Which resort restaurant is best for dinner?

[bangzoom6877]

Please tell me which of these resort restaurants is the best for dinner, and why you think so. What did you order that was really good? How was the atmosphere and service? It will be me, DH and our 2 sons who will be 3 and 5 when we go, and they behave very well in restaurants (we go out to eat with them once a week).

We are already planning to eat at Captain's Grille (Yacht Club), Cape May Cafe (Beach Club), Whispering Canyon Cafe (Wilderness Lodge) and most likely Kouzzina (Boardwalk), all for dinner. We just need to add one more resort restaurant for dinner.

 

[MickeyNicki]

For sure the Wave..it is just like a signature place with a much lower price tag

 

[bangzoom6877]

For sure the Wave..it is just like a signature place with a much lower price tag

What did you have there that was really good? How are the desserts, and how exactly does it work? Do you have to get the 3 in the selection or could you mix and match the desserts? They look unique, and we definitely LOVE our desserts!

I see a lot of people also chose Kona Cafe. What is really good there for dinner?

 

[Plannin'Shannon]

I chose Kona purely for the coconut almond chicken!

From wdwinfo - "Coconut Almond Chicken - Sauteed chicken breast served with Asian greens tossed with honey lime dressing, golden pineapple, strawberries, and toasted almonds. - $16.99"

I tried this for the first time in May. If there was an award for "Most Pleasant Surprise of Disney Dining," this meal would receive it! The salad was one of the best I've ever had, anywhere. I was a little skeptical of coconut and almond paired with chicken (the only place I'd ever had coconut and almond was an Almond Joy!), but I'm so glad I decided to try this.

Kona also serves warm bread with macadamia nut butter at the start of your meal. I could make a meal of this by itself!

As far as desserts are concerned, I've heard that the Kona Kone is popular. Our waiter also raved about the banana-chocolate creme brulee.

 

[bangzoom6877]

I chose Kona purely for the coconut almond chicken!

From wdwinfo - "Coconut Almond Chicken - Sauteed chicken breast served with Asian greens tossed with honey lime dressing, golden pineapple, strawberries, and toasted almonds. - $16.99"

I tried this for the first time in May. If there was an award for "Most Pleasant Surprise of Disney Dining," this meal would receive it! The salad was one of the best I've ever had, anywhere. I was a little skeptical of coconut and almond paired with chicken (the only place I'd ever had coconut and almond was an Almond Joy!), but I'm so glad I decided to try this.

Kona also serves warm bread with macadamia nut butter at the start of your meal. I could make a meal of this by itself!

As far as desserts are concerned, I've heard that the Kona Kone is popular. Our waiter also raved about the banana-chocolate creme brulee.

As silly as this sounds, could someone please describe the Kona Kone in detail? And what about the Kilauea torte for dessert? I saw the recipe for it on All Ears and I LOVE peanut butter and chocolate together! Thanks!

 

[Dawn68PA]

I chose Boatwrights. Now it's been a little while since we've been here and I don't remember what my girls had but I had some kind of fish which was excellent and DH had a steak and ate it all. We found Boatwrights to be not as crowded as other restaurants and our waiter was very nice. It was a really pleasant dining experience.

 

[Plannin'Shannon]

As silly as this sounds, could someone please describe the Kona Kone in detail? And what about the Kilauea torte for dessert? I saw the recipe for it on All Ears and I LOVE peanut butter and chocolate together! Thanks!

I'd be happy to!

The Kona Kone is massive! It consists of ice cream and chocolate syrup in a very large waffle cone. It comes with four cups of toppings placed around the cone (kone? ). Sort of a build-it-yourself effect. The finishing touch is a long stick of blue cotton candy. If there is such thing as a "fun" dessert, this is it.

 

[bangzoom6877]

I'd be happy to!

The Kona Kone is massive! It consists of ice cream and chocolate syrup in a very large waffle cone. It comes with four cups of toppings placed around the cone (kone? ). Sort of a build-it-yourself effect. The finishing touch is a long stick of blue cotton candy. If there is such thing as a "fun" dessert, this is it.

Sounds good! Do you get a choice for the ice cream flavor or toppings?

 

[MickeyNicki]

What did you have there that was really good? How are the desserts, and how exactly does it work? Do you have to get the 3 in the selection or could you mix and match the desserts? They look unique, and we definitely LOVE our desserts!

I see a lot of people also chose Kona Cafe. What is really good there for dinner?

We ate there in March and August of this year, tons of pics and full reviews are in my links. The desserts are not mix and match, you get the three that are in the set...and they are fantastic!

We ditched our Kona reservation this past March and did the Wave instead and we were so glad we did!

The first time we had the pork and the filet, both were excellent...2 weeks ago I had the shrimp pasta and DH had the flank steak, again they were both out of this world.

Kona doesnt really wow me, except for the bread. DH likes the teriyaki steak...that is why we are going back in Oct, it has been 2 years since we have dined there.

 

[bangzoom6877]

We ate there in March and August of this year, tons of pics and full reviews are in my links. The desserts are not mix and match, you get the three that are in the set...and they are fantastic!

We ditched our Kona reservation this past March and did the Wave instead and we were so glad we did!

The first time we had the pork and the filet, both were excellent...2 weeks ago I had the shrimp pasta and DH had the flank steak, again they were both out of this world.

Kona doesnt really wow me, except for the bread. DH likes the teriyaki steak...that is why we are going back in Oct, it has been 2 years since we have dined there.

OK, the Wave sounds great! By the way, I LOVE reading your dining reviews!! They are very informative and all the "food porn" is entertaining!

I love filet, so if it is good there then I will definitely be a happy camper. DH loves it too, but he would probably also like the flank steak. The pasta does look really good too but I would probably be more inclined to get the filet. As far as the dessert trios, I am allergic to raspberries so if there is a trip where one thing includes raspberry sauce or something, do you think they would be able to leave it out for me? That was why I asked if you could mix and match.

I think we will probably end up going to The Wave. Kona also looks tempting, but the menu at The Wave seems more appealing.

 

[FireDancer]

Of the restaurants you gave I would definitely recommend The Wave. I ate there for the first time in May and it slid right in under Boma as my second favorite WDW restaurant. I am a health conscious eater and there were plenty of options there. I had a black been soup and Tuna steak. There are a lot of really good options from red meat to chicken to salads.

Had you said lunch I would have gone with Kona. I had the Asian noodle bowl and it is a large portion of very good soup.

 

[bangzoom6877]

Of the restaurants you gave I would definitely recommend The Wave. I ate there for the first time in May and it slid right in under Boma as my second favorite WDW restaurant. I am a health conscious eater and there were plenty of options there. I had a black been soup and Tuna steak. There are a lot of really good options from red meat to chicken to salads.

Had you said lunch I would have gone with Kona. I had the Asian noodle bowl and it is a large portion of very good soup.

Thanks! I like it that there are healthier choices there too. Actually their breakfast menu also looks pretty good. I think we are going to end up going to The Wave when all is said and done.

 

[Colleen27]

Of your choices, we've been to Boatwrights, Kona, and the Grand Floridian Cafe. We enjoyed all three, but only Kona became a must-do.

Boatwrights was pretty good, the service was a bit slow but the jambalaya was excellent. My mom & DH weren't as impressed with their choices. We'd go back there if we were staying at POR/FQ again, but it isn't worth a special trip IMO.

Grand Floridian Cafe was good, but not really stand-out. I don't remember any specifics of our meal there other than a custom cake we ordered for DD's birthday.

Kona is a favorite of our entire family. The macadamia mahi-mahi (no longer on the menu) and shrimp & scallops entrees are amazing, and the kids adore the Kona kone. DH loved the sticky wings, and my mother & I both thought the crab cakes were excellent. I can't wait to go back and try their new sushi appetizers!

 

[Colleen27]

Double post, sorry.

 

[VegasMike21]

Out of the ones you listed Kona Cafe. Honarable mention to GF Cafe and Boatwrights which are two of Disney's hidden gems so to speak IMO.

