Dining Reviews on DDP 1/31-2/8 DAY 1 REVIEWs ARE UP

[disneyquilter]

Hi there Everyone, just got back 2 weeks ago from a wonderful trip and now I will attempt my first Dining Review (please be kind ). My party was not keen on me taking pictures of their food so I have no pictures , but I will give my best description as to what we ordered and what we thought. We were on the DDP, but some meals were OOP.

My smiley ratings are out of 5.

Cast of Characters:
Me (disneyquilter) age 30
DH age 31
DMIL she'd kill me if I report her age
DFIL age 50 (non-beef eater)
DD #1 age 9
DD #2 age 7

Arrival Day (January 31): Wolfgang Puck Express, DTD Marketplace (CS)
**We ate here after a very long day (up at 2:30AM PST and travelling until 6:30EST), so we ended up at WPE, DTD at about 8:30PM**

What We Had:
Me-1/2 Rotisserie Herb Chicken w/ Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Creme Brulee for dessert
DH-Linguini with Chicken Bolognese, brownie for dessert
DMIL & DFIL-Pepperoni Pizza, Creme Brulee for dessert
DD 1-Kid's Pepperoni Pizza, brownie for dessert
DD 2- Kid's Chicken Fingers, brownie for dessert

Our Thoughts:

This was a ton of food!! This was a great use of a CS meal. The kids’ pizza is the same size as the adult and DD1 loved it. Chicken tenders were “awesome” according to DD2. I love the fact that we were served at our table so it really doesn’t feel like a “counter service” type meal. Everyone who ordered brownies thought they were the biggest brownies we had seen. DH & the kids ended up taking 1/2 of their brownies back to the room for a late night snack.

We all loved our meal and at the end of our trip said this was the best tasting CS in WDW. We will definitely eat here on our next trip and try their breakfast too.

Rating: /5

 

[maslex]

Nice start. Can't wait to hear the rest.

 

[lillygator]

thanks for the review of WPE...we are planning on going there in May and I was just looking over the menu....glad to hear it's good!

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent start ~ Can't wait to read more

 

[jenseib]

Sounds yummy!

 

[TigerKat]

Great start - keep 'em coming!!

 

[mt mommy]

We LOVED Wolfgang Puck Express too!! We were there 3 weeks ago. Everything we had was phenominal!!

 

[swankybeth]

Thanks for the review, looking forward to more. On our trip last month we never made it to WP Express, but we did go to the Cafe and had a great meal.

 

[disneyquilter]

Hi there Everyone, thanks so much for joining me on our little food adventure around the World.

Reviews for today are:
Akershus Storybook Princess Breakfast in Norway (DDP-TS)
Garden Grill in Future World (DDP-TS)

Day 1-February 1, 2007

Breakfast: Akershus Storybook Princess Breakfast in Norway

**We had an 8:30AM ADR and arrived at 8:15AM. We were seated at 8:20AM near the door where the characters come out of. At first I thought this would be sucky-poo, but then when the characters started coming out, I was happy because we were one of the first tables to be greeted **

What We Had:
This was a family-style, all-you-care-to-eat meal with a cold bar buffet. The cold bar buffet had pastries, cinnamon rolls, different sliced cheeses and meats, bagels, muffins, fresh fruit and some Norweigan breakfast items (what seemed to be salmon on cucumber-FIL tried this and said it was good). The hot items that were brought to our table "family style" was scrambled eggs, potato & cheese casserole, bacon, sausage, & biscuits. We all had OJ, Apple Juice & Coffee.

Our Thoughts:

Food: The food was good, not great, but good. The only thing that really stood out to everyone was the breakfast potatoes. Everyone in our party loved the potato casserole. MIL stated she thought the eggs were a little runny but DH, FIL & I didn't think so. I don't think you can screw up bacon, sausage or biscuits, so all those were good as well. The only thing that we had higher expectaions of were the cinnamon rolls. I had heard these were great and was really disappointed when I bit into one and it was dry & stale (ICK!). MIL, DD#1, and DH had them as well (I had thought that maybe I just got a stale one ) and theirs were stale & dry as well. They said it was very dry and they did not finish their roll either. I have to add here though that their biscuits were great! I had 3 of them! Warm & fresh, they were wonderful.

