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MnDloveDisney
11-17-2003, 11:10 PM
Just back from our trip – we had some great dining experiences. I always like to read about where others ate (I’m mostly a lurker more than a poster), so I thought I’d chime in with some reviews:

Sunday, November 9, 2003

Dinner – Pepper Market at Coronado Springs. While we didn’t mind the premise (you serve yourself and they add a tip on for the waiter who brings your drink), the food was not a highlight. We shared an entrée from the Chinese Wok – Pork with a Peanut Sauce and Barbecue type Chicken, and it was mediocre at best. Total cost: misplaced the receipt, but it was around $30.00, which included a glass of wine and a soft drink.

Monday, November 10, 2003

Breakfast – Kona Café. I was very impressed with this place. The food and service were great. It was very busy (every place was busy – the parks were jammed!), but they sat us in just 10 minutes without a PS. I had the fruit and yogurt with granola and a bagel, and DH had eggs. I also had the coffee – yum. Total cost: Misplaced the receipt but I believe it was around $20.00 plus tip

Dinner – Café D’Antonio in Celebration. If you have a car, and like Italian, you must make a trip to this restaurant. The food and service is comparable to any Italian restaurant I’ve been to in Northern New Jersey where there’s a locally owned restaurant at about every intersection. I had the Penne Pollo which was penne tossed with tomato sauce, fennel and sautéed chicken. If you like fennel (tastes similar to anise), you’d enjoy this dish. My husband had the Lasagna Bolognese, which they baked in their wood fired oven. He raved about it. We both had a glass of wine, and we shared their homemade tartufo. We both agreed this was our favorite meal of the trip. Total cost (included salad for me and coffee): $55.00 plus tip

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

Lunch – San Angel Inn at Mexico in Epcot. DH loves the chips and salsa here, so it was a must-do for this trip. He had the Plato Mexicano, which included a quesadilla, enchilada and taco. I had the Sopa Azteca (chicken enchilada soup). Food and service were good. Total cost (includes two soft drinks): $23.33 plus tip

Dinner – Emeril’s Tchoup Chop, Royal Pacific Hotel, Universal. In a word, outstanding. From the food to the service, this place is top notch. Due to some car trouble we experienced during our trip, I had to change our reservation. The earliest they could take us was 9:30pm, but we really wanted to try this place so we took it. We arrived around 9:00pm and they were able to take us right in. The staff is very attentive, the head waiter assigned to us introduced himself (Bryan – ask for him if you go) and the others who would be helping us and they called us by name – nice touch! They folded our napkins when we got up from the table, our water glasses were refilled constantly, and they were helpful but not overbearing. Ok, I know – get to the food! I pasted the descriptions of our entrees from his website:

Grilled Double Cut Pork Chop with Ginger Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Tamarind Barbecue Glaze and Five Spiced Green Apple Chutney

Hawaiian Style Dinner Plate including Kiawe Smoked Ribs, Kalua Pork, Teriyaki Grilled Chicken, Chorizo Potato Hash and Baked Macaroni

Both were outstanding. For dessert we had the best Banana Cream Pie I’ve ever tasted. Here’s the description:

Emeril's Banana Cream Pie with Banana Crust, Caramel Sauce, and Chocolate Shavings

Again, this is worth a trip to Universal just to experience the food and service. Another example of the outstanding service – Bryan sent us a postcard today to thanking us for dining at Tchoup Chop and for the kind words we said to the manager about his service. Total cost (including one Mai Tai, one soft drink and two coffees): $77.21 plus tip

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Lunch – Pecos Bill at MK. DH likes a good hamburger and I enjoyed the Kit Carson Chicken Salad the last time we were here, so we stopped for lunch. The place was crowded (as I mentioned before, I couldn’t believe the crowds!), but we ordered quickly and had our lunch. The salad was very fresh. Total cost (including a large soft drink): $15.31

Dinner – Food and Wine Festival, Epcot. While this was one of the main reasons we planned our trip for this time of year, I was not as impressed as I thought I would be. The prices for the samplings were pretty steep for what you got, in my opinion. I don’t mind paying for a good meal (you can see from some of our meal bills!), but $3.00 for a small piece of Sicilian pizza is a bit high. We did have a good time sampling around the world, partaking in some good food and wine, but I lost track of what we spent. Standouts included the Cheddar Cheese Soup at Canada’s stand, the Rice Cream at Scandinavia, the Bunratty Meade Honey Wine and the O’Mara Irish Cream at Ireland, the Tenderloin with Barbecue sauce at Australia, the Sangria at Spain, and the Hummus at Morocco.

