So for those of you who haven’t read my really long trip reports, you may not know this, but this dining review is infamous… well, maybe not. But anyhow!! I can guarantee that this is the truth, it IS really really super long and detailed. So if you’re not into that, this review isn’t for you 
** I posted this here because I thought it would help with someone's planning... if it's in the wrong place, please move me! Thanks! **
We went to Disney September 2 – 12 and had the special package that offered the Disney Dining Plan for free. So what did we do? You guessed it. Stuffed face for 11 days straight! All that time and 5 lbs later we are back in Boston and I’m here to share my reviews with you. Now sit tight and grab something to eat to ease the drool that will no doubt be ravaging your keyboard…
Ohana at the Polynesian
We have two favorite restaurants in all of Disney. This is one of them!! We arrived 30 minutes early and decided to have a drink in the Tambu Lounge. We sat at the bar and ordered a Lapu Lapu for me and the Tradewinds for my fiancé, Johnny Disney (JD). The Lapu Lapu was extremely strong, I tasted no fruit and all alcohol. I’m a wuss and I really like “girlie” drinks, like the Tradewinds, but was enticed by the pineapple… I’m a sucker for fun mugs, cups, straws, etc. The Tradewinds was TASTY. JD loved it as well; he too is a fan of the “girlie drinks”. The Lapu Lapu is large. It is also $11.99 so there’s no way I was going to let it go to waste. I finished it and was feeling pretty good by dinner…
We were seated not 5 minutes after we finally checked in. The table we were at was for 3 people, right against the windows in front of the castle. Perfect view! At this restaurant you are referred to as “cousin” by the waitstaff. We started with Hawaiian bread, it has pineapple in it and is very tasty, but filling! Don’t eat too much; there are better things to come. Our waiter, who was fantastic, brought over a lazy Susan of chicken wings, shrimp and vegetable won tons, salad (who eats that?! Certainly not I), and 3 types of dipping sauces: fruit, peanut and cilantro ginger. Usually you also get rice with this but we got Au Gratin Potatoes instead. And can I just say here they were fabulous. I liked them so much more than the rice. Ohana offers long skewered tips of steak, turkey and pork as well as shrimp. Your server brings them over in rounds and puts as much or as little as you want onto your plate. Here’s where they save money at Ohana, they do have a long wait time (at least every time we’ve been) between each round of Steak/Turkey and Pork/Shrimp. So the longer time you have to wait, the more time you have to digest, then you’re not hungry by the time the next option rolls around. I hate this. I wanted to stuff myself like the glutton I can be, but I was too full too fast. However, I will say that the steak was marinated and cooked just right, not too pink, not burnt. We both like our steak well done, and we were really happy with this. I preferred the steak and shrimp while JD really liked the steak and Turkey.
At the end of the meal our waiter told us the dessert was different. They were no longer doing pineapple and caramel. Instead he brought us over a rum cake with vanilla ice cream. It had an awesome warm caramel/syrup sauce that tasted like it had some cinnamon in it. We LOVED the new addition and though we also loved the pineapple, we both agreed this cake was much better!! Overall Rating: A+
Nine Dragons – China Pavilion
Stealing time here to brag… we’re getting married next year and our reception will be in the China pavilion. So we really wanted to go here for that reason, even though the wedding won’t be in that area we just thought it would be fun! We arrived again 30 minutes early for our dinner. The only other time we had a PS before this trip was for Le Cellier in Canada and we waited at least 20 minutes that time for a seat so we thought we’d run into that on this trip, hence getting to dinner early. But we didn’t! September crowds rock!
We were seated in the far back section of the restaurant against the windows looking out over Norway. The restaurant wasn’t too crowded, it was 6:00pm. Our waiter greeted us right away and brought out water and soda. With the Disney Dining Plan, we were allowed 2 sodas, 2 appetizers, 2 meals, 2 desserts. MOO MOO MOO. For appetizer, JD ordered beef skewers and I ordered Pot Stickers. They came out not 5 minutes later. There were 3 very small beef skewers. The beef was tender and very good, JD loved it. The pot stickers were the best I’ve ever tasted. These are my favorite Chinese food option so I have much experience in trying them from different restaurants. If you like these, try them here! For main course, we ordered a side of fried rice which they didn’t charge extra for and JD ordered General Tso’s Chicken and I ordered the Honey Sesame Chicken. Both were excellent and melted in your mouth! The portions were large and very filling. I did not really care for the fried rice, I’ve had better at home. JD didn’t seem to either. JD finished his meal completely, it was so good. I personally loved the Honey Sesame Chicken more but JD preferred his meal. But with either, you can’t go wrong. For dessert I ordered the red bean ice cream and JD ordered ginger ice cream. The bowls were small with 1 scoop, perfect in my opinion since we were already stuffed. Red bean ice cream is very strange but sweet. I wasn’t expecting that. I really liked it, the beans just reminded me of nuts, though they didn’t taste like beans or nuts, but just added a crunch. I did NOT like the ginger but JD did. In general, I just don’t like ginger, if you do, this ice cream is very strong so you may like it. Good ambience, great food, private table. We wouldn’t pay $7.99 for the beef skewers, they were too small a portion. But everything else was worth the price. Overall Rating: A+
Cape May Café
This was the longest wait we had once we arrived for our PS right on time at 6:30 pm. We waited about 15 minutes before we were seated. Our waiter was really great. The buffet, however, was not. It is decent if you are just looking for a heavy meal. There’s nothing WRONG with the food. But it is standard buffet fare. Nothing fabulous about any part of it. I was really looking forward to this meal because it was the only Disney buffet or nice dinner I had on the college program and I remember it being amazing. Looking back, that was probably because I was living on Canned Soup, Mac & Cheese and Pasta Roni at the time!! LOL It was a virtual feast back then!
I was looking forward most to the steamers. I love steamed clams with butter so I planned to have many. They were ridiculously small. Not what I’m used to in the summer up here in Boston. They were tasty, but too small to even put a dent in my appetite without having loads of plates filled with shells on the table and I wasn’t interested in going up that many times. Nothing stood out except for the mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes are the reason I left there full. Very creamy with a cheesy garlic taste, it’s the only thing on this buffet that I can highly recommend. The dessert bar also had a really tasty treat, an oreo cookie/fudge pastry. I had 2, they were petit. (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!) Just your average fare and not worth the price IMHO, I was super glad it was free and a little bummed we didn’t try somewhere else. Overall rating: Ambience: A, we like the Beach Club! Food: C –
Morocco – Restaurant Marrakesh
I went here on my very first trip to Disney when I was 12 or 13 and I ended up loving Cous Cous after that. So I was excited to try the restaurant again. We arrived 30 minutes early because we were hungry and wanted to get to our end show that night. They seated us right away one table away from the dance floor. I was a little irked at this because there was NO ONE sitting next to the dance floor. I think it was because the servers were better able to get to your table that way. The belly dancer had just done a set so we had to wait another 45 minutes for her performance, which was fun since we have such an elaborate meal plan! I ordered the Marrakesh Feast but substituted the Lemon Chicken with the Roast Lamb Meshoi. This meal comes with soup, Beef Brewat Rolls for appetizer, Lamb, Beef Shish Kebab, Cous Cous with 7 veggies for dinner and tons of Baklava for dessert. JD ordered the Chicken Bastilla for appetizer, Shish Kebab dinner and Crepes Atlas for dessert.
The appetizers came out and I didn’t really like the soup. To be honest, it tasted like Campbell’s Vegetable Alphabet Soup. It was good but I could have it at home so I only took a bite or two. The Beef Brewat Roll was like a pastry covered with confectionary sugar and stuffed with beef. It was sweet. I actually really liked it. The Chicken Bastilla was just ok. It looked like a fried pastry saucer with chicen inside. JD didn’t like it but keep in mind he’s not very adventurous when it comes to dining.
Our dinner came out very quickly. I have to say here, the Lamb tastes like dirty laundry. I tried, but it tasted like some of the dirty kid smells I was running into in the parks. EEW. The Cous Cous was as I remembered, perfect! So very yummy. I seriously could have eaten a big bowl of that. The Shish Kebab we agreed was excellent. The beef was cooked perfectly. The one thing that I didn’t like but JD didn’t mind was the tomato sauce they put it in. I’d have rather had it plain.
Our dessert came and I absolutely love Baklava so I was in heaven. I tried the Crepe and I didn’t like it, tasted like straight honey. JD liked the ice cream but not the Crepe.
The belly dancer came out as we were eating dessert and she was only on for about 5 minutes and that may have been stretching it. It was actually funny because two little girls went running up and she danced with them. Now that was funny for about a minute. You could tell she was annoyed that their parents just sat there laughing and taking photos and did nothing to remove them from the stage. Then she kept motioning for them to go back to their seats and they refused. Still the parents did nothing. This stopped the show. They were on there almost the entire time she was. Here’s my nasty side coming out… A quick note to parents out there… yes, your kids are cute. Yes, kids are funny. However, your kids will never be AS cute or AS funny to the rest of the people on vacation who are trying to enjoy a show or the Disney workers who are trying to do their job, as they are to you. When they are disrupting something, please take a quick photo and remove them. Thank you! (can you tell this happened A LOT on our trip?! Hehe)
Overall rating: A-, I still can’t get the horror of the lamb taste out of my mind. I wouldn’t pay to go here as a regular diner… but if on the DDP, I would try it again and get the Chicken Cous Cous.
Breakfast at the Castle
We arrived to MK for our 8:50 am breakfast. We were in the castle foyer for about 3 minutes before our name was called. Up the stairs and into the room, it was gorgeous! I really wish it wasn’t a restaurant and they could do something with the castle to make it an actual walk through attraction. I think that would be much cooler and a much better use of the space though probably not as profitable!! We were seated in the best seat in the house, the table for 2 right at the window overlooking the carousel. What luck we thought… about 5 seconds later we found out why. Our server thought it was our Honeymoon!! Haha Don’t know why he thought that!! But hey, we’ll take the perk!
The food here is just ok. And in my opinion, for the price, unless you have kids who want to go here or are really dying to try it just once, it’s not worth it. I wanted more since there were a couple things I didn’t like and I wanted to skip lunch that day, but I felt guilty asking. I did ask for more potatoes, those were great, but my server forgot and by the time he remembered, we were ready to leave. JD didn’t like anything, he’s a picky eater. So he filled up on croissants which we asked for more of. The meal consisted of a kind of au grautin potatoes, 2 links of sausage, 2 pieces of bacon, scrambled eggs and a little cheese stuffed toast type thing. I didn’t like that. I also thought the serving was small. Maybe it was because the plate was so large. You start with fresh fruit which was great and some pastries. I only liked the croissants. JD liked all the pastries, there were cinnamon rolls and blueberry muffins as well. It was just standard breakfast fare.
I had to try this once in my life. That’s really all I need. But I’m sure if we have a little girl somewhere down the line, we will go again for her. It’s worth it if you have kids that likes the princesses and yes, the castle is really cool inside!!! Overall Rating: Ambience: A+ Food: B-
Le Cellier in the Canada Pavilion
As I said in the beginning we have 2 favorite restaurants in Disney. Ohana and Le Cellier! All I have to say about this meal really is that if I had to eat one thing, everyday, for the rest of my life, this would be it. The restaurant is under the Canada Pavilion, hence the name, Le Cellier. It is dark and almost gothic looking, with low chandeliers and wine cases lining the room. The only problem with this restaurant is that they sit you right on top of the couple next to you. I felt like we were dining with them and at one point we were talking to each other. It is such a romantic atmosphere I would have liked it to have been a bit more private. Oh well, the food makes up for this 10 fold.
Appetizers – I ordered the cheddar cheese soup and JD had the Grilled Beef Tenderloin Kebab. Probably the only appetizer he really loved the whole trip. The Cheddar cheese soup is unbelievable. Topped with bacon it tastes like cheese, bacon and beer. Sounds gross eh? Not so! It’s delish. You also get fresh long breadsticks of sourdough, pretzel bread and multigrain. All were tasty! We both liked the sourdough best.
Dinner – We both ordered the 14 oz. NY Strip Steak. We love us some steak! It literally melts in your mouth, it is cooked to perfection. I don’t know what they rub on the steak but whatever the marinade is, it is amazing. Though it came with roasted Yukon potatoes, which JD really liked, I wanted the Cream Cheese Mashed potatoes instead. They were the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had in my life. Honestly, whatever meal you choose here, you can’t go wrong. And one good thing about this meal, in case you haven’t heard, Disney decided to drop it down to 1 DDP point instead of 2. So we only used 1 meal for this!! Our server said they were trying to change this and bring it back to 2 but for the time being it’s 1.
