ghowlett
03-02-2009, 07:07 PM
We just returned from our trip (2/25 - 3/1) so I figured I'd throw out our 2 cents. We weren't on the dining plan, but we did get the Tables in Wonderland card for the 6 of us (which paid for itself after the second meal, so we definitely recommend it to FL residents.)
2/25 Dinner - Raglan Road (Downtown Disney): A. We would definitely eat here again. The atmosphere was great & so was the food. For appetizers, we split the chicken skewers & fried calamari. The fried calamari also came with tempura vegetables. The 2 in our group who had the fish & chips said they were great. I ordered the seared beef salad & it was delicious. Two of the guys ordered the "It's not bleedin' chowder" at the recommendation of our waiter who claimed it was "huge & came with more potatoes than you knew what to do with" - the portions were pretty average size & one of the dishes only had 1 slice of potato while the other had 2. They both enjoyed the dish, but it was definitely not what they expected based on the waiter's description. For dessert, they brought out bread pudding with a candle for my boyfriend's birthday. It comes in a big mug with caramel & vanilla sauces on the side. It's delicious, but very sweet & heavy. The one dessert was enough for all 6 of us.
2/26 Breakfast - Spoodles (Boardwalk): A. Everyone enjoyed this breakfast, but half of the group ordered the All-American breakfast (eggs, bacon, etc.) so that's kind of hard to mess up. My dad wanted a frittata, but didn't like any offered on the menu, so they made him one to order, which was nice. I had the waffle, which came with mascarpone cheese, honey & pecans and was so delicious - but HUGE. My boyfriend ended up eating more than half of it. We had 9:30am ADRs & this restaurant was practically empty, which was surprising.
2/26 Lunch - Cosmic Ray's (Magic Kingdom): B. We all just got burgers, hot dogs & fries. Quick, cheap & easy!
2/26 Dinner - Sci-Fi Dine-in (Disney's Hollywood Studios): B. We split the spinach & artichoke dip and onion rings for appetizers, which everyone liked. Dinner was ok - everyone compared it to Applebee's food. My boyfriend & I didn't see anything we wanted on the menu, so we were able to order the angus burger off the lunch menu. Basically average food, just go for the experience.
2/27 Breakfast - Starring Rolls Cafe (Disney's Hollywood Studios): C. This was the one morning that we didn't have ADRs, so we just kind of winged it when we got the park. It was ok - everyone just got bagels & croissants, which were all a little stale. The coffee was gross. We asked if they had actual iced coffee (meaning cold coffee, not hot coffee that they just put ice in) & they said yes - not true. My coffee was barely drinkable and the bottom of my cup was completely black with coffee grounds - I had to make sure I kept my straw in the top half of my cup. Definitely skip the coffee here. The girls working inside at the time weren't really paying attention or listening either & charged us for things we didn't even buy (we didn't notice it until we left, but it was only a few dollars, so who cares?) Also, very limited seating outside. On the positive side, we all agreed that the desserts inside looked absolutely delicious, but we didn't have any (if was breakfast time after all). But some of us were very tempted to have tiramisu for breakfast.
2/27 Dinner - Chefs de France (Epcot): B. We all ordered from the prix fixe menu & it was definitely a great deal - I think it was $35 for an appetizer, entree and dessert and you had a choice of 3 for each. Everyone chose the lobster bisque or french onion soup for the appetizer (salad was the other option) & they were both good. I don't remember what the other 2 entree options were, but 4 of us ordered the short ribs and they were delicious. For dessert, I ordered the profiterolles & they were ok. My mom & sister are huge creme brulee fans & were very disappointed with their dessert. Neither of them had more than 1 bite. My parents are both huge pinot grigio drinkers & asked our waitress for a French equivalent (I think pinot is an Italian wine, so they didn't offer it) - whatever she brought them had them both drunk by the second glass, so they were happy! I had the sparkling limonade which was basically French Sprite that came in a pretty bottle.
2/28 Breakfast - Crystal Palace (Magic Kingdom): A. Everyone loved this breakfast buffet. They do made to order omelets, which went over well with our group. Also, they do made to order Mickey shaped pancakes - none of us ordered them though. We were a group of all adults, but everyone loved the breakfast pizza & puffed french toast from the kid buffet.
2/28 Dinner - Ohana (Polynesian): D. What a disappointment. This was my birthday dinner, so we all went in kind of excited. The food was good, but not great & our waitress basically forgot about us all night. We were there for over 2 1/2 hours & were only served once (so much for all-you-care-to-eat!) and we had to wait a looong time to get anything. Then when my dad went to tell our waitress that it was my birthday, she said "Ok, I'll tell your waitress," he told her "YOU are our waitress!" and she still forgot to put the candle in the dessert. So my family sang happy birthday to me anyway with the candle-less dessert (which is definitely the yummiest part of the meal). She later apologized & brought out a cupcake with a candle, but we were all pretty much over it by that point. Watching Wishes from the restaurant was nice, especially with the coordinating music. We all understand that DIsney is obviously geared towards kids, but the activities got a little annoying as the night went on. The lady running the show had a microphone that went to speakers all throughout the restaurant very loudly so we could barely hear each other talk & it seemed like they were doing something new every 15 minutes. The coconut & broom race was very amusing to watch though. We definitely won't be going back to that one.
3/1 Breakfast - Garden Grove (Swan): B. We originally had ADRs at Boma's, but it was raining & a few of us overslept so we decided to stay at our hotel. We randomly picked Garden Grove & it turned out to be a character buffet. It's a pretty restaurant with a giant tree in the center & the characters were very funny. The characters were Pluto, Goofy & Chip & Dale. We'd definitely recommend this to anyone with kids who like those characters because they spent a lot more time on the floor and at tables than at Crystal Palace. The food was good, just a general breakfast buffet.
