Good Eats at the Food and Whine Festival - Updated Day 5 - Last Two CS Meals

[llqool]

We just got back from a 5 day stay at POFQ. We checked in just before the free dining ended, so we were able to take advantage of that and also get to experience the first weekend of the Food and Wine Festival.

Appearing in this dining report....

My husband, who refers to my haunting the DIS boards as my “Disney Fantasy Dining League” and who would *not* let me take pictures of food
Myself, a diehard Disney fan who grew up in FL and has lost count of the number of times I’ve visited the World.
Wild Child (aka our 4 yr old daughter), a Princess lover who is extremely temperamental. When we sprung the surprise that we were going to Disney as we were on I-95 almost at Daytona Beach, she cried hysterically because she had thought we were going to visit Grandma!
Wild Baby (our 18 month old daughter), a good-natured but strong-willed baby who knows about 5 words, 3 of them “no”.

Restaurants in this report...

Artist Point
Kona Cafe
California Grille
Restaurant Akershus (Princess Storybook Breakfast)

Counter Service Restaurants in this report...

POFQ Food Court
Wolfgang Puck Express (several times!)
Columbia Harbour House
Cantina de San Angel
Food and Wine Festival Booths

DAY 1 - September 28th

We checked in to our resort, POFQ, around 4 pm and unloaded all our junk in our room, a corner room on the first floor in building 6. We were all hungry, so we immediately drove to DTD, arriving at Wolfgang Puck Express just after 5 pm. We appeared to just beat the crowd, because right after we got there, ordered our food and sat down, a bunch of people appeared and there was a line out the door.

My husband ordered the Rosemary Chicken with Garlic Mashed Potatoes. He had a diet Coke and a brownie. I ordered the Linguini with Chicken Bolognese the mango iced tea and a chocolate cookie with white chocolate chunks. Wild Child got the macaroni and cheese kids meal with chocolate milk and a chocolate chip cookie. We used 3 CS credits, but the total would have been $36.00. I also ordered a bowl of the butternut squash soup which I paid for out of pocket ($2.82 with a 10% discount from the AAA Diamond Card).

Everything was good, but my husband and I agreed that our daughter’s mac and cheese was the best. (Meanwhile, she didn’t really care for it! She prefers the boxed Kraft variety to the “real” thing!). She did eat some of the chicken, which was very moist and flavorful, and polished off her cookie. Our 18 month old Wild Baby devoured the linguini and also really liked the mashed potatoes. I loved the soup and finished off my daughter’s mac and cheese after she decided she didn’t want it. As far as the desserts go, the cookies were OK, but the brownie was really good, and I’m not usually a big brownie fan. We also had a choice of crème brulee, but neither my husband nor I like the consistency of that dessert, so it wasn’t really an option. I didn’t really want the mango iced tea, but you are not allowed to get bottled drinks at WPE and I don’t drink soda, so the tea was the only real choice for me.

We really like this CS location. It may be our favorite CS location at Disney. The only downside was that the inside tables were pretty full so we ate outside. We expected it to be muggy and hot, but what we were unprepared for was the onslaught of lovebugs. I grew up in FL and have always been used to these bugs getting all over the windshield when traveling at certain times of the year, but I don’t remember every being bugged (literally!) so much by the critters when just walking around outdoors. We quickly finished our meals and took the rest of the desserts back to our room. “I’m not eating outside again!” my husband declared.

 

[princesstigerlilly]

Great first day! I have WPE on our DTD plans, glad to hear you liked it.

 

[Denise Thies]

I thought Wolfgang express was out favorite counter service. Good food great price.

 

[llqool]

Day 2 - September 29th

Sorry, this one is long!

