Celebrating a 21st Birthday Around the World. A DxDDP Review. Update 08/22 'Ohana

[MissKIA]

Sanaa

I've been kind of dreading writing this review. This place just seems to be universally loved on here - especially the bread service.

First off, we had reservations right at 5pm when they opened for dinner. The restaurant was almost empty when we were seated, so we thought we for sure would get a coveted window seat. We did not. We were sat in the middle of the room about 4 tables back from the window. I was slightly disappointed but it wasn't that big of a deal. We could still see out the window, and we were staying at AKL anyway, so it's not like we didn't have chances to see animals at our hotel on a daily basis.

Our waiter was very informative. And when I say that, I mean he spent about 10 minutes explaining every item on the menu, whether we wanted him to or not. I actually felt like I was in a university lecture. It was helpful, but slightly overboard.

Disclaimer: We live in an area that is very populated with people from India. We have many Indian restaurants and stores surrounding us and we can get very good, authentic Indian food any time we want.


To start I ordered the bread service of course with all 9 dips and all traditional naan bread.



Indian-style Bread Service $12.00
Choice of Five Breads - Traditional Naan, Garlic-Ginger Naan, Spiced Naan, Onion Kucha, or Paneer Paratha. Choice of Three Accompaniments - Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Mango Chutney, Tomato-Date Jam, Tamarind Chutney, Coriander Chuntey, Garlic Pickle, Red Chile Sambal, or Spicy Jalapeño-Lime Pickle


This was quite good, as advertised. I found the naan bread a little crispier than I am used to which is a bit odd. The dips were all good. I liked the mango chutney and I'm not sure, it was either the Tamarind chutney or the coriander chutney, the best. They were all good though.


Carly ordered:




Seasonal Soup $8.00
with Chef's Accompaniments

This was just a tomato bisque if I recall correctly. I'm sorry, I don't remember any more about it!

My Mom ordered:



Shaved Cauliflower Salad $8.00
with crisp Chorizo and Lemon Vinaigrette

This was good. I enjoy interesting salads and this was interesting! The chorizo added a nice unexpected flavour.

These starters alone would have been enough food to get us by for the evening, but we still had our entrees to come!

My Mom and I both ordered:



Potjie Inspired $24.00
Choice of Two - Butter Chicken, Spicy Durban Shrimp, Chickpea Wat, Tomato-spiced Eggs, Paneer Tikka, Cilantro-Coconut Milk Seasonal Vegetables, Goan Seafood Curry, Braised Beef, Lentil Dhal, or Roasted Okra-Cashew-Tomato Stew served with Basmati Rice or Give-Grain Pilaf


We both chose the butter chicken and the braised beef. (sorry for the poor picture). This was good but not very exciting. Granted we probably ordered the least interesting items that are on the list, but there was really no kick or spice at all to either of these. I have had butter chicken countless times in my life and this was by far the most bland butter chicken I've ever had. If you are afraid to eat here because you think it will be too weird or too spicy, DO NOT fear. This is the least scary ethnic food ever. It was good, and I ate it all, but it certainly didn't "wow" me.

Carly ordered:



Braaivleis - South African Braai Sample Plate $32.00
Trio of Grilled Meats with Seasonal Accompaniments

I'm really kicking myself for not continuing to take notes as the week went on because I'm having a hard time now remembering details of some of the things we ate. I don't think she enjoyed too much on this plate, but I know that she ordered it wanting to go out of her comfort zone and try new things so she wasn't really disappointed or anything. She's glad she tried new things and now she knows what she liked and didn't like. I know she didn't like the sausage, but she doesn't generally like sausage anyway, so take that with a grain of salt. I wish the menu description had more info because I don't really remember what was all on this plate. I'm sorry, I'm a bad reviewer.

For dessert, I ordered:




Tapioca Pudding $7.00
Chai-spiced Berries

I love tapioca pudding! This was really good and it actually was interesting. Reading the menu description, I thought the berries were spiced but it was the actual pudding that was spiced. It kind of tasted like a chai tea latte. It was really good and light which I appreciated after so many rich desserts.



I THINK this is

Afrika Povu $7.00
Tanzanian Chocolate Mousse, Madagascar Vanilla Rum Caramel, Kenyan Coffee, and Kalahari Desert Salt

I don't even remember who ordered this, never mind what they thought of it. But here's a picture!

I think my Mom ordered the Tapioca pudding as well so that means Carly ordered this.

That's it for Sanaa. I didn't mind Sanaa, but for me it didn't really live up to the hype. It certainly wasn't bad in any way, (other than the extremely SLOOOWWW service ) but it just wasn't every thing I'd hoped it would be.

