Cherine "elite times FOUR!" A.'s Profile

My friends and I made reservations here for the character dinner, featuring Cinderella, Prince Charming, and the stepmother and stepsisters. The place itself is quaint (after all, it's in the Grand Floridian), and it was great meeting and taking pictures with all of the characters (especially the stepsisters... they were hilarious).

The food itself is forgettable. It's just not worth the $39 each we paid, especially when you consider there wasn't a huge selection. The dessert section was the best part - lots of mini tarts to choose from, cookies, rice krispie treats and bread pudding. The chocolate chip cookie was pretty good, but the rice krispie treats were stale. The one thing I really enjoyed was the bread pudding - it was so good I went back for seconds. It had a delicious vanilla sauce to pour on top of it, and it redeemed the rest of my meal. Without that, I would've left here a bit hungry.

I will say the waitress we had was very friendly and quick to refill our drinks. Glad I got to have a fun night out with my friends and take pictures with the characters, but I wouldn't come back here.

On our visit to MGM (okay okay, Hollywood Studios... old habits die hard), we wanted to eat something a bit better than the usual quick service food stops. We chose Mama Melrose, which is right next door to Pizza Planet. In hindsight, we would have had a better meal there instead. Our meal and service were terrible.

My friend has food allergies (specifically citric acid), so she requested the margherita pizza to have a light amount of sauce. Another friend and I also ordered a pizza to share. When both were brought out, the one marked with the little "allergy" toothpick was the wrong pizza. I know mistakes can be made, but don't mess around with food allergies, people... especially since I could tell just by looking at them that our pizza had very little sauce on it while hers had more. When we actually ate our food, it was pretty bad. The crust was great, but the rest was bland and flavorless, and the cheese was barely (if at all) melted. The cheese in the center was a solid, cold mass.

When it came time to pay, my friend had purchased the Tables of Wonderland discount (you pay $75 and it's good for 20% off all food and alcohol in the parks for a year... considering how often she goes, it's worth it for her). She showed the waiter, who apparently was beyond confused. He made paying for our meal an absolute chore, and in the end put all of the tax and gratuity (which, by the way, was automatically added at 18%) on one person's bill. We've all split our bills among various credit cards before with no problem, but good heavens, this was a mess.

In the end we left here a bit hungry. We walked by various food places afterward and all commented on how we would've been happier eating elsewhere. Lesson learned.

My co-worker and I were walking en route to another place for lunch, when he suggested we stop here instead. I'm all about trying new places, so I agreed. We were seated immediately and thankfully the lunch menu prices were quite reasonable. I love pizza (probably more than most people), but I decided to be a little different and try the calzone, while my co-worker ordered the pizza.

I read another review that said the calzone looked like something out of the Flinstones. I had to laugh when I read that, because it's an accurate portrayal - that this is huge (that's what she said). The crust is quite thin, just like their pizzas, and it was just absolutely delicious. I ate half and took the rest to go... and ate the rest of it for lunch the next day. I didn't expect it to reheat too well but I was surprised at how delicious it was even the next day. I reheated it first in the microwave, then finished it off in the toaster oven, and it was quite good.

If their pizzas are half as good as they looked, I will definitely be back to try that the next time. Glad it's so close to work!

I refuse to eat at a fast food place like McDonald's or Burger King, but I have no qualms about trying a place like this. I can appreciate a burger if it's done well and isn't frozen mystery meat.

As others have noted, this place is new, so we all decided to order different sides with our burgers so we could taste all of the options. My friends got the sweet potato fries and the Smash fries (which have rosemary and garlic on them), while I opted for the haystack onions to go with my burger. I'm not a huge fan of sweet potatoes in general, so I wasn't crazy about those fries. My haystack onions were good initially (I did not have the same problem as Paul M., where he said they were soggy - mine were very crispy and not oily at all). Only problem with those is that they were extremely salty. The batter they use (which is also used on the fried pickles, which my friend ordered) is the issue there - you can't eat too much of them because it's just a TON of salt.

As for my burger, I kept it simple and ordered a regular size burger with sharp cheddar... if you like your burgers cooked a certain way though, make sure to specify! I had to specifically ask for mine to be well-done. I thought it was a great burger... not quite as good as Five Guys (I do love me some Five Guys), but it's up there. I don't get why this place doesn't have better reviews, because I enjoyed my meal.

