I need help - which signature restaurants?

[gala]

Its getting to that time where I need to get my thinking cap on and book my ADRs. We will be on the free dining plan, but this time we are going to eat at at least two signature restaurants? I have decided on the Yachtsman but cant make my mind up on one or two others. Can any of you kind Dibbers help? I would love to know what the food was like and (being cheeky here) photos would be great too! :smile:

Margaret

[Sue]

I can't do any recent photos but am also going to do Yachtsman next time as well Mags :tounge:
I ummed and ahhed over the others and in the end have gone for California Grill - not been there before, the menu looks to be right up my lots street and it's getting great recent reviews (plus the firework view)

I had thought of Narcoosees and Citricos - but one of them has too much of a 'fishy' bias and the other menu was not as appealing.

I loved the Flying Fish last time but again, the party make up for next time are not fish fans.
Brown Derby - may be sacrilege to some, but I can see NOTHING on their menu that appeals to me (and I'm not a faddy eater :confused2 )

I am still undecided as to whether to do Artist Point as I love the place and the menu - would have to change the plans drastically though to have another x 2 TS meal.

[Princess Ploppy]

Artist Point is lovely although I feel the actual restaurant lacks a bit of atmosphere compared to others but food and wine is excellent.

My husband LOVES the Yachtsman - so much so that he wanted to eat there every night this coming trip!!

My favourite has to be California Grill - food is amazing, service is amazing, views are amazing, atmosphere is amazing and watching the fireworks from the balcony with a satisfied tummy and a cocktail in hand just can't be beaten. So much so that we are eating there twice this trip and at least twice next trip in August!!

Sorry no photos though!!

[Sue]

Seems like I've made the right choice PP then.

Our party is 5 adults all family, so the atmosphere at Artist Point is not an issue, the men don't notice that kind of thing lol

[Princess Ploppy]

Seems like I've made the right choice PP then.

Our party is 5 adults all family, so the atmosphere at Artist Point is not an issue, the men don't notice that kind of thing lol

Absolutely!!! it was quite quiet when we went to Artist Point so maybe that was why the atmosphere wasn't so good. i would still eat there again though!

[Bob_and_Dawn]

We are doing California Grill, Artists Point, Narcoosees, Jiko, Flying Fish and V & A at the end of the month so will have some up to date photos then Margaret.

As you can see we couldn't decide which to choose either lol,

Dawn

[tink]

Where about's is Artist Point??

[Sue]

Where about's is Artist Point??

It's at the fab Wilderness Lodge :D

[truesdpr]

Think we have an answer to this one now Margaret???!!! :tounge:

Pam.
:wavey:

[gala]

I can't do any recent photos but am also going to do Yachtsman next time as well Mags :tounge:
I ummed and ahhed over the others and in the end have gone for California Grill

After reading Sue's report Im going to join you on that Sue. :D

Artist Point is lovely although I feel the actual restaurant lacks a bit of atmosphere compared to others but food and wine is excellent.


I had thought of Artist Point. The food has always sounded lovely in the food reports I have read

Think we have an answer to this one now Margaret???!!! :tounge:

I think we just might Pam. :d:

Margaret

[mcsue]

So California Grill is one choice made Mags. Yes? :thumbs-up

Where else is tickling your fancy at the moment?

[gala]

Yachtsman Sue, and Artists Point - how does that sound? The one restaurant I am keen to knock off the list is Whispering Canyon. If I could get shot of it I could make room for 1 more signature. We have been twice and I have seen enough races and bottles of ketchup to last a lifetime. However I almost had WW3 break out when I suggested that one should bite the dust.:omg:
I want to do Brown Derby OOP at luchtime, just to try the cobb salad. Im still deciding and Im dithering Sue!:spin:

Margaret

[madjock]

We really enjoyed California Grill, Citricos and Artist Point, I don't think you can go wrong with any of these, but by far the most delicious meal we had was at Jiko. I didn't much fancy their menu to be honest but as we were on the dining plan so thought what the heck! so glad we did, other than V&A's this was by far the best meal we've had at Disney.

California Grill is great fun for children (and adults alike ;) ) as they have tablecloths you can draw on.