For breakfast, I went to the POFQ food court for the first time. It was still quite early, and there were not many people around, which was good, b/c I wasn’t really sure what the options were for breakfast. My daughters really love fruit, so I was looking to see what was available. There were individual pieces of fruit and also a bowl full of cut up honeydew, cantaloupe and grapes. Wild Child was with me, though, and she spied some berries behind the counter. It was at a station where they would make you a yogurt parfait with your choice of berries. There did not appear to be any way to get the berries by themselves, however. I decided to ask the cast member if there was any way to get a side order of berries. Luckily, a manager was close by and overheard me. He let me get a big cup of raspberries and strawberries and I was charged the same price as the fruit bowl (2.99). He also gave my daughter a string of the Mardi Gras beads that decorate the counters in the food court. We used two snack credits to get one bowl of berries and one bowl of melon and grapes.

This was a non-park day for us and we were taking our older daughter to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at 12:50. We wanted to grab a quick bite beforehand and decided to go to Wolfgang Puck Express again. This time, my husband got the BBQ Chicken Pizza and a diet Coke, I got the Four Cheese Pizza and a milk (for my 18 month old daughter to drink) and our four year old Wild Child got the chicken tenders with mashed potatoes and milk to drink. The 18 month old refused to eat anything at this meal although she did drink the milk. We got two brownies this time and another chocolate chip cookie for our 4 yr old. The pizza was good, but I decided I should have just gotten the adult portion of the mac and cheese. My husband liked his pizza but wished he had asked them to hold the onions and the tomatoes.

For dinner, we had the earliest reservations possible (5:30) for Artist Point. We were very excited to eat here since we had stayed at this resort before and knew how beautiful the setting was. But this was our first time eating here. I have to say we were deeply disappointed. When we arrived, the restaurant was probably ¼ full. They sat us in a corner right by the door to the kitchen. It was not a great location, but we had two children with us and I could understand a desire to put us somewhere out of the way. We were given crayons and a children’s menu for the two kids. Our server, Scott, appeared. He seemed to be either extremely apathetic or possibly half-asleep. While I could hear other servers spouting off specials and describing dishes on the menu, he had one comment: “Oh, you were given the old menu. We have buffalo on the menu again this week if you want it.”

This was our first table service meal on the dining plan so I had a few questions. I was told that there was no appetizer available for children, which was fine (although it seemed strange to me that all the other table service restaurants had one). I explained to Scott that when we ordered, we would probably order everything so that we could get the children in and out of the restaurant in a reasonable amount of time. He disappeared to get our drinks and I urged my husband to make up his mind quickly. He was at a disadvantage since he hadn’t been studying the menu for weeks like I had! He had a hard time deciding on an appetizer and I told him I had heard the venison spring rolls were good. I got the Selection of Artisan Cheeses. The spring rolls were very good (I got to sample one bite). The Artisan Cheese plate was – interesting. There were three slices of cheese and some dried cranberries and golden raisins soaked in a honey-wine sauce. There was a slice of some mysterious bread-like substance and a couple of pieces of multi-grain bread that had been baked hard. At this point, Scott popped in again and commented that he really liked one of the cheeses, the one that I had also liked the best, a cheddar. I asked about the hard bread, b/c it seemed like it had nuts in it but it also had a bite to it, like there was black pepper baked into it as well. This was the one and only time when Scott perked up. He disappeared again and came back to tell me that he had asked the chef and that there were hazelnuts in the bread and it indeed had black pepper. I have to say I didn’t care at all for the soft cheese, which seemed like it was a type of bleu cheese. I’m not really positive what any of the cheeses were b/c Scott never identified them for me. The mysterious bread-like slice turned out to be made out of figs.

For an entree my husband got the Roasted Chicken Breast with Russet Potato Risotto and Fava beans. The risotto was not at all what one would expect – it was small pellets of potato in a wine-based sauce that had a gravy-like consistency. They were spread out over the plate, not in a dense mass like “real” risotto would be. My husband said there were about 3 fava beans on the plate. The chicken was good and moist, but not something I would want to order again. He did have an excellent wine that the sommelier had paired with his dish – Witness Tree Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley. I had the restaurant’s signature dish, the Cedar-plank Wild King Salmon. I got it with mashed potatoes instead of the dumplings. The fish was very tasty and a pretty big portion. My daughter got the kid’s portion of salmon with mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables, which turned out to be carrots (she wouldn’t eat them, but I tasted them and they were good). Her portion was almost as big as my piece of salmon, and she really enjoyed it.

I had not ordered a drink with dinner, but told Scott I wanted a cup of coffee with my dessert. So we ordered desserts (the chocolate puzzle for our daughter, the Valhrona Chocolate cake with the blood orange sauce on the side for my husband, and the berry cobbler for myself) and a few minutes later, a cup and a small pitcher of cream was delivered to our table. Ten minutes later, there was still no coffee in my cup and no desserts on the table. By this time, it was after 7 o’clock. The natives (our two children) were getting restless. Finally, about ten minutes later, our desserts were delivered and the coffee was poured. The 18 month old immediately ended up with most of the berries from the cobbler. Our 4 yr old enjoyed making a complete mess of her puzzle and cookie, which came on a palette-like plate complete with paint brush and colored frosting. We each got to sample a bite of the chocolate truffle cake and then our 18 month old just completely lost it. My husband immediately took her out to the lobby while I waited for Scott to bring a box for the cake. I waited and waited and he finally came out with the cake boxed up but no sauce. I indicated I also needed to box up my daughter’s cookie/chocolate concoction and he seemed to want me to squash it in on top of the chocolate cake, but finally brought me a box for it.

Two hours after our ADR, we were leaving the Wilderness Lodge. On my part, at least, I was leaving with a distinct feeling of disappointment. The food itself had been decent, even good, but the experience was not what I had expected it to be. The restaurant itself was attractive, but the ambiance was not anything special. In fact, we would later realize that people were dressed far more casually here than they were anywhere else we dined, including Kona Café. I saw an older lady in Daisy Dukes (not a pretty sight!) and a girl in a tank top over a bathing suit. The restaurant had a snooty air to it that we did not experience elsewhere (not even California Grill) and yet I felt neglected and even slighted by our server. It wasn’t anything specific that I could have complained about, but I know the difference between good service and bad service, and this wasn’t good service.

The total for our meal would have been $137.03 We paid 15.00 OOP for the wine. I had read reports that servers at other restaurants have pushed high-priced entrees, desserts and drinks on patrons, possibly in order to get a higher tip. That definitely wasn’t the case here. I think Scott would have let us get away with just ordering an entrée and nothing else had we let him. I was glad we did this with the “free” dining because I would have been upset to have spent a total of 6 TS credits here otherwise.

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoying reading your reviews ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[swankybeth]

Great reviews, looking forward to reading more. Sounds like WP Express is a great place to use a CS credit, gotta remember that for January!

 

[llqool]

Day 3 – September 30th

This was our day to go to the Magic Kingdom. We got up very early. I thought Wild Baby might eat some scrambled eggs (2.76 OOP at the POFQ food court), but she wouldn’t have anything to do with them. My husband ate them, I didn’t try them, but they appeared OK. Not runny or a strange color.

We made it to the Magic Kingdom and here is where the “Whine” part of this report really made its appearance. Neither of the little ones was happy to be in the happiest place on earth. We rode Dumbo and the carousel and then serious meltdowns started to occur even though it was just after 10 am. My husband was ready to leave, but wanted to let me ride Pirates of the Carribean, my one must-see in the park. He had a coffee (2.00 OOP) while waiting for me and watching the kids. He said he was surprised it was so decent-tasting knowing that it was Nescafe and not the “real” stuff.

After I got off POC, it was apparent that even though it was very early, everyone was ready for lunch. So I ditched my plan of eating at Cosmic Rays and instead we went for our old standby, Columbia Harbour House. Here my husband ordered the Captain's Special, a combo of fried chicken and fried fish and French fries and a diet Coke. I got the Lighthouse sandwich, which is hummus, broccoli slaw and tomatoes on multi-grain bread. It came with chips and I ordered an unsweet iced tea to go with it. Wild Child got the kid’s mac and cheese which came with grapes and mickey crackers and got a milk to drink. It appeared to be the "normal" Kraft kind of mac and cheese (as opposed to the "gourmet" stuff at WPE), so my daughter ate about half of it. Wild Baby ate most of her sister’s crackers and not much else. We got 3 chocolate cakes for dessert.

I didn’t try my husband’s fish or chips – he was so hungry, he inhaled the whole thing immediately, so I guess it was decent. My sandwich was really tasty, as usual. I usually get the half sandwich/soup combo, but I didn’t this time and I was glad because after he finished off his meal, my husband looked with interest at my plate. “Hey, what did you get?” When I explained what it was, I thought he wouldn’t be interested, but he ate a quarter of the sandwich (all I would let him have!) in two bites. “Hey, why didn’t you get this for me?” he asked (I had done the ordering at the cash register). How was I to know that a man who doesn’t like tomatoes or broccoli slaw would like that sandwich?

The chocolate cake was fairly good for prepackaged stuff but incredibly rich and dense. Neither my husband nor I could finish more than half of it although our 4 year old Wild Child was able to eat most of hers.

Next up, dinner at Kona Cafe.....

 

[Schucraig]

Great reviews so far! I can't wait for Kona!

 

[dawgfan]

Thanks for the review!

 

[llqool]

We left the park fairly early and chilled out for a while at our hotel. So we were refreshed and ready to eat when we showed up for our 7:10 ADRs at Kona Café. We showed up a few minutes early, but were not seated until about 7:25. When we checked in at the front desk, we were asked very specifically about special dietary needs or food allergies. This was the only restaurant that we ate at on our trip that did this.

Our server, Greg, immediately approached us. He was *very* enthusiastic, anxious to tell us all the specials, ask us about drinks, get us into the mood of the place. In fact, he was almost overly cheerful (he reminded both my husband and myself of the obnoxious waiter at Tchotchkes in the movie Office Space). He had several recommendations for us for appetizers and entrees, and urged our daughter to get the raspberry smoothie. I ordered water to drink and mentioned that I’d like a cup of coffee with dessert. My husband ordered a glass of iced tea and a glass of wine, or at least he thought he did.

While we were waiting for drinks, the chef came by (I think his name was Robert), greeting everyone, again asking if we had special dietary needs or any questions. I did have a question – I was very interested in ordering the macadamia mahi mahi, but was concerned that it was served on a bed of mushroom risotto. I like risotto, and I love dolphin, but I *really* dislike mushrooms.

The chef assured me that the mushrooms in question were shiitake mushrooms, and did not taste the same as the mushrooms in non-Asian foods. The thing I think I dislike the most about mushrooms is the texture. I will occasionally eat wood ear mushrooms in Asian dishes, but I was still very doubtful about whether I would like mushroom risotto. The chef assured me that if I ordered the dish and didn’t like it, he would send out something else, probably plain sticky rice or mashed potatoes.

He went on to the next table and we were brought our drinks. I went ahead and ordered the Macadamia Mahi Mahi and my husband ordered the Coconut Almond Chicken. The next thing I knew, the chef was at my elbow with a small dish of the risotto and a sliver of the fish. He wanted me to taste it to see if I liked it. I tasted it and was surprised that I really did like it. The flavors of the rice and the cheese were much more apparent than the mushrooms. The texture of the shiitake mushrooms was not unpleasant because the pieces were quite small. The rice was so good, in fact, I had to control myself and not finish it off because right then, the staff brought out our appetizers. Both my husband and I had gotten the crab cakes and my daughter got the kid’s appetizer, a fruit bowl. Wild Child and Wild Baby shared the fruit. I was happy to see it included pineapple, which we didn’t see elsewhere.

The crab cakes were wonderful. More crab than breading. Three of them came on a bed of lettuce that had a soy-ginger dressing and thin slices of the ginger that comes with sushi. My husband didn’t care for the ginger part, but I thought it really added something to the dish.

