10 days of WDW 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 [post]45807264[/post]
Sanaa Dinner [post]45812351[/post]
Riverside Mill Breakfast [post]45814059[/post]
Fulton's Lunch [post]45814246[/post]
Ghirardelli Soda Fountain Snack [post]45814348[/post]
Riverside Mill Dinner [post]45814414[/post]
Beach Club Marketplace Breakfast [post]45823346[/post]
Starring Rolls Lunch [post]45824457[/post]
Hollywood Studios Snacks [post]45824457[/post]
Tangierine Cafe Dinner [post]45824706[/post]
Wishes Dessert Party [post]45824706[/post]
Snack and Sunshine Seasons Lunch [post]45825109[/post]
La Hacienda Dinner [post]45825736[/post]
Columbia Harbour House Lunch and MK Snacks [post]45828604[/post]
Pinocchio's Village Haus Dinner [post]45836157[/post]
Kouzzina Breakfast [post]45836315[/post]
San Angel Inn Dinner and Morocco Slushie [post]45836423[/post]
Pastries from Boulangerie Patisserie [post]45836668[/post]
School Bread and Rose and Crown Lunch [post]45836704[/post]
Epcot Snack and Beach Club Marketplace Dinner [post]45836941[/post]
Tony's Town Square Lunch and LTT Snack/Dessert [post]45837054[/post]
Kona Cafe Dinner [post]45846816[/post]
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]

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!

 

[disneydivamama]

Yum! Great reviews!

 

[deenbrad]

Can't wait to hear about Fultons. The reviews haven't been great lately and I used to love it there!

 

[DLFan123]

After enjoying the morning at DTD, we were famished and ready for one ADR I'd booked in spite of some less than stellar reviews. After some confusion at the podium as well as continued confusion while we were escorted to our table, we finally reached a nice table upstairs with a lovely water view. We then waited for our server...and waited some more...and some more. Finally, she arrived, and I must say, I felt very sorry for her. She seemed completely overwhelmed and looked like she was trying very hard.

We placed our orders and she brought us our beverages (mine in a dirty glass covered in globs of old, dried crusty food). Since she dropped it so quickly and then was gone, I couldn't even ask for a new beverage in a clean glass.

We started our meal with the portabella mushroom fries.

Not fries at all, but they were good. They were certainly heavy on the grease, but the tangy mustard sauce they were served with helped to balance things out.

Here is another view. Yum! We enjoyed these, even though we waited about 30 minutes for them to arrive.

We still hadn't seen our server again, and after sitting for another half hour or so, we were served our lunches.

For the main course, my DP chose the fish tacos. This photo was taken after she had already eaten one whole taco; it was originally served with three.

She enjoyed this and said the tacos were overall satisfying and nicely seasoned.

I ordered the dungeness crab leg meal from the dinner menu. Now I love dungeness crab legs, but we don't have a lot of opportunities in Denver to enjoy them, so I was especially excited to try these.

Unfortunately, they proved very disappointing. (Again, I had eaten a few bites, but the portion was pretty much as you see it here, as was the plating.) The presentation was not great, and there were some dry, plain boiled potatoes rolling around on the plate with my crab legs. The crab itself was very dry and seemed overcooked or old. Probably both.

When it came time to pay the bill (and by now we had seen our server who had checked in once during the now 2 hours we had been here), there was no improvement in the experience. She took forever to deliver our check and after we handed her our credit card, she disappeared and was gone another 20 minutes.

The whole experience was disappointing, and we don't feel like we need to eat here again. We should have heeded the warnings we read here on the dis boards.

Another important tidbit of information-Fulton's is docked on the water at DTD, and if you dine here on a blustery day as we did, you will likely feel the ship rocking back and forth. This gave me the slightest bit of a queasy feeling during the first part of our meal, but I seemed to get more used to it as the meal progressed.

 

[DLFan123]

We spent the afternoon in DTD doing some shopping and eventually worked up enough of an appetite for a little snack.

Here it is, our "little snack."

This came from the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and was delicious! It was a hodge-podge of one of their sundaes on the menu as well as a few substitutions we had made. Unfortunately, I didn't write down exactly what it was, but you get the idea.

Yummy, sugary-sweet goodness in a little silver dish.

 

[DLFan123]

We spent the later part of the afternoon back at our resort swimming (had to burn off some of those lunchtime and mid-afternoon calories!) and then the evening in Epcot.

The park closed and we took a bus back to POR, hoping to get back in time to grab a quick bite at the Riverside Mill again, since we'd missed our earlier ADR at Boatwright's.

We made it back in time, and I decided to go for something a little "lighter" considering the indiscretions of earlier in the day.

This was my create your own salad full of all sorts of tasty bits and veggies.

My DP enjoyed the leftovers we'd taken back from Sanaa the night before. I will spare you the pictures of leftover half-eaten saucy Indian dishes.

She enjoyed the leftovers even more the next day, feeling that the spice had grown even hotter while the food was sitting in our little hotel room fridge. My salad was good, nothing to write home about but not bad either. At least I fell asleep feeling I had redeemed myself, even though my salad was full of crispy wonton noodles, ranch dressing and two varieties of cheese!