Dining reviews 11/25-12/6-Lots of pics, a little talk - Counter Service - The End!

[TigerKat]

This isn't going to be fancy or funny, just what we thought. I'll tell you what we ate (including pics of most), what we thought of the food and the restaurant overall and maybe we'll assign ratings!! I'm not going to give ADR times or times we arrived as we never waited more than 10 minutes after arrival before we were seated.

Here's what we'll cover:

California Grill pg. 1
Coral Reef pg. 2
JIKO pg. 3
KONA pg. 4
Blue Zoo pg. 5
Chefs De France pg. 7
Wolfgang Puck Cafe pg. 8
Flying Fish (Twice) pg. 10 & 11
LeCellier pg. 12
Spoodles pg. 13

 

[TigerKat]

Let's get started. CG was our favorite restaurant in all of Disney after our trip last year and we decided to make it our first night "get in the Disney mood" place. It did not disappoint. I don't think any place can top CG as far as service and atmosphere. Topher (short for Christopher) was our wonderful server for the evening.

I started the night off with a drink recommendation from a friend here on the DIS the French Martini - this was probably the best martini of the trip and I had many.

Next up are sushi appetizers, spicy sensation and rainbow roll. Both were excellent. Not a very good pic of the spicy sensation it was FULL of scallops and avocado.

Next is the deluxe sushi entree

DH's entree was a special that night, a scallop dish. He ate scallops quite often during this trip and these by far were the best. In fact this night the scallops outshined the filet!! Sorry he doesn't remember what the scallops came with.

Next entree is the famous Oak-fired filet which was as good as always. I much prefer it served with the roasted root vegetables instead of potatoes.

The desserts were great as usual - honey crunch cake, valrhona chocolate and coffee(those are coffee beans on the ice cream), and the butterscotch buzz.

CG remains one of the finest dining experiences we've ever had at Disney and it will always be on our "must-do" list!

Our rating with being the best:

 

[lucas]

Thanks for the review. Can't wait for more.

 

[lori1043]

WOW that looks great!!!

Can't wait to read about more!!!
The pictures are fabulous-thanks!!!I just showed it to DH b/c he thinks I was goofy when I took photos of my food in DL(like 2x!) and I plan on more on our next trip!!!

Thanks Kathy-Lori

 

[FormrCastMbr]

Yeah!!! Now I have to go back and read everything but the pics are fab!!!

Thanks my friend!

ETA: How the heck did I miss that French Martini when I was there??? I guess we'll just have to plan a drinking trip!!!

 

[my3disneygirls]

Thanks for taking the time. Can't wait for more.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Yummy! I love scallops and sushi. Looking forward to more.

 

[satman1962]

We loved the California Grill as well! Great service and atmosphere.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Great review, I am looking foward to my second visit at CA Grill next year.

 

[John's Mom]

Thanks for your review and pictures!

 

[mom2fivecs]

Great review and pics...looking forward to more

 

[Tatania]

The Honey Crunch Cake looks the best in the pictures. What's in it?

 

[Poppinsme]

GREAT your reviews are coming up!!!
Looks yummy. Next trip we are going to CG for sure.
Cant wait to read more.

 

[TigerKat]

The Honey Crunch Cake looks the best in the pictures. What's in it?

I'm not certain. DS gobbled it down without offering a bite to anyone. Here's how it is described on the menu: Inspired by "The Year of a Million Dreams" - Honey Crunch Cake with Chantilly Cream, Oven-roasted Golden Pineapple and Crunch Candy Crumble.

 

[Shell0616]

Great start! Count me in!

I have been thinking about adding Spoodles to our trip. I'm excited to see what you thought of it.

Thanks!

Shellie

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I'm not certain. DS gobbled it down without offering a bite to anyone. Here's how it is described on the menu: Inspired by "The Year of a Million Dreams" - Honey Crunch Cake with Chantilly Cream, Oven-roasted Golden Pineapple and Crunch Candy Crumble.

It must have been good then, LOL.

 

[TigerKat]

Next up - Coral Reef. We were really excited about this one as we'd never been there before. Let me agree with what everyone else has said - there is no bad seat in this restaurant. We were seated on the second level with a great view of the tank and it's residents. Our server was Kelly and she was very good. To start things off DH got a Coral Mary and I had a dirty Gin Martini(a trend starting here):

The appetizers were a mixed bag - DH ordered the "Land & Sea" which he said was "eh...OK". It didn't really look all that appetizing to me.

The teens both had the Lobster Soup which they both loved.

I had the Cod Cake, which was recommended by a fellow DISer (Thanks Janice!). It was the best appetizer of the night.

DH & I were disappointed in the seafood selections here and I had read that the steak here was very good so that's what we both ordered(medium rare). They both came out well done. We told the waitress and were assured the steaks would be done correctly this time. The manager then came out and apologized and started saying the standards for cooking steaks were a little different in Disney. I asked him if he saw our steaks and he said no. If he had, he would have known there was more than just a slight difference in what we ordered and what we got. Long story short, after the kids were done eating our steaks came out still overcooked but edible.

The teens ordered the salmon which was pretty good and the king crab legs which were proclaimed the best entree of the night.

Desserts were very good. We had the Chocolate Wave (I had a glass of Rosa Regale with mine ), and the creme brulee.

Overall thoughts - Beautiful restaurant, but I would like to see more seafood options on the menu, probably will not be going back.

Our rating:

 

[FormrCastMbr]

Rosa!!!

Great report Kat! Can't wait for more!

 

[lori1043]

I have heard mixed reviews about Coral Reef-but do they still have the character meal??? We went to one there waaayyyyy back in 1995!! It was FUN(and we had no kids with us-just 2 married couples!)

Lori

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent