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  1. #1

    Just back yesterday, very long dining review

    I posted this on another site as well, but thought I would post it here too...

    Okay, so I am bad at summaries, so this may get a little long...I put the restaurants in bold in case you want to just read the ones you are interested in!

    This trip was with me (20), my sister (21), and my parents. We stayed one night at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and 5 nights at the Beach Club Villas since my parents are DVC members. We only ate one breakfast out since we had the kitchen in the villa. Also, we had the DDE card which easily saved us over $100. I am a semi-vegetarian, I sometimes eat chicken, so my reviews include no red meat! Here goes...

    Day 1: Jiko
    Our first night at AKL we ate at Jiko. I really, really wanted to go to Boma, and I begged my family to try it but they said they didn't want to do a buffet so we ended up at Jiko. Maybe it was because I didn't want to go, but I really was not impressed with the food. I had some kind of sunrise beverage which was a blend of juices and was fabulous. Then I had the chermoula chicken which I thought had a terrible flavor and the potatoes that came with it were just strange. For dessert I had the pistachio creme brulee which was wonderful, but I would probably not return to Jiko.

    Day 2: Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show
    I had read mixed reviews about this show and I was therefore hesitant to go but it ended up being the high point of my trip. I thought all the food was amazing. There was pineapple bread, salad, pineapple, chicken, rice, vegetables, and a chocolate mousse dessert. All of it was perfectly cooked and truly amazing. Easily the best meal of the trip.

    Day 3: Tony's Town Square Restaurant
    I had also heard bad things about Tony's, but I loved it. I had the house salad, the spaghetti, and the cheesecake. The salad was very fresh, the spaghetti was al dente, just how I like it and the cheesecake was amazing. We were seated outside and had a lovely view. Paired with the food this was a great experience.

    Day 4: Cinderella's Royal Table Lunch
    This meal was worth the fight I went through to get it! All of the characters (esp. Fairy Godmother) were wonderful. This day was my birthday and we were seated at a table right by the windows with confetti and a birthday card for all the princesses to sign. The only downside was the appetizer. It was so horrible it was almost inexcusable. We didn't eat anything on the appetizer plate. The chicken was tough, the cheese was bland, and the fried fish things were just not appetizing to any of us. I will definitely request the children's appetizer next time. For my meal I had the pasta. It was a large serving, and very good, but the best part was dessert. The so-called blueberry cobbler was really more like a blueberry muffin and it was filled with cream cheese and had lemon sorbet and raspberry drizzle over it. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! I was also given a little chocolate cupcake for my birthday which was very good.

    Day 5: San Angel Inn
    None of the entrees here appealed to me so I just ordered two appetizers, the sopa azteca and the sope which was like a little taco almost. Both were wonderful and definitely plenty of food. However, it seems like every time we come here we have horrible service, and this time was no exception. We never received drink refills after we requested them and dinner took a really long time. Also, I was given a margarita with alcohol in it when I requested a virgin margarita. And I am only 20 years old! Needless to say, my parents made me send it back. The atmosphere in this restaurant was very good though and I would probably come back despite the poor service.

    Le Originale Alfredo De Roma (not sure if I spelled that right):
    After dinner we walked over to Italy just to see if they would seat us just for coffee and dessert. We were seated after a 10 minute wait. I had a hot chocolate and the chocolate mousse, a lot of chocolate, but both were wonderful. During dessert a man playing an accordian walked around and all the waiters sang and people twirled their napkins like at Chef Mickey's. It was a very lively, beautiful, and delicious restaurant.

    Day 6: Princess Storybook Breakfast
    We decided to try this on a whim and called the night before and were able to reserve it. We should have just skipped it! Although the princesses were good, the food was absolutely horrible. The cinnamon rolls were dry, the fruit was all melon, all you could taste in the potatoes was onion and the eggs were a strange consistency. Overall it was a terrible meal, but I guess people come for the princesses, not the food. We will never be back to this one.

    Hollywood Brown Derby dinner:
    We had planned to do only one sit-down meal per day, but since breakfast was so bad we called to try to get into the Hollywood Brown Derby. We got a 7:00 seating which was the last seating since MGM closed at 7 that night. We got to see the same hostess that we see every time, Alma, so we said hi to her. We say hi to her every time and as we were leaving this time she offered to show us the book with all the signatures of people who have eaten at the restaurant. She unlocked it and let us look at every page for over 20 minutes. If you are every at the Brown Derby, say hi to Alma, she's great! We were seated at a great booth on the lower level of the restaurant. My dad didn't come to this meal because he was back in the room watching a football game. So my mom and my sister and I had the cobb salad and then I had the thai noodle bowl. The salad was absolutely amazing as was the noodle bowl. The tofu in the noodle bowl was coconut encrusted and crisp on the outside--wonderful! The rolls were also exceptional. This is a must-do for us every trip.

    We had plenty of other food like dole whips and mickey bars and with the exception of Jiko and the PSB I was extremely pleased with all my meals, I'm just sad to be home! Thanks for reading, I'd be more than happy to answer any questions!!


