Kouzzina dining review

[musicteacher]

We ate at Cat Cora’s Kouzzina restaurant on the Boardwalk on Tuesday evening, January 24, 2011. We did have ADRs for Wednesday evening but I had to make some last minute changes in the schedule and was able to get in for 6:40 on Tuesday. It was raining heavily that night and we went early, hoping to get a table sooner, so we arrived around 5:45 and were seated within 10 minutes.

The atmosphere is wonderful and the staff is very attentive. We had a waitress from Brazil who had worked there for about 5 years (when it was Spoodles). One of her first comments was how lucky we were to be there on an evening when Cat herself was in residence, and she motioned in another direction, where we saw Cat Cora making the rounds of tables. Within minutes she was at our table, chatting very graciously and our waitress was only too happy to take our picture with her on my camera.

We were on the dining plan, so everyone in our family of 4 chose something from the tempting list of entrees: husband and son had the Fisherman’s Stew, I had the Greek-style Lasagna, and my daughter had the Slow-cooked Lamb Shank. While we waited for our entrees to arrive, we ordered a Calamari appetizer with delicious dips. We also tried 2 different olive oils with bread. I tried very hard not to fill up on this before our food came!

We were all thrilled with our choices and the lamb-shank was WAY too much food for DD, age 13. After our meal, we were all stuffed, and entertained the thought of skipping dessert but finally gave in. The kids ordered Baklava, DH had the Loukoumades and I had Coffee Crème Brulee with a biscotti. Everything was delicious.

We were at our table about an hour and then moved to the lobby where Cat was talking with guests. My husband bought a cookbook and had Cat sign it for him.

We really enjoyed this restaurant and of all the restaurants we experienced during the week, my husband ranked this #1.

Betsy

[SBETigg]

I've been to Kouzzina twice now and loved it both times-- but have not seen Cat Cora. Lucky you! Thanks for the review.

[ElenitaB]

How cool that Cat Cora was there... and that she was nice!

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

That's awesome. Thanks for the review

[Melanie]

Great review! How cool you got to meet Cat. I think we will try and eat here very soon.

[UCJen]

I'm jealous. I love Cat.

We ate at Kouzzina last August and loved it so much, we tried to get reservations for another day later in the week. Alas, this was during free dining, so it was totally booked.

We walked away stuffed, too. My husband got the pastitsio and ate the WHOLE THING. Can you imagine that?

[Mickey'sGirl]

Fabulous! Kouzzina is one of our family favourites for sure. My DS12 would have died to meet Cat (he's our foodie). We have eaten dinner there several times, and have ALWAYS enjoyed our meals.

Thanks for your review!

[MOJoe]

Unscheduled Character Dining with Cat. Wow!

You are very lucky. Thanks for sharing this story.

[Basket Mommy]

We used a gift certificate to eat there on our trip in September. It was so worth it. We would be happy to pay OOP for Kouzzina. That was our first time there, but we will definitely be back!

[Tigerinvestigator]

Great review thanks. We really enjoyed our breakfast there last year and are looking forward to eating there again this year!

[lovin'fl]

How were the portion sizes? My inlaws were at WDW last week and said they thought the portions at all of the non-buffet places were way smaller than before. They said they got a meat with a tiny drizzle of vege around the meat. They walked out of the restaurants hungry.

[Trev&Ev Mom]

Great review...thank you!! We have a reservation there in March and haven't heard a bad thing about it...we are very excited and can't wait to try it!

[Jared]

I love Kouzzina and look forward to visiting for the first time since its refurbishment. Some of the new menu items look wonderful!

Thanks for the review.

[musicteacher]

In reply to the question on portion sizes, this was the first time we ate in many of the table-service restaurants. I think we left every restaurant full, and a few times, got our dessert to-go because we were so full.

I couldn't finish my Greek Lasagna at Kouzinna and my daughter didn't come close to finishing the lamb. DH and DS did finish their Fisherman's Stew but were full.

The portions may be smaller than they were previously, but we were happy! The only place we weren't thrilled with was Whispering Canyon Cafe. I got the Skillet, which was lots of food but just average food. The other 3 in my party got the steak and thought it was a little tough, but then my husband owns a smoker and BBQ business and it's tough to beat his own.

Betsy

[Basket Mommy]

How were the portion sizes? My inlaws were at WDW last week and said they thought the portions at all of the non-buffet places were way smaller than before. They said they got a meat with a tiny drizzle of vege around the meat. They walked out of the restaurants hungry.

I think the portions at Kouzzina are very generous. I did find the portions at Sci Fi very small in comparison to a lot of the other TS restaurants we dined in during our Sept 2010 trip.

[Jared]

How were the portion sizes? My inlaws were at WDW last week and said they thought the portions at all of the non-buffet places were way smaller than before. They said they got a meat with a tiny drizzle of vege around the meat. They walked out of the restaurants hungry.

I definitely didn't share their experience. My family ordered the whole fish, the fisherman's stew and the cinnamon chicken and had more than enough food. Maybe your in-laws ordered a particularly small dish!

[ElenitaB]

Last time we were at Kouzzina, I ordered several side dishes instead of one main entree. Even the side dishes were too big to eat in one sitting (at least for me). I got two additional meals back at our villa from the combined dishes.

BTW, the whole fish there is amazing!

[dtootsie42]

Thanks for such a terrific review. On our last trip we ate at Kouzzinas and loved it! It was nice to hear that your experience was as terrific as ours.

[johnO]

Ate there not long after it opened. Good food.

[PlutoPlanet]

Excellent review. We eat at Kouzzina every time we go to Disney now. Spoodles was fine, but Kouzzina is even better.