Victoria & Albert's July 30, 2022 Review

[DVC Doctor]

I am incredibly fortunate, or perhaps just lucky, to be one of the first to dine at the reopened Victoria & Albert's restaurant on July 30 and invited a few very close friends of mine to enjoy this occasion. I will post photos taken with my iPhone, my opinion of the menu, drinks, décor, service, costs, tipping, kitchen tour, and even try to answer questions in this thread.

I searched the Internet and have not read any reviews of V&A since the July 28 grand reopening, so perhaps this will be the first online as I am sure there are lots of people, like me, that are foodies and Disney fans, and want to know all the details of this amazing restaurant.

 

[DVC Doctor]

Here are the two menus from my visit, one is the standard 8 course menu - two people in my group ordered this and one guest had a milk and cheese sensitivity and the other was on a no sugar, no seafood diet. The two other guests (me included) had the extended 10 course menu that was called the Queen Victoria Room menu as that is the only option offered in that room, even though we were in the main dining room.

Here is the standard 8 course tasting menu ($295)



Here is the 10 course Queen Victoria room menu ($375) that included one dish of Wild turbot and one dish of Miyazaki A-5

 

[DVC Doctor]

Here is the main entrance of V&A.



There initially was a tiny bit of confusion as we got there about 15 minutes early and there was a cast member stand right in front the the entrance, but that was the check-in for Citricos and they informed us someone will come out and find us when it is our time.

Our dinner time was 5:40pm and exactly 5:40pm the front door opened and they welcomed us into the restaurant. We were the first guests of the evening and they only have one seating per table per night (staggered between 5:30pm and 8:05pm) and are staggering the guests about 20 mins apart (my guess) as we were the first and only guests in the dining room for about 20 mins and met about 10 people as we walked in and sat at our table. It was sorta cool to be the only ones there as we received tremendous amounts of attention and felt like celebrities.

We were told that they removed a few tables to allow more spacing and are opening slowly to make sure everything goes perfect. In fact, they had over 1,700 phone calls on the first day they opened reservations for the public.

 

[DVC Doctor]

Here is the inside totally remodeled and I like the lighter colors than the previous darker brown and beige in the past, it seemed much brighter and of course they had the harp setup for music that evening.

 

[DVC Doctor]

We started with the drink menu that was on a ipad style table and decided to order a cocktail and I chose the Jalisco tipple that was refreshing, smooth, and fantastic with the Hawaiian lava salt.





We were given lots of options for water and chose regular tap, although we were tempted by the $132 bottle of Scandinavia Svalbardi Polar Iceberg Water, we decided to pass on that option as how good can water really be and at $132, I would prefer to order some nice wine.

https://svalbardi.com/

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Thanks for sharing! Can't wait to see food pics.

 

[DVC Doctor]

Now here is one of the most interesting choices I had to make - go for the $150 (8 course) or $200 (10 course) wine paring option or order the "zero-proof" beverage paring for $140 (10 course).

Honestly, this was initially a tough choice as I have done lots of wine parings and I am sorta a lightweight drinker and tend to get a little dozy after long dinners with lots of wine, even though it represents about 3 full glasses, it is always an enjoyable experience to enjoy a tasting meal with fine wines pared for the meal and that is the logical option to choose.

However, I have NEVER tried a "Zero-proof beverage" tasting menu and asked for more information on this option and they explained that it was a unique experience of hand crafted non-alcoholic drinks with a variety of exotic flavors and each drink was created unique to each dish and I first thought the $140 extra charge was a little excessive, so I initially passed on that option, but after drinking the Jasmine Aperitif that was given to everyone when they first entered the dining room, I changed my mind and decided that this single drink was so good and if the rest of the zero-proof drinks were similar, this would be something very interesting to try and boy oh boy was I in for a treat.

Let me STOP right now and state that I 1000% recommend the Zero-proof beverage tasting option for your meal at V&A and I was so completely blown away with the flavors, stemware, and story behind each drink, I gradually began to look forward to the next drink more than the next entry of food. This is not any complaint about the food at all as it obviously was spectacular, but I have dined and many Michelin 2 and 3 star restaurants and love the food and wine parings, but have never had a zero-proof beverage pairing before and it was so well done at V&A that I am at a loss for words to describe how delicious and unique each drink was and can only tell everyone to at least have one person order this option as this was the absolute the pièce de résistance for me and I can not overstate how wonderful this beverage paring was.

 

[DVC Doctor]

*** Special note ***

The Chef's Table ($425) was not available and probably won't be available for 3-6 months (just my guess).

I believe the reason that this room is not available is that the Chef would need to stop what he is doing to cater to the few people in that room to describe each dish and this would interrupt his laser focus on the other 30 or so guests and overseeing probably 20 or so assistant chefs with a 5-star restaurant re-opening after being closed for 2.5 years. V&A had their grand reopening on July 28 and they have a new menu, new decor, new staff, new drinks, and are trying to work all the kinks out and this takes time and the Chefs Table would be a huge distraction to the current kitchen staff.

The Queen Victoria room at V&A is open and awesome as it is a smaller private room off the main dining room that can accommodate a maximum of 12 guests at once or three tables of 4 people, but you have to order the full 10 course menu.

Also they get quite a few requests from people and companies that want to rent the entire restaurant our for private events, but they are not offering that option as they stagger diners from 5:30pm-8pm with one seating per table per evening and can't serve everyone as a group as it is too difficult for the kitchen to prep that many dishes at the same time. The only group setting is the Queen Victoria room capped at 12 maximum guests.

 

[DVC Doctor]

Course #1/10

Pink Pineapple, Thai Basil, Spiced Mango
Langoustine Tartelette, Watermelon, Finger Limes
Cinco Jotas Iberico, Miso Caramel, Eclair

Zero proof beverage was Jasmine Aperitif

 

[Lehuaann]

Thank you for the review. Following!

 

[FSU Girl]

Can’t wait to see all the pictures!

 

[DVC Doctor]

Course #2/10

Royal Belgian Caviar, Cauliflower Panna Cotta

Zero proof beverage was Yuzu Seltzer

 

[DVC Doctor]

Bread and butter and fork/spoon presentation

 

[DVC Doctor]

V&A serves a special 100 year old aged balsamic vinegar (retails for about $1,200 per bottle) called Giusti 100 and each bottle is numbered and finished by hand, stored in its precious individual box with a small blown glass pipette. They only give you a drop or two with certain dishes and the presentation is pretty cool as they break out the special presentation wooden box.

https://giusti.it/en/prodotto/giusti-100-100ml/





Here is my one drop....yes it had a very intense flavor that was quite special.

 

[DVC Doctor]

Course #3/10

Danish Hiramasa, Carrot, Okinawan Potatoes

Zero proof beverage was Tomatillos & Melon

 

[DVC Doctor]

Course #4/10 (* this is only served with the 10 course Queen Victoria menu)

Wild Turbot, Fennel Baby Leeks

Zero proof beverage was Vin de Peche

 

[DVC Doctor]

Pastry presentation - I can't remember the name of this, but it is sorta like a cronut with many layers of crunch and flakes and super soft inside and super delicious with or without extra butter.

 

[DVC Doctor]

Course #5/10

Glacier 51 Toothfish, Charred Mushroom, Sambal

Zero proof beverage was Lychee Basmati

 

[DVC Doctor]

Course #6/10

Green Circle Chicken, Australian Black Truffle, Corn

Zero proof beverage was Guajillo Spice

 

[DVC Doctor]

Course #7/10

Lamb, Pickled Blueberries, Violet Mustard

Zero proof beverage was Cassis