Our entrees came out very quickly, almost before I finished the appetizer. When you have small children, though, this is a plus. The restaurant is also quite loud. Not something you want for a romantic rendezvous, but again great when you have kids because it masks all the kid noise. The décor of the café is quite interesting looking – modern lines but with an almost organic, Arts and Crafts twist to the shapes of the lighting and seating.

The mahi mahi was as good as that little taste had promised. It was a large portion, encrusted in macadamia nuts and sitting on a big scoop of the risotto. There were crunchy onions on top. I couldn’t finish my whole portion. My husband’s almond-encrusted chicken was also good, but I was surprised to see it was really more like a salad with chicken on top. I know the menu said it was on a bed of greens, but I was still unprepared for the reality of the dish. I had a taste of it and it was good, but in my opinion no where near as good as my entrée. I did like that my husband’s salad had fresh strawberries and almonds in it. I’m sure it was much healthier than my dish, but I preferred mine!

Our daughter ordered pasta and it came out in a huge bowl with sauce and a meatball. The noodles were round spirals, kind of like a telephone cord (i'm not sure what the shape is called -- it wasn't rotini or any shape I'm familiar with, and I'm Italian-American!). She doesn't usually eat meatballs, but she did eat this one and commented that the pasta was very good.

By this time, we were getting quite thirsty and wanted refills on our drinks. Our overly-effusive waiter was nowhere to be found, however. He also never brought out my husband’s wine, and by now, we were almost done eating our entrees. We decided there had been some confusion when my husband was ordering (Greg had talked about several different wines. He had recommended one, but my husband had wanted to stick with his original choice).
Greg did appear to take our dessert orders, which is good, because I had heard really great things about the desserts here. We were surprised to learn that my daughter had a choice not just of the jello or the kid’s brownie sundae, but also of the famous Kiddie Kone, a HUGE waffle cone filled with ice cream and hot fudge somehow standing on its tip amongst a sea of blue cotton candy and M&Ms. Of course, she picked that. I chose the Kilauea Torte and my husband picked the Chocolate Macadamia Nut Tart. He also decided to order a cup of coffee with dessert, since the Café is famous for its coffee. At this point, Greg said that since there were 2 of us getting coffee, we should get a press pot of the 100% Kona coffee. That sounded good to us, so we went along with his suggestion.

Shortly after, our desserts were delivered to the table. Greg brought a large press pot of coffee that he said had to steep a little while longer and that he’d be back to pour it. I didn’t taste my daughter’s ice cream cone, but she and my husband (who “helped” her eat it) swore it was “yummy.” My husband’s tart was very appealing to look at – a mini tart and a scoop of ice cream with a dark chocolate palm tree stuck in it. I tasted it and it reminded me of a chocolate pecan pie. I liked it, but I did like my rich torte with its oozing center of chocolate better. Fortunately, he also preferred his dessert to mine, so there was no fighting over the crumbs! The coffee, which Greg did come back to pour, was WONDERFUL. The pot held about 4 cups, and we were sorry that our daughters were getting restless because it meant leaving before getting to finish every last drop.

The meal came to $121.38 (3 TS credits), almost as much as our dinner the day before at Artist Point, and I have to say we enjoyed the food and the atmosphere much, much more than we did at the so-called Signature establishment. We were very impressed that the chef had taken the time and interest to visit all the tables.

The one surprise we had was when Greg presented us with a bill for the coffee (about $10 OOP). He, who had been telling us previously in great detail about all the things we were entitled to under the dining plan, somehow did *not* inform us that this would have to be paid for out of pocket (I didn’t order a beverage during the meal, and at the beginning he had told me I could have coffee as my beverage). I wasn’t going to quibble, however, because we really enjoyed that coffee and the pot was quite large. Besides, we wanted to get out in time to see the Electric Water Pageant, one of Wild Child’s favorite things at Disney.

 

[kaybird]

Great reviews! Thanks for sharing!

I also could not stay out of the mushroom risotto, could have happily made just a bowl of that my meal!!!

 

[carolinagirl]

We were surprised to learn that my daughter had a choice not just of the jello or the kid’s brownie sundae, but also of the famous Kiddie Kone, a HUGE waffle cone filled with ice cream and hot fudge somehow standing on its tip amongst a sea of blue cotton candy and M&Ms.

Your DD was quite lucky...we were denied the Kiddie Cone for either of our kids two weeks ago. We were told it was on the Adult Dessert Menu. As I mentioned on a previous post....why are they going to call it a Kiddie Cone if it is not available to kids?

I also had the Mahi Mahi and, I agree, it was delicious. And the Kilauea Torte.....to die for!!!!!! Yum!!!!!!!

 

[llqool]

Day 4 – October 1, 2006

This one ended up being really long! Sorry – once I get going on my two favorite subjects – fine dining and Disney World, I tend to get long-winded!

This morning, I again made my way to the POFQ food court where I got the usual fruit cup (1 snack credit) and decided that the kids could use a hot breakfast for a change. I was going to pay for a Mickey waffle OOP when I realized it cost almost 6 dollars. I decided to use a CS meal to get a fresh Mickey Waffle with sausage and a bottle of Minute Maid orange juice. The whole thing would have been $12.99 had I paid for it OOP. I brought it back to the room, but the kids ended up just eating the fruit. Neither Wild Child nor Wild Baby would have anything to do with the waffle. Maybe because it had become somewhat soft on the way back to the room. My husband ate the sausage and drank the OJ while I tasted a bite of the waffle. I think it was one of those things that you needed to eat right when they made it (like at the buffet at Chef Mickey’s). It wasn’t something that could be kept, even for the few minutes it took to transport it to our room.

After breakfast, we made a quick Wal-mart run and did a very little outlet shopping. By this time it was almost noon. We had fed Wild Child a kids meal at Sonic and somehow both she and Wild Baby had fallen asleep in the back of our SUV (simultaneous naps almost NEVER happen!). My husband and I were hungry, but we didn’t want to disturb the kids. So he pulled up in a 20 minute parking place at the end of DTD Marketplace and I made a quick dash over to WPE (again!). My husband again got the BBQ chicken pizza, but this time I made sure to order it without tomatoes or onions. I opted for the Mac and Cheese and paid OOP for the butternut squash soup again. Having to walk across DTD with the fountain drinks was really inconvenient. I wish they would have let me just get a couple of bottles of water! They were all out of the brownies, so I had to get cookies for dessert.

Boy, do I love that mac and four cheeses! As is often the case, a takeout order was larger than a dine-in portion would be. I couldn’t eat more than half of it. I tasted a small piece of cookie, and it was a little hard. I have to say, I think the cookies have kind of gone downhill here. Don’t know if it’s the dining plan or just a new menu. But I remember a couple of years ago when they had a more extensive dessert menu and the cookies were much more unusual. I distinctly remember getting a chocolate chip cookie that had dried cherries in it. Oh, well. At least the entrees are still wonderful, and it’s not like I really *need* dessert!

That evening, my husband and I had got an in-room babysitter so we could have a leisurely dinner at the California Grill. Our first “parents’ night out” in about 5 months! I ran over to the POFQ food court to pick up some food for the girls. I ended up with a baked chicken dinner with a side of mashed potatoes (very obviously the real thing, b/c there were bits of skin visible) and a side of corn. It also came with cornbread. For dessert, I went over to the bakery window in the food court. I figured the kids would like ice cream and I had seen that there were a number of pre-packaged treats in the freezer case. I asked about an ice cream sandwich. The cast member asked me what flavors of ice cream I wanted. It took a second for it to sink in that they would actually be *making* the sandwich from scratch, so to speak. I chose two huge sugar cookies with mickey sprinkles and she put three *huge* scoops of cookies and cream ice cream in between. I also got a bottle of OJ to keep for the next morning. This was one CS credit, but I think it would have probably been one of the most expensive ones had I been paying – I think it all came to about $18.86. I didn’t get to try any of the food, but it looked good and was fresh (we were there when they opened for dinner). The babysitter did mention later that the cookies were extremely hard, though, to the point of being almost inedible. What a shame, because that sandwich sure looked good!

