Most Recent Reviews
Reviewed by tink Review Date: 03/21/2018
Rating: (9) Recommended
Stayed the end on January. Stayed in a garden view room in building 4 which is near the food court and bus stop. the room was clean and quiet. The food court had a good variety of food. Most food stations opened at 7 but the bakery opened earlier. I liked walking along the river and being able to take a boat to Disney Springs. I also liked being able to walk to Riverside next door. It was nice seeing the carriage rides come though the resort. The bus service was good. The buses ran every 20 minutes . One morning not everyone got on the bus to MK the next one was coming in 15 min. The buses went straight to the parks.
Pros:
theme, river, boat ride to Disney SpringsCons:
noneReview of Jiko - The Cooking Place - Jambo House
Reviewed by patersonprattle Review Date: 06/10/2018
Rating: (10) Recommended
Our family of 7 adults had the pleasure of dining at Jiko, at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We were seated in what I believe was called the Wine Cellar room, but I'm not exactly sure. Our waiter, Ron, was kind, attentive, and extremely helpful. He had extensive knowledge of both the food and drink menu items. His expertise was incredibly helpful in making our appetizer, drink, and meal choices. The warm scented wash cloths and moroccan mint tea were a great start to what would soon become one of our favorite meals at Walt Disney World ever. My husband had the Durham Ranch Elk Loin - celery root puree, hibiscus-candied apples, turnip atjar, lemon-elk jus, which he thought was great, and would definitely eat again. Several of us enjoyed the Oak-Grilled Filet Mignon Highlight Item - bobotie mac n' cheese, grilled Delta-asparagus, kachumbari, South African red wine sauce, which was perfection! My daughter in law chose the Grouper which she was very pleased with as well. My son and daughter both chose the Bo Kaap Malay Seafood Curry - lobster, calamari, red shrimp, mussels, coconut curry sauce, saffron rice . They both loved it!! The Malva Pudding - Melktart ice cream, Kataifi, kanu tuile, cabernet gelee dessert was outstanding, as were our after dinner drinks. I chose the Nutty African. To make the night even more special, Tadie, one of the seaters, brought a hand signed card from various staff, each who had written a special congratulations in their own African language to my son and daughter in law who were celebrating their first wedding anniversary. They also brought them a dessert that wasn't even on the menu. Excellent meal, and incredibly thoughtful service. We will definitely return!
Pros:
One of our favorite meals ever!Cons:
noneReview of Dine with an Imagineer
Reviewed by MSchreib13 Review Date: 03/21/2018
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
The meal and Imagineer although good were NOT worth the cost. I tried to determine the cost from the Disney site menu but couldn't.
This experience is not on the dining plan.
Pros:
Very good food. Interesting discussion with and Imagineer.Cons:
CostReview of Jiko - The Cooking Place - Jambo House
Reviewed by allec999 Review Date: 03/11/2018
Rating: (10) Recommended
Yep, came back for the second time in 5 months. Last time I wanted to try the elk loin, but they were out; the filet I had instead was one of the best meals I've ever had. This time, they had the elk, so I had to try it. It was wonderful, but not quite as good as the filet. But my wife had the lamb tagine, and gave me a bite... it was perhaps the most flavorful bite I have ever had. These guys just know what they're doing. So, so good. It will be difficult to come to WDW in the future and not have a dinner here.
Pros:
They had Elk this timeCons:
Not as good as the filetReview of Nomad Lounge
Reviewed by allec999 Review Date: 03/11/2018
Rating: (9) Recommended
Stopped in for a drink before lunch reservations at Tiffins, and ended up staying for lunch. Had the cheese selection, and sliders. Really delicious. Bartender was friendly and helpful. We caught it on a very slow day, and hoped that it was a bit of a hidden gem, but bartender said it's usually crazy busy. Will definitely come here again.
Pros:
Food, bartenderCons:
noneReviewed by allec999 Review Date: 03/11/2018
Rating: (8) Recommended
Had dinner here in late February. I had the chicken and doughnuts, of course. Delicious. The bacon gravy on the mash potatoes was incredible. My wife had some kind of fried chicken sliders, which she loved. Service was good, and the atmosphere casual and comfortable. Very good choice.
Pros:
Food, atmosphereCons:
not muchReview of Olivia's Breakfast
Reviewed by allec999 Review Date: 03/11/2018
Rating: (9) Recommended
Really tasty food, and solid service. I had the banana bread French toast, and while the texture took some getting used to, the flavors were wonderful. My wife had the eggs and hash, and pronounced it among the best breakfast dishes she has ever had, and insisted I give this a 9. So be it. Well worth checking out.
