Dining reviews 03/04/07-03/08/07 Part 2 Up!

[desertbloom]

Sorry I don't have pictures. I didn't have my battery charger for my camera so I saved photos for other memories. Anyways, on to the reviews...

Cast:
Myself, DH and DD (very fussy kid)

TS Restaurants:
Whispering Canyon Cafe
Liberty Tree Tavern
Mama Melrose's
Coral Reef

CS:
Tangierine Cafe
Yorkshire County Fish Shop
Old Port Royale
Tusker House

Our first TS meal was dinner at the Whispering Canyon Cafe. All our ADR's were for early seating times so we had minimal wait time after checking in. We all ordered the skillet and milkshakes. The skillet was delicious. There is something on it for everyone. I thought the corn on the cob was mediocre but the chicken was very moist and the potatoes were good. DH liked the beans. The salad was also excellent. I liked the dressing they used. The milkshakes were mmm mmm good and I would have gotten a refill but I was worried about being able to have any room for dessert so I only had one. It was fairly quiet when we were there but started picking up by the time we left. They ran a horse race and since the adults didn't cheer enough we were all made to do the hokey pokey. DH enjoyed his dinner until the tom-foolery started. He's kinda uptight....lol. For dessert I had the Kahlua chocolate cake. This was mediocre and kind of dried out. I left most of it behind...which says alot because I am a total dessert addict. DH had the apple caramel pie which was excellent. Huge piece and full of apples. DD had smores cheesecake. I thought it looked nasty but she was pleased with it. I am a bad judge on anything smores though because I am just not a big marshmallow fan. Our bill came to something like 97.00 which got dh all excited about the value of the dining plan.

Our next stop was CS at the Yorkshire County Fish Shop. The fish and chips were very very good. In fact DH and DD were so in love with the fish that they made me come here for 2 more CS meals. I am fish and chipped out!! The fish was very flakey, the batter was moist and delicious...although quite greasy. So much for my low cholesterol diet...but heck, it's vacation,right?

The next day we had an early lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. This restaurant reminded me of home since I am from New England. Very colonial. DD and DH had the tavern fried cheese, which they loved. I think they love anything fried to be honest. I had the crab cake on corn succotash. This was very good but they did put ALOT of tartar sauce on the top of it. I scraped most of it off. Anyone who likes only a little tartar sauce should request that they go easy on it when you order. For entrees, DD had the colony salad. This was very good. It had slices of apple,pecans,cheddar chunks and chicken in it. The vinagrette dressing was also very good. She said she liked it and I breathed a sigh of relief since finding adult entrees she liked on the menus I printed out had been a challenge the week leading up to the trip. DH got the tri corner roast beef sandwich. It had alot of RB in it and the horseradish sauce gave it a nice flavor. The meat itself wasn't the best quality. A little grisley but not bad...sorta flavorless without the horseradish sauce. His fries were good and he was pleased over all with his meal. I ordered the sandwich heard around the world. I wasn't real happy with it. Although the portion was good, I thought it lacked flavor. The cranberry spread didn't even have much flavor. Maybe I am just spoiled from having good colonial style restaurants at home. For dessert DD and I had the liberty shortcake and DH had the chocolate liberation cake. The cake was sooooooo teenie and DH said it was kind of dry. Personally I think he was just jealous because DD and my Shortcake was SOOOOOO good!!!! I mean it was incredible. Huge Biscuit with fresh strawberries, blueberries, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. I wish I hadn't wasted room on the mediocre sandwich because I could have started to cry leaving behind half that shortcake. Several people at nearby tables asked me what it was. Geesh, I could go for one right now ...since i am getting snowed in by a nor'easter and have the munchies.

