Dessert before Dinner: a trifecta of dining reports? Update 9/22 LTT COMPLETE!

[elsbit]

They did say I look like a molester with my hands on their knees but at least I have photo evidence to remember them by when they leave the house and refuse to visit me.

​

This lined killed me.

As always, I enjoy your reports.

 

[hereforthechurros]

I have to ask how does your family have enough room for apps, entrees and dessert at every meal everyday at WDW? It’s impressive! We love to eat but feel we must be doing it wrong as an app and one entree between my husband and I and we’re so full. Rookies.

Edit: Il Mulino looks great and hasn’t been in our radar. May have to change that!

Edit2: just occurred to me that DxDP comes with all of the above so maybe that’s how people can order so much!

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Anyway, after this we got some PP pictures taken on Main St. and much to my surprise (probably not yours as I've posted this already) this happened:

Aww! You can post this 1000 times and it will still make me teary!!! I love how Steve and the boys pulled this off!!!

They did say I look like a molester with my hands on their knees but at least I have photo evidence to remember them by when they leave the house and refuse to visit me.

LOL!!!! There's really nothing to say...

headed to Goofy's Candy Company so I could make my own rice krispie treat!!

I need to do this too. HMM...maybe this week...LOL!

 

[Tracy161]

Funny, I used to think "flourless" would make it taste bad so I stayed away from flourless desserts.

Funny, cause I always thought it had to be healthier than flour-y cake, so seconds (or thirds) are acceptable. Right??

After we were done we finally did something I've been wanting to do but always forget about; headed to Goofy's Candy Company so I could make my own rice krispie treat!!

Yay! I haven't done this in several years. I should add that to the August list since I actually plan on being in DS for once The one you made sounds right up my alley... no surprise there!

And yeah I understand about Newark kind of wish you still live there though because you'd be a lot closer to me!

True! That would have been the silver lining

 

[amalone1013]

Just as I am thinking of a way to finally make it to Il Mulino on our next trip, you post your review. Now it must happen! I think if I just show Zack a photo of the chicken I will be golden I really want to try your pasta, it looks and sounds amazing! We are doing the Backstage Magic Tour, so I'm thinking after that would be a great time to get pretty and then go to dinner there. Then after we can go watch Illuminations (and maybe get a few photos all dressed up... which I wanted to do on our anniversary trip but didn't happen because my eyes were not cooperating that trip, they were super itchy and watery and I kept having to switch to my glasses )

 

[wdwnut61]

dupicate

 

[wdwnut61]

Love this! We really enjoy walking around Africa with the music and shops.

we went to Yak and Yeti.

We ate at Yak and Yeti this past March and loved it. This and the Nomad lounge are our favorites.

Yak Attack
Mango Daiquiri, Don Q Cristal Rum and Wildberry Flavors

We both got one of these beauties

YUM we also got theses delicious!

 

[wdwnut61]

Great picture

Aww love this !

I remember this so romantic

Great picture!

Il Mulino!

I think we need to add this to our November trip.

​

Yum loved these at Citricos

Kathy would love these also.

 

[kastoney]

Anyway, after this we got some PP pictures taken on Main St. and much to my surprise (probably not yours as I've posted this already) this happened:

How can you just leave us hanging like that? Did you say yes???? Did he finally make an honest woman out of you?

We ate lunch at CHH but I have no proof;

We started with some Artist's Palette breakfast of which I have no pictures

This is a dining report right?

They did say I look like a molester with my hands on their knees but at least I have photo evidence to remember them by when they leave the house and refuse to visit me.

I think you just look like you are forcibly restraining them to get them to take the pic in the first place

Amouse Bouche they give you ( Iove saying that)

Or you can be really classy and say it like Jason and I - Amousee Boujee - we're classy like that!

I don't eat this - EVER - but Chris ate every piece and had gotten it on our first family visit so I assume it's good! I know he doesn't like when it's soggy so I would say this wasn't soggy?

The things Chris will and will not eat never cease to amaze me.

Is that a beautiful plate of pasta or what? It tastes as perfect as it looks too! You can't see too many of the spicy cherry peppers but they're there and they're spicy! I don't really eat the mushrooms (hi Kari @kastoney look what I found!) but I do like the taste they bring to the sauce, just not their actual consistency.

I want no flavor I want no consistency I want no mushroom

Looks ike the chicken got so scared going into the fryer it may have

 

[suse66]

Like the apps this, according to them, was delicious with lots of cheesiness as well as great lobster flavor. Since Ricky didn't like his dinner this ended up pretty much being his dinner.

