10 days of dining with pictures and reviews!

[DLFan123]

This will be our first dining review. Bear with me as I learn to navigate posting pictures and hopefully adding useful links.

We spent 10 nights in WDW in April and managed to photograph lots of yummy food! Disclaimer: most food pics were taken after a few bites had been taken. We just got so excited by the tasty treats we were about to consume!

About me and DP: 33 and 34, both mostly vegetarian but we eat almost all seafood. We are accustomed to sharing items and aren't the biggest of eaters. Originally we had thought we'd purchase the deluxe dining plan only so all would be paid for in advance, thinking this way we'd always order exactly what we wanted regardless of price. Instead we realized this would be WAY TOO MUCH FOOD for us, so we chose to go a la carte, and I made a rule: order whatever we wanted whenever we wanted and pay no attention to price. We added it all up, and choosing not to use the dining plan actually saved us hundreds of dollars. There would have been no way we could have eaten all the food on the deluxe dining plan, and I absolutely hate wasting food. We are so pleased to know we made the right choice by skipping the dining plan.

Coming up, the first review...Port Orleans Riverside Food Court

Riverside Mill Dinner
Tusker House Breakfast
Animal Kingdom Snack http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45807264
Sanaa Dinner http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45812351
Riverside Mill Breakfast http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45814059
Fulton's Lunch http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45814246
Ghirardelli Soda Fountain Snack http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45814348
Riverside Mill Dinner http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45814414
Beach Club Marketplace Breakfast http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45823346
Starring Rolls Lunch http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45824457
Hollywood Studios Snacks http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45824457
Tangierine Cafe Dinner http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45824706
Wishes Dessert Party http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45824706
Snack and Sunshine Seasons Lunch http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45825109
La Hacienda Dinner http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45825736
Columbia Harbour House Lunch and MK Snacks http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45828604
Pinocchio's Village Haus Dinner http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45836157
Kouzzina Breakfast http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45836315
San Angel Inn Dinner and Morocco Slushie http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45836423
Pastries from Boulangerie Patisserie http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45836668
School Bread and Rose and Crown Lunch http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45836704
Epcot Snack and Beach Club Marketplace Dinner http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45836941
Tony's Town Square Lunch and LTT Snack/Dessert http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45837054
Kona Cafe Dinner http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45846816
Les Chefs de France Lunch
Cape May Clambake
Departure Day Last Bites

[DLFan123]

This was our arrival night. It was nearly midnight by the time we checked in. We were both hungry but also knew our options would be limited so late. We were pleasantly surprised that the Riverside Mill food court was still open, and that most windows were still functioning. The Mill features lots of choices, but most are not vegetarian. Being food court type fare, seafood options were somewhat limited also. I was asking questions about the soup, and I had my first opportunity to speak with a "chef." She was very nice, but informed me that pretty much every food item anywhere at WDW is not vegetarian, unless it is titled as such. She suggested the create your own salad window for us. Don't get me wrong, we like salad, but not all vegetarians want to eat salad all day long every day. After travelling all day long, I was in the mood for something warm. We decided to use the create your own pasta bar. Unfortunately, the first pasta we were presented with was full of chicken, even though the person who made it was aware of all my talks with the "chef" about the fact that we don't eat meat. It wasn't a big deal; I returned the pasta and the made my order correctly the second time, right after tossing the first pasta dish into the trash (did I mention I hate wasting food?) Here is a picture of our order made correctly:

A yummy treat of create your own pasta made with the cream sauce, shrimp, mushrooms, penne pasta, peas and onions, with parmesan cheese on top. This was very good pasta, especially to have come from a quick walk-up window type place. The garlic bread on the side was exceptionally old and I could barely bite into it.

We shared this as well as some fresh veggies and dip:


The veggies and dip were fine. We chose to eat in our room and loved sitting at our little New Orleans style table.

Overall, we enjoyed this very much and wouldn't mind eating the create your own pasta again.

Overall impression of the Riverside Mill is that the food was very satisfying, very affordable. One complaint is that they need to refrain from putting some version of pork product in every soup they offer.

[butiflfeet]

Nice start! Its too bad that your first pasta dish was made incorrectly but it looks like the final product was tasty

[H20DogsNDisney]

great start the pasta dish looks yummy

[CanadianPaco]

Great start! Those noodles look awesome! Can't wait

[GoofySon'sMom]

I have never had much success with the make your own pasta, it is always mushy for me. Yours does look really good though. May reconsider trying it again at some point.

Looking forward to the rest of your reviews!

[doitforlove]

The pasta at riverside always looks yummy! Looking forward to the rest of your reviews

[andigomeep]

Looking forward to this! We're vegetarian and my DH occasionally eats seafood on vacation, so this will be helpful for our upcoming trip.