I've only had bubble tea once before, so when I saw this truck I knew I had to try it again. My friend and I read the menu and wondered if we could get them to make a hybrid strawberry pineapple smoothie (with the traditional tapioca bobas). They had no problem doing that for us, and the result was absolutely delicious. Only recommendation I'd make is to have this as dessert. It was sweet enough that it felt weird to drink this before eating our main meals.

At the Young Circle food truck round up this evening, I made a point to order my main meal from the Slow Food Truck, after reading all the rave reviews about the short rib sandwich. I was a bit let down from it, sadly. The first bite was delicious, but I couldn't eat much more than that because it was so salty. Two of my friends tried it as well and they agreed with me. It's not that it was bad - the meat was tender, and I love shallots, but it was just too salty to be able to finish it. I don't know if that's normal, or maybe I shouldn't have had a bubble tea beforehand? I can't give them a terrible review though, so I'll stick with three stars. Still, I wouldn't order it again. I paid $9 for a sandwich where half of it ended up being thrown away.

My friends and I hit up the Young Circle food truck round up this evening, and this place surprised me. I didn't even order from here, but my friends ordered the king roll (guava barbecue pulled pork, cheese and carmelized onions in an egg roll) and were kind enough to let me try it. The flavor was amazing.

I'm usually not a fan of pork (hence not ordering for myself from here), but these guys really know what they're doing. I ended up regretting not getting the same thing. Next time I'm definitely ordering it, because we all agreed it was the best thing we tried at this event.

These guys really mean business when it comes to making everything with some sort of pig product. They even have chocolate covered bacon and bacon cupcakes. I may be trying to be more adventurous when it comes to trying food, but I haven't reached that point yet ;)

I had heard so many things about La Bamba's over the years... I moved quite close to this one, and finally figured I should give it a try. I really was hoping it would live up to the hype.

First of all, expect a wait. When we walked up, there were a ton of people waiting outside, so when I put my name in, I was surprised when they said it was only about a 10 minute wait. Turns out this place is gigantic... that, and Bryan O. is right - they turn the tables over efficiently. Our server was nice but aloof, and they all seemed to have this all down to a science.

The food itself is pretty tasty. The chips and salsa were good, and when they saw that we had mixed the mild and hot together, they brought us some more. Our waiter was also very quick to refill our drinks. I ordered two crunchy ground beef tacos (from the a la carte menu, since I don't really like rice and beans), and they weren't the store-bought taco shells, so it was more authentic-tasting. I will warn you about the margaritas, however. Mine was so strong that it was actually painful to drink. I couldn't do it. I don't drink alcoholic beverages to get drunk, I do it because I like the flavor. This one had no flavor other than fire going down your throat. I left the drink practically untouched.

I couldn't help but compare this place to Cielito Lindo (my favorite Mexican restaurant, in Pompano), and I like their food better. The quality at both places is good, but Cielito Lindo's beef has better tacos (the beef is seasoned more, and the shells are crunchier). Still, this place comes second, and I absolutely will come back here. It's so ridiculously close to me, how could I not?

I've been in the area a few times (I'm a Bed Bath and Beyond addict, it's sad), but I didn't even know this place was here until a friend suggested meeting here the other day. I was hoping it would be great, since it had some very positive reviews.

She and I kept it simple and ordered a half order of the garlic rolls, and we each had a slice of pizza. The garlic rolls were decent, and the slice of pizza was generously sized, but it just didn't have a great flavor. It was just okay. I suppose I'd come back if I had to, but I wouldn't seek it out.

I don't know why people like this place so much. I've yet to experience a good meal here. This place makes very good alcoholic beverages and desserts (hence the one extra star), but that's it. The food itself is overpriced and unimpressive. Each time I've visited, I've tried something different on the menu because I figure I'll eventually find something I like. Still haven't. And to add insult to injury, parking here is ridiculous, so I overall dread coming here.

I will say the sourdough bread they bring is fabulous, so I figure it's best to just fill up on that and bring on the dessert menu. The cookies are delicious, as are the beignets. Like everything else here, you get way too much of them, so at least you'll have leftover dessert.