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Post by johnb on Feb 12, 2024 14:39:38 GMT -5
We had dinner at Narcoossee's on Friday. Until Friday, it had been the only "signature" WDW restaurant we hadn't been to. All things considered, it's not signature dining when compared with Flying Fish, California Grill, Jiko, etc. The room is loud, because it's one big open space with hard floors (tile or heavy vinyl), lots of window, and nothing to absorb sound. I thought it was a bit odd that they had music playing (70's-80's easy listening); the music wasn't loud but it was noticeable. Food--it was DW, DD and me. We each had different apps and main courses. I had the seafood charcuterie, which was three small portions of lobster sausage, tuna pastrami and octopus. All were very good. DD had the brisket tortelloni; the pasta was too thick and felt undercooked a bit. DW had the sweet potato gnocchi. The gnocchi were good, but the dish didn't work for me because of the sauce, which was a chunky tomato sauce. The sweet potato/tomato mix clashed. Best main course IMO was my blackened redfish, which was perfectly seasoned (they definitely go light on the heat level in the blackening seasoning blend) and perfectly cooked. It was served on top of chorizo hash, which was really tasty. . DD and DW were underwhelmed with their main course. DW had the yuzu-ginger salmon, which she said was bland. She did love the rice it was served with. DD had the scallops with Parisian gnocchi which she said was "just ok." We shared the pineapple bavarois for dessert. It was great. Light and full of flavor. Service-maybe the waitress was having an off night; we sat for about five minutes before she arrived at the table. She forgot to bring our dinner wine. That's become a peeve of mine--wine should be on the table before the food. She was very pleasant and knowledgeable of the menu, but she disappeared for long periods of time. Cocktail glasses were left empty on the table. With prices similar to Jiko, Tiffins, Flying Fish and California Grill (before the prix fixe), the attention to detail that we've experienced at theses places was definitely lacking at Narcoossee's. I wouldn't say it's "one and done", but it's not a place we'll go back to anytime soon. Oh, the view--my back was to the windows. The bar looked cool.  |
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Post by Adelard of Bath on Feb 12, 2024 15:00:18 GMT -5
but she disappeared for long periods of time. This irks me even when it's simple dining with soda refills. |
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Post by brp on Feb 12, 2024 15:45:39 GMT -5
Thanks for the review. We do plan to visit in May since we're staying at VGF. We haven't been in a long while, but not surprised that Jiko is a cut above.
Cali Grill is now dead to us with the prix fixe menu.
Cheers.
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Post by tomandrobin on Feb 12, 2024 15:54:50 GMT -5
I like Narcoossee a lot. For me, the food is in the top tier of WDW restaurants. Its not Monsieur Paul level of dining, which currently holds our top fine dining spot. The Red Snapper is my fav of the menu.
Saying Fine Dining in Disney, is liken to saying Luxury Resorts......They are nice, but miss on so many levels.
I have never been to Victoria & Albert, so I can't comment on what their dining experience is.
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Post by tomandrobin on Feb 12, 2024 16:02:43 GMT -5
Cali Grill is now dead to us with the prix fixe menu. Same.....Have not been since the prix fixe menu. Also add Takumi-Tei to that list. Although, Takumi-Tei recently added a special lounge menu only available to Club members and no ADR required. I have not had a chance to try it, but hopefully we will the next time we are in WDW.
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Post by brp on Feb 12, 2024 16:03:18 GMT -5
I like Narcoossee a lot. For me, the food is in the top tier of WDW restaurants. Its not Monsieur Paul level of dining, which currently holds our top fine dining spot. The Red Snapper is my fav of the menu. Saying Fine Dining in Disney, is liken to saying Luxury Resorts......They are nice, but miss on so many levels. I have never been to Victoria & Albert, so I can't comment on what their dining experience is. Fair point, although I think that Jiko, the former Cali Grill and (almost) Flying Fish) do reach a general fine dining level. I mean, it's not Michelin two star even, but come close to one star.
We did go once to V&A, back with TiW worked there, so 20% for 4 people was a doozy.
This was definitely Michelin 2-star level, with some elements approaching 3 stars. The food was very good, and the service impeccable.
The wine pairing was the only drawback being somewhat pedestrian. It seemed to be trading on the cachet of California wine while providing mid-tier examples.
But definitely a nice experience. For the appropriate dress code, if nothing else.
Cheers.
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Post by johnb on Feb 12, 2024 18:13:10 GMT -5
FWIW, my ranking of the nicer/better WDW restaurants we've been to:
Flying Fish
Jaleo
Tiffins
Morimoto
Jiko
Bluezoo
California Grill
Topolino's
Citrico's
Brown Derby
Narcoossees
Yachtsman Steakhouse
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Post by johnb on Feb 12, 2024 18:15:44 GMT -5
Thanks for the review. We do plan to visit in May since we're staying at VGF. We haven't been in a long while, but not surprised that Jiko is a cut above. Cali Grill is now dead to us with the prix fixe menu.Cheers. DD said, re California Grill, "It's good food but too much of it." |
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Post by Hi from RI on Feb 12, 2024 19:00:32 GMT -5
Hmm...does sound like you had waitstaff that was off that night. We usually go every time we visit WDW and have always had a good experience. Good food and good service..but everyone has their different favorites. We often get the lobster bisque, the salmon ( which my DH loves ) said it is the most tender salmon ever ate ( we cook salmon and eat it at home). I often get the poached lobster tails, which are expensive but so good. We get the almost crusted cheesecake, which takes more than one sitting to eat, but again...yum.
