ANOTHER 21 days in WDW+DXDDP=hundreds of food pics (COMPLETED 3/2!)

[iluvpluto27]

Today we were having a bit of a chill out day at DTD, so decided to try something different for breakfast. I'd read good things about WPE breakfast, so we headed across to the MarketPlace around 9ish, when it started serving.

I expected it to be empty, but there was actually quite a few tables occupied when we arrived at 9:10am.

We placed our order with the helpful cm who explained exactly what we could get with the ddp ( with each credit you could get an entree, two drinks, or 1 drink and a fruit cup), found a table, and our food was brought out within 15 minutes.

I chose the Crispy Cornflake french toast. This was a huge portion, 3 pieces of soft french toast, coated in tons of cornflakes, topped with strawberries and banana. I found it to be tasty but a little dry, and it really needed to maple syrup it was served with, to add both moisture and sweetness. There was no way I could have finished it, so DH ate one piece for me.

DH chose the Spinach, Mushroom and Cheese omlette, with mozzarella and fontina cheese. This was very good, light and fluffy omlette, plenty of cheese and mushroom filling. It was served with garlic roast potatoes which were excellent, perfectly cooked, crispy outside and just enough garlic to flavour them, but not too overpowering.

We both really enjoyed our breakfast here. There was a good selection, the food was good quality and much better than the normal disney hotel food courts.

 

[iluvpluto27]

After spending the morning shopping and playing in DisneyQuest, we had a 1pm lunch reservation at Wolfgang Pucks Cafe. This place seems to get really mixed reviews, but we've always enjoyed our meals here.

We arrived early, and were seated straight away. They didn't even check we had a reservation so I assume they were taking walk ins. We were sat at a nice window table at the very back of restaurant, from which we had a nice view of Saratoga Springs.

Our server was good here. Very enthusiastic and friendly, knew the menu and it was the first time I've ever been offered the full sushi menu when dining here.

We were firstly given a bread basket with two types of bread. A garlic foccaia which was soft and tasty and a parmesan crispy flatbread, which was very hard but had a good cheese flavour.

To start I chose the vegetable spring rolls with plum and Japanese mustard dipping sauces. These were good, crispy pastry filled with plenty of crunchy vegetables. By themselves they were a little bland, but the dipping sauces livened them up.

DH chose the butternut squash soup. This was really good, very thick, creamy, good butternut squash flavour and very sweet. The red pepper sauce swirled on top was a good addition, as it helped cut through the sweetness and balance the dish. Overall a very good soup.

For my entree I decided to go with one of the sushi platters. This consisted of eight pieces of california roll (good, rice very tasty, avocado and cucumber ripe, but the crab was imitation crab, and I was kind of thinking it would be real crab) and a selection of Nigri. The tuna was good, nice and fresh, the salmon was very tasty, the prawn was ok (I'm not a huge prawn fan), and some sort of white fish which was good. It was supposed to be served with miso soup, but this was brought out and given to DH for some reason, well before even our appetisers arrived.

DH chose the three cheese ravioli. He really enjoyed this, it was a big portion but he finished the lot. The pasta was fresh, thick and cooked perfectly, plenty of cheese filling, topped with a tasty tomato (tasted liked sundried tomato) sauce. Very nice dish.

For dessert I had the Carrot Cake. This was a huge slice of cake but it was very good, soft tasty carrot cake and plenty of delicious cream cheese frosting. I really enjoyed this dessert.

DH had the Key Lime Pie which he also enjoyed. A Buttery biscuit base, lime flavoured thick custard style filling, topped with light meringue. It wasn't too tart, but not incredibly sweet either so a nice well balanced dessert.

Overall we had a very enjoyable meal here. The food was very good, service was good and the menu was much more extensive than at a Disney owned restaurant. It's still on our must do list.

Coming up next- California Grill

 

[dizneeat]

It's nice to read that you had such a nice experience at WPC! We went there too and our experience was just so-so!
But your sushi looks devine and that cheese ravioli is just up my street. We are going to give it another try next summer so I hope for a similar experience than you had!

 

[Miffy2003]

Great review of WPC - I often read awful reviews of it, but we've only had good food and service here. I've never tried the sushi as something else always calls my name but it looks amazing.

 

[iluvpluto27]

It's nice to read that you had such a nice experience at WPC! We went there too and our experience was just so-so!
But your sushi looks devine and that cheese ravioli is just up my street. We are going to give it another try next summer so I hope for a similar experience than you had!

We've always had good meals at WPC but read so many bad or just ok reviews, I don't know if we've just always had good luck there or what. I really hope you have a good meal on your next visit.

Great review of WPC - I often read awful reviews of it, but we've only had good food and service here. I've never tried the sushi as something else always calls my name but it looks amazing.

Thanks. Same here, we've always enjoyed our meals there. The sushi was pretty good, nice and fresh and plenty of it.

 

[podsnel]

The white sushi looks like yellowtail I think. You've made me hungry for some! Guess I'll have take-out tonight!!

 

[chell]

So glad to have found your reviews for this year! Loved reading last years. These do not disappoint!!!

 

[Linda67]

Wow - we now have WPC on our hit list

 

[AlohaPolynesian]

Your Wolfgang Puck food looks awesome!!

 

[iluvpluto27]

The white sushi looks like yellowtail I think. You've made me hungry for some! Guess I'll have take-out tonight!!

Yes, I'm pretty sure it was Yellowtail now that you've said it. Hope you enjoyed your take out!

So glad to have found your reviews for this year! Loved reading last years. These do not disappoint!!!

Thank you very much.

Wow - we now have WPC on our hit list

I really hope you enjoy it, we've always had good meals there.

Your Wolfgang Puck food looks awesome!!

It was really good, definitely one of my favourite 1TS credit restaurants.

 

[iluvpluto27]

Firstly I must apologise for taking so long to update this review. I've just been really busy with work, and then christmas it kind of slipped my mind. However I am determined to finish it within the next month.

California Grill is one of mine and DH's favourite restaurants and we visit every trip. I'm not keen on the loud atmosphere however so I booked a 9pm dining reservation on a night Wishes was shown at 8, thinking the place would be starting to quieten down.

We checked in around 8:40 and waited at a vacant table in the lounge, before being sat at 9. Our server was very good here, he was friendly, never left us feeling unattended, kept our water topped up and was very knowledgeable about the wine list.

He brought us a couple of different bottles of wine to try, and we settled on a bottle of Conundrum, which I'd never heard of before but was an excellent white wine.

I wasn't too hungry after our big lunch at Wolfgangs so wanted a light appetiser. I chose the Heirloom tomato salad which was excellent. The tomatoes were very fresh and perfectly ripe, the soft buffalo mozerella was tasty, and complimented well by the balsamic dressing and red onions. A very nice appetiser.

DH of course chose the cheese board, which he said was the best one he'd tried so far. It consisted of a varied selection of five cheeses, the Tortar de Casa cheese was very good and the Bijou Goats milk cheese was fantastic. There was a good range of accompaniments including honey, dates, candied nuts and apricot/mango jam.

For my entree I chose the signature dish of Grilled Pork Tenderloin with goat cheese polenta, button mushrooms and zinfandel glaze. This was absolutely sublime, the pork was served medium rare as recommended by the chef, and was so soft, tender and packed with flavour. The polenta was tasty, but could have used a little more goats cheese, and the mushrooms were very good. All the flavours of this dish just worked so well together it was hard to stop eating it even though I was full, definitely one of my favourite entrees of the trip.

The vegetarian option was Hand-cut Whole Wheat Linguine with Summer Squash, Eggplant, Broccoli Raab, Goat Cheese, Tomato Ragu. DH said this dish was really tasty, the goats cheese was actually stuffed inside peppers, cooked in a tempura batter which was unusual, but worked very well. He enjoyed this pasta dish more than the pasta he had for lunch at Wolfgangs.

We were both full by the time it came to dessert, so decided to share the Trio of Temptation, which was the no sugar added option but sounded delicious on the menu. It consisted of a Mojito Sabyon which was delicious and really tasted like a mojito, a cheesecake which was good and a chocolate mousse with passion fruit coulis which was also very nice. A very nice dessert.

Overall we both really enjoyed our meal here, the food was excellent as was the service, and the view over the Magic Kingdom is very nice. The only criticism is that it's just so loud in there, it was after ten before it really quietened down, and the atmosphere when it's calm is just so much more conducive to fine dining.