 

[bangzoom6877]

OK, now I am undecided again. The Wave seems wonderful, the menu looks great. But just over 59% of people who voted in this poll said Kona Cafe. I don't know. Something is telling me that it may be worth it to try both. The trouble is, of the other restaurants we plan to go to for dinner, I don't know if I want to give any of those up. We are staying at Boardwalk Villas so we want to also eat in the restaurants in that area. But, we will have a car with us so traveling to another resort is easy for us and no problem. Here are our dinner plans (which exact day is tentative since I don't know park hours yet) (10 nights):

Night 1: Kouzzina
2: Biergarten
3: Cinderella's Royal Table
4: Captain's Grille
5: Either "The Wave" or "Kona Cafe"?
6: Chefs de France
7: Cape May Cafe
8: Whispering Canyon Cafe
9: Crystal Palace
10: Either "San Angel Inn" or "Rose & Crown" or "Garden Grill" or some other Epcot TS restaurant

The trouble is, of all of these, we really want to try ALL of them! But I am very torn between Kona and The Wave. I don't want to do one of them for lunch because we prefer CS lunches anyway, and we will also be on the basic dining plan. We are paying OOP (most likely) for one TS lunch at 50s Prime Time one day at DHS. The park restaurants are also places we really want to eat. Even on night 10, when we are not sure exactly where we are going, we know we want to try another Epcot restaurant for sure. Cape May appeals to us for several reasons...it is buffet so easy with little kids, the food looks very good, desserts look heavenly, it is right across the lake at Beach Club. Captain's Grille is a place I have read wonderful reviews about and it is also right near BWV over at Yacht Club so we are definitely going there. We want to try Whispering Canyon for the antics and to try the skillet, although the reviews are mixed. It would also be nice to see the Wilderness Lodge. I love to see different Disney resorts, I just love the unique theming in them.

Would you drop Whispering Canyon Cafe and do Kona AND The Wave on 2 different evenings for dinner instead? Do you think they are more worth it and have better food?

 

[bangzoom6877]

Bumping

 

[Pixiedust34]

With young kids, I'd keep WCC for sure. It's very kid-friendly and they'd enjoy the stick pony race.

Here is a photo of the Kona Kone. This photo is a couple of years old, so I'm not sure if the cone has been modified in any way since then.

 

[bangzoom6877]

I definitely know that I want to go to The Wave so that one will happen. But, here I go again, changing my mind over and over again as I always do...I think we will keep everything we have and only go to The Wave and not Kona...or maybe not...

Here's the thing...we are staying at BWV and it would be great to try Cat Cora's new restaurant, Kouzzina. We also love Greek food. The only thing is...I see from reading the menu that most of the entrees are made with fennel, and I hate fennel. If I accidentally bite into fennel or a fennel seed I literally feel like gagging. It seems like I would be limited as far as which entree to get. When I was reading the menu and going through all the choices for entrees, the title of an entree would look great and then I would see the word "fennel" in the description and then it just turns me off.

So, maybe we don't *have to* try Kouzzina just because it was created by a celebrity chef and because it is right there on the Boardwalk. Or maybe we should go to Kouzzina for breakfast and do Kona for dinner instead. I thought Kouzzina would be a nice relaxed choice for the first night's dinner but now I don't know. DH will not care. While he does enjoy really good food and is happy with the restaurant choices I make (he leaves it up to me when I ask him what he wants to do), if I told him we are eating all CS meals for the whole trip he would be fine with that too.

Another option is to go to Whispering Canyon for breakfast one morning and to Kona for dinner one evening. Do they do the antics at breakfast though?

And yet another option we have is to treat ourselves to either Flying Fish or Yachtsman Steakhouse on the first night for dinner, since I have read great things about both and they are both in very convenient locations to BWV. We will be on the basic DDP but on our 10-night trip we still have more than 10 TS meals (including a dinner at CRT), so if we pay OOP for one of these restaurants on the first night, we will still have no problem using all our TS credits on the trip. But I guess that puts me in a different predicament...which signature to choose!

I know, I'm impossible. I'm indecisive. You should see me read a menu and try to decide when I actually sit down in a restaurant .

 

[bangzoom6877]

Bumping