Dining Review - September/October 2022

[Noreen411]

Introduction and a bit about our trip:

Noreen - Senior Vice President at an Investment Banking Firm in New York City. I will be the author of the report

Scott - my husband; Independent Contractor

I’m going to post a few pictures of Scott and I so you see what we look like




There were others that were originally planning to join us for parts of the trip which didn’t happen so it was just Scott and I.

An uninvited guest was Hurricane Ian. It was scary and I feel awful for those that suffered loss and devastation due to the hurricane.

I started working on a review/travelogue of our trip that I have to finish then get posted. I’m going to start with the dining review.

We drove from Northern New Jersey to Florida. We spent the time at Disney at a sister resort to our timeshare. We own at Vistana Resort and stayed at Vistana Villages. Both are great properties but we really enjoy the large 24 hour fitness center at Vistana Villages so we‘ve been choosing this resort when it’s available lately.

We were away from Friday September 23 until Saturday October 9

We have Disney World Annual Passes. We have Incredipass as out of state passholders.

I logged onto Disney‘s app or website 60 days out before our trip each morning right before 6am and would book dinner reservations. I kept checking and changing things as we went along. We continued making changes even when we were already at Disney.

We had a few offsite meals I will review as well as the Disney ones.

Where you see well written descriptions of the dishes, I copied it from the menu.

Scott and I both lost weight recently and don’t eat as much as we used to. We sometimes share meals. We tried to eat relatively healthy for breakfast, some lunches and some snacks. I have a sweet tooth so you will still see plenty of desserts and sweets.

During our trip we normally had a basic breakfast in the villa/timeshare. Many lunches were things like a protein bar and some baby carrots. I won’t review those meals.

Our routine most days was to go to the gym in the morning, come back to the villa to shower and get dressed, do laundry, then have breakfast before leaving for the park. Often we would come back to shower/change for dinner before heading back out. Since we have annual posses we would sometimes hop to another park during the day or after dinner. We used to be park commandos from open to close but we’ve slowed down our park touring approach.

 

[Noreen411]

Friday 9/23/22 - Start the drive to Florida:
We left the house about 4:45am; this was a little later than we planned to leave.

At the Delaware welcome center, Scott had a Burger King Breakfast sandwich, we got Starbucks, and we also got an almond croissant from Pret A Manger. I had yogurt with granola.

We stopped at a Wawa in Virginia around 1:45 and Scott got an Italian Hero for lunch. I ate a protein bar for lunch and some baby carrots.

We stopped in Florence, South Carolina around 6:45pm and checked into the Residence Inn for the night. We booked this while driving when we were ready to stop.

We walked to Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner and sat at the bar. We like to sit at the bar to eat sometimes rather than a table.

I had a white peach sangria. This was overly sweet; they added some seltzer to it and it was better. Scott had a Makers Bourbon.




For an appetizer we shared the Wild West Shrimp: Generous portion of signature crispy hand-breaded shrimp tossed with spicy cherry peppers and garlic butter, served with ranch dip.

This was too spicy for me so Scott ate most of it.


For our entree we shared the filet with broccoli. It was a nice portion for us to share. Scott also ordered macaroni and cheese. Scott loves Mac & cheese and will order it whenever he sees it.



For dessert we shared the Strawberries & Cream Shortcake: Shortcake layered with vanilla cream and strawberry jam, topped with fresh strawberries. We surprised ourselves that we finished the cake since we were pretty full when we ordered it.


We ate at this Longhorn before on one of our prior drives to Florida so knew what to expect. It’s pretty decent, standard chain restaurant food. I don’t mean that as a complaint; it’s good and consistent.

 

[Noreen411]

Saturday 9/24/22
We used the hotel gym then got ourselves showered and dressed.

The hotel serves breakfast so we sat down to eat before continuing our drive.
Scott had eggs, sausage, bacon, pineapple and made a waffle.
I also made a waffle (I know it’s not the healthiest breakfast).
I thought the little waffle maker was so cute - you poured your batter in, turned it over when it buzzed, and you had a cute waffle.