Toobad the entrees were so lame as the apps looked amazing! Hello bacon jam!

Sorry it's been awhile since I've updated! Things are pretty busy here, yesterday we visited another college for Ricky. This time Seton Hall in NJ and he liked it; now it's #2 out of 3 on his list. Tomorrow we're returning to his #1 choice Quinnipiac in CT. Steve couldn't get off work yesterday so my mom came with us which was really nice!

Is Ricky going into grade 12? We are going to start touring soon too with the twins. Although they are both thinking they might like to do a gap year so we will see what happens.

They did say I look like a molester with my hands on their knees but at least I have photo evidence to remember them by when they leave the house and refuse to visit me. We were eating again at what is my favorite Italian restaurant on property, Il Mulino!

I just about spit out my wine when I read this....too funny!

And here's the non picked at picture of the Amouse Bouche they give you ( Iove saying that) of a cold eggplant salad and some Italian MEATS:

That eggplant salad looks AMAZING!

Rigatoni with Wild Mushrooms, Spicy Cherry Peppers, Garlic and Truffle Oil

Would love that pasta too!

Flourless Chocolate Cake served with Whipped Cream and Zabaglione

So delicious!

That was our night! Dinner was 100% better than the previous night at Ale and Compass and it was a really nice, relaxed night walking around DS by ourselves. I was glad Ricky had felt better too and was hoping it continued into the next day when we ventured off property to play and eat over on the DARK SIDE..................

Glad you had a good evening!

 

[NJlauren]

Sorry it's been awhile since I've updated! Things are pretty busy here, yesterday we visited another college for Ricky. This time Seton Hall in NJ and he liked it; now it's #2 out of 3 on his list. Tomorrow we're returning to his #1 choice Quinnipiac in CT. Steve couldn't get off work yesterday so my mom came with us which was really nice!

Ah! I live like 15 minutes from seton hall! If you have any questions about the area. My cousins is at Quinnipiac and loving it! So there is that too .

I have never eaten at II Milano, but this looks pretty good! I don’t know I just avoid Italian in Disney... that’s probably a wrong move...

I also love the idea of Christmas tree trail, I haven’t done it but I love seeing the pictures (from other reports). Haha!

 

[kittylady1972]

I HIGHLY recommend this. Spent my 50th at the Magic Kingdom in 2017 and it was the best decision ever. I don't think I stopped smiling all day

I spent my 40th Birthday there...which was awesome (since MK turned 40 just a few months earlier) so I can only imagine how awesome 50 will be there!

 

[ariane37]

I just got home from moving Andi into her new “home” at college, she loves it where she is, I am so happy for her.

Aw so glad she's happy!

I would believe him because he knows shrimp!

lol that's true!

How far from home are the colleges Ricky is looking at?

Well so far we've looked at 3 and 2 are about 90 minutes away (NJ and CT) and one was just around 2.5 hours, on Long Island. There are 2 more he's interested in seeing so far and the farthest is 3 hours, and that's fine with me!

This lined killed me.

As always, I enjoy your reports.

I am to please and hope I can continue

I have to ask how does your family have enough room for apps, entrees and dessert at every meal everyday at WDW? It’s impressive! We love to eat but feel we must be doing it wrong as an app and one entree between my husband and I and we’re so full. Rookies.

This made me laugh but it's a fair question! Um, we like to eat? We aren't small folk? Seriously though we don't eat 3 full meals while there and none of us get dessert WITH each meal. Normally we aren't doing big breakfasts although occasionally some of us will have a breakfast platter but usually it's a pastry or something there. We also rarely do 2 TS meals in a day; I'm booking 2 a day for our NYE trip just to have seats and not wait in super long QS lines but otherwise just Steve and I sometimes on our adults only trips but again, no dessert at both.

The sharing thing doesn't work for us though lol! Mostly because we all want different things and also because we don't share well and the boys are teens so they eat like 10 times a day and definitely aren't satisfied with half a meal. Even still neither of them do desserts with all meals especially Ricky; we do snack in between because we like to eat! I read posts about families that share 2QS meals between 4 and say they barely finish them and feel like I need to diet asap but I think it's really just different for everyone!

Edit2: just occurred to me that DxDP comes with all of the above so maybe that’s how people can order so much!

We don't ever do the dining plan but Il Mulino doesn't take any dining plans anyway. If you usually do a dining plan don't let it stop you from trying Il Mulino!

I need to do this too. HMM...maybe this week...LOL!

OMG I need to see when you left/are leaving! You're probably there now, I have been so crazy busy!!!!