Tangierine Cafe:
I am the only one who had this CS as DD and DH went to the fish shop, AGAIN! I ordered the vegetarian platter. Now before I talk about the food I have to put in this disclaimer. I eat ALOT of middle eastern food. I have worked in several Lebanese restaurants so I might be a little biased. That being said, this is what i thought. The plate came with couscous salad, hummus, tabouleh and I think some mixed olives. I liked the couscous. I had never had it like that before and it was my favorite thing on the plate. However the hummus and tabouleh were blah. Especially the hummus. Completely flavorless. Did they even put any garlic,tahini or lemon juice in there because I sure as heck couldn't taste it. It was like a chickpea and water paste. I was very disappointed! DD tasted it and she thought it was flavorless too. For dessert I had the baklava. It was so-so. Personally, if you are used to good, authentic ME food, I would recommend skipping this place.

That's it for now. Next up will be Mama Melrose's and the Coral Reef. I'll try to get to them tonight.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Thanks for the reviews. I am interested in hearing about Mama Melrose as we are considering it for this August.

 

[donaldtutter]

Thanks for the reviews so far.

 

[the organizer]

Hello! I am new to this so bear with me. I am planning a trip for two families (hence "the organizer"). Of the value resorts, which do you prefer? I see that you have been to 3 of the 4. Some good insight would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[joiev98]

Thanks for the great reviews! We are planning on eating at WCC this upcoming May. I can't wait to hear your reviews for Coral Reef...another place we have booked!

Hello! I am new to this so bear with me. I am planning a trip for two families (hence "the organizer"). Of the value resorts, which do you prefer? I see that you have been to 3 of the 4. Some good insight would be much appreciated. Thanks

I can relate! I am part of a Grand Gathering of 18 people. 4 families in total. I booked all of the ADRS but I don't mind at all... I am a definite organizer as well.
I notice you are from Pineville, LA. My parents live there...nice place!

 

[yankeepenny]

I can hardly wait for our sept WCC
keep the reviews coming!

 

[Disney owl]

Thanks for sharing

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reviews ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[MAKHayes-DisneyDiva]

Great reviews, especially Tangierine. I think I will skip it since my dad is Middle Eastern and I am used to really great hummus and tabouleh.

 

[kdkbrebel]

Thanks for the reviews.

 

[jess20k]

Thanks for the reviews so far, I can't wait for the others. We also thought that Tangierine Cafe was awful this time around. I ate there before, and thought it was pretty good, but not this time. The meat was dry, and I thought most of it was tasteless. We will not go back anymore.

 

[desertbloom]

Sorry for the delay in getting more reviews out. I got busy. Anyways, on to Mama Melrose's. We had a hard time finding this place. It took us a bit of wandering around and asking people where it was in the park. We finally found it, checked in and were promptly seated about 5 or 10 min later. Again, we had an early reservation. 3:50, since it was the only opening they had for the fantasmic package. Our server came over promptly and took our drink order and brought us some bread. The bread came with a sun dried tomato spread. None of us were fond of the spread. It was kind of salty and reminded me of tomato paste. The bread was alright, though the hard crust cut the roof of my mouth. For appetizers, DD had the caprino cheese, DH had a ceaser, and I had mixed greens. The ciprino cheese was in a tomato basil sauce and you had to stir the cheese up in it. The color was nasty.... like the pink sawdust they put on vomit in gradeschool.... but it tasted alright. The salads were unremarkable. Just your average salad. They were fresh and cold. DD and I both had chicken parm for our entree and DH got the wood grilled chicken. He felt his meal was ok, but nothing wonderful. I had a few bites and I thought it was better than my chicken parm. I thought for the price the portion of pasta that came with the chicken parm could have been bigger. The sauce was a little salty but overall it was a decent entree. The chicken cutlet was actual meat and not like a frozen chicken patty from tyson. Again, nothing spectacular but not bad either. I think it was worth it for the fantasmic seating. Desserts followed along the same mediocre line. DD and I had chocolate cake and DH had tiramisu. The tiramisu was really pretty to look at... and it tasted pretty good too. It looked like one of those fancy pre-packaged desserts I have seen at a few of my local restaurants. DH liked it and was glad it was not dried out. Our final feeling on mama melrose's was that it was acceptable. There was certainly nothing that stood out but it wasn't bad either. It was probably the least favorite of all our TS meals. It was certainly a dissapointment after the WCC though.