Dessert – I’m a fan of Crème Brulee, the most diet deceiving dessert on the face of the planet. Take a good look at it folks, how much fat is in something so small, light and delightful?? More than in your entire meal AND your lunch! But the Maple Crème Brulee was unbelievable. And who was I to count fat? I was drinking regular coke like a fiend and eating ½ a 14 oz steak!! LOL JD had the new Happiest Celebration on Earth Chocolate Fudge Cake. He really liked it and ate most of it, it was a large slice.
Overall – I have to say, this was our favorite meal of the whole trip. Just unbelievable. An A+ doesn’t do it justice.
Italy – L’Originale Alfredo de Roma
I was worried about this one. As I mentioned, JD is picky picky picky. We’re talking steak, chicken, potatoes, burgers and veggies, and how the veggies got in there is beyond me. He has to have veggies with every meal! LOL Well this menu is limited IMHO. And there wasn’t much on it that wasn’t “weird” except for the Polletto Ruspante all’Uva or as what us Americans know as Chicken on the bone hehe. He doesn’t like skin and he doesn’t really like chicken on the bone or chicken with any juice in it. So I was afraid we were definitely stopping after this meal for a burger…
Appetizer – I ordered the Caesar Salad and asked JD to order the Calamari as his appetizer. Hey, it was free and he was going to choose nothing, so I freely stuffed my face. SOOOOOOO good. Both of them. Just amazing. I didn’t eat too much because we had more to come! But the Caesar salad was great, the dressing was like none I’d ever tasted before. The girl in the couple sitting next to us commented that it was “the first salad she may actually finish”. I think that speaks for itself.
Dinner – We all know what JD ordered. I ordered the Fettuchini Alfredo of course. They said it was their “famous” dish. I had to try it. It was good. Not the best fettuccini ever. But very good. I added a lot of pepper though to taste. It was a little bland. And what of the chicken? JD devoured the entire thing. If bones were edible, those would have been gone too. He said it was amazing and he’d never had chicken like that before. He also ate the rolls they give you with the dipping oil. The dipping oil was a bit plain as well, but the rolls were excellent. We also ordered a carafe of Sangiovese. It gave us 3 glasses of wine each and we were on top of the world by the time the meal was though! LOL
Dessert – We ordered the dessert special for 2 which gave you miniature pieces of all the desserts. JD liked them all. There was tiramisu, yogurt covered strawberry, canoli and some type of pudding thing. I only liked the canoli but the other desserts to me were just ok so I didn’t want to stuff myself with them.
Overall Rating – We were literally sitting on top of the other couple next to us and they didn’t speak to each other the entire meal except for the salad comment and we were blabbing to each other getting louder and louder I’m sure with ever sip of wine for our whole meal. No doubt they were either fighting or annoyed with us So it was a bit awkward in that respect. Would we pay for the meal? Yes. Though I think we’d both give this restaurant different scores. So I’ll have to average it out. Ambience: A+ Seating Arrangement: C- Food: A
Boma Dinner Buffet – Animal Kingdom
This buffet is extensive and very different. I will say that it does have some favorites like chicken fingers on there for the JDs of the world. So you can bring a picky eater and they will be satisfied. We were seated about 5 minutes after we arrived. We both headed straight for dinner and skipped salads and breads, though I did go back and try a few salads and the only one that stood out was the kool slaai (cole slaw) which they give you a little hard bread to put on. Very good! There is so much here so I will just post the things we really liked and some that I personally really disliked.
Liked: Potatoes with Afritude (JD’s favorite of the meal), Malabu Pepper Steak, Curried Coconut Seafood Stew, Falafel, Chicken Tenders, Fufu and Pap. The falafel was my favorite. I think it tasted really great.
Disliked: All of the other soups.
For desserts the Zebra Domes were a bit disappointing to me only because I’m not a fan of Mocha. Had they been vanilla/chocolate I would have loved them. However the best dessert was a fudge brownie I had. Unbelievable! I didn’t see any Simba Paws?? Maybe they are either not at this restaurant or not available anymore?
Overall, you really can’t go wrong. This buffet is really good and has many things that are tasty. It’s worth the money. Overall Rating: A
Japan – Teppanyaki
This restaurant is so cool. You are seated with 8 people no matter how many are in your party so we were with 6 people we didn’t know. The rooms are set up so there are 4 dining areas of 8 in each and 4 chefs. Our waitress came out and gave us our drinks. We had a couple of special mixed drinks, don’t recall the names but they were good but the ice in them melted down fast from the hot table and they were a bit watery after that.
Appetizer – I tried the Sushi Sampler and California Roll. This confirmed that I’m not a fan of sushi. I managed to choke down a few pieces so that we didn’t look rude, I was near green by the time our chef came out.
Dinner – JD ordered Tonosama (chicken & steak (surprised?)) and I ordered San-Kai (cold water lobster and steak). Our server did some tricks with the vegetables that we all got which included making a smoking volcano with onions. It was neat how fast he worked. We were all served a type of vegetable lo mein with bean sprouts along with white rice and our main course. It was excellent, especially the lobster. We both cleaned our plates. They give you a ginger sauce and a soy type sauce to dip your meat in. It’s all very tasty.
Dessert – JD ordered vanilla ice cream and I had the Chestnut Cake. It was great but I was too full to eat it!
Overall Rating – This is a dinner show. Would we pay for it? Probably not. I think it was over $100. It was good but not THAT good. If we had the dining plan? For sure, it was entertaining and good. Overall rating: A
Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary
Our reservation was at 7:50 am and it was our very last day. I was a combination of sad and tired. And the restaurant was mostly empty when we got there. So I think it would have been more fun at a different time in the day and I don’t think I appreciated it enough. The service was great, the characters were fun, and the food was standard breakfast buffet. Our seat overlooked the MK but it was covered in dead bugs and you couldn’t see out it because the condensation was so bad at that hour in the day. Yuck on many levels there. Our photo came out bad because we were so tired hehe. I did like Goofy’s Vegetable Breakfast Lasagna, the mini croissants and the cheesy potatoes. JD ate the standard waffles and liked them. Mickey waffles are the best of course! So I have to say for a breakfast buffet it was ok. Probably good for kids. But for the money, the Polynesian’s breakfast buffet is 100 times better in my opinion.
