Fry Flights, Pizza Skulls, & More!-A Disney/Universal DTR-Completed 11/5

[Raeven]

Starbucks/The Kitchen/Voodoo Doughnuts

We slept in this day, and I wasn't super hungry so I just grabbed some Starbucks for lunch from the lobby.



I had my usual bacon, gouda, and egg breakfast sandwich, and decided to try the Pineapple Refresher. I didn't really like the pineapple one, despite liking pineapple I think the flavor was just a little off. I also added on the unicorn cake pop. I feel like most of their cake pops taste similar, but are always so good.

For dinner we decided to head over to The Kitchen.

I got the:

TIERRA MADRE BURRATA CAPRESE SALAD
Tierra Madre local burrat heirloom tomatoes, basil infused oil, shallots.



This was really good. The burrata was the creamiest I've ever had. I think it needed a little more bread, so I borrowed some of Josh's, but I liked the crisp bread it came with even more.

Josh got the:

HEARTH BAKED FOCACCIA BREAD
Bella di Cerignola olives, roasted red pepper, extra virgin olive oil.



He enjoyed the flavor of this and the dipping oil. I kind of wish they'd still bring bread by without it being an extra charge but the bread was very nice and soft.

For entrees we got:
​

Steaks​

Herbed duck fat fingerling potatoes, broccolini, red wine jus, carrot reduction​

Josh got the 12 oz strip and I got the 7 oz filet with Bernaise sauce and truffle mac on the side. The steaks were cooked the way we wanted and were pretty good, but not the best. Mine had a bit more of a charred taste than I would like and was dry near the edges. And the Bernaise was a little sweeter than ones I've had before which I think threw off the taste a bit. The truffle mac was good (it was their regular mac and cheese with some truffle topping), but I think it needed a little more truffle flavor especially near the bottom. But it was still delicious and creamy.

Recently The Kitchen underwent a refurbishment, and while it looks good I do miss the old theming. They've changed the menu since the last time we went, and it has some pricier items on it now. I think for the price of the steaks we could've gone to a steak house and got slightly better cuts/better cooked steaks. But it was also a good meal, and we got to wear our casual clothes for HHN there. It was overall a nice experience, we had a good waitress, and it was a nice place to wait out the rain.

And finally we grabbed some Voodoo Doughnuts on our way out of HHN that night. It had been really rainy, and we didn't stop for any snacks like we'd planned. I ended up eating one that night and the other the next day.

Josh got the Raspberry and Diablo Chocolate. He said he liked the flavor in the Raspberry one a lot more. I got the HHN special which was a Caramel Apple. The design is cute on this one, but I didn't care for the flavor. It was large and fluffy, but the filling was so far inside you had to eat half the donut to even get to any. The filling taste was very concentrated and too apple-y for my liking.I think the Portland Cream is still my favorite.

​

 

[shh]

We enjoyed our meal at NBC Grill despite the weird exchange with our waiter, and the food came in a timely way despite the large crowd. It's not one of our favorites, but they do have some dishes that are worth going for.

I'm glad to see some people have a good experience there. We've tried twice and both times were so bad. Like comically bad, between unhappy servers, cold food, kitchen mistakes, , etc. I love several CitiWalk places, but definitely not much luck at NBC Grill.

 

[ToxicRoyalty]

Big agree on the kitchen retheme. I know when we were there in August they mentioned some stuff still being in storage/put away from the refurb, so I'm hoping it regains a bit of the old vibe back.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

That focaccia looks amazing! Shame to hear about the Kitchen going through a bit of a time!

Nothing beats voodoo!

 

[Raeven]

I'm glad to see some people have a good experience there. We've tried twice and both times were so bad. Like comically bad, between unhappy servers, cold food, kitchen mistakes, , etc. I love several CitiWalk places, but definitely not much luck at NBC Grill.​

I totally understand where you're coming from! I think we got lucky with certain dishes. We had such a bad experience the first time we went there (the burgers were terrible) that we didn't go back until last year. We try to avoid the burgers now, and I was happy to find some things on the menu were okay. The service did leave a bit to be desired though...​

Big agree on the kitchen retheme. I know when we were there in August they mentioned some stuff still being in storage/put away from the refurb, so I'm hoping it regains a bit of the old vibe back.​

Ooo I hope so too! ​

That focaccia looks amazing! Shame to hear about the Kitchen going through a bit of a time!

Nothing beats voodoo!​

It wasn't bad, but I do miss the old theming and menu. ​

 

[Raeven]

Wrap Up aka The Best & Worst Food of Our Trip

We'll start with...


The Best Meal of the Trip Overall



Cocktails & Screams & Strongwater Tavern





No surprise after last time, but we really enjoyed our meal at Strongwater Tavern again. We were also really impressed with our food at Cocktails & Screams, and would definitely go back for the brunch again in the future.

Worst Overall Meal: Urban Pantry


I didn't expect Urban Pantry to be the greatest meal, but the food was disappointedly bad.

Best Fries: The Daily Poutine & Shake Shack



Best Appetizer: Queso dip-Antojitos, Chop Chop Salad-Bar 17 Bistro, Burrata Caprese Salad-The Kitchen
Best Burger: Shake Shack

Best Dessert: Banana Chocolate Gooey Cake Mythos



Best HHN Snack: Red Velvet Tombstone Cake Pop, S'mores Fries, Twisted Taters, & Pizza Skull








Worst HHN Snack: Popcorn custard
I didn't care for the popcorn to custard ratio and the caramel at the bottom completely hide the taste of the custard.


Best F&W Snacks: Belgium-Braised beef, Brazil-Cheese bread, Fry Basket-Salt & Vinegar fries, Cider flights





Best Service: YC club lounge, Beaches and Cream, The Kitchen

Best Atmosphere/Decor: Cocktails & Screams

Best Sandwich: BLTA-Breadbox, Fork, Knife, & Spoon Grilled Cheese-Mythos

Best Mac & Cheese: NBC Grill



Most surprising (in a good way): Cocktails & Screams

I didn't know what to expect from Cocktails & Screams, and it ended up being one of our favorite meals this trip.

Most Disappointing: Beaches & Cream (food-wise), NBC Grill (service-wise)

We had great service at Beaches & Cream, but for the price the food just wasn't worth it at all. While the food at NBC Grill was good and reasonably priced, we had a weird issue with an appetizer not coming out and the waitress trying to get us to take it later in the meal when we were almost done after being told it had never been made.

Best Drink (Alcoholic): Blackberry martini & Josh's rum-Strongwater Tavern

So that wraps up this DTR!

I have another short trip coming up in a couple of weeks for Christmastime with my friend Kayleigh, and while we won't be doing a ton of TS dining on that trip; I still plan to write reviews for all the places we visit. I don't know yet if I'll write a separate DTR or just put it in the trip report but I'll definitely try to review everything we try. It'll be my first time visiting Festival of the Holidays and in years and there's some many more Christmas treats than there was last time I went in 2017. We'll be visiting Disney and doing the Orlando Informer even at Universal, so we'll be trying lots of snacks everywhere!

If you want to follow along until then here's the PTR!

A Quick Christmas Trip​

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Thank you for your report! I always enjoy your reviews. Your Christmas trip sounds super fun, can’t wait to read about it!

 

[Counting Stars]

Looking forward to your next review! Thanks for posting this one ,

 

[Raeven]

Thank you for your report! I always enjoy your reviews. Your Christmas trip sounds super fun, can’t wait to read about it! ​

Looking forward to your next review! Thanks for posting this one ,​

Thanks for following along!​