Dining Review - March/April 2022

[Noreen411]

Introduction and a bit about our trip:

Noreen - Senior Vice President at an Investment Banking Firm in New York City. I will be the author of the report.

Scott - my husband, independent contractor

I’m going to post a picture (or two) of Scott and I so you see what we look like; also I like some of the cute photopass pictures



We had some other people join us for a few meals:
Jillian - my niece. She’s in Florida temporarily at the Disney College Program
Dana, Herman, and their kids (Aaron, Sarah, and Ariel). They live in Florida
Mike and Donna - Scott’s brother and his wife. They live in Long Island and were in Florida on vacation.

I also started working on a review/travelogue of our trip that I have to get posted.

We drove from Northern New Jersey to Florida. We spent the time at Disney at a sister resort to my timeshare (Vistana Resort) and stayed at Vistana Villages.

We were away from Saturday 3/19/22 until Saturday 4/2/22

We have Disney World Annual Passes

I logged onto Disney’s app or website 60 days before our trip each morning right before 6am when they opened and would book dinner ADRs. I kept checking and changing things as we went along. We continued making changes even when we were already at Disney.

We had a few offsite meals which I will review as well.

Scott and I both lost weight recently and don’t eat as much as we used to. We sometimes share meals. We tried to eat relatively healthy for breakfast, lunch, and some snacks. I have a sweet tooth so you will still see plenty of desserts and sweets.

During our trip we normally had a basic breakfast in the timeshare and most lunches were things like a protein bar and some baby carrots so I won’t review those meals.

Our normal routine most days was to go to the gym in the morning, come back to the villa to shower and get dressed, then have breakfast before leaving for the park. We would usually be at the park right before they opened. We would come back to the villa to shower and change for dinner most days before heading back out. Since we have annual passes, sometimes we would hop to another park during the day or after dinner.

 

[Noreen411]

Saturday 3/19/22 - Start the Drive to Florida
We left the house about 7:15am to start the drive to Florida. A little later than we originally planned to leave.

We ate breakfast, lunch, and snacks while driving from our cooler bag/snack bag that we brought. Mainly things like protein bars and fruit.

We stopped in Florence, South Carolina around 6:20pm and checked into the Residence Inn Florence for the night. We booked this while driving when we were ready to stop.

We had dinner at Chili’s which was nearby and we walked over. We were planning to go to Longhorn Steakhouse but their wait was 3 hours.

We sat at the bar to eat.

I had a Strawberry Peach Limeade which was pretty good. I don’t like drinks that taste like alcohol but like sweet sort of tropical tasting ones. Scott had a Martini but it wasn’t served in a Martini glass.

For an appetizer we ordered the Southwest Eggrolls. They smelled spicy so I didn’t try them. Scott said they were a bit spicy and very greasy so I wouldn’t like them.

Scott had the brisket burger. While messy, he enjoyed it.

I ordered the mini burgers and didn’t fare as well. They were like little hockey pucks

For dessert we shared the Cookie skillet; this was the best part of the meal.

We knew going in this was a basic chain place so it was fine for a simple dinner.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 3/20/22
The hotel served breakfast so Scott had some eggs and sausage. I had yogurt and granola.

We continued driving and got to Florida and were checking in at Vistana Villages about 3:30. We went to Publix for some groceries, cleaned the villa, got unpacked and settled in.

Once settled we had to decide on dinner. I didn’t pre-book anything for this night not knowing what time we would arrive or how we would feel.

We were originally thinking either an offsite restaurant or maybe somewhere at Disney Springs. I checked the Disney app and saw we could book Flying Fish for 8:20 (this was at about 7pm); so I booked it.

We drove to the Boardwalk and stopped at the Abracadabar for a pre-dinner cocktail. Scott had a Martini. I had the Seashore Sweet (it tasted like cotton candy; I liked it). This is made with Absolut Citron, Minute Maid Premium Lemonade, and Cotton Candy syrup (I copied that from the menu).

When you see fancy food descriptions throughout the report, I copied them from the menu.



We were seated at Flying Fish pretty quickly. I thought the utensils that looked like fish scales were adorable (I’m amused easily).



The bread was nice and warm. With our healthier eating, we try to avoid bread but on vacation we’ll have a piece. If it’s really good we’ll have more than 1 piece. This was OK so we stuck with 1 piece.



Both the waitress and the bartender recommended the pork belly appetizer, so we tried it. Slow roasted pork belly with spiced apple and cherry gastrique. I didn’t like it at all. It tasted like corned beef to me and was very fatty. I know pork belly is normally fatty, but this wasn’t good fatty, it was just fatty. Scott thought it was OK.


