What happens in Mexico, stays in... (Reviews including San Angel Inn) w/ Pics

[Golf4food]

Greetings fellow DIS foodies and wanna-be foodies!

We just enjoyed a one and a half day trip for my birthday, using our new Florida Resident Seasonal Passes for the first time. I’ll probably put together a short trip report for the other board as well, but this one will focus on – obviously – the food. J

Cast:
Golf4food – yours truly and the birthday boy (29); what better way to satisfy your inner 5-year old than a birthday at Disney World?

Tazicket – DW of 5 years and aspiring foodie (24). She’s expanded my horizons quite a bit from being a “If it ain’t fried, it ain’t worth eatin’” Southerner to now enjoying all sorts of ingredients, spices, and herbs I never would have expected to eat willingly. She’s a wonderful cook, as is evidenced by the 35 pounds I’ve gained since we got married, haha.

We will be posting reviews of:
Sunshine Seasons
Kona Island
San Angel Inn
Le Vins de France
Columbia Harbour House

Since we have no photos from Sunshine Seasons (sorry, we were starving) I will just go ahead and post that review here:

Tazicket:
Turkey and Muenster Cheese on Foccacia with Chipotle Mayonnaise & Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie – Excellent! Bread was fresh and soft, turkey had great flavor and the cheese blended nicely. The cookie was perfect – soft and gooey.

Golf4food:
Grilled Bone-in Pork Chop with Yellow Rice and Mashed Potatoes & Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie – a nicely grilled pork chop about an inch thick with quite a bit of meat and generous helpings of the sides. The pork was juicy and quite nice, good creamy potatoes, and flavorful rice. The cookie was big, soft, and chewy the way God intended.

Up next: Kona Island

 

[Golf4food]

Having heard all the favorable reviews of the Kona coffee in the Polynesian and wanting something quick for breakfast we decided to drive over from our room at All Stars Movies to the Poly to grab a quick bite and some coffee from the Kona Island before hopping the monorail for the Magic Kingdom and rope drop. The Island is located upstairs right next to the Kona Café and the exit to the monorail platform.

Tazicket:
Kona Coffee Blend & Plain Bagel with cream cheese – Coffee was really great. I’m really picky about coffee, so it was nice to find some on property that was perfect for me. The bagel was also very good.

Golf4food:
Kona Coffee Blend & Cherry Danish – while the coffee was good, it was a bit weak for my taste – I like my coffee on the strong side. The cherry Danish was quite yummy and had lots of topping, unlike some Danish you find that have lots of pastry and one small bite size portion of topping – this one was at ¾ covered in cherry topping so you could get topping in almost every bite.

TheKona Island:

Menu board:

Breakfast items in the case:

Rest of the breakfast items in the case:

Up next: San Angel Inn

 

[Golf4food]

For lunch we hopped the monorail from the MK around 11:30 am and made our way over to EPCOT, walking back to Mexico and arriving at the San Angel Inn around 12:30 for our 1:00 ADRs. We were seated almost immediately in a half-empty restaurant – but the parks had been empty all day as well – wait times of 5 minutes on everything except Soarin’.

Mexico is one of my favorite places in EPCOT – I’m a sucker for any indoor place that looks like you are outdoors and on top of that my father lived in Mexico for many years when he was younger after his parents decided to retire there, so I grew up in a family where only “real” authentic Mexican foods were allowed and we were very picky about where we would eat – no Tex-Mex for us. So all combined I have wanted to eat at San Angel Inn for some time and decided we would go ahead and try it for my birthday.

While some people say you can’t eat ambiance, you can at least soak it up by osmosis here.

View from our table of the pyramid and volcano:

Full lunch menu:

Close-up of the entrees section of the lunch menu:

Basket of chips and salsa on the table:

Basket of chips close-up:

Tazicket:
Churrasco con Chilaquiles & Coke – Chips & Salsa at the beginning were very good. Chips were warm and salsa had a little heat without being too much. I did not think to specify a degree of doneness for the steak, but it did not matter as it came out perfectly cooked (for me). Steak was cooked to about medium with light seasoning. Not grisly and went well with the chilaquiles. I was expecting the fried corn tortillas to be crunchy, but they were on the soft side (but the flavor was nice). Not the best steak I’ve ever had, but it was good and the atmosphere was soothing. Our waiter (Eduardo) was great.

Golf4food:
Mahi-Mahi a la Veracruzana – I agree that the chips and salsa were fine – not the best I’ve ever had but good and a nice way to start the meal. Salsa was just slighty above mild, which is great – we don’t like salsa that tastes like nothing but burning, and it isn’t authentic either. (Tex-Mex is spicy, real Mexican generally is not!) The Mahi dish was interesting: it looked and tasted similar to the Southern dish we call “Okra and Tomatoes” – white rice, a lot of tomato flavor, only with fish instead of okra. It was not at all spicy and was very mild. Large pieces of chopped green olive (which I don’t eat) were easy to pick out, everything else was good. Not overly flavorful, but not bland either. I would eat it again, but will try other items on the menu first before going back to it.

Up next: Sommerfest and Le Vins de France

 

[Golf4food]

Knowing we probably wouldn’t enjoy the desserts at San Angel so much and being full anyway, we decided to wait a while and made our way around the WS to Germany to get dessert from the Sommerfest counterservice location next to the Biergarten.

Tazicket:
Apple Strudel w/ Vanilla sauce – not good. Seemed a little overcooked and lacked flavor. Outer layer of pastry was really dark and too crunchy, while the inner layer was kind of soggy. The apples themselves weren’t too bad. I got it because I remembered enjoying the strudel in the Biergarten, but was disappointed this time. Probably won’t be getting this from Sommerfest again.

Golf4food:
Black Forest Cake – I loves me some Black Forest Cake and rarely get it because not many places carry it and Tazicket doesn’t like cherries. A large hunk of cake with layers of yummy, moist chocolate cake and frosting with some fresh cherries and filling in the bottom layer of cake. I’m not a big fan of frosting in general, so I mostly ate the cake with a little frosting pulled in for flavor. It was all very good and I ate everything except a few bites of the frosting.

After making our way further along to Farnce, we stopped by the Le Vins de France cart for some drinks:

Tazicket:
Grey Goose Citron Lemonade Slush $8.00 – A little more bitter than I was expecting. Pretty good once I got used to it. I thought the “glass” it came in was fun.

Golf4food:
Grand Marnier Orange Sluch $8.00 – Also more bitter than I expected – I was hoping for more sweet and orange flavor but the orange flavor was very, very mild and was mostly overpowered by the alcohol. Quite disappointing after hearing so many people rave about them on the boards. I won’t be getting it again; it was just ok. The best thing about it was that it was cool and the alcohol helps relax the shoulders a little bit after carrying around the camera and camera bag all day, lol.

Up next: Columbia Harbour House

 

[Golf4food]

We made our way back over to the MK (again via Monorail) and headed straight to Columbia Harbour House for dinner as it was nearing 6:00 pm by that point. CHH is our “go-to” CS location in the MK because we each have something we can enjoy and it is in a good location for us since our favorite rides are in Adventureland, Liberty Square, and Fantasyland.

Tazicket:
Lighthouse Sandwich (hummus with tomato & broccoli slaw) & chocolate cake – HUGE thank you to the Dis’ers who recommended this sandwich! It was amazing! The hummus was a little on the garlic-y side, which was perfect for me. The toasted multigrain bread was really flavorful and the broccoli/carrot slaw was a perfect complement. I found a new “must have” when we go to Columbia Harbor House in the future! The cake was rich and chocolate-y – super yummy!

Golf4food:
Fish and Chips & Chocolate Cake – I enjoy fish – especially fried fish and shrimp – and Tazicket doesn’t eat seafood at all, so I often order fish dishes while in Disney because we don’t eat at many seafood places while at home so that we can both find something we enjoy and I prefer to not order seafood from most non-seafood places since it is so often ruined at those places… anyway… the fish strips were pretty large – one close to six inches – and for the most part fried well – one was a little overdone at one end, but not too badly. Fries are fries. When we got to the counter after ordering one of the crew said “Happy birthday, have a cake!” and handed me a chocolate cake. When another crew member brought our tray he saw my button as well and handed me another. I showed him that I already had one, but he said, “Oh, well – have two!” So we did. Free cake for everyone! (Well, for the two of us anyway…)

So that wraps up everything for the weekend. Hope you enjoyed and maybe it helps someone make decisions for upcoming trips. If anyone has questions feel free to ask and Tazicket and I will be happy to answer.

Stay tuned for future episodes when we return in November for a weekend at the Food and Wine Festival (can I bill the Food Network for our trip since I blame them?) and again in December for a longer trip when we’ll be on the DDP.

Bon appetite, ya’ll!

 

[kabuki]

Great Reviews and happy to see a picture of the menu from Mexico-Land!

Thank you!

 

[John's Mom]

Thanks for the great reviews and pics!

 

[FirstMagic]

Great photos and descriptions, thanks for your reviews!

 

[CherylDan]

Great reviews and pictures, and thanks for the picture of the menu of San Angel! Is there any way you could also show a close-up of the appetizer section?

 

[suzimar57]

enjoyed your reviews and photos - another big fan of the black forest cake here! can never find it where i live, so it's a real treat for me in disney!

 

[Golf4food]

Great reviews and pictures, and thanks for the picture of the menu of San Angel! Is there any way you could also show a close-up of the appetizer section?

I didn't take a close-up of any other section of the menu besides entrees, but I could attempt to blow up the appetizer section from the photo of the full menu, though I seriously doubt it will come out readable due to the resolution and low lighting. I'll experiement with it tonight and if it can work I will certainly post it.

 

[Tess]

Thanks for the menu pic--hope that gets changed soon! Both my favorite dish: Plato Mexicano (lunch version was different than that listed on the dinner menu--taco, enchilada, and quesadilla) and my husband's: Tacos Al Carbon are gone from lunch! Frankly, I didn't see an entree on the list that appeals--either we've tried it before and didn't care for it or it just doesn't appeal. I guess we can hope it reverts with the upcoming seasons. . .

 

[Mickeefan]

We made our way back over to the MK (again via Monorail) and headed straight to Columbia Harbour House for dinner as it was nearing 6:00 pm by that point. CHH is our “go-to” CS location in the MK because we each have something we can enjoy and it is in a good location for us since our favorite rides are in Adventureland, Liberty Square, and Fantasyland.

Tazicket:
Lighthouse Sandwich (hummus with tomato & broccoli slaw) & chocolate cake – HUGE thank you to the Dis’ers who recommended this sandwich! It was amazing! The hummus was a little on the garlic-y side, which was perfect for me. The toasted multigrain bread was really flavorful and the broccoli/carrot slaw was a perfect complement. I found a new “must have” when we go to Columbia Harbor House in the future! The cake was rich and chocolate-y – super yummy!

Golf4food:
Fish and Chips & Chocolate Cake – I enjoy fish – especially fried fish and shrimp – and Tazicket doesn’t eat seafood at all, so I often order fish dishes while in Disney because we don’t eat at many seafood places while at home so that we can both find something we enjoy and I prefer to not order seafood from most non-seafood places since it is so often ruined at those places… anyway… the fish strips were pretty large – one close to six inches – and for the most part fried well – one was a little overdone at one end, but not too badly. Fries are fries. When we got to the counter after ordering one of the crew said “Happy birthday, have a cake!” and handed me a chocolate cake. When another crew member brought our tray he saw my button as well and handed me another. I showed him that I already had one, but he said, “Oh, well – have two!” So we did. Free cake for everyone! (Well, for the two of us anyway…)

So that wraps up everything for the weekend. Hope you enjoyed and maybe it helps someone make decisions for upcoming trips. If anyone has questions feel free to ask and Tazicket and I will be happy to answer.

Stay tuned for future episodes when we return in November for a weekend at the Food and Wine Festival (can I bill the Food Network for our trip since I blame them?) and again in December for a longer trip when we’ll be on the DDP.

Bon appetite, ya’ll!

I, too, LOVE the lighthouse sandwich. I ordered it for the first time for my lunch during the Keys to the Kingdom tour a couple years ago. I plan to hit CHH on Thursday (the day after tomorrow) just for that sandwich! YUMMY!

 

[luvpooh]

loved your reviews - I wish I lived close enough to make a quick weekend getaway!

 

[iluvpluto27]

Thanks for the reviews and pictures.

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent

 

[HonnyDipp]

Your pics look sooooo good! Thanks for sharing!

 

[JoBird]

Thanks so much for this review! I had no idea that the menu had changed in Mexico!

As for you, Taz-- hey there my coffee bud- I am so dragging the kids to the Poly one morning for a cup of the "good" stuff.... in a few weeks! Thanks for the idea...

Jo

 

[Tazicket]

Thanks so much for this review! I had no idea that the menu had changed in Mexico!

As for you, Taz-- hey there my coffee bud- I am so dragging the kids to the Poly one morning for a cup of the "good" stuff.... in a few weeks! Thanks for the idea...

Jo

Hey, buddy! You totally should - the coffee was out of this world!! (And that's saying something, since I'm such a coffee snob! ) You must report back what you thought about the coffee!

 

[JoBird]

Hey, buddy! You totally should - the coffee was out of this world!! (And that's saying something, since I'm such a coffee snob! ) You must report back what you thought about the coffee!

LOL- you KNOW I will!!!!!!!

Jo