 

[iluvpluto27]

Today we were supposed to be going to Epcot and having lunch at Tokyo Dining. Unfortunately my ankle really started to hurt while walking around DTD the previous day, and it swelled up quite badly. I'd managed to get to Cali Grill the previous night, but there was no way I'd make it round Epcot today, so we decided to have a relaxing day by the pool.

DH went to Artist Pallate for breakfast and brought us back Cherry Danishes. These were good, flaky pastry, sweet filling and tart cherries, a nice breakfast pastry. He was also able to get another Tokyo Dining reservation for two days time, which I was happy about as I really like that restaurant.

My ankle felt a little better after a morning keeping it elevated by pool, but I didn't really want to chance walking far so DH went to Wolfgang Pucks to get take out.

I chose Spaghetti and meatballs, which was served with foccaia bread and a side salad. This was huge portion, and was still hot when he got back to the room. The pasta was well cooked and the meatballs tasty, the tomato sauce was tangy and flavourful.

DH chose the Four Cheese Pesto Pizza. This was a really good pizza, a thin crispy base, the goats cheese was fresh and combined well with the pesto flavour and sliced tomatoes.

He got us cookies for dessert which seemed soft and fresh, but I'm not sure they ever got eaten. WPE is excellent value and remains our favourite CS restaurant.

DH also popped into Goofys candy co to use up some snack credits. DH got a German Cookie which I'd never heard of before but was absolutely delicious, it was a chocolate and nut cookie, topped with some sort of caramel icing and coconut.

He got me a peanut butter cookie which was also very good (although not quite as nice as his), soft cookie with huge chunks of chocolate and peanut butter inside.

He also got some peanut butter fudge which we both nibbled on for the next couple of days, very sweet, smooth fudge with a good, strong peanut butter flavour to it. Even after picking up these treats we still had 26 snack credits left and only four days to use them!

Coming up next The Turf Club.

 

[2manypets]

Woo Hoo another installment! Those dishes from Cali Grille look so good, can't wait to eat here again. I've also got to make a mental not to go to Goofy's at DTD. In all the times we've been to Disney, we've never been. That PB fudge sounds perfect for me and the german chocolate cookie looks really good too!

 

[podsnel]

YAY!!! So glad you and your food porn are back!! CG looked wonderful- I really need to go there next fall again with DH. Yummmmmm.....

 

[logansmummy]

This Dining Review Report is the best that I have ever read! I am so hungry! DH and I have been watching our weight we started in Nov...I have dropped 25lbs or so in the past year and by the looks of the yummy food, I will be gaining it all back this coming trip! Thanks so much, keep the yummy goodness coming.....cant wait to read/see more.

 

[hill6]

Great review. Love to read about food. Yum Yum. We did Deluxe Dining last year and we had some trouble with the snack credits too. But the warm weather we had helped a bit since we bought lots of drinks/ice cream with them.

 

[cbg1027]

So glad you posted more! I was beginning to think you'd forgotten to finish the review!

Cali Grill is one my favorites too. That tomato salad looks divine! And I would love to try that linguine your DH had.

The pizza from WPE really made my mouth water, along with the German cookie from Goofy's! Great use of a snack credit.

 

[Momof2princess]

What a wonderful report

I am drooling over all these food pics. It's deff. helping me plan for our next trip.

Can't wait to read more!!
Brandy

 

[iluvpluto27]

Woo Hoo another installment! Those dishes from Cali Grille look so good, can't wait to eat here again. I've also got to make a mental not to go to Goofy's at DTD. In all the times we've been to Disney, we've never been. That PB fudge sounds perfect for me and the german chocolate cookie looks really good too!

California Grill is fantastic, I hope you enjoy your meal there. And definitely visit Goofys, they have so many great treats there.

YAY!!! So glad you and your food porn are back!! CG looked wonderful- I really need to go there next fall again with DH. Yummmmmm.....

Thank you very much.

This Dining Review Report is the best that I have ever read! I am so hungry! DH and I have been watching our weight we started in Nov...I have dropped 25lbs or so in the past year and by the looks of the yummy food, I will be gaining it all back this coming trip! Thanks so much, keep the yummy goodness coming.....cant wait to read/see more.

Thank you so much. Congratulations on the weight loss, I'm sure you won't gain too much on your trip. I think I gained 7lbs, but I was there for 3 weeks, and I ate way too much!

Great review. Love to read about food. Yum Yum. We did Deluxe Dining last year and we had some trouble with the snack credits too. But the warm weather we had helped a bit since we bought lots of drinks/ice cream with them.

Thank you very much. We loved the dxddp but we really struggled spending the snack credits this time round, we just weren't hungry between meals and used most of them for water and breakfast.

So glad you posted more! I was beginning to think you'd forgotten to finish the review!

Cali Grill is one my favorites too. That tomato salad looks divine! And I would love to try that linguine your DH had.

The pizza from WPE really made my mouth water, along with the German cookie from Goofy's! Great use of a snack credit.

Thank you. Cali Grill was fantastic, the salad was really good and DH definitely enjoyed the pasta.

What a wonderful report

I am drooling over all these food pics. It's deff. helping me plan for our next trip.

Can't wait to read more!!
Brandy

Thank you very much. Next installment coming right up!

 

[iluvpluto27]

Tonight we had a 7:40 reservation at the Turf Club, which was lucky as my ankle was still hurting, so at least I didn't have to walk to far.

We'd never tried this restaurant before, but as it gets good review and we were staying at SSR we thought it would be the perfect time to give it a try. Due to it's location, and the fact it doesn't seem a particularly popular restaurant I thought it would be pretty quiet.

We arrived at the adjacent lounge at 7:20 and the place was packed, with tons of people waiting with pagers. We got a drink then decided to check in as I thought we may be in for a long wait.

I chose a Raspberry Rain which was grape hibiscus vodka, chambord, raspberries, lemon juice and soda water. It was very good, not sweet, and you could taste the vodka.

We were buzzed pretty much as soon as we checked in, which was surprising given the amount of couples waiting. I think we were actually called by mistake, as about 20 minutes into our meal, a man with a table planner type tablet, came and asked us or names, then the couple who were sitting next to us in the lounge were sat 45 minutes after us.

We were sat outside which was fine as it was a cool night, and it was pretty quiet on the patio. Our server was good, he was friendly, never kept us waiting and paced the meal well.

DH ordered a coke and I ordered a glass of Sangria. Again this was good sangria, plenty of fruit flavour but you could also still taste the red wine.

We were served a large loaf of bread and salted butter to start. This was nice, but there was too much for just the two of us.

To start I chose the crab cakes, served with mango salsa and chipotle mayonnaise. These were alright, but tasted like standard processed crabcakes, and had quite a lot of filler in them. The mango salsa was good and complimented the crab well, but I would have liked a bit more of it.

DH chose the Onion Rings, served with honey mustard and red pepper dip. He really enjoyed these, they were well cooked with a good crispy batter and served piping hot. The honey mustard dip was his favourite. It was a big portion for an app but he managed to finish them.

For my entree I had the Roasted Chicken Breast served with Shiitake Mushroom Risotto, and sweet-and-sour cherry glaze. I don't often pick chicken entrees, but I love mushroom risotto and the cherry glaze sounded intriguing. The chicken was very well cooked, retaining it's moisture and flavour. I enjoyed the cherries and the sauce, and felt it complimented the chicken well. The risotto was by far the weakest part of the dish, it was very starchy and had no strong mushroom flavour, no where a near as good as Le Celliers mushroom ristto. If the risotto had been as good as the chicken and sauce this would have been an excellent dish.

The vegetarian option was Linguine with Asparagus, garlic, white wine, parmesan, fresh herbs and cream. This is meant to be served with shrimp, but they can be omitted to make it a veggie entree. The pasta was well cooked, as was the asparagus, but the cream sauce was very bland and he felt the dish probably needed the shrimp to add a bit of flavour. Overall an ok dish.

I was feeling full at this point so decided to get dessert to go. I had the apple pie which was just ok. The pastry was very thick, the apple filling was fine and the crispy sugar topping was nice. It was fine but very similar to the apple crisp that I had a couple of years ago at Columbia Harbour House, and I think I was expecting more of a slice of apple pie, with big chunks of apple inside.

DH chose the Espresso chocolate torte which he said was good. The torte was very rich and creamy, with a chocolatey topping. There was coffee flavouring but it wasn't overly strong.

Both desserts were served with icecream which they kindly packaged up for us as well.

Overall we thought this restaurant was nice. The food was fine and service was good. If I was staying at SSR again I'd definitely eat there, but if not I wouldn't go out of my way for a meal here.