Overall score – B, go to the Poly for better food and a more fun atmosphere.
Flame Tree BBQ – Animal Kingdom
Hey don’t knock on the little guys! Counter service is all some of us usually have!
I have to say, for the price you do get quite a bit of food. I was sufficiently stuffed after this meal. I had to go it alone, JD went to the McDonalds in Dinoland haha and came to eat with me down by the river. The one cool thing about this place is that you can sit in so many different seating areas that I didn’t know existed. We were able to sit next to the water and watch the boat with the characters go by. Very cool!
I ordered the ½ rack St. Louis Ribs, Corn and Beans. I also got a dessert so I chose the frozen lemonade which was completely melted by the time I was done with my meal. I gave the corn to JD who really liked it. The ribs and beans were great, much better than most counter service meals in Disney.
Overall Rating: A, for counter service, this is good stuff!
Pizzafari - AK
If you have skipped this restaurant like I used to, thinking pizza is boring, like I used to do, you are missing out! You can always count on coming here and finding a nice open space to sit. DON’T sit where everyone does, in the first room. Get your food and walk down the hallway to the very last dining room. We have been lucky in both August and December (Christmas week) to find it relatively empty and gleaming with cleanliness. A nice relaxing place to have lunch.
JD ordered the pepperoni pizza and he loved it. He ordered chocolate cake for dessert which was an actual slice of cake and very very good. We also got a side of breadsticks which are garlic and with a bit of cheese baked in and dipping marinade, very tasty. I ordered the Hot Italian Deli Sandwich, it was the most amazing counter service meal I have had on property. It was warm with a hint of pesto, just right. It was also huge on a really weird bread. Maybe foccacia of some sort? I loved it. In fact, we both loved our meals so much that we went back again later in the week! For dessert I had an apple tart one day of which I only ate the apples, it was ok. And a frozen strawberry lemonade the other. I didn’t care for that much.
Overall rating: A+, best counter service meal of the week! I wouldn’t waste my money on the desserts though unless I got the chocolate cake.
Pinnochio’s Village Haus with the new menu
This change is a very very good change. While I still miss the pickles they offered on the bar, I like the new menu. And Figaro Fries are still an option! But we have yet to try them.
JD ordered a Pepperoni Pizza, side salad and chocolate cake for dessert. He gave the salad to me but he really liked his meal. He prefers the pizza at Pizzafari only because they cook it better, he likes it well crisped, but it’s the same exact pizza. The chocolate cake was also delicious. I ordered the Italian Sub Sandwich. It was on a Tuscan roll which seemed to be a whole wheat or multigrain roll. It was very filling and I really really liked the taste. If you like Italian subs, it was a smaller version but the same taste. I had a side of fries that I had a couple of and so did JD but we didn’t finish them since there was so much food! One of the cool things about this place is they give rice crispy mickey head treats as a dessert option. I love those!!
Overall rating: A+, change is good!
Tomorrowland Noodle Station
I only stopped in here to try the pot stickers (peking dumplings). I was disappointed. They overcooked which made them crunchy and they had the wrong type of dipping sauce. Usually they have a ginger soy dipping sauce but these came with a thick sauce that I’ve seen put on other types of Chinese food. If I’m really craving them, they do taste the same and maybe they’d be cooked better next time, but if this is your dining option, I’d go to Pinocchio’s.
Overall Rating: C but I think they may have just had a bad day.
Main Street Bakery
We ate breakfast here once. I had the Breakfast quiche and it was really good. It had sausage, pepper, onion, cheese, egg, not sure what else. The ducks agreed with me that it was a tasty meal and ate ¾ of it with me… proves that Disney ducks will eat anything so watch out for your little ones JD had the huge cinnamon roll thing. It is really so good. If you haven’t had one, try them. We spent $9 on breakfast here. I think it’s worth it.
We went another time for an ice cream cookie sandwich. These are amazing. I recommend them to everyone. They are huge though, so plan on sharing!
Overall Rating: A+
Candy Apples at what used to be the Villians Shop in MGM
I have to have one every vacation. They’re amazing. I had 2 this vacation. I’m a pig. I know this. One was fudge covered with blue sprinkles. The other was dipped first in caramel, then fudge, then covered with M&Ms. The M&M covered one was better but I could only eat ½. I highly recommend these to everyone!!
Kringala Bakery - Pastry in Norway
On a recommendation that I got on these boards, I tried an almond covered sweet pretzel. To me, it was just ok. I wouldn’t get one again. But it was worth a try. I don’t think it’s fair to give a grade to something that was good, just not my taste. So I will leave it at that.
Yakitori House - Japan counter service
JD got lunch here one day. He ordered the Shogun Combo (teriyaki chicken, sukiyaki beef and rice). Beware the sukiyaki beef. He expected it to look like teriyaki beef but it looks more like dog food. He didn’t touch it but he did like the teriyaki chicken and he said he’d order there again getting just that. For dessert (you get them free on the dining plan which is why we have one at every meal) he got a ginger cake and he did like it. Not sure what he’d give it overall.
Tangierine Café - Morocco counter service
Love it here. I ordered the Lamb Shawarma Sandwich which is huge, a side of fries, that I couldn’t finish and really didn’t even need, and Baklava. It is delicious. If you like gyros, you will love this sandwich. The Baklava is the same they serve in the restaurant Marrakesh.
Overall Rating: A+
***NEW ADDITION
Beaches & Cream - Beach Club
We were RIPPED OFF. Milky Way sunday has a bundt. Ours had none. JD was fine with this. ME, no. This was NOT free on the dining plan. No one said anything and I was left diving through the mass of whip cream that was sneakily added to divert my attentions, in search of the delectable delight only to find the bottom of the bowl. As you can see, I am traumatized. RIP missing bundt cake. Overall Rating: F (not bitter. Honest.)
The DDP is your friend and your worst enemy. Like I said, here I sit, 5lbs heavier! We never get dessert at home and we had the option of 3 desserts everyday if you include the snack. Having all of these options aided in my weight gain. But was it worth it?? Hells yeah!! I’d do it again in a heartbeat! DDP gets two thumbs up from both of us and we will never travel to Disney without it again. We had many dinners that would have cost over $100 for what, $35 bucks per person? That’s $70/day. It paid for itself over and over.