We left about 7:45am to continue our drive.

We arrived at Vistana Villages about 3:45, checked in, and our villa is ready. We cleaned the villa, brought our stuff in and unpacked. We went to Publix for some groceries; it was super crowded because Hurricane Ian is heading towards Florida. We brought the groceries back to the villa and put them away.

By the time we were done it was 8pm when we headed out and had to decide on dinner. I didn’t pre-book anything for this night not knowing what time we would arrive or how we would feel.

When we got in the car we thought about heading to Disney Springs but we were getting tired and knew it takes time to park then wander around to find a place to eat at Disney Springs. We drove to Saltgrass Steakhouse instead. It’s right on 535 and we’ve been here several times before and enjoy it. We changed our mind again since we just had steak yesterday and weren’t really in the mood for steak tonight. Next to Saltgrass is Landry’s so we went to Landry’s which is more of a seafood restaurant.

We sat at the bar to eat. Tables were available if we wanted but we were happy to sit at the bar.

Scott had a Martini.
I had the Peach Solstice Sangria: Moscato wine, fresh basil, peach, strawberry, ginger ale.
This sangria was very good.


For an appetizer we ordered the shrimp enbrochette: seafood stuffing, pepper jack, jalapeños, bacon-wrapped, onion strings. I didn’t really like it; it was too spicy/cheesy for me. The onion strings were my favorite part. We asked if it was very spicy and were told it’s not overly spicy and the jalapenos are easy to pull out.


Scott also ordered a few oysters which he enjoyed.


For dinner we ordered the mixed grill: 6 oz char-grilled filet, lobster tail, jumbo bacon-wrapped shrimp, asparagus. This was very good and easy to share. Now that I’m thinking about it, we changed our mind about going to a steak place and then ordered a dish with steak in it anyway LOL



We also did the lump crab add-on


For dessert we ordered the Cinnamon Bread Pudding: a la mode with foster and vanilla sauce
This was a good bread pudding; we both enjoyed it. We compare all bread pudding to the bread pudding at Tambu Lounge at the Polynesian (the same bread pudding they serve at O’Hana). The Tambu Lounge/O’Hana bread pudding is the holy grail of bread pudding. This wasn’t quite Tambu Lounge good, but it was still good.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

So happy to see a new report from you! Can’t wait to read the rest

 

[starousse]

I love your trip reports. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[Nohal]

Enjoying your trip so far. Looking forward to more

 

[Noreen411]

So happy to see a new report from you! Can’t wait to read the rest

Thank you for joining and commenting.

 

[Noreen411]

I love your trip reports. Looking forward to reading more.

Thank you for the kind words.

 

[Noreen411]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

Thank you - hoping to get a bit more written this weekend

 

[Noreen411]

Enjoying your trip so far. Looking forward to more

Thank you. Hoping to get more done soon.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 9/25/22
We spent most of the day at Magic Kingdom.

We did something we don’t do too often…went for lunch. Around 3pm we went to Morimoto at Disney Springs. We ate here during our last trip and really enjoyed it; Scott has been looking forward to it. We have a few reservations for dinner at Morimoto later in the trip.

We sat at the bar. Scott had Coke and I drank water.
These seats are not very comfortable. It’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine; I don’t like hard seats in a restaurant/bar.
Most of the tables in the restaurant portion of Morimoto also have hard/uncomfortable seats. I’m guessing it keeps people from lingering too long.



We ordered
California Roll: Blue crab meat, cucumber, avocado (Scott loved this last trip)
Spider Roll: Tempura soft shell crab, spicy mayo, cucumber, asparagus
Pork Dumplings: Pork, mushroom, Napa cabbage, scallion.






We were disappointed. The food was just OK. The rice was hard. Nothing tasted fresh. It came out super fast like it was pre-made. Maybe we came at an off time, but this wasn’t what it was like last trip.

We cancelled our other dinner reservations at Morimoto for later in the trip after our disappointing meal. We won’t write Morimoto off completely, this could have just been an off visit, but we‘ll wait for a future trip to try it again.

