Dining Reviews--mid-December

[cyber_steph]

I thought I'd share my dining experiences from my recent trip to WDW. The dollar amount at the end includes tip and taxes for 2 adults. Here's the run-down:

Day 1: Used Connections voucher at Beaches 'n Cream. It was fun being able to order anything. My husband and I both started with a Caesar salad. I had the veggie burger with fries and my husband had the prime rib sub. Neither were especially noteworthy. We both had Lime Rickey's for a beverage and finished off the meal with a wonderful banana split. Without the voucher, it would have been around $55 (WAY too much). The $22 we spent on the voucher was just about right for the meal we got.

Day 2: 50's Prime Time Cafe. We went here for one reason...the cheese spread appetizer. Delicious!! The lunch menu, I thought, was extremely limited. I ended up with a salad and order of fries. The food is pretty good, but it's really the atmosphere that you go for ($30).

Day 3: Tony's Town Square. This was our pre-MVMCP dinner (if I forget to do a trip report, let me for the record state that it [MVMCP] was a complete waste of money!!) and I was pretty disappointed. We started with a cheese appetizer which was rather tasteless. We split a seafood pasta that was equally as bland. I finished with a cappucino which was average. All in all I felt rushed and cheated out of $45.

Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe. I mention this because I thought it was a good, responsibly priced counter service alternative. My husband got a blast off burger and I had a veggie burger. Both were good, and we liked the topping bar ($16).

Day 4: Kona Cafe. This was a defintite highlite. I tried the wonderful Tonga Toast and my husband had an omelet. We both agreed that this was a reasonably priced breakfast. Two entrees, two coffees, and an order of juice came to $30 (with tax and tip). Best of all, we were able to linger over our food. We thought this was a reasonably priced restaurant that we'll visit again.

Day 5: Dining around EPCOT. Another highlite. Basically, we went from country to country and sampled the counter service offerings for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We split everything, so we sampled something from everywhere. We especially liked the vegetarian platter from Morocco (about $50 total for the day).

Day 6: Cinderella's Royal Table. Okay, the only reason we went here was to get inside the castle. I found the menu to be really odd. The food was good, but I really think it's overpriced and too fancy for its location ($40).

San Angel Inn. We ate at this restaurant with the Candlelight Dinner Package. We both really liked it. My husband wanted to get the most bang for his buck, so he feasted on the most expensive appetizer and entree. I had the soup Azteca and a shrimp pasta. The coffee flan I had for dessert was WONDERFUL!! Incidently, our soft drinks were included in the price. We thought it was a fairly good value, but we're not really in the habit of paying $70 for a meal, so it was a splurge.

Day 7. Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue. Frankly, I don't understand the appeal of this. I thought the food was good, but it is NOT worth the $47 it charges. We paid with AMEX and got a 20% discount, which was some consolation. I suppose I may have enjoyed it better if we weren't placed in the front row in the dead center. That just felt really uncomfortable. I don't need to be that up-close and personal!

In all, I learned from this trip that I don't need to eat at a sit down restaurant every day. I would probably choose two and maybe splurge once on Artist Point or the California Grill. I found the prices to be really high in relation to the quality.

I hope this helps in anyone's planning. Keep in mind that my husband and I both admit that we don't have very sophisticated palattes. WDW is full of great places to eat, and I think we stumbled upon a few!!

Also, you can request a print out of your ps's upon check-in. This helped out since I wrote down the wrong day for my candlelight processional dinner. [img]graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

[Jared]

Thanks for the reviews Steph. I think that it is a very good idea to post your dining experiences when you return as something separate from your trip report. I think something like this post really helps people make their dining decisions.

I'm surprised about Tony's, we had a very good experience there last trip.

[JanetMegan]

I really want to say Thanks for doing this! These help our readers sooo much! (Well that and I am a sucker for reading about food)

[G]

This post is a great idea maybe I will do one.

[Jennib]

Thanks for the dining reviews!! I like the San Angel inn also!!!

[Joanna]

[img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] Cyber_Steph, I really liked your reviews. Great job! What is a "Connections Voucher"? Isn't "Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe" a great place? I always try to eat there. The food is good and the prices reasonable... and I like Ray's show. The Rotisserie Chicken is scrumptious!

[cyber_steph]

Joanna,

The Connections vouchers are coupons for food that you can buy through a membership in the Connections program (www.Connections123.com). They're $10.50 each. They're good for an entree, side dish, desset, and drink at several counter service places in WDW. The general concensus is that they're only worth it if you use them at Beaches 'n Cream.

Hope this helps! [img]smile.gif[/img]