Scott ordered a cucumber infused drink (I forgot exactly what it was); he enjoyed it but said it was very cucumber-y.


For my entree I ordered the Potato-wrapped Red Snapper: Leek fondue, cassis-red wine reduction. I was really looking forward to trying this since many years ago when I was here and wanted to order it they ran out. It was just OK, a little on the dry side. Scott liked it.



Scott had the Seafood Pearl Pasta: Shrimp, Lobster, Scallops, Clams and Mussels. His dish was very good.



None of the desserts sounded that great to us, maybe we were just tired from the long drive. We skipped ordering dessert here.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 3/20/22 Continued
After dinner at Flying Fish we walked around the Boardwalk a bit.

We stopped in one of the stores (not the bakery) and got cupcakes and a cookie to go so we can eat them back at the villa. We didn’t order dessert at the restaurant and wanted a little something sweet.

The cupcakes were good, but the cookie was very dry and ended up in the trash. It looked better than it tasted. The cupcakes both looked and tasted good.

 

[erinch]

Following!

 

[Jangles]

had a Martini but it wasn’t served in a Martini glass

Good grief!

 

[weich1001]

Good review, luv all the pictures!

 

[tigerlilly]

Great reviews so far! I love the pictures too and I love all the reports you do of offsite restaurants! * I read your Sept/Oct dining review since my husband and I are going alone in Sept Looking forward to all of your reviews!

 

[thebigman65]

Went to FF when it first re-opened after the reno, prior to the pandemic. It was nowhere near as good as before. Not sure I would return. Looking forward to the rest of your reviews!

 

[Frozen2014]

Excited when I saw your post as I recognize you from CC (LuCruise here - always love your reviews - we finally got on Anthem). So great to hear about your experience and opinions at Disney. Struggling myself with what to book for our trip in the summer. Great report so far!

 

[starousse]

Loved your last food review and now looking forward to this one.

 

[sagosto]

Excellent review. North jersey here too.

 

[Noreen411]

Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement.
Sorry it’s taking me a while to do this; I try to work on it on the weekends.

 

[Noreen411]

Excited when I saw your post as I recognize you from CC (LuCruise here - always love your reviews - we finally got on Anthem). So great to hear about your experience and opinions at Disney. Struggling myself with what to book for our trip in the summer. Great report so far!

Hi. Great to see you here too. I haven’t been on a cruise since Feb/March 2020 (right before the shut down). We had so many cancelled. Disney and Cruising are my two favorite vacations.

Noreen

 

[Noreen411]

Monday 3/21/22
We spent the day at Animal Kingdom.

We drove to the Polynesian for dinner at O’Hana.

We went early and put our name on the list at Trader Sam’s hoping to have a pre-dinner drink but the wait was too long.

We went to the Tambu Lounge instead. I had a Rum Swizzle: Mount Gay Eclipse Rum with tropical juices and flavors of Guava and Mango. Scott had a Martini. This was very nice. The bartender was friendly and we enjoyed sitting there for a bit.



We were seated a bit before our reservation time.



We were brought salad and bread. This was good.



Then the plate of hot appetizers came out pretty quickly - broccolini, noodles, dumplings and wings.


We asked the waiter to slow down a bit since our little table was getting too full and it felt very rushed. He was great and slowed down the pace perfectly.

Chicken came out next which was pretty good.



Then came shrimp which were hard to peel. The waiter mentioned they changed the way the cooked it.



Then came steak which was chewy and tough. This was just about inedible.



We could have more of whatever we wanted. Instead of the old way where they came by with skewers and gave you meat/chicken/shrimp from that, they would deliver pre plated portions of the items.

Before dessert we were brought a pre-dessert of rice crispy treats. I think the waiter was surprised we didn’t ask for more of anything and we left a lot of the food uneaten.



Dessert was pineapple bread pudding with ice cream and caramel sauce. This was a huge hunk of bread pudding. This was the best part of the meal and we surprised ourselves by eating it all.



While we enjoyed ourselves, we won’t rush back to O’Hana. The food was pretty disappointing. However, we will come back to Tambu Lounge since you can order the bread pudding there.

We hopped over to Magic Kingdom after dinner.

 

[Noreen411]

Tuesday 3/22/22
We spent most of the day at Hollywood Studios.

