Let's Eat! - Kona Cafe, Chefs de France

[Guest]

Kona Café





The Kona Café is a firm favorite of ours, and as we were staying at the Polynesian Resort it was a very obvious choice for dinner on our first full day.
The restaurant has a laid back and casual atmosphere, even though it’s almost always very busy, and the food is delicious.
When we checked in at the podium, we asked for a booth along the wall as we find it cosier and quieter than the tables in the middle of this bustling, sometimes noisy restaurant.

One of the downsides of the Kona Cafe is that, as it’s become extremely popular of late, you can often be kept waiting a good while past your adr time.
It can be a tad irritating but hey, not as irritating as it must be for all those poor disappointed and hungry people I’ve seen being turned away, as they have no adr.
Thankfully we didn’t have to wait too long before being seated tonight – about 15 minutes.

Our server Amy was sweet-natured, prompt and took the time to be chatty, even though we noticed she was dealing with a large and particularly demanding party of guests at a nearby table.
She quickly bought us some tasty, warm Focaccia Bread and a dish of that very moreish Olive Oil flavoured with herbs and Parmesan, and we ordered a couple of glasses of wine.
I opted for Chateau Reynella, an Australian Chardonnay and Paul chose to have the Brancott Reserve Pinot Noir from New Zealand.
(btw Brancott is the US label for the same wine that’s branded in the UK as Montana)
I would have preferred to move onto a red wine with my steak, but I get migraines and can’t push it when I’m tired, which I was this evening, so I had another glass of the very enjoyable chardonnay.

We chose the Kona Salad to start with – Mixed leaves, Maytag Blue Cheese (very similar to Roquefort) Apples and Smoked Almonds. We both love this combo and could quite happily eat it every day.

Paul ordered the Pan Asian Noodles.
There was a mix of stir fried Chinese leaves, peppers, onions, carrot, celery, and noodles in a slightly spicy sauce.
You can order this dish with chicken added but being a veggie, Paul asked for some Tofu to be included which they have always been happy to do at Kona.
(Personally I think there was too much of the stuff, but then I’m really not a tofu fan.)

Predictably, I chose the Beef Teriyaki.

The juicy 10oz Sirloin was smothered with a sweet/spicy Teriyaki glaze, dressed with fresh pineapple salsa, and served with creamy mashed potatoes and loads of broccoli.

This dish is on my ‘If you were at WDW right now, what comfort food would you choose to eat?’ list, and I’d been looking forward to it ever since I had last one in October.
I’m aware that I’m often going on about comfort food, when I’m writing some of these reports but I can’t help it, honestly. I was indeed in fluffy-cloud comfort food heaven


The food pics will be familiar to regular food fans, I know, as we only ate at Kona a couple of months ago, but I’ll show you what we enjoyed eating on this night and remind you of what I’ll probably be ordering again next time…..

[Guest]

Chefs de France





This place is another long standing favorite of ours, particularly for a light lunch, but as you may remember, our last visit was rather dire and at the time we thought it may well have been the last!
We couldn’t bear to write it off completely though, having had such good times here over many years, so we of course had to return – if only to erase the woeful memory of the awful October visit.

I so wanted it to be good and I was mildly anxious as we arrived, but soon calmed down as we were shown to our window-side table in the familiar main dining room (I would have refused to be seated in that side room again).
Paul was soon chatting about the beauty of France with our amiable young waiter Rudolphe, while I perused the menu for something different to what I ordered in October!

Paul ordered his customary Goat’s Cheese Salad.
This dish has changed recently and the goat’s cheese is breaded and baked now, whereas formerly it was grilled. Chopped walnuts and grapes garnished the salad, instead of the confit of sweet red peppers and there was a welcome contrast of some crunchy, bitter endive.
Paul was happy enough with the new recipe and enjoyed his meal which was accompanied by a glass of Duboeuf Pinot Noir 2005 and a couple of those warm crusty rolls that are always such a pleasure to devour here.





I liked the sound of a dish I’d not seen on the menu previously;
Seared Salmon on smashed Yukon Potatoes served with Fresh Herb and Lime infused Olive Oil.

I’m pleased to say that it was absolutely scrumptious and I’d certainly choose it again.
The salmon was extremely fresh, moist and perfectly cooked and the potatoes were light and delicious.
There was an exceedingly large pool of olive oil - maybe too much - but it was so fruity and fragrant that I pushed the calorie content out of my mind and mopped up the lot.

I had a couple of glasses of Duboeuf Chardonnay 2003 which went very well with the salmon (although in truth I find goes well with most things )




I’m glad we returned with an open mind as we had a very pleasant, reasonably priced meal and I hope we’ll continue our long tradition of enjoying a simple lunch at Chefs de France!

Our bad experience in October seems to have been a one off, (maybe it was due to extreme cut backs during the period of the Free Dining Plan) so I’m going to forgive them for that rare disappointment - the memory has been diminished even if not completely erased.
You won’t find me ordering the Smoked Salmon ‘avec tomato sauce’ again though.

[voddygirl]

Wow food looks fantastic looks like you werent disappointed... im just waiting on my chicken nuggets cooking oh well

[Sue]

Looks and sounds yummy Sue, I loved Kona, and as your comment suggested we waited 35 mins past our ADR time. We got a booth and a fab server too.

Still not sure about Chefs de France though after your last report and I can't eat salmon - so not tempted yet lol

[Guest]

How yummy does that food look! These are 2 restaurants we've missed so far, will put them on my 'must do' list.

[Guest]

Lol as if you need more for the list Lynn - put em on esp Kona

Sue I do think Chefs is a bit of a sentimental journey for us as it's the first WDW restaurant we ever tried, and we could only afford to share in those days

voddygirl Lucky you having something cooking - I haven't even decided what to have for dinner yet.
I'm still hungry...

[TinkTatoo]

We tried Kona for the first time last summer and it's now a firm favourite

[gala]

Great report and pics as usual Sue. We all agreed that Kona was the best meal of our entire holiday. It even surpassed Brown Derby. As you say, sometimes the wait is long and yes, I think we had to wait 20 mins. I agree with you about the boothes along the wall - a much nicer area to sit in.

Margaret

[BarryandCaron]

Lovely report and pics Sue. We ate lunch at Kona on our trip in 2004 and loved it. Barry and I are eating here this year.

Caron

[Bob_and_Dawn]

Thanks Su,

we have ADR's for both places next month and I look forward to trying that steak.

Dawn