We wanted something sweet so stopped at Sprinkles and virtual ordered a carrot cake cupcake to share. There wasn’t a standard walk up and order counter, but tablets to order on (or your phone). This was very good. We sat at the tables outside Sprinkles to enjoy our treat.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 9/25/22 - Continued
Later that night we drove to the Grand Floridian for dinner at Citricos.

We went a little early planning to have a drink at the Enchanted Rose Lounge before dinner, but it was very crowded. Instead we went to the bar in Citricos around 8:30.



Scott had a Martini.
I had the Magical Beacon Cocktail: Empress 1908 Gin, Bols Blue Curaçao, Minute Maid Premium lemonade, orgeat (almond), lemon, hibiscus grenadine and souvenir glow cube. This was good.



We were seated a few minutes after our reservation time.



The bread is very good here; it was hard to stick to just one piece.


For appetizers we shared
Smoked Duck Breast: fresh tagliatelle pasta, celeriac purée, duck confit
Berkshire Pork Belly: Boniato and Plaintain Croquette, salsa verde, jicama



I don’t normally like duck but this appetizer is great. We’ve had it before and both enjoy it.



They do a great job with the pork belly; it’s crispy and creamy and just what you want pork belly to be. Another great appetizer.

Scott‘s entree
Tomato-Dusted Salmon: Jupiter rice-chorizo “risotto”, key west pink shrimp, confit tomatoes.
This was new on the menu from our last trip but the preparation sounds similar to what they did last time with tilefish. He enjoyed it


I had
Butter Poached Florida Mahi-Mahi: Fingerling potatoes, grilled asparagus, local mushrooms, grapefruit beurre blanc.
This is so good. One of my favorite entrees. I think I’ve ordered this just about every visit to Citricos (even before it was Mahi Mahi, but the same preparation with Cobia).


We skipped dessert.

All the food was very good. The portions are a good size (not huge like some places) and we can finish our dishes. We were spoiled the first few visits to Citricos with great service. Today the service was just OK. We decided we aren’t in a rush to come back again this trip so cancelled our other reservations here.

After dinner we walked out to the marina area and watched the Hallowishes fireworks that were going off at Magic Kingdom for the Not So Scary Halloween party at 10:15

 

[Noreen411]

Monday 9/26/22
We spent the day at Hollywood Studios.

We left in the afternoon and drove to Disney Springs. The line for Gideon’s was standby, about 25 minutes.
We ordered 12 cookies (maximum they allow is 6 each), a slice of white Oreo cake, and an iced Pumpkin Chai.
We tried the Peanut Butter Cold Brew last trip and enjoyed it but figured we would try the Pumpkin Chai this time. The pumpkin chai was OK, but the Peanut Butter cold brew is better.



We brought our cookies/cake back to the villa and froze the cookies.



Later that night we drove to the Beach Club.

We went to Martha’s Vineyard Lounge for drinks before our dinner reservation.



Scott had a Martini

I had a Bahama Mama: Parrot Bay Coconut Rum, Plantation Original Dark Rum, Bols Crème de Banana, and Tropical juices. This was very good. I don’t like strong drinks that taste like alcohol but enjoy fruity tropical tasting ones.



They had an appetizer menu at the bar so we ordered the Loaded Tater Tots: Served with sour cream, cheese, green onions, and bacon. This was good. The tots were crispy and held up well to the toppings without getting soggy.



Scott ordered a Bourbon Smash. This was an off menu drink he was chatting with the bartender about. The bartender recommended it. Scott liked it. While his regular drink is a martini, he’ll sometimes have Bourbon (usually just with an ice cube)



We went to Beaches and Cream for our reservation at 7:30. I haven’t been here in ages. Scott has never been. He loves burgers so I thought he would enjoy it.

I know this is a goofy picture of Scott, but we both laughed at it.



Scott had a burger with tater tots: Angus Beef Burger with cheddar cheese, lettuce and tomato on a freshly baked bun. He also asked for bacon on his burger. He enjoyed his burger.




