in. GF had never had mussels and found them to be pleasantly chewey. Patrick had explained that they were cooked in the shell in a heavy cream sauce. As GF said, you can’tt go wrong with heavy cream. (GF: “they were also sprinkled with thick bits of bacon and simmered with tiny cubes of potato. Very good but the whole thing was very salty.”) My tomato stack was very good. GF actually kept stealing some and talked about how fresh the tomatoes tasted. (GF: “my grandpa used to grow amazing tomatoes in his garden … they were like nothing even resembling regular tomatoes from the supermarket … this was the first time I’ve ever tasted tomatoes with that same “garden” taste in a restaurant!”) Personally I would have liked more mozzarella—but then I am a cheese lover. Also all those tomatoes were a little too acidic, especially given the vinegar (I have stomach acid problems). So while I enjoyed it, I might go with a salad next time just because of the acidity issue.

On to the entrees. GF ended up wishing she had tried the BBQ fillet instead of the mushroom one. She said the mushroom fillet had a similar flavor profile as the mussels (salty and oniony), so she would have liked something a little different. (GF: “and I LOVE salt … but too much is too much.”) Still, she says it was a delicious cut of beef and the risotto was very creamy. She also suspected that there was some truffle oil in the sauce and became obsessed with trying to detect hints of truffle. My entrée was great. It was two slices of red pepper stuffed with a mixture of black beans, red onions, and corn and then topped with cheese. It was accompanied by a lo mein type noodle salad with a light and yummy peanut sauce. My main thought on this dish was that this is what a vegetarian entrée ought to be like. Unlike the same old pasta with veggies that many restaurants offer as a standard vegetarian option, this dish seemed like someone had put a lot of thought into it. I mean, who would have thought of putting together black bean stuffed peppers and peanut noodle salad? But it worked so well together! I could eat some right now! (GF: “I loved her dish, as well, which is really a complement from a raging meat eater like myself”)

As we were eating Patrick came by and asked how the entrees were. He then let me know that there were actually two different kinds of cheese on the stuffed peppers. One had pepper jack cheese and the other had some type of cheddar. GF and I preferred the cheddar, but both were very good. At this point in the dinner we noticed an apparent change in the vibe coming from the next table. Suddenly it seemed the people to our left were joking with Patrick and laughing as he brought out their desserts. One person had the chocolate mousse and after dropping it off Patrick quickly left and returned with a moose antler hat. He got the attention of the entire restaurant and then insisted that the mousse orderer stand up and learn to make a moose call. (GF: “I can’t resist commenting that the “moose call” they did sounded very very much like … hmm … how to put it? The sound that adults might make while …. um … engaging in a certain activity”) The guy seemed to happily play along as his family laughed and took pictures.

Finally even though we were quite full it was time for dessert. GF’s decision was easy this time as she is a crème brulee lover. I contemplated the chocolate mousse and the campfire smores, but ultimately went with the Chocolate Whiskey Cake. GF says of her crème brulee sampler “Uhhhh” (that’s a moan—a very good one). My cake was very good. It was less sweet than most of my dessert choices though and the chocolate and whiskey combination seemed to give the cake itself a little bit of a bitter taste. It came with a tarragon sauce, though, which when poured on the cake really did change its flavor. With the sauce it tasted much sweeter and not bitter at all. I dumped all the sauce on and gobbled it up.

In general this meal was wonderful. The food was great. We enjoyed the atmosphere. And we had a great server—friendly, helpful, and talkative. We left extra tip because the service was so good.

beefsteak tomato stack: 7.99
spiced black bean cake: 15.99
chocolate on chocolate whiskey cake: 7.99
chocolate raspberry shake: 4.29
prince Edward island mussels: 9.99
mushroom filet mignon: 27.99
crème brulee sampler: 5.99
mango smoothie: 4.29
subtotal: 84.52
tax: 5.49
tip: 15.21
total: 105.23 --> 2 TS

Meal: 4.5 out of 5.
Atmosphere: 4 out of 5.
Service: 5 out of 5.

We'll definitely be back

 

[BaBeeCee14]

Loving your reviews!! Thanks for sharing!

