Ordering from kids' menu at signatures?

[loves to dive]

I'm a small eater as well and have no problems at the signature restaurants. At QS, more often than not I'll either order a kid's meal and use fruit as my dessert and save it for later or ask for no dessert or order an adult meal minus the side. At TS I tend to order an appetizer, things like soup and salad or crab cakes for my entre. My son is a big eater so it works for us. I have been known to just eat half an adult meal and send the rest back and I've been known to order off the kid's menu at TS as well. We never do the dining plan and my ordering smaller portions have nothing to do with money, we don't even look at prices on the menus. I have also been known to tell the wait staff that I'm a small eater and asking them what they recommend.

 

[Lisa F]

I should try to convey that the main thing my dad likes about dining out these days is the ambience and the experience of being somewhere different, having nice conversation, etc. He would love to try the signatures for their atmosphere, but the food is very secondary for him (I'm the opposite and am all over the food ). I was looking for advice on finding a way to make us both happy, and being able to order the kids meals sounds like the perfect solution. I have received some great advice, so thank you all!

there are good options on all of the signature kid menus. California Grill has a kid's grilled beef tenderloin, a citrus glazed chicken breast and seared wild salmon... none of which sound bad to me. They all seem to be super flexible with mixing up the sides to taste. Flying fish has corn battered shrimp with grits and a grilled beef tenderloin as well. Some of them do have a lesser cut of steak... Narcoossees has a flat iron, but not everyone loves filet and some people prefer other cuts. Jiko has pan seared scallops and steak among more traditional "kid" choices. Artist point as a petite filet outright. IMO the choices at signatures are great, even on the kid's menu and it does sound like exactly what the OP's dad would be looking for... smaller and more simple but still high quality.

I don't have a ton of experience because my son and I shared a few things on DxDDP, did a lot of buffets and he ordered off the adult menu at signatures... the only kid meal he ate was at Coral Reef on the CP package and he got the kid's steak. It was not a cheap steak - in fact I was surprised to find that although the steak is a strip steak on the adult menu, the kid steak appeared to be beef tenderloin tips. I bet Disney butchers their own filets out of whole tenderloins and I bet some of the small pieces end up on the kid's menu in various places. It was cooked a perfect medium (as ordered) and very tasty (he let me try a piece). His portion was actually quite large, I haven't reviewed it yet in my dining report but I will. I think when they just say "steak" on the menu you kind of get what you get but on the day we went to CR it was tenderloin.

In fact I think if anything "crappy kid food" is getting harder to find at disney as kid menus step it up.

 

[Pumbaa_]

I prefer apps to entrees almost always. Dad might be able to make this work

If not, order what makes him happy!

 

[EvilQueenT]

We do TIW not a ddp but in Oct 2014 my step mother ordered an adult size portion of a kids menu item at Cali Grill no drama (other than me dying a little inside for her not trying something more daring than kids chicken nuggets lol) and November 2016 my granddaughter also had an adult size portion of a kids menu item at Flying Fish no drama.