Walt Disney World Dining- Resort Loop Table Service (Part 3) Grand Floridian

RM-Grand-Floridian-EntranceThe last stop on our tour of the Resort Loop table-service restaurants is the Grand Floridian.  I’ve saved the best for last!  The restaurant choices are outstanding, the menus are fantastic and the setting is absolutely gorgeous – There’s no place at Walt Disney World quite like the Grand Floridian.

Grand Floridian Table Service

1900 Park Fare (Buffet, 1 TS credit) – This character meal is unlike any other.  At dinnertime, guests enjoy the above average buffet offerings while meeting Cinderella and her Prince along with Lady Tremaine and her lovely daughters.  For older children and adults, the Tremaines provide (to us) the very best and funniest character interactions to be found anywhere.  The full review from our most recent visit is here.1900 Park Fare / Drizella and Anastasia

Grand Floridian Café (1 TS credit) – I’m not going to lie – I’ve never eaten here, but I do have a breakfast reservation booked to give it a try in my immediate future.  From what I understand, this restaurant is a hidden gem.  Among fans, a certain item on the lunch menu is a standout – The Grand Cafe Sandwich “Open-faced hot Ham, Smoked Turkey Breast, Bacon, and Tomato with a rich Boursin Cheese Sauce and Fried Onion Straws”.  What doesn’t sound delicious about that?

Narcoossee’s (2 TS credits) – It’s been almost 26 years since I’ve eaten at this great place.  Our long absence has not been because we had a bad meal, but rather we’ve passed on return visits in favor of trying new places.  We remember it well – the food and service were great!  It’s time for a re-visit and, like the Grand Floridian Cafe, I have an ADR for Narcoossee’s coming right up.  I’ll post a full review shortly – in the mean time, Nick’s review is here and certainly makes me want to try both the calamari and the scallops!Citricos-Window

Citricos (2 TS credits) – For us, Citricos is what Disney signature dining is all about.  Expect outstanding service in a bright, welcoming atmosphere with a broad, creative menu selection that is sure to offer something for everyone.  Raymond and I enjoyed our last dinner here tremendously.  You can read that review here.  There were some children in the dining room, but this place is best suited for a date-night or adults-only evening out.Citricos- Copper-Pot-Mickey

Victoria and Albert’s (Platinum Dining Plan Only) This is, without a doubt, the nicest, most deluxe and expensive place EVER – I had the chance to eat here last year in October and didn’t take it.  *Sigh* Maybe someday.  I do know this – I’ve never heard anyone complain about a meal at Victoria and Albert’s.  The experience is costly, but worth the time, money, and effort of bringing along some fancy duds to enjoy.  If you’ve dined at Victoria and Albert’s, I’d LOVE to hear about it!

Is the Grand Floridian one of your favorite places to eat?  Which restaurant do you like best?

Disney World Restaurant Review: Narcoossee’s

It’s finally the weekend!  And you know what that means…Saturday’s With Nick!  I love when Nick does reviews of restaurants I’ve reviewed so I can compare our experiences.  I also love when Nick reviews a Walt Disney World restaurant I’ve not yet tried, or in the case of today’s installment, tried so long ago (25 1/2 years to be exact) that I cannot recall much of anything about our meal – other than we enjoyed it, the service was good, and we ate something with alligator in it.  We are going to give Narcoossee’s another try and have an ADR (advance dining reservation) booked for late December.  I’ll be curious to see if things are as good as we remember and if our experience is similar to Nick and Barbie’s.  I’ll tell you this – If scallops are still on the menu, I’m going to order them!

Disney World Restaurant Review:  Narcoossee’s

by: Nick

Since becoming a blogger, I travel differently, keeping an eye out for interesting topics to write about.
Blogging also influences dining choices at restaurants. I usually try to choose different items than Barbie, so I have at least 2 menu selections to review.  This doesn’t always work out. When we visited the Yak and Yeti Restaurant at Disney’s Animal Kingdom on our trip in October of last year, we both ordered the Chicken Lo Mein. But at least I had other photos from previous trips to write about.
What I’m getting to is this, the review of Narcoossee’s is going to be slim in the food review portion, because we both ordered the exact same thing, and as this was our first visit, there’s nothing else to fall back on.  Also, I apologize for how dark the photos are, the lighting in the evening at Narcoossee’s is pretty intimate.

Narcoossee’s is located on the shores of Seven Seas Lagoon, at the end of the Grand Floridian transportation boat dock.

We gave our names at the podium, and were handed a pager. We decided to have a look at the menu, so headed for the bar area.

On the way, we passed the open kitchen and the wonderful staff. Be sure to say hello!

 
I was impressed with the beer menu, not overwhelming but a nice selection.

We asked the bartender for a food suggestion, and he said his favorite was the scallops.

As I perused the beer list, our pager went off. As we were being brought to our table, Barbie spotted a man wearing a vest covered in Disney pins. She approached him, and they spoke at length. He came over to introduce himself and his wife. They were locals, and they also suggested the scallops, as well as the calamari.

If you time it right, and have a table facing Cinderella Castle, you can see Wishes at the Magic Kingdom. I made our advanced dining reservation at 180 days out for 8:00 pm, thinking the fireworks would be at either 8:00 or 9:00 pm. They were at 10:00 pm that evening, and while I could have changed our ADR, we both agreed that was rather late for dinner.

The menu is somewhat limited.

As our bread was being set on the table, we asked our server for an entree suggestion, and weren’t really surprised when she said the scallops.

The bread was very crunchy with a soft center, almost a sourdough. I love butter with salt, and this was course, better yet!

We shared the  Crispy Rhoade Island Calamari with pepperoncini-olive relish and tomato coulis appetizer.

I thought it was very light and crispy yet tender, not chewy. The relish was just the right kick, and the tomato coulis was the perfect acidic addition. Barbie thought they were the best Calamari she’d ever had! With a salad, this could easily be an economical choice for an entrée.

For dinner, we both ordered the Pan-seared Georges Bank Day Boat Scallops with Trofie pasta with Sultana raisins, Marcona almonds, young string beans and herb creme with wild mushrooms, lemon-thyme-mustard au jus and arugula.

We both agreed these were the best scallops we’d ever had. They were perfectly prepared, and as good as they were, the pasta and mushrooms in the lemon-thyme-mustard au jus was even better. Shhhh, if you listen carefully, you can hear my stomach growling now as I write this!

We would have loved dessert, but were too full!

There is no doubt we will return to Narcoossee’s in the future, and we will try to choose different food selections, but it won’t be easy!

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