 

[smartestnumber5]

GF was taking a bit longer getting ready this morning than I was, so I decided to go to the food court at Pop and get in line for food while GF was getting ready--the lines are always kind of long in the morning.

I decided to get a yogurt parfait and a child’s waffle platter for us to share. Children's meals seemed to be just the right size to go along with some yogurt for us since GF isn't much of a breakfast eater, and I don't need much when we're eating a lot for lunch. This way we had a cheap breakfast and saved our CS credits for lunch.

The child’s platter had two Mickey waffles, applesauce, and bacon. The waffles were good. The applesauce had no sugar which made it completely inedible for me. GF actually liked it *shakes head* but didn’t eat much of it. The yogurt parfait had strawberries and granola on top. It was better than the one at POR (had sugar in it!), but not nearly as good as the one at Main Street Bakery (no blueberries or bananas)


Yogurt parfait: 3.79
Tax: .25
Total: 4.04 --> 1 S

Waffle platter: 3.59
Tax: .24
Total: 3.83 --> OOP

Food: 3.5 out of 5.
Atmosphere: 2.5 out of 5.
Service: n/a.

 

[smartestnumber5]

We went to MK on Wednesday and spent some time in Tomorrowland. When it came time for lunch we debated whether to go back to Columbia Harbor House or not, but ultimately chose to try Cosmic Rays (for the first time) due to the extensive menu.

We arrived and discovered that there are three areas that offer different menus that have separate cash registers and counters—one for burgers, one for sandwiches, and one for chicken and ribs. We only had one of our room keys with us, so that meant we had to stand in line twice, and that one person had to wait for the other person to get done using the key to get in line. Luckily the lines moved very quickly.

GF noticed the chicken and rib combo meal and figured that must be a lot of food--so she decided that was the meal for her! I debated between the veggie burger and veggie wrap. There was a toppings bar which I thought tipped the balance in favor of the veggie burger. I usually am kind of wary about veggie burgers because I only like the kind made from soy, not the Gardenburger kind that are veggie based. I figured, though, with all the toppings I could make either kind taste yummy (it turned out to be a soy burger anyway).

GF’s chicken and rib combo came with mashed potatoes and carrots and I got fries with my veggie burger. She had coke and carrot cake and I had iced tea and chocolate cake. She says the combo meal was pretty good.

My veggie burger was also mostly good. I asked for cheese on it and they gave me the cheese on the side—it seemed to be a kraft single that they put in a container. Unfortunately it got stuck to the container and I had to kind of peel it off which was a pain--plus unmelted kraft singles are kind of gross. I assumed they would put it on the burger so it could melt. I added lettuce, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, and ketchup to the burger. Not the best veggie burger I’ve ever had, but far from the worst—I was happy enough with it and got full quickly.

We were planning to have some yummy Magic Kingdom snacks--dole whip and ice cream sandwich--before we left the park, but as I was finishing the burger I could see that this plan might have to go. I started debating whether I should even open the chocolate cake container--surely the iced cream sandwich would be better than the cake, so why eat the cake if then I won't have room for the ice cream sandwich? Well that was the rational part of me talking. The other part was saying, "There's chocolate cake in front of you. EAT IT!" Guess which part won?

The carrot cake was much less sweet than the one we’d had at POR and Pop, so GF was pleased. My chocolate cake was yummy too, and before I knew it I'd eaten the entire thing. So once again, we had no room in our stomachs for the snacks we so desired

Chicken and rib combo: 13.99
Veggie burger: 6.59
Chocolate Cake: 3.59
Carrot Cake: 3.59
Lg coke: 2.39
Med iced tea: 2.09
Tax: 1.93
Total: 34.17

Food: 3.5 out of 5.
Atmosphere: 3.5 out of 5. Pretty busy in there, but at least there is a good amount of indoor seating and they had many registers open so the lines moved very fast.
Service: n/a

 

[smartestnumber5]

Our dinner that night was at Flying Fish. This was the dinner GF was most looking forward to—she loves her fish! Thus far we had only tried two signature restaurants at WDW—California Grill and Artist Point. California Grill is our number 1 choice hands down. Artist Point was a disappointment (though we really liked the dessert and cheese plate there), so we were hoping to find another signature restaurant that we could really enjoy.