2/25 Dinner - Raglan Road (Downtown Disney): A. We would definitely eat here again. The atmosphere was great & so was the food. For appetizers, we split the chicken skewers & fried calamari. The fried calamari also came with tempura vegetables. The 2 in our group who had the fish & chips said they were great. I ordered the seared beef salad & it was delicious. Two of the guys ordered the "It's not bleedin' chowder" at the recommendation of our waiter who claimed it was "huge & came with more potatoes than you knew what to do with" - the portions were pretty average size & one of the dishes only had 1 slice of potato while the other had 2. They both enjoyed the dish, but it was definitely not what they expected based on the waiter's description. For dessert, they brought out bread pudding with a candle for my boyfriend's birthday. It comes in a big mug with caramel & vanilla sauces on the side. It's delicious, but very sweet & heavy. The one dessert was enough for all 6 of us.
2/26 Breakfast - Spoodles (Boardwalk): A. Everyone enjoyed this breakfast, but half of the group ordered the All-American breakfast (eggs, bacon, etc.) so that's kind of hard to mess up. My dad wanted a frittata, but didn't like any offered on the menu, so they made him one to order, which was nice. I had the waffle, which came with mascarpone cheese, honey & pecans and was so delicious - but HUGE. My boyfriend ended up eating more than half of it. We had 9:30am ADRs & this restaurant was practically empty, which was surprising.
2/26 Lunch - Cosmic Ray's (Magic Kingdom): B. We all just got burgers, hot dogs & fries. Quick, cheap & easy!
2/26 Dinner - Sci-Fi Dine-in (Disney's Hollywood Studios): B. We split the spinach & artichoke dip and onion rings for appetizers, which everyone liked. Dinner was ok - everyone compared it to Applebee's food. My boyfriend & I didn't see anything we wanted on the menu, so we were able to order the angus burger off the lunch menu. Basically average food, just go for the experience.
2/27 Breakfast - Starring Rolls Cafe (Disney's Hollywood Studios): C. This was the one morning that we didn't have ADRs, so we just kind of winged it when we got the park. It was ok - everyone just got bagels & croissants, which were all a little stale. The coffee was gross. We asked if they had actual iced coffee (meaning cold coffee, not hot coffee that they just put ice in) & they said yes - not true. My coffee was barely drinkable and the bottom of my cup was completely black with coffee grounds - I had to make sure I kept my straw in the top half of my cup. Definitely skip the coffee here. The girls working inside at the time weren't really paying attention or listening either & charged us for things we didn't even buy (we didn't notice it until we left, but it was only a few dollars, so who cares?) Also, very limited seating outside. On the positive side, we all agreed that the desserts inside looked absolutely delicious, but we didn't have any (if was breakfast time after all). But some of us were very tempted to have tiramisu for breakfast.
2/27 Dinner - Chefs de France (Epcot): B. We all ordered from the prix fixe menu & it was definitely a great deal - I think it was $35 for an appetizer, entree and dessert and you had a choice of 3 for each. Everyone chose the lobster bisque or french onion soup for the appetizer (salad was the other option) & they were both good. I don't remember what the other 2 entree options were, but 4 of us ordered the short ribs and they were delicious. For dessert, I ordered the profiterolles & they were ok. My mom & sister are huge creme brulee fans & were very disappointed with their dessert. Neither of them had more than 1 bite. My parents are both huge pinot grigio drinkers & asked our waitress for a French equivalent (I think pinot is an Italian wine, so they didn't offer it) - whatever she brought them had them both drunk by the second glass, so they were happy! I had the sparkling limonade which was basically French Sprite that came in a pretty bottle.
2/28 Breakfast - Crystal Palace (Magic Kingdom): A. Everyone loved this breakfast buffet. They do made to order omelets, which went over well with our group. Also, they do made to order Mickey shaped pancakes - none of us ordered them though. We were a group of all adults, but everyone loved the breakfast pizza & puffed french toast from the kid buffet.
2/28 Dinner - Ohana (Polynesian): D. What a disappointment. This was my birthday dinner, so we all went in kind of excited. The food was good, but not great & our waitress basically forgot about us all night. We were there for over 2 1/2 hours & were only served once (so much for all-you-care-to-eat!) and we had to wait a looong time to get anything. Then when my dad went to tell our waitress that it was my birthday, she said "Ok, I'll tell your waitress," he told her "YOU are our waitress!" and she still forgot to put the candle in the dessert. So my family sang happy birthday to me anyway with the candle-less dessert (which is definitely the yummiest part of the meal). She later apologized & brought out a cupcake with a candle, but we were all pretty much over it by that point. Watching Wishes from the restaurant was nice, especially with the coordinating music. We all understand that DIsney is obviously geared towards kids, but the activities got a little annoying as the night went on. The lady running the show had a microphone that went to speakers all throughout the restaurant very loudly so we could barely hear each other talk & it seemed like they were doing something new every 15 minutes. The coconut & broom race was very amusing to watch though. We definitely won't be going back to that one.
3/1 Breakfast - Garden Grove (Swan): B. We originally had ADRs at Boma's, but it was raining & a few of us overslept so we decided to stay at our hotel. We randomly picked Garden Grove & it turned out to be a character buffet. It's a pretty restaurant with a giant tree in the center & the characters were very funny. The characters were Pluto, Goofy & Chip & Dale. We'd definitely recommend this to anyone with kids who like those characters because they spent a lot more time on the floor and at tables than at Crystal Palace. The food was good, just a general breakfast buffet.