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Post by sevenseasgirl on Feb 12, 2024 21:33:59 GMT -5
We went to Narcoossees before the refurb and loved the food and service. We were disappointed when we returned after the refurb. Boring food and boring interior. Flying Fish is far superior in our experience.
Agree on California Grill. For the longest time it was our favorite. Don’t know how they could mess up their top restaurant but they did with the Prix fixe menu.
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Post by baymaxfan on Feb 12, 2024 22:44:57 GMT -5
I like Narcoossee a lot. For me, the food is in the top tier of WDW restaurants. Its not Monsieur Paul level of dining, which currently holds our top fine dining spot. The Red Snapper is my fav of the menu. Saying Fine Dining in Disney, is liken to saying Luxury Resorts......They are nice, but miss on so many levels. I have never been to Victoria & Albert, so I can't comment on what their dining experience is. Fair point, although I think that Jiko, the former Cali Grill and (almost) Flying Fish) do reach a general fine dining level. I mean, it's not Michelin two star even, but come close to one star.
We did go once to V&A, back with TiW worked there, so 20% for 4 people was a doozy.
This was definitely Michelin 2-star level, with some elements approaching 3 stars. The food was very good, and the service impeccable.
The wine pairing was the only drawback being somewhat pedestrian. It seemed to be trading on the cachet of California wine while providing mid-tier examples.
But definitely a nice experience. For the appropriate dress code, if nothing else.
Cheers.
I went to Jiko twice in the past (not recently). I was not impressed either time. I thought it was fine, but not much beyond that. I felt the same about the old California Grill and Flying Fish. So I suppose I feel more like Tom feels. I have not been to Monsieur Paul, V&A, or Takumei Tei. I will be trying Takumi Tei next week. |
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Post by tomandrobin on Feb 13, 2024 7:53:16 GMT -5
I went to Jiko twice in the past (not recently). I was not impressed either time. I thought it was fine, but not much beyond that. I felt the same about the old California Grill and Flying Fish. So I suppose I feel more like Tom feels. I have not been to Monsieur Paul, V&A, or Takumei Tei. I will be trying Takumi Tei next week. Jiko and Flying Fish did not "hit" with us either. There was nothing wrong with the food and service, it just did not "wow" us. In fact, I put Toledo at Coronado Springs over both of them.
I feel/think that some of sways the "dining" opinions is whether you pair wine with your meals. We are not big wine drinkers and so we only concentrate on the food, service and ambiance.
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Post by tomandrobin on Feb 13, 2024 7:54:35 GMT -5
We went to Narcoossees before the refurb and loved the food and service. We were disappointed when we returned after the refurb. Boring food and boring interior.
I agree, the renovation of Narcoossee's is a bit of a let down.
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Post by captjacksfamily on Feb 13, 2024 9:10:39 GMT -5
Johnb; sounds like your my kind of food geek...
At the event we were at last Saturday they were serving small plates of the Red Fish (on grits) and it was amazing, sorry to hear they may have other issues . Funny enough this is way we stopped going there 15 years ago. It is the only time in our long history with Disney dinning that we ever talked to a manager about a server. This guy was insisting we needed to order a white wine because we were ordering fish when we wanted a light red (Pinot Noir). when we insisted on the red our service went down hill from there.
Wine service is great way to judge a restaurant, one of my big pet peeves is when you order an expensive wine (>$100) and they don't have proper stemware. They more than likely have at least a 3x mark up on the bottle you can have decent stemware and should have varietal specific stemware.
A couple of my thoughts on Dinning at Disney:
The Fish is one of our favorites and has been since the get go. Not a lot of people know about it but I believe their NY or Tomahawk are the best steaks on property. The Tomahawk is not typically on the menu but they often have it if you ask. It is definitely a shared plate unless you're a huge eater.
We have done a couple of whiskey dinners at Takumi Tei which were great.
Jiko has been hit or miss for us even their wine dinners.
Blue Zoo is a go to, never have had bad service or food and they typically have fun cock/mocktail
We like Tiffins but not that thrilled with their current menu, they use to do a duo of pork that I loved, now I prefer apps in the bar.
Citrico's used to have gets wine dinners but I don't think they due them anymore.
Cali Grill has never been one of my favorites for a nice meal, too many kids running around and too loud, food was good.
I have never dined in the dinning room at V&A only the Chef's table and it has been probably 10 years ago, a sublime experiences I would probably do it again but it is one of the hardest ressies to get.
Over all Disney restaurants tend to be a hit or miss especially when they turn over the proprietor or Chef, I thing the proprietor may even have a bigger effect than the chef. Place like the Fish have at times struggled when coming out of one of thees changes. Frankly the Fish is just getting back in stride after loosing chef LT a few months ago. Another issue is that Disney restaurants seem to charge which places can order outside of the normal Disney supply change, V&A of course does and the fish usually does. You can tell when this is happening all of the restaurants seem to have variations of the same proteins.
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Post by bakerworld on Feb 13, 2024 9:38:03 GMT -5
One of the bartenders told us that Disney routinely rotates chefs and restaurant managers. I don't understand this entirely. OK, the managers I can see - especially if there's a manager that can made a difference in service. The chef movement doesn't make sense at all to me because I would think certain chef's specialize.
We were talking about the inconsistent taste of the entree's when she volunteered the switching information. Her husband was the manager at the Turf Club for many rotations. It seems somebody realized he managed to circumvent moving a few times and moved him to the Yachtsman. He left for a better manager opportunity after that move. Narcossee's was one of the places we were talking about the inconsistency of the entre'.
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