Carthay Circle Restaurant--who's been?

[adriennek]

THANK YOU! I knew I'd seen it somewhere. Just found it. @MousePlanetJen posted it on June 15 at 6:34 p.m. It's blocked for me at work, but anyone who has her on their Twitter can look it up and/or repost.

How's this??

[Teddi]

So just to clarify, if you eat here and get entree and dessert and/or appetizer per person, you will be offered WOC fast passes. No need to make advance ressies via the phone #. Can't wait to read more reviews.

Is anyone else just super excited the food in DCA is so much better and varied than it was just a year ago? I'm pretty happy with everything I've tried so far that's new (except Lucky Dragon, which based on reviews alone I've skipped).

[Drince88]

Also any first-hand experience with WOC and the appetizers, "Designed to Share"?

[Toocherie]

I'm going for lunch on Saturday--can't wait!

[fairestoneofall]

We'll be there Sunday at lunch!

[KarenW2]

After we made our merchandise purchases at the Animation Building (great set-up!), we decided to try the lounge at Carthay, after having talked to Chef Andrew, after our dinner upstairs, hosted by John and Nancy Lasseter, on 6-10.

Since he told us he designed that menu to be various small plates that are meant to be shared, we ordered drinks, the Duck Confit Sliders and the Asparagus with pine nuts and Aoli.

The food was amazing, especially the sliders, but the service was awful! We tried to get someone to take our order, but it took quite a while before one stopped chatting at length at another table to come over. We wanted our drinks right away, but that didn't happen either. When we finally saw her again, we asked our waitress about them and she said she'd check on them, but then disappeared again. More time passed, she finally showed with our drinks and asked if we'd mind if she brought the sliders out before the asparagus. We said it was fine, she went away and came back with both dishes.

While we were waiting for our waitress to come back, another one came by, saw we were done with our drinks, asked if she could bring us anything else and we said we'd really like ice waters, which she said she'd get us right away. We never saw her again and our waitress never brought us water.

After dinner, she asked if we wanted dessert, but all they offered there were tiny desserts - cake pops or a trio of tiny scoops of 3 kinds of mousse in very small cones. Even tho the trio came in a plastic holder, the chocolate mousse was one that servers were having problems not dropping the scoop out of the small cone, so they were taking turns standing over the scoop on the rug, while another went to get something to pick it up with. Not very appetizing. We decided we didn't want tiny desserts and went to Clarabell's for ice cream sundaes.

We have a reservation there for Destination D Eve in August, with 19 of our D23 friends. I hope by then, they "get the bugs out" and start having much better service, like what we've always received at Napa Rose. Our theory going into checking it out for both dining experiences was that we would stay loyal to Napa Rose and so far, Napa Rose is still our go-to place for a wonderful dining experience at the DLR.

[MadasaHatter]

Thanks for the review KarenW2. I find your review to be way too true of many places. I am glad you are giving it a fair shake. I make it a policy never to judge a place until it has hit its 1 month mark at least. I will be in DLR in October and will indeed make reservations and give it a go. I do truly hope they work the kinks out because it looks fantastic. Does CLARABELLE'S have a soda fountian?????I hope so since it looks like the CARNATION CAFE didn't put theirs back.....

[Toocherie]

I am going for lunch on Saturday (have a dinner reservation twice next month). I suspect that the staff in the lounge and the staff in the restaurant portion are not the same. I wouldn't judge the restaurant staff on either of your experiences as neither of them were normal meal experiences (one a prix-fixe special event--they usually bring in special event staff to supplement restaurant staff for those; the other experience appetizers in the bar). Will report back on service in the restaurant after Saturday.

[Hannahbelle]

We'll be there Sunday at lunch!

See ya there! :-)

[cstephens]

I don't tend to visit a restaurant the first couple of days it's open, not even for my beloved Chef Sutton. There will be bugs and while I can be flexible, I'd rather not that be my first experience.

When I made our dinner reservation for opening night, I knew to expect some glitches, but I couldn't wait. And I have to say, nothing happened that was beyond the occasional mis-step that can happen on any given night in any restaurant, at least as far as our experience. At one point, the server had neglected to bring me a knife, but we asked, she apologized and promptly brought it. Everything went pretty smoothly.

Not being a sushi expert, I had to see what "ebi shrimp" was but apparently it can mean either a shrimp or a prawn. Generally of the "jumbo" size.

OK, that just seems redundant to me, because as far as I've been "taught" at sushi places, "ebi" is just Japanese for shrimp.

[bennette]

I don't tend to visit a restaurant the first couple of days it's open, not even for my beloved Chef Sutton. There will be bugs and while I can be flexible, I'd rather not that be my first experience.

