That skinny girl can eat! A dining review for Marseeya's June WDW trip.

[deany]

We have an ADR at Boma's for dinner on Oct. 3. I am really looking forward to going there plus I am really eager to see AKL. Just one problem - DD's BF19, is a pretty picky eater but he loves pasta and mac and cheese, chicken strips, etc. Is it OK for an adult to go over to the kids section for mac and cheese or would this be considered bad manners. He is a big guy - a hockey player and 6'3" so he won't really "blend" in with all the kids. There is no way that I am cancelling this ADR. (He does not eat beef, just chicken and pasta and dessert)

 

[Marseeya]

There will be plenty different kinds of food for him and nobody would even notice! The kids section is right smack dab in the middle of all the rest of the food. The buffet is really one lonnnnnnng table, just sectioned off into the separate "pods."

Have fun! I'm so jealous.

Oh wait. I shouldn't be jealous because I'll be at Boma on October 1 with a few other women from the DISboards.

 

[kyirish25]

Wonderful reviews!

Love how you update page 1 with the location of the other reviews

 

[Marseeya]

Tuesday, June 6
1900 Park Fare

When I was planning our meals for this trip, I gave Rhiannon a choice of princess dinners. Last year, we did CRT and PSB, so I asked if she wanted to do one of those again or if she wanted to try something different, and she chose Cinderella's Gala Feast. Rhiannon is a classic -- she loves ball gowns and dressing up, classical music, and anything fancy. I knew she was going to swoon over the Grand Floridian.

Because I wanted to make this a special dinner, I made a reservation for both girls for the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and I asked Sunshine's mom to send a nice dress with her so that they could dress up after their makeovers and eat dinner in style. They were both so excited to be able to have a fancy dinner! Here's a picture of Rhiannon w/Cinderella. It's the only one I have that shows 1900 Park Fare:

Cinderella's Gala Feast is truly a buffet feast. The choices were mostly American foods. The cold bar had different green salads, macaroni salad, mozzarella & tomato salad, and peel & eat shrimp. All I got from there was the peel & eat shrimp and macaroni salad. The peel & eat was just your normal shrimp as was the macaroni salad (normal, that is, not shrimp ). Nothing to write home about, but still yummy. One thing not to be missed is their strawberry soup. It's a cold soup made from pureed strawberries mixed with something sweet and creamy. Must. Find. Recipe.

When I walked up to the buffet, I noticed a very strong garlic smell and I couldn't place it. I love garlic, so the scent was driving me nuts, trying to figure out which dish had so much garlic in it! They had potatoes and vegetables (the squash medley was very good), but nothing garlicky. Nothing on the meat table had garlic either. On the meat table, they had prime rib, pork loin & turkey. Where's the garlic???

On my way back with a plate full of meat and veggies, I noticed a table off to the side where there was a chef preparing some kind of pasta dish. Finally, I found my source of garlic! The pasta was a shrimp and asparagus alfredo and it was to die for. The asparagus was sauteed, but still crisp, and the shrimp was sizeable. The reason I'd missed this table before was because it was so popular, the pasta skillet was empty the other times I'd passed it, and the chef must have been replenishing her stock. I was only able to get a tiny spoonful, and she promised me that she was making a fresh batch right then. Rhiannon and Dennis kept sneaking bites off my plate (except for the asparagus) and we couldn't get enough of it.

For the kids, they had chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, and pasta w/marinara sauce. Guess what Sunshine had for dinner? Can we say 4 plates of pasta??? This child must have a hollow leg, because I have no idea where she's putting all this food.

1900 Park Fare is definitely a dinner we'll do again. While dining in the castle is an experience in itself, 1900 Park Fare is a wonderful substitution. The Grand Floridian is stunning, and after dinner, it's fun to hop on a ferry to ride over to the Magic Kingdom. The characters we met were Fairy Godmother, Cinderella, Prince Charming, and Suzy & Perla (look out Flowers Child!). The girls were thoroughly charmed by the prince, as was Mom. Why, oh why don't they bring the princes out more often???

 

[bigbabyblues]

Thanks for the detail on Boma, I'm looking forward to that one! Rhiannon looks so pretty all made up, so much fun!

 

[MelanieC]

Thanks for your wonderful reviews! I really enjoyed them!

 

[Marseeya]

I hadn't planned on writing reviews of CS restaurants, but I might throw a couple in. I definitely wanted to share a few things about Mara.

My first impression of Mara on our trip in 2005 wasn't entirely favorable. I felt that the decor was childish and cheap, and it just seemed like a dark dungeon to me. When you first walk in, the lighting is rather dim, but that may be because it's right next to the pool, so coming in from bright daylight could make it seem more dim than it actually is.

