A Wedding, A Honeymoon, and Lots of Disneyland Dining Updated 7/22

[Mich123]

Great report! Happy to see your post Disney posts as we often travel post DL and we're always looking for new places to eat. Can't wait to see where you go next.

 

[DLFan123]

Great report! Happy to see your post Disney posts as we often travel post DL and we're always looking for new places to eat. Can't wait to see where you go next.

Hi there and thank you for reading. I think next we're headed to Anthony's Fishette, one of our favorite little seafood restaurants in San Diego Bay. Unfortunately we've gotten word that the city did not renew their lease and after decades long the waterfront, they'll be closing in January of 2017. It is so sad to think of losing this iconic restaurant.

 

[DLFan123]

Great reviews!! Thanks for sharing!!

Thanks so much!

What perfection that hotel is on the beach. And add in breakfast to boot. Looks like a great place. The fish looks delicious too, love the no frills atmosphere. Hoping we can do DL and SoCal next year so I'll totally have to pick your brain on that one.

I'd love to have you pick my brain about SoCal. Any ideas where you might venture besides Anaheim? There is so much to see and do and so many great places. We love getting down to San Diego county just to relax, but of course there are plenty of great spots in OC too. I like to keep them separate--I like to stay right by DL and get my fill there. Then when I'm tired from park hopping and have had a chance to ride Mr. Toad about 6 times, I'm ready to find a place just to relax.

 

[tigger536]

I'm loving your DL and SoCal reviews...this is getting me even more excited for my September DL trip. I haven't been to DL since I was 13 so I have a lot of catching up to do lol! Also, a belated congratulations to you both! Your wedding was gorgeous!!!!

 

[DLFan123]

I'm loving your DL and SoCal reviews...this is getting me even more excited for my September DL trip. I haven't been to DL since I was 13 so I have a lot of catching up to do lol! Also, a belated congratulations to you both! Your wedding was gorgeous!!!!

Hi thank you so much! I'm excited for you finally getting back to DL after time away. I've heard there are lots of areas of the park closed due to construction for Star Wars Land, so don't let your experience sway you away from DL. I see you've been to WDW many many times! You have stayed at some of our favorite resorts as well as some we hope to try some day (GF)!

 

[DLFan123]

The next morning, we were back up and visited our CL lounge. Ok so it was just continental breakfast at our hotel, but that's what I'm calling it.



This was my breakfast. I had a wonderful, soft cheese Danish and some granola with Greek blueberry yogurt. They'd upgraded their yogurt from the year before to a nice Greek type which doesn't contain gelatin, so Anne and I can both eat it.

This is what my DP chose:


An English muffin with peanut butter. I guess she ate half before I could take the photo.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye to the beautiful Beach Terrace Inn. We thoroughly enjoyed the views and the location, as well as the breakfast. We'll most likely stay there again, although there continue to be cleanliness issues with the rooms.

One of my favorite pics from our time there:


After we left, we headed into San Diego, returned and registered our marriage license at the county building, then stopped across the way at the Anthony's Fishette on the bay.

Up next, lunch and a big honeymoon surprise for DP!

 

[DLFan123]

After registering our marriage license, we walked a few short steps to the area where they dock all the big ships in the bay, right next to the Star of India.
There you'll find Anthony's Grotto, a nicer restaurant with fresh seafood and table service, as well as a Sunday brunch. We prefer the little stand connected to the restaurant, Anthony's Fishette. It's another one of those casual, no frills places with absolutely delicious fresh, fried seafood.

Here is a shot of the eating area:


No frills but some gorgeous views...

This is my favorite place nationwide for fried fish, hands down.


I had the fish and chips. This prices are a bit more reasonable than Harbor Fish in Carlsbad (by 50 cents or so lol), and the fish is more how I like it. It's extremely mild, with excellent breading, and the bread to fish ratio is perfect. The fries are just frozen fries I think. The tartar sauce here is good, which is an important part of fish and chips for me.

DP chose the fried fish and shrimp combo:


I must say the fried shrimp are also incredible, and it's hard for me to think of better. They are a smaller size, which again I like because it contributes to the proper ratio obsession that I have. The only reason I don't like getting the fried shrimp at Anthony's is that I simply do not like their cocktail sauce. It's more of a peppery hot sauce style cocktail, rather than the nice tomato with horseradish taste I'm used to. Still I snagged one of these sans sauce, and it was delish.

