September food planning

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Spook's picture
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September food planning

In 3 days we can make our ADR's for our September trip yay We are trying to eat at places we have never been to before. However, we also don't want to be tied down with a lot of ADR's so we have decided on 4, one being our favourite restaurant, the Garden Grill mickey We plan on trying to do a walk up for Trails End and Yak and Yeti. That leaves us with 3 ADR's to decide on. We made a list and are now trying to decide, so I was wondering which ones you guys have eaten at and what you thought about them.
Here's our list:
Boma- dinner
Sanaa
'Ohana- dinner
Beaches and Cream
Whispering Canyon- lunch or dinner
Portobello (DTD)
Crossroads at House of Blues
Raglan Road
Chefs de France
Kona Cafe- lunch
Captain's Grill- breakfast ( are walk ups easy here?)

Also, has anyone been to ESPN Club or Big River Grille? We are considering them as well but they don't take reservations.

Thanks for your input biggrin

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Yak and Yeti is my favorite so I hoep you are able to get in! Yum!!

Here's my 2 cents on our experiences with some of the others:

Bombay dinner: it was an experience. I'm not a very adventurous eater, so this probably was not the best choice for me. But we had free dining and wanted to expand our horizons. I think the array of food was amazing, and what I did eat was really good - just not flavors that I personally enjoy. Joe loved it.

Kona Cafe lunch: was really good and a fun environment. I think I opted safe and went for a burger (and I think the waitress mocked me in good fun, which was funny).

Bewches and Cream: I'll let you know! I made us dinner ressies after saying for years I wanted to try it out. I have my eye on the grilled cheese and tomato soup (thanks to AJ and the Disney Food Blog) and the No Way Jose sundae (again, thanks to AJ!)

We ate at the Big River a Grill several years ago and enjoyed it. The food as good,a md we sat outside and watched the excitement around the Boardwalk.

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The 3 we've eaten at are:
Whispering Canyon - GREAT the first time and so-so the second time. Milkshakes count as a beverage so one of us got a soda and one of us got a milkshake and then we shared. The food the second time wasn't as good as the first, so maybe just an off night? The entertainment (IF you're in the main room which we also weren't the second time) is fun. We would probably consider eating here again but would most definitely ask to sit in the main room.

Raglan Road - Great for the entertainment and OK on food. My husband loved his dish (can't remember what it was, sorry!) but I didn't care for mine. It's Irish food with a fancy twist. However, my mom and I stopped here on our trip together for a drink and to watch the show. That was fun!

Chefs De France - Good but nothing amazing. The restaurant itself wasn't anything special and I didn't find the servers very friendly. Food was standard. We wouldn't choose here again.

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Walk ups at the Captain's Grille have always been easy for us, so I don't think you will have any issues for breakfast. They have a really good buffet or you can order a la carte. The chocolate chip pancakes are my favourite! awesome

Spook's picture
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JeffC wrote:
Yak and Yeti is my favorite so I hoep you are able to get in! Yum!!

Here's my 2 cents on our experiences with some of the others:

Bombay dinner: it was an experience. I'm not a very adventurous eater, so this probably was not the best choice for me. But we had free dining and wanted to expand our horizons. I think the array of food was amazing, and what I did eat was really good - just not flavors that I personally enjoy. Joe loved it.

Kona Cafe lunch: was really good and a fun environment. I think I opted safe and went for a burger (and I think the waitress mocked me in good fun, which was funny).

Bewches and Cream: I'll let you know! I made us dinner ressies after saying for years I wanted to try it out. I have my eye on the grilled cheese and tomato soup (thanks to AJ and the Disney Food Blog) and the No Way Jose sundae (again, thanks to AJ!)

We ate at the Big River a Grill several years ago and enjoyed it. The food as good,a md we sat outside and watched the excitement around the Boardwalk.

The No Way Jose sundae is the main reason I want to go laugh Please take a picture!

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Sanaa is worth going to just because it is so beautiful. Great atmosphere, good service, very good wine. The food is OK - not as good as our local Indian take away.

