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[chezp]

Saturday 2 November – part eight: they took that off the menu?

It was about now that someone mentioned about the colour of the sky outside, and sure enough, there was a spectacular red sky as part of the sunset, so I just had to nip outside, and get some shots as the sun sank over the Grand Floridian.



Mark and I decided to do what we usually do here, and share a flatbread, although be careful with the menu. There used to either be a flatbread or a from the wood burning oven section on the old menu (I can’t remember which now), where everything was a flatbread in that section. Now it’s a from the wood burning oven section, and only a couple of items are actually flatbreads. We were originally going to go for the baked jumbo prawns with charred lemon, blistered baby tomato and cipolini onion relish and watercress, as I thought that was a flatbread, but it wasn’t, so we went for the one with beefsteak tomatoes, mozzarella de bufala, and aged balsalmic:



It was very good, and it was a lot lighter than the previous flatbreads here, which I think is good, as they did tend to fill me up a bit early. However, the tomato and mozzarella were quite hard to eat, in terms of they didn’t come away when you bit into them, which made eating it a bit messy, although the flavours were absolutely fine.

Next we shared the California combination roll, jumbo lump crab, avocado, cucumber, and shrimp tempura. The flavours in this were absolutely lovely, although again, it was hard to eat it in a dignified way (are you seeing a trend here? especially as some of it needed to be split in half to truly share it, so I attacked those items with a knife and just about got there.



For entrée, I took a risk and went for the Georges Bank scallops with French curry spice, squash ravioli, local citrus butter, and Sylveta arugula salad. I took a risk, as Walter our server (who was wonderful and coped very well with all of us by the way ) told me that it was about a 3 on the spicy scale out of 10. For comparison, he also said the spicy Kazan rolls, which are too much for me are a 5, so I figured I’d be fine. I wasn’t. My goodness, my mouth was on fire by the time I’d finished eating the scallops, and trust me, I was determined to finish eating them, as they were absolutely melt in the mouth. I adored the squash ravioli, and trust me, that could be a dish on its own that I’d be very happy eating.



Mark had the pork two ways, grilled tenderloin, goats cheese polenta (which he swapped out for mashed potatoes), mushrooms, lacquered belly, and apple sauce.



Before we got to dessert, Lesley handed these out, which were superb.



She was very quick to say she didn’t make them (she could’ve said that and we’d have been none the wiser ) but apparently they’re made by a friend of hers, and they’re excellent.

Now when it got to dessert, I have to say I was very disappointed by the menu. I think they were trying to be fun, but for me, I’d rather have style over creativity any day. I just didn’t think some of the ideas fitted my idea of a signature restaurant, and maybe I’m a snob – who knows? The one that stuck out to me as not being what I’d expect to see was the sundae sampler and, in fairness, it does say that it’s a set of “unique and playful sundaes” made up of caramel corn, Coke float, and strawberry-basil.

The big shock to me was the disappearance of the Valhrona chocolate cake from the menu. I can’t believe they did that! I really thought that would survive, but apparently not.

In the end, I was so disillusioned about the dessert menu that I opted for the chef’s selection cheese board, a selection of five unique cheese with accompaniments. Here are the details of exactly what I got:



All the cheeses were very nice, but my favourites were the Cremont and the Rogue River Blue.

Mark went for the chocolate pudding cake, described as a luscious chocolate cake with Nutella filling, meringue kisses, and mint chantilly. The description didn’t appeal to me, but the presentation was superb:



Mark didn’t eat much of it, and when I tried it, I could see why. Beth tried a bit as well, and we both agreed that, while it was lovely, it was so rich, we couldn’t eat more than one mouthful.

Lesley was presented with a birthday crème brulee, which was a really nice touch.



I have to say a word here about the value for money at the California Grill. Now bear in mind that we spent nearly $200 at Monsieur Paul’s the other night, and I was expecting to put down a similar amount of money tonight. Not at all! Taking out the alcohol charges, the food was only $150, which for a three course meal at a signature restaurant really surprised me. I genuinely thought it would be more than that.

So what did we make of the newly reopened California Grill? To me, I thought everything they’d done (with the exception of removing the Valhrona chocolate cake from the menu – Disney get that back on there! ) was an improvement. They’d managed to keep the essence of the place, but plus it up, which I wasn’t sure was possible, but they’d done it. Will we back? You bet! My birthday next year is looking like a cert for us to return. I’m so glad that one of my favourite restaurants on Disney property is still one of my favourites following its refit.

California Grill

Appetiser 1 8½ 8½
Appetiser 2 9 9½
Entrée 7½ 9½
Dessert 9 7
Service 10 10
Atmosphere 10 10
Value for money 10 10

Average score: 9.18

By the time we finished and paid up, it was about 8:45pm, so the meal had taken over three and a half hours. I had liked the idea of going to see IllumiNations at 10:00pm again, but to be honest, the pace was taking its toll on me, and I was dead, so we sadly said our farewells to everyone, as this would be the last time this trip we’d see most people, and we headed down to the car, and headed back to the Beach Club Villas. Thank goodness the clocks were going back tonight and we’d have an extra hour in bed.

