The weekend edition of "USA Today" has done a Disney again this week.
Page 8D has a series of restaurant reviews for:
- Flying Fish Cafe, at the Boardwalk
- Victoria & Alberts, at the Grand Floridian
- Spoodles, at the Boardwalk
- California Grill, at the Contemporary
- Artist's Point, at Wilderness Lodge
"This is not your children's Disney World," says writer Jerry Shriver.
Boy is he ever right! Of course, with dinner prices ranging from $30 to
$145 each, who *would* take the six-year-old?
Clearly someone knowledgeable about the food business, the writer is
nevertheless pretty harsh in his assessments of the cuisines. Having
enjoyed both Spoodles and Artist's Point just last January, I can agree
that the spicing at Spoodles is somewhat tepid, but I think he's off the
mark in his remarks about Artist's Point. Far enough to make me suspect
his other reports.
That said, he is right about one aspect of Disney fine dining that we
have found common to all of their restaurants: inconsistancy. The decor
in Disney's restaurants is, well, Disney--what can you say? It has been
nearly twenty years since we last had poor service--the cast members are
often the best part of our visits. This leaves the kitchens--sometimes,
the skills of the cooks are simply not up to the imaginations of the
chefs. If these restaurants have a weak spot, this is it.
We have heard elsewhere that Victoria & Albert's is great, but with
super-great prices. As fun as it sounds, I'm a bit awed by the prices,
the dress code (on a vacation, anyway), and the attitude. Reports of
ho-hum food like Shriver's will likely keep me away.
Artist's Point and Spoodles we recommend, though the tapas at the latter
are a serving style some will have trouble getting used to. Flying Fish
Cafe has had many more great reviews than fair ones, and is on our list
for our next trip (along with a number of others).
The reviewer did rave over one restaurant: California Grill on top of
the Contemporary. This was on our list for the last visit, but we didn't
fit it in because we were having so much fun a the new Boardwalk area.
If even this snooty dude liked it, it must be excellent, and we've put
it back on our list for the next trip...at the top.
()_()
 (_)  Bruce (restaurant review reviewer) Metcalf
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