We headed to Disney Springs in the afternoon and went to Gideon’s which only had a 15 minute wait. We got 12 cookies (you are allowed 6 each) - 8 chocolate chip, 2 peanut butter, 1 coffee toffee chip (special cookie flavor of the month), and 1 triple chocolate. We also bought a piece of Key Lime cake and a cookie bite bag, and the peanut butter cold brew. Everything was packaged up. We brought it back to the villa and froze the cookies and cake (we’ll bring them home).



We went swimming for a bit, then got ourselves ready for dinner.

We drove to the Grand Floridian for dinner at Narcoose’s with Jillian (my niece). We sat at the bar and had drinks before Jillian arrived. I had a Mango Mojito: Parrot Bay Coconut rum infused with mango purée, fresh lime juice, and mint leaves, finished with Plantation rum. This was served with limes that looked like Mickey ears. Scott had a Martini.


We were seated once Jillian arrived. It was so nice to see her and hear about her adventures in the Disney College program.

We all shared appetizers.
Crispy Rhode Island Calamari: peppadew-banana pepper-olive relish, tomato coulis. I don’t like olives so avoided the relish part but it was easy to eat around. The calamari was very good.


Shrimp and Crab Cake: Herbed Remoulade sauce and red cabbage slaw. This was very good too.


For our entrees

Jillian had the Sweet Potato Gnocchi: Poma Rosa tomato ragu (plant-based). She enjoyed her dish very much.


Scott and I both ordered the same thing which we normally don’t do (we like to try different things and share). But when we were here in September this dish was great. Pan-seared Georges Bank Day Boat Scallops: Parisian-style gnocchi, peas, ham and truffled Meyer lemon cream. Our dishes were good but not as great as we remembered them from September.


For dessert

Jillian had the Strawberry Trifle: Layers of strawberry-buttermilk pound cake and strawberry compote, topped with chantilly cream


I had the almond crusted cheesecake with lambert cherry sauce


Scott had the carrot cake: Southern-style plant-based carrot cake with pineapple popping boba, praline croquant, salted caramel, and candied pecan coconut milk frozen dessert (plant-based).


We all tasted each other’s desserts and agreed my almond crusted cheesecake was the best. They were all good, but that was the best one.

We really enjoyed Narcoose’s.

After dinner we hopped over to Magic Kingdom

 

[Noreen411]

Wednesday 3/23/22
We spent the day at Epcot.

The flower and garden festival is going on so there were food booths similar to what they do during the food and wine festival.

At the Isla Fresca food booth we tried a few items:
Arepas topped with melted queso fresco
Arepas topped with shrimp, crushed avocado aji, and tomato sauce
Coconut tres leches: vanilla cake soaked in oat milk, almond milk and coconut milk with toasted coconut.




We were pleasantly surprised by our snacks from this booth. Everything was very tasty.

Later that evening we drove to the Yacht Club for dinner at Yachtsman’s Steakhouse.

We had drinks at the Crews Cup Bar before dinner. I had a Regatta (a special off the menu drink) that the bartender told me he created. Scott had a martini.


It was nice to hang out at the bar before going right to dinner. It’s probably not the norm at Disney since the hostess seemed a bit confused when we checked in for dinner early and let them know we would go to the bar. We didn’t want to be seated early, just wanted to let them know we were there. They came to get us at the bar when our table was ready.



We skipped ordering an appetizer since they don’t have the tuna tartare on the menu anymore. This was probably the best tuna tartare we’ve had when we had it here years ago.

The onion rolls were so good we asked for more; despite our normal more healthy not eating bread habit. We both liked them with butter not the garlic spread.


We ordered two entrees that we shared
Filet Mignon with cognac-truffle butter and French fries


Sweet Potato and seasonal mushroom dumplings: haricot verts, petite sorrel, soubise


And truffle macaroni and cheese


We enjoyed all our food. The filet was really good. The dumplings were a nice extra dish to share with the steak but we probably could have skipped it (it was too much food). Scott enjoyed the macaroni and cheese but it wasn’t his favorite Mac & cheese of the trip.

For dessert we shared the Strawberry Shortcake: macerated Florida strawberries, strawberry gelato, vanilla mascarpone chantilly cream.


The dessert was light and a great ending to a heavier meal.

We enjoyed our meal at Yachtsman’s Steakhouse.

We walked back over to Epcot after dinner.

 

[Eastern]

Your pictures and descriptions are really helpful. Thanks for posting

 

[Jangles]

Scott had a martini.

Does Scott always drink martinis and may we please have a martini review and rating?
I am not a great cocktail drinker but on my last visit to WDW I decided to always order an Old Fashioned as my aperitif. I was surprised by how different they were. I may try a martini trawl next time.

 

[Erica Ladd]

Thanks for the report!