[TinkTatoo]

You know we're not signature diners but Su has got me yearning for California Grill so that would be my choice :tounge:

[Leanne1977]

Definately California Grill. Fab restaurant, food and service. The view is wonderful. Oh i desperately want to be there right now!:o:

We also really enjoyed the Yachtsmans so another good choice.:thumbs-up

[gala]

You know we're not signature diners but Su has got me yearning for California Grill so that would be my choice :tounge:

I kow you arent and to tell you the truth I havent done many. Its just that the kids have moved on so much in terms of their tastes over the last few years that they really enjoy restaurants like this now. Mind you, why the heck do they still want to do WC? :(
We will also have our character brekkie though.

Definately California Grill. Fab restaurant, food and service. The view is wonderful. Oh i desperately want to be there right now!:o:

Looks like a good choice then Leanne. I thought I read about a year ago that there can be long waits even for ADRs and that it could be quite noisy. You didnt find that, did you? Is there a good view of the fireworks from every part od the dining area?

Margaret

[Mulan]

my favourite was yachtsman steakhouse. loved it!

[Leanne1977]

I kow you arent and to tell you the truth I havent done many. Its just that the kids have moved on so much in terms of their tastes over the last few years that they really enjoy restaurants like this now. Mind you, why the heck do they still want to do WC? :(
We will also have our character brekkie though.



Looks like a good choice then Leanne. I thought I read about a year ago that there can be long waits even for ADRs and that it could be quite noisy. You didnt find that, did you? Is there a good view of the fireworks from every part od the dining area?

Margaret

We found the restaurant was quite noisy but not in a character meal type way, more a buzz, if you get what i mean. It had a lovely atmosphere.
When we arrived at the Contemporary we checked in on the 2nd floor and then we were taken up to the 15th floor in the elevator by a CG staff member.
We were shown to the bar/waiting area and told we would have a short wait. This was fine, but actually we were only there for about a minute before being seated. Our second meal here was at a later time and we were seated straightaway.

We had a wonderful view from our table which was right next to the window facing the castle. Fabulous!:thumbs-up
I think there are some tables where you would find it difficult to see the fireworks but you are able to go out and watch them from the viewing area.

This is the one restaurant that we just have to do again. Even the kids at age 7 and 5 picked this as their favourite!:o:

[gala]

Thanks Leanne. The food sounds wonderful. I am worried though, only because I get very panicky in a crowd and from all the TA reports I have read (normally I dont worry too much about them) the things that are consistently memntioned are how busy and noisy it can be and how often there are long delays between arrival and seating. I need to mull on this one. :(

Margaret

[Leanne1977]

Thanks Leanne. The food sounds wonderful. I am worried though, only because I get very panicky in a crowd and from all the TA reports I have read (normally I dont worry too much about them) the things that are consistently memntioned are how busy and noisy it can be and how often there are long delays between arrival and seating. I need to mull on this one. :(

Margaret

We never once felt crowded in here. The restaurant is large and the tables are not close together.
I would imagine the noise they speak of is the fact that they have an open kitchen which will create some noise and the general chat of diners.
If you have to wait to be seated, there is an area with chairs and sofa type seats so you can sit down and wait. You are not all bunched up in a crowd all waiting to be seated.

Maybe someone on the Dibb who has dined at maybe Christmas or another peak time may be able to reassure you. We went in Sept which although is a quieter time, free dining was on and the restaurants were busy. But still no problems with noise or crowds.:wave:

Hope you decide to try it.:thumbs-up

[debs2028]

This was our experiance at California Grill at a busy time in August.
We did have to wait a while for sevice and as Leanne said there are sofas to sit on BUT they were full of diners, presuming they were walk ups!!
I must start by saying food was lovely, viewing fireworks was great SERVICE DREADFUL!!!!. It was so bad that we still laugh about it now. I know we should have complained

Firstly our server would not allow the 11 year old to order offthe childs menu ,he wanted a pizza.Secondly she insisted that my 5 year old had a starter even though there was nothing on the menu he liked. I politely refused to order one for him.Our starters arrived at various times including sushi that we had not ordered I pointed this out to the waitress and she said she had ordered it for us as ds didn't want a starter(don't remember that being on the kids menu and no one liked sushi). Waited and waited for other ds's starter,it did not arrive, our waitress apologised and eventually it was brought out. He had taken one mouthful when are mains arrived and had to be sent back

Mains arrived including salmon for friends son who is also a vegetarian(the one that had originally wanted pizza). Waitress had been told child vegetarian and could salmon be plain no sauce no meat,well arrived on top of mash with bacon. We explained to waitress that we had asked for no meat she then began to scrape his salmon onto his side plate (and I kid you not asked another waitress to pick the bacon out of the mash) obviouly she thought we could not hear. We asked if he could have a fresh meal as the salmon had been in contact with bacon
Meal 2 arrived but swimming in a sauce sorry we said "he does not like anything in a sauce"(ok I know he is fussy but we had asked for it plain), the waitress poked around it with a fork and replied "but it has no meat in!!", we had to send it back.We had now all finished our meal. The waitress then turned up with a pizza for boy(UMMMM hadn't we originally asked for this)

At this time the fireworks were about to begin and the waitress made it obvious that she was not happy with us going outside to watch them as she wanted to serve desert. We went anyway,we would have finished our meal without her mistakes

Desert went without a hitch

I would go back to restaurant as i think it was our server that was at foult and I got the feeling we were treated like that because we were on ddp. Hope to book this year and keeping our fingers crossed that we and you avoid this waitress(wish I'd made a note of her name)

[Leanne1977]

This was our experiance at California Grill at a busy time in August.
We did have to wait a while for sevice and as Leanne said there are sofas to sit on BUT they were full of diners, presuming they were walk ups!!
I must start by saying food was lovely, viewing fireworks was great SERVICE DREADFUL!!!!. It was so bad that we still laugh about it now. I know we should have complained

Firstly our server would not allow the 11 year old to order offthe childs menu ,he wanted a pizza.Secondly she insisted that my 5 year old had a starter even though there was nothing on the menu he liked. I politely refused to order one for him.Our starters arrived at various times including sushi that we had not ordered I pointed this out to the waitress and she said she had ordered it for us as ds didn't want a starter(don't remember that being on the kids menu and no one liked sushi). Waited and waited for other ds's starter,it did not arrive, our waitress apologised and eventually it was brought out. He had taken one mouthful when are mains arrived and had to be sent back

Mains arrived including salmon for friends son who is also a vegetarian(the one that had originally wanted pizza). Waitress had been told child vegetarian and could salmon be plain no sauce no meat,well arrived on top of mash with bacon. We explained to waitress that we had asked for no meat she then began to scrape his salmon onto his side plate (and I kid you not asked another waitress to pick the bacon out of the mash) obviouly she thought we could not hear. We asked if he could have a fresh meal as the salmon had been in contact with bacon
Meal 2 arrived but swimming in a sauce sorry we said "he does not like anything in a sauce"(ok I know he is fussy but we had asked for it plain), the waitress poked around it with a fork and replied "but it has no meat in!!", we had to send it back.We had now all finished our meal. The waitress then turned up with a pizza for boy(UMMMM hadn't we originally asked for this)

At this time the fireworks were about to begin and the waitress made it obvious that she was not happy with us going outside to watch them as she wanted to serve desert. We went anyway,we would have finished our meal without her mistakes

Desert went without a hitch

I would go back to restaurant as i think it was our server that was at foult and I got the feeling we were treated like that because we were on ddp. Hope to book this year and keeping our fingers crossed that we and you avoid this waitress(wish I'd made a note of her name)

That is not acceptable and i am shocked that you received such poor service.
We too were on the free DDP but received excellent service at both of our meals. So much so that we left a fairly generous tip each time even though the tip was included in the plan at that time.

I would say the service was some of the best we had and was certainly on par with the Yachtsmans Steakhouse.

Did you make a complaint or ask to speak to the manager?:wave:

[debs2028]

That is not acceptable and i am shocked that you received such poor service.
We too were on the free DDP but received excellent service at both of our meals. So much so that we left a fairly generous tip each time even though the tip was included in the plan at that time.

I would say the service was some of the best we had and was certainly on par with the Yachtsmans Steakhouse.

Did you make a complaint or ask to speak to the manager?:wave:

No we didn't. In retrospect we definitely should have done but the children were tired and to be honest because we couln't believe how bad the service. It was like eating in a market cafe(and I may be doing them a disservice as ) we were doubled up with laughter as it was a complete farce. Its definitely a meal I will never forget!!!

[mcsue]

Om goodness debs, my blood pressure was rising ever higher as I read about your awful service. How utterly disappointing. :(
Good that you can laugh about it though :)


Mags I understand your concerns completely. I had exactly the same ones myself and it put me off going for years.
All I can say is that I'm glad I finally found what it is really like for myself.
It's tricky because Cali Grill is probably the restaurant surrounded by the most hype in the 'world' and I think some people are there more for the fireworks than the food then feel very let down if they don't get the 'ultimate' table.

I know you'll enjoy further research on your sig restaurants. :tounge:
Have you considered Flying Fish? I haven't been since the new Chef took over as he doesn't seen too veggie friendly but we had a fab meal there when we were on the DDP
I think Bob and Dawn are eating there in a couple of weeks time so we should get a good update.

[rusty30]

Yachtsman's is our favourite these days. Had some great meals there in recent times and even DH who doesnt like spending fortunes on food (he is more a TGI Fridays sort of bloke LOL!) always insists on a couple of meals here!

We had an OK meal at the Cali Grill but I wouldnt rush back. I think its a place that thinks its better than it really is - location doesnt make up for shoddy service in my opinion. Our waiter was quite rude when I asked about something that wasnt on the menu (it was Christmas Day and I asked if they had turkey!!). It is quite noisy if you are sat near the kitchen, which is open. Bit like being on the set of Ready Steady Cook!! The food was quite nice, but Ive had equally good at Le Cellier, for a third less LOL!

Brown Derby is great for a theme park eaterie. There are a few weird things on the menu, and DH was having palpitations not seeing Burgers or chicken fingers LOL but conceeded in the end it was very good!

Didnt rate Jiko at all, but we had the server from hell, and they put us and our two VERY small children in the posh enclave in the middle which made us feel a bit conspicuous and uncomfortable - probably the MOST uncomfortable Ive ever felt eating at Disney. The ADR was made by the Poly concierge (the one time we pushed the boat out!) and I think they must have thought we were posh or something - HA!!Obviously never heard of Essex LOL!!

My next one to try is Artists Point!

[mcsue]

Allie am I right in recalling that you had Eduardo as your waiter at Jiko?
If so I totally agree he is truly awful! We had him once and walked out after the appetizer. I left him no tip and complained to the manager.
He's still there :omg: and we nearly had him again once - but I refused to have him serve us!

[gala]

You see, I m thinking August and the free dining plan and the crowds........so Im wondering if I really want to do it now.Seriously, I would run out if the crowds and nosie were bad. I'll just have to think it over. I have done Brown Derby before Allie, but to tell you the truth I didnt think it was worth two credits. It was good OK but it certainly was no better than Le Cellier. I might go with the Flying Fish Sue and Yachtsman is a definite choice.
Im off now to check out FF's menu. Thanks again everyone. :spin:

Margaret

[rusty30]

Allie am I right in recalling that you had Eduardo as your waiter at Jiko?
If so I totally agree he is truly awful! We had him once and walked out after the appetizer. I left him no tip and complained to the manager.
He's still there :omg: and we nearly had him again once - but I refused to have him serve us!

Gosh Sue, I bow to your superior memory of all things Foodie hun!! Yes, indeed it WAS Eduardo - horrid, horrid man. I think he was anti-Brit to be honest, as he was fawning over the Americans on the other tables.

Margaret, Id definately choose the Yachtsmans!! We were tempted by the Flying Fish last year, so would be interested to hear how you get on if you decide on that one!

Ah, its a great dilemma to have though isnt it :D ??

[mcsue]

Gosh Sue, I bow to your superior memory of all things Foodie hun!! Yes, indeed it WAS Eduardo - horrid, horrid man. I think he was anti-Brit to be honest, as he was fawning over the Americans on the other tables.

Margaret, Id definately choose the Yachtsmans!! We were tempted by the Flying Fish last year, so would be interested to hear how you get on if you decide on that one!

Ah, its a great dilemma to have though isnt it :D ??

LOL Allie, it's a strange gift! Especially as I can't even remember my own phone number half the time :blush:

He was an odious little man though wasn't he?

[Sue]

Mags - have a serious think about Artist Point as well!
No way could that place ever get noisy and crowded imho!
I am so torn between there and Calif. Grill but think on balance, my lot would prefer the busier one!