Flying Fish didn’t disappoint (though being a seafood restaurant it was more to GF’s liking than to mine). We had a nice table by a window that had a view of the kitchen. Here are some pics of the restaurant:

Our server was very nice and helpful, but we felt like he was going for that very aloof I’ll-pretend-I’m-not-here kind of service. I always feel weird totally ignoring a server who’s doing something at our table, so I’m not that comfortable with that type of service. But he was still very good and friendly enough.

GF had trouble deciding what to order but eventually decided on the crab cake and the potato wrapped snapper. I had about three options for an appetizer—a caprese mozzarella salad, a cheese plate, and a gorgonzola/peach/arugula salad. I was very interested in the cheese plate (I love cheese so much!), but that was also a dessert option and I knew from looking at online menus that none of the other desserts really called out to me. So it was really between the caprese and gorgonzola salad—I went with the latter on a whim (good decision ). There were actually no vegetarian entrees on the menu so I had earlier asked the server if they had one; he had said that they usually do a pesto pasta dish. So when it came time for ordering I said I’d have “whatever the vegetarian entrée you mentioned is.” He said okay and left the table. I was actually a little disappointed. I do love pesto, but pesto pasta is something you can get many places, and I’d just had some really good pesto pasta at Riverside Mill a few days before. I was hoping for something more exciting.

A few minutes later a chef came over to our table and introduced himself to me. He confirmed that I was a vegetarian. I nodded and he asked “Lacto-ovo?” and I said yes. He then said that they could either make the pesto pasta dish that the server had mentioned, or he could make “a tasting dish.” Well I wanted the tasting dish of course—something exciting! . He asked me if there were some things I liked more than others. My mind went blank and I looked at GF and asked, ‘Is there anything I don’t like?” She replied, “Nope—she’s easy to please—just no meat. Eggs, cheese, everything else is fine.” The chef said, “Oh eggs and cheese are okay?” --isn’t that what lacto-ovo means? I said yes and he joked, “Okay, so just nothing with eyes” *laugh*. He said, “well we can take good care of you then” and went off after I thanked him.

Shortly after our server brought our iced teas and some bread out. The bread was multigrain sourdough I believe and it was yummy. GF is a real bread and butter lover. At casual restaurants when the butter comes in packets she always complains when they are plastic and says the foil packages have better tasting butter. She described the bread as sharp and hearty and gave the butter the .

Our appetizers arrived pretty quickly. My salad was really, really good. It was a huge serving. It could easily have been an entrée or GF and I could have shared it. It was a ton of arugula with a crispani cracker thingy on top. The cracker had a huge slap of gorgonzola cheese on top of it. As I dug in I discovered even more gorgonzola was sprinkled throughout the salad (with the cracker it was actually too much gorgonzola) along with pieces of peach and sweetened pecans. I’m not sure of the dressing, but it was something pretty light—I just know I liked it. I ate and ate and ate and eventually realized that I was already getting full so I forced myself to put down my fork and let them take away the rest of my tasty salad.

Wow--the gorgonzola kind of looks gross in this picture--it really looks like gross mold . It tasted much, much better than it looks (and it looked much better in the restaurant too!)


GF’s crab cake was also a good sized portion. Crab cakes are usually one of the smaller appetizers, but this crab cake (it was just one) was the size of a baseball. GF says it was a big ball of whole crab meat rolled in bread crumbs and that it was very good. Underneath it was some type of slaw which she also enjoyed.

Out came our entrees. My tasting plate had four different items on it and was served on a really interesting plate that was a semi-transparent turquoise color and had four little divets in it. I felt kind of special having an entrée made just for me and served on this very different plate. At one point I actually noticed one of the hosts standing a few feet away from our table near the entrance to the dining room seemed to be looking at my meal. I caught his eye and eventually he came over and looking puzzled asked, “Is that food from our restaurant? I’ve never seen that before.” I explained that it was a vegetarian meal and he nodded, still looking intrigued.

My plate included a bit of a pesto pasta, something I will call “potato lasagna”, and two vegetable dishes. The pesto pasta was okay, but somewhat boring—not as pesto heavy as I like it and mixed with some of the veggies in the other dishes (green beans and either turnips or radishes I think). The potato lasagna was the best item on the tasting plate. It was thin slices of potatoes with some type of cheese or cream based sauce between them and topped with mushrooms. GF tasted it and said she detected truffle oil in it. It was very good, but also very rich so I couldn’t eat that much of it. As for the veggies, one item was a medley of radishes/turnips (yeah, I totally don’t know the difference between them but I think it was one of them) and green beans and the other I thought was spinach with broccoli on top at first. The green beans were good, but again I did not enjoy the radishes/turnips much. I do like spinach a lot, but I suspect the greens were not actually spinach. GF suggested maybe the whole thing was broccolini (I’m not so sure what that is, but the broccoli seeming veggies were longer and more spinach like than most broccoli), but there was a clear difference between the broccoli and the greens. I’m guessing maybe what I thought was spinach was actually escarole or some more bitter kind of green? I ate some of this, but it wasn’t really doing much for me. I realized that apparently what GF had told the chef—that I like just about anything—was not true.

GF’s snapper was just as described—wrapped in a thin layer of potato. She says the potato itself didn’t taste that good so she peeled it off. Underneath she discovered delicious perfectly tender and juicy snapper. The whole thing was floating in a pool of rich flavorful and delicious red wine sauce. Underneath the snapper was “leek fondue”—sort of a misnomer. It was really just creamy leeks, which GF found neither good nor bad. She says she could have done without it.

Time for dessert. I had been planning to get the cheese plate, but I already eaten A LOT of gorgonzola in my salad and then a very creamy sauce with the potatoes, plus all of the veggies had a lot of oil. So I just felt like cheese wasn’t really what I needed right then. Actually the sorbet kind of sounded good just because I thought that would be nice and light after all of that oily, rich, heavy food. But me being me, there was absolutely no way I was going to get sorbet. I’m a chocolate and cheese kind of person! So although I can enjoy a lighter fruity dessert sometimes, I just couldn’t get myself to waste a dessert credit on sorbet. And the other desserts still weren’t calling to me, so I decided to just go with the original plan and get the cheese plate. GF decided on the panna cotta. We had only just had this dessert once before at a local Italian restaurant. At that restaurant the dessert seemed to have some gelatin in it—it was kind of jiggly, but was clearly made of cream unlike jello. GF had really liked it, so she chose it again.

My cheese plate was very good. I can’t say it was very memorable though, because by that point in the meal I’d just eaten so much and was very full. I believe the first cheese is gorgonzola, which I enjoyed even though I’d already had a ton of gorgonzola in the salad earlier. Next were two goats milk cheeses I think. The first one was fine, but the next one was too strong for me. I can’t remember the last two but I think one was a sheeps milk cheese, and I think I liked both of them.

The panna cotta at Flying Fish was actually very different from the one at the local Italian place. This one was served in a coffee mug and quivered when the server put it down. It also seemed to have real cappuccino on top of the panna cotta. As soon as she took a bite GF appeared to be in heaven. She said that it melted in her mouth and had a pure cappuccino flavor. She raved about it the whole time she was eating it. It was served with three little cake like sandwich cookies. She let me have the chocolate one and she ate the lemon and pistachio ones herself. She said they were a nice touch and fun to eat and, lucky for her, only slightly sweet. Overall, she found this to be one of the best desserts she’s ever had.

Arugula salad—10
Vegetarian entrée—20 (estimate)
Cheese plate—15
Crab Cake—14
Snapper—34.00
Panna Cotta—7
Tax—6
Tip—18
Total—124 --> 2 TS

When we got the bill I signed the receipts without looking much at them. It turned out, though, that our drinks (just two iced teas) were not listed. So I guess the server didn’t actually get the cost of the drinks included in his tip, which was too bad because he was a good server. We actually left a little extra tip just to bump the tip up to 20% (which is what we’d normally leave).