The food was amazing, especially the sliders, but the service was awful!

Case in point.

I imagine even Napa Rose had some glitches when they opened (heck, they occasionally do now; I just know it's not the norm).

[adriennek]

Don't official critics NOT review restaurants until they've been open for something like 6 months in order to let them normalize and work out the gliches??

[mrsdisney68]

We are going for Christmas eve dinner. We usually do Blue Bayou but we want to try something different. Looking forward to it!

[THpoohbear]

I am very much looking forward to trying out this restaurant. But I have no idea when. I, too, didn't want to be first in line to make a reservation to let them iron things out. I have been tempted to squeeze in a ressie before my passes expire in August, but think I'll wait. I have no idea when we'll have park tickets again, so it may be a while. Hopefully by the time I'm there everything is super top notch! As for my dinner ressie on Sunday, you can find me at Napa Rose.

[lowfidelity]

I was there on 06/16 for dinner and I don't think I'll be going back in the foreseeable future.

While the decor and interior were amazing we opted to sit on the terrace. The view was great except for the smell (we were on the north terrace all the way over towards the Hollywoodland entrance). It smelled like sewage to be honest. And not all the time just once in a while when the breeze changed.

Our server was friendly and knowledgable. She answered all of our questions clearly and concisely. She let us know that she we would also be helped by a bus boy. He wasn't very helpful and hard to find. Our server, probably relying on the bus boy, was hard to find also.

So we were seated at 6:45. Ordered around 7 and had our food at 7:40. Which wasn't as bad as the two tables next to us. A party of eight was seated minutes before us and still hadn't been served by the time we finished eating. A party of two sat next to us about 30 minutes after we were seated and received their entree before their appetizer. Probably the worst service I have experienced, ever.

When I complained to a friend of mine about the service I was asked if the servers seemed overwhelmed. I said that it kind of appeared thar way. I always get great service when I'm at DLR. It's one of the reasons I'm a Passholder. I was taken aback by this. It turned me off to the place to be honest

The food was good but not what I expected. I had some of the pork pot roast and an Angus burger. The homemade pickle slices on the burger were delicious. The fries that came with the burger were probably the best ones I have had. Lightly salted and cooked to a perfect crispness. I don't know that the heavy price matched up exactly with the food we were served but I figured I was paying a premium for the location. The Carthay Circle biscuits were a very tasty but unique item IMO. The other people in my party did not feel the same way I did (it has small pieces of jalapeo in it) so be warned.

As I said earlier it will be some time before I go back. I may just wait until I start seeing better reviews before I consider it

[cstephens]

For anyone interested, here's my review of our dinner at Carthay Circle Restaurant.

Thanks.

[Malcon10t]

For anyone interested, here's my review of our dinner at Carthay Circle Restaurant.

Thanks.

I am just picturing the review if we had been with you.... "The quail, the rack of lamb, the bacon wrapped shrimp.... the hamburger.."

[bennette]

I am just picturing the review if we had been with you.... "The quail, the rack of lamb, the bacon wrapped shrimp.... the hamburger.."

Don't forget the fries!

SOMEONE's husband ordered cheese pizza and Caesar salad on our last visit to Napa Rose. No one blinked.

[fairestoneofall]

Don't forget the fries!

SOMEONE's husband ordered cheese pizza and Caesar salad on our last visit to Napa Rose. No one blinked.

Kid's salad and pizza no less. At least that's what the bill said.

[bennette]

Kid's salad and pizza no less. At least that's what the bill said.

I don't get the kid's salad part, although I suppose the house salad is "simply greens." But he was happy to get it.

[MadasaHatter]

Don't official critics NOT review restaurants until they've been open for something like 6 months in order to let them normalize and work out the gliches??

In San Francisco they give you 3 months before the critics start showing up. They also generally do a minimum of 4 visits. 3 dinner and one lunch.

[Iceman]

In addition to Napa Rose, I will probably be comparing this restaurant to the two signatures that are inside a WDW park (as compared to a hotel). I think one is "worth it" and not the other.

Which do you consider the WDW in-park signature restaurants?

[bennette]

Which do you consider the WDW in-park signature restaurants?

The ones listed by WDW as signatures that are in park: the Brown Derby and the Bistro de Paris. Le Cellier went up to a signature last year (two dining credits and WDW lists it with the signatures on their site) but I'm not sure I'd put it there. I think that was more of a tactic to deal with demand.

[Iceman]

Okay, none of those three is worthy of "signature" status IMO. There are so many amazing restaurants in the resorts and at DD that it's got to be hard for them to properly rate the in-park choices!

[bennette]

Bistro de Paris is a lovely little place. I'm not a huge fan of the Brown Derby but have only been once.