Anyway, on to the food. Breakfast is just plain old breakfast food. They have a breakfast platter with scrambled eggs, bacon or sausage, a biscuit, and breakfast potatoes (reminiscent of potatoes with Afritude at Boma. Hmmmm ). If you ask for bacon, you're going to get a BIG ol' pile of bacon. They also have a breakfast wrap/burrito, Mickey waffle, fresh fruit, oatmeal, and cold cereals. For kids, they have a children's breakfast platter, which is a smaller version of the adult, minus (I think) the potatoes. It's all good, hot, and filling.

For lunch and dinner, they have a nice variety of foods. They had burgers, pizza (personal size and larger sizes), and tandoori chicken pizza (looked good, but I didn't try it), African stew, half a roasted chicken, different types of sandwiches, fish & chips, chicken strips, salads, and soups.

I really liked the African stew from last year, so I was looking forward to having it again. It's a mildly spicy stew (curry) with beef, chicken, pork, potatoes and vegetables, served in bread bowl. Frankly, I'm not all that fond of bread bowls. It's a great stew, and I had at least 3 servings of it on this trip.

I also decided to try the butternut squash soup. I'm really not big on pureed soups, but this soup is absolutely deeeeelicious! It's a little on the thick side and has a good, sweet taste -- seems like there might be a touch of nutmeg in it, but I'm not sure. I couldn't get enough of that soup, and I'm definitely on the lookout for a recipe.

Another dish I tried at Mara was the half a chicken. I really wish I would have tried it earlier! The chicken was just a normal roasted chicken, but it was served on a bed of seasoned couscous and a side of sauteed vegetables. Wow, it was really fantastic!

For desserts, they had cheesecakes, brownies, carrot cakes, and -- best of all -- a dessert called "Taste of Boma," which had 3 zebra domes and 2 chocolate mousse crisps. My mouth waters just thinking about them.

For kids: mac & cheese, chicken strips, and rotisserie chicken. Poor kids. The adults certainly have all the fun in the restaurants.

 

[richard_andmel]

More great reviews. We always have two dinners and two breakfasts at Boma. I really enjoyed your review of it.

Mel

 

[disneynan]

I have the recipe for that butternut squash soup. I agree that it is DELICIOUS!!!
It was not on the buffet the last time we ate at Boma. Wish I knew it was available at Mara.

Thanks for the great reviews. I have really enjoyed reading them. If I can't be eating at WDW's awesome restaurants, then I want to read about someone else's meals.

FYI, on one of our visits to Boma, we commented to the server how much we loved the food and she provided us with a card to request recipes. The recipes were in my e-mail account when we arrived home.

 

[wilma-bride]

Still really enjoying your reports - please say there are more to come

 

[TruBlu]

Great reviews! Thanks!

 

[MushyMushy]

Last year when we did Epcot, we ate at the Electric Umbrella. I have no idea why, with all the wonderful World Showcase options there are, that we would eat there.

This trip we decided to try Tangierine Cafe, which I now have a love/hate relationship with. Our day was pretty scheduled out, because we do everything based on our FP return times for rides. We had an 11:40 return time to Test Track, so we wanted to be at Morocco right at 11:00 when it opened, and planned on zipping right into Tangierine Cafe at opening.

Lesson #1: There will be no "zipping" at Tangierine Cafe! Those CMs are on their own time table, fast passes be damned! We showed up at 11 on the dot, only to be told "10 minutes! We open in 10 minutes!" so no problem, we just had ourselves a seat outside. Five minutes passed and a squirrel darted into the cafe! Sunshine and Rhiannon were fascinated and wanted to catch a picture of the cuteness, but when they looked in the doorway, Sunshine shouted, "Oh no! They're stomping at the squirrel and chasing it with a broom!"

Quickly realizing that the squirrel might not have such a happy ending, I ordered the girls back from the door. Fortunately, the CMs weren't out to kill the poor squirrel, but merely wanted to chase it out the back. *whew*

Finally, a half hour later, we, along with about 10 other families waiting to enter, were admitted to the restaurant with huge smiles and welcomes. We were among the first in line, but the CMs were sooooo incredibly slow. Friendly, but slow.

