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How Would I Describe the Vegan Breakfast at Ohana Restaurant?

Restaurant Reviews By Jon Self December 18, 2022 Tags: breakfast, dining review, ohana, Polynesian Resort, vegan, walt disney world No Comments

I have a confession to make. I listen to lots of podcasts. Some of them are faith-based podcasts. However, most of them revolve around theme park discussions like dining vegan at Ohana for breakfast. As you might imagine, I tend to focus on the theme park podcasts that discuss theme park food the most. My confession relates to something more embarrassing than that obsession with podcasts. Apparently, I accidentally deleted a podcast during a rather hectic week in my life, when it was released. In between returning from a “work” trip to Orlando and discovering an employment change regarding my “real job”, I deleted an important podcast in my tiny little world of theme park food. I discovered after checking my social media feed that I must have deleted a podcast episode released on September 28^th, 2022. I accept all the blame and criticism for this debacle.

If you are still reading this, you must wonder if I will ever get to talking about theme park food. Please stay with me. The reason this deletion possesses great embarrassment revolves around the fact that the guest for that show mentioned that Ohana, at the Polynesian Resort, recently became the most searched-for advance dining reservation according to users of his product. What product would that be? I suspect you can guess. Yes, Dustin Checketts, co-founder of MouseDining.com served as a guest for that episode. I joked in a social media group that this mistake would lead to an awkward conversation.

Since Ohana serves as focus of this dining review, I should mention that I noticed the same change that Dustin mentioned on the podcast about Ohana being most searched for advance dining reservation via MouseDining. Obviously, that relates to the fact that I use data supplied to me by Dustin to plan dining reviews. Based on that data, I have been testing over the last few days whether the reservation demand at Ohana involves just dinner or breakfast also. Using MouseDining, I saw some very limited reservation availability for breakfast as well as for dinner at Ohana. In fact, I have a reservation alert set with MouseDining right now or Ohana for breakfast and dinner. Because of that data, I wrote a recent article suggesting Sebastian’s Bistro as a less expensive alternative. Also, on MouseDining blog, I previously wrote about my recent experience at Ohana for breakfast.

During my most recent all you care to eat dining adventure, I ordered every vegan dining option available. Yes, I knew at some point I would write about the vegan breakfast at Ohana. This article serves as the fulfillment of that plan.

So how was breakfast at Ohana in terms of vegan dining? As someone who often dines vegan when doing theme park food reviews, I found the breakfast quite good. Of course, some weaknesses emerged as evident during that segment of the meal.

The vegan breakfast version here opens with fruit as the standard option does. Yet, instead of pineapple-coconut breakfast bread, vegan diners get a vegan/gluten free cinnamon sugar donut. I enjoyed the donut. However, many of my vegan and gluten free friends do not think highly of this donut.

The vegan skillet comes with scrambled “eggs”, “sausage”, fried island-style potatoes, and character-shaped waffles. Overall, I enjoyed this vegan skillet. Yet, my dining companions disliked it considerably. The vegan eggs came well prepared but lacked the cream that the non-vegan ones possess. The “eggs” worked fine in combination with everything else though. The vegan waffles tasted about as good as the non-vegan waffles. However, on this day, the vegan waffles only came in Stitch shape not Mickey. There seemed to be confusion about if that was always the case. I found the potatoes with the vegan skillet offered more flavor than the ones within the non-vegan skillet. The “sausage”, a vegan chorizo, functioned as only true disappointment for my dining experience.

All in all, even as someone not dining exclusively vegan, I felt this breakfast offered enough merit to be considered for vegan diners without hesitation. In fairness, I have several vegan exclusive dining friends that do not have as high of an opinion of this vegan meal as myself. I apologize for that detail adding confusion but want to state all facts available at the time.

One last note, character breakfast with Stitch and friends returned in September. When I visited, character dining had not returned for breakfast. My meal cost $25 plus tax and tip before characters. Now, the price has risen to $45 with characters included. If considering this solid breakfast option bear that in mind. If it were me, I would opt for Topolino’s Terrace breakfast over this one at that price point. Also, if expecting the old-style parade where your kid joins in with the characters, they currently do not do that. If going for a character breakfast, expect about a minute each with Mickey, Pluto, Stitch, and Lilo during the breakfast.

