Quick Trip Reviews 12/10-12/12 (sorry, no pics)

ericaseiler

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jun 13, 2005
We took a quick trip to celebrate our new AP's and DD2's 5th Birthday. Typically, we stay on site but we got a great rate at the new Marriott Townplace Suites so decided to save a little money and check it out. It was very close to property and we had a very nice room. They have a free breakfast buffet which left a lot to be desired but...it was free and held us for a little while in the mornings.

I frequent the board and appreciate everyone's reviews so I wanted to leave some from this trip in case people were interested in the places we ate :) I am a vegetarian as is DD2 (she doesn't like meat). DH and DD1 are not.

We arrived and went straight to Disney Springs. We had been in January and were wow'ed at the changes that had taken place this year. I let DH choose where to eat lunch as he knows I always choose WPE. While Homecoming and Frontera are on our list of places to try, we decided on D'Luxe Burger. The restaurant is deceivingly big--not sure why the line/ordering area is so small for a restaurant of that size. We had to wait few minutes to order our food but it didn't take too long to be brought to our table once ordered. DH had the BBQ Classic, I had the Cluck Burger but subbed the veggie burger patty for the chicken one (the green bean salad that comes on way the veggie burger is suppose to come didn't appeal to me. It was no problem to get the veggie burger how the Cluck comes), DD 1 had the kids cheeseburger and we ordered a large fries and all the dipping sauces to share. Everything was just OK. They tell you when you order that the burger comes Medium (" a little pink in the center" is what the girl said). DH said perfect, that's how I like it. It was clearly over cooked. I have seen pics in reviews too and most all of them are cooked above medium temp. He ate it anyway and said it was OK. The veggie burger-- well, I applaud them for doing some different and not throwing a frozen veggie burger patty on a bun. However, it was really really bland. Even with the avocado and garlic and herb sauce. The buns are terrific. DH and I both agreed they were the best thing there. The fries were OK. They had a little bit of a funny taste/bite to them. Nothing stood out as great with the dipping sauces. We all enjoyed the honey mustard the most. Definitely would try other places next time we are at Disney Springs.

We stopped at Ghiradelli for dessert and the four of us shared the Sea Salt Caramel Sundae. It's a favorite of ours. While I think it could be bigger for the $11.50 price tag, we still feel satisfied when we all share. We get it just as it comes (with the vanilla ice cream).

We stopped at Amorette's on the way out. Everything in there looks amazing. We were worried that it all looked great but wouldn't taste as good as it looked (a theme we notice with Disney food). We were wrong. We got a mini mickey cake to go and ate it later as a snack. We all shared it and all agreed that it was excellent. Can't wait to return to try other things.

We weren't sure what we wanted for dinner this evening. We were in AK and were planning on QS somewhere in or out of the park. I scored an ADR for Sanaa while on the Safari. We had been there about 4 years ago and were less than impressed. We have great Indian food at home for less than 1/4 of the price of Sanaa but after seeing the bread service (we didn't get last time) and always trying to give restaurants the benefit of the doubt/a second chance, we went for it. We knew the girls would enjoy watching the animals and they would love the bread service. We checked-in and I asked if it was possible for a window seat. She informed us it would be 45min to an hour so we said no thank you. We were surprised that it wasn't very busy (6pm Sat night). We waited only a few minutes and were shown to a table next to a just empty window table. I asked the woman seating us if that table wasn't reserved for anyone coming in, would it be OK to sit there instead. She went and checked and we were able to sit there. Was very nice of her! It got dark quickly so we only had a few minutes of viewing time. Our server was OK. Nice enough but seemed hurried (he had a big party he was taking care of too and some other tables). He suggested the bread service and I said yes, we'd like that. He didn't ask which breads we wanted so when he came back with the drinks, I asked if he put in the order for the bread service because we'd like all naan. He said it was too late and seemed annoyed. It ended up coming out with all naan and he stopped by our table to say he was able to let them know in time. I wasn't very hungry so I told DH to order what he wanted and I'd have a bite or two of his (plus the bread service). He ordered the biryani , shrimp on the side. I had a bite-it was OK. He sahred the same sentiment. DD1 wanted butter chicken so she shared with DD2 who wouldn't eat the chicken but would eat the green beans and rice. The kids meal comes with about 1/4 cup of rice, if that. DD ended up hating the chicken as she is used to white breast meat and this was dark. The flavor wasn't the problem (she loves chicken tikka masala normally (and said Sanaa's was a bad version of it.) but she couldn't get over the tough texture of the chicken. We asked for more naan and the server informed us it would be $2.50 a piece. That was fine. I have heard of others just getting more (so I guess it depends on the server). They did bring out a nice dessert for DD's Bday. We all loved the bread service and the atmosphere is very nice but that's about it. Not sure we'd ever go back unless it was just for a drink and the bread service.