Pros:
Food, serviceCons:
noneReview of Katsura Grill - Japan
Reviewed by DVCabbyberry Review Date: 03/11/2018
Rating: (7) Recommended
We always enjoy going to Katsura Grill every trip. The food is great, especially the teriyaki chicken and the sauce they put on the chicken and rice. The decor there is very nice and pleasant to look at. The only problem is seating. The seating is good if the weather is nice. If the weather is hot and humid (which is typical Florida weather except in Winter), outdoor seating is uncomfortable and hard to enjoy food, or when it is raining, it becomes crowded inside. People will wait over you to get your table after you leave, but this is common in most Disney restaurants like this. If weather is nice, I would suggest sitting outside. Overall, I would recommend Katsura Grill to Disney guests, for it has delectable food and nice scenery and decor, just make sure you have a spot to sit. 🙂
Pros:
Food, DecorCons:
SeatingReview of Liberty Tree Tavern Dinner
Reviewed by TiggerTrigger Review Date: 03/15/2018
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
We went to LTT many years ago and the food was mediocre back then. We decided to give it another try since I've heard so many good things. I don't know if we were just there on an exceptionally bad night, or if I need to invite people (including the cooks and chefs) over for Thanksgiving dinner and show them that turkey shouldn't taste like it came out of a frozen entree and sides should have flavor. Seriously, I pity anyone who books this for Thanksgiving in hopes of having a meal to replace a normal Thanksgiving feast.
I was willing to set aside the wait, wobbly table, and cramped corner table if the food were OK, but it wasn't. So here's our thoughts on the meal...
Salad- Nothing bad here, but nothing amazing here either. It's like one of those salads you throw together at the last minute because you need a veggie and someone suggests salad because it's easy.
Rolls- in the same boat as the salad.
Turkey- just bad. We make several turkeys per year and have had good turkey at restaurants outside of Disney...so it can be done. What we were served tasted like something out of a frozen entree.
Pork- The seasoning on this is just so off and destroys what may or may not have been a good piece of meat.
Pot Roast- This was decent, but it's also no better than a a roast I could put in my slow cooker in the morning that's ready for dinner when I log off from work. In other words, if I'm paying to eat in a restaurant, I really hope they could do more.
"Mashed" potatoes- I put it in quotes because they weren't really mashed. We had pieces of potato in there that were bigger than golf balls. I honestly don't know if they put anything else in there either because they also didn't taste salted and didn't blend (like there was no cream or butter).
Stuffing- more like mashed cardboard. It was another flavorless side.
Gravy- Tasted and looked like a starched up version of the nasty stuff you can buy in a jar.
Macaroni and "cheese"- the cheese is in quotes because the pasta was in an orange liquid that looked like it could have involved some cheese at some point, but that's about it.
Cranberry Sauce- the cranberry sauce was decent, but like the pot roast, this isn't anything that's really tough to make and it lacked some of the orange overtones most homemade versions incorporate.
Green beans- there were a lot of stems, some beans were browning or bad, and again- no seasoning or flavor
Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake - I have heard so many raves about this stuff. It's not bad, but with the way people talk about it, I expected so much more. It's definitely nothing I'd crave or go out of my way to eat.
Considering how bad this meal was, I find it hard to believe it's ever amazing. To add insult to injury, we were there just before Christmas and paid peak pricing. Needless to say, we wouldn't recommend this and will never be foolish enough again to pay for such garbage.
Pros:
Nothing ReallyCons:
Horrible FoodReview of 'Ohana Dinner
Reviewed by TiggerTrigger Review Date: 03/15/2018
Rating: (5) Recommended
We have been to 'Ohana for dinner multiple times. We go in expecting a long wait to be seated, but a fun and relaxing dining experience with great food to follow. The food this time was still good...well, except for a change in the dumplings (not sure if they changed a recipe or vendor, but the were not what they used to be)...but everything else with the meal was bizarre.
We had an 8:20pm ADR. We checked in at 8:05pm and were seated at 8:10pm. That has NEVER happened. We have always waited 30-40 minutes to be seated for dinner at 'Ohana. So, we knew something had to be up.
Our server was very friendly, but I found it odd that our appetizers were being placed on the table right as he was taking our drink orders. Just a couple of minutes later, he came by with the meat and was forcing it upon us. We asked him to wait, but in a sort of fun be part of the party 'Ohana style way...he insisted. Not only did he give us meat at that point, he loaded it onto our plates on top of the appetizers we literally just served ourselves. To give you some perspective, he unloaded a completely full skewer of shrimp onto my 11 year old's plate. Every time he came by, he loaded more food on top of food.
The meal was so rushed and poorly paced that we were being moved onto dessert about 30 min after being seated. They were also finally getting me my lapu lapu that I'd ordered at the beginning of the meal at this time. The drink was also poorly mixed.
By the time we were finishing up our bread pudding and paying out the check, we'd been there for about 45 minutes. We lingered a little longer so I could try and have a little more of my drink, but we were done at some point between the 50-55 minute mark.
Our server was kind enough to give us the passholder discount even if we're not passholders, so that was a plus. Still, we all kind of stood there looking at each other like "what just happened?" I just can't believe how rushed it was...and how that kind of pacing just destroys the experience.
I think we'd still go back to 'Ohana at some point, but I really hope Disney quits this nonsense and goes back to pushing for more normal meal pacing.