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  3. #2

    Thanks for sharing, Stitch I was going to have my family go to Jiko, but my husband said didn't think we'd like it -- after reading your review, I think we may skip it, I think he may be right. Dh owes you a Mickey Bar, lol

    I love reading others' reviews -- it is fun, and a great help


  4. #3

    I am not an adventurous eater, so when I ordered something at Jiko and didn't like it, I was stuck with it. However, with all the selections at Boma there was bound to be something I liked. That is why I was hoping for Boma over Jiko, but my family won over me. Next trip it is Boma all the way!


  5. #4
    Been There...Done That LeslieM's Avatar
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    Thanks for your mouth watering take on your meals. One complaint: you're making me hungry!


  6. #5
    Ready for MA World Explorers!
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    Drince88's Avatar
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    Just as another opinion, we went to Jiko on our arrival day, and although the opinions may have been augmented by hunger (the others all left their homes VERY early in the morning and had only been in airplanes the whole day), for us, it was the best meal of the trip. It wasn't too far out there, for our group, and we're not THAT adventurous of eaters. The only thing 'odd' to us was some of the descriptions of the sides that came with the entrees, but they were all really good.

    Boma is a little more casual (since it is a buffet) and there are likely to be more kids around, but you can take 'just a little' of things you aren't sure of.


  7. #6
    Supercalifragilistic User
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    Jiko is FANTASTIC. Excellent service & delicoius food. I enjoyed it more than the California Grill! Boma was also equally wonderful. Those were definitely two of the best meals I have had at WDW.


  8. #7
    Registered User Walt'sbirthdaygirl's Avatar
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    Jun 2003
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    Thank you for the reviews, we are taking our first family trip to WDW in December and have been wondering where to eat.

    Disneyland IS the Happiest place on Earth!

  9. #8
    Registered User
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    Sep 2005
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    I cant believe you did not try Boma!!! I do like Jiko and I thought the same thing about Boma being a buffet but it has to be the best buffet in WDW or anywhere I have ever tried.

    A big part of visiting WDW for us is enjoying some of the best food there (usually very expensive) and we almost always avoid park or fast food. With all the great choices we also agree that the food and the show at the Spirit of Aloha is great and we travel to Maui every year so you would think we would not be impressed with Disneys version of a luau but I have never had a complaint about the show or the food.

    Thanks for the report.

    Aloha

    Steve


  10. #9

    I too can review (can you?)!

    Day 1: Boma! At Animal Kingdom Lodge. We had the same castmember waitress that we had 15 mos. prior her name is Jules! The only mistake you can make at Bomas is not to try everything! I ate so many different items its hard to recommend just one. But oooooH the desserts! Pineapple Cheesecake, Cocunut Macarones, Bananabread Pudding with vanilla sauce and Coconuy Creme brule'. Simply put, I will always make time for Bomas with every visit to WDW!

    Day 2: Spending the day at MGM...Dinner at the 50s Prime Time Diner (50s themed with Old Black & White TVs showing small clips of 50s shows). Had Priority Seating, still waited over 35 min (and the place was nearly empty????). had the Seafood Pasta Primavera, it was satisfactory. Smores dessert, don't recomment it. Did receive excellent service. Will not likely do this overpriced (even for WDW) restarant again. There are sooo many better options. **** The 50s TV programs are "looped" so you end up watching the same bits of shows over and over. It got kinda old.

    Day 3: Crystal Palace @ Magic Kingdom. A Pooh, Piglet, Eeyor and Tigger (who was a.w.o.l.) Character meal. We were with friends with a 5, 3 and 1 year old, and had my In-laws and our 4 mos. old son. The only place without good service of all the restarants. It took us 2 hours to get our dinner done primarily because our waiter kept disappearing on us. We had 7:10 priority seating in order to make the 9 PM parade. Long stry short, the parade passed us by with us and 4 screaming kids trying to leave but no check to cash out with. I guess since our large party automatically gave our waiter his 18% tip, he thought his work was already done. Food was bland at best and the fact that 2 hours and no Tigger at the table...not worth the $. I do recommend Crystal Palace for B-fast though!

    Day 4: Left WDW and caught the Dixie Stampede dinner show. The show, was good and the food was good (the chicken was excellent but the portions were a bit small for those of us with larger appetites). Worth the $ but they want you there early for the pre-show (songs, comedy and magic tricks) so they can sell drinks to your party, expensive drinks like $5 beers and wine (not good wine). If I'd missed the pre-show I would count it no big loss. This is a very family friendly show, which is a good thing. I have had to walk out of some due to crass humor, none of that here!

    Day 5: Dinner at Rose and Crown in EPCOT. Excellent service, very good food. Excellent prices (meals @ about $15-20). We caught a table lakeside and had the best viewing for the illuminations showing ever! I had the fish and chips. I do not like fish and thought that I would give it a try, and, I still do not like fish! But the other things I sampled were excellent. Get the sample dessert (Apple crumb with Vanilla Ice Cream, Guiness Cake AWESOME, and Some kind of toffe custard item that melts in your mouth! I will remember this next time at EPCOT and dine there again!

    Sadly I am now home!

    Denny J
    Loves to talk about food!


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