The weather today was wet in the morning, then drier later with temperatures in the high 70s.
The best thing today was dinner with a wonderful group of PassPorters at the California Grill.
The worst thing today was the rain in the morning.
The funniest thing today was Mark’s starring role in Enchanted Tales with Belle.
Today we tried eating at the new California Grill
And the result was it’s just as good as it was before, although the dessert menu left a bit to be desired…
The most magical moment today was getting a big donkey hug from my boy!

Next: enjoying a deserted Epcot

[purplegal]

Love the sunset pictures, the food looks delicious.

[xwewhisper]

The food looks delish! I was on the fence about eating there in two weeks but your review is certainly helping get my confidence in the redo back up!

[lindawdw]

I can't get over the pictures that you got from CG with your camera lens Cheryl! They are absolutely amazing and I thought it was great that you got a picture of all the buildings that surround Epcot that I'm not sure are actually Disney owned. I'm sure the lens make them look a lot closer than they actually are though It sounds like you had a wonderful meal at CG with PP Friends! Loved seeing the rehab and all your food pictures.

[guerns17]

Finally got caught up! Th Cali Grill looks wonderful! I'm truly hoping to eat there one day!!

[lauriep]

That sunset is spectacular! We had the same flatbread in September and I just loved it. I agree, it's lighter than before, which makes it perfect for an appetizer, although I'd be very happy with just this for a meal. I'm also in agreement with you about the dessert menu. What is it with these "fun and creative" desserts? Flying Fish has started doing them, too. They spend so much time and effort trying to make dessert look or taste like something else-- I don't get it! I ended up skipping dessert. Even Juliana's kids' sundae was weird. The ice cream had pop rocks mixed in. I can't wait for my next meal there and am so happy it's still a great restaurant.

[disney_duke]

That is a stunning sunset. How lucky you were at the right place at the right time to capture that.

Dinner looked delicious! I am wondering if Walter is the same Walter we had as a waiter when we dined there in 2011!! I only remember because we had a discussion about his name being the same as Walt. Disney. I'm sure he gets that all the time though.....

[chezp]

Originally Posted by xwewhisper

The food looks delish! I was on the fence about eating there in two weeks but your review is certainly helping get my confidence in the redo back up!

Definitely do it! The food was superb. I know a lot of people have complained about the noise in there, but with 15 of us, I didn't notice it at all, as we were probably the ones making all the noise that night!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by lindawdw

I can't get over the pictures that you got from CG with your camera lens Cheryl! They are absolutely amazing and I thought it was great that you got a picture of all the buildings that surround Epcot that I'm not sure are actually Disney owned. I'm sure the lens make them look a lot closer than they actually are though

It probably did! Honestly, the best spur of the moment purchase ever!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by guerns17

Finally got caught up! Th Cali Grill looks wonderful! I'm truly hoping to eat there one day!!

I hope you're able to, as it's wonderful.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by lauriep

That sunset is spectacular! We had the same flatbread in September and I just loved it. I agree, it's lighter than before, which makes it perfect for an appetizer, although I'd be very happy with just this for a meal. I'm also in agreement with you about the dessert menu. What is it with these "fun and creative" desserts? Flying Fish has started doing them, too. They spend so much time and effort trying to make dessert look or taste like something else-- I don't get it! I ended up skipping dessert. Even Juliana's kids' sundae was weird. The ice cream had pop rocks mixed in. I can't wait for my next meal there and am so happy it's still a great restaurant.

Oh what a shame that the idea of the desserts is spreading to other signature restaurants. That's not a good sign.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by disney_duke

That is a stunning sunset. How lucky you were at the right place at the right time to capture that.

Dinner looked delicious! I am wondering if Walter is the same Walter we had as a waiter when we dined there in 2011!! I only remember because we had a discussion about his name being the same as Walt. Disney. I'm sure he gets that all the time though.....

It could well be, as I know a lot of the servers at the California Grill have been there for some time.

[travismom]

What a beautiful sunset!!
Looks like y'all had a wonderful dinner. I've never tried California Grill and when I read this post and saw your food pictures, I added it to my spreadsheet for next year!!! I think Travis will like the food here.

[mommapants]

What an incredible meal - the view is just spectacular

[xwewhisper]

Originally Posted by chezp

Definitely do it! The food was superb. I know a lot of people have complained about the noise in there, but with 15 of us, I didn't notice it at all, as we were probably the ones making all the noise that night!

We definitely care more about the food than the noise, and that flatbread looks too yummy to pass up Plus they still have that great view of Wishes to offset any downsides really