Funny, cause I always thought it had to be healthier than flour-y cake, so seconds (or thirds) are acceptable. Right??

Well let's just stay it IS healthier; so yes to 2nds and 3rds

Yay! I haven't done this in several years. I should add that to the August list since I actually plan on being in DS for once The one you made sounds right up my alley... no surprise there!

You should! It was more fun (and tastier) than I thought and we took the boys later in the week to do it

ust as I am thinking of a way to finally make it to Il Mulino on our next trip, you post your review. Now it must happen! I think if I just show Zack a photo of the chicken I will be golden

Oh PLEASE do, you won't regret it. And nice to see you

We are doing the Backstage Magic Tour, so I'm thinking after that would be a great time to get pretty and then go to dinner there.

I'm trying to figure out a tour for steve and I to do in Sept and though about Backstage Magic but I think it'll be too long for him So thinking about a tour in AK but that Backstage Magic sounds so cool!

 

[ariane37]

Great picture

Welcome back Tammy, I hope you guys had a wonderful time in Disney last month! When does Kathy leave for Bermuda? And about the picture!

How can you just leave us hanging like that? Did you say yes???? Did he finally make an honest woman out of you?

Nope we decided to keep living in sin, eatin' shrimp and drinkin' sangria like all the cool single people!

Or you can be really classy and say it like Jason and I - Amousee Boujee - we're classy like that!

Do they let people living in sin talk like that?

The things Chris will and will not eat never cease to amaze me.

I know he's so weird! But at least he'll try some things. He's been eating shrimp like a flamingo the last few days but he wouldn't eat chicken sausage tonight for dinner....................AND he didn't like the Iranian macaron, go figure???

Looks ike the chicken got so scared going into the fryer it may have

This emoji is certainly worth the DIS down time during the upgrade!

Is Ricky going into grade 12? We are going to start touring soon too with the twins. Although they are both thinking they might like to do a gap year so we will see what happens.

Yes he is! We've been to 3 colleges already and have at least 2 to visit over the summer. It's fun and sad at the same time and I have no desire for this next year to go quickly

That eggplant salad looks AMAZING!

It is to die for! We were recently in Little Italy in NYC for dinner and there was an eggplant salad with Steve's dish that looked just like the one at Il Mulino. It was super good but surprisingly not as good as this one. We aren't eating here in July but I may have to try for Sept

Ah! I live like 15 minutes from seton hall! If you have any questions about the area. My cousins is at Quinnipiac and loving it! So there is that too .

Ah what town are you in??? It's only about 90 minutes from us I went to college in Jersey - William Paterson when it was just a college and hadn't yet been given the distinction of University lol - so I'm kind of familiar with the area but not that much. Quinnipiac is his first choice right now with Seton Hall just behind it! We have another state school and Sacred Heart in CT to still look at.

I have never eaten at II Milano, but this looks pretty good! I don’t know I just avoid Italian in Disney... that’s probably a wrong move...

Oh you should try it. We are Italian, eat it a lot at home and in restaurants at home and while picky with what we like Italian-wise in WDW we LOVE Il Mulino and think it's by far the best Italian on property. I know I'll piss people off but it's way better than the in park Italian restaurants (although we love VN pizza) and we aren't fans of Trattoria. I will say we were extremely happy with our lunch at Maria & Enzo's earlier this year and plan to go back

 

[NJlauren]

Ah what town are you in??? It's only about 90 minutes from us I went to college in Jersey - William Paterson when it was just a college and hadn't yet been given the distinction of University lol - so I'm kind of familiar with the area but not that much. Quinnipiac is his first choice right now with Seton Hall just behind it! We have another state school and Sacred Heart in CT to still look at.

I am in West Orange, but my girls go to day care in South Orange where Seton Hall is! They are all good schools, Oh Sacred Heart is supposed to be beautiful! You sound like me, i went to Northeastern, and i say thank you to all the young kids who made my degree worth a lot more since i would never get in there now!

Oh you should try it. We are Italian, eat it a lot at home and in restaurants at home and while picky with what we like Italian-wise in WDW we LOVE Il Mulino and think it's by far the best Italian on property. I know I'll piss people off but it's way better than the in park Italian restaurants (although we love VN pizza) and we aren't fans of Trattoria. I will say we were extremely happy with our lunch at Maria & Enzo's earlier this year and plan to go back

I know, you are probably right but its so hard for me! Same with VN, the localish place here is owned by patina group so and we eat there pretty regularly so i haven't been able to bring myself to go to VN when i get the same thing at home (so if your son goes to Seton Hall you can go there and eat some of the same items only 15 minutes away, is this a selling point? )

I will probably add it to the list, but maybe a bit further down...

