Mar 31

Tambu Lounge – Orlando FL

1600 Seven Seas Drive

Orlando, FL 32836

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Located right outside Ohana at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, Tambu Lounge offers up plenty of seating for those looking for a drink or a snack. When we arrived, we took over a small table and a couple lounging seats. Within 5 minutes of reviewing the menu, a server came by to welcome us and take our order.

Today, we decided to order the loaded pulled pork nachos and a single-serving of the famous Ohana bread pudding. After a short bearable wait, the food did arrive. The nacho plate was huge and there were plenty of toppings all over the dish. There were ample amounts of pork and cheese all over the chips. The pulled pork was seasoned well and was quite sweet. The combination of cheese, pork, and chips went perfectly together. The pineapples and pico made the dish even more refreshing. The Ohana bread pudding was divine. You get to pour the sweet caramel sauce over the ice cream topped bread putting yourself. Each bite of this dessert was delicious and left you craving more. You could eat the family size portion of this dessert inside Ohana, but ordering one or two of these single servings at Tambu Lounge is plenty. On the way out of the lounge, we did stop by the Pineapple Lanai outside on the first floor where we got a Dole whip float that tasted and presented exactly like the one in the park.

Overall, Tambu Lounge serves up delicious food at amazing prices. Both the nachos and bread pudding exceeded all expectations in terms of value and flavor. If you are planning any visit to Disney World, you cannot skip on paying a visit to Tambu Lounge. The property is easily accessible via the Magic Kingdom resort monorail on the second floor. We will definitely come back here on our next trip to order this again.

Mar 27

Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa Private Dining – Orlando FL

4401 Floridian Way

Bay Lake, FL 32836

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

When you really don’t feel like going out, or it’s so late in the evening that many restaurants are closed, you will be tempted to try to order room service, or as Disney would like to call it, private dining. Utilizing the menu in the room and picking up the hotel phone, we received food delivered straight into the room in less than 30 minutes. After reviewing the menu and calling for clarification on a menu item, we were ready to order.

Today, we decided to order the seasonal salad and a cheeseburger with chips. The seasonal salad actually looked very appealing with sliced pear, pomegranate seeds, and oats, all over a spring mix. The leafy combination tasted refreshing and delicious. The cheeseburger was cooked to medium as requested and tasted delicious. There really was nothing really spectacular about it, but it was good. For the sides, I did ask for house chips, but they provided fries instead. The fries tasted OK, but I was a bit disappointed.

Overall, private dining at the Grand Floridian was a great experience and prices were very reasonable. Even with the 18% gratuity and $3 delivery fee, the entire experience was worth the money. The server actually had to cart the food from the main hotel building to ours. If you are staying at a Disney World resort, you should definitely give private dining a try if you have not tried it before.

Mar 24

Rose & Crown Pub & Dining Room – Orlando FL

200 Epcot Center Drive

United Kingdom, World Showcase

Orlando, FL 32830

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Located in the United Kingdom pavilion at the World Showcase in Epcot, Rose & Crown serves up traditional English food to visitors of the worldly park. We arrived a little early for our reservation, and the host was able to have us check in early. Without much of a wait, we were seated inside where our server provided us with menus. After quickly reviewing the menu we were ready to order. Unfortunately, the wait for the server to come back was quite lengthy.

Today, we decided to order the fish and chips as well as the steak and fish. The food also took some time to arrive at the table. The fish and chips came with a little tartar sauce and ketchup. The breading was nice and crispy, but the fish really didn’t have any flavor, and the tartar sauce did not do much to add to that flavor. Also, for $22, I would hope to have more than one piece of fish. The fries tasted OK, but they were nothing special. The steak and fish came with a similar-sized piece of fried fish with an adequate-sized piece of steak. The fish tasted exactly the same as the piece of fish from the fish and chips. The steak was actually tender and cooked to medium as requested. The sauce did help to flavor the steak well. The veggies and potato really helped round out this expensive dish at $34.

Overall, Rose and Crown does serve up some well-prepared fish, but the flavors were lacking. Most notably in this visit, service started off well, but wait times dragged on from trying to order, to receiving food, and to actually paying the bill. If you are really craving fish and chips, then Rose and Crown would satisfy your hunger, but don’t expect to be wowed by the flavors. At such high Disney prices, you should expect to receive better value from these dishes, causing Rose and Crown to fall short.

Mar 20

Teppan Edo – Orlando FL

1780 Avenue of the Stars

Orlando, FL 32830

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Located in the Japan pavilion in Epcot’s World Showcase, Teppan Edo serves up delicious meats over a teppanyaki grill cooking with flare and style. Having tried Benihana before, we had similar expectations for this lunch dining reservation. When we arrived to check in outside the building, we were provided with a buzzer and were directed to head upstairs to the actual restaurant. After a brief wait, we were quickly seated at the shared grill and provided with menus. We were the last couple to be seated, but luckily we knew what we wanted to order.

Today, we decided to order the asakusa combination of steak & shrimp and the NY cut steak. Each entree also came with salad, dipping sauces, noodles, and rice. The cooking show was fairly tame without too many flashy moves. He only tossed one shrimp tail into his hat and pushed around a steaming onion volcano. The actual shrimp and steak did tasted delicious and tender. Both sauces went well with both meats. One sauce was more mayonnaise based and the other was more savory. The NY cut steak was the same as the steak in the combination. In the future, I would suggest just ordering the combinations as you get a whole lot more meat for just a few dollars more. The chef did ask the customers for how they wanted their beef cooked, and he was on point for cooking the beef to medium.

Overall, Teppan Edo serves up tasty teppanyaki-style food with a decent show, but prices are high (of course) and the show pales in comparison to Benihana. If you are craving some delicious Asian food in Epcot, then you really cannot go wrong with Teppan Edo. As long as you are OK with sitting in a communal grill and don’t mind watching your food get cooked, the experience can be quite entertaining.

Mar 17

Pizza Ponte – Orlando FL

1560 East East Buena Vista Drive

Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Located near the inside portion of Disney Springs, Pizza Ponte is a newly opened pizza joint serving up Sicilian-style pizza. Even though we arrived near closing time, staff were smiling and helpful. There were plenty of slices available, so we decided to try the tomato and the pepperoni. The tomato tasted very fresh with large chunks of mozzarella all over the slice and plenty of basil. The mozzarella had a chunkier texture than others, but that didn’t bother me. The pepperoni came with plenty of pepperoni, but the slice did not taste as fresh as the tomato.  Overall, the facilities still look very new and service was great, but the pizza itself was only a little bit better than mediocre. With prices coming in at $7 a slice, I did expect a bit more, but these are Disney prices. If you just want to grab a quick, yet slightly refined, slice of pizza, then Pizza Ponte can still be a good choice.

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