Ohana - we went here many years ago. Great atmosphere and theming but for us too much food.

Beaches and Cream - I have always liked this place for a more casual meal and now they are accepting ADRs I personally would take advantage.

Portobello - I have been here a few times. It is generally good but the Italian at the Swan - il Mulino is better.

Crossroads - We go here every trip, mainly because we love the theming and atmosphere. We have always done a walk up with no problem. I would risk not getting an ADR here.

Raglan Road - We have eaten here once, but now we sit at the bar and get a drink and bar snacks - the chicken wings are good. You still get all the entertainment but without the cost of a full meal.

Chefs de France - I haven't been here for years but it was good when we went.

Kona Cafe - we have had a couple of good experiences and a couple of awful ones. It is hit and miss. Breakfasts are good and I love the atmosphere.

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Boma- dinner - We have eaten here a few times, very good for a buffet.

Sanaa - I like the food, Scrappy is not fond of it. We don't eat Indian style food at home.

'Ohana- dinner - Food has always been good for us, but they seem to rush couples out.

Beaches and Cream - Great burgers!!!!!!!!!

Whispering Canyon- lunch or dinner - never ate here for lunch or dinner.

Portobello (DTD) - Never tried this.

Crossroads at House of Blues - Never tried this.

Raglan Road - Never tried this.

Chefs de France - Ate here several years ago and was delicious.

Kona Cafe- lunch - Always have had excellent food & service here.

Captain's Grill- breakfast ( are walk ups easy here?) - Like Jan said, you should not have a problem getting in here for a walk up. Breakfast is awesome. Highly recommend this. (And you can get the Eggs Benedicts as part of the buffet!!!!!!!!!)

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Raglan Road - Wonderful. It's our go-to for our first night at Disney most years. The food is excellent and the entertainment is... Well, entertaining! It's all around value and a great way to spend an evening if you enjoy a pint and some hearty home style cooking.
Chefs de France - Love it!!! We also go every year Smile Being from a bilingual country, it's always awesome to sit down and be able to chat a bit with the wait staff. We've had great service and we've had not so great service here, but the food has always been right on point. Nothing like sitting by the windows with a bottle of french wine, enjoying a warm baguette and watching Illuminations over the tree tops on the lagoon.

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I've only bee to four of your options, but my impressions are as follows:

'Ohana- dinner - loved it. I understand that it's not as awesome as it used to be but if you've never been before, it's still pretty amazing. It was way to much food, but it was such a great experience and everything that we had was so so delicious! The course after course of food that was combined in daring and delicious ways that I never would have attempted along with service that was pretty darn excellent made me feel like we were on a cruise.

Beaches and Cream - I had the grilled cheese and tomato soup and I was actually not feeling like ice cream that night, so no sundae review here sad. The food was good but not spectacular. I don't even remember what anyone else ate, but I do remember thinking that it seemed reasonably priced for Disney food and honestly, tomato soup and grilled cheese is a pretty tough-to-mess-up dinner, so it's kind of tough to judge the quality of their entire menu from my meal.

Whispering Canyon- lunch - The food here was fabulous. I think I had salmon and I don't remember what Benn had, but I do remember everything tasting amazing. I would definitely go back again. The only thing that I was a little bit disappointed in was that even though we turned our coaster to the green side, which is the cue to the server that you want to be included in the "fun", no one really interacted with us besides our server. I may be because the restaurant wasn't all that busy because our ADR was very early.

Chefs de France - I think the food here was probably very good, but unfortunately, we watched Impressiones de France right before our ADR. The film always makes me queasy, but eating right afterwards only intensified the problem, so I vaguely remember the food tasting good, but I remember feeling poorly more clearly. Benn really liked Chefs, but I haven't been able to convince myself to try it again.

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House of Blues - We really liked it and would eat there again. The night we were there it was REALLY busy, but we had a great server who made sure we had enough of everything.