Thursday, November 13, 2003

Lunch – Backlot Express at Disney/MGM Studios. DH had a hot dog and the carrot sticks instead of fries. I had the turkey and cheese sandwich with arugala and roasted red peppers. I was pretty impressed with this sandwich – it came on a great seven grain-type bread. Total cost (including a large soft drink): $15.31

Dinner – Big River at Boardwalk. I had not read too many good reviews of this place, but we wanted to give the beer a try. They do not take PS, but we walked right in. The outside was packed, but inside there were many tables available, and we sat right at the window. We had their beer sampler, which included the five kinds currently on tap. We both liked the Rocket Red. For dinner, DH had the Half Slab of Ribs, which he said were excellent. I had the special of the day which was a pork chop glazed with a sauce made from the Rocket Red, over garlic mashed potatoes and spinach sautéed in the Rocket Red. It was very good, comparable to the pork chop I had at Emeril’s in taste and quality. I should mention the service here was also great. We skipped dessert because we were headed to Downtown Disney for Ghiradelli’s!! Total cost: $40.36 plus tip

Friday, November 14, 2003

Lunch - Pinocchios at MK. DH had the Turkey Sandwich with chips, and I had the Garden Salad with mixed greens, peaches, walnuts, blue cheese and vinaigrette. It was very good for a fast food salad. Total cost (including a large soft drink): $15.10

Dinner – Alfredo’s in Italy at Epcot. After partaking in a few more wine samples from the Food and Wine Festival, we headed to Alfredo’s. The place was packed, but we waited only 10 minutes after our PS to be seated. I had the house salad and the Risotto dello Chef, which is their daily Risotto special. It was Risotto with lemon and saffron, and was very good. DH had the Lasagnette, which is their version of lasagna. He also enjoyed his. For dessert, we shared their dessert sampler, which included profiteroles, mini canoli, tiramisu, and chocolate cappuccino cake – YUMMY!!!. We both had coffee and a glass of their sangria. Total cost: $49.13 plus tip

Any questions, please ask! And thanks for reading!

imported_PolyGirl40
11-18-2003, 07:33 AM
I've enjoyed your dining reviews in the past .. and this did not disappoint. Your dining experiences sound wonderful.

How did you go about making reservations for Emeril's? We'll be "doing" Universal next month and currently have no plans on a dinner location. Emeril's sounds great.

Thanks for sharing. Although I'm now craving the yogurt and granola breakfast from the Kona. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

JanetMegan
11-18-2003, 09:17 AM
Thanks so much for doing this! I LOVE it when people write food reports. I am a total foodie and eating out is always one of the highlights of my trip! Thanks again, enjoyed it and I love that you put totals including drinks and things. Really gives you a good idea of what a decent meal costs with the extras!

DisneyorBust
11-18-2003, 09:19 AM
DisneyorBust Dad here,
Thanks for the reviews! My family and I will be trying a couple of the restaurants that you reviewed. I expect that we will have good meals too! graemlins/mickey.gif graemlins/thumbsup.gif

MauiMouse
11-18-2003, 09:24 AM
Looks like you had some excellent and tasty meals. graemlins/tasty.gif I've enjoyed reading your reviews and have some good ideas for my next trip. Thanks for taking the time to post. graemlins/mickey.gif

Disneywarrior
11-18-2003, 09:35 AM
I love reading about dining experiences! Thanks for the report!

Septbride2002
11-18-2003, 10:03 AM
Well now I'm hungry! :eek: Everything sounds delicious thanks for the reviews!

~Amanda

CrknJac
11-18-2003, 10:24 AM
Thanks for the reviews! Emeril's sounds great. We will definalty try it on our next trip.

Jeff
11-18-2003, 10:52 AM
Thanks for the reviews!

xipetotec
11-18-2003, 10:56 AM
You mentioned the beer sampler at Big River Grille. What were the other beers in the sampler do you remember? I'm a homebrewer AND beer enthusiast, and I can't wait to try Disney's only BrewPub smile.gif , Stouts, Porters, Ales/Lagers, Bocks, DoppelBocks, Barleywines, Weizens, Dunkels, Pale Ales, Bitters ... You name it! I like it !

