An Anniversary Trip Deluxe Dining Report... Updated 7/11

[katiebelle21]

Hunter's desserts look delicious! I want that Flourless Chocolate Cake!

That stinks about your experience at Jiko's. We ate there last year and loved it so much we plan on going back again this July.

 

[smile4stamps]

I am so sorry to hear about your experience at Jiko! Ours was the exact opposite last year but we did order different entrees. DS wasn't feeling well and the server was wonderful about offering alternative things for him to eat. We are really looking forward to going back in December with DH. I hope your experience was a fluke! DS will be so disappointed if it isn't as good as last time!

We were just disappointed in the overall experience here. Due to my husband's allergy we were approached by the chef at most restaurants and here we never saw the chef and even the server never commented on it except to say... I'll let the chef know about your allergy... So I guess if Hunter had ordered something that had seafood maybe they would have said something?

Also... Our whole vacation we really felt the theme of Celebration. Here we really DID NOT. We did receive a card from them with signatures in it but you can tell that it was signed in bulk and not individualized and it even looked like it was mangled before it was given to us. It just had a whole different feel than any of our other dining experiences.

Shame about Jiko's but I'm impressed with Citricos reply to your dessert comments. No wonder you are aware when something isn't up to scratch if you get desserts like that at home, lucky you!!!

Ha-Ha... I DO NOT get desserts like that at home. Those desserts were created when he was working in a fine-dining restaurant as their Pastry Chef. He left his job last year to help take care of his mom.

Oh no I am so sorry to hear about your Jiko meal...out of curiousity did you ask to be moved? We ate there in Oct and were there right when they opened and they were taking walk ins before they sat the people with reservations! That really steamed me!

I agree with Hunter, that chicken looks ICK! If you guys ever go back get the filet with mac and cheese, it is fantastic! I am worried about our Oct plans that DH is going to get burned out on filet and pork too, he is not a fish man like I am and we eat alot of chicken at home..I am trying to spice up our ressies so he will not get bored.

I noticed that the servers are getting their 2 cents in on our ordering, when we go to order something they recommend something else...but we usually stick with what we want....we may be wrong in doing so but at least it is our mistake...

Just remember even if he feels burned out on beef and pork to stick with the filet at Jiko. ITs the only dish I hear people rave about and I wish one of us had really gone with it but we were having Yachtsman the following night so knew we would have beef then.

It's my opinion that if a server HAS to say "DON'T order that" that it simply shouldn't be on the menu. I understand there being things better than others but if it is BAD then it should be changed.

We did not ask to be moved. I think I said something when we were approaching our table about this being really close to the front but I didn't ask point blank to be moved.

Dh and I were reading your reviews and when we came upon the Citricos Dessert we almost blew a gasket!!! Carmelized Banana Gateau is our absolutely all time favorite dessert ANYWHERE!!! DH rarely eats dessert and if he does, it doesn't have him talking for YEARS about it!!! LOL!! We love it!!! That is awesome and so are the rest of your reviews!!

I love caramelized bananas as well. AS much as I DO not like the caramelized sugar on things like creme bruleee I do love them when it is bananas... strange huh?

I'm glad you like the reviews.

Exact same experience at JIKO on June 8 bad service, food and experience I complained and it is apparent that my hopes in complaining to help others experiences be better is for nothing. I agree we will not be going back.

Awww... I'm sorry you also had a bad experience... I was hoping it was just us.

I think Hunter should have his own food porn thread!!!
Sorry your experience at Jiko was not up to par.
Thanks for sharing your experiences!

Unfortunately since he is no longer working as a Pastry Chef he is no longer creating wonderful complex desserts so the food porn thread would die rather quickly. I wish he was still making them but doesn't have the resources in our kitchen to do a lot of it.

I'm sorry to hear about your Jiko experience. My last two dinners there have also been disappointments. I wish there was someone with inside information who could find out what has happened there that the quality of service and food has become so problematical.

Yeah... I wonder what has happened. I think I heard somewhere that the chef moved so that could be it. Maybe the new person just needs to get their bearings...

Hunter's desserts look delicious! I want that Flourless Chocolate Cake!

That stinks about your experience at Jiko's. We ate there last year and loved it so much we plan on going back again this July.

I love my hubby's deserts. The Flourless Chocolate Cake is one that works wonderfully for those that can't have gluten as long as you take off the tuille so they still get an exquisite dessert.

I hope you again have an excellent experience! I wouldn't wish ours on anyone else.

 

[smile4stamps]

Up next... Raglan Road!!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Up next... Raglan Road!!