I hope you all have a great trip and that maybe this report helps you decide on one or two restaurants in your plans. MANGIA!!! :slurp:
** I posted this here because I thought it would help with someone's planning... if it's in the wrong place, please move me! Thanks! **
We went to Disney September 2 – 12 and had the special package that offered the Disney Dining Plan for free. So what did we do? You guessed it. Stuffed face for 11 days straight! All that time and 5 lbs later we are back in Boston and I’m here to share my reviews with you. Now sit tight and grab something to eat to ease the drool that will no doubt be ravaging your keyboard…
Ohana at the Polynesian
We have two favorite restaurants in all of Disney. This is one of them!! We arrived 30 minutes early and decided to have a drink in the Tambu Lounge. We sat at the bar and ordered a Lapu Lapu for me and the Tradewinds for my fiancé, Johnny Disney (JD). The Lapu Lapu was extremely strong, I tasted no fruit and all alcohol. I’m a wuss and I really like “girlie” drinks, like the Tradewinds, but was enticed by the pineapple… I’m a sucker for fun mugs, cups, straws, etc. The Tradewinds was TASTY. JD loved it as well; he too is a fan of the “girlie drinks”
. The Lapu Lapu is large. It is also $11.99 so there’s no way I was going to let it go to waste. I finished it and was feeling pretty good by dinner… We were seated not 5 minutes after we finally checked in. The table we were at was for 3 people, right against the windows in front of the castle. Perfect view! At this restaurant you are referred to as “cousin” by the waitstaff. We started with Hawaiian bread, it has pineapple in it and is very tasty, but filling! Don’t eat too much; there are better things to come. Our waiter, who was fantastic, brought over a lazy Susan of chicken wings, shrimp and vegetable won tons, salad (who eats that?! Certainly not I), and 3 types of dipping sauces: fruit, peanut and cilantro ginger. Usually you also get rice with this but we got Au Gratin Potatoes instead. And can I just say here they were fabulous. I liked them so much more than the rice. Ohana offers long skewered tips of steak, turkey and pork as well as shrimp. Your server brings them over in rounds and puts as much or as little as you want onto your plate. Here’s where they save money at Ohana, they do have a long wait time (at least every time we’ve been) between each round of Steak/Turkey and Pork/Shrimp. So the longer time you have to wait, the more time you have to digest, then you’re not hungry by the time the next option rolls around. I hate this. I wanted to stuff myself like the glutton I can be, but I was too full too fast. However, I will say that the steak was marinated and cooked just right, not too pink, not burnt. We both like our steak well done, and we were really happy with this. I preferred the steak and shrimp while JD really liked the steak and Turkey.
At the end of the meal our waiter told us the dessert was different. They were no longer doing pineapple and caramel. Instead he brought us over a rum cake with vanilla ice cream. It had an awesome warm caramel/syrup sauce that tasted like it had some cinnamon in it. We LOVED the new addition and though we also loved the pineapple, we both agreed this cake was much better!! Overall Rating: A+
Nine Dragons – China Pavilion
Stealing time here to brag… we’re getting married next year and our reception will be in the China pavilion. So we really wanted to go here for that reason, even though the wedding won’t be in that area we just thought it would be fun! We arrived again 30 minutes early for our dinner. The only other time we had a PS before this trip was for Le Cellier in Canada and we waited at least 20 minutes that time for a seat so we thought we’d run into that on this trip, hence getting to dinner early. But we didn’t! September crowds rock!
We were seated in the far back section of the restaurant against the windows looking out over Norway. The restaurant wasn’t too crowded, it was 6:00pm. Our waiter greeted us right away and brought out water and soda. With the Disney Dining Plan, we were allowed 2 sodas, 2 appetizers, 2 meals, 2 desserts. MOO MOO MOO. For appetizer, JD ordered beef skewers and I ordered Pot Stickers. They came out not 5 minutes later. There were 3 very small beef skewers. The beef was tender and very good, JD loved it. The pot stickers were the best I’ve ever tasted. These are my favorite Chinese food option so I have much experience in trying them from different restaurants. If you like these, try them here! For main course, we ordered a side of fried rice which they didn’t charge extra for and JD ordered General Tso’s Chicken and I ordered the Honey Sesame Chicken. Both were excellent and melted in your mouth! The portions were large and very filling. I did not really care for the fried rice, I’ve had better at home. JD didn’t seem to either. JD finished his meal completely, it was so good. I personally loved the Honey Sesame Chicken more but JD preferred his meal. But with either, you can’t go wrong. For dessert I ordered the red bean ice cream and JD ordered ginger ice cream. The bowls were small with 1 scoop, perfect in my opinion since we were already stuffed. Red bean ice cream is very strange but sweet. I wasn’t expecting that. I really liked it, the beans just reminded me of nuts, though they didn’t taste like beans or nuts, but just added a crunch. I did NOT like the ginger but JD did. In general, I just don’t like ginger, if you do, this ice cream is very strong so you may like it. Good ambience, great food, private table. We wouldn’t pay $7.99 for the beef skewers, they were too small a portion. But everything else was worth the price. Overall Rating: A+
Cape May Café
This was the longest wait we had once we arrived for our PS right on time at 6:30 pm. We waited about 15 minutes before we were seated. Our waiter was really great. The buffet, however, was not. It is decent if you are just looking for a heavy meal. There’s nothing WRONG with the food. But it is standard buffet fare. Nothing fabulous about any part of it. I was really looking forward to this meal because it was the only Disney buffet or nice dinner I had on the college program and I remember it being amazing. Looking back, that was probably because I was living on Canned Soup, Mac & Cheese and Pasta Roni at the time!! LOL It was a virtual feast back then!
I was looking forward most to the steamers. I love steamed clams with butter so I planned to have many. They were ridiculously small. Not what I’m used to in the summer up here in Boston. They were tasty, but too small to even put a dent in my appetite without having loads of plates filled with shells on the table and I wasn’t interested in going up that many times. Nothing stood out except for the mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes are the reason I left there full. Very creamy with a cheesy garlic taste, it’s the only thing on this buffet that I can highly recommend. The dessert bar also had a really tasty treat, an oreo cookie/fudge pastry. I had 2, they were petit.
