Anyone attending the Patina Group AP tour?

[AVP]

Just got home, and I need to sleep more than I need to write a review. But I just had to say that the Patina people pulled out all the stops for this event.

Long-time Padders may have noticed that I am *not* a huge fan of the Patina group restaurants in Downtown Disney, and have had several really awful experiences there.

Tonight was like eating in brand-new restaurants.

Our first stop was Tortilla Jo's, where we paid our $10 and received our wristbands. These would let us hop between the locations all night. The event was held on the 2nd floor of the restaurant, as we would discover was the case at all of the locations.

We were offered drinks as we entered the buffet area - one member of our group opted for Sangria, the rest of us were content with sodas. My friends had not realized that alcohol was included in the cover charge, and were (pleasantly) shocked to discover this.

The buffet selection included fajitas (carne asada, carnitas, chicken) with the usual fixings, a "build your own Mexicone" station, fresh hot tortillas, chips, salsa, picadillo sopes, green chili quesadillas, guacamole and an assortment of cookies. We knew that we had two more locations to hit, so we tried to exercise some restraint as we made our selections.

The food was fantastic. Seriously, truly awesome. And remember, I'm the one who has never had a good meal at this restaurant. The service was fantastic, and a complete 180 turnaround from my previous experiences. My entire party was truly impressed. The one thing I wish the restaurant would have done was labeled the food so you knew how it was normally served on the menu. We asked a lot of questions to figure out how we would order *this* or *that* item from the regular dining room menu.

We reluctantly left to visit the next restaurant, and only after one member our our group double-checked to make sure we could come back later in the evening if we wished.

Our next stop was Catal, where the spread included hummus and baba ganoush with pita bread, white fish in a ginger sauce, chicken skewers, and seafood paella. Their desserts included mini pastries and cakes, plus fresh fruit salad. Again, the staff offered wine or cocktails as we entered, and took orders for non-alcoholic beverages once we were seated. The only quibble I had here was - again - with food labeling. A sign said that the fruit salad was made with Midori liqueur, so my husband had to pass. Unfortunately, the innocent-looking chocolate mousse cup he selected instead had an unexpected liqueur-soaked cherry hiding inside. While not a huge deal to most people, those who have to watch for drug interactions shouldn't be surprised mid-bite by a mouth full of liqueur. However, the rest of our group was quite fond of those little tidbits, so they did not go to waste.

The service here was pretty much what I have come to expect from Catal - earnest, but a little disjointed. I think the layout of the space may have had something to do with that, and it was hard for the servers to track down guests. The seating here was also a little tight, and the area was standing room only during a few periods of the evening.

After Catal, we walked into Disneyland to let our food settle, and to see if the Buzz Lightyear ride was open. Finding it still closed, we headed back to Naples. Again, we were offered drinks as soon as we entered the event, this time a Bellini. Naples served an antipasto salad, penne with a chicken alfredo sauce, meat lasagna, garlic bread and two kinds of pizza. They had the most wonderful dessert offering, consisting of three flavors each of gelato and sorbet, fresh fruit toppings, a choice of chocolate or caramel sauce, and chopped nuts.

Again, we were really impressed with the service here. I should note that all three locations had balloon artists roaming the restaurant to make balloons for the younger guests, and Catal also had a face painter.

After we left Naples, we ran into another group of friends who were just starting the tour. We used this as an excuse to take another lap around the restaurants, and headed back to Tortilla Jo's. Of the three locations, this one really made the biggest impression on our group, and mostly because the service was just so wonderful. When he overheard that one of our friends was a vegetarian, one of the chefs offered to make a meat-free sope for her. Remember, this is the place that once refused to make *ANY* changes to their menu items for people who paid far more than $10 to eat there. Whatever has possesed the crew, I hope the effect is lasting.

After stuffing ourselves on really excellent food at Tortilla Jo's, we paid another visit to Catal. Our vegetarian friend sampled the dips which were the only menu items she could eat, and then we made our way back to Naples so our friends could have dessert. At this point I was far too full to even consider eating anything else, so I just enjoyed the atmosphere.

All in all, this was an AMAZING deal for just $10. We noticed that the restaurants were allowing APs and their guests to come in without prior reservations, which was a benefit to some friends we enticed to join our party.

I think this evening is going to be the "Mr. Toad event" of restaurant open houses - it will be the one event that few people went to, and everyone else will wish they had. I truly hope Patina does something like this again, and if they do, expect the tickets to sell out in a heartbeat, especially once word of this event gets out.

Most of all, I truly hope that this evening is a sign of a permanent change in the way the Patina restaurants operate in Downtown Disney. If this quality of food and this level of service become the norm, I will gladly return to their frequent-diner list.

AVP

[3894]

Great report, AVP!

[stan4d_steph]

I had a feeling this event was going to be fantastic. Thanks for the wonderful report AVP. Wish I had been there! I'll have to wait a little longer for my carnitas fix...

[adriennek]

I am so bitter and jealous right now you don't even know.



Adrienne

[3894]

Originally Posted by adriennek

I am so bitter and jealous right now you don't even know.

That sums it up for me pretty much all of the time.

[jon80flt]

We went last night and had a really good time! We did the tour in the opposite direction that AVP described ...we started at Naples, then did Catel, then Tortilla Joes... then back to Naples for dessert.

There were four of us in our party, and we all agreed...the lasagna at Naples was fantastic, the Sea Bass at Catal was the best we'd ever had, and the Civiche' (sp?) at Tortilla Joes was excellent. Most of the other items were good, but the chicken skewers at Catal were really dry. The Italian Ice Cream at Naples was VERY tasty!

None of us had ever eaten at any of the restaurants before... I think I'd be willing to do Naples again...maybe even with the kids (5 & 8, girls)... their espresso bar was calling to us, but we were all so full, no one wanted to stay and just sit with a coffee! I was really expecting Hors d'ovres, but they really loaded our plates! We had three dinners last night!

I hope they do it again... I'll be there!

Jon

[Wendi]

Wow, thanks for the reviews... sounds FANTABULOUS!!! I hope they do it again, because I'll make it there no matter what for the next one!!!

[biolabetty]

I have to agree with everyone else, it was a great night. We too were surprised that it wasn't just a few appetizers. We would do this again in a heartbeat.