loopymommy
May I never be too old for Disney.
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2008
The Florida heat makes people use bad judgment.
Okay, we're a little spoiled when it comes to Asian food. We live in NY and I grew up in Brooklyn. Before my late teens, I had never been to an Asian restaurant that was not owned and operated by people raised on the cuisine they were serving. Over the years, however, we've eaten at places like P.F. Changs and Panda Express when we've had cravings for things like Kung Pao Chicken or fried rice in areas that have fewer authentic ethnic restaurant options.
We were at Animal Kingdom on June 18th. It was HOT. We were fading after Expedition Everest. Though we could smell BBQ, we weren't sure it was from Flame Tree or the Kali River Rapids deforestation scene. It did get us thinking about food and I vaguely remembered good Yak and Yeti reviews on various boards. I also remembered the fact that it had good air conditioning. Off we went (out-of-pocket).
The restaurant is dark and pretty, with lots of decorative Indonesian accents. We were seated quickly without needing a reservation. On the way to our table, the hostess was chatty and described many of the features of the restaurant and focused for some reason on the locations of the exit doors. Should we have been worried?
As we sat down at our lovely indoor patio table, my arms became stuck to the tabletop. Yuck. We had a lovely view of rows and rows of strollers. Not horrible. Our server (Michael?) came over quickly and was very friendly. He did request our drink order before we even had picked up our menus, but I managed to tell my son about the Cherry Berry Limeade I glimpsed before he ordered a Sprite. That was probably the best part of the meal.
The menu is pricey. I wasn't prepared to have a heavy $30 lunch entree after being felled by the heat at 11:30 a.m., so we stuck with lighter options. I am fond of lettuce wraps, so I got the Lettuce Cups and a side of chicken fried ride. My son got the pork potstickers and a side of chicken fried rice. My husband, who has dim sum here in NY at least twice a week, went for the Dim Sum Basket for 2 for himself.
The lettuce looked gorgeous. They had obviously used pristine, bowl-shaped iceberg leaves and there were plenty of them to use. There was fresh cilantro, fried rice noodles, raw bean sprouts, and even shredded carrots to add to the wrap. There was also a tightly-packed small bowl of minced chicken. I made a quick little wrap with chicken and cilantro and dove in. Yuck. I swear it tasted like they had mixed peanut butter, jelly, and way too much soy sauce into the minced chicken. Maybe adding a little more cilantro would help? Nope. How about those lovely shredded carrots? Oops, someone marinated them in rice wine vinegar. LOTS of rice wine vinegar. Yuck. Again, the lettuce was lovely, so I rolled it up and ate it plain.
Hey, what about adding some of the fried rice to the lettuce? Genius, right? I tried the fried rice. Someone in the kitchen must have had a spasm when adding the soy sauce during prep because that was all I could taste. No chicken, no onion, no nothing but salt. Yuck. I looked over at my son's rice. He had already figured that out. This is a kid who will eat fried rice from anywhere. Well, anywhere except from here. My husband the garbage can tried it and spat it out. He was moved to mention the rice's inedibility it to the waiter (who graciously removed them from the bill).
My son tried one potsticker and passed them to his dad. Their filling was painfully salty as well. My husband ate his dim sum extravaganza, but only because he had not had breakfast. He said they were gummy and not seasoned correctly. Thank goodness our server refilled our drinks so we at least felt like coming into the restaurant wasn't a total loss for all of us.
There are review cards on the table. I happily acknowledged how pleasant and efficient our waiter was. That's about the only positive comment I was able to make. Such a shame. In my mind, I even tried to justify the unbelievable amount of added salt as the restaurant's way of helping us replenish our electrolytes after sweating like pigs for hours before noon, but no. It was probably a combination of carelessness and someone's mistaken perception that Americans want their food either painfully salty or sickeningly sweet.
Yuck. Never again.
