June 3-13 Dining Reviews, DVC member on DDP more added

[bsusanmb]

Dinner at Crystal Palace- Always love this restaurant and its airy dining room. The characters are Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, and Tigger and they go table to table, signing autographs and posing for pictures. The buffet is good, with nice salad selection, homemade mashed potatoes, kid's buffet, carving station with turkey breast and prime rib, lots of sides, and great desserts - love the tiramisu. We dined twice in the 10 days here. I'd give this a B+

Breakfast at the hotel - WL Roaring Forks - they have changed and have easy access to the food now. Pancakes (4 for adult, 2 for child) with either bacon, eggs or hashbrowns, or you can get everything, plus a cheese croissant. Usual bottled OJ. Pancakes were really good! B

Dinner at Narcoose's. DH and I had the whole lobster - 2 pounds each. They come out totally cracked and prepared so that the meat is easy to access. Roasted asparagus comes with it. DD had the surf and turf and both meals were great. We had salads for appetizers and they were good. Desserts are fancy - I really like the key lime creme brulee. The lobster tends to be a little too chewy for me, but I always go for it! Great bread with olive oil. Great service. A-

Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. We love this place because we always know what to expect. It never changes. Pilgrim's feast for DH and I. The turkey is white meat and always moist and flavorful. Large servings that could feed 2 people easily. Mashed potatoes, stuffing and nice crisp green beans. DD had cheeseburger and fries. Great! We all had the salad with strawberry dressing and it was excellent. Dessert was strawberry shortcake with a real biscuit for the shortcake, and wonderful vanilla ice cream. Service great, and I really like this restaurant for dinner also with the characters. A-

Dinner at Tempanyaki Japan in Epcot - great meals. Seaweed salad for DH and I as appetizer and DD had tossed salad. You cannot get the sushi as appetizer on DDP. We all had the filet mignon and it was EXCELLENT - so tender and done medium rare. Green iced tea is great also. My only complaint here is that the service is slow and each time we have dined there we have to hunt down the server for drink refills. DH had green tea ice cream and it was just like the green tea frappacino at Starbucks - very good. DD and I had chocolate ice cream and it was really good. A-

Lunch at Studio Catering at MGM. Surprisingly good!! Pork Barbeque sandwich was great, although huge and I didn't eat the bun, with large bag of chips, Large coke, roasted chicken adn rice and beans - very tasty! The desserts were great- choc cake moist and mild chocolate, fruit eclair with fresh blueberries, strawberries and kiwi over vanilla pudding in eclair shell, and Panna Cotta which was a vanilla cream dessert with orange slice on top. THis was a great lunch and a popular place! B+

Sunshine Season at the Land Lunch - sweet and sour chicken with rice, a beef dish with rice, none of which was all that great - I wouldn't eat it again. But dessert was anything from the bakery, except kids get limited choices - I believe it was a cookie, a brownie or a rice krispie treat. The starberry shortcake was good, fruit tulip to die for - blueberries, strawberries and kiwi piled on a vanilla cream filled cookie shaped cup dipped in chocolate WOW, and it was $3.99, and rice crispie treat - always good. C+

Sunshine Season at the Land Snacks - from the bakery - Apple flan was prettier than it tasted, fruit tulip WOW as above, butterfinger cheesecake was great, strawberry shortcake. Great place for pastry! B+

Dinner at Boma - Fabulous food. My favorites are the soups mullagatany (sp) and butternut squash soup are just AWESOME. Everything imaginable, and taste sensations are great - pickled watermelon rind is wonderful and HOT, service is great, cooks are friendly and helpful. I would never miss this restaurant. There is something for everyone, including kids. A

Lunch and dinner at Beaches and Cream at Beach Club - great burgers, best ice cream sundaes ever and home of the kitchen sink. All of us had cheeseburgers/hamburgers and fries. Burgers are great and served with tomatoe, lettuce and dill pickle spear. Vanilla coke, chocolate diet coke. Sundaes are $7.99 - my favorite is the milky way - 3 scoops of vanilla with caramel and hot fudge sauce with a milky way, slivers white and dark chocoate with a cherry, hot fudge brownie sundae with 3 scoops of vanilla, hot fudge, whipped cream, etc, No Way Jose with peanut butter sauce and hot fudge, everything here is good. Place is adorable, 50's theme but small and gets noisy - free juke box! A-

Lunch at Peppermill Market at CSR- cheeseburg and fries, ribeye steak and fries, ham and cheese sub, watermelon (tastless), Edy's soft serve. Food is ok, but nothing great. When we went to pay our bill, we were informed that soft serve is not part of the meal plan - hum, less than $4, and is included at WL, but they didn't charge us. C+

Will continue later.....

 

[ufgator]

Thanks for your reviews so far.

