TOO Much food! Our Jan.09 Deluxe Dining Adventure TONS of pics! Completed 3/4

[Uncle Remus]

I'm a little bummed that I only have 4 more reviews to do! So I'm thinking that after I am done with this dining report I'm going to go back in time and review the restaurants we ate at on our Disneymoon in September. I took pictures of the food but never did a review.

If you're askin' for a vote on that idea, I vote YES!!

 

[irongirlof12]

I want to do 1900 PF for breakfast - that stawberry soup looks amazing

 

[tink713]

What a totally awesome "food" review! (and omg it's too ate to be starving like this now! LOL)

I really loved all your photos- they almost make it look like the food is RIGHT THERE in my monitor- like I could take a bite (I wish!)

I'm so sorry you seem to have bad luck on the characters and fun servers! We've had the same thing happen so much to us (the only thing is we end up having to wait for the characters or finally get someone to get them to come back to us- we have kids who want to really see them plus I'm a stickler about if I'm paying THAT MUCH for the meal and we don't even eat that much- then by gosh we're seeing the characters and getting pics of our kids with them!) The only problem with that is with our luck- and characters missing us or having bad timing with us- that by the time we wait on the characters and such the meal takes a really really long time. I don't like giving up that much park time!! This has happened to us so much that the "fun server" type restaurants we won't go to again and we're skipping character meals this trip too. youngest DD doesn't know that yet- hope she doesn't start asking about character meals when we get there! We just have bad luck- we also have never gotten a towel animal at the resorts- not ever.. not even at GF concierge room!- not until our Disney cruise. LOL

WCC- no fun server for us either.
50's primetime- no fun server for us either.
We had to fight to get Lilo to our table at Ohanas... Stitch came by and Lilo totally skipped us!
We thought the food was awful (which stung since we also thought it was so overpriced) at SciFi's.
The only place that was exactly as expected (or better really) in terms of food, how much time it takes, how quickly the characters come by yet don't act rushed/etc. is dinner at 1900 Park Faire and lunch at Crystal Palace... the rest we haven't had great luck.

Awww, why's Mary Poppins being so prissy/bossy?
Well our 2nd trip to WDW we were able to get CRT breakfast (which we didn't think was all that awesome LATER after we did 1900 Park Faire on the next trip LOL) and I still remember our almost 3yr old... and so grateful to Mary Poppins. She talked her out of eating her mickey sucker until AFTER eating atleast some fruit for breakfast! (Our little one ate like a bird back then- hardly ever ate! But she wanted that sucker and no amount of "talking" about it was going to change that- and we didn't want to just take it away and have her pitching a fit on her special princess breakfast!! But Mary Poppins came around and looked JUST LIKE HER and was so sweet and whispered some stuff to our toddler... I forget the exact words she used but it was more the manner/tone she used and how believable she was that she was REALLY MARY POPPINS- she basically told her if she wanted to grow up to be a real princess she'd need to eat some breakfast before having that sucker- something like that... and the look in her eyes I'll never forget. Down went the sucker and she started grabbing and pointing at food she wanted. And she really ate quite a bit before wanting that sucker again! And we didn't even ask Mary Poppins to do that.. somehow she just knew -mind reader maybe? LOL- that we'd really prefer she ate some food and relinquish the big sucker for awhile. LOL

That Mary Poppins in your photo probably would have scared our daughter at that age. LOL

That's so cute about your DD and Mary Poppins. We've been to CRT before and it was probably the best character meal. I haven't completely given up on character meals yet. Oh and we have actually gotten towel animals before, twice on our honeymoon. We got a clown, and two swans. Last trip we didn't though.

If you're askin' for a vote on that idea, I vote YES!!

Thanks I was hoping there would be some yes votes!

I want to do 1900 PF for breakfast - that stawberry soup looks amazing

So yummy I wish I knew how to make it at home!

 

[bjakmom]

I'm a little bummed that I only have 4 more reviews to do! So I'm thinking that after I am done with this dining report I'm going to go back in time and review the restaurants we ate at on our Disneymoon in September. I took pictures of the food but never did a review.

Another YES vote here!! It is so great to see your reviews of some of the places we haven't tried yet!

 

[tink713]

Tutto Italia-lunch

I had been wanting to try this restaurant after so many great reviews here on the Dis, but we couldn't get in. Around 1:30 one afternoon, we walked up and they told us they could sit us in 20 minutes.

We were seated and the bread basket was brought over.

It was a good 20 minutes before our actual server came over to take our drink/appetizer order.

I got a lemonade and for my appetizer I got the fresh mozarrella. It was pretty darn good, and thats saying alot since I dont really care for tomatoes.

DH got the Prosciutto di Parma and a coke. He did not like it. He said that the melon was good but the ham was way too salty for him.

