BennyBoyWrench
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2020
We started our stay off with breakfast at The Wave. “The chef is from Maryland!” said our server, which I took to mean they should make the best crab cakes in the world. I’m not a chef, but I can cook, and being from Devon makes me no better at creating a cream tea than the next Tom, Dick or Harry.
While a fine crab cake it turned out to be, I don’t believe it belonged under the poached egg of my eggs benedict, so I should have stuck to my guns and ignored the advice. The muffin was so well toasted on the bottom that my knife struggled to cut through, a fact that I brought up when asked, and they did offer to replace the whole dish – but as I’d already finished I didn’t think that would be a fair exchange.
The water – OMG – I have never tasted anything so horrible, or such a revolting aftertaste. My wife thought I was just being picky as she was OK with hers (she knows Magic Kingdom water sucks), but it turns out she couldn’t stomach my glass either. That was quite the mystery as they must have been filled from the same spout. Still, I was more than happy to pay for a litre of San Pellegrino.
I left The Wave feeling a little confused, I thought the interior was a little subdued, the service enjoyable, but the food not as good as I had hoped. Mrs Wrench did love her pancakes, which I can attest were light, fluffy and totally delicious. My Californian Benedict? Again, why would a Californian put a Maryland-style crab cake into a French dish?
Dinner, that night, was at the Californian Grill, where we had the best table in the whole place! Perfect view of the rather damp Magic Kingdom, and a beautiful Mickey confetti heart on our table in recognition of our wedding anniversary.
Water up on the 15th floor is triple filtered, which means it’s far better than the rubbish down on the lobby level. We shared a Sunburnt Roll to start, which was perfectly pleasant and introduced us to Jicama, which (Ron explained) is like an apple ate a potato. For the main, I couldn’t look further than a steak served with oxtail marmalade, and boy was it delicious. I can’t remember ever having a steak that tasted that good or was that tender.
However, I have no idea what a bowl of Macaroni and Cheese is doing on the plate. If it’s meant to be part of the dish then let it mingle it on the plate, if it can’t be mixed with the other ingredients then it’s probably not supposed to be there. I also don’t think the Sprouts served much purpose, apart from making the steak rock and roll when I went to cut it. I was offered different vegetables, but I thought “no, if the chef designed this dish with sprouts, then sprouts is what I will have.” I gazed longingly at the carrots that came with the Scallop dish across from me, which were indeed exemplary. Scallops are a tricky thing to do well, and they certainly did them very well indeed.
We were suitably stuffed to render dessert an impossibility, but happily we were graciously served some prosecco, on the house, to mark the occasion. I really liked Ron, who enjoyed my James Bond reference in a nod to his hometown of Karachi, and should we return to California Grill (and holy crap yes we will), then I shall seek his services again.
Lunch the following day was at Sanaa, where our table was no match for the night before. We did get a glimpse of a zebra, and I thought I saw a two-headed ostrich, but it was just a trick of perspective. I really thought the restaurant would be higher up for better views.
Now, it maybe that times are tough so the menu has shrunk, but there wasn’t much there and not much I wanted. The bread service, though, is mighty! We happily paid an extra $2.50 for the additional naan required to consume everything. We did have to ask for plates, which I don’t know are standard or not, but I felt better knowing my crumbs wouldn’t go straight to the table.
We ordered the samosas too, which were a little too delicate for my liking. When I left my job in the UK to move to the US, I brought in a box of 50 samosas for the office to enjoy, and each of them was better than these two. There are some things that should not be elevated.
I found Sanaa to be somewhat curious, for an African restaurant with Indian flavours – naan and samosa are definitely Indian. The could do better on the branding, too, Africa is a continent, India is a country. I’d have thought Disney would have learned that after Euro Disney; you can’t squeeze an entire continent into a single park, life is far more diverse than that.
Ooh I nearly forgot dessert, which was an absolute killer, the triple chocolate mousse was extraordinary! They even threw in the first with a Happy Anniversary chocolate, and for free. We were also celebrating joining DVC that morning, so it was the first meal we had using our newly acquired discount.
My favourite meal of the trip was Trattoria Al Forno on our last night, which we booked while gobbling down our Sanaa mousse. There’s nothing like a bustling kitchen and Italian food and wine. We had the table adjacent to the open kitchen, which was quite wonderful. We got to gawp at some mystery dish the chef had prepared, then were given a miniature version as reward for our nosiness. Hollie, our server, is a ball of energy, we wanted to pack her in our suitcase for the journey home – I think she’d fit – so wonderful she was to be around. My Bolognese was really good, I commented that you could tell the cow ate really good grass, Mel had the meatballs, which were fat, herby and fabulous. Glasses of wine were very reasonable and kept me entertained all evening long.
If we’d known the tiramisu was going to be that big we’d have ordered one, but I’m glad we didn’t as I savoured every spoonful. I thought my step-mother’s tiramisu couldn’t be beaten, but this came dangerously close to perfection.
