Day 14 - California Grill

We had been looking forward to this meal as this is one of our favourite restaurants at Disneyworld. All dolled up and ready to go we arrived at our reservation a few minutes early but were taken up in the private lift to the 15th floor, we were asked to wait a few minutes at the front of the restaurant and were taken to our table at exactly 8:45pm which was the reservation time.

First on this list was a cocktail and I went for a blueberry Lemondrop martini - it was soooo delicious, quite sweet, packed with alcohol and very moorish - I had another one once this was done

8489DF5C-9C7C-4CF7-89DA-DDA512417BEB by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

Dan ordered a non alcoholic blackberry lemonade - He said this was very nice, a little sweet and if scoring the drink alone it would be a 8/10

6D7A6413-E417-494D-9992-967A19EFB4B0 by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

The bread soon came out which was a soda bread on this occasion, there was no butter with this which Dan was dissapointed about, and it came with a spicy oil with sun dried tomato’s. I tried the bread with the oil and it was delicious, Dan tried some dry bread and said it was very nice but would have liked butter.

DD5C2F9E-8316-4413-850D-668D15948BE3 by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

ED813DD6-14ED-4B45-A801-CC36574B43A1 by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

The menu

EA019BA3-0D65-4805-8B91-F9E693B146CC by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

For our entrees we both ordered the Oak fired fillet of beef, I ordered it medium with the normal accompaniments and Dan ordered it medium but subbed the Gnocchi for Potato mash and mac and cheese which they were happy to do (Some restaurant will not do this such as Le Cellier).

B6EC2274-2602-40AC-A63C-A327E8FD862E by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

I really enjoyed my meal, the steak was medium and the gnocchi delicious, I will admit that it didn’t taste as good as our last visit but it was lovely none the less.

9A8735B7-84ED-4E96-956F-37AAE15DF304 by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

Dan here. This is actually difficult to write because I have always been a fan of the California Grill. The meal I ordered was a hybrid: the steak (medium) along with the mash and the mac & cheese. So..

Steak: the oak fired filet simply was not oak fired. It was just burned on the outside. The steak lacked any of the flavour I am used to with a signature meal. It was frankly just above average. It was nice but not the stunning steak of previous stays. Which is what I am measuring against.

Mash: lumpy. Which is almost inexcusable for a signature meal. How hard is it to mash or rice the potato?

Mac & Cheese: Nice enough. Better than most.

Overall I was disappointed. I had the same high expectations as always with the C Grill. It felt like it had gone down a bit in standard. For $50 a head, the steak should be the star, not the mac & cheese. A lacklustre 6/10.

Dessert menu

CE027747-1CAA-468F-9804-5D590B2E4566 by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

For dessert I ordered the peach creme brûlée- this was delicious and quite light in texture, the little cinnamon croutons were yummy and the Brûlée creamy the only qualm I have is that it didn’t have much of a sugar crack.

70957FF3-4994-4CDF-9FD1-FE293742BBFA by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

Dan ordered the chocolate cake - this came with panacotta, vanilla ice cream, and a chocolate curl. The ice cream tasted shop bought with no vanilla pods present. It was not made in the restaurant (you can tell because of the overly frozen ice in it). The chocolate was a combination of nutty, dark, and milk chocolate. Nice enough but only comparable to a standard Marks & Spencer style dessert. Not the usual quality I have previously had. The panacotta was ok, pretty flavourless. A 6/10.

94BDA09E-97D9-46CF-A757-A993D20249E5 by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

Overall I would give the meal 8 and half/10 and Dan 6/10 - here’s the bill

F26EB7DF-2D76-40CE-92F6-9BC2ECD6ACD5 by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

Your breakfast looks fabulous!
Your dessert at Cali also does it for me!

Day 15 - Columbia Harbour House

We decided to skip breakfast this morning because we were still full from our meal at the California grill the previous night, around lunchtime we were still not massively hungry so decided to share a meal at the Columbia harbour house and went for Chicken nuggets, fries and a side of mac and cheese.

The nuggets and fries tasted the same as the ones I purchased at HS the other day, the nuggets are quite big and very filling and the mac and cheese whilst simple was nice.

51CA8E40-BF10-4D07-A046-CB14696BC538 by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

5751BA81-88C1-4A45-9D65-B926E92CE460 by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

Bill came to $19.57 and defiantly filled us up we’d give it a 7/10 because the mac and cheese was nice and it did the job.

Day 15 - Dole whip float

I cannot visit MK without getting a dole whip of some sort and because it was hot today I got a dole whip float - Yummy as always and only $5.49 I really enjoyed this as its quite refreshing - unlike an ice cream dolewhips are made with milk and pineapple so whilst they taste creamy it’s still full of flavour. 8/10

CC75B62B-E75B-4FFD-A70E-2EA714E40DB5 by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

Day 15 - Mickey Snacks

We received a beautiful gift from the Disney gifts and floral the other day and decided to have a few snacks from it, we had some chocolates, lays crisps and chocolate peanuts. The chocolates are quite expensive at $16 per box (seen them in the store downstairs) and whilst nice are not worth $16.