Oh man I cannot wait to hear your review on this one...we tried it for the first time earlier this month and, well lets just say we left hungry (not from portion size) and $90 poorer

 

[smile4stamps]

Today was the day we were checking out of our Disney Resort and moving to our timeshare. Due to this it was to be our last day on the DxDp. Originally all our credits except for the ones needed for Yachtsman Steakhouse were to be used up by this point. Well we had skipped a couple of our ADR's. The first was to be a breakfast at Wave which we slept through and the second was a lunch at Yak and Yeti that we just weren't hungry for at the time.

So today we decided to go to Downtown Disney to use up our points as well as our snack credits.

I had heard great things about the Raglan Road Bead Pudding so I called to make an ADR on our way over there and had no problem getting in.

When we arrived I saw why I didn't have any problem. The place was pretty much empty but then again it was past the main lunch time and was 1:30ish.

We sat down to look at the menu's and began by ordering our Ice Tea... For the most part Ice Tea was the drink we had throughout our trip. Unfortunately we normally use Sweet&Low as our sweetener and we were very disappointed to discover there was NO Sweet&Low in WDW. Well when they brought our Tea WITH Sweet&Low we were ecstatic! Finally it would taste right! WE drank LOTS of Ice Tea during this meal and our server Vinnie D provided us with a stack to be able to use during the remainder of our trip So if you are a Sweet&Low person. Bring your own or hit up DTD to get a stash as you won't find any in the parks or in the resort hotels.

For our appetizers we both went with Salads. Hunter ordered the Seared Beef Salad

I ordered the Goats Town

Both salads were wonderful. And very large for an appetizer! Hunters steak was tender with just the right amt of horshradish to not make it overpowering. The greens were crisp and fresh and everything just went together wonderful.

The Goat's Town.. Oh My Goodness! Hunter wished he had ordered this! If you like goats cheese this is DEVINE! The Goat cheese was creamy and mixed with mushrooms and then flash fried so it had this crispy outer shell and warm wonderful goodness inside. It was served with crisp greens, a berry mix, and some walnuts. It all went wonderfully together!

We were told that these salads are on both the Lunch and Dinner menu but on the Dinner menu they are under entree's. (Online I am only seeing these on the Dinner Menu under starters so I am unsure now which it is.)

So after devouring these awesome salads we still had to eat our entree's. Hunter ordered the Burger... which I don't know if the one online is the same one...

This burger was delicious. Very moist and juicy! Good Flavors!

I had the Fish and Chips

Both the fish and chips were crisp and yummy. Not greasy. The fish was nice and flaky! All YUM!!!

For Dessert Hunter ordered Ger's Bread Pudding

He said this was delicious. The only Bread pudding he has ever had better is his own.. Lol... But he said this was a close second... I tried some but I couldn't taste much... The longer I sat the more stuffed up I got and my tastebuds were affected again.

I ordered the Bailey's Creme Brulee Tart

I honestly couldn't taste this at all but Hunter said it was okaybut nothing special.. He stuck to his Bread Pudding.

So overall? We loved Raglan Road and our server Vinnie D was the best server we had at WDW!

Would we go back? Definitely! The Goats Town salad is worth repeat visits!!!

 

[CherylA]

I just read through all your reviews in one sitting. I'm really enjoying them. One of these days I'll have to do the deluxe dining plan so I can try some of these wonderful signature restaurants!

 

[nel79]

Enjoy reading your reviews! that bread pudding looks so good!

 

[Cind]

Thank you for the heads up on the SweetnLow! That's the only thing I use in my iced tea too and now I'll have to bring a bag of it with me!

 

[nittanyliongirl02]

Paula....my DH and I did Raglan Road for the first time in September on our honeymoon, and we LOVED it! I'm not sure if they had it at lunch time, but during dinner, they have a traditional Irish band and dancer while you eat.

Also, I hear ya on the Sweet and Low. I learned this on our last trip as well. So whenever I would see it somewhere (such as CSR where we stayed), I would have to steal....i mean borrow some, and I carried it in my purse all week! ha ha

Great job with the reviews....keep em coming!

 

[smile4stamps]

So sad... Not many more reviews to go...

 

[smile4stamps]

Sorry I didn't get the Yachtsman Review up yesterday. My laptop really was giving me issues. (I think it is ) I hope it will be better in the morning...

