"Dad why are our teeth sharp & pointy?" Updated-Cosmic Rays & Kona Cafe

[Shooby doo]

I will start my reviews by introducing the clan & the Restaurants I shall be covering.We have just returned from 21 nights on regular DDP,I read lots of reviews before going & picked accordingly.Now everyone mentions that DDP is way too much food but actually we found it the opposite,in fact in nearly all restaurants we added appetisers making it just enough for us.Going off at a tangent I would just like to say that the "old" DDP must have been an absolute bargain to include appetiser & tip!!
Anyway enough waffle:
DW -Claire-Suffered a Brain haemorraghe 4 years ago which resulted in speech & language difficulties,so she marked her meals out of 10.Loves Seafood in particular Shrimp.
DS -Connor-Who because for a few years his Mum couldn't prenounce her "r"s shall be known hence forth as Conno,teenager so his reviews will be restiricted to one & two word answers!Eats most things but likes steak.
ME- Shuggi-It's a Scottish nickname thing,Chief cook & bottle washer so love to eat out when I get the chance.Like animals especially tasty ones - that's what the pointy teeth are for!
I will apologise in advance as there are no pics,it was too hard to take pics with a knife & fork in my hands!
The reviews are as follows:
Shutters
Chef Mickeys
Starlight cafe or the Wee Green Dudes as Conno calls it.
Kona Cafe x2
Japan CS
Coral Reef
Port Royale Food Court
Leaning Palms CS
Cali Grill
Boma
Flying Fish
Backlot Express CS
Olivia's Cafe
Jiko
Peco Bills CS
Whispering canyon
Narcossees
Ohana
Artist Point
Sunshine seasons CS
Mexico
the Wave

SD

 

[TigerKat]

That's quite a line-up you've got there, I'm ready!!!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Wow 3 weeks in WDW, that must have been pure heaven!

 

[HonnyDipp]

This one will be fun! I'm in!

 

[HappyCamper87]

Thanks for sharing. I'm especially looking forward to your thoughts on Artist Pointe.

 

[John's Mom]

I'm in!

 

[frdeb1999]

Looking forward to the review!!

 

[Nohal]

Looking forward to your 21 day review.

 

[Candice30]

wow 21 days

 

[Shooby doo]

Well let's get the ball rolling:
Shutters,previously when we have stayed off-site we make a Special point of having a celebratory start of holiday meal but as we are normally really tired at that point decided this time not to for go this,then at the last minute reading another review I made an ADR for Shutters as we were staying at CBR.
We arrived promptly for our 7:00 ADR-I would strongly advise making ADrs during Free Dining as we witnessed alot of disappointed people being turned away without them!-& were seated quickly.Our server Wanda arrived with warm bread & lime & cilantro butter,this was delicious,as we had never used DDP before Wanda explained this to us.We had decided that we would want starters-we were then asked for our 3 courses at once not having used DDP before we then expected this to be the norm but in fact this was the only time that it happened.
Claire had the Grilled shrimp & this was given a resounding 8 1/2,Conno & myself both opted for the Blackbean & Chorizo soup,this was thick & tasty & I could easily have eaten a bowl twice the size!
Our entrees arrived half way thru' the starters,which was a minor annoyance but again this was to be the only time that this happened.
Claire had the Pineapple Chicken with black beans & rice,this was given an 8 but I should mention that we all thought that it was a very small portion of chicken in fact I've seen bigger sparrows!
Conno & I both opted for the New York Strip with shutters potatoes & seasonal veg,this again was very tasty but not a huge portion of veg-we all like our greens!
Now normally we only have desserts on special occasions or when visting my MIL so desserts were a treat for us,Claire had the Key lime Tart again this was given a resounding 8,we all made a habit of passing around morsels of food so the others could get a taste,I found the tart too sweet for me & not quite as tart as I've had in the past.Conno had the New York cheesecake & this was given a thumbs up,I decided on the seasonal dessert which in this case was small fruit filled pastries with a vanilla cream,these were good but I was expecting them to be hot (?).
Overall our impression of Shutters was good but it was intresting to note that we all agreed later if it had been later in the vacation it might not have faired so well & Claire in particular would have dropped her scores.
Wanda was good,our drinks were kept full but we did feel that we were a bit rushed even though there were plenty of empty tables.
Next Chef Mickeys
SD

 

[Donald is #1]

I'm in.

 

[ajsmommy1129]

Great start, can't wait for more!

 

[Shooby doo]

Our next meal was breakfast at Chef Mickeys,I had an ADR for 7:05am with a train of thought of arriving at TTC parking for the day & hopping on the monorail -easy.......except that early there is only one train going & we have just missed it & to compound matters it's also only going in one direction! So we stopped at the Poly,GF,MK & finally the Contemp at this point we are 30 mins late! But no problems we are given a pager & shown thru' to where there is a Photographer waiting,we have our pics taken & next thing our pager is going. Going off at a tangent with the photo....we are expecting this to be like the Photopass ,where you view it after your finished,but no this is a Disney style hard sell,they bring the photo to your table already printed & in a nice wallet & before you know it you are paying $30 for a picture that would only cost $15-$20 in the parks!
Anyway back to the food... this is buffet style & I have to say that it is a cut above the buffets that we have had in the past.I should mention that there is a bit of a smell when you get in,it reminded us of Denny's & IHOP,basically the aroma of a carpet that has had too many drinks spilled on it! We all head straight for the hot plate,there is a good selection & I remember the 3 cheese omelette being tasty-this wasn't a small individual omlette but a full tray beast that you just cut a chunk off of.I always like american sausages so fired a few of them onto my plate,which is the opposite of american bacon over here we would call it streaky bacon & wouldn't normally have it for breakfast-not enough meat I furnished the rest of my plate with breakfast potatoes & off I went. Claire & Conno are pancake people so they headed there along with Mickey waffles & french toast.We all had some yoghurt & finished with some melon & grapes.
We got our pictures taken with Mickey,Minnie,Donald & Goofy,all in all we felt the buffet was of a good standard but is worth pointing out that the bill would have been $75 which I think is a bit much for breakfast but each to their own!
SD
Next: the Green Dudes & Kona Cafe

 

[Shooby doo]

After strolling round MK for the morning we decided to head to Cosmic Rays or the wee green dudes (Sonny Eclipse) for an earlier than usual lunch.This was something that would become a habit in the ensuing weeks as we found that we had lost all flexibility with DDP & ADRs! Claire loves Cosmic Rays for the "fixin's bar" so her Chicken Caeser Salad was like an exploding volcano by the time she had finished,as usual the salad was very good although she did think that there were too many crispy cretins. Conno had the bacon double cheeseburger with fries & stated that it was good. I rather unusually went for the turkey & bacon wrap -what I really wanted was the chicken & ribs but it was a whole different queue to Claire's salad! The wrap was just ok,I was a bit disappointed in the fact that it was just sliced turkey -reconstituted lips & beaks-& not actual turkey pieces.I opted for grapes as my dessert,these were sweet & juicy although there wasn't a lot of them.
We left MK at 6:50pm to arrive early for our 7:30pm ADR at the Kona Cafe,this was the first place we witnessed walk-ups being turned away! We were paged quite quickly & led to our table. Our server arrived quickly & introduced herself- Debbie-& took our drinks order. I forgot to write down what the bread was but I have a feeling that it was Pineapple bread-warm & moist but not entirely to my taste but Claire liked it. Myself & Conno opted for starters but Claire declined,Conno went for the Sticky wings-now in the UK if you have wings for a starter you are lucky to get a dish with 3 on,there were at least 8 wings on this plate! They must have been good because there was just a plate of bones at the end! I was undecided & asked Debbie which she would recommend out of the Potstickers & the Shrimp & coconut curry soup-she gave me both!! I tried the Duck potstickers first,these were really tasty & went really well with the ginger soy sauce -if I had only had these I would have been more than happy with my choice- the soup was excellent -so much so I made another ADR just to have it again!
For mains: Claire opted for the Pan Asian noodles,which was a surprise because there wasn't any shrimp in it,she really enjoyed it but I thought that it was just a standard sweet & sour sauce.Conno had what I was sure that Claire would've went for,Shrimp & Scallops-there were approx 6 shrimp in breadcrumbs & 3 decent sized Scallops-he said it was Good! I opted for the New York Strip,the steak was cooked perfectly but I will admit that I was expecting more from the pineapple teriyaki glaze.The mash was good & the broccolli was how I like it-with some bite.
Desserts were creme brulee,apple stack & the kilauea torte-theres not much that can go wrong with desserts in my book but I think that the creme brulee was the definite winner of the three!
SD
Next Epcot

 

[mimi'sgirl]

Thanks for the great review! Looking forward to the rest.

 

[SunnieRN]

I have a grandson named Connor!! I am enjoying your reviews and am looking forward to more!!