Now if that wasn't enough (and you can't really tell just how much food this is), I decided I had to try the clam chowder here, which I've read wonderful things about:


This was just ok. I've had much better clam chowder at many other places, and I really didn't see what all the hype was about. The clams were great and fresh, don't get me wrong. It's just that there weren't that many, and the base wasn't as creamy or thick as I prefer my clam chowder. No need to get this again unless I'm just really cold and need to warm up!

As a whole, we loved our time at Anthony's. It's so lovely sitting there by the water, and I adore the convenience and ease of just walking up anytime. I can't believe that this will be Anthony's last year open. We've heard the city did not renew their lease past the end of 2016, which breaks my heart.

The city is apparently interested in leasing to someone who will upgrade the building and "look" of the venue. I've read that there will be a multi-level restaurant complex building going up...I hate this idea! I love old things, and it seems like there are less and less of them around. Besides that, how lovely will a brand new building look in the bay with all of those ships and fishing docks interspersed. I'm sad to see the wooden-dock style floating restaurants disappearing from around the country to be replaced by modern structures with shiny outsides and trendy insides. I can't imagine the bay without Anthony's. I can't imagine going to the Maritime Museum without being able to pop over for a quick bite of fresh seafood with so many other tourists who've been returning to Anthony's year after year.

All that said, I'm so glad we are planning our annual August trip so that at least we can eat here *one last time* before we have to say goodbye. It's like losing an old friend...

Thankfully

 

[kastoney]

Wow, that fish and shrimp looks delicious. Hope they don't change the place out as that looks like the perfect place to get some grub. No fancy restaurant can ever compare to the view from an place on the water

 

[DLFan123]

After one of our favorite lunches, I had a big surprise of my sleeve for the DW! One of her lifelong dreams has been to stay at the Hotel del Coronado on Coronado Island just across the San Diego Bay. We'd visited the island and even shopped in the Hotel del on previous trips, but we'd never stayed. So for our honeymoon, I thought this was a most exceptional surprise wedding gift to give her. Our trip was far from over, but I'd only booked one night at this hotel as a surprise to her. She had no idea why we were going there or that we were staying...after we finished lunch and finished milling around the ships, we got back in the rental car and I just started driving and told her I had a surprise. It wasn't until we pulled into the hotel check in queue that I admitted that we were finally doing it. We were going to stay at the Hotel del Coronado!!!

Upon check in, we had the choice of either valet or self parking, both of which cost upwards of $50 a night. We thought that was absurd! We were trying to play it cool, though, because we didn't want to seem like people who'd never stayed at the Hotel del before.

The nice guy checking us in said there was free beach parking right by our building, and because he made it sound so enticing, we decided to just go with it.

We got into our room and were thrilled to see this:


Our next amazing honeymoon hotel view....how awesome!

And even though we had to cross that little sidewalk, our hotel was again right on the beach!

After settling into our room, we went to look around the hotel.

We checked out the historic swimming pool:


This pool was delightfully empty! As was the quiet pool by our room. It was considered the "end of the season" by now at the Hotel del, being the beginning of summer and after Labor Day (I guess) by now.

We also passed the nice little herb garden:


This is where they harvest the herbs used at 1500 Ocean, our dinner restaurant for the evening and our first and only *signature* restaurant of our honeymoon.

In the next post, our amazing four-course dinner at the infamous 1500 Ocean...stay tuned!

 

[DLFan123]

Finally, time for the food!

But first, a little 1500 Ocean history...

The restaurant is the Hotel del's signature dining establishment, originally under the name of Prince of Wales Grill, named after Prince Edward, one of the hotel's guests and supporters during the 1920s. I think it was around 2006 that they changed the name to 1500 Ocean. Nonetheless, countless celebrities and notable athletes have dined there, including John Wayne (I thought this was pretty cool), many Presidents and royalty, as well as, of course, lots of Hollywood stars including the Ricardos! The restaurant has changed over the years but still featuers California coastal cuisine, and has been under the post of Chef Meredith Manee now for a few years.

We were beyond star struck to be expected here ourselves this particular evening.



We were greeted warmly when we arrived, and we requested a seat on the patio. Here we could see the beach and ocean, the herb garden, as well as walkways of the grounds of the hotel.

Our server and his assistant treated us like royalty from start to finish.

The menu frequently changes, and so I'm not entirely clear on the lengthy descriptions of some of our items. For most I only have names.

We both started with sparkling wine and did not photograph that.

