Toonses
A little nonsense now and then...
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2019
We ate here on 11/20 with a 4:20 reservation for Dinner.
I actually really loved this place, and while I'll admit that's at least partly due to the atmosphere, all our food was also really good. We all had the French Onion Soup which was totally awesome. The broth they're making for that soup is very rich and flavorful, and while for eating on a regular basis I think I'd prefer the broth a little thinner (it would probably be too rich if I ate it frequently), for a treat it's absolutely lovely. Note that I've not only eaten French Onion Soup in good French restaurants, I also make it myself fairly regularly. Also, I have to give props to the cheese blend they're using. They're not stingy with it at all, and the flavor contrasts/compliments the soup perfectly. Heck, it's a bunch of cheesy melty goodness on top, how can you go wrong? lol One other detail here - apparently it's not listed on the dinner menu for some reason, but it is still available, at least as of 11/20. I really hope they're not planning to remove this dish. First of all, it's pretty easy to have this pre-prepared and ready to go, which should make it easier on the kitchen, not to mention it's difficult to screw it up as long as the initial broth is good. Second of all, it's amazing!
For entrees we all had the Filet Mignon, except for my aunt who had the pork. Now she did enjoy her pork, but I was unclear as to how much. My sense was that she thought it was good and enjoyed it, but didn't necessarily think it was the best she'd ever had. The Filet, however, was incredibly good - well seasoned and expertly cooked. Now I need to mention both my mother and myself order our beef cooked to medium well. Yes, I know steak lovers everywhere are horrified. lol Anyway, what this means is that we've had a lot of dry/tough steaks, even from high end steak houses. I could go on a rant here, about that, but I won't.
Anyway, not only was the Filet cooked exactly right to med well (which I was worried about considering how thick this steak is) but it was beautifully tender and juicy, and sooo delicious. The seasoning was spot on, and it's one of the best steaks I think I've had in a long time. I don't know who was cooking it that night, but they clearly know what they're doing where steak is concerned.
Finally on to the dessert - now the server slipped up a bit here, because he never asked whether we wanted the trio or the cake thing. However, based on subtle cues from him, I rather suspected the cake wasn't that great, and given that my mother owned a bakery in her younger days before we moved to a different state and we have high standards where baked goods/desserts are concerned, this may have been a good thing.
Anyway, the trio is a chocolate truffle, the white choc 'Chip' with 'grey stuff', and an open faced macaron. First, let me solve the mystery of the 'grey stuff' right now - it's whipped cream. lol Actually I should say it's fresh whipped cream - as in they actually whipped up heavy cream into whipped cream and added the color. This is a good thing as it tastes way better, and honestly, it's not hard to do. I just made it, in fact, for the frosting/filling on my mother's bday cake which was a flourless almond roll - excellent recipe here: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/almond-roll-recipe
Moving on, we're not really fans of white chocolate, so we didn't try Chip, but I did eat all the whipped cream, which is atypical for me. Note that the spoon doesn't fit into the bottom of Chip, so if you want to get that last bit of whipped cream out, you either need to crack him, or do what I did and use the straw to lever the last chunk out. lol
The chocolate truffle is also very good, though nothing unusual. It's a very nice, smooth and creamy chocolate ganache filling with a nice chocolate exterior. This may have been my favorite of the three, though I wouldn't say it was the best truffle I'd ever had. There's a high tea we do in my area that has a salted caramel chocolate truffle that I think might be the best. lol
Finally the open faced macaroon. It's literally a macaron with the 'lid' still off and then they've added some raspberries on top of the filling. I'm a little divided about this one, because the macaron itself is actually quite good. However the way it's assembled is just not working quite right. It should work, but it's just a little off. I think the problem is that berries being inside the macaron end up overwhelming the delicacy it would otherwise have, which is one of the hallmarks of a macaron. I think it would actually be great if they just stuck with a traditional macaron and then had the berries on the side since they are a very lovely and fresh accompaniment to an otherwise perfect macaron. So in short, the macaron is delicious, but the berries interfere in the texture of it when put inside rather than as a side.
As for the edible paper - it's beautiful and I LOVE the visual presentation, but I don't recommend eating it. lol
Now to comment on the service - it was extremely efficient and very fast, which I'm sure is due to the high demand on this restaurant. If you like to linger in a restaurant for a long period of time, this may not appeal to you, and it's possible you might feel rushed. We prefer to complete our meal in about an hour, so had no problem, and loved that they were totally on top of refilling our drink glasses. I tend to drink a lot of water at meals, so I notice if a waitstaff is attentive to refilling the glasses. I don't think a single drink glass ever went empty on our table before water was being filled and the person in question was being asked if they would like another glass of whatever. In a sense it was almost like being in the movie with empty plates being whisked away and food coming out again very fast. lol Nothing but praise for all the servers here.
Finally the atmosphere. It's incredible. Truly like stepping into the ballroom from the movie, and the snowing windows are incredible. We were lucky enough to sit next to the Christmas tree right against the windows, and just wow! Beauty and the Beast is my favorite - both as a Disney movie, and in the original fairy tale (and I did read the entire anthology of both Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson as a kid), and this place does it justice. So many perfect details! We also checked out the West Wing and the Rose Room, and while both are very cool, the Ballroom's my fav. Also, a side comment on the West Wing, I noticed a lot of reviews (almost none of which are recent), spoke of the West Wing as being too dark, but I think Disney may have addressed that. Yes that room is darker than the other two, but it looks like there's recessed lights positioned over all the tables, and the tables themselves all looked like they had enough light to see what you were eating.
The nitty gritty - would I eat here again? In a heartbeat. This was definitely a top meal for me during this trip, and checked all the boxes. Would I eat here again without this being the beast's castle atmosphere? Still a yes, though I probably wouldn't work as hard to get a reservation. In other words, without the atmosphere, it would become a 'nice to do' restaurant, as opposed to a 'must do' restaurant for me.
That wraps up the review - hope that helps anyone else looking at Dinner here!
I actually really loved this place, and while I'll admit that's at least partly due to the atmosphere, all our food was also really good. We all had the French Onion Soup which was totally awesome. The broth they're making for that soup is very rich and flavorful, and while for eating on a regular basis I think I'd prefer the broth a little thinner (it would probably be too rich if I ate it frequently), for a treat it's absolutely lovely. Note that I've not only eaten French Onion Soup in good French restaurants, I also make it myself fairly regularly. Also, I have to give props to the cheese blend they're using. They're not stingy with it at all, and the flavor contrasts/compliments the soup perfectly. Heck, it's a bunch of cheesy melty goodness on top, how can you go wrong? lol One other detail here - apparently it's not listed on the dinner menu for some reason, but it is still available, at least as of 11/20. I really hope they're not planning to remove this dish. First of all, it's pretty easy to have this pre-prepared and ready to go, which should make it easier on the kitchen, not to mention it's difficult to screw it up as long as the initial broth is good. Second of all, it's amazing!
For entrees we all had the Filet Mignon, except for my aunt who had the pork. Now she did enjoy her pork, but I was unclear as to how much. My sense was that she thought it was good and enjoyed it, but didn't necessarily think it was the best she'd ever had. The Filet, however, was incredibly good - well seasoned and expertly cooked. Now I need to mention both my mother and myself order our beef cooked to medium well. Yes, I know steak lovers everywhere are horrified. lol Anyway, what this means is that we've had a lot of dry/tough steaks, even from high end steak houses. I could go on a rant here, about that, but I won't.
Anyway, not only was the Filet cooked exactly right to med well (which I was worried about considering how thick this steak is) but it was beautifully tender and juicy, and sooo delicious. The seasoning was spot on, and it's one of the best steaks I think I've had in a long time. I don't know who was cooking it that night, but they clearly know what they're doing where steak is concerned.