Okay, we're a little spoiled when it comes to Asian food. We live in NY and I grew up in Brooklyn. Before my late teens, I had never been to an Asian restaurant that was not owned and operated by people raised on the cuisine they were serving. Over the years, however, we've eaten at places like P.F. Changs and Panda Express when we've had cravings for things like Kung Pao Chicken or fried rice in areas that have fewer authentic ethnic restaurant options.
We were at Animal Kingdom on June 18th. It was HOT. We were fading after Expedition Everest. Though we could smell BBQ, we weren't sure it was from Flame Tree or the Kali River Rapids deforestation scene. It did get us thinking about food and I vaguely remembered good Yak and Yeti reviews on various boards. I also remembered the fact that it had good air conditioning. Off we went (out-of-pocket).
The restaurant is dark and pretty, with lots of decorative Indonesian accents. We were seated quickly without needing a reservation. On the way to our table, the hostess was chatty and described many of the features of the restaurant and focused for some reason on the locations of the exit doors. Should we have been worried?
As we sat down at our lovely indoor patio table, my arms became stuck to the tabletop. Yuck. We had a lovely view of rows and rows of strollers. Not horrible. Our server (Michael?) came over quickly and was very friendly. He did request our drink order before we even had picked up our menus, but I managed to tell my son about the Cherry Berry Limeade I glimpsed before he ordered a Sprite. That was probably the best part of the meal.
The menu is pricey. I wasn't prepared to have a heavy $30 lunch entree after being felled by the heat at 11:30 a.m., so we stuck with lighter options. I am fond of lettuce wraps, so I got the Lettuce Cups and a side of chicken fried ride. My son got the pork potstickers and a side of chicken fried rice. My husband, who has dim sum here in NY at least twice a week, went for the Dim Sum Basket for 2 for himself.
The lettuce looked gorgeous. They had obviously used pristine, bowl-shaped iceberg leaves and there were plenty of them to use. There was fresh cilantro, fried rice noodles, raw bean sprouts, and even shredded carrots to add to the wrap. There was also a tightly-packed small bowl of minced chicken. I made a quick little wrap with chicken and cilantro and dove in. Yuck. I swear it tasted like they had mixed peanut butter, jelly, and way too much soy sauce into the minced chicken. Maybe adding a little more cilantro would help? Nope. How about those lovely shredded carrots? Oops, someone marinated them in rice wine vinegar. LOTS of rice wine vinegar. Yuck. Again, the lettuce was lovely, so I rolled it up and ate it plain.
Hey, what about adding some of the fried rice to the lettuce? Genius, right? I tried the fried rice. Someone in the kitchen must have had a spasm when adding the soy sauce during prep because that was all I could taste. No chicken, no onion, no nothing but salt. Yuck. I looked over at my son's rice. He had already figured that out. This is a kid who will eat fried rice from anywhere. Well, anywhere except from here. My husband the garbage can tried it and spat it out. He was moved to mention the rice's inedibility it to the waiter (who graciously removed them from the bill).
My son tried one potsticker and passed them to his dad. Their filling was painfully salty as well. My husband ate his dim sum extravaganza, but only because he had not had breakfast. He said they were gummy and not seasoned correctly. Thank goodness our server refilled our drinks so we at least felt like coming into the restaurant wasn't a total loss for all of us.
There are review cards on the table. I happily acknowledged how pleasant and efficient our waiter was. That's about the only positive comment I was able to make. Such a shame. In my mind, I even tried to justify the unbelievable amount of added salt as the restaurant's way of helping us replenish our electrolytes after sweating like pigs for hours before noon, but no. It was probably a combination of carelessness and someone's mistaken perception that Americans want their food either painfully salty or sickeningly sweet.
Yuck. Never again.
for lunch. everyone in our party of 5 agreed it was the worst meal of the trip and the worst meal we have ever had anywhere. the service was awful the food was really really bad. the only thing we enjoyed was the drinks and desert. i will never return there again.
! Hopefully the rest of your Disney dining made up for that one bad one 
and one thing is clear - everybody has different experiences and different opinions.