For our starting course, DW chose the sashimi:

Yellow tail and Hamachi Sashimi

This was quite nice, with the quality of the fish a real stand-out for me. It was fresh and delightful, and she quite enjoyed it.

I chose a salad:
I really have no idea what this was!

Sorry, but I did note how much I enjoyed it, as well as the creamy citrus foam and the toasted macadamia nuts on the side. The greens came from the hotel's garden. You can't get much fresher than that.

For the next course, DP broke character and ordered this:



Split pea soup!

She really dislikes soup in general. It's this weird thing she has about not wanting to eat solid food floating in liquid. I don't know why, but that really cracks me up.

The soup was pristine, with the taste of sweet summer peas really shining. This is normally served with some form of pork plopped on top, but we were able to confirm that they could do it for us without, and this actually turned it into a vegan dish.

I loved that about our server. Even though we clearly ate seafood and were not vegans, he was well versed in all ingredients and made the distinctions between dishes that were vegetarian, vegan and pescatarian.

For my second, I chose this:


Poached White Prawns with Romesco Sauce

Of all the food we enjoyed this evening, this was my least favorite. There was nothing wrong with it; the flavors just weren't as inventive or fresh as those in the other dishes. The romesco sauce was probably the best thing on this plate.

For our main choices, DP chose fish:


Peppered sea bass with veggies

I believe there were some mushrooms underneath, as well as cherry tomatoes and new potatoes. That's about all I've got. DP and I both enjoyed this. The fish was fresh and light, cooked well and the veggies were bursting with natural flavor.

I chose something I can almost never resist on a menu, the scallops:


Seared Diver Scallops with Risotto

I realize this picture is too dark to really give you an idea. There was nothing wrong with these! Everything was rich and creamy. I enjoyed it, but again surprisingly, not as exciting as some of the fresher veggie tastes we enjoyed in the other dishes.

By dessert, we were beginning to get fatigued from all the eating.

We chose to split a coffee drink that was loaded with varying decadent spirits. I don't recall much about that.

Because we were so full already, we decided to choose a couple of the lighter dessert options.

We split this:


Ice Cream Trio

This is house made ice cream and I don't recall the flavors. I know one was chocolate and that is it. The white was not vanilla. It was something exciting and interesting. I have no concept what the caramel colored mound on top was.

This was yummy, nice and light and cool. A couple nearby us ordered the ice cream which is made at the table. Watching that process was fun! There was some liquid nitrogen involved I believe, and what started out as liquid turned into ice cream in a matter of seconds (90 or so I think).

Our next dessert was this:


Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee

Holy moly was this perfect! There were praline candied nuts on top, as well as a nice little madeleine cookie. I could have passed on the cookie. It was probably mostly for show. It was too heavy for the dish itself and I think we both just had a small taste. The brulee on top was well executed, and the depth of the cream was just perfect so that none of it was too cool, even beneath the burn.

This fine dining experience did not disappoint, and with our bellies delightfully full, we headed back to our room where we photographed (and elevated) my swollen feet, which had emerged larger and larger throughout the meal. (Don't worry; by morning they were back to normal!)

 

[kastoney]

Looks like an amazing meal and hotel. What a great surprise!

 

[DLFan123]

After a great night resting by the sea, we checked out of our hotel and after a bit of work, we were headed for lunch. (Include long towing story here when completed)

We found a lunch spot on Coronado, wanting to try something on the island other than at the hotel itself.

We chose a Mexican restaurant just down the street from the Hotel del Coronado on Orange Ave, called Miguel's.



They started us with some chips and salsa as we perused the menu. This was ok. The salsa would have been good enough had it be inside a Disney park, but I guess I just expect more from my salsa when I'm a few miles from the Mexico border and NOT in a theme park. That being said, I'm sure this was homemade. I guess at dinner time, they serve complimentary jalapeno queso dip with the chips too. I certainly wouldn't have minded sampling that!

I decided to go with something a little lighter (after the swollen feet from the night before) so I chose this:



The Tostada Grande

This was pinto beans, made charro style, which was their vegetarian option for beans. I would have preferred refried beans, but overall I'm used to experiencing this at most Mexican restaurants. Nothing to write home about, but not bad at all either. I think overall I would have been more impressed except that I was most likely still in shock from the food coma from the night before.

DW chose this:


A bean and cheese burrito with a green salsa, charro beans and rice

She was relatively unimpressed with this. I recall sampling it and feeling the very same way. Ok, filling for sure, but nothing we'd ever need to have again.