Could the return of characters be a reason for high demand in terms of advance dining reservations at Ohana? Does the variety of breakfast and dinner options lead to demand? Could it be some combination of both? I think all these work as factors. I would gladly go back and pay for breakfast here without characters at $25 I struggle to be thrilled to pay $45 for this breakfast no matter how cool Stitch and friends might be. However, if someone in your family is a big Lilo and Stitch fan, then the money may well be worth it. Stitch qualifies as a hard-to-find character in the parks, except for special events. Lilo pretty much only appears here. I hope this helps you understand the situation if searching for Ohana reservations. As always, eat like you mean it!

Review: Eggs Benedict Grand Floridian Cafe at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa

Restaurant Reviews By Jon Self December 13, 2022 Tags: deluxe resort, Disney dining, eggs benedict, Grand Floridian Cafe, grand Floridian resort and spa, walt disney world No Comments

Have you ever walked into a place wondering if you belong there at all? This could be because you feel under-dressed. Maybe you feel underqualified. Perhaps you feel you made a wrong turn and accidentally entered a restricted area. Did you know any person may visit a deluxe-level Walt Disney World Resort hotel? I feel most readers will know that, but I am always surprised by the number of people that do not realize resort hopping is a real thing. I hear Walt Disney World visitors state that they do not belong at those deluxe resorts. However, sometimes I relate to that feeling of not being worthy when doing dining reviews at Walt Disney World Resort deluxe-level hotels. The hotel that gives off that vibe to me the most would be Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. Can you imagine eating eggs benedict at the Grand Floridian Cafe one morning?

See, they will let anyone visit at Grand Floridian Resort

Trust me, they will let anyone dine there. Of course, as Walt Disney World’s website says, “Victorian elegance meets modern sophistication at this lavish Disney Resort hotel.” When you read those words, what do you think? Do you hear fancy and maybe too elite for you? Okay, maybe that is just me. In fairness, this hotel features some of the best and highest prices restaurants on Walt Disney World property. However, the Grand Floridian Café offers elegant dining that will not damage your budget quite as much. During a recent Orlando area trip, I dined for breakfast at this table service option. An advance dining reservation eluded me for a few weeks. Yet, eventually, MouseDining set me an alert for breakfast here.

I showed up for my early morning breakfast reservation time. My server Jenny greeted me at the entrance and guided me to my table. As usual, I scheduled several other food and beverage reviews for this day. Thus, I preferred not to partake in a full breakfast. I decided to order the “Traditional Eggs Benedict” for $17. Grand Floridian Café also offers a Lobster Benedict for $5 more. Based on my plans for the day, I decided to play it safe with the traditional version. Of course, I faced temptation since the Lobster Thermidor Burger here might be the best burger on the property.

Menu November 2022

Speaking of burgers, Grand Floridian Cafe offers a hybrid breakfast and lunch menu each day. In other words, you can buy a traditional lunch menu like a burger at 7:30 am for breakfast. The breakfast and lunch hybrid time happens from 7:30 am to 2:00 pm each day. For the record, they do not call it brunch here but breakfast and lunch have separate times according to their online menu.

Back to my breakfast, my meal started with complimentary USA-style biscuits. I found these to be a great start to my morning. These small biscuits did arrive at my table smelling quite good. They were very soft and warm for my early morning dining experience.

Soon after, my breakfast entrée arrived. The “Traditional Eggs Benedict” consists of two poached eggs, Canadian bacon, and hollandaise sauce served on toasted English muffins. This entrée also comes with a marinated tomato salad. The eggs benedict arrived at my table very warm and fresh looking. Grand Floridian Cafe should earn high marks for that. Though when I ordered it, I was perplexed about how the salad would balance with the eggs benedict. However, the salad brought light refreshing flavors to this entrée. The salad fails to be the star of this breakfast but makes a good sidekick. Still, the dressing and onions in the tomato salad may be a little off-putting to some theme park resort diners. Yet, I enjoyed it.

My reaction to the eggs benedict creates a mixed review. My notes say in bold letters that the portion size rates as small. However, the hollandaise sauce tasted almost perfect. This sauce will make or break an eggs benedict dish. The skill of doing this properly should not be undervalued. Those factors canceled each other out in my opinion.

