BluOrchid2
<font color=deeppink>Princess Aurora's Mommy<br><f
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2000
Here's my review of Le Cellier last week. 
It was not nearly as nice as our dining experience there last year. This year, it did not feel like an upscale restaurant. Last year, we went at the same time of year, on the free dining plan offer, and couldn't wait to eat at LC again this year but were greatly disappointed.
First of all, it took an additional 30 minutes past our PS time to be seated, which brought us right to 9:00 pm. We were seated just as Illuminations was starting. Since we had last years dinner at Le Cellier to base expectations on, we were somewhat disappointed in our meal this time. Service was inattentive. After we were seated, it was a good 5 minutes before our server came by, and 10 minutes or so before we got anything to drink. She was friendly enough, just not very attentive to our needs. DH ordered iced tea, and was not brought a spoon with it. On a refill of my soft drink, my last glass was removed with my straw in it and the straw not replaced with the refill. I was greatly disappointed with the Asian shrimp cocktail, which is no longer being served in the same presentation as last year. Last year, it was served on a rectangular platter, with a Chinese food-to-go box made to appear as if it had spilled out on the plate with the Wasabi slaw forming a bed beneath the shrimp, and I think there was a sauce of some kind drizzled over it all. Very nice presentation. Last night, it arrived thrown into a very deep bowl. It was not a very big serving, so it was all at the bottom of this very deep bowl, and you could not see it very well to appreciate all the colors and textures. The shrimp were smaller, too, than last year.
I ordered the 14 oz Strip Steak, prepared medium. DH ordered the same. Mine arrived medium rare to rare, and I was going to send it back until I noticed Darrins was prepared correctly. He sometimes likes his steak not as done as I do, so he traded with me. He even said it was almost too rare for him to eat. The roasted potatoes and whatever the greens on the plate were were unremarkable. Living in Kansas City, we are used to some mighty fine steak, but I expected the same quality from these steaks as they were touted to be Alberta beef. It had a good taste by itself, but they had poured steak sauce all over it. Ive eaten enough great steaks to know that you dont ruin a good steak with steak sauce if its of high enough quality, so that was disappointing and seemed like a cover-up. Meh.
And BEWARE, if you order the filet mignon, it comes with BBQ SAUCE poured all over it. My MIL was hugely disappointed in it. When you're in the mood for a good filet, the last thing you want is BBQ taste.
I was looking SO forward to having the same dessert I had there last year, a warm apple crumb cobbler served with a scoop of ice cream. Last year, it was served in a single-serving sized cast iron skillet that was about 6 inches across and about 1.5 inches deep. Well, they didnt have that, but the menu offered a Double Berry Buckle with a scoop of blueberry ice cream so I ordered that. What a huge letdown. The portion size was about 1/3 that of last years. It came in something like a custard cup and was mostly the biscuit-y crust stuff, with just a little bit of berry stuff down in the bottom that you had to dig for. And not at all juicy. The scoop of ice cream was about 1.5 inches in diameter, compared to the 2.5 scoop that came with the apple crumb cobbler last year.
DH and Grammy ordered the Crème Brulee sampler, and it was a joke also. Tasted good enough, he said, but the portions were tiny not even as much as you get at Wolfgang Pucks Express which is a counter service at DTD. The sampler arrived at our table as a divided dish that was about 4 in diameter and about 1 deep with the vanilla crème brulee on one side and the maple crème brulee on the other side. The desserts themselves were only about ½ deep in the dish.
The whole meal was not nearly as special as it was last year. There were several times that our server could not be seen at all, just disappeared for long periods of time. Didn't even see her waiting on other tables, which would have been fine. This meal, I would venture to say, wasn't even as nice as one we could have had at our local Longhorn or Outback Steakhouse.
Boo.
It was not nearly as nice as our dining experience there last year. This year, it did not feel like an upscale restaurant. Last year, we went at the same time of year, on the free dining plan offer, and couldn't wait to eat at LC again this year but were greatly disappointed.First of all, it took an additional 30 minutes past our PS time to be seated, which brought us right to 9:00 pm. We were seated just as Illuminations was starting. Since we had last years dinner at Le Cellier to base expectations on, we were somewhat disappointed in our meal this time. Service was inattentive. After we were seated, it was a good 5 minutes before our server came by, and 10 minutes or so before we got anything to drink. She was friendly enough, just not very attentive to our needs. DH ordered iced tea, and was not brought a spoon with it. On a refill of my soft drink, my last glass was removed with my straw in it and the straw not replaced with the refill. I was greatly disappointed with the Asian shrimp cocktail, which is no longer being served in the same presentation as last year. Last year, it was served on a rectangular platter, with a Chinese food-to-go box made to appear as if it had spilled out on the plate with the Wasabi slaw forming a bed beneath the shrimp, and I think there was a sauce of some kind drizzled over it all. Very nice presentation. Last night, it arrived thrown into a very deep bowl. It was not a very big serving, so it was all at the bottom of this very deep bowl, and you could not see it very well to appreciate all the colors and textures. The shrimp were smaller, too, than last year.
I ordered the 14 oz Strip Steak, prepared medium. DH ordered the same. Mine arrived medium rare to rare, and I was going to send it back until I noticed Darrins was prepared correctly. He sometimes likes his steak not as done as I do, so he traded with me. He even said it was almost too rare for him to eat. The roasted potatoes and whatever the greens on the plate were were unremarkable. Living in Kansas City, we are used to some mighty fine steak, but I expected the same quality from these steaks as they were touted to be Alberta beef. It had a good taste by itself, but they had poured steak sauce all over it. Ive eaten enough great steaks to know that you dont ruin a good steak with steak sauce if its of high enough quality, so that was disappointing and seemed like a cover-up. Meh.
And BEWARE, if you order the filet mignon, it comes with BBQ SAUCE poured all over it. My MIL was hugely disappointed in it. When you're in the mood for a good filet, the last thing you want is BBQ taste.
I was looking SO forward to having the same dessert I had there last year, a warm apple crumb cobbler served with a scoop of ice cream. Last year, it was served in a single-serving sized cast iron skillet that was about 6 inches across and about 1.5 inches deep. Well, they didnt have that, but the menu offered a Double Berry Buckle with a scoop of blueberry ice cream so I ordered that. What a huge letdown. The portion size was about 1/3 that of last years. It came in something like a custard cup and was mostly the biscuit-y crust stuff, with just a little bit of berry stuff down in the bottom that you had to dig for. And not at all juicy. The scoop of ice cream was about 1.5 inches in diameter, compared to the 2.5 scoop that came with the apple crumb cobbler last year.
DH and Grammy ordered the Crème Brulee sampler, and it was a joke also. Tasted good enough, he said, but the portions were tiny not even as much as you get at Wolfgang Pucks Express which is a counter service at DTD. The sampler arrived at our table as a divided dish that was about 4 in diameter and about 1 deep with the vanilla crème brulee on one side and the maple crème brulee on the other side. The desserts themselves were only about ½ deep in the dish.
The whole meal was not nearly as special as it was last year. There were several times that our server could not be seen at all, just disappeared for long periods of time. Didn't even see her waiting on other tables, which would have been fine. This meal, I would venture to say, wasn't even as nice as one we could have had at our local Longhorn or Outback Steakhouse.
Boo.
and I have been looking forward to the filet (and the soup!)., I cannot tolerate any cooked tomato based sauces and would never have thought to put one on a steak. Just not a barbeque person, I guess.
but at least it wasn't on my steak! 