Drink—2.19
Drink—2.19
Total (including drinks and tax and tip on the drinks)—130.56


Food: 4.5 out of 5. (More like a 4 for me other than my salad.)
Atmosphere: 4.5 out of 5.
Service: 4.5 out of 5.

This was a great meal. GF obviously enjoyed hers somewhat more than I did and would love to go back. I'd certainly be willing to go back, but wouldn't tell the chef I like "everything without eyes" this time!

 

[smartestnumber5]

Today was a bit of a rest day—we had nothing planned for the morning and were not going to the parks. And yet, I still woke up around 8 the same as the last few days! My body/mind likes to get into patterns like that . Since GF was still sleeping I decided to go to the food court and bring some breakfast back for us. I couldn’t decide what to get. Like usual when it comes to breakfast, I wanted something sweet and something savory. I kind of wanted chocolate chip pancakes, but I also kind of wanted eggs. Eventually I decided to get a child’s chocolate chip pancake breakfast and use one CS credit for a breakfast platter and two drinks. Perfect.

The child’s meal had two choc chip pancakes, applesauce, and bacon. The breakfast platter included scrambled eggs, a biscuit, breakfast potatoes, and bacon and sausage (I asked for all bacon). I also picked up a chocolate milk for me and power aid for GF. When I got to the check out the CM told me that the child’s meal also comes with a drink like a small juice. I said I didn’t want to bother going back to get it and he offered me a small cup for apple juice at the drink station. How could I turn it down?

Breakfast platter—5.99
Chocolate milk—2.5 (estimate)
Poweraid—2.5 (estimate)
Tax—.70
Total—11.69 --> 1 CS


Child’s meal—3.59
DDE— -.72
Tax—.19
Total—3.06 --> OOP

 

[smartestnumber5]

When GF and I had our first trip to Disney we decided to come up with surprises for one another while we were there. GF suggested we do this again this trip. I had some trouble coming up with a surprise that I thought GF would like that would fit our cost limit. GF came up with an idea though—one that involved MORE food! —but she actually wasn’t able to keep it to herself. A few weeks before the trip she told me what it was—having tea at the Grand Floridian’s Garden View Tea Room .

We had an ADR for 2:10 pm and we arrived a bit early and explored the GF. At 2pm they opened the Garden View Tea Room and we were seated right away. We were in the corner away from most other people which was nice. We were in our usual park attire—a few steps down from what most people there were wearing—so we joked that they stuck us in the corner so we wouldn’t detract from the experience for other people.

Tea Setting

The menu at the tea room is set up so that you can choose either al la carte items or choose a fixed menu from about 5 different options. The fixed menus generally included tea and at least one savory course and one sweet course. Both GF and I decided to have the same thing—the Buckingham Palace—which included finger sandwiches, a scone and a raspberry tart, a choice of either strawberries and cream, a trifle, or 2 pastries, and a choice of any tea. I also suggested we get stilton cheese a la cart. As if I didn’t get enough cheese last night! I told you how much I love it!

There are normally five varieties of tea sandwiches—watercress, pear and gorgonzola, egg salad, shrimp salad, and chicken salad. GF had all five, but I asked if I could have vegetarian ones to substitute for the chicken and shrimp ones. I ended up with two pear and gorgonzola and two watercress. GF and I agreed that the pear and gorgonzola was the best one—we are both big fans of the pear/gorgonzola combination and often make a pear and gorgonzola pizza—yum! GF also like the shrimp salad. Both of us thought the watercress was boring and just tasted like lettuce on bread. I thought the sandwiches were just okay, but nothing great. GF liked them a bit more and thought it was fun to try out all the varieties.

The stilton was brought out with our sandwiches. It was a HUGE amount and served with raspberries, blueberries, and walnuts. Yummm! GF said she didn’t expect stilton to go well with fruit, but it does. We definitely enjoyed this, though probably could have used more crackers—there never seem to be enough crackers with cheese plates .

Stilton plate with sandwiches in background

The next course was a scone and raspberry tart with Devonshire cream. We both enjoyed the scones, but have had better (actually, I think I’ve made better ). GF thought the jam tart was to sweet, but I thought it was fine .

Scone and fruit tart

For the last course we got to choose a dessert—2 pastries, strawberries and cream, or trifle. GF predictably went for the strawberries and cream and I predictably went for the pastries. Our server brought a tray of pastries over and I got to pick any two. I picked one—a chocolate mousse éclair thingy—for taste and one for appearance—a berry mousse filled swan.

Strawberries and Cream

Chocolate Eclair and Swan Pastry

The pastries were ok. The chocolate mousse I enjoyed—I mean, it is chocolate! But the swan really was all for look—I didn’t much like the berry mousse inside (still ate it though ). GF enjoyed her strawberries and cream, which was a pretty generous helping.

Tea

For our teas I had chosen the madhatter which I believe had flavors of vanilla and was supposed to be good with sweet desserts. GF chose the Cassius tea which was flavored like currants; she described it as mellow and flavorful.

After two cups each of our own teas, we decided to switch. After only a couple sips we both decided that we did NOT like the other person’s tea. I suggested we just switch our cups back and drink our own teas which is what we did.

Buckingham Palace—19.50
Buckingham Palace—19.50
Stilton—6.95
DDE—-9.19
Tax—2.39
Tip—9.19
Total—48.34 --> OOP

Food: 3 out of 5.
Atmosphere: 4 out of 5.
Service: 4 out of 5.

Overall we had a good time and it was a nice thing to experience, though we felt a little out of place. I don’t think we’d go again, or if we did probably just for the experience. And maybe we’d order al la cart and skip the sandwiches (or I would at least).

 

[smartestnumber5]

For dinner that night we went to Downtown Disney and debated between Earl of Sandwich and Wolfgang Puck Express. We hadn’t tried WPE, so we chose that. We got in line and after a few minutes GF suggested that she get out of line and grab a table inside as there were very few inside tables and she wanted to sit in air conditioning. I said that was fine with me, but she couldn’t easily get out of the line and the table quickly got scooped up. So she just stayed in line. I ordered the spinach and mushroom pizza and GF got the BBQ Chicken Quesadilla. We both wanted crème brulee, but were told that they were out of it, so we chose brownies instead.

WPE is kind of like Panera or Noodles & Company. You order at the register and get your dessert right then and get your drink yourself at a drink station. And they give you a number to put on your table and they bring your food to your table. When our food came out they brought me the wrong pizza—one that had chicken on it. The server had a receipt with her and checked it and said the cashier must have rung it in incorrectly. She said she’d have them fix it and took it away. A few minutes later she returned and told me that the pizza I ordered is usually made with pesto sauce, but they were out of it and would have to make it with tomato sauce. I said that was fine. That was a little disappointing because it sounded like pesto would go very well with the toppings on that pizza, but whatever—I just wanted to eat something.

GF liked her quesadilla, but felt like WPE is overrated. She said the food was good, but not good enough to justify having to deal with a noisy unpleasant environment (the outside eating area wasn’t the most pleasant) and surly employees. (We noticed that the folks working at WPE were some of the least happy seeming employees in all of WDW.) I enjoyed my pizza even without the pesto sauce and actually hurt myself by eating it all (tummy ache).

The brownies were pretty good—very fudgy. GF actually ate a bit of hers while waiting for her quesadilla and then gave the rest to me.

Spinach and mushroom pizza—9.95
BBQ chicken quesadilla—8.95
Brownie—2.95
Brownie—2.95
Drink—1.95
Drink—1.95
Tax—1.72
Total—30.42 --> 2 CS

Food: 3.5/4 out of 5. (I think I rated it higher than GF.)
Atmosphere: 2.5 out of 5.
Service: n/a


After WPE we finally stopped at Goofy Candy Co to use some snack credits. Wow do I it there. You can create your own cookie, pretzels, marshmallows, rice crispy treat, apple, or gingerbread cookie with as many toppings as you like. Yumm! I got three create-your-own candy items—pretzel rods, a fudge cookie, and a rice crispy treat. I had the pretzel dipped in white chocolate and topped with sprinkles, nuts, and milk chocolate. I chose a peanut butter fudge cookie (essentially a very big Oreo with peanut butter cream filling) and had it dipped in milk chocolate and topped with peanut butter cups. And finally a rice crispy treat dipped in dark chocolate, topped with sprinkles, white and milk chocolate chips, m&ms, and caramel drizzle.