Next up is the Coral Reef. I was really excited about this one since we were not able to eat there on our honeymoon 13 years ago due to a lack of money. We checked in and were seated within 10 min. Again, we had an early dinner. Our ADR time was 4:50. The lobby area seemed a little dated looking to me but once we got into the dining room it was very pretty. We sat in the second tier in one of the front tables and had an excellent view of the fishies. We also got to see the divers and one of them held up a birthday sign for a group seated nearby. The atmosphere here is great and we didn't find it all that loud even though it was busy. Anywhooo...on to the food. I had the crab claws, the steak and the choc wave. DH had bbq beef on polenta, the steak and the choc wave. DD had the shrimp cocktail, mahi mahi and we got her a kids make your own sundae because she didn't see an adult dessert she wanted. I was not really pleased with the crab claws as they were warm and I like them better cold. Plus seeing them laying on my plate half cracked like that made me feel bad for the crabs who died and I kinda lost my appetite for them. DH didn't like his bbq beef on polenta much but I thought it was tastey. The sauce had a nice balance of zing and sweetness. DD shrimp cocktail was gross. Flavorless old shrimp covered in a salty asian sauce on this weird slaw. She ate 2 bites then gave it to me and I only ate 2 bites. Not worth wasting stomach room on it. Blech!!! Our entrees were good. DH LOVED, LOVED his steak. He said it was the best steak he's ever had(cooked med). Mine was good but I should have ordered it med instead of med well, as they dried it out on me cooking it completely well done. DD Mahi Mahi was good. She ordered it without the sauce. Nice and flakey and moist. The chocolate wave for dessert was SOOOO good. My favorite dessert all week. Though that shortcake at LTT was a close second. When you cut into the choc wave it just oooooozed. It was so rich and delicious. I couldn't quite finish it. I thought the ice cream that came with it was boring by itself so I dumped it onto the cake. Soooo good!!

Mini review, Aloha Isle: I tried a dole whip float (with pineapple /van twist on top) after reading so much about how great they are on this board. I have to say....Yuuuuuukk! And I love pineapple anything. This was just weird. Is there a single natural ingredient in it? Was the white stuff supposed to be vanilla flavored? It just seemed very chemical tasting to me. I will say the portion was HUGE though. After about 6 bites, I threw mine out. Drank most of the juice though. I won't ever try one again. DD and Dh didn't seem to like them much either. Next time I'll save my snack credit for the Main St ice cream shop.

Ok, that's it for now. I'll get to the last reviews asap.

 

[the organizer]

Thanks for the great reviews! We are planning on eating at WCC this upcoming May. I can't wait to hear your reviews for Coral Reef...another place we have booked!



I can relate! I am part of a Grand Gathering of 18 people. 4 families in total. I booked all of the ADRS but I don't mind at all... I am a definite organizer as well.
I notice you are from Pineville, LA. My parents live there...nice place!

Yes, we love it here. Nice place for families, but nothing else. We have never been to disney. If you have any good info- PLEASE share. We are so excited. Was disappointed to here about Mama Melrose's.

 

[jenr812]

Thanks for the reviews! Looking forward to the rest!

 

[MickeyNicki]

We did not like Mama Melrose either....blah blech food.

 

[huggiebear23]

Thanks for the reviews

 

[dawgfan]

Thanks for the review.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Plus seeing them laying on my plate half cracked like that made me feel bad for the crabs who died and I kinda lost my appetite for them.

The crab claws are actually quite good - and I was pleased that they were already half cracked as I usually end up with a finger in the cracking do-hicky.

But I don't order a whole lobster for the same reason you couldn't eat the crab claws....

 

[seetheworld]

Super reviews. I want that shortcake now LOL! It sounded yummy! Thanks again!

 

[suzimar57]

great reviews - especially glad you liked the steak at coral reef, since that's what we're planning to get when we go - and it sounds like we'll pass on the shrimp cocktail, too - thanks again!