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Spook's picture
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Thanks for the input everyone mickey
I've seen pictures of dinner at 'O'Hana and I'm a little worried it'd be too much food for just the two of us confused especially in September when it's so hot. I don't eat as much when the humidity rises.

The Colonel's picture
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Sanaa- Loved It
Ohana- dinner - I'm in the minority that didn't enjoy this one. I probably should give it a second chance.
Beaches and Cream- one of my favorite places in the World.
Portobello (DTD) I used to eat here on departure day all the time. Haven't been there in years though.
Crossroads at House of Blues- same as every other HOB I've ever been to. Except Vegas- that one is special.
Raglan Road- to drink, per chance to eat- never managed to get to the eating part.
Chefs de France- Boring! Mac and Cheese and ham sandwiches. Feh.
Kona Cafe- lunch I really like the food here.
Yak and Yeti is one of my favorites also.

ESPN on a game day is a really good time. Otherwise its just another chain burger joint.

Big River Grille is OK. I kept occupied trying all the beers. Otherwise, meh.

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jhugo's picture
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I have to put a vote in for House of Blues. We love the food and service! It is always our arrival night dinner. That being said we have never made reservations there and have never had a problem getting in. Chefs De France is wonderful also. It is usually on our list every trip. Kona Cafe is on my list to try for lunch because we love breakfast there so much. Can't wait to see what you pick.

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Of the ones we have eaten at:

Boma - dinner - super yummy and definitely a must do at least once, but we don't have it on our "must do again" list

Whispering Canyon - dinner - we had a bummer experience here. My sisters and husband each got the platter and it was only so so. I got the steak that was practically all fat. We never got our endless platter or endless milkshakes refilled a single time in the almost two hours we were there. Service was slow (our waitress was much more interested in the larger party seated next to us), we were seated off the main dining room so didn't get to see any of the action, and despite having our coaster up to green as Alicemouse explained, we got no interaction. It was also the first night of our trip so it was an extra disappointment.

Yak & Yeti - lunch - LOVE LOVE LOVE! We always have an excellent experience there and every time I've been there I've seen them take walk ups so you should be good, especially in September.

Kona - dinner - delicious with great service and great atmosphere

Ohana - dinner- we also did this in September and we did it towards the end of our trip when we were really wiped out from the long days and the crazy heat. That combined with the fact we were already overstuffed from the dining plan and we were seated away from the action (behind the grill) made for only a so-so experience. The lettuce wraps and potstickers were out of this world amazing but the skewers were only ok. We're planning on giving this one another shot on our December trip.

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You should be able to get into many table service restaurants without an ADR in September. Not the hugely popular ones like BoG and 'Ohana, but Sanaa and Kona Cafe, almost definitely. We did Kona Cafe as a walk-up for lunch last September, and the restaurant was half empty.

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Just wanted to let you know I have some of the same restaurants on my list as you and my trip is Sept 5 through 12. I had no trouble at all making my ADRs. I got them for:

Be Our Guest

California Grill

Mama Melrose

Ohana

Chefs De France

No issues at all for 2 people! Good luck!

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Karlipants wrote:
Just wanted to let you know I have some of the same restaurants on my list as you and my trip is Sept 5 through 12. I had no trouble at all making my ADRs. I got them for:

Be Our Guest

California Grill

Mama Melrose

Ohana

Chefs De France

No issues at all for 2 people! Good luck!

Awesome awesome We are there September 7-21 mickey

Spook's picture
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Tomorrow is ADR day awesome
We have decided on the Garden Grill, Portobello, Beaches and Cream and Sanaa. We plan to try walk ups at Trails End, Yak and Yeti and possibly Captain's Grill for breakfast.

Thanks again for sharing your experiences mickey

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Spook wrote:
Thanks for the input everyone mickey
I've seen pictures of dinner at 'O'Hana and I'm a little worried it'd be too much food for just the two of us confused especially in September when it's so hot. I don't eat as much when the humidity rises.

It's definitely a ton of food--go hungry!!!

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Trip Reports:
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