Overall this restaurant was not a memorable meal for us in any way. We were relatively underwhelmed, making us feel better about the Mexican food we have in Denver (which we always complain about). I suppose growing up in Phoenix we have become hard to please when it comes to south of the border cuisine.

Next up, some tasty treats in Seaport Village!

 

[kastoney]

Sorry the meal wasn't memorable, but on the bright side of things I'm totally craving some Mexican food now

 

[VillianDiva]

I've just started reading your review but I absolutely love your rings and dresses. They are stunning! You guys look amazing.

 

[DLFan123]

We left the island of Coronado and headed for the bay where we checked in to our next stop. We were staying right by Seaport Village and I was thrilled to just walk right over for dinner! We browsed and shopped a bit, and then we ended up in a little quick service place that served Italian. I guess we were either so famished or so under-impressed that we did not take photographs.

After dinner, I did have a tasty sweet treat in mind. Although there is a Ben and Jerry's restaurant in Seaport Village, I prefer to have some soft serve frozen yogurt from the Cousins Candy Shop. They make a great sundae with peanut butter cups and chocolate and peanut butter syrup:

Boy do I love this! DP used to try to make me share but now she knows better. I got this one with chocolate vanilla swirl. It definitely hit the spot.

DP chose this:


Vanilla soft serve with caramel sauce and heath pieces I believe.

She enjoyed hers as well.


After a nice evening shopping and eating, we headed back to our hotel room to rest and enjoy the lovely views of the bay:


Our camera so does not do this justice!

 

[ckmiles]

I spent my lunch break at work reading your report- and I loved it. Thanks for coming back to finish it, sorry to hear about your health scare, but so glad to hear you are on the mend!

A few observations-

I love wedding pics and I am so glad you posted them. You and your wife are stunning.

why is it so hard for places to make something with meat without meat? You think you were asking them to split an atom....

I love all of the desserts- they all look so tasty!

I hope this report turns into a WDW report too....

 

[kastoney]

Yum, your ice cream looks so good. I'm much more of a soft serve fan so that is right up my alley. And beautiful view!

 

[DLFan123]

Sorry the meal wasn't memorable, but on the bright side of things I'm totally craving some Mexican food now

Pretty sure we ended up eating Mexican food that night too. Funny how that happens.

I've just started reading your review but I absolutely love your rings and dresses. They are stunning! You guys look amazing.

Thank you so much! You are too kind. Glad you are reading.

I spent my lunch break at work reading your report- and I loved it. Thanks for coming back to finish it, sorry to hear about your health scare, but so glad to hear you are on the mend!

A few observations-

I love wedding pics and I am so glad you posted them. You and your wife are stunning.

why is it so hard for places to make something with meat without meat? You think you were asking them to split an atom....

I love all of the desserts- they all look so tasty!

I hope this report turns into a WDW report too....

Thank you for your kind compliments. Couldn't agree more with you about the meat...I understand when it's incorporated into the sauce that it can be an issue, or baked into a casserole, but for certain foods, just create a vegetarian option that is exactly the same but without the meat. Most vegetarians would love that, and it's basically how we eat at home. And as my DW would be the first to announce, just because you are a vegetarian does NOT mean that you like quinoa! (No offense to quinoa.)

Yum, your ice cream looks so good. I'm much more of a soft serve fan so that is right up my alley. And beautiful view!

For me, it totally depends on the day and my mood. Sometimes I love a good old scoop of ice cream. But when I really want to indulge with candy chunks and sauce, I prefer soft serve. I have a misguided notion that a scoop of regular ice cream is "diet food." I only recently learned the error of that misconception.

 

[DLFan123]

The next day, we apparently did not take pictures of any of our food, but I know we ate something! All I can find in the archives is photographs of our drinks, and if I didn't know better, I'd think we were on a liquid diet. Most likely we used a phone to take pictures of the food, and now I can't figure out which and where those photos ended up. This would be our last day before our return to the Cosmo, the place where it all started about two weeks before.

We were up early and ready to go check out the Japanese friendship gardens at Balboa Park.

When we finished our tour, we stopped in at their snack shop for a couple of teas:


I had a Green Sencha, and my DW chose the Passionfruit w/ Flowers. The heat was scorching this day, and these icy treats really hit the spot! I can just remember holding that cool cup up to my face. I was so hot!

The little restaurant at the gardens serves food, and although we were starved, we passed. We knew we needed to have one last meal at Anthony's, and now that I've heard Anthony's is closing, I'm so glad we did!