(that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!) Just your average fare and not worth the price IMHO, I was super glad it was free and a little bummed we didn’t try somewhere else. Overall rating: Ambience: A, we like the Beach Club! Food: C –Morocco – Restaurant Marrakesh
I went here on my very first trip to Disney when I was 12 or 13 and I ended up loving Cous Cous after that. So I was excited to try the restaurant again. We arrived 30 minutes early because we were hungry and wanted to get to our end show that night. They seated us right away one table away from the dance floor. I was a little irked at this because there was NO ONE sitting next to the dance floor. I think it was because the servers were better able to get to your table that way. The belly dancer had just done a set so we had to wait another 45 minutes for her performance, which was fun since we have such an elaborate meal plan! I ordered the Marrakesh Feast but substituted the Lemon Chicken with the Roast Lamb Meshoi. This meal comes with soup, Beef Brewat Rolls for appetizer, Lamb, Beef Shish Kebab, Cous Cous with 7 veggies for dinner and tons of Baklava for dessert. JD ordered the Chicken Bastilla for appetizer, Shish Kebab dinner and Crepes Atlas for dessert.
The appetizers came out and I didn’t really like the soup. To be honest, it tasted like Campbell’s Vegetable Alphabet Soup. It was good but I could have it at home so I only took a bite or two. The Beef Brewat Roll was like a pastry covered with confectionary sugar and stuffed with beef. It was sweet. I actually really liked it. The Chicken Bastilla was just ok. It looked like a fried pastry saucer with chicen inside. JD didn’t like it but keep in mind he’s not very adventurous when it comes to dining.
Our dinner came out very quickly. I have to say here, the Lamb tastes like dirty laundry. I tried, but it tasted like some of the dirty kid smells I was running into in the parks. EEW. The Cous Cous was as I remembered, perfect! So very yummy. I seriously could have eaten a big bowl of that. The Shish Kebab we agreed was excellent. The beef was cooked perfectly. The one thing that I didn’t like but JD didn’t mind was the tomato sauce they put it in. I’d have rather had it plain.
Our dessert came and I absolutely love Baklava so I was in heaven. I tried the Crepe and I didn’t like it, tasted like straight honey. JD liked the ice cream but not the Crepe.
The belly dancer came out as we were eating dessert and she was only on for about 5 minutes and that may have been stretching it. It was actually funny because two little girls went running up and she danced with them. Now that was funny for about a minute. You could tell she was annoyed that their parents just sat there laughing and taking photos and did nothing to remove them from the stage. Then she kept motioning for them to go back to their seats and they refused. Still the parents did nothing. This stopped the show. They were on there almost the entire time she was. Here’s my nasty side coming out… A quick note to parents out there… yes, your kids are cute. Yes, kids are funny. However, your kids will never be AS cute or AS funny to the rest of the people on vacation who are trying to enjoy a show or the Disney workers who are trying to do their job, as they are to you. When they are disrupting something, please take a quick photo and remove them. Thank you! (can you tell this happened A LOT on our trip?! Hehe)
Overall rating: A-, I still can’t get the horror of the lamb taste out of my mind. I wouldn’t pay to go here as a regular diner… but if on the DDP, I would try it again and get the Chicken Cous Cous.
Breakfast at the Castle
We arrived to MK for our 8:50 am breakfast. We were in the castle foyer for about 3 minutes before our name was called. Up the stairs and into the room, it was gorgeous! I really wish it wasn’t a restaurant and they could do something with the castle to make it an actual walk through attraction. I think that would be much cooler and a much better use of the space though probably not as profitable!! We were seated in the best seat in the house, the table for 2 right at the window overlooking the carousel. What luck we thought… about 5 seconds later we found out why. Our server thought it was our Honeymoon!! Haha Don’t know why he thought that!! But hey, we’ll take the perk!
The food here is just ok. And in my opinion, for the price, unless you have kids who want to go here or are really dying to try it just once, it’s not worth it. I wanted more since there were a couple things I didn’t like and I wanted to skip lunch that day, but I felt guilty asking. I did ask for more potatoes, those were great, but my server forgot and by the time he remembered, we were ready to leave. JD didn’t like anything, he’s a picky eater. So he filled up on croissants which we asked for more of. The meal consisted of a kind of au grautin potatoes, 2 links of sausage, 2 pieces of bacon, scrambled eggs and a little cheese stuffed toast type thing. I didn’t like that. I also thought the serving was small. Maybe it was because the plate was so large. You start with fresh fruit which was great and some pastries. I only liked the croissants. JD liked all the pastries, there were cinnamon rolls and blueberry muffins as well. It was just standard breakfast fare.
I had to try this once in my life. That’s really all I need. But I’m sure if we have a little girl somewhere down the line, we will go again for her. It’s worth it if you have kids that likes the princesses and yes, the castle is really cool inside!!! Overall Rating: Ambience: A+ Food: B-
Le Cellier in the Canada Pavilion
As I said in the beginning we have 2 favorite restaurants in Disney. Ohana and Le Cellier! All I have to say about this meal really is that if I had to eat one thing, everyday, for the rest of my life, this would be it. The restaurant is under the Canada Pavilion, hence the name, Le Cellier. It is dark and almost gothic looking, with low chandeliers and wine cases lining the room. The only problem with this restaurant is that they sit you right on top of the couple next to you. I felt like we were dining with them and at one point we were talking to each other. It is such a romantic atmosphere I would have liked it to have been a bit more private. Oh well, the food makes up for this 10 fold.
Appetizers – I ordered the cheddar cheese soup and JD had the Grilled Beef Tenderloin Kebab. Probably the only appetizer he really loved the whole trip. The Cheddar cheese soup is unbelievable. Topped with bacon it tastes like cheese, bacon and beer. Sounds gross eh? Not so! It’s delish. You also get fresh long breadsticks of sourdough, pretzel bread and multigrain. All were tasty! We both liked the sourdough best.
Dinner – We both ordered the 14 oz. NY Strip Steak. We love us some steak! It literally melts in your mouth, it is cooked to perfection. I don’t know what they rub on the steak but whatever the marinade is, it is amazing. Though it came with roasted Yukon potatoes, which JD really liked, I wanted the Cream Cheese Mashed potatoes instead. They were the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had in my life. Honestly, whatever meal you choose here, you can’t go wrong. And one good thing about this meal, in case you haven’t heard, Disney decided to drop it down to 1 DDP point instead of 2. So we only used 1 meal for this!! Our server said they were trying to change this and bring it back to 2 but for the time being it’s 1.
