Narcoosees vs. Citricos

Citricos, hands down. The food is more inventive and the atmosphere is a bit more upscale. Narcoossee's has a wharfside feel to it.

The chef has a knack for seafood. I liked the swordfish Provencale and tile fish with mushroom risotto. If you prefer meat, the braised veal shank was excellent. And because Citricos is at the Grand Floridia, the restaurant has the creations of the resort's talented pastry chef, Erich Herbitschek, one of the best in the business.

Hrm...both are kind of seafood oriented. If you were eliminating seafood does either have worthwhile options?

I'm not saying choose Citricos because it serves seafood (you're right that Narcoossee's specializes in it too). I'm saying that Citricos does a great job with its seafood and I would choose it because of that. But for those not looking for seafood, the kitchen does pretty good with other items (except the pork chops, but let's not go there).

For those interested there is a trip report thread with pictures from Narcoosee's. Anyone have any pics from Citricos?

Have you done a review of either Scott?

Here's my latest on Citricos.

Do chefs often shuffle around to different restaurants at WDW, Scott?

There are a few restaurants that are considered plum assignments: California Grill, Flying Fish Cafe, Citricos. It seems that most of the trading goes on between Flying Fish Cafe and California Grill. Citricos is usually able to hold on to its chef for a good time. Chefs, by nature, are peripatetic -- they like to keep moving.
Then there are chefs like Scott Hunnel, who has been at the helm of V&A for a good long time (emphasis on the good).

I think I've always been kind of ignorant on the Flying Fish. I always thought it was sort of a mid-level restaurant, due to the decor I saw when walking by. Is it considered one of the "upper level" WDW restaurants?

I consider it among the top restaurants. The decor is, to be sure, whimsical (it was designed by the late Martin Dorf as a tribute to the Coney Island of his youth). And the clientele tends to be more family oriented than, say, Citricos, because of its ground-level BoardWalk locale.
But the menu takes it up a notch, and the quality of the food has always been first-rate. The chefs who work at Flying Fish are of the same caliber as California Grill, in my opinion.

So interesting. I've always walked right past that place thinking "well, I don't like seafood, so..." Now I'm intrigued to try it.

Also, I'm really taken by the stories behind the design of Disney restaurant decor. The Coney Island story is something I never would have known; I (and probably everyone else) would have just blown by it without another thought. The same with Jiko and how the light on the back wall slowly mimicks the "sunset" on the savanna.

I wonder how many other Disney restaurants incorporate that kind of thought in their decor that nobody ever really knows about. That would be an interesting flog post!

Similarly, California Grill, also designed by Dorf, is modeled after the Rainbow Room.

There are little things to look for in the froufrous at Flying Fish -- one of them is the Flying Fish and the fact that one of them is facing in the opposite direction from the others. This is from a review I did of the restaurant shortly after it opened -- almost exactly 12 years ago!!!

I have an interesting story about the decor at Flying Fish Cafe that involves Michael Eisner's wife, but I'll have to save that for another time.

"Amusement Park for seafood"--that's quite clever!

Would love to hear the Eisner's wife story, SJ

A recent review of Narcoosee's for anyone interested.

I think we need to convince Scott to review solely WDW restaurants! I rarely go anywhere else in Orlando, so I like hearing his take on all my favorite places!