I had the French dip with fries: Toasted French roll served with thinly-sliced roast beef, Swiss, as-jus topped with crispy fried onions. This was pretty good.



For dessert we shared the Fudge Mud Slide Sundae: a Gooey, chewy brownie covered with hot fudge. Three scoops of vanilla ice cream, chocolate sandwich cookies, and whipped cream topped with chocolate syrup and a cherry.


The sundae was good but even sharing it, we barely put a dent in it.

We both enjoyed Beaches & Cream; we would definitely come back.

 

[DaisyNY]

Following along…thanks for the review!

 

[Counting Stars]

Following Enjoying your reviews. Trip planning is difficult and reading reviews presented as you do helps the rest of us make better decisions on those $$ meals. Thanks for your time and effort.

 

[Noreen411]

Following along…thanks for the review!

Thank you for following - I enjoy doing them

 

[Noreen411]

Following Enjoying your reviews. Trip planning is difficult and reading reviews presented as you do helps the rest of us make better decisions on those $$ meals. Thanks for your time and effort.

Thank you for the kind words. I agree planning can be difficult, but it’s also part of the fun

 

[Noreen411]

Tuesday 9/27/22
We spent the day at Epcot.

That evening we drove to the Dolphin for our dinner reservation at Shula’s and valet parked.

We sat at the bar for pre-dinner cocktails. I ordered a blueberry martini (the bartender recommended/said it was their best drink); Scott had a regular martini. The popcorn they served with our drinks was good, like kettle corn. Or maybe we were just hungry.



I didn’t like the blueberry martini so ordered a White Sangria. The white sangria was very good.



We decided to stay at the bar to eat dinner. Scott let the hostess/person who checked us in for dinner know.

The bread they serve is warm and delicious, so hard not to fill up on it. We ate the whole loaf they served us.


For an appetizer we shared the Tuna Tartare which is served with wonton chips. I thought it was good, Scott thought it wasn’t as good as last time we were here. We both loved it last trip.


For our entree we shared the Dry Aged Cowboy Steak special (not on the menu) and an order of macaroni & cheese. The steak came out a bit too rare initially so they cooked it more. It was perfect when It came back. The steak was delicious. They brought us a new order of Mac & cheese since it took a little while. While I can take or leave Mac & cheese most of the time, this was a very good Mac & cheese. Even sharing we had leftovers (partly due to us eating all that bread).



We also knew we needed to save a little room for dessert. We shared the chocolate souffle. This is amazing. The simple vanilla ice cream cuts the richness of the souffle perfectly.




With Hurricane Ian heading towards Orlando, we saw the note that Disney will close the parks on Wednesday September 28 and Thursday September 29

 

[Noreen411]

Wednesday 9/28/22
Hurricane Ian is expected to hit Florida later today. We were advised to shelter in place, bring the balcony furniture inside, fill the jacuzzi with water, have bottled water and food available, etc.

I learned something new…I couldn’t understand why they told us to fill the jacuzzi with water but found out it’s in case we lose power to be able to flush the toilet.

In the morning we did our normal routine of gym, laundry, bath, shower, make breakfast.

We took the precautions they advised and brought in the balcony furniture, filled the jacuzzi, etc. It was weird not leaving for a park. It was scary not knowing what would happen with the hurricane coming towards us.

Midday we took a walk around the resort and stopped at the Marketplace and picked up two individual pizzas for lunch. They cooked them and we brought them back to our villa. They were better than we expected them to be.



Later in the afternoon the weather continued to get worse. We were receiving updates at the resort that the elevators would be turned off, almost all resort services would be closed; basically brace yourself and stay inside.

That evening for dinner we ate our leftovers from Shula’s for dinner. We made sandwiches out of the steak and put it on whole wheat English muffins with a little cheese, and the leftover Mac & cheese. It wasn’t our originally planned dinner for the evening but it was pretty good.





For dessert we shared the Vanilla Oreo cake from Gideon’s. This was good but the ratio of frosting to cake was off; there is too much frosting.



Throughout the night alerts kept going off on the phone about flooding and the hurricane. It was definitely scary.