I guess I will start my thought process on my favorite restaurant and experience in Disney which I know is controversial right now. Lol Let's start my wrap up with Flying Fish.
Just a reminder, if the Trattoria had been open we would have never gone to Flying Fish. Quite honestly, we probably would not have stayed at the Boardwalk if we had known the Trattoria was going to be closed. The 5 items at the deli do not cut it with us foodies. (Sadly, it will be our last stay at The Boardwalk with the kids for sure. One bathroom and limited space doesn't cut it for us. AKL is so much bigger. There were many a bathroom fight on this trip.)
The boys headed to Epcot together and it was hot! I didn't want to go far so we headed down to Flying Fish. We asked the hostess if there was space for 3 and we were seated immediately but at the bar. I almost said something for 2 reasons. One, the obvious, it is a bar and Brin is with us and two, she is not the most coordinated creature on the face of earth. I was afraid she would fall off the bar stool
I am so glad that I said nothing and was just grateful for the seat in air conditioning.
We were greeted by Austin the bartender. To be honest, I don't think he was happy to see 2 parents and a child sitting at the bar. Now remember from the live report, it was Amber, the new proprietor, first day! There was an excessively snobby couple with a child sitting next to us waiting for pizza and drinking water! Yep you heard me pizza! As a bartender, every stool at a bar counts and is revenue. As I quickly figured out what was going on, I felt really bad for Austin. First the highly entitled people repeatedly asked when the pizza was coming because they were so hungry. This woman was unbearable!
Then Amber brought the pizza and they ordered more. By now you can probably guess that Flying Fish doesn't sell pizza. Amber was ordering it for them at The Boardwalk pizza take out. Obviously, that was much of our entertainment.
We quickly made friends with Austin when I asked if I could get food from the deli and eat at the bar.
The rest is history.
Most of our outstanding experiences have been with bartenders and you can see it in other trip reports as well. I highly recommend, if you don't have kids, sitting at the bar. Bartenders and servers are 2 completely different jobs. Plus at the bar, sharing an entrƩe or just getting an appetizer or just a cocktail or having a water and an entrƩe are all acceptable. You don't have to drink to sit at the bar but if you do that you really should eat. Just my opinions and I am not starting any wars. Trying to be helpful and honest.
I can not wait to go back to Disney for many reasons but I can't wait to eat that NY strip steak again! The lobster bisque also won high honors along with the blueberry vinaigrette.
The NY strip med rare won the best meal in Disney! We ate at Flying Fish 3 times total!
Austin waited on us the first and third time and Bill waited on us the 2nd time. Austin is great! Bill is outstanding! He is the one who convinced me to get the NY strip which Den and I split happily. He also has great stories of meeting Michael Simon, who is one of my culinary heroes, so we were throughly entertained.
We went back the third time with one thing in mind the NY strip med rare but it came out medium well. For the second time this trip and last time, I sent it back for a new one. Austin was extremely apologetic and said he wouldn't have eaten that either. The correctly cooked NY strip was as amazing and perfectly cooked.
I will say it hundreds of times in this lifetime, food is important but experienced servers/bartenders make the difference. Happy thirsty Thursday everybody!
