We went to Carthay Circle for dinner on July 7, a Saturday. Some brief notes:
We were slightly delayed by the Pixar Parade but made it inside just before our reservation. Note: currently enough patrons are stopping to view the parade or getting stuck behind it that the restaurant is taking a few extra walk ins at parade time. Something to think about if you are there without a reservation and want to check it out. Everyone else, remember to give yourself time to get around the parade if your reservation conflicts.
Chef Sutton was still working the pass although we did see Gloria a bit this time. While we had no problems with service, it was obvious he and one if the managers were working with the staff VERY closely to be sure all orders went out together in the proper fashion. No meet and greet tonight!
Toocherie had the dill gin and tonic. It was not presented in the same fashion as the one I got in 1901; not enough tonic and not enough dill, IMO. Fortunately she had another one in the lounge this week that was up to snuff so we shall hope that was just a kink. My husband had a beer I can't remember. It must have been good because he quickly ordered another. I had the rose beverage and while it was lovely, it was too sweet for me. I didn't find it to be terribly sweet, it's just a personal thing. I like my drinks on the crisp side!
Toocherie has reported on what she had: soup and bacon wrapped shrimp.
I had the mushroom gorditas to start. These are vegetarian--could be vegan without the cheese, I think. They were pretty good. I followed it with the strawberry rubbed buttermilk chicken salad, which I've been wanting to try at Napa Rose for a while. It was quite good but didn't rock my world. If I'm there again this summer, I'll be back to the tomato salad.
My husband had the simple green salad. This is actually more interesting/filling than the one at Napa Rose, due to the addition of what I will describe as little balls of fried brie. (My husband just thought this was crunchy goodness and we're going to keep it that way for now.) He also had the papardelle pasta with chicken meatballs which we already know is good.
We saw sliders going out to other patrons, even though they aren't on the dinner menu, along with plenty of fries. I'm betting you can get the burger, too. I also noticed side after side of broccoli go out, so many I checked to see if one of the rooms was having a pre fixe meal. With some later sleuthing, we found that the kid's filet comes with broccoli and I'm thinking plenty of grown ups were getting the adult portion of filet. I think the menu is relatively narrow right now, perhaps due to the size of the kitchen; in the long run I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple more familiar foods like this on the permanent adults menu.
The chocolate ice cream IS divine. It's advertised as simply chocolate ice cream but still comes in a little pastry cup with some brownie "croutons" on the side. My advice, ask them to skip the doo-dads and bring you two scoops!
The other highlight of our meal was the coffee and tea service. As previously noted, they have French press coffee and Toocherie and my husband agreed it was better than any French press they've had at WDW--very smooth. As for the tea, the service was all very proper with a quite high quality of tea (I don't know which company). But the JOYOUS part was that it came properly hot. I almost cried. (Okay, not really, but it was still pretty awesome.)
We had a nice talk with Joy, the manager, about the beverage service. It seems she's a tea drinker (thank you lord!) and we chatted a bit about each of our personal preferences. When we brought up the coffee, she said they had tasted most of the best reviewed WDW blends but didn't find any of them quite right so they had the supplier bring in some new blends. Ultimately they had three blind taste tests with this blend winning nine of ten votes in the last round (Jiko's blend got one vote).
I also explained to Joy that I was guilty of harassing some staff about the lack of cucumber on premises. She *might* have mentioned in reply that one of the bartenders I spoke with had brought the subject up shortly after my last visit. (In my defense, she said that while less common, it's a really easy garnish to stock, as it doesn't go bad at the rate of say, a lemon peel.) So I'm hopeful of seeing one on my next visit. That or they put up a picture of me with a "DO NOT SERVE" notation.)
Originally Posted by bennette
I sampled the rose soda during a media preview, and it was absolutely delicious. It's served with an edible candied rose petal garnish, which was pretty fantastic. I'm looking forward to going back and ordering the rest of the non-alcoholic drinks for an upcoming article.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks