And here comes California Grill!
We had a 5:55pm ADR for California Grill. We arrived 15 minutes early, and I dont know why, but I was not aware that you check in downstairs and they escort you up to Cali Grill. So we just took the elevator up to the 15th floor. When we got out, the hostess asked if we checked in downstairs, and I told her no, but she said it was no big deal and she could just check us in right there. She was very nice, and she brought us to the lounge area to wait for our table. We only waited maybe 5 minutes, while I was looking at the drink menu. I decided I had to get a glass of some kind of white wine from California of course!
We sat down and our server Beckey greeted us. She asked if we knew what we wanted to drink yet but we were still looking. Eric wanted a beer so he looked at that list, while I was browsing the wine list. Ahh, too many choices! Beckey returned after a couple of minutes and Eric ordered his beer (a Belgian variety, cant remember the name). I told her I wanted to try a white wine, and I normally love Riesling. She said the Riesling was a dry version, not a sweet one. So I took a chance and ordered Conundrum. She said she thought I would like that, it was not dry but not overly sweet, and a light crisp taste. That sounded great to me! She also pointed out the view of the castle, and the view of Epcot from the other side of the restaurant. She explained that we could come back later that night to watch Wishes from the observation deck, and all we would have to do is show our dining receipt. We didnt end up doing that, but good to know for future reference, I thought to myself.
We had a table in the middle of the restaurant. When I first made the ADR I thought to myself that it would be cool to have a window table with a nice view of the castle, but I thought this was even better because if I turned one way, I could see the castle. If I turned the other way, I could see Epcot. The best of both worlds! The boys opted to sit where they could see the castle the whole time. Cali Grill also has an open kitchen, and this was our view of it:
Beckey soon returned with our drinks, some bread and butter with sea salt, and she had asked me if the boys could have some Goldfish crackers, so she brought them some of those. I was very happy with my wine choice. The Conundrum was just as Beckey had described, light and crisp and not too dry. An excellent choice! And Eric liked his beer so much that he ended up ordering a second one later in the meal!
We were ready to order our dinner. Eric didnt want to order an appetizer for himself because he wanted to be able to eat all his dinner. I felt I had to try an appetizer, but there were so many wonderful looking choices. I opted for the onion tart, which was outstanding! It was topped with tempura onion rings, and the tart itself was creamy and just full of flavor. I swear, I would walk back to WDW for one of those right now!
I made Eric try some (oh yeah, I really had to twist his arm!), and he said it was excellent too. Heres a pic:
The boys did not want the salad appetizer from the kids menu, so they just ordered entrees. Philip ordered the whole wheat pizza made with provolone cheese. I wasnt sure if he would like provolone but he said the pizza was delicious and he ate it all up!
Jonathan opted for macaroni and cheese. They brought him a very large bowl of it and he ate the whole thing, and he kept saying how much he loved it!
I had trouble choosing exactly which entrée to get. I came close to getting some sushi, but then I decided I wanted to eat a meat entrée. I ordered the pork tenderloin, a signature dish of theirs, which is served over goat cheese polenta and comes with mushrooms. The pork was wonderful, tender, and very flavorful. The mushrooms were excellent. While I liked the polenta, I thought it had too much salt in it. I think it would have been better without so much salt, but it was not bad. The combinations of flavors and textures was very good, just as it was with the onion tart. Heres a pic of my entrée:
Eric ordered the veal t-bone. He loved this! He said it was very delicious and really tender.
We were so stuffed, definitely couldnt even think about ordering dessert. We decided we would go to the Contempo Café and get some cupcakes to bring back to the villa. Sure, by then we will be ready for something sweet for sure! Eric got a strawberry lemonade cupcake and I got worms in dirt (chocolate cake, chocolate ganache, a couple of gummy worms sticking out of the top, and chocolate crumbs on top). Philip wanted to just share our desserts with us (we offered). Jonathan asked if we could get him a chocolate peanut butter cupcake, so we did. Here are pics of all 3:
The worms in dirt was amazing! It was very chocolatey and believe it or not, it was not too sweet! The cake was moist and fresh too. Eric and Philip enjoyed the strawberry lemonade cupcake (Eric ate most of it). And Philip had some of mine and really liked it.
Our meal at California Grill cost $155.84, including tax and tip, after the TiW discount. We saved $23 on food and $7.20 on drinks with the TiW card. This meal was worth every penny. However, Eric said its not a place he feels we must go back to on our next trip, like he felt about Yachtsman Steakhouse. I could go back next time, or try a different signature, like Flying Fish or Artist Point or Jiko. Im up for anything! But it would be nice to go back to Cali Grill and just get appetizers and sushi. We saw some of the sushi there that other people around us were ordering and it looked amazing. HUGE portions too, definitely enough for me for a meal along with an appy!!
Unfortunately, when we got back to the villa and started eating our desserts, Jonathan didnt want his cupcake (not like him at all). It turned out that he was sick and threw up 3 times.
My poor baby. I posted the story on my TR for that day. I dont think this was anything from Cali Grill though, I just think he was either sick with a virus or he had too much that day with the heat at MK and everything (even though he drank tons of water). He was fine the next day and none of us got sick, thank goodness! I stopped eating my dessert once he was sick, and I never finished it. Eric ended up finishing it a couple of days later and he liked it. The next day, he ate the cupcake Jonathan never ate and said it was delicious.
Next up: Chefs de France lunch and a little visitor. Stay tuned
) of the mac and cheese at Cali Grill, I am wondering if it just disagreed with him. He was really sick, throwing up on the way home from FLorida too (one week after we ate at Cali Grill though) and we cut our drive home short by one day. I took him to the doctor and he said it had been a virus, and the night he threw up after Cali Grill, something he had eaten probably disagreed with him. Now I am wondering if it was that, because he was fine after he got rid of whatever it was, slept through the night, and was fine the following day. 
I will also keep the Conundrum in mind because I like the same type of wine that you do. 
I waited and waited for the symptoms to come and while I did have some, it was NOTHING compared to normal. So slight that I couldn't believe it. Soft cheeses like cottage cheese & ricotta are horrible for me too and it completely kept those symptoms at bay. I'm amazed - how did I not know about these? Thank you thank you thank you!
Jonathan was feeling fine, which was also terrific!