 

[donaldtutter]

great reviews!! loking forward to next part!

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reviews ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[honeybee30]

Lunch at Studio Catering at MGM. Surprisingly good!! Pork Barbeque sandwich was great, although huge and I didn't eat the bun, with large bag of chips, Large coke, roasted chicken adn rice and beans - very tasty! The desserts were great- choc cake moist and mild chocolate, fruit eclair with fresh blueberries, strawberries and kiwi over vanilla pudding in eclair shell, and Panna Cotta which was a vanilla cream dessert with orange slice on top. THis was a great lunch and a popular place! B+

Thanks for the review of Studio Catering. Always looking for decent CS at MGM. Have to try it next trip (instead of ABC Commissary ).

 

[tinkandbelle]

Thanks for the great reviews and the grades for each. Glad to read your review about Narcooses-as was wondering how they serve the lobster.
How do they serve the lobster with the surf and turf entree?
Concerned about it being overcooked but sounds like it's worth a try. thks,

 

[Tinkerbell_Girl]

Thanks for your reviews! Those desserts at Sunshine Seasons sound so good! I can't wait to try one!

 

[bsusanmb]

The surf and turf at Narcoose's is a filet and a lobster tail, usual presentation, nice size and very good. If you love lobster, you will love the whole lobster here also. Even the claws are cracked and all you do is pull the meat out! It is so good, and such a nice, airy place.

 

[trvlr4301r]

At Beaches & Cream, what do they let you have for dessert on the dining plan?

 

[tinkerbeth]

Thanks for the reviews!

Beth

 

[bsusanmb]

Ok, Alfredo's in EPCOT - sorry to say this. I was hoping my 3rd try would be the charm, but alas, it was HORRIBLE! The calamari was great as appetizer which DH and I had. DD had the alfredo as an appetizer, and she kept telling me to try it. I should have and I could have quickly changed my order. I am Italian, and my family comes from a long line of chefs and cooks. Perhaps it is the Northern Italian food - but that Alfredo sauce was awful. It was just cheese, with a sour, bitter taste. The homemade pasta was terrible. I make my own egg noodles and they are like silk when they are cooked correctly. Well, DH and I couldn't eat the fetucini Alfredo. DD had the lasagna and she and DH loved it - I don't like their sauce. And for the bread, they served these rolls - I expected great Italian crusty bread with an airy center - no. The rolls were average and not good. Dessert was tiramisu and it was ok. I have tried to like this restaurant, but I think it is the worst in all WDW. And this was my 3rd dinner to throw out. I found the recipe for the Alfredo on Deb Will's site and there really is nothing in it but cheese - so I know why it tasted so awful. I cook much much better than this restaurant.... Rating D

Snacks in Magic Kingdom - Liberty Square we got baked potatoes from the potatoe cooker and roasted corn on the cob - the corn was SWEET and just right - warm and with a just done. Potatoe was good. A-

Snacks in Magic Kingdom - Adventureland - pineapple float was GREAT! One day we got the pinapple and vanilla swirl and the portion was a nice size. A few days later, the servers were only putting enough soft serve in the little white cup up to the edge - not worth it. But we love the dole whip stand
Grade A

Lunch at WL Roaring Forks CS - really good sandwiches that are gourmet type. And you can get yogurt mixed with fresh fruit of your choice and granola - it is good! For dessert we had either soft serve ice cream or cookies, but my all time favorite was a miniature chocolate bundt cake with white chocolate drizzled on top. It was so moist and delicious. B+

Flame Tree Barbeque in AK - CS ribs with baked beans and corn on cob, beef barbeque sandwhich with baked beans and corn on cob, kids meal of hot dog and fries and applesauce. Dessert was key lime pie, chocolate cake with chocolate icing and a frozen lemonade. Baked beans are to die for, ribs great, I mixed the baked beans sauce with my barbeque beef and it gave it flavor, corn was overdone and tasteless. kids' meal good. Desserts great. All in all I would give it a B+

Sci Fi at MGM - we ran in here and got hot fudge sundaes since it was already 10pm and we were last to be seated. I hated to keep those people there waiting on us, so we got sodas and sundaes. The sundae was good, but nothing like Beaches and Cream. The place is cute, and well worth it for kids and teens. The ice cream was melted from the hot fudge, and there was very little ice cream for the price. B-

Harry someone or another's fish and chips in EPCOT - can't remember the last name, but the fish here is so good, so mild and always consistently good. The only problem is that they only have those shortbread cookies for dessert and they just don't do it for us....B+ or A-

The best meal by far was ...... California Grill. We had 5:30 ressies and we had a window seat with a gorgeous view of all of Magic Kingdom and the resorts. Server was wonderful. She did not intimidate me at all like other servers have at this restaurant in the past. I asked her what so many dishes were and she explained them and was so nice and smiley. Appetizers - DH had the large sushi sampler - 12 pieces of great sushi for $24. DD had the flat bread with 3 cheeses and sundried tomatoes - delicious and she ate every bite. I had the citrus infused shrimp with cous cous salad and the server was right - it was delicious, and so flavorful. Bread was a crusty warm sour dough with extra virgin olive oil for dipping. It was wonderful and what I expected from Alfredo's. We all had the filet mignon and asked for the sauce on the side. Last time we had the filet cooked with the sauce, and it pretty much took away from the meat. The filets were LARGE, and cooked perfect medium rare. Melted in your mouth and if you just dip it a little bit in the sauce, great. Snow pea pods excellent, crispy and seasoned well. Only disappointment was the potatoes au gratin - similar to the kind you can make from a box. We didn't eat them. Each of us got a different dessert. DH had rhubarb/strawberry dessert, DD had Grand Celebration dessert and it was various things including a raspberry sorbet. I had the banana and butterscotch dessert and it was TO DIE FOR - oh, what a great meal. A+++++++

Ohana dinner - we've been to WDW about 40 times and this was our first meal here. We were pleasantly surprised. The sauces were great - my favorite was the peanut one. Salad was delicious - dressing was a key lime type of vinegrette. Chicken wings in a sweet sauce were great, vegetables were good, a mix of things including snow pea pods, and shrimp. The meat was very good. I loved the turkey dipped in the peanut sauce. Didn't care for sausage, beef good. The dessert was bread pudding with banana foster sauce on the side to add as you liked. Great vanilla ice cream on top. It was so good. B+/A-

I'll check my receipts and see what else I can add. We saved about $500 plus on the meals, however, we probably would not have eaten so much if we didn't have the DDP.

 

[Princess4Eeyore]

Thank you for the wonderful reviews! I really enjoyed reading it - We are going to Narcoossee's on our upcoming trip. My best friend is not sure between the surf & turf OR Whole lobster ... her question - "is the surf & turf a medium portion" - she is not a very big eater.

Thank You.

 

[bsusanmb]

I don't know if the surf and turf is what I'd call a medium portion - I suppose it is if I think of other restaurants that serve it.

Beaches and Cream allows any dessert - I didn't ask about the kitchen sink. I had it once, and have no interest in it, so I didn't ask. We had the big sundaes that were $7.99, and they are great

 

[TigerKat]

Loved Loved Loved your review of CG!! We will be going for our first time in November and I'm so excited!

 

[Princess4Eeyore]

Thanks for the reply ... do you know on the surf and turf - what size the steak was?

 

[jjohnson]

So the large sushi platter is included in the DP at CG? WOW

 

[oybolshoi]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. We're going to try California Grill for the first time in October thanks to them opening up the dining plan to DVC members and it's good to see that this restaurant continues to get high marks from most people. We're really looking forward to this dinner!

What did you think of the DDP overall as a DVC member? Do you think it's a good value? I don't know that we would have added it on if it were just going to be the DH and me, but my parents are coming with us and we thought the DDP would give us all a chance to try a lot of different things without breaking the bank. On the surface it does look like a lotta bang for the buck - would you agree?

Thanks!

Brenda

 

[bsusanmb]

It really is a lot of bang for the buck. I have had the DDP when I stayed at the resorts, but we had AP's and we always had to purchase a one day pass. Being DVC members, you don't need to purchase any passes, but of course you need one to dine in the parks.

When you look at the dinner meals and include tax and gratuity, you can't beat it. It is like getting snacks and counter service free, and sometimes more.

I would make my ADR's in advance though. In the past it wasn't difficult to get the seatings you wanted, but I think that with the popularity of the plan, and now with the DVC members taking advantage, it is more difficult.

I made my CG ADR's 3 months out. They sometimes are closed for private functions. I also made my character dining early.

I will add that I forgot the meal at Mama Melrose's. We had dinner there. We did not like the food. DH had the salmon, and the veg consisted of two slices of zuchini, and some kind of a root that was inedible. Salmon was ok. Calamari was very good. Salad I couldn't eat. The dressing was not palatable. Some sort of cheese appetizer, melted with sauce in it was ok. Eggplant dish was very bland, California cooking - with sliced tomatoes and slices of breaded eggplant. I used the sauce that came with the cheese to make it edible. Steak was made well. It wasn't worth the $144 it cost. Won't eat there again. There are many other great places!

 

[oybolshoi]

Thanks for the feedback about the DDP and the advice about ADRs. I'm so anal that I made every reservation we wanted back in April right around the 180-day mark. I know how busy it can be during the F&W Festival so I thought I'd better err on the side of caution.

Thanks again for your input.