I realize the last couple of reviews have been a bit negative, but please don't hate me. It gets better.

Would I return to Sanaa? MAYBE

I wouldn't go out of my way to go there again, but would go if someone I was with wanted to try it out.

Up Next: 50's Prime Time and Carly's 21st Birthday!

 

[NMPensFan]

Sanaa

I've been kind of dreading writing this review. This place just seems to be universally loved on here - especially the bread service.

First off, we had reservations right at 5pm when they opened for dinner. The restaurant was almost empty when we were seated, so we thought we for sure would get a coveted window seat. We did not. We were sat in the middle of the room about 4 tables back from the window. I was slightly disappointed but it wasn't that big of a deal. We could still see out the window, and we were staying at AKL anyway, so it's not like we didn't have chances to see animals at our hotel on a daily basis.

Our waiter was very informative. And when I say that, I mean he spent about 10 minutes explaining every item on the menu, whether we wanted him to or not. I actually felt like I was in a university lecture. It was helpful, but slightly overboard.

We live in an area that is very populated with people from India. We have many Indian restaurants and stores surrounding us and we can get very good, authentic Indian food any time we want.


To start I ordered the bread service of course with all 9 dips and all traditional naan bread.

View attachment 185091

Indian-style Bread Service $12.00
Choice of Five Breads - Traditional Naan, Garlic-Ginger Naan, Spiced Naan, Onion Kucha, or Paneer Paratha. Choice of Three Accompaniments - Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Mango Chutney, Tomato-Date Jam, Tamarind Chutney, Coriander Chuntey, Garlic Pickle, Red Chile Sambal, or Spicy Jalapeño-Lime Pickle


This was quite good, as advertised. I found the naan bread a little crispier than I am used to which is a bit odd. The dips were all good. I liked the mango chutney and I'm not sure, it was either the Tamarind chutney or the coriander chutney, the best. They were all good though.

Thanks for the review. Did the bread service count as one appetizer on the dxddp? It sounds like it did since everyone had their own appetizer but I wanted to confirm. Tia!

 

[MissKIA]

Thanks for the review. Did the bread service count as one appetizer on the dxddp? It sounds like it did since everyone had their own appetizer but I wanted to confirm. Tia!

Yes, it only counted as one appetizer! It is a HUGE appetizer. We all shared it and along with the other appetizers and there was plenty left over.

 

[NMPensFan]

Awesome! Thanks for the info. Love reading your reviews as recon for our trip ....lol.

 

[alex9179]

The bread service is fun. It's almost always the favorite of people who dine here, I think. I agree about the butter chicken. It's good, but not a wow for me. Very accessible, though, so I think that's why it gets frequent praise. I enjoyed the spicy durban shrimp and felt it was mildly spiced, so another easy to please kind of dish. There are a couple on that list that sound tasty, like seafood curry. Yum.
Your review is actually a good one. Everything was tasty but not awe inspiring and that's to be expected of one who has easy access to those choices at home.

 

[MissKIA]

Awesome! Thanks for the info. Love reading your reviews as recon for our trip ....lol.

You're welcome, that's why I'm doing this! I spent hours and hours going over dining reviews to help decide where to eat, so this is pay back!

The bread service is fun. It's almost always the favorite of people who dine here, I think. I agree about the butter chicken. It's good, but not a wow for me. Very accessible, though, so I think that's why it gets frequent praise. I enjoyed the spicy durban shrimp and felt it was mildly spiced, so another easy to please kind of dish. There are a couple on that list that sound tasty, like seafood curry. Yum.
Your review is actually a good one. Everything was tasty but not awe inspiring and that's to be expected of one who has easy access to those choices at home.

I'm glad you understand what I was trying to say! I'm not always the best with explaining what I mean.

 

[MissKIA]

Happy Birthday Carly!

Today was Carly's 21st birthday and she really wanted to go to 50's Prime Time because she just loves the whole experience there. We've gone there every time we've been to WDW so far and we've always loved the food and had a blast.

Since it was her 21st birthday we had to get a drink at the bar before we sat down for our lunch. This was not Carly's first drink since the drinking age where we live is 18 so she's not exactly a newbie when it comes to alcohol, but it was still fun to be legal everywhere!

For her first legal American drink she ordered:





Urg, I'm not sure what this is. LOL Looking at the menu I'm assuming it must be the margarita.