I told you I liked sugar!

Snack—Goofy Candy Co (3 S)
Create your own pretzel rods—3.5
Create your own fudge cookie—3.5
Create your own rice crispy—3
Tax—.6
Total—10.6 --> 3 S

All were delicious because I am a master creator of candy!

 

[dmja716]

Thank you!!

 

[mom2fivecs]

Enjoying the reviews...thanks

 

[smartestnumber5]

I woke up early again this morning thinking that our rest day was over, and it was back to leaving early for the parks. GF had other ideas though—she’d begun to start really feeling the heat and the walking and needed some extra rest. I ate some breakfast in the room and when GF finally got up we headed out to AK. On the way she grabbed a double espresso from Pop to wake her up while I went and sat on a bench outside.

GF’s coffee drink of choice is two shots of espresso over ice in a very big cup—then she adds some half & half or milk to it (but not nearly as much as I think one needs in a double espresso ). So the CM who got her drink for her put it in a large cup with a lid on as GF asked. For some reason, even though the bakery/coffee drink area is outside of the main food court and has its own cash register, GF was sent to the food court lines to check out. When she reached the cashier she said she wanted to use a snack credit and he said, “okay, one cappuccino” to which she replied, “actually, it’s a double espresso.” He then told her, “No, it’s a cappuccino. That cup is the cup for cappuccino.” She explained that she had asked for a larger cup, but that it was indeed espresso and took the top off to show him the lack of foam and black color. He then proceeded to tell her that he didn’t know why the CM had given her the cup she’d requested, but in the future if she wants espresso she will have to have it in the espresso cup and not the cappuccino cup because that’s how things have to be. GF explained that at the CM looked at her as if waiting for her to say, “Okay, whatever you say.” Instead, she reports that she simply stared at him with a puzzled look and said absolutely nothing and after a few seconds he ran the card and let her go on her way.


Dlb espresso—2.69
Tax—.16
Total—2.85 --> 1 S

 

[smartestnumber5]

It was lunch time when we got to Animal Kingdom so food was the first thing on our minds. Tusker House was closed (or so I was assuming—I thought I might have read reviews about it from the last few weeks ) so that didn’t leave many vegetarian options for me—just the pizza at Pizzafari or the veggie burger at McDonalds. I decided to go with the former. GF wanted to try Flame Tree BBQ, so we went to pick up her food intending to bring it over to Pizzafari where I’d get mine.

As we walked up to the lines at Flame Tree BBQ things got at least 10 degrees hotter—ugh. On top of that, things also got a lot smellier. I figured it must just be the food, plus the 105 degree heat, plus the sweat and B.O. of all of the people in line being in 105 degree heat and very close to one another. GF had a different interpretation and proclaimed, “It smells like barf here. Eww—I’m not eating here .” GF can be very sensitive to smells and sounds and such, but this time I understood .

And so we walked back toward Pizzafari where we would now both eat. I can’t say I was disappointed—I had no desire to stand in one of those long 105 degree hot lines. Pizzafari was kind of crowded too, but it was inside in the air conditioning and no smells of vomit.

We both chose pizza—cheese for me, pepperoni for GF. I got chocolate cake and GF tried the strawberry lemonade cup, and we had one iced tea and one coke.

The pizza was pizza. It can’t really be bad, but it can’t really be that good either. We weren’t really expecting much from this meal. With Tusker House out of commission and nasty smells at Flame Tree where is a decent place to eat in AK?

GF did like her lemonade cup. It was very large and a nice cool treat. She said it was too sweet. I tasted it and all I could taste was sour. The chocolate cake was unremarkable. I really have no memory of it, but again you can’t really screw up chocolate cake.

Cheese pizza—5.59
Pepperoni pizza—5.89
Strawberry lemonade cup—2.99
Chocolate cake—3.59
Large coke—2.39
Large iced tea—2.39
Tax—1.37
Total—24.21

Food: 3 out of 5.
Atmosphere: 3.5 out of 5 (at least it’s in air conditioning and there are no bad smells!)