Also, Thanks for the great Mexican Pavillion review, this is one we can't wait to go to!

WDWCP Spring99
11-18-2003, 11:06 AM
Thanks for the report...Now I'm really hungry!!

MnDloveDisney
11-18-2003, 08:51 PM
Originally posted by PolyGirl40:
[QB]
How did you go about making reservations for Emeril's? We'll be "doing" Universal next month and currently have no plans on a dinner location. Emeril's sounds great.

Carol, I made our original reservation by going to Emeril's website. If you click on restaurants, you'll be able to see a list of all his restaurants. There is a link for online reservations, which is made through Open Table. I had to cancel this reservation because of the beforementioned car trouble, so I made the other reservation by phone. The number is 407-503-2467.

If you make the reservation online, they expect you to call and confirm by phone by 3pm on the day of your reservation. I only know this because when we returned home, there was a message on our answering machine advising us of this policy. It's not listed anywhere on the website. They said they would release the reservation if we did not call. I may email them to say they need to make guests aware of this through the online reservation site.

Any other questions, let me know. If I was not allowed to post the phone number, I apologize. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did if you get a chance to go! smile.gif

MnDloveDisney
11-18-2003, 09:16 PM
Originally posted by xipetotec:
[QB] You mentioned the beer sampler at Big River Grille. What were the other beers in the sampler do you remember? I meant to take the sheet they gave us with the explanation of each of the beers in the sampler, but of course I walked out without it. But we do remember the names at least. The sampler consisted of the five beers they currently had on tap:

Rocket Red Ale -- this seems to be their signature beer, an amber color. Very good in my opinion. I believe they had a sign up that it had recently won an award.

Tile Pale Ale -- typical APA -- very bitter. DH drank most of this one.

Southern Flyer Light Lager -- similiar to most domestic light beers -- very, very light in color.

Gadzooks Pilsner -- typical German style Pilsner - also light in color.

Sweet Magnolia Brown Ale -- darker in color. This one was very good. Hint of chocolate. We really enjoyed this one.

Hope this helps! Enjoy. We were very happy with the food and service, even though we hadn't seen many great reviews of the place. I'd go again without hesitation.

BrerMama
11-18-2003, 10:19 PM
Sounds yummy! Thanks so much for writing this up! I'd like to try San Angel Inn this trip. I love spicy food, onions and peppers give my dh an upset stomach. He does OK with fajita meat or straight tacos. Would he be able to find something there he can eat?

ccchild
11-18-2003, 10:40 PM
It sounds like you had a wonderful trip! As a childless, Disney-lovin' adult, I love hearing about couples and their experiences. Not a character meal in sight!

One thing shocked me, though: You paid $30 for a SINGLE entree and one glass of wine at Maya Grill?! Wow. :eek:

MnDloveDisney
11-18-2003, 11:19 PM
Originally posted by BrerMama:
Sounds yummy! Thanks so much for writing this up! I'd like to try San Angel Inn this trip. I love spicy food, onions and peppers give my dh an upset stomach. He does OK with fajita meat or straight tacos. Would he be able to find something there he can eat? I do believe they an entree at lunch that was just tacos and they also had a Mexican salad with grilled chicken. I think he'd be able to find something, and you can always ask if something can be prepared to your liking, such as removing a certain sauce, etc.

MnDloveDisney
11-18-2003, 11:23 PM
Originally posted by ccchild:

One thing shocked me, though: You paid $30 for a SINGLE entree and one glass of wine at Maya Grill?! Wow. :eek: It was actually Pepper Market, and we thought it was pretty expensive for the type of place it was too. I lost my receipt, but you jogged my memory about why it was so much. We had a sampler entree (2 choices from the Wok) that was $15, and DH had corn and potato soup for about $6, one glass of wine $4.50, and one soft drink. It's a neat place, but I wouldn't rush back there.

MuppetVision Fansu
11-19-2003, 09:12 AM
I second your review of Tchoup Tchop. I was there in March, not too many weeks after it opened, and it was an excellent dining experience. The food was great, the atmosphere beautiful and the service is top notch!

[ November 19, 2003, 09:14 AM: Message edited by: MuppetVision Fansu ]

loadingband
11-19-2003, 01:58 PM
I haven't tried some of these places yet! Thanks for the reviews, maybe we'll try out a few in spring!

Trevor

[ November 19, 2003, 01:59 PM: Message edited by: loadingband ]