Thoughts from our trip 11/4-11/8 (FWF and 4 dinners)

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Addicted since 1971
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Dec 28, 2001
Hi, all -

Just back, had a great trip. I wanted to post briefly about our gluttony! We stayed at the Poly (CL so we did no breakfasts), were dining plan-free - ate lunch at the FWF every day and dinners at restaurants in the monorail area. Will keep it to good and bad and would we go again.

Arrival evening 11/4 - Kona Cafe - 1/2 marathon weekend plus a Saturday = Poly was mobbed. Our server did the best she could but was visibly stressed. She seemed to have too many tables, as well, something we saw a few other places. The good: the sushi (hamachi tuna roll), the bread/butter, and DH's miso buttered strip loin. (My pork two ways was OK, but not fabulous). The bad - clearly swamped server (not her fault), loud due to number of people stuffed in. Will we go again? Maybe, but not on a Sat night.

11/5 - The Wave - wow. This was on par with Kona Cafe pricewise but was a whole different animal. Service was as good as we had at CG. The good - great service, great food. Lump crab cakes were aaaahmazing, as was pork tenderloin. Quiet(ish) atmosphere. The bad - one of the three desserts from the seasonal flight wasn't that great. And I am seriously nitpicking here. We would absolutely go again, maybe more than once. Yum!

11/6 - Cali Grill. The good - food and service were fantastic. Tuna three ways and (despite a debate over pork tenderloin and several other items), we both had the boring old tenderloin - that was anything but. I hadn't been here in a decade, and although I'll always miss the tamarind filet, this was fabulous. Before I state the bad - a side comment: I DO NOT hate kids. I don't have any problem with kids at all, in restaurants or otherwise, and some of the most fun moments I've ever had at Disney were with my nieces and nephews or observing others' kids adorable behavior. I also do understand that kids sometimes act up and that this isn't always predictable. That said, the bad was the noise. There were two tables here that were ridiculous. One in the center of the room contained a howling infant - the parents let the poor thing scream his head off for an hour - no exaggeration - without trying to address the situation in any way. That, of course, was a baby, and (although I didn't understand why one of the parents didn't pick him up and and walk him from the dining room to soothe him before bringing him back in) although deafening, was less controllable. However, there was another table that had two 5-ish year old kids that were running full steam around the restaurant, playing tag behind other tables, screaming, shouting, and generally acting like maniacs. The parents...didn't pay a lick of attention. It was shocking. Our waiter looked just defeated about it, as he was hearing complaints from every table around us. We had booked (we live in California, so I got up in the middle of the night to do so) at a good time to view the fireworks from the deck, and we couldn't deal with the noise - we asked the waiter to bring our check with dessert and ran back to the Poly to watch them instead. There is no excuse whatsoever for behavior like this in a restaurant at that price point - and I feel that is inarguable. I don't think I could get DH back to CG again for love or money, which is a shame - because the food really is sublime.

11/7 - Narcoosees - We went back and forth between an earlier res at Citricos and a later one here, and we ultimately canceled the former because my husband liked the location of Narcoosees. Pros: Most of the food was great - deelish shrimp and grits, steaks, butter-poached lobster. Even with many tables containing kids of all ages, it was much quieter, more seemingly sophisticated than CG had been the night before. Our waitress was fine, as we the bartender (more on this in cons). The cons were the wedge salad (DH was laughing about the three chintzy bits of bacon on it), as well as the lack of proper numbers for staffing - one bartender had called in sick, and the remaining bartender was far too busy. They clearly had no backup staff available (or even a bar back), and he was unable to keep up. When we went to our table, I just gave him my magic band so he could charge us when he had a free second (it took 45 minutes). Our waitress was also run off her feet, obviously dealing with too many tables, although she managed admirably. We would go again.

FWF - great as a lunch option, but as everyone knows, insanely busy after about 3. Our top loves were the beef skewer with chimichurri, the mojo pork, the loaded mac and cheese, maybe the spicy bao bun, and the nitro truffle...and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few. Yummy!

Trader Sam's Grog Grotto - DH doesn't really drink, and I bodily dragged him here. Glad I did - it was hilarious. Yes, we got suckered into buying the glasses. Actually, that's probably why they put two shots of rum in half the drinks, right? Rum wallet = fondness towards a random zombie glass that has very little use in daily life ;).
 
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Thanks for your review. Sorry you had such a bad experience at CG. I'm finding so many of todays parents just let their kids do whatever they want. I've been reading many good things about the Wave and considering a dinner there our next trip.
 