Patrón Platium Margarita $11.25
Patrón Silver Tequila, Cointreau, Lime Juice, and Sweet-and-Sour

I ordered:
Dad's Electric Lemonade $11.75
Dad whips up an electrifying blue drink with Bacardi Superior Rum, Skyy Vodka, Blue Curaçao, Sweet-and-Sour, and Sprite®

It seems that I did not take a picture of this but it was blue and had a colour changing "ice cube" in it which is super fun!

These drinks were STRONG! They certainly did not skimp of the booze.

For out starters, we all ordered:





Fried Herb and Garlic Cheese $9.00
served with Raspberry Sauce, Grapes, and Apples

This was delicious! We all loved it and ate every last bite of it. I would have liked if there was one more piece of bread to go with it, but other than that it was perfect. The cheese was creamy and garlicy and just so yummy.

For my entree I could not decide what to get, so naturally I went with:





A Sampling of Mom's Favorite Recipes $23.00
Golden-fried Chicken, Fork Tender Pot Roast, and Traditional Meatloaf with all the fixings

I've ordered this before and as you can see this is a ton of food. I think I only ate about half of it so it could easily be shared between two people. Everything on this plate is delicious, especially the fried chicken. I'm not usually a huge fried chicken fan, but this fried chicken is awesome. I also appreciated that they give you a choice of white or dark meat. (I chose white)

Carly and my Mom both ordered:




Dad's Stuffed Pork Chop $25.00
Gouda Cheese, Apples, and Herbs served with Roasted Potatoes, Carrots, and Demi-glace Drizzle

They both loved this as well. They give you a lot of food here, and one of the biggest reason not to finish your entire meal is that you have to leave room for one of my favourite things in all of Disney World:






Peanut Butter and Jelly Milk Shake $6.00

I almost forgot to take a picture of this cause I couldn't wait to get it in my mouth. I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS! When I first heard about it I thought it sounded disgusting, but I had to try it since it had so many rave reviews. I have now gotten it as my dessert every time we've been to 50's Prime Time. It is so yummy! Even if we didn't eat there, I would still stop in and pick one up at the Tune in Lounge while at DHS. A trip to WDW would not be complete if I couldn't get my hands on one of these.

I did not take pictures of my Mom and Carly's desserts, but I believe they got milkshakes as well.

That's it for 50's Prime Time.

Would I return? YES! Obviously!

DHS really doesn't have a lot to choose from for table service and I'm not really a big fan of Sci-Fi. We've been there once and for me, it's kind of a been there done that thing. It was fine but I didn't love it. I do however love 50's so I can't see us not returning.

Up next:

Le Cellier!

 

[pepperandchips]

Loving your report. It's interesting to see some negative reviews of places that are my favorites but I appreciate them because you say WHY it was a miss - so I can steer clear of those dishes!!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

A bit late but all caught up! Love your reviews so far! If I hadn't already added LTT to our October plans, your review would have pushed me to do it. Love the Ooey Gooey!

I can't find a way to fit in Narcoossees! We've only eaten there once but did enjoy our meal. Just haven't been back.

We have a love/hate thing with Jiko. We have both loved and hated meals there. I agree, its not as adventurous as it seems at first glance.

Looking forward to more!

 

[ChrissyBeth29]

Great reviews so far! My mom and I were there the same time as you, but we stayed at the Poly! It was a great time to be in WDW! I think we may have been on 7DMT at the same time the first day! lol

 

[DlandersinWdw]

Tusker House

I booked our ADR for 10:45, that coveted time where you are supposed to be able to catch both breakfast and lunch as they change over. This didn't work out quite as planned unfortunately.

I'm not really a huge breakfast fan, and I was more looking forward to trying lunch offerings when they came out. I went up and picked out a few items to try while I waited for lunch!

View attachment 181544

Starting at the Mickey waffle, we have a Mickey Waffle (Obviously!), a Sausage Patty, Bacon, with a donut hole on top of it, cheese cubes, Ham with Sweet & Spicy Honey Mustard, and Sweet Potato Casserole.

The Mickey waffle was very good, it was nice a crisp just like I like them! The sausage patty was not good. I think I hate one bite and pushed it to the side. Bacon was good, the donut hole was fine and the cheese was good. I love cheese! The ham with the mustard sauce was excellent! I loved that! And the sweet potato casserole was just okay. I'm not a huge fan of sweet potato but wanted to try it. After picking at my plate for a while I went and checked to see if they had started to put out any lunch stuff, but no luck. I grabbed some banana cinnamon bread pudding with vanilla sauce since I had wanted to try some my first go, but the tray was empty. This time they had some so I brought some back to the table to try.