Service: Our service was great. She kept our coffee & juice glasses filled, constantly brought out refills of food when asked (and it was very prompt) and when MIL spilled coffee all over FIL and DH, the waitress quickly helped out (which was greatly appreciated). When the characters started their run through the restaurant, we were the 4th table to get greeted which was nice. We didn't feel rushed with the princesses and my girls (7 & 9 y/o) loved the interaction they received.

Recommendation: I would highly recommend this breakfast in place of CRT. I have now been to both restaurants (CRT & PSB) and I can safely say this is a better character experience then CRT. You are not rushed here and it doesn't seem as crowded.

Our Rating: /5

Dinner: Garden Grill, Future World

**We skipped lunch today since we had a great big breakfast, so no lunch review.**

What We Had:
This is a all-you-care-to-eat, family-style meal. We had biscuits and yeast rolls with honey-orange blossom butter, salad with some type of vinagrette, steak with mushroom Cabernet au jus, turkey with cranberry relish, fried catfish, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans and carrots, and vanilla bread pudding with Bailey's hard sauce for dessert. My kids had some of ours and some chicken strips & mac and cheese.

Our Thoughts:
Food: I know a lot of people do not care for this meal, but my whole family loved it. MIL and I had a lot of the steak, it was tender and cooked just right. FIL is not a beef-eater so he had the fried catfish, turkey, and one of the kids' chicken strips. He thought the turkey was excellent. I thought the catfish was a little on the mushy side, but DH said that's how the texture of catfish is-mushy. We all really liked the bread pudding as well. Now, I have to say, my FIL is not a dessert eater. In fact, he had not had any type of dessert in 2 years, so color-me-shocked when he ate almost every single dessert at WDW . When he got the bread pudding, I didn't think he was going to eat it. When he ate almost the whole thing, MIL & I were in shock. I swear I thought MIL was going to have a heart attack To say the least, everyone loved the bread pudding.

Service: The service was great. The wait staff was very attentive and even plated the catfish seperately because my MIL hates fish and she doesn't care for it being on the same plate. We were given a whole huge bowl of mashed potatoes and stuffing when we asked for seconds as well as with the steak & turkey. Our glasses were filled constantly without having to ask (which I love). Everyone thought this was the best character interaction of the whole trip. Chip & Dale are a hoot and Dale kept stealing our biscuits Pluto was great and was trying to eat my steak and potatoes all evening, and Mickey was in love with my daughters' light up Mickey Ears. All of them came by our table at least 6 or 7 times which we all thought was awesome.

Recommendation:This was the 2nd time we had done this dinner (1st time being in 2005) and it is a definite must-do for every trip.

Rating: /5

I hope everyone enjoys the reviews today.

Up next: Crystal Palace, Pecos Bills, & Mitsukoshi Teppanyaki

 

[poohfan]

Great report! We're going in August and are just starting to think about where to eat so I'm looking forward to more of your reviews.

 

[MicheinMA]

Awesome reviews, very detailed. can't wait to read the rest.

 

[RSoxFan]

I'm glad you liked the Garden Grill! I remember those characters as being the best for interactions too. Even though we were two teenagers with our parents, Chip and Dale made it a point to sit down with us and keep coming back and steal our stuff. It was really fun!

We haven't been there in about five years though. I'm glad to hear it's still good.

 

[TruBlu]

Great reviews. Give me more...

 

[jenseib]

Sounds good!

 

[disneyfan551]

Fantastic reviews!! Keep them coming!

 

[disneyquilter]

Hi there Fellow DIS'ers,

Sorry I haven't posted in a while but things have been NUTS over here with work and school and life in general. I will be posting more reviews this weekend for your reading enjoyment. Thanks for hanging in there with me

 

[DLo]

I appreciate the detail in your reviews and your recommendations!!! (and your cute rating system)

Looking forward to more this weekend.

 

[DisneyJo]

Loving your reviews, we're going to both GG and Norway so pleased you enjoyed them!

 

[Busymom85]

Great review. I look forward to hearing more. Garden Grill sounds good.