 

[smile4stamps]

Oh man I cannot wait to hear your review on this one...we tried it for the first time earlier this month and, well lets just say we left hungry (not from portion size) and $90 poorer

Ohhh...I'm so sorry you had a bad experience... WE LOVED all the food we had there. Except the last dessert that I couldn't really taste... I guess every restaurant has good and bad times... I didn't like Jiko... You loved it. I loved Raglan Road and you had an awful experience. This just goes to show that a review is simply a one time experience and no one should put all their plans in the hands of one review....

I just read through all your reviews in one sitting. I'm really enjoying them. One of these days I'll have to do the deluxe dining plan so I can try some of these wonderful signature restaurants!

I am glad that you have enjoyed them! I can't imagine NOT doing the Deluxe Dining plan after doing it this time. I think the only alternative would be if we went to WDW more and would get Annual Pass and then the Tables In Wonderland program would offer a good discount.

Enjoy reading your reviews! that bread pudding looks so good!

It was good! Like I said at this point I couldn't taste much but if hubby liked it then it had to be good!

Thank you for the heads up on the SweetnLow! That's the only thing I use in my iced tea too and now I'll have to bring a bag of it with me!

You're welcome. We were pretty disappointed when we couldn't find it anywhere!

Paula....my DH and I did Raglan Road for the first time in September on our honeymoon, and we LOVED it! I'm not sure if they had it at lunch time, but during dinner, they have a traditional Irish band and dancer while you eat.

Also, I hear ya on the Sweet and Low. I learned this on our last trip as well. So whenever I would see it somewhere (such as CSR where we stayed), I would have to steal....i mean borrow some, and I carried it in my purse all week! ha ha

Great job with the reviews....keep em coming!

Nope... No Irish band or dancers while we were there. It was pretty quiet which was fine with us but next time I think we will try and get the entertainment in too.

Ahh... CSR is the place to find Sweet&Low. I guess thats cause of the convention center and it not all being Disney owned. ext time I'll just swipe a buch from Starbucks before we go... Thats the other thing that was dissapointing to hubby. NO Starbucks!

 

[natalielongstaff]

Great review of Raglan Road i love the look of your dessert xx

 

[smile4stamps]

My hubby and I arrived to the Yacht/Beach club plenty early and we checked in a good 30 minutes before our ADR. We were told they were behind so there would be a delay. We went to the bar to get a drink and since they were behind in the restaurant the bar was a little busy. It took some time to get our drinks.

When we were finally paged that our table was ready we went to the host stand and they walked us to our table. On the way there I saw that they had our last name wrong on the menu. Because I knew that we got to keep these specialized menu's I was a little upset so I said to the person taking us to the table that the name was misspelled. She basically said oh well. Nothing can be done. So when our server came by I mentioned it to her and she said oh... We can't have that and she went off and got them fixed for us!

Here is hubby with his scotch after we placed our orders.

Of course we also got the onion rolls with roasted garlic...

Yummy Yummy!!! We got extras and took them back to our timeshare along with our left-over steaks....

For apps I had the Lobster Bisque

The lobster bisque was almost like a tomato soup with lobster pieces. It was good but a little heavy on the tomato flavor (I had never had lobster bisque before so this may be the norm).

Hubby had the Tomato Salad.

The Tomato Salad my hubby had was very good though.

For entree's I had the Cowboy Steak (Ribeye)

Hubby had the Porterhouse.

Sorry we had started to eat before we took the pictures...

We also ordered the Truffle Mac and Cheese. When our steaks came out there wasn't any mac and cheese. When it finally arrived we were almost done eating our steaks.

The mac and cheese was very blah with out much truffle flavor.

The steaks were also a disappointment to us. We have an EXCELLENT steakhouse here that we love and the meat is always very flavorful. The steaks at Yachtsman were simply seasoned. Which for a lot of people would be great but for us we were looking for something more. The steaks were cooked properly there just wasn't much flavor to enhance the beef.

For dessert I had the Celebration Dessert Signature Banana Napoleon.

This was very good. The flavors were very good. Flaky pastry with carmalized bananas and creamy custard.

Hunter had the Trio of Valrhona Chocolate. Peanut, Espresso, and Salted Caramel.

Also very good. I ATE most of it myself... I especially loved the peanut one! All were smooth on the tongue and tasted delicious.

This was one place where we really enjoyed the desserts.

Here's a pic of us after our dinner.

Would we go back?? This one is a maybe. It would depend if we did Deluxe Dining again. Not something I would pay directly out of pocket for. It was a decent meal but it didn't WOW us.

 

[BriarRosie]

I'm caught up to Raglan Road and Yachtsman.

Ger's Bread Pudding was probably the only non-chocolate dessert that I'd ever order again, because that's how good I thought it was. I enjoyed my dinner there, and I would definitely go back, too. Poor Nicki had an off night.