We had less than mediocre breakfast at the hotel the next morning. We had early dinner reservations so just snacked on popcorn and a Mickey pretzel during the day at MK. Both were delicious. FYI, the pretzel is listed that it comes with cheese sauce and is $6. If you don't want the cheese sauce (we didn't), it's $1 less.

So, I knew we'd be in HS in the evening for DD's Bday as I thought she'd enjoy the Jingle Bam lights/fireworks (it was nice but we miss the Osborne lights). I made reservations at MM because DD loves pasta and it looked like a cute/fun place. After seeing some of the great reviews on Minnie's Holiday Dine last year, we decided to book that. I was a little nervous about it as I am not a big buffet fan and I have read most of the H&V reviews. We were pleasantly surprised by the Disney Jr. bkfst we did there 3 years ago and knew DD would love eating w/ the characters on her bday so we took a chance. It was worth it because DD had a wonderful time and both DD's said it was great and enjoyed the food. Otherwise, it wasn't really worth it. We were disappointed in the lack of special 'extras' that seemed to be present last year but not this year. More decoration, holiday cakes around, holiday food touches like cranberry butter, etc.-- We didn't notice any of that on our visit. Our server was so sweet though she didn't clear plates quickly or bring ask/voluntarily bring drink refills. The character interaction was very nice. The food was OK. I was not expecting much at all so it was slightly better than I was expecting. I asked for the chef to take me through the buffet. I have been a vegetarian for over 25 years and normally can navigate through a buffet/menu pretty well but I know chicken stocks can be hidden in things like potatoes and pork products cooked with veggies, etc. so I asked if he'd mind showing me what was OK for me to eat. He was nice and thorough and there was more veg items than I was expecting. Nothing was great, nothing was horrible. DH noted that it would have been nice to have turkey gravy with turkey- there was only brown gravy available. The 'kids' area was filled with all sorts of kids food. My girls enjoyed the rice, broccoli, potatoes, tater tots and chicken nuggets (DD1). The pretzel rolls and dinner rolls depended on the batch- some were rock hard, others were semi-soft. The desserts- not good. I can't think of one dessert where I said, Yum! And I had everyone offered on my plate (we all took bites/shared). We had an early dinner ADR -3:25. We didn't have to wait and it was not chaotic in there at all. It did start to get very busy as we were leaving around 4:45. A very expensive meal (which, IMO, should have included the pic you take with Goofy when you walk in) that was worth it only because my kids enjoyed it so much.

The next morning we had another less than mediocre hotel bkfst. We were in Epcot for RD and by 10:30 we were hungry. We all shared the following:

Les Halles: Chocolate Croissant and Tartine Aux Formages. We have found this is a place where everything looks better than it actually is. We asked for the Tartine warm. It was OK. DH said it tasted like Roller Skating Rink pizza. The chocolate croissant was lacking a key ingredient: chocolate.

Karamell Kuche: stopped to grab some caramel popcorn to bring home and we got a chocolate caramel cookie. The cookie was OK in that the texture was nice but it lacked good/deep chocolate flavor. Didn't try the popcorn as we gave it to my parents as a thank you for watching our dog :)-- It smelled good though!

Pretzel from Germany: Upon walking out of Karamell, DH spotted the huge pretzels and we both thought they looked great. They weren't. $10 for a pretzel bigger than the girls heads-they thought it was fun. It wasn't really warm and was just OK. We all agreed the small Mickey pretzel from the cart was much better

Cronut: We've been hearing about this thing forever so we were glad to try it. Maybe we are hard to please?!? We all agreed that while it was good, it wasn't great and we would be fine not getting one again. DD2 who normally isn't a big donut fan (like DD1 is) liked it the most

Oh! I almost forgot: we had our first Dole Whip (been there many times and have NEVER had one). The 4 of us shared it and loved it. Next time we said we'd try the citrus swirl and see which we like better.

So...there you have it. Sorry no pics. If it sounds like we are picky...we kind of are. We enjoy eating out and trying new things- Don't mind spending money on good food and almost never dine at chain places. My eyes are always bigger than my stomach when it comes to Disney food and it seems pictures always make the food look better than it actually tastes (to me anyway...and DH). We are heading back in January. I'll be back with a review and try to remember to get some pics :)
 
Hope you enjoy the food on your next trip more. Always a bummer to leave disappointed. Glad you had a delicious dole whip!
 
We weren't really disappointed. Honestly, it's just kind of what we expect from Disney food.

I wasn't trying to be negative, just trying to be honest in my reviews. I know everyone has different opinions and something that would be amazing and delicious for one person, may not be for another and vice versa. I also know that two people can eat at the same exact restaurant at the same exact time and order the same exact thing and have two very different experiences :)
 

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