*mouth watering*
This dinner was perfect from start to finish! Definitely one of the best meals of our lives!
This was the night of the double lightning strike on the monorail, so we, and everyone else with an ADR at CG, arrived lated. We checked in at around 8:15 for our 7:50 ADR. I said we'd like to wait for a window table, bt when we were told it would be about an hour, we decided to just sit down. We were taken up to our table almost immediately, and it was one row away from the windows; we still had a very lovely view of MK and the whole lagoon, including the other MK resorts. We could even see the high fireworks from IllumiNations a little while later.
Our server was Ryan and he was outstanding (didn't have to look him up on the check-I remember)! He offered help and suggestions with the menu and wine pairings, and struck just the right balance between being there to serve and help, and being out of the way when appropriate.
I ordered a refreshing glass of Conundrum and Aladdin ordered a glass of white recommended by Ryan (check says Arrwd Cote). Both were delicious.
We started with some apps to share with the table. First out was the Beef Flatbread:
This was very spicy in a peppery way, as Ryan had said it would be. The crispy onions on top really made it for us. We loved it!
We also ordered the Spicy Kazan Roll:
Oh, my, this was so good, and that sauce was scrumptious! We all agreed we wanted to lick the plate. I could have happily had this as my meal and been satisfied; too bad we had to share it!
For my main course, I had the BBQ Filet:
This dish was wonderful in every way. The steak was cooked a perfect medium-rare as ordered, the sauce had just the right balance of spice, smoke and sweet, the potatoes were creamy and delicious, and the veggie (some kind of broccolini) was seasoned and prepared perfectly. To go with it, I asked Ryan to bring me a bold Cabernet, and he served me a glass of Sequoia Grove Cabernet, delicious, and perfect with the filet. There was NOTHING left on this plate (or in my glass)! It was sooooo good, and my very favorite beef filet I have ever had (the buffalo filet from Artist Point might be tied for best steak ever). As great as it was, it wasn't even the best dish on the table!
Which brings us to Aladdin's pork dish:
WOW! This was possibly the very best thing I have ever tasted! Nirvana on a plate! This was by far the best pork dish ever, the meat was so sweet and juicy and tender, the seasonings perfect, the polenta was cheesy and creamy with just the right texture! I can't wait to go back to Cali Grill and order this dish for myself!
Belle surprised us by ordering the pasta dish:
This was a nice al dente cavatelli with a variety of tomatoes and fresh shaved parmesan cheese. She loved it.
The biggest surprise of the night was Herc's choice, the salmon:
He likes salmon just fine, but what really pursuaded him to order it this night was the preparation: with roasted fig risotto and black forest mushrooms in a pinot noir reduction. He was absolutely blown away by this dish. It was his nirvana on a plate. He is still talking about it, says it was the best thing he's ever tasted...and it didn't even contain cheese! He tried unsuccessfully to fall in love with other salmon dishes during the rest of the trip, and everything else fell way short. He can't wait to return to CG to order this again (if it's not on the menu, he knows exactly how to ask for it!
After our main course, it was time to step outside to watch the Summer Nightastic fireworks. What a spectacular view! We really appreciated all of the special effects on the castle from this perspective, and unanimously agreed that this view was even better than the view we had from the Poly beach. I still think I would like Wishes better from the Poly beach, because with Wishes, it is important to me to have that centered perspective. But with Summer Nightastic, I think it was more important to be closer to the castle.
When we came back in, we had some tough decisions to make about dessert. We knew we had a surprise mini wedding cake coming for Belle's birthday, but we wanted to taste a few items from the menu. Hercules was pushing hard for a cheese plate, since his main course had not contained a cheese fix for him. So we decided we'd have a cheese course, and then order one dessert (plus the cake) for our dessert course.
Cheese plate:
From top to bottom in the photo, the cheeses were:
Reypenaer V.S.O.P. (Netherlands) - a type of gouda
Robiola (northern Italy) - blend of cow, goat and sheep milk, we loved this paired with sweet spanish almonds
Truffle Tremor (Cypress Grove) - goat cheese with black truffle
Petite Agour (France) - sheep's milk cheese with nutty flavor
Caveman Blue - organic raw cow's milk. We all love bleu cheese, this was one of our favorites of the 5
And finally, dessert!
We had the birthday cake that we had ordered for Belle:
This was so beautiful and tasted great! We were extremely happy with it, and would not hesitiate to recommend Chef Brian and Private Dining at the CR for anyone looking for a special occasion cake! Belle was absolutely thrilled!
We also needed a taste of chocolate, so we decided to go for the Valrhona Chocolate Cake:
I'm pretty sure this was a homemade cherry ice cream. This cake was just delicious, and by far the best dessert of the trip!
Our overall experience here was outstanding, and it is probably our favorite restaurant dinner ever, definitely the best of this trip. (I said "restaurant dinner" specifically, because there are intangeables that go into a "dining experience" to make it super-special, and we had a few of those moments during this trip). I want to add that we did not experience a sense of loudness or chaos that we have read about in many other reviews. I don't know if the restaurant was less busy than usual on this night because of the monorail system problem, but we found it quite intimate, and would it have been easily romantic if it weren't a family celebration for us. This is as close to a must-do for us as we could find!
will keep Remy a surprise though, hope he will still be there!!
DH just booked lunch there on our last day. I was convinced that he wouldn't want to go but he said that it was actually at the top of his list of considerations. Now I have to go back and look at your pics and reviews again!