I did Yachtsman for my 30th birthday...uhm... 10 years ago November!
Since I haven't returned since then, I don't think my opinion is as valid. I had the chateaubriand and thought it was very good. Food quality has varied over the years at WDW, and I think we're seeing some of that now due to the economy. I do know that I've felt "That used to be so good!" at various places since the DDP took over.

Oh, and I want that chocolate dessert trio. Yum. If you like the chocolate with peanut combo, take a gander at my Todd English's bluezoo™ review linked in my signature. That was definitely a dessert I'd get again.

 

[MickeyNicki]

DH felt the same way about the steaks from the Yachtsman, we had dined there back in 98 and he remembered he loved it so I booked it for us in 08 and his rib eye was terrible, no flavor, too fatty and way undercooked. He changed his order to a filet and he kept saying, this beef has no flavor! I had a filet too and thought mine was fine.

But the best filet we have ever had .... and I mean ever.... is at the BlueZoo over at the Dolphin...OMG I am still drooling over the meal we had there, everything from soup to nuts was delish!

 

[smile4stamps]

I'm caught up to Raglan Road and Yachtsman.

Ger's Bread Pudding was probably the only non-chocolate dessert that I'd ever order again, because that's how good I thought it was. I enjoyed my dinner there, and I would definitely go back, too. Poor Nicki had an off night.

I did Yachtsman for my 30th birthday...uhm... 10 years ago November!
Since I haven't returned since then, I don't think my opinion is as valid. I had the chateaubriand and thought it was very good. Food quality has varied over the years at WDW, and I think we're seeing some of that now due to the economy. I do know that I've felt "That used to be so good!" at various places since the DDP took over.

Oh, and I want that chocolate dessert trio. Yum. If you like the chocolate with peanut combo, take a gander at my Todd English's bluezoo™ review linked in my signature. That was definitely a dessert I'd get again.

Thanks for catching up! I understand that things change over time but when it comes to a place like WDW where the traffic is pretty constant you would think that the quality should also be pretty consistent but it doesn't seem to be that way for a lot of places.

Next time we go if we are not on a dining plan I will have to check out some of the other restaurants. There aren't any discount programs for dining at the Swan or Dolphin is there?

DH felt the same way about the steaks from the Yachtsman, we had dined there back in 98 and he remembered he loved it so I booked it for us in 08 and his rib eye was terrible, no flavor, too fatty and way undercooked. He changed his order to a filet and he kept saying, this beef has no flavor! I had a filet too and thought mine was fine.

But the best filet we have ever had .... and I mean ever.... is at the BlueZoo over at the Dolphin...OMG I am still drooling over the meal we had there, everything from soup to nuts was delish!

I'm sorry but a piece of meat at a restaurant needs to have more to it then a little salt and pepper. I can cook a steak with more flavor at home and I am by no means an expert. I will have to venture off grounds next time... Or at least off the dining plan... lol

 

[BriarRosie]

Nope, the Swan/Dolphin is all out of pocket. They don't participate in the dining plan. Some of the places give DVC members a discount, but not the high end restaurants.

 

[SunnieRN]

Fantastic reviews!! I am looking forward to your revisited Citricos review!! What wonderful pixie dust your desserts were! We are going to Yachtsmans and Jiko in Sept. I hope we have better experiences, but even if we don't, I will be happy to be in the world and it will leave me more room for food and wine snacks.

I lived in CA all my life until 2 years ago. I have relatives in San Jose and my Dad lives in Walnut Creek. I understand what you mean when you talk about typical mexican food.

 

[smile4stamps]

Oh my poor neglected thread.... I am so sorry! My hubby got me hooked on Mafia Wars on Facebook and I have neglected my review.... (BTW if anyone plays Mafia Wars on Facebook feel free to add me as a friend.)

So I believe I had finished up on Yachtsman Steakhouse....

For lunch the day after we had been to Yachtsman we had leftovers

When we had gone to Raglan Road we still had a few extra meal credits so we used one credit to get 2 of the Goats Towns Salads. I did mention how much we loved them right? We also had our leftover steak and some extra rolls from Yachtsman.

Since we were now in a timeshare we had access to a kitchen so I prepared little steak sandwiches and salad for our lunch. The Goatstown Salad is much better fresh but I was able to reheat the cheese a little bit so it was still good but not as delicious as the original. All together the meal was pretty satisfying.

At this point we didn't know what we were going to do for dinner that night. My husband had a very special meeting set up though so I will talk about that a little in the next post.