Dessert – I’m a fan of Crème Brulee, the most diet deceiving dessert on the face of the planet. Take a good look at it folks, how much fat is in something so small, light and delightful?? More than in your entire meal AND your lunch! But the Maple Crème Brulee was unbelievable. And who was I to count fat? I was drinking regular coke like a fiend and eating ½ a 14 oz steak!! LOL JD had the new Happiest Celebration on Earth Chocolate Fudge Cake. He really liked it and ate most of it, it was a large slice.
Overall – I have to say, this was our favorite meal of the whole trip. Just unbelievable. An A+ doesn’t do it justice.
Italy – L’Originale Alfredo de Roma
I was worried about this one. As I mentioned, JD is picky picky picky. We’re talking steak, chicken, potatoes, burgers and veggies, and how the veggies got in there is beyond me. He has to have veggies with every meal! LOL Well this menu is limited IMHO. And there wasn’t much on it that wasn’t “weird” except for the Polletto Ruspante all’Uva or as what us Americans know as Chicken on the bone hehe. He doesn’t like skin and he doesn’t really like chicken on the bone or chicken with any juice in it. So I was afraid we were definitely stopping after this meal for a burger…
Appetizer – I ordered the Caesar Salad and asked JD to order the Calamari as his appetizer. Hey, it was free and he was going to choose nothing, so I freely stuffed my face. SOOOOOOO good. Both of them. Just amazing. I didn’t eat too much because we had more to come! But the Caesar salad was great, the dressing was like none I’d ever tasted before. The girl in the couple sitting next to us commented that it was “the first salad she may actually finish”. I think that speaks for itself.
Dinner – We all know what JD ordered. I ordered the Fettuchini Alfredo of course. They said it was their “famous” dish. I had to try it. It was good. Not the best fettuccini ever. But very good. I added a lot of pepper though to taste. It was a little bland. And what of the chicken? JD devoured the entire thing. If bones were edible, those would have been gone too. He said it was amazing and he’d never had chicken like that before. He also ate the rolls they give you with the dipping oil. The dipping oil was a bit plain as well, but the rolls were excellent. We also ordered a carafe of Sangiovese. It gave us 3 glasses of wine each and we were on top of the world by the time the meal was though! LOL
Dessert – We ordered the dessert special for 2 which gave you miniature pieces of all the desserts. JD liked them all. There was tiramisu, yogurt covered strawberry, canoli and some type of pudding thing. I only liked the canoli but the other desserts to me were just ok so I didn’t want to stuff myself with them.
Overall Rating – We were literally sitting on top of the other couple next to us and they didn’t speak to each other the entire meal except for the salad comment and we were blabbing to each other getting louder and louder I’m sure with ever sip of wine for our whole meal. No doubt they were either fighting or annoyed with us
So it was a bit awkward in that respect. Would we pay for the meal? Yes. Though I think we’d both give this restaurant different scores. So I’ll have to average it out. Ambience: A+ Seating Arrangement: C- Food: ABoma Dinner Buffet – Animal Kingdom
This buffet is extensive and very different. I will say that it does have some favorites like chicken fingers on there for the JDs of the world. So you can bring a picky eater and they will be satisfied. We were seated about 5 minutes after we arrived. We both headed straight for dinner and skipped salads and breads, though I did go back and try a few salads and the only one that stood out was the kool slaai (cole slaw) which they give you a little hard bread to put on. Very good! There is so much here so I will just post the things we really liked and some that I personally really disliked.
Liked: Potatoes with Afritude (JD’s favorite of the meal), Malabu Pepper Steak, Curried Coconut Seafood Stew, Falafel, Chicken Tenders
, Fufu and Pap. The falafel was my favorite. I think it tasted really great. Disliked: All of the other soups.
For desserts the Zebra Domes were a bit disappointing to me only because I’m not a fan of Mocha. Had they been vanilla/chocolate I would have loved them. However the best dessert was a fudge brownie I had. Unbelievable! I didn’t see any Simba Paws?? Maybe they are either not at this restaurant or not available anymore?
Overall, you really can’t go wrong. This buffet is really good and has many things that are tasty. It’s worth the money. Overall Rating: A
Japan – Teppanyaki
This restaurant is so cool. You are seated with 8 people no matter how many are in your party so we were with 6 people we didn’t know. The rooms are set up so there are 4 dining areas of 8 in each and 4 chefs. Our waitress came out and gave us our drinks. We had a couple of special mixed drinks, don’t recall the names but they were good but the ice in them melted down fast from the hot table and they were a bit watery after that.
Appetizer – I tried the Sushi Sampler and California Roll. This confirmed that I’m not a fan of sushi. I managed to choke down a few pieces so that we didn’t look rude, I was near green by the time our chef came out.
Dinner – JD ordered Tonosama (chicken & steak (surprised?)) and I ordered San-Kai (cold water lobster and steak). Our server did some tricks with the vegetables that we all got which included making a smoking volcano with onions. It was neat how fast he worked. We were all served a type of vegetable lo mein with bean sprouts along with white rice and our main course. It was excellent, especially the lobster. We both cleaned our plates. They give you a ginger sauce and a soy type sauce to dip your meat in. It’s all very tasty.
Dessert – JD ordered vanilla ice cream and I had the Chestnut Cake. It was great but I was too full to eat it!
Overall Rating – This is a dinner show. Would we pay for it? Probably not. I think it was over $100. It was good but not THAT good. If we had the dining plan? For sure, it was entertaining and good. Overall rating: A
Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary
Our reservation was at 7:50 am and it was our very last day. I was a combination of sad and tired. And the restaurant was mostly empty when we got there. So I think it would have been more fun at a different time in the day and I don’t think I appreciated it enough. The service was great, the characters were fun, and the food was standard breakfast buffet. Our seat overlooked the MK but it was covered in dead bugs and you couldn’t see out it because the condensation was so bad at that hour in the day. Yuck on many levels there. Our photo came out bad because we were so tired hehe. I did like Goofy’s Vegetable Breakfast Lasagna, the mini croissants and the cheesy potatoes. JD ate the standard waffles and liked them. Mickey waffles are the best of course! So I have to say for a breakfast buffet it was ok. Probably good for kids. But for the money, the Polynesian’s breakfast buffet is 100 times better in my opinion.
Overall score – B, go to the Poly for better food and a more fun atmosphere.
Flame Tree BBQ – Animal Kingdom
Hey don’t knock on the little guys! Counter service is all some of us usually have!
I have to say, for the price you do get quite a bit of food. I was sufficiently stuffed after this meal. I had to go it alone, JD went to the McDonalds in Dinoland haha and came to eat with me down by the river. The one cool thing about this place is that you can sit in so many different seating areas that I didn’t know existed. We were able to sit next to the water and watch the boat with the characters go by. Very cool!
I ordered the ½ rack St. Louis Ribs, Corn and Beans. I also got a dessert so I chose the frozen lemonade which was completely melted by the time I was done with my meal. I gave the corn to JD who really liked it. The ribs and beans were great, much better than most counter service meals in Disney.
Overall Rating: A, for counter service, this is good stuff!
Pizzafari - AK
If you have skipped this restaurant like I used to, thinking pizza is boring, like I used to do, you are missing out! You can always count on coming here and finding a nice open space to sit. DON’T sit where everyone does, in the first room. Get your food and walk down the hallway to the very last dining room. We have been lucky in both August and December (Christmas week) to find it relatively empty and gleaming with cleanliness. A nice relaxing place to have lunch.
JD ordered the pepperoni pizza and he loved it. He ordered chocolate cake for dessert which was an actual slice of cake and very very good. We also got a side of breadsticks which are garlic and with a bit of cheese baked in and dipping marinade, very tasty. I ordered the Hot Italian Deli Sandwich, it was the most amazing counter service meal I have had on property. It was warm with a hint of pesto, just right. It was also huge on a really weird bread. Maybe foccacia of some sort? I loved it. In fact, we both loved our meals so much that we went back again later in the week! For dessert I had an apple tart one day of which I only ate the apples, it was ok. And a frozen strawberry lemonade the other. I didn’t care for that much.
Overall rating: A+, best counter service meal of the week! I wouldn’t waste my money on the desserts though unless I got the chocolate cake.
Pinnochio’s Village Haus with the new menu
This change is a very very good change. While I still miss the pickles they offered on the bar, I like the new menu. And Figaro Fries are still an option! But we have yet to try them.
JD ordered a Pepperoni Pizza, side salad and chocolate cake for dessert. He gave the salad to me but he really liked his meal. He prefers the pizza at Pizzafari only because they cook it better, he likes it well crisped, but it’s the same exact pizza. The chocolate cake was also delicious. I ordered the Italian Sub Sandwich. It was on a Tuscan roll which seemed to be a whole wheat or multigrain roll. It was very filling and I really really liked the taste. If you like Italian subs, it was a smaller version but the same taste. I had a side of fries that I had a couple of and so did JD but we didn’t finish them since there was so much food! One of the cool things about this place is they give rice crispy mickey head treats as a dessert option. I love those!!
Overall rating: A+, change is good!
Tomorrowland Noodle Station
I only stopped in here to try the pot stickers (peking dumplings). I was disappointed. They overcooked which made them crunchy and they had the wrong type of dipping sauce. Usually they have a ginger soy dipping sauce but these came with a thick sauce that I’ve seen put on other types of Chinese food. If I’m really craving them, they do taste the same and maybe they’d be cooked better next time, but if this is your dining option, I’d go to Pinocchio’s.
Overall Rating: C but I think they may have just had a bad day.
Main Street Bakery
We ate breakfast here once. I had the Breakfast quiche and it was really good. It had sausage, pepper, onion, cheese, egg, not sure what else. The ducks agreed with me that it was a tasty meal and ate ¾ of it with me… proves that Disney ducks will eat anything so watch out for your little ones
JD had the huge cinnamon roll thing. It is really so good. If you haven’t had one, try them. We spent $9 on breakfast here. I think it’s worth it.We went another time for an ice cream cookie sandwich. These are amazing. I recommend them to everyone. They are huge though, so plan on sharing!
Overall Rating: A+
Candy Apples at what used to be the Villians Shop in MGM
I have to have one every vacation. They’re amazing. I had 2 this vacation. I’m a pig. I know this. One was fudge covered with blue sprinkles. The other was dipped first in caramel, then fudge, then covered with M&Ms. The M&M covered one was better but I could only eat ½. I highly recommend these to everyone!!
Kringala Bakery - Pastry in Norway
On a recommendation that I got on these boards, I tried an almond covered sweet pretzel. To me, it was just ok. I wouldn’t get one again. But it was worth a try. I don’t think it’s fair to give a grade to something that was good, just not my taste. So I will leave it at that.
Yakitori House - Japan counter service
JD got lunch here one day. He ordered the Shogun Combo (teriyaki chicken, sukiyaki beef and rice). Beware the sukiyaki beef. He expected it to look like teriyaki beef but it looks more like dog food. He didn’t touch it but he did like the teriyaki chicken and he said he’d order there again getting just that. For dessert (you get them free on the dining plan which is why we have one at every meal) he got a ginger cake and he did like it. Not sure what he’d give it overall.
Tangierine Café - Morocco counter service
Love it here. I ordered the Lamb Shawarma Sandwich which is huge, a side of fries, that I couldn’t finish and really didn’t even need, and Baklava. It is delicious. If you like gyros, you will love this sandwich. The Baklava is the same they serve in the restaurant Marrakesh.
Overall Rating: A+
***NEW ADDITION
Beaches & Cream - Beach Club
We were RIPPED OFF. Milky Way sunday has a bundt. Ours had none. JD was fine with this. ME, no. This was NOT free on the dining plan. No one said anything and I was left diving through the mass of whip cream that was sneakily added to divert my attentions, in search of the delectable delight only to find the bottom of the bowl. As you can see, I am traumatized. RIP missing bundt cake. Overall Rating: F (not bitter. Honest.)
The DDP is your friend and your worst enemy. Like I said, here I sit, 5lbs heavier! We never get dessert at home and we had the option of 3 desserts everyday if you include the snack. Having all of these options aided in my weight gain. But was it worth it?? Hells yeah!! I’d do it again in a heartbeat! DDP gets two thumbs up from both of us and we will never travel to Disney without it again. We had many dinners that would have cost over $100 for what, $35 bucks per person? That’s $70/day. It paid for itself over and over.
I hope you all have a great trip and that maybe this report helps you decide on one or two restaurants in your plans. MANGIA!!! :slurp:
