WDW 2011 – Food Review Summary

So you might be wondering – even with extensive photos – just how I remembered all my thoughts on every meal with such clarity. Well, I went prepared, that’s how!

Before leaving – I typed up an extensive restaurant review booklet.

The front cover of course had the best gastronomic expert Disney has – Anton Ego. Each inside page had the name of the eatery (if it was scheduled) or an open title line if it was going to be decided while there. Then there were lines for writing down what we had, and our thoughts on it (one book per couple) and little mickey heads to color in for our “5 star” rating. Where possible I tried to add a cute image to coordinate with the location. Lastly as a quick glance help item – I put the type of meal as a letter designation. B for breakfast, etc.

You can see my individual posts for detailed photos and descriptions, but I thought a quick overview would be helpful here as well.

Restaurants:

Ratings:
1 = Never again
2 = Decent enough food – ok if I’m out of other options
3 = Pretty good – on my “go to” list of places to eat
4 = Excellent – likely on my “must have” list each trip
5 = AMAZING – on my “how many times can I convince everyone to go here in a single trip?!” list
If a rating has a half – you can round up typically. Except that one place that has JUST a half. It is “never ever ever again and I shall shield my eyes from it when we walk past and pretend it doesn’t exist”. :rotfl:

Wolfgang Puck’s – Crabcakes are amazing, and I could not get enough of the Macadamia Nut Chicken. Enough so that I found the recipe and now make it at home.

Yachtsman Steakhouse – I don’t think you could order anything bad here. The highest rating of the whole trip!

Chefs de France – In a word – disappointing. I’m glad I saw Remy – but sadly he must not be in charge of the food here because I won’t be back.

Narcoossee’s – Not worth a return unless you’re splitting an appetizer just to take in the view. While tasty – just not up to par of the pricing.

Flametree BBQ – Probably the best value for a quick snack / meal in the park – but only because AK doesn’t leave many options.

Yak & Yeti – Unimpressed. Would NOT eat here again. MIGHT get an eggroll from the CS stand next door.

Kona Cafe’ – Pretty tasty. Food was well prepared – and the desserts are crazy huge.

Brown Derby – Pretty good with the Fantasmic! package and seating… but I wasn’t technically paying out of pocket. I don’t know that I’d splurge for a whole meal here again. The cobb salad was very interesting, so maybe just a light shared meal here?

Crystal Palace (breakfast) – Good for standard buffet breakfast food. Omelets are fresh and light, quite tasty.
Food by itself

Early park entrance, characters, and food total score

Biergarten (lunch) – Really liked it. Buffet was nice in the middle of the day (and we’re not big breakfast food types anyway) and the food was all very tasty.

Le Cellier (dinner) – Less than impressed – and happy to let everyone else have this place. Two credit meal? No way. If I were meeting someone who wanted to go here I MIGHT consider it (whereas there are some that I don’t care who wants to dine with me I’m not eating there again) but otherwise, it’s a skip.

Yachtsman Steakhouse (again!) – Yes – so awesome we rearranged some meals and splurged on this a second time. It was just as amazing as the first too.

Non-Disney Food:

Kobe Japanese Steakhouse – Mom and Dad have raved about this place for YEARS and amazingly it lived up to their talk. Great show, good tasting food, and an unbeatable price if you catch the early dinner special. We ended up hitting this twice.

Chick-Fil-A – As good as everyone claims! We had both the breakfast and lunch stuff and it was addicting.
Note: I know some people have issue with the owners and their narrow minded ideals but if you dig enough it’s hard these days to not find a tie to something you object to. I’m going to stick to “it’s a franchise and my money is going to this location – not the corporation” and make sure I support causes I believe in directly.
Only because it’s fast food and not good for you. Just good tasting.

Olive Garden – This one is amusing because we have one of these at home… but it was about the same in service and food. So at least they’re consistent.