However, the worst part of this entrée by far involved the English muffins. They tasted just okay. In my opinion, they did not complement the rest of the entrée. After eating half of my entrée, I decided to experiment. I asked my server for some more biscuits. I moved everything off one of the English muffins onto one of the biscuits. Maybe I lived in the southern portion of the United States of America for too long, but this made the entrée eight times better. The English muffins, on this day, failed to provide a strong enough starch to balance the other components. Yet, the biscuit fit that role perfectly.

Yes, I know eggs benedict should not be made with biscuits. However, after this experience, I would vote we try that for a while. The excellent flavor combination this way enhanced the meat, sauce, and egg dramatically.

This made a wonderful breakfast in an elegant setting. Clearly, this breakfast would not pass the test if desiring a full hearty breakfast for a long theme park day. In my case, this well-balanced meal worked perfectly (even if I prefer it with a biscuit) for my “work” day. Under similar circumstances, I would order this again. Yet, I cannot give this a full endorsement since many theme park resort guests will want a larger breakfast than I did on this day.

Even though I often wonder if I belong when visiting Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, this breakfast option provides a pleasantly relaxing dining experience. Advance dining reservations here rate as sometimes hard to get like the morning I visited. You should plan accordingly. Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa offers so much to see. Your group could have a fun morning visit here, especially during the holiday season with the large gingerbread house display. As always, eat like you mean it!

“New” Me Ma’s Best Chicken Raglan Road Disney Springs

Restaurant Reviews By Jon Self December 11, 2022 Tags: bell and evans chciken, dining review, Disney Springs, raglan road, walt disney world No Comments

Once upon a time, I sat in a chain restaurant having lunch. On that day, I looked much younger for a simple reason—I was much younger. On that day, an elderly couple sat down in the booth next to me. They discussed loudly what to order that afternoon. After some loud discussion, the gentleman said he did not see anything he thought he would like. At this point, the lady voiced obvious frustration saying “Just get the chicken. You like chicken.” As insignificant as that encounter might seem, I have never forgotten it. Thus, some days when I do not know what to order, I simply order the chicken. To facilitate this, Raglan Road in Disney Springs consistently offers excellent chicken entrees. A recent addition to their menu would be “Me Ma’s Best Chicken.” During my visit, I ordered this chicken entrée.

Me Ma’s Best Chicken will cost you $28. Included with that price, you receive an entrée described this way, “roasted Bell and Evans chicken breast with a chicken, spinach, wild mushrooms, and a leek pie in roast chicken jus, topped with herb stuffing crumble with champ mashed potato.” The overall presentation of this entrée should receive high marks. Now, the one I received when I dined there did not look like the promo photo. Still, when does dinner look like the promo photo? Anyway, I felt the presentation was good even though my photos may not reflect that. We were seated very close to the stages, so I did not want to endanger the performers with flash photography.

Promotional Photo from Raglan Road

On that evening I enjoyed this entrée, I had a 6:45 reservation on a rainy night. The organizational system at Raglan Road lacked the normal pattern. Eventually we were seated after waiting some time. Of course, when we were seated, we quickly got some of the Raglan Road soda bread.

After some appetizers, the main entrees arrived. As always here, the special brand of chicken served here comes very well prepared. I guess that is why I order chicken often here. In fact, I found all aspects of this entrée very well prepared. Any issues I may have with this entrée relate to ingredient choices not preparation by chefs.

The most unique facet of this entrée revolves around the leek pie. When ordering new items for a dining review, I scan the menu description briefly. Before dining, I do not usually examine menu description too intensely. This allows me to avoid anticipating certain flavors based on what I read in the description. However, when typing the review, I examined the menu description very carefully. The leek pie offered some of the best flavors at our table that evening. In fairness, when I tasted this that evening, i could not tell this was a leak pie. The pastry like shell holding it together looked and tasted good. I did not expect that before ordering this new menu item.

On the less positive side, this dish lacked a solid flavor profile. The chicken and potatoes were well prepared though. Yet, they lacked enough seasoning to be a stellar entrée. In simple terms, everything tasted a bit bland outside the leek pie. For perspective, I am comparing this to other entrées at Raglan Road. I respect the fact that this style of food might seem bland to some. However, I am comparing it to similar entrees on the same menu. Also, just so you do not think I am simply hiding behind a keyboard, I discussed this with staff there. Our table discussed this with the manager on duty, Steve, that evening. For the record, he showed great appreciation and interest in our thoughts.

I think a simple adjustment of adding the au jus directly on the chicken would enhance this entrée significantly. That goes against the usual preparation pattern at Raglan Road for their chicken though. All the components functioned nicely. This needed more power to the overall flaor profile. Once again, the entree preparation was great. In fact, the chicken tasted perfect for standard chicken but lack seasoning as its downfall. I desired more from Me Ma’s Best Chicken.

Even though I joked about the appearance of the promotional photo, that photo reflects a change in presentation and probably preparation. If you go visit Raglan Road deciding to order this, I would be curious what you think. Please leave a comment below if you do. As always, eat like you mean it!

Signature Dining at Topolino’s Terrace

Restaurant Reviews By Jon Self December 7, 2022 Tags: Disney's Riviera Resort, ricotta, signature dining, sole, topolino terrace, walt disney world No Comments

The term, signature dining, conveys many images in people’s minds when at Walt Disney World. Walt Disney World calls signature dining its fine dining establishments. Many of these reside within their deluxe resort hotels but not all. These generally provide the best food and service on the property. Of course, signature dining usually comes with high prices. Though we can debate the quality of some of the signature dining options available at Walt Disney World, signature dining at Topolino’s Terrace continues to stand out.

Topolino’s Terrace – Flavors of the Riviera located on the top floor of Disney’s Riviera Resort serves breakfast and dinner. The breakfast offered here fits the signature dining level. However, that quality breakfast counts as a character breakfast so it is a bit more casual. In contrast, the evening dinner at Topolino’s Terrace fits most people’s idea of signature dining. There exists a basic dress code. During my November 2022 visit here, I wore a collared shirt and long pants. However, many people in the indoor bar area wore more formal attire. If you connect signature dining with fancy, then this place meets that expectation.

Photo Credit: Walt Disney World

Recently, Topolino’s Terrace added some new menu items. Our server in November informed us that this might be happening. For example, the “Burrata” returned to the menu. The burrata antipasto option features black truffle, grapes, artichoke, verjus gel, and burrata cheese, of course. This antipasto option also comes with some focaccia bread. Initial reports indicate that this meets signature dining standards for $19.

Other new menu options include a “Red Kurl Squash Soup”, “Pork Shank Blanquette Milk Braised Pork”, and a new version of their sea scallops. Based on my suspicion of which items would disappear from the menu, I ordered the “Ricotta” and the “Classic Sole Meunière” back in November. Theme park food bloggers live in fear of the item ordered being taken off the menu the next day.

In fairness, I shared the ricotta with my three dining companions. I also shared the sole entrée with Tom of Vacationeers Podcast. Since I knew I would be having the seasonal dessert for a review, that made sense for our 5:00 pm seating. Also, I already ate breakfast and lunch at Kona Café earlier that day. I decided to show restraint as a food blogger.

When we arrived at Topolino’s Terrace after some significant human error, by me, we checked in. After an interesting wait, we were seated. We sat at a table by the window offering a great view. Still, even with the shades drawn at the beginning of our meal, the dining area temperature was very warm. Yes, I know this is Florida. However, Florida believes in air-conditioning. If you are part of the conspiracy theory claiming the air conditioning across the property seems set for a higher temperature than in the old days, this might provide more evidence.

So how was the meal? Excellent as always would count as an understatement. The ricotta tasted wonderful as usual. The ricotta appetizer costs $16 and provides a tomato jam of sorts, aged balsamic, cracker pepper, basil, and epi bread. The creamy flavorful ricotta creates a wonderful beginning to your meal. The ricotta is prepared in-house for maximum freshness. This will probably be the best ricotta you have ever tasted. Yet, if you have ever enjoyed great ricotta, this will match or exceed that level of ricotta. The ricotta tastes fresh and smooth. I have one friend that calls it silky. The classic combination of bread and cheese wakes up your taste buds during signature dining at Topolino’s Terrace.