[DLFan123]

The next morning, we were up early for our ADR at AK's Tusker House character breakfast. We made the ADR for one hour prior to park opening so we could still be finished in time for RD.

When we arrived, we were photographed with Donald and seated promptly at a little two-top crammed in between a couple of very large tables. Not the best seat in the house, but it would do. Our waitress never came to offer coffee and the signature juice they serve at this restaurant, so we made a quick pass at the buffet.

Here are our plates:


Banana bread pudding with vanilla sauce, cheese blintz with cherries and some tots

A nice wholesome way to start the day, but all very tasty.


Donut, danish, orange cake, mealie pap (very yummy cheesy type of grits?) and watermelon-all the pastries were soft and fresh.


Sweet potatoes with coconut-a little strong on the citrus flavor for our tastes, and maybe better on a dinner buffet, but we were glad to try it.


Oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar-nothing special but good.


Scrambled eggs, potato and leak fritatta, more mealie pap (my fav!) and some potatoes. The grapes I added to enhance the nutrition of the meal.

After we filled our first places, our waitress eventually came to take our drink orders. She seemed pretty overwhelmed by the two large parties surrounding us (we were, too!). We both had coffee and their signature tropical juice, which was good. We knew we'd be too stuffed from the buffet to really enjoy the juice, so we each only had tastes of it.

We were very pleased with our meal here. The characters spent time (even though they too seemed to get overwhelmed by the two large adjacent groups), and the food was all very good and fresh. We found this buffet to have a wider variety of breakfast foods than the Cape May character buffet, and we wouldn't mind eating it again during a future trip. Unfortunately, we overindulged a bit and found it hard to race off for RD at Expedition Everest, which can be a little nauseating on such a full stomach. Lesson learned for next time!

Up next, dinner at Sanaa...we were still too full at lunch time, so we skipped that meal altogether.

[DLFan123]

Welcome to everyone who is reading along, and thanks for the encouragement! Still working on getting the photos properly sized. I hope to get it right for the coming review of Sanaa!

[DLFan123]

We were hot, tired and thirsty, so before we ventured off to catch the resort bus to Sanaa for our dinner reservation, we indulged in this nice, icy treat from a cart near Africa.



We chose blue raspberry; it was very good, just like an icy but about a dollar more. Well worth it.

[DLFan123]

After a quick and easy bus ride from AK to the AK Lodge, we were ready to check in for our ADR at Sanaa. This was the first of DP's special birthday dinners during our trip. She was most looking forward to dining here, but I was pretty excited, too. Unfortunately, our excitement got the better of us here and we began eating most items before remembering to photograph them...we are new at this, after all.

For starters, we enjoyed the appetizer sampler for two, consisting of potato and pea samosas and roasted cauliflower (subbed out the pulled duck for extra cauliflower). Here it is:

This was delicious. The samosas were my favorite part and better than we have at our favorite Indian restaurant back home. The cauliflower was served cool and had a nutmeg taste to it. It was very good, too.

Next, we shared a combination of the vegetarian sampler with stewed lentils along with spicy peas, chickpeas and potatoes and the tandoori shrimp.

I apologize for the quality of this picture. We had rearranged all the little dishes, which had originally been presented quite nicely, and we had already begun eating them! After the appetizer we were just too eager. This picture may not look appetizing, but everything was really good. The vegetarian dishes were very spicy, even for someone who tolerates a lot of spice! The rice was ok. We ordered some naan to enjoy with our meal.

This was good, but not as good as what we normally have in Denver.

No special birthday dinner would be complete without dessert. We opted for the dessert trio, which included chocolate cake, tropical fruit kulfi (reminded me of sorbet) and chai cream.


It was the perfect way to end our meal. We can't wait to return to Sanaa for another meal. Everything was impeccable, from the warm greeting we received when we arrived, to our table by the window, to the food and service. We definitely recommend this restaurant, especially for vegetarians!

[disneyfav4ever]

Always glad to read any reviews that have a lot of vegetarian items!

[DLFan123]

Originally Posted by disneyfav4ever

Always glad to read any reviews that have a lot of vegetarian items!

Thanks for joining in! There are certainly lots of vegetarian (and pescatarian) food pictures and reviews to come!

[DLFan123]

The next morning, we were up early and planning to head to DTD. We wanted a light breakfast so stopped off at Riverside Mill for a quick light bite. We had also decided to purchase a resort mug, as I wanted it for the souvenir and also thought it would be worth the price for as much diet coke as we will drink in a week.

Here is the picture of our sorry looking breakfast. The fruit was ok, and we shared a granola bar that we'd packed from home.

Next up, Fulton's Crab House in DTD!