418E798B-7FE3-4E21-94B5-C4B92E227C1A by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

7E9A1A7F-1959-4F66-8E5C-EDCF510D87C1 by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

Peanuts were delicious and the lays crisps are identical to walkers - we still have a lot of make our way through.

Very disappointing meal at the California grille at those prices !

Loving your report so far. Looks like some very nice meals.

Sad to see tha Cali didn’t meet expectations though

Day 15 - The Boathouse

We have visited The Boathouse on a previous trip and had a great experience so we booked again hoping to replicate it.

Our reservation was at 8pm and despite it being busy and a lot of people queuing we were seated straight away.

The theming in here is great with vintage speed boats hanging from the ceiling and boat propeller themed fans.

I ordered a lemon drop martini (I have a thing for lemon based martinis) and it was delicious, it came with a rock candy stirrer and the drink became sweeter and yummier as the candy permeated the drink.

FA7030CC-DDB6-4FD9-A0F8-147D15E779FC by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

50667508-2A34-40F4-B9A9-EB1B1F7645F9 by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

Dan ordered a Pauls girl lager which is non alcoholic which you can just about see in the background of my martini pic, Dan said this is one of the best non alcoholic lager he has tasted and will look them up when we get home.

Now here’s where I made a mistake - the bread here is delicious, buttery and soft and I love it, I love it so much i filled myself up with it and didn’t eat much of my main.

B4E4E1B2-16C3-4DF3-8C60-A1BC40AC7CC2 by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

I ordered the BOATHOUSE BARBECUE BACON BURGER
Creamy Coleslaw, Smokey BBQ Sauce, Pimento Cheese, House BBQ Spice Rub - this was so yummy I wanted to eat it all but only managed about 1/3 of the burger

3F49369A-674D-43DE-96CD-AB7C926817C4 by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

Dan ordered a classic cheeseburger without the salad

5EFD0AFA-12E0-478B-AEF0-72805557F8AC by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

We also ordered a side of mac and cheese

8FDBF9C8-BDA8-433A-8E78-5D0169372225 by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

The burgers were so tasty, moist and flavoursome, the service was fantastic. The only problem we encountered was that the mac and cheese had peppers in it now and it didn’t just have a kick - it was hotter then the sun, we have had mac and cheese here before which hasn’t had any peppers in it and asked the server why it was so hot - she explained that it shouldn’t be and that the chef may have put too much red chilli flakes in it - this was deducted from our bill as we both couldn’t eat it (not even me and I’m normally ok with hot and spicy foods)

Dan overall gives the meal a 8/10 and ill give it 9/10

The bill came to around $60

Day 16 - Boardwalk inn breakfast room service

As we were due to have a long day - visiting Epcot and doing Mickeys not so scary party in the evening we decided to have breakfast in the room.

I ordered a cheese, ham and onion omlette which came with breakfast potatoes


5C4D2727-348E-4FBF-9A13-4A2B3CA256FC by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

Dan ordered toast and vanilla steel cut oatmeal porridge which came with strawberries, banana and brown sugar

869606DD-69F6-49C2-9F73-3097904107BC by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

ED512FC9-AFB3-481B-ACB0-954DA8EF1929 by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

7DBFBB6B-F1B9-41DE-BE21-3B15D96F7080 by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

When we have had room service at Disney hotels in the past they’ve brought it on a wheelie expandable table but on this occasion it was on a tray which was a bit difficult as we had to eat on surfaces at opposite sides of the room.

My omlette was lovely though and cooked perfectly - Dans porridge was really sloppy though and he wasn’t impressed (ate it because he was hungry but it was so wet) he also said adding vanilla didn’t do anything to improve it.

I’d give it 7/10 and Dan a 7/10 - it came to $37 with service charges and delivery charges included

Day 16 - Caseys corner

After a filling breakfast we were not hungry until around 4pm at which time we had made our way to MNSSHP and decided to try Caseys corner.

I ordered corn dog nuggets which came with fries

718B3776-AA14-410F-91FE-31DFC5055BFD by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

7552CA80-FA35-48A4-A646-F3CD70542932 by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

Dan ordered a regular hotdog with mac and cheese and topped with bacon - he had apples instead of fries.

29C7B3AE-9FC6-45F0-A5B0-26471C07028D by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

C52CE3A0-75E1-45C0-AA70-491F221000AE by MARIA PASS, on Flickr

Mine was good, not going to win any awards and in hindsight I should have got a hotdog 7/10 from me, Dan really enjoyed his and gives it 8/10 total was around $20