The Classic Sole Meuniere costs $50. This large entrée arrives at your table as an entire fish. The entrée features sea beans, capers, asparagus, English peas, toy box tomatoes, and potatoes. According to Taste Atlas, “meunière” refers to a French cooking technique in which a whole fish or fish fillets are lightly dusted in flour and then sautéed in butter.” My main concern with ordering this revolved around the amount of oil and butter involved. My worry involved whether I needed that much butter. I know butter makes food taste better, especially in French cooking, but did I need that much?

Photo courtesy of Main Street Magic Podcast

When the entrée arrived, my concern lessened. The anticipated overflow of oil and butter failed to be with this order. The fish provided a crispy outer layer. Still, the fish inside delivered a flaky texture and solid flavor. All the vegetables prepared with this fish enhanced the dining experience. The vegetables brought the right amount of tenderness and contrasting flavors to the fish. The meunière preparation at Topolino’s Terrace deserves signature dining status.

If looking for signature dining while at Walt Disney World, Topolino’s Terrace rarely disappoints. Whether you order a new menu item, this Classic Sole Meuniere, or just appetizers and desserts, your experience should be lovely. When you visit, do not forget to visit the outdoor terrace for the beautiful views.

As you might imagine, reservations disappear from this signature dining location quickly. Feel free to set an alert at MouseDining.com to aid in your quest to dine here. I know I have been successful a few times in making a reservation here with an alert from MouseDining.com. As always, eat like you mean it!

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Restaurant Reviews By Jon Self December 2, 2022 No Comments

If you are old enough to remember ancient times, also known as the 1980s, a character on a television show known as Norm grew in popularity. George Wendt, who played the character Norm on the television show Cheers, appeared in every episode. He would enter the fictional Boston bar, and everybody knew his name. Based on my most recent trip to the Orlando area, everybody knows my name at Kona Café. Well, at least for the short term they do. I returned to Kona Café for another review one week after the reopening day. Since I had been to this place for two different meals on reopening day, what would cause me to visit again so soon? I think the staff wondered that also since they may not have known my face that morning, but they recognized my name. The Walt Disney World dining reservation system makes it challenging to sneak in for a dining review.

Well, I considered entitling this review “It Was All Jeremy’s Fault!” but decided against that. A friend of MouseDining, Jeremy Stein of the Main Street Magic Podcast, decided to visit Magic Kingdom that morning. He wanted breakfast nearby before braving the crowds on a Monday after a race weekend. He mentioned Kona Café. After a bit of time, I found a reservation via MouseDining for that morning. On my previous breakfast venture to Kona Café, I ordered the new salmon breakfast entrée. Since during my previous breakfast visit, my group tried all the new breakfast items at Kona Café, I searched for my choice for this morning.

I knew that Jeremy would be ordering the “Plant-based Loco Moco” for breakfast. I decided to try the Macadamia Nut Pancakes this morning. These pancakes distinguish themselves as a tried-and-true menu item at Kona Café. In Disney Parks Blog about restaurants reopening, these pancakes were listed alongside Tonga Toast as an item returning due to popularity.

Jeremy and I were seated. We bantered about the state of theme parks. Our server, Matti, performed her responsibilities very well. Soon after, our food arrived. The initial appearance of my pancakes promised a good start.

These “Macadamia Nut Pancakes” cost $15. They come with a choice of protein. Guests may select between ham, spiced ham, bacon, or sausage. Since this was Kona Café in Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, the spiced ham made the most sense. In case you miss the coded language, spiced ham is “Spam.” If you visit a Polynesian restaurant, you should get spam to be in the Polynesian spirit. Also, the pancakes feature macadamia nut butter and pineapple sauce.

I received three large pancakes for this entrée. The spam came well prepared also. Sure, many guests will not prefer that meat choice. However, the version served here makes a good side dish for these pancakes. The combination of savory meat and sweet pancakes enhances this entrée. The texture factor with the nuts works better than I expected. This texture factor might throw some guests off, but I enjoyed it. I added very little syrup to these pancakes. The pineapple sauce provides a good amount of sweetness. I appreciated these nontraditional-style pancakes. Dining in a theme park resort bubble can lead to some boring choices. These pancakes make a good choice for breakfast while avoiding standard pancakes. The macadamia nut flavors combined with pineapple fits the Polynesian theme very well. Anyone looking for a sweet breakfast but not brave enough for Tonga Toast will enjoy these pancakes.

Jeremy ordered the “Plant-based Loco Moco.” This vegan dining option modifies a traditional Polynesian dish. Jeremy described the presentation as “like an egg volcano.” This presentation failed to look like any version of Loco Moco I had seen before. This vegan item features plant-based eggs, plant-based sausage gravy, rice, and pico de gallo. This breakfast entrée costs $16.50.

Despite appearances, the flavor of this item worked very well. The “eggs” offer decent flavor as well as the “gravy.” Based on my sampling of this item, even non-vegan diners will appreciate this. Like many vegan items based on non-vegan items, these lack enough cream or gravy compared to a traditional Loco Moco. Those of us that do not dine exclusively vegan often forget how important milk and egg-based products impact our taste buds. Yet as of the time of writing, I have three sources telling me that a non-vegan beef version of this item may be making its way onto this menu.

Both entrées we ordered make solid breakfast options. If looking for a top-of-the-line table service breakfast here, you will be disappointed. Still, if looking for a solid more budget-friendly table service breakfast, Kona Café should be a reservation option for you. Maybe if you love the food here, everybody at Kona Café will know your name too. As always, eat like you mean it!

Finally Made it to House of Blues for Brunch

Restaurant Reviews By Jon Self November 30, 2022 No Comments

Based on my predominant vocation for decades, the chance of enjoying a Sunday brunch at any restaurant on Walt Disney World property happened rarely. Thus, for my most recent trip to the Orlando area, I made sure to have reservations for brunch. Walt Disney World offers a larger number of brunch options. In fairness, I have trouble keeping track of all the various brunch options. About half the Disney Springs table service restaurants offer a weekend brunch. Even though the “Gospel Brunch” at the House of Blues Disney Springs location has not returned, guests still find the brunch here enjoyable. The brunch menu runs from 10 am to 2 pm on weekends.

When I mentioned to many of my theme park friends that I was deciding on brunch, they often encouraged me to try the House of Blues. Thus, I decided to do a review for MouseDining.com there.

On this Sunday morning, I had already attended a theme park meeting, attended a Christian worship service, and popped into Universal Orlando to check on the news there before arriving at Disney Springs for the 1:00 pm reservation made via MouseDining.com. I met my dining companions for brunch. The usual awkward check-in process happened again at House of Blues. However, we were eventually seated. Our server performed his duties very well. Of course, one large perk of the brunch menu involves “Bottomless Mimosas and Bloody Marys” for just $16. I did not order any alcoholic beverages, but my dining companions did. They voiced mixed feelings about the quality of their beverages.

Though one of my dining companions mocked my morning burger selection, I elected to try the House of Blues version of a breakfast burger. They call it the “Morning Smash Burger.” The menu description reads “Two smash patties, aged cheddar, thick-cut bacon, bacon ketchup, bacon aioli, fried egg, brioche bun, (and) honey sriracha sauce.” The morning smash burger comes with a side of fries. This brunch menu item costs $17.

The House of Blues franchise calls its menu a Southern (USA) inspired one. This entrée offers that tradition. Many powerful positive flavors reside within this breakfast-style burger. However, for this review, I will start with the less positive aspects of this brunch entrée.

My experience with burgers and sandwiches here already starts with the buns they use. The size of the bun limits the amount inside the buns. Also, the buns used provide nothing special in terms of texture or flavor. I know it says brioche bun in the menu description. However, the quality of the bun itself would be below average for a brioche bun. This tends to initiate a poor start for the burger or sandwich. In addition, I expected a larger egg portion with this “morning” burger. Yes, I ordered it around 1:30 pm but it is still called a morning burger. As expected, the fries with this burger taste like the standard shoestring fries served all over Walt Disney World property.

Overall, I enjoyed this burger. I understand as you were reading that you were probably wondering if I enjoyed it. For a table service burger at Disney Springs, this offered some decent flavors. The cheddar cheese enhanced many of the other components of this burger. The burger patty itself came well prepared. The bacon brought good texture and flavor. The honey siracha sauce added a subtle amount of enhancement also.

If you visit House of Blues for brunch wanting a traditional-style burger, do not get this. House of Blues’ menu displays some solid traditional burger choices. In fact, a far better smash-style burger may be found at Steakhouse 71 if you want that type of burger. If you want a play on a traditional burger, then this brunch item could be for you. For a breakfast-style burger, this meets that expectation despite the stated weaknesses. As always, eat like you mean it!

All I Got From Beaches and Cream Was…

Restaurant Reviews By Jon Self November 18, 2022 No Comments

Determining the reasons that certain restaurant advance dining reservations continue to be difficult to acquire can be perplexing. Often, the reasons directly relate to the high quality of a dining option. However, this sometimes fails to be true. Some restaurants reside off the beaten path leading to greater availability. Whereas a few restaurants have four times more seating than others. However, a consistently highly desired dining reservation would be Beaches and Cream Soda Shop.

The reason this dining location runs out of advance dining reservations will be obvious if you visit here. The table service dining space would be considered small compared to most dining options. When you combine that with the fact that people are drawn to the ice cream options here, reservations will disappear quickly.

View from the walkway to the Boardwalk area.
Photo by Jon Self

If you are unfamiliar with the Beaches and Cream Soda Shop, this would be located at the Beach Club Resort. The actual dining location can be tricky to find since it is located on the poolside of this resort hotel. If you enter from the main entrance of the hotel lobby, you will need to walk past several other amenities of this resort hotel before then going outdoors to find Beaches and Cream.

The Kitchen Sink dessert

My main objective of this trip to Beaches and Cream involved trying one of their new shakes. Dessert serves as the focus here. During my lunch at Beaches and Cream, I witnessed a few “Kitchen Sink” desserts being delivered. They used a “whole can of whipped cream.” Yes, “a whole can of whipped cream” was enjoyed by many. We chose not to get the infamous “Kitchen Sink” dessert here.

The food blogger’s dilemma for this day revolved around what to have for lunch before dessert. My dining companion for lunch, GooToYou!, decided we should go with the Reuben Sandwich. Since I had three more dining reviews to do that day, I went with his suggestion to avoid thinking too much. The Reuben Sandwich costs $19.00. This comes with a side of fries. The fries look like steak-style fries so you can avoid the standard Disney fries at this place. The menu description told us to expect corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and thousand island dressing with this sandwich. Also, the sandwich uses marbled rye bread.

Photo by Jon Self

So how was this sandwich? Well, I sadly report I enjoyed it more than the dessert later. The bread comes well grilled. Since I enjoy rye bread, this bread set a solid encouraging tone for this sandwich. The corned beef portion size exceeded my expectations. In fairness, my expectation for lunch here would have been low. The dressing balanced well with the bread, cheese, and sauerkraut. The classic style sandwich came with cheese melted creating some yummy creamy goodness.

However, the bread displays an inability to hold up to the purpose of containing the sandwich fillings. Almost immediately, a corner of the bread broke apart. The dressing failed to pair well with the corned beef though. If you got a bite of corned beef without the other components, that weakness appeared.

This sandwich presents something besides a basic burger and fries. That change of pace elevates this option. I would have preferred something besides a fried side item, however. If you are someone who avoids these types of sandwiches due to the sauerkraut, I found the sauerkraut merely plays a supporting role in this act of sandwich theatre. Based on the limited menu here, this sandwich offers a slight diversion from the norm. I would not race here to order this sandwich again. Yet, if you find yourself here for a meal in advance of a highly anticipated dessert, this sandwich makes a good choice. So, I went to Beaches & Cream and all I got was a decent sandwich and a shake. Not sure Walt Disney World can market a shirt with that on it but it describes my lunch here.

Remember advance dining reservations can disappear quickly here. I set a MouseDining alert for Beaches and Cream. Then, I received several alerts before obtaining the time slot I wanted. My final reservation alert that I used appeared in my email inbox about 10 days before this meal. Good luck to you if your group wants to tackle the meals and desserts here. As always, eat like you mean it!

New Menu Items at Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’

Restaurant Reviews By Jon Self November 17, 2022 No Comments

Several of these new items drew the attention of this food blogger. Since I swing into Homecomin’ often to refill my sipper, I examine the menu regularly.

Some of the new menu items are: