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- Joined
- Sep 20, 2012
Reading along, looking forward to your restaurants
We've never tried sci fi and your review makes me happy we haven'tDay 3 (part 2)
This evening we were supposed to go to Bongos, a place that I have always wanted to try (I was a big Gloria Estefan fan back in the day!). However, about 2 months before we travelled I became aware of the Star Wars fireworks . . . JC is a HUGE Star Wars fan so I was determined that we would see these. The times for them weren’t published but in anticipation for them being around 9pm I moved Bongo’s forward to 6pm to hopefully give us time to do both. When the times were finally published, just two weeks before we left, I nearly had a heart attack to see that the fireworks would be at 7.45pm – what an inconvenient time! So I decided to move the meal to inside DHS if I could get an ADR. At the same time I was reading a Disney “fact” book which told me that memorabilia from The Rocketeer was on Display in Sci-Fi Dine in. This is one of JCs all-time favourite films! It seemed like fate! So after checking about 6 times an hour for days I finally managed to get an ADR there for 5.45pm – perfect! I had never had an interest in Sci Fi, but was quite excited about trying somewhere new so managed to not be too disappointed about Bongos.
Move forward 2 weeks to the night of the meal . . . this was the Wednesday night and Hurricane Matthew was due on the Friday so the weather was “interesting”. We sat on the Disney Bus on our way to DHS and the sky opened – torrential, I cannot see through the bus windows, type of rain. As we approached DHS I asked JC to get the ponchos out of the bag . . . they weren’t there! (Hours later, back in the room there they sat on the bed). If you’ve ever got off a bus at DHS in the rain you will be aware, as we are now, that there is NO shelter. We sort of sprinted / sort of dejectedly walked to security – where there is also barely any shelter – before we could get to the first shop and buy some more ponchos. By then we were soaked to the skin. All this preamble is to explain to you that by the time we finally got to Sci-Fi we were already miserable and grouchy!
The waiting area in Sci-Fi was extremely small and extremely busy. We checked in and were told that there was a “bit of a wait” and that the rest rooms were closed due to an “issue” (the mind boggles). After a few minutes the restrooms reopened so we both went to try and dry off. Annoyingly there were paper towels rather than hand dryers so this wasn’t much use. After asking twice how long a table would be we were finally seated 40 minutes after our ADR time. By now our moods were dire.
I’m just going to get the rest of my rant out of the way and then move on to the actual food – we hated how dark this place was, so dark you could barely read the menus or see the food, we hated sitting with other people who could hear your whole conversation (in our case just a lot of complaining), our server was a lovely man but impossibly slow, and the annoying movie clips on repeat drove us insane. And sitting in soaking wet clothes was not fun (I don’t blame the restaurant for this last part)! I also asked the waiter where the Rocketeer memorabilia was and was told that there wasn’t any – grrrrr (FYI to any fellow fans, there is some in Peevy’s Polar Pipeline, around the lake, which we found a few days later - hurrah)!!!
On to the food! I ordered the build your own angus burger, and I choose cheddar cheese, bacon and caramelized onion to go on it. This is the picture taken with a flash- yes, that’s how dark the restaurant was inside. This was pretty nice – I probably could have done without the onion in hindsight as it made it a bit sickly, but it was a good, standard burger. The fries were chunky and good. This was nothing amazing but it felt so nice to get some hot food in me as I was freezing from the aircon / wet clothes combo.
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JC had the Flame-broiled New York Strip Steak topped with Garlic-Herb Butter and served with Cheesy-Horseradish Potatoes, Seasonal Vegetables, and crispy Onion Rings. He was pretty grouchy by then so I did not dare ask to take a photo! He enjoyed the steak, although it was not as good as the one the night before from Trattoria al Forna. The potatoes were OK. He thought the vegetables were far too hard (I tried them and actually liked them as I prefer my vegetables al dente).
For dessert I ordered the house-made Sci-Fi Candy Bar (White and Dark Chocolate Mousse layered with crispy Pearls sandwiched between Sponge Cake and dipped in Chocolate Gananche. I didn’t like it at all and I don’t often meet a dessert that I can’t find something good about. It was just completely tasteless (even the chocolate), too cold, and the sponge cake didn’t seem to work with the mousse. I left half of it as it wsn't worth the calories. JC ordered the brownie and confirmed that this was my greatest bugbear –it was in fact just chocolate cake cut into a square and called a brownie. I hate it when places do that!! There is a great difference between chocolate cake and brownies! He ate a bite of that and a bite of my dessert and confirmed that mine was the best of the two – yikes. Its pretty rare for us two to leave desserts – I think this might have been a first.
We then had to wait absolutely ages for the bill – we made the fireworks with just a few minutes to spare . . . when an announcement was made that due to the weather they may be cancelled. At that point I almost cried as this whole thing had been to see them. In the end they did a reduced show – the lasers and the videos on the theatre went ahead, but we had only a couple of fireworks as the wind was quite strong by then. What we had was good though and I can’t wait to see them properly next year . . . though I will definitely choose somewhere else to eat!
All in all, this is a never repeat for us, I’m sure its quite fun but its jut not our cup of tea. I’m just so glad we didn’t have to pay – the bill would have been $73 including soft drinks.
Coming up next . . . Backlot Express and House of Blu . . . oh no, no, Good to Go food court instead – darn you hurricane!!
My family ate at Sci-Fi in 2010. I can't remember much about the food, but I think it was just OK. Nobody complained, but nobody raved about it either. I had the same complaints as you. Way too dark, the movie clips on repeat get stale after a while, and the seating arrangement is weird. I understand why it's that way, with the theme of the restaurant, but it's just not my thing.I’m just going to get the rest of my rant out of the way and then move on to the actual food – we hated how dark this place was, so dark you could barely read the menus or see the food, we hated sitting with other people who could hear your whole conversation (in our case just a lot of complaining), our server was a lovely man but impossibly slow, and the annoying movie clips on repeat drove us insane.
My family ate at Sci-Fi in 2010. I can't remember much about the food, but I think it was just OK. Nobody complained, but nobody raved about it either. I had the same complaints as you. Way too dark, the movie clips on repeat get stale after a while, and the seating arrangement is weird. I understand why it's that way, with the theme of the restaurant, but it's just not my thing.
Damn budgets!!!Yay!!! Sonya's back!!