We enjoyed some of our typical favorites (no photographs, sorry!), as well as splitting a tuna sandwich. I think next time (the last time ) I will stick with the fried items!

After our lunch, we headed back to our hotel, the Manchester Grand Hyatt, to enjoy a cocktail from their 40th floor lounge, the Top of the Hyatt. What a view! Unfortunately trying to look out the windows made me so dizzy I had to try to face straight ahead at DW.

I had a classic margarita with no salt, and I can't for the life of me remember what DP had:


Look how high up we are!

As you can see, there was a little bowl of salty snack foods at our table. I love when bars do this sort of thing! We munched on our snack mix and enjoyed our cocktails, followed by one last stroll around Seaport Village. Finally it was almost time to make our way back to the Cosmopolitan for one last night of our glorious honeymoon!

 

[WDisneyMom]

Our wedding was planned for a Saturday, and we flew in to San Diego on a Thursday morning.

We grabbed a bite to eat at DIA before we boarded our plane. Although our usual airport meal is Einstein's, DP had declared during our trip the year before that she'd never eat Einstein's again! She held firm to that statement, so we decided to branch out. We grabbed a roasted beet salad from Root Down in the terminal:

View attachment 81674


Root Down is a beloved local restaurant in Denver, and the addition of a Root Down at DIA has just been delightful. This salad was absolutely delicious, with a bit of goat cheese, golden and red beets, as well as toasted macademia nuts. It is dressed with a warm balsamic glaze. We enjoyed splitting it and thought it was a nice way to start the day.

We chose an early flight, because our rehearsal was scheduled for Friday, and we needed to get a wedding license from the San Diego County office. We were so nervous/excited, especially that we might be delayed and thus miss our scheduled appointment at the county. Thankfully, our flight arrived on time.

We had arranged for an early check-in to the Cosmo, in the event we landed early enough to get there prior to heading to the courthouse. We did, so we arrived at the hotel by noon and were escorted to our rooms. We had never been inside the honeymoon suite, so we were super excited to see it by this time!

There were two rooms:
View attachment 81579

The bedroom

And then a sitting room:
View attachment 81580

The sitting room had lots of additional space, which was totally necessary, because we had a lot of stuff coming our way! We had been shipping boxes of supplies to our wedding planner for months, and she was planning to deliver it all to our room the next morning. There is also a rare closet here, where we could hang our dresses. Most rooms in the Cosmo do not have a proper closet, after all, they were designed and built over a hundred years ago.

The room was large and spacious, and filled with antique furniture as all the rooms at the Cosmo are. In the bedroom, there was also a vanity and a few chairs, which certainly also came in handy.

After bringing up what felt like countless bags, we headed back to the bay to find the courthouse.

View attachment 81581

The county buildings in San Diego are right up along the bay, and they are really quite pretty.

(Forgive the picture quality here; I was using my iphone because we had broken our camera, and the friend who was loaning us hers for our trip hadn't arrived yet to hand it over.)

View attachment 81582

Finally, after we were inside, we noticed this inside the elevator:
View attachment 81583

I just thought it was really a nice sentiment.

At this point, I was feeling such a good combination of pure bliss, excitement and nerves. I personally never thought I'd be able to walk in to a county building and register to marry the love of my life. I can't tell you how it feels to finally feel this legitimacy in my relationship, which really is the most important thing in my life. I was on the verge of tears the entire time, but I choked them back because I didn't want to irritate anyone. Of all the moments of our wedding weekend, this day might be the most special...just the two of us, being welcomed and acknowledged by total strangers who held the power to the legal right for us to say we plan to love each other forever.

Since we were right in the bay, we were just steps away from my favorite place for fried seafood, Anthony's Fish Grotto. Thinking of the fitted dress I had to wear in two days, I exercised some restraint. I knew I had plenty of time to gorge myself on Anthony's on our honeymoon!


After we took care of all of our business downtown, we headed back over to the Cosmo to meet my mom and grandma, whose flight was due in Thursday afternoon.


Coming up next, an actual dining review! Harbor House in Seaport Village!

I stumbled upon your DR and I have now fallen completely in love with your story in just the few beautiful posts I have read.

I lived in Denver for 5 years before moving back home to Chicago in 2012. Colorado will always have a special place in my heart.

We visited DL for the first and only time in July 2010 and we fell in love. My boys and I are headed back there this Christmas so I am really looking forward to reading your report!

Continued happiness to you and your DW.