We checked in to California Grill about 15 minutes before our 6:10 ADR and were immediately taken up in the elevator. As the doors opened and we stepped out to wait for our server, we took in the gorgeous view of the lagoon and the Magic Kingdom. We had never been up here before and hadn’t quite realized the vista from here was this picturesque. To our surprise and pleasure, we were seated at a window. The blinds were partway down because the sun was going down, but they did not obscure our view and the sun was not too intrusive.

Our server, Gail, seemed very knowledgeable and professional. Again, I had been studying the menu and had a good idea of what I wanted, but my husband had no clue what his choices were, so he took a few minutes to decide. He surprised me by choosing the Dungeness Crab California Roll (he doesn’t *ever* eat sushi!) and I got the Triple Cheese with Carmelized Onion Flatbread. My appetizer was huge and I could have easily eaten that as my meal. I tried a piece of my husband’s California roll and it was very good (I don’t generally like sushi much). Our server brought out a basket of hot, fresh sourdough bread with olive oil to dip it in, but I was so full already that I was afraid to do more than break off a tiny corner of one piece to try it.

For dinner, I had the Steamed Halibut (I chose fish for every table service meal we had this week!). It came on a bed of basmati rice with macadamia nuts and what the menu called “Hong Kong vinaigrette”. There were also pieces of pickled cucumber. It was very good with a little bit of a bite to the sauce. My husband had some sort of salmon dish. I can’t believe I didn’t write it down, and it doesn’t seem to be on any of the menus I have seen posted on various websites. I *do* remember that it, like his entrée at Artist Point, had fava beans in it. He remarked: “what is it with fava beans at restaurants here?”

For dessert we each had coffee (no Nescafe here – it was really good “real” brewed coffee and we did not get charged extra for it). My husband chose the Cherries, Chocolate, Cherries dessert, a warm valhrona chocolate cake with a molten center and cherry ice cream. He raved about it. I tasted it and liked it, but it did remind me a lot of the Kilauea Torte I had gotten at Kona the night before. I was in the mood for something unusual, so I tried the Bananas and Butterscotch “Buzz”. I had read descriptions of this, but once again, the reality of the dish took me by surprise. The menu description says: caramelized bananas and butterscotch custard stack with coffee caramel, cocoa nib, and crunchy plantain. What surprised me was that the coffee custard was very cold, almost like a very rich ice cream. The stack consisted of the custard sandwiched between two pieces of phyllo dough (similar to a Napolean). The bananas were very sweet but the sweetness was offset by the bite of the coffee. The plaintain was a huge, crunchy swoop balanced on the very top. It was lightly dusted with what appeared to be finely-ground espresso powder. Again, the coffee provided a counterpoint to the sweetness of the fruit. It was a blend of seemingly dissonant tastes that somehow came together in one harmonious whole.

The bill came to 142.41 (4 TS credits) and we paid an additional $30 OOP for two glasses of wine. We went outside to the viewing deck for a look at the Magic Kingdom. We were hours early for the fireworks, but we were told if we brought our receipt back with us later, we would be allowed back up to the deck. We didn’t do this, but I would like to someday.

In summary, we really enjoyed our meal at California Grill. I was mentally preparing myself for the staff and the ambiance to be stuffy and condescending, but they were no such thing. The restaurant has an open kitchen and floorplan and it was quite a bit louder than Artist Point had been, but that did not bother me. In hindsight, I think we should have taken our kids here and perhaps tried Artist Point on our own. We saw several families with very young children. Any noise from the kids was pretty much masked by the restaurant noise and if the kids had gotten restless, we could have just taken them out on the deck for a few minutes. Oh well, you live and learn!