Finally on to the dessert - now the server slipped up a bit here, because he never asked whether we wanted the trio or the cake thing. However, based on subtle cues from him, I rather suspected the cake wasn't that great, and given that my mother owned a bakery in her younger days before we moved to a different state and we have high standards where baked goods/desserts are concerned, this may have been a good thing.
Anyway, the trio is a chocolate truffle, the white choc 'Chip' with 'grey stuff', and an open faced macaron. First, let me solve the mystery of the 'grey stuff' right now - it's whipped cream. lol Actually I should say it's fresh whipped cream - as in they actually whipped up heavy cream into whipped cream and added the color. This is a good thing as it tastes way better, and honestly, it's not hard to do. I just made it, in fact, for the frosting/filling on my mother's bday cake which was a flourless almond roll - excellent recipe here: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/almond-roll-recipe
Moving on, we're not really fans of white chocolate, so we didn't try Chip, but I did eat all the whipped cream, which is atypical for me. Note that the spoon doesn't fit into the bottom of Chip, so if you want to get that last bit of whipped cream out, you either need to crack him, or do what I did and use the straw to lever the last chunk out. lol
The chocolate truffle is also very good, though nothing unusual. It's a very nice, smooth and creamy chocolate ganache filling with a nice chocolate exterior. This may have been my favorite of the three, though I wouldn't say it was the best truffle I'd ever had. There's a high tea we do in my area that has a salted caramel chocolate truffle that I think might be the best. lol
Finally the open faced macaroon. It's literally a macaron with the 'lid' still off and then they've added some raspberries on top of the filling. I'm a little divided about this one, because the macaron itself is actually quite good. However the way it's assembled is just not working quite right. It should work, but it's just a little off. I think the problem is that berries being inside the macaron end up overwhelming the delicacy it would otherwise have, which is one of the hallmarks of a macaron. I think it would actually be great if they just stuck with a traditional macaron and then had the berries on the side since they are a very lovely and fresh accompaniment to an otherwise perfect macaron. So in short, the macaron is delicious, but the berries interfere in the texture of it when put inside rather than as a side.
As for the edible paper - it's beautiful and I LOVE the visual presentation, but I don't recommend eating it. lol
Now to comment on the service - it was extremely efficient and very fast, which I'm sure is due to the high demand on this restaurant. If you like to linger in a restaurant for a long period of time, this may not appeal to you, and it's possible you might feel rushed. We prefer to complete our meal in about an hour, so had no problem, and loved that they were totally on top of refilling our drink glasses. I tend to drink a lot of water at meals, so I notice if a waitstaff is attentive to refilling the glasses. I don't think a single drink glass ever went empty on our table before water was being filled and the person in question was being asked if they would like another glass of whatever. In a sense it was almost like being in the movie with empty plates being whisked away and food coming out again very fast. lol Nothing but praise for all the servers here.
Finally the atmosphere. It's incredible. Truly like stepping into the ballroom from the movie, and the snowing windows are incredible. We were lucky enough to sit next to the Christmas tree right against the windows, and just wow! Beauty and the Beast is my favorite - both as a Disney movie, and in the original fairy tale (and I did read the entire anthology of both Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson as a kid), and this place does it justice. So many perfect details! We also checked out the West Wing and the Rose Room, and while both are very cool, the Ballroom's my fav. Also, a side comment on the West Wing, I noticed a lot of reviews (almost none of which are recent), spoke of the West Wing as being too dark, but I think Disney may have addressed that. Yes that room is darker than the other two, but it looks like there's recessed lights positioned over all the tables, and the tables themselves all looked like they had enough light to see what you were eating.
The nitty gritty - would I eat here again? In a heartbeat. This was definitely a top meal for me during this trip, and checked all the boxes. Would I eat here again without this being the beast's castle atmosphere? Still a yes, though I probably wouldn't work as hard to get a reservation. In other words, without the atmosphere, it would become a 'nice to do' restaurant, as opposed to a 'must do' restaurant for me.
That wraps up the review - hope that helps anyone else looking at Dinner here!