After speaking with a very nice woman outside the restaurant, I ordered a lamb and chicken Shawarma platter on her recommendation, while Dennis ordered the lamb Shawarma platter. The platter was served with spiced grilled lamb & chicken, along with pita bread, hummus, couscous salad, and the BEST tabbouleh I've ever tasted (it had just enough lemon juice without overpowering it as is my usual experience). The lamb and chicken were perfect -- not too dry, but grilled just a little bit crispy on the outside. Very flavorful. My mouth waters just thinking about it. The hummus was very good as well, but I wasn't blown away by it. I make my own hummus, so I know how to make it just the way I like it.

For dessert, they included baklava, which was okay, nothing special.

The girls each had pizza that seemed to be grilled on a pita crust. They loved it, and it looked good to me, even though I don't normally like children's pizza at CS places.

If you find yourself in the WS, and wanting to try something different, definitely give the Tangierine Cafe a try! I'm not sure if they're normally slow like they were that day, but I wouldn't care if they were -- that's how good the food was.

I have a picture I might edit in later. My online storage isn't working right now.

 

[erikthewise]

Wonderful reviews!
-- It's always like that waiting at 'Ohana. Very little room to wait so a dozen people look like a crowd (and there's usually more than that).
-- I couldn't believe your description of "Sunshine" at Boma! Is she 6 feet tall or something?!

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Thanks for the great reviews.

 

[ks12066]

Thanks for the great reviews.

 

[MushyMushy]

June 8, 2006
California Grill

After a long, grueling day at Epcot (but with that wonderful lunch at Tangierine Cafe!), all we wanted to do was go back to the resort, hang out at the pool and chill for a while. A long while. However, silly me, I had the grand idea of making all my ADRs as early as possible, so our ADR for CA Grill was at 5:30. Dennis called to ask about changing the time, but it would have cost us $25 to cancel the original reservation to make the new one. We were seriously considering it, that's how tired we were, but they didn't have any openings anyway. Oh well.

The girls, after their lovely dinner at 1900 Park Fare, were looking forward to a nice dress up dinner. Rhiannon is used to eating out quite a bit with us, and has been to a few upscale restaurants over the years, but Sunshine doesn't go out all that much. I wasn't too worried about her, as she's a very quiet and subdued kid anyway. So, they got themselves dressed, and I did the best I could with their hair to try to recreate their look from the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique -- I didn't do such a bad job.

We arrived at the CA Grill around 5:00, and they seated us right away. One benefit to arriving so early is that you're pretty much guaranteed a great seat, and we weren't disappointed!

One thing that really disappointed me was the other diners. When you make reservations at CA Grill, they specifically tell you that there is a dress code, yet there were so many women in ragged jean shorts, men wearing baseball caps, and just plain inappropriate dress. I'm not picky, and I'm certainly no fashionista. My idea of a great outfit is jeans and a tee shirt. But come on... isn't it nice to have a nice dinner out once in a while and dress UP a bit? The girls noticed it too, and it made them feel really special to be the only kids there who were so dressed up.

Anyway, we had the most wonderful server, and I hope I can put his name here -- it's David. He was great! Very proper, without being stuffy, and extremely knowledgeable about the menu and wines. He also seemed very friendly and approachable.

For appetizer, I got the dungeness crab California roll, and it was excellent. Totally fresh and rolled well. Dennis got the snake in the grass, which I didn't try because I'm not quite as adventuresome with my sushi as he is. He loved it. Because we paid for adult credits for Rhiannon, we went ahead and got a third appetizer to share with the whole table -- a sushi sampler. The girls at least tried it, but were NOT impressed.

For an entree, I got the black grouper. The fish seemed to be rubbed with some sort of spices, and was grilled so that the outside formed a blackened, but not spicy, crust on one side. It was absolutely delicious. It came with olive oil mashed potatoes that I wasn't thrilled with, as well as crispy rock shrimp and some kind of lamb sausage. The sausage was pretty good, and the shrimp was excellent. I could have eaten a whole entree of that shrimp!

Dennis got the dayboat scallops and said it was really good. I didn't try it because I was so wrapped up in my own food.

The girls both got pizzas for their entrees and said it was the "best ever!" so there you go.

For dessert, Sunshine got plain vanilla ice cream, while Dennis ordered the stratified chocolate tort, and I got the strawberries forever, which is a goat cheese cheesecake with strawberry soup and a strawberry salad. OH YUM!

Rhiannon got the famous rice crispy sushi plate, which we all loved looking at:

Can you tell she gets some practice with the chopsticks?

After dinner, we all strolled out onto the roof to see the view. CA Grill is so relaxing and wonderful -- it's a must for every trip for us!

ETA: BWAHAHAHAH! The DIS boards has my link edited because I used the word sushi treat as one word and there's a naughty word in it. I'll fix it when I get a chance.