Our waitress was sooo slow. Actually we only saw her about twice the whole meal. Another server brought us our appetizers, our meals, refilled our drinks and brought us our desserts. I think that he even took our orders for our desserts. Our waitress brought us the check.

So we finally got our entrees. I got the Bucattini Pasta without the prosciutto. It was awesome, the sauce was the best part.

DH got the sacchetti - pasta pillows filled with ricotta and mozzarella cheese and pomdoro sauce, I think. Maybe not because his had asparagus and zucchini in it. Hmmm....He thought that this was pretty good, he said it was just like regular raviolis.

I can't find what I got on any of the online menus. It was basically a chocolate and lemon pudding with sugar on top and biscotti on the side. Kind of like small creme brulees but more pudding like. It was very yummy. Too small in my opinion but good.

DH got hmmm...once again I don't see it on the menus. It was a pastry with ice cream in the middle with chocolate sauce on top. He said the pastry part was pretty bland so he just ate the ice cream.

For this meal we used 2 table service credits which our server put on our room key. We then also put our debit card with the bill in order to leave her a tip. When she brought back our receipts it said our debit card had been charged for the tip and she asked us to sign it. Then on the receipt for the room key she asked us to again sign and write in the tip on that line again. So she wanted us to leave her a double tip! That seemed very deceitful. Overall our service here was pretty awful, but we will probably go again in the future because the food was very good.

 

[CPer'sMom]

So yummy I wish I knew how to make it at home!

Here you go!


STRAWBERRY SOUP From 1900 Park Fare

16 oz Strawberries (frozen variety, thawed with juice and pureed)
16 oz Sour Cream
1 T Lemon Juice
2 T Vanilla Extract
1/3 cup Sifted Powdered Sugar
1 T Grenadine Syrup
2 oz Half-and-Half

METHOD OF PREPARATION:

Mix strawberries and sour cream, beat slowly until well mixed. While mixing, add grenadine, lemon juice, vanilla extract and sugar until a smooth consistency. Add half-and-half and mix for five seconds. Chill, shake well before serving. Fresh strawberry halves may be added as a garnish.

 

[tink713]

Oooh thank you so much for the recipe! There's really sour cream in it, weird. It doesn't taste like it! I'm going to have to try to make some this weekend.

 

[schimj]

Hi Tink (and others),

I see that someone posted a recipe for 1900's Strawberry Soup, but DW & I were given a copy on a trip there as well, and thought I'd pass it along too:

Ingredients
2 lbs 8 oz frozen strawberries, thawed with juice
16 oz heavy [whipping] cream
2 oz sour cream
3 oz yogurt
1/2 lb fresh strawberries

Preparation Method
1. Mix thawed strawberries, heavy cream, sour cream & yogurt
2. Beat slowly until well mixed & smooth
3. Chill, shake well before serving
4. Garnish with fresh strawberries, halved.

For what it's worth, we tried this recipe, and it fell a bit short of expectations. We were unable to find the whipping cream on our trip to Target when we were buying the stuff for the soup, and figured we'd substitute Half & Half instead. Biiiiiiiig mistake. We think it would have been much better if we'd waited in hindsight.

Just thought I'd pass the recipe along to anyone who might want it.

 

[tink713]

Hi Tink (and others),

I see that someone posted a recipe for 1900's Strawberry Soup, but DW & I were given a copy on a trip there as well, and thought I'd pass it along too:

Ingredients
2 lbs 8 oz frozen strawberries, thawed with juice
16 oz heavy [whipping] cream
2 oz sour cream
3 oz yogurt
1/2 lb fresh strawberries

Preparation Method
1. Mix thawed strawberries, heavy cream, sour cream & yogurt
2. Beat slowly until well mixed & smooth
3. Chill, shake well before serving
4. Garnish with fresh strawberries, halved.

For what it's worth, we tried this recipe, and it fell a bit short of expectations. We were unable to find the whipping cream on our trip to Target when we were buying the stuff for the soup, and figured we'd substitute Half & Half instead. Biiiiiiiig mistake. We think it would have been much better if we'd waited in hindsight.

Just thought I'd pass the recipe along to anyone who might want it.

Thanks, I might just end up trying that one as it has less ingredients and I am a lazy cook.

 

[tink713]

Ok so heres the list of restaurants that will be in my Sept. 08 dining report which I will be starting shortly. I'm trying to locate all the pictures now.

Chef Mickey's-lunch
Turf Club
Cinderella's Royal Table-breakfast
Grand Floridian Cafe
Wolfgang Puck Express
Earl of Sandwich
San Angel Inn
Coral Reef
Sci Fi
Kona Cafe-breakfast
Crystal Palace-breakfast
Narcoossee's
Liberty Tree Tavern
Goofy's Candy Co.
Columbia Harbor House
Sassagoula Floatworks

and various snacks along the way!

 

[ILoveMK2008]

So glad to hear that you're doing another review... I'll be sad to see this one end!! I love how your DH always orders coke no matter what because my DBF always orders diet coke no matter what. Maybe the occasional margarita, but even then he usually comments, "This isn't as good as a diet coke."

 

[Uncle Remus]

Tutto Italia, it's on my list, I can't wait.

Thanks so much for this fabulous food review, anxious for you to start on the next one.

 

[DWFan4Life]

I just finished reading your reviews and I really love it. Amazing pics you got. It looks you really had a great time. Looking forward for the next review.

Have a nice day.

 

[tink713]

California Grill

This was our first time trying California Grill and I got reservations at 7:20, wishes was at 8:00. Perfect! We felt a little out of place here though, we still had our park attire on, sneakers, short and t-shirts. We thought that the dress would be as casual as it is at Narcoossee's, but everyone was dressed in dresses and suits. Next time we'll know better. So when we arrived we were seated at the most perfect table, right next to the window with an excellent view of the castle.

For my appetizer, I decided to order sushi. I've never tried sushi before but I figured When in Rome...so I ordered the California Roll. I don't think sushi is my thing, it's just a little too fishy for me. But I was glad I tried it.

DH got the triple cheese flatbread. Wow this was sooo good, I could have made a meal of this. He let me have half of it since I wasn't so thrilled about the sushi. So flavorful and cooked to perfection.

For my entree I got the chicken dish. Not sure of the name but it was served with some kind of cabbage. There was barely any meat on this piece of chicken and I don't like cabbage, so I barely ate any of it. Not so great.

DH got the oak fired filet of beef. He loved the first piece of beef but after starting in on the second piece he said the second just didn't have the same taste. He said it tasted way too much or iron. The potatoes were however very good.

For dessert we both decided on the same thing, "The Original" which is butterscotch creme brulee with carmelized bananas and a duo of banana cakes. Wow this was fabulous! It was bigger than most creme brulee's too, I ate all of it. This is now one of my favorite desserts at WDW!

So DH and I weren't thrilled about the entrees but between the flatbread and the dessert, we might come back just for those. Wishes from up there is awesome! We had a perfect view from our seats.

 

[allshookup]

Great reviews! If you do go back to CG, try the shrimp tempura sushi. It's wrapped in rice or soy paper instead of the seaweed & it doesn't taste fishy at all. I'm not a big sushi fan, but I love the tempura sushi at CG!

 

[Michelle_and_Aaron]

I am so excited about your sept dining report! It is sad to see this one coming to an end soon but great reviews of Tutto and Cali Grill. We are doing Tutto this summer and I am super excited about that!

 

[MinnieMom]

We had somewhat of an opposite experience as you at CG. We LOVED all of our food. I don't like raw fish sushi (I think it's called sashimi?!?!), but I love the cooked kind, so we had the California Rolls and thought they were WONDERFUL! For our meal I had the grilled pork tenderloin with goat cheese polenta and that was absolutely to die for and we had the same dessert as you, but we felt our service was very lacking. I don't know what it was, but we just didn't feel he was very attentive and he made us feel extremely out of place like CG was just too good for us. We had changed before we went, so we were dressed nicely and we were celebrating our anniversary there - I know it was marked on the ressie, but nothing was said - not even a Happy Anniversary. I know you shouldn't expect anything, but after seeing all the great reports of others being wished well and given a dessert, I have to admit I did go in with my hopes up that it would somehow be made into a special dinner . . . nada!

Because of that I would actually be uncomfortable going back. I don't know that it will stop me just because the food was so amazing, but I will definitely think twice about it before we go.

 

[ShannonMB]

I'm a little behind, just catching up finally.

I had to comment on Sci-Fi. We were just there last week for the first time, and eeewww, I did NOT like it. I asked for my burger medium-well, because I don't like any pink in my burgers. Well, it was more like a burnt hockey puck. The oreo shake I had was great, as was the peanut butter choc cake. I guess I'm alone in not liking the atmosphere, either. Too dang dark. I wish the "dashboard" lights were at least a little brighter so I could see my burnt burger while I was eating it. Don't think I'll be back. Service? Yucky, too.

I have got to try one of the better breakfast buffets next time. We don't usually eat a big breakfast, so I've never done a TS one at WDW. Your 1900 PF review is making me re-think that one!!!!

Tutto Italia looks GREAT, too. I'm definitely going there next trip!

Thanks for all the info and pics!!! Definitely "food for thought" as another poster put it!!

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Great reviews of tutto italia and California Grill.

 

[angelsmith52]

That was just great! Thank you for all that hard work!