 

[FSU Girl]

So cute!

For some reason it won't let me quote any more of the post. But that Caesar salad looks delicious. So does the mushroom pasta dish, I would totally order that. I've become a bit obsessed with mushrooms lately.

 

[dnllmz]

I'm all caught up on this report. Need to head over to the epic girls trip one after this.

They did say I look like a molester with my hands on their knees

I nearly spit out my salad when I read this.

Your meal at Il Miluno looked great. My sister had her wedding reception dinner there. It was 7 years ago but I remember everything was delicious. I'm putting this on the list of possibilities for August. Right now I have a Cape May dinner booked and we've done that before. This would be almost new to us since it's been so long. But Cape May does have those hot, wet towels.

Rigatoni con Funghi
Rigatoni with Wild Mushrooms, Spicy Cherry Peppers, Garlic and Truffle Oil

That looks so good. I would love that. Definitely what I would order.

Pollo Parmigiana
Pounded, Breaded Chicken Breast served with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Italian Cheese

And this is what dh would get. That's his go-to at every Italian restaurant we go to.

They were now making specialty cotton candy there so we texted him and asked him what flavor he wanted and he picked fruit punch which he enjoyed.

I didn't know they had different flavors at Goofy's. My kids would love that. I wonder if it's a snack credit. Right now we don't have any DS time in our plans but we always go at least once. I've been in Goofy's but I don't think I purchased anything.

 

[ariane37]

Sorry guys I prematurely posted and it won't let me just delete without writing something lol! Update coming soon!

 

[ariane37]

28 days and counting till our July trip! I finally got a July 3rd Narcoossee's dinner last night so we'll be able to watch the MK holiday fireworks from there on the 3rd in case anyone decides it's too crowded to hang late enough in the MK on the 4th. I did book more dining for this trip than I usually do since the boys are with us so the plan looks something like this, however if you've read a few of my dining reports or TR's you know our plans do often tend to change by the day!
-Narcoossee's
-Skipper Canteen
-House of Blues
-Nomad Lounge
-probably the Wave breakfast
-thinking about going back to Tutto Gusto

Can I just say these new colors suck? Anyway other than Narcoossee's and definitely Nomads nothing is set in stone but I know the boys would enjoy Tutto Gusto and since we're at the Contemporary and I know we'll sleep in a couple mornings doing the Wave breakfast makes sense. And Steve and I loved HOB the one time we went and I know they'd like that too!

Back to Thanksgiving! After a great night at Il Mulino and the Christmas Tree Trail we were leaving the bubble for a day at Universal. Sshhhh! This was for Ricky as kind of a "since you can't play basketball for another year due to your injury what do you want to do while we're away" thing. He woke up feeling better than arrival day but not quite as good as the day before and since we wanted to get there early we all skipped breakfast until we got to Lard Laird. While those 3 rode Chris's #1 park pick (that nasty Simpson's ride) I purchased this:



This is as delicious as it looks unless you think it looks gross; then it's better than it looks. I ate about half and the boys split the rest because Steve decided he didn't want his diabetes to take him down just yet.

We had a pretty cool time all day until lunch which I can't post pics of because it was at a QS area that I wouldn't send my worst enemy to; chalk it up to one of those instances where one person says "if we go a little further there's a decent place to eat" but someone or other in the group refuses so you stop at the place in front of you and eat crap. Suffice it to say we had a little period of unrest but all was resolved by the time we sat to wait for the holiday parade which I have to say is really amazing! As a fairly non-Uni fan this parade is worth visiting the park during the holidays for; it's longer than any Disney parade and the Macy's balloons alone are super cool:








Damnit all! Stupid sideways pictures. I will say I noticed such a huge difference in the way Uni does parades. They were letting guests walk right across the road until like 10 seconds before the parade approached and then in between while the parade was going on, like if there was space between floats. Also those balloons are really hard to control; and since we were up front we were super close to the people holding the wires and each balloon had like one person in charge. That person was often YELLING at the other people controlling the wires in a very un-Disney way lol. Just interesting and surprising.
While waiting for the parade to start we made a dinner reservation on CityWalk at like the one restaurant I've enjoyed on my work visits to Universal:




It was packed and we still waited about 15 past our time but we enjoyed the band playing onstage while waiting And I enjoyed showing them all the creepy dolls on the wall by the bathrooms:



I'd eaten here on my Universal FAM (Familiarization) trip in 2018 and liked it and since everyone likes Mexican I was happy to eat here again.