Sounds like a great trip! Totally agree on the kids, and we have 4. Hubby and I️ took many a shift taking a crying baby or unruly toddler out to a lobby when they were younger. Inexcusable to allow a baby to cry that long and annoy the entire restaurant, poor thing was probably exhausted and just needed to be held!
 
Thanks for your review. Sorry you had such a bad experience at CG. I'm finding so many of todays parents just let their kids do whatever they want. I've been reading many good things about the Wave and considering a dinner there our next trip.

Well, everything ELSE at CG was amazing. That was hands-down the best food and service we had - perfection (or near enough). Maybe earplugs? Or it may have simply been bad luck the night we were there. In fairness, there were tons of kids, and 99% of them were perfectly (or near enough ;) ) behaved. But the Wave really was great. That would have been Signature territory if not for the location.

Sounds like a great trip! Totally agree on the kids, and we have 4. Hubby and I️ took many a shift taking a crying baby or unruly toddler out to a lobby when they were younger. Inexcusable to allow a baby to cry that long and annoy the entire restaurant, poor thing was probably exhausted and just needed to be held!

I felt so sorry for him. Poor thing.
 


Thank you for the review. You mostly confirmed my biggest reservation about CG for our anniversary dinner next trip. I know that behavior can happen anywhere but it seems to come up at CG a lot. I have two kids, and I probably wouldn't bring one under seven or so to a signature (my choice, nothing wrong with anyone doing this but I just want to relax with some kid free time if I am going to a fancier place). Once the youngest is older we will give it a try.
 
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We had that issue at CG in August with the kids. Super irritating. The acoustics in there seem to make the sound reverberate as well. Granted, it was a 5 pm reservation but it sounds like yours was later.

I really think they need another adults-only fancy restaurant where people can be guaranteed a young-kid-free experience. If they can do it at V&A, they can do it at another (slightly more reasonably priced) Signature.
 


Thank you for the review. You mostly confirmed my biggest reservation about CG for our anniversary dinner next trip. I know that behavior can happen anywhere but it seems to come up at CG a lot. I have two kids, and while I probably wouldn't bring one under seven or so to a signature (my choice, nothing wrong with anyone doing this but I just want to relax with some kid free time if I am going to a fancier place). Once the youngest is older we will give it a try.

We had that issue at CG in August with the kids. Super irritating. The acoustics in there seem to make the sound reverberate as well. Granted, it was a 5 pm reservation but it sounds like yours was later.

I really think they need another adults-only fancy restaurant where people can be guaranteed a young-kid-free experience. If they can do it at V&A, they can do it at another (slightly more reasonably priced) Signature.

I wish the same. DH is really not interested in carting a sport coat to Disney, so V&A's is likely never going to happen again (we went once, and it was unbelievable). I wish they had one normal signature (or even a room in one signature) that was 12-and-over (of course, I'd also pay extra to be in an 8-and-over airplane cabin when I cross an ocean, but I digress). But it won't happen - don't know if you recall the fallout many years ago when there was a rumor that WDW was considering an adults-only hotel? Might have just been something someone here proposed...but that thread went downhill very fast. I get it. It's Disney, and it would be tough to exclude kids. In the future, we'll avoid CG, and if we want a truly kids-free meal experience, maybe we'll head out of WDW...that's if we go back anytime soon. I think they've reached sort of a breaking point with cost and value, so we may do Universal next time we're in town for a conference.

Our CG res was at 7:05 pm, btw. We were unable to make it later.
 
I wish the same. DH is really not interested in carting a sport coat to Disney, so V&A's is likely never going to happen again (we went once, and it was unbelievable). I wish they had one normal signature (or even a room in one signature) that was 12-and-over (of course, I'd also pay extra to be in an 8-and-over airplane cabin when I cross an ocean, but I digress). But it won't happen - don't know if you recall the fallout many years ago when there was a rumor that WDW was considering an adults-only hotel? Might have just been something someone here proposed...but that thread went downhill very fast. I get it. It's Disney, and it would be tough to exclude kids. In the future, we'll avoid CG, and if we want a truly kids-free meal experience, maybe we'll head out of WDW...that's if we go back anytime soon. I think they've reached sort of a breaking point with cost and value, so we may do Universal next time we're in town for a conference.

Our CG res was at 7:05 pm, btw. We were unable to make it later.

Oh ok. I thought it was because we were there so early but apparently not!

If they can have an age limit at V&A, they can do it at another Signature, or like you said, even a room. Here's to hoping lol

I've heard that the restaurants at the Swan and Dolphin have less kids, that might be an option in the future, they have some nice ones there too.
 
We ate at Shulas a few years ago, and there were very few young kids. Oh - and the food was fabulous. I suspect any non-DDP restaurant would be a good option.
 

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