View attachment 181543

I really thought I would love this! It was good, but it didn't exactly make me roll my eyes back in my head like I thought it would, but it was good.

I only took a picture of Carly's Lox and Bagel concoction that she put together. This girl LOVES her red onions as you can see!

View attachment 181542

They had everything you need to make this meal. Bagels, cream cheese, smoked salmon, red onions and capers! She was a happy girl.

I tried going up again after seeing characters and there still wasn't any lunch food out and I had had enough to eat so we just left. Over all it was a good meal for a buffet (we are not really huge buffet fans).

Would I go back? PROBABLY, but I'd still like to try the lunch!

Next up Narcoossees!

Joining in!! Fun choices so far. We have a 10:40 am reservation at TH in December. We have the same idea - try a little bit of both....

 

[MissKIA]

Loving your report. It's interesting to see some negative reviews of places that are my favorites but I appreciate them because you say WHY it was a miss - so I can steer clear of those dishes!!

I feel kind of bad posting negative reviews of things other people love for some reason. Food is so subjective though, not only from person to person, but even just depending on your mood or the time of day. That's part of the problem with having to book these reservations so far in advance!

A bit late but all caught up! Love your reviews so far! If I hadn't already added LTT to our October plans, your review would have pushed me to do it. Love the Ooey Gooey!

I can't find a way to fit in Narcoossees! We've only eaten there once but did enjoy our meal. Just haven't been back.

We have a love/hate thing with Jiko. We have both loved and hated meals there. I agree, its not as adventurous as it seems at first glance.

Looking forward to more!

I will definitely be fitting LTT into our next trip! That's one of the benefits of doing the deluxe plan is you get to try so many different places you can really figure out where you want to visit again. It was A LOT of food, but it was worth it!

Great reviews so far! My mom and I were there the same time as you, but we stayed at the Poly! It was a great time to be in WDW! I think we may have been on 7DMT at the same time the first day! lol

How funny! Did you stay in line as well?

Joining in!! Fun choices so far. We have a 10:40 am reservation at TH in December. We have the same idea - try a little bit of both....

Thanks! Hopefully Tusker House works out for you!

 

[MissKIA]

Sorry for the long delay, I don't really have an excuse, but I will try to get my butt in gear in the future!

Le Cellier

I've been wanting to try this restaurant for a long time but just haven't gotten around to it until now. Carly wanted steak for her birthday dinner and since we were going to be in Epcot this seemed like the perfect time to give it a try!

It was EXTREMELY hot this day in the parks and we were pretty exhausted and miserable by the time we got there. All we wanted to do was sit down and cool off. This was one of those days where you wish for an afternoon thunder shower. It was HOT.

We didn't have to wait very long before we were seating in the "Saskatchewan" section. We thought this was interesting that they had sections for different provinces in Canada so we asked where the Manitoba section was (which is where we are from). I figured they must have different rooms depending on different regions of Canada sort of like at Liberty Tree Tavern. The server motioned over to a couple of tables a few away from us and said "I think those two tables over there are the Manitoba section".

Anyway, for my starter I had to try one of the items that is raved about on here all the time:



Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup $11.00
Moosehead Beer and Nueske’s Applewood-smoked Bacon

With the pretzel bread of course!

Even though I was SO HOT the last thing I wanted was soup, I knew I had to try this. It was delicious! I love it. (See I don't hate everything that you guys love!) Carly was super jealous of my soup! I think she got scared away by the beer in the name. None of us like beer, but you can't even taste it.

Carly or My Mom ordered:



Umm I have no idea what this is!?! Nothing on the current menu looks familiar. Maybe they changed it. Do any of you know what this is?
Sorry, that wasn't very helpful at all, was it? I asked Carly and she thinks it was some kind of a salad with brussel sprouts and goat cheese and she didn't really like it. Hopefully that helps a little bit!

For our entrees Carly and I both ordered:




Le Cellier Filet Mignon $52.00
AAA Canadian Tenderloin, Mushroom Risotto, Asparagus-Tomato Relish, Truffle-Butter Sauce

The steak was tender and very good, but the mushroom risotto was amazing! It was the true star of the dish. It was so creamy and went perfectly with the steak.

My Mom ordered:




Angus New York Strip $50.00
Potato-Turnip Gratin, crispy Paprika Onions, Three Peppercorn Butter

The menu has definitely changed since we were there, but I think this is what this is. She loved it as well.

For our desserts we had:




Chocolate Whisky Trifle $11.00
Malted Milk Panna Cotta, Caramel Popcorn, Whisky-Caramel Sauce, Buttered Popcorn Gelato

Carly ordered this and she thought it was really good. It was an interesting dessert and had a lot of different flavours that all went well together. The bring it out and then pour the sauce over top of it. This is picture was taken after the sauce was poured.

My Mom ordered:





Maple Crème Brûlée

$9.00

This was very good as well! I didn't order dessert, cause I just wasn't feeling it. Maybe it was the heat. I just had tastes of both of their desserts and thought they were both very good.

I should mention though, as much as we loved the food, the service left a little to be desired. It almost pains me to say this since we are Canadian and these people are representing our country in Epcot. Our server was a very sweet soft spoken young women who was completely and utterly scatter brained. She forgot to bring us silverware, gave the wrong dishes to the wrong people, put the happy birthday chocolate thing on my Mom's dessert instead of Carly's. It wasn't really that big of a deal, but for the prices they charge at this place you'd think the service would be exceptional.


Other than the not-so-great service we loved it!

Would I return? YES

Up next, Boma Breakfast!

 

[MissKIA]

Boma

I am going to get right back at it and post the next review right now while I have some spare time.

We had been to Boma in the past for dinner and enjoyed it and since it gets such great reviews, and we were staying at AKL, it only made sense that we tried it out for breakfast.

We once again had POG juice, I'm still shocked that I actually liked this and can't wait to have more of it next trip.

This review will be a little short since I only took pictures of my dishes.

I started out with a bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar and some banana bread.



The oatmeal was good and pretty thick which is how I like it. I'm not a fan of runny oatmeal. The only problem was that it was not very hot at all. The banana bread was good.



Hand-carved Breakfast Ham, Bobotie, French Toast Bread Pudding, Mickey Waffle, Spinach & Goat Cheese scrambled eggs, Sausage and Tater Tots.

Everything was good except for the eggs. I make spinach and goat cheese eggs on a regular basis at home, I love it. But these eggs were wet. They don't really look it in the picture, but they were. I despise wet and runny scrambled eggs. Everything else was good, but once again, cold. I know this is to be expected at a buffet, but I haven't usually had this experience in the past. It was all fine, but would have been much better had it been hot (or even warm). Perhaps it had to do with the fact that we were there late and one of the last seatings for breakfast. .

They also gave Carly a birthday cupcake which was cute, but very dry and tasteless. It's still nice of them to offer this though!



Would I return? YES...

BUT

I would rather go back for dinner than breakfast. I enjoyed it more.

Up Next: Ohana!

 

[NMPensFan]

I love all your reviews. Can't wait for Ohana!

 

[Candycane83]

Great reviews! I can't believe Manitoba is 2 tables but the food looks good! I've been hesitant to go to Le Cellier because of the bad reviews. At the beginning of my planning, I was seriously considering it but decided to forego it on our next trip. Your review makes me rethink that!

 

[maiziezoe]

Enjoying your reviews! I had a similar experience at Sanaa. I thought I would be wowed and there would be oooh's and ahhhh's, but it was pretty ordinary.

Also loving your profile picture. My absolute favorite-in-the-whole-entire-world/on earth/in the galaxy hockey player plays for the Jets.

 

[gypsy_at_heart]

Sanaa

Disclaimer: We live in an area that is very populated with people from India. We have many Indian restaurants and stores surrounding us and we can get very good, authentic Indian food any time we want.

This is exactly what I'm worried about :/ I'm from Vancouver and I made a lunch ADR at Sanaa but I've been thinking about cancelling it since I eat Indian food on a regular basis and it seems very Indian inspired. It's kind of the same reason I've kept away from any of the Sushi restaurants at Disney - we have more Sushi and Curry around where I live than we do pizza places.

 

[Jerusalem Gal]

Come on 'Ohana!!!

 

[Lisa F]

you are SOOO making me look forward to my trip. Even Sanaa. The restaurant is beautiful and I have a kid with sensory issues so finding something a little different but with a menu that he likes can be a challenge sometimes (though he is getting better and better - a year ago the sanaa menu would have been a no-go but now he loves grilled chicken! We are going to share the bread service (he loves bread, lol) and I'll probably try a couple of the curries. I think I will enjoy it because my expectations will be adjusted. I have NO indian food here so it is a rareish treat for me but I have lived in places with amazing indian food too (and gone to the places my indian friends preferred). Here I just make my own. I wonder if I can request that they spice up the butter chicken. I do love creamy chicken curries (I make chicken tikka masala at home) but I'm ready for it to be not very spice forward!