We’d never had a Disney trip focused on food rather than rides, but as we didn’t buy park tickets, this was a fantastic way to spend the Labor Day weekend, and I hope you enjoy my take on these eateries.
While a fine crab cake it turned out to be, I don’t believe it belonged under the poached egg of my eggs benedict, so I should have stuck to my guns and ignored the advice. The muffin was so well toasted on the bottom that my knife struggled to cut through, a fact that I brought up when asked, and they did offer to replace the whole dish – but as I’d already finished I didn’t think that would be a fair exchange.
The water – OMG – I have never tasted anything so horrible, or such a revolting aftertaste. My wife thought I was just being picky as she was OK with hers (she knows Magic Kingdom water sucks), but it turns out she couldn’t stomach my glass either. That was quite the mystery as they must have been filled from the same spout. Still, I was more than happy to pay for a litre of San Pellegrino.
I left The Wave feeling a little confused, I thought the interior was a little subdued, the service enjoyable, but the food not as good as I had hoped. Mrs Wrench did love her pancakes, which I can attest were light, fluffy and totally delicious. My Californian Benedict? Again, why would a Californian put a Maryland-style crab cake into a French dish?
Dinner, that night, was at the Californian Grill, where we had the best table in the whole place! Perfect view of the rather damp Magic Kingdom, and a beautiful Mickey confetti heart on our table in recognition of our wedding anniversary.
Water up on the 15th floor is triple filtered, which means it’s far better than the rubbish down on the lobby level. We shared a Sunburnt Roll to start, which was perfectly pleasant and introduced us to Jicama, which (Ron explained) is like an apple ate a potato. For the main, I couldn’t look further than a steak served with oxtail marmalade, and boy was it delicious. I can’t remember ever having a steak that tasted that good or was that tender.
However, I have no idea what a bowl of Macaroni and Cheese is doing on the plate. If it’s meant to be part of the dish then let it mingle it on the plate, if it can’t be mixed with the other ingredients then it’s probably not supposed to be there. I also don’t think the Sprouts served much purpose, apart from making the steak rock and roll when I went to cut it. I was offered different vegetables, but I thought “no, if the chef designed this dish with sprouts, then sprouts is what I will have.” I gazed longingly at the carrots that came with the Scallop dish across from me, which were indeed exemplary. Scallops are a tricky thing to do well, and they certainly did them very well indeed.
We were suitably stuffed to render dessert an impossibility, but happily we were graciously served some prosecco, on the house, to mark the occasion. I really liked Ron, who enjoyed my James Bond reference in a nod to his hometown of Karachi, and should we return to California Grill (and holy crap yes we will), then I shall seek his services again.
Lunch the following day was at Sanaa, where our table was no match for the night before. We did get a glimpse of a zebra, and I thought I saw a two-headed ostrich, but it was just a trick of perspective. I really thought the restaurant would be higher up for better views.
Now, it maybe that times are tough so the menu has shrunk, but there wasn’t much there and not much I wanted. The bread service, though, is mighty! We happily paid an extra $2.50 for the additional naan required to consume everything. We did have to ask for plates, which I don’t know are standard or not, but I felt better knowing my crumbs wouldn’t go straight to the table.
We ordered the samosas too, which were a little too delicate for my liking. When I left my job in the UK to move to the US, I brought in a box of 50 samosas for the office to enjoy, and each of them was better than these two. There are some things that should not be elevated.
I found Sanaa to be somewhat curious, for an African restaurant with Indian flavours – naan and samosa are definitely Indian. The could do better on the branding, too, Africa is a continent, India is a country. I’d have thought Disney would have learned that after Euro Disney; you can’t squeeze an entire continent into a single park, life is far more diverse than that.
Ooh I nearly forgot dessert, which was an absolute killer, the triple chocolate mousse was extraordinary! They even threw in the first with a Happy Anniversary chocolate, and for free. We were also celebrating joining DVC that morning, so it was the first meal we had using our newly acquired discount.
My favourite meal of the trip was Trattoria Al Forno on our last night, which we booked while gobbling down our Sanaa mousse. There’s nothing like a bustling kitchen and Italian food and wine. We had the table adjacent to the open kitchen, which was quite wonderful. We got to gawp at some mystery dish the chef had prepared, then were given a miniature version as reward for our nosiness. Hollie, our server, is a ball of energy, we wanted to pack her in our suitcase for the journey home – I think she’d fit – so wonderful she was to be around. My Bolognese was really good, I commented that you could tell the cow ate really good grass, Mel had the meatballs, which were fat, herby and fabulous. Glasses of wine were very reasonable and kept me entertained all evening long.
If we’d known the tiramisu was going to be that big we’d have ordered one, but I’m glad we didn’t as I savoured every spoonful. I thought my step-mother’s tiramisu couldn’t be beaten, but this came dangerously close to perfection.
We’d never had a Disney trip focused on food rather than rides, but as we didn’t buy park tickets, this was a fantastic way to spend the Labor Day weekend, and I hope you enjoy my take on these eateries.