I had yet to indulge in an adult beverage today and at 7pm, I was feeling it. So while Steve was boring and got water I got what you get when you're at a Mexican restaurant:
Fresh Margarita
Handcrafted, Made with Corazon Blue Agave Tequila; Frozen or on the Rocks, Your Choice of Blackberry, Mango, or Strawbery

I chose Blackberry and I chose wisely



I'd had the strawberry on my first visit and it's what really stuck out here so I knew I wouldn't be disappointed. We also were started with the traditional chips and salsa:




Nice n chunky! And luck for me NOT full of cilantro because as I've probably mentioned in another dining report I'm one of those poor unfortunatel souls who tastes Dawn dish washing detergent whenever cilantro crosses my lips. We all devoured these while waiting for our food.

The aforementioned band played for quite some time with short breaks in between and while it was loud it was quite pleasurable It was also super crowded being a few days before Thanksgiving so note to you all, Uni DOES see an uptick in crowds that week.

Chris and I each got the same thing:
Chimichanga - $15.95
Adobo chicken, mojo onions, queso fresco, cheese, salsa verde, guacamole, salsa ranchera, black beans, house rice




Chris had never had a chimichanga before and I was skeptical he'd like the salsa verde but he did. You can't tell from the picture and I know it looks like a dried, shriveled up something, but when you cut into this it was HUGE and stuffed to the gills. All the sauces and ingredients had so much flavor! Neither of us could actually finish it.

Steve and Ricky also got the same taco entree making this update super easy for me:
Pollo - $14.95
Chicken tinga, pico de gallo, poblano peppers, salsa verde




Also both enjoyed these although Steve said without putting the salsa verde on them they were a little dry.

That's 2 good dinners in a row after a crappy one at Ale and Compass minus some less than flavorful shrimp at Il Mulino, we were on a roll! We skipped dessert here as nothing was calling out to us except for some macaroons at Toothsome so we hiked it over there. Toothsome was also a first for the guys while I'd been there on both my FAM"s and spent about a regular grocery trip worth of $$ each time on said macaroons. I'm at my picture limit or I'd post that picture and a pic of what Chris got from Toothsome to try so I'll just add those when I update again. Thanks for reading through my brief WDW/short on food pics/Uni update! I've eaten at only a couple other CityWalk restaurants and wasn't particularly thrilled with them but I'd return again to Antojitos.

Oh here's another little sidenote: next Universal work trip was announced and it is Dec. 1-4 and I really would like to go because as much as I prefer Disney, Universal is neat at the holidays. However the 1st is the Sunday after Thanksgiving and airfare is CRAZY and we do have to pay for that, so for now looks like I'll be sitting this one out I guess with 3 trips to Disney already under my belt this year and another 4 scheduled I really shouldn't complain, right?

 

[ariane37]

Same with VN, the localish place here is owned by patina group so and we eat there pretty regularly so i haven't been able to bring myself to go to VN when i get the same thing at home (so if your son goes to Seton Hall you can go there and eat some of the same items only 15 minutes away, is this a selling point? )

That's it he has no say, he's going to Seton Hall for the nearby pizza love the new emoji's SO MUCH lol!

But that Caesar salad looks delicious. So does the mushroom pasta dish, I would totally order that. I've become a bit obsessed with mushrooms lately.

Funny I do not actually eat mushrooms, it's a texture thing. And I never would even eat anything that tasted like mushrooms until a couple years ago at Disney and it all started with the mushroom soup at AP! I'd heard so much about it I knew I needed to try it even if I hated it; it's been a love affair ever since. Same with the avocado margarita, I thought it sounded nasty but it's delicious!

I nearly spit out my salad when I read this.

Then I achieved my goal lol

My sister had her wedding reception dinner there. It was 7 years ago but I remember everything was delicious. I'm putting this on the list of possibilities for August.

Ooh what a pretty restaurant for a wedding Definitely try fitting it in!

Right now I have a Cape May dinner booked and we've done that before. This would be almost new to us since it's been so long. But Cape May does have those hot, wet towels.

which is why Chris has requested Cape May dinner for our Dec. trip!

And this is what dh would get. That's his go-to at every Italian restaurant we go to.

Steve had a very tasty chicken parm at Maria & Enzjo's in DS back in January and it was also huge. He enjoyed it except he would have liked it to have been pounded a bit thinner. But yes it's basically Ricky's go-to Italian dish also.

I didn't know they had different flavors at Goofy's. My kids would love that.

I think they'd just begun offering it! And it was a fairly big set-up towards the back so unless it didn't sell well I can't see them ripping it out, hopefully they're still selling it during your trip!