Next up....Princess Storybook Breakfast and the Food and Wine Festival

 

[oybolshoi]

thanks for the time you've put into your reviews - it's really helpful and is definitely getting me in the mood for food when we hit WDW next week.

California grill is on our list of restaurants to visit, so it's nice to hear that you enjoyed it.

 

[DisOrBust]

Great reviews! Now I'm rethinking CG??

 

[ufgator]

Thanks for your great reviews so far! Looking forward to more!

 

[mama2ella]

these are great reviews! thanks

 

[llqool]

Day 5 – October 2, 2006

This morning we had 10:20 ADRs for the Princess Storybook Breakfast at EPCOT. We got to the park before it opened (and, as an aside, what a disappointment to find that at rope drop there were only 3 gates open and only 2 of them worked!). We went on a couple of rides and got fastpasses for Soarin’ and then decided at around 9:40 to try and see if we could get in earlier.

We made our way over to Norway and found that the podium area was very crowded. We checked in and when I asked if there would be a long wait, I was told “no”. They seem to have a very disorganized method of calling diners here – no pagers or overhead speakers, just a Norwegian cast member attempting to pronounce our last names over all the background noise. I had to stay very close to the podium to make sure I could hear what they were saying, which added to the crowd and confusion.

We were called in about 10 minutes and were immediately herded in line to see Belle. No lingering was allowed, and my poor four year old daughter was very confused by the various handlers and photographers (she was wearing a Belle dress, too, and got a one sentence greeting from Belle before being herded off the 'stage').

We were then seated at a table in the middle of the dining room, which is fairly picturesque with faux stone walls and mullioned windows. There were already cinnamon buns and strawberries on the table when we got there. Within minutes, our server had brought out a large platter with bacon, sausage, eggs, biscuits and potatoes.

I had read a lot about the buns and I don’t know if we caught them on a bad day or what, but they tasted stale to me. They were hard and cold. We each took one bite of them and that was it. The hot foods were your average breakfast fare, difficult to ruin and not too imaginative. My 4 yr old did like the bacon a lot (she inhaled almost an entire platter of it!) because it was fresh and crispy. And she and Wild Baby fought over the strawberries. I eventually had to flag down our impassive Nordic server to bring more bacon and strawberries, which he did eventually do, albeit somewhat reluctantly. We also got a refill on our coffee, but it seemed to take a long time.

The character interaction here was OK. My husband liked the fact that you sat and had the characters come to you (he HATES standing in line waiting for autographs). We had Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine and Mulan stop by our table. Most of them seemed rushed and did not interact very much with our daughter, who was awed to be in the presence of princesses. Mulan was the only character who seemed to take her time at each table, making character-appropriate comments to everyone (for example, there was a little boy at the table behind us who wasn’t very “into” the princesses and Mulan told him that she didn’t usually dress up like that, that usually she dressed in boy’s clothes and carried a big sword). When Mulan came to our table, my daughter had a strip of bacon still clutched in her hand and Mulan commented that she needed to eat up and become strong like her (Mulan) so that she would be able to fight bad guys.

When our server brought the check, there was some confusion because we had to pay part of the bill ourselves (we had run out of TS meals). Plus, they had charged us for our 18 month old even though we had told them her age several times.

Overall, it was an OK experience. The food was decent, but not really much better than the resort food court. It was all about the princesses. My husband liked that it was an effortless way to see multiple princesses without expending any energy. But I think that 1900 Park Fare was a better bang for the buck so to speak. If we ever go during free dining, I would eat here again, but I don’t know that I would pay completely out of pocket.

Next up...F&W booths

 

[iamjkmb]

I'm enjoying your detailed descriptions of the different foods that you've tried. I'm looking forward to your F&W booths experience.

 

[oybolshoi]

Bring on the F&W festival!!

Oh yeah...Go Cards!!