I was so excited that our trip coincided with the start of Festival of the Holidays at Disney’s California Adventure – I finally got to try some Disney food booths!

We headed to DCA on the very first day of the festival. We had scoped out the menus for the various booths, and were very excited to sample some food! I was also an annual pass holder at the time, so I was eligible to purchase a Sip and Savor Pass – I was pretty excited about it. This pass cost $45, and contained 8 tear-off tabs to be used on any non-alcoholic item at the booths, on any day for the duration of the festival (November 10, 2017 – January 7, 2018). I had already pulled off one tab from the bottom before I remembered to take a picture of it… 

To break even on this pass, we had to purchase 8 items worth at least $5.63 – most items cost more than that so I wasn’t concerned with that and I knew it would be a good deal in the end to have purchased this pass.

We decided to start at the “A Twist on Tradition” booth, and ordered the Reuben Potato Smash – with Russian dressing and rye toast crumble ($6.75 if paying out of pocket)

This sounded very strange, and I wasn’t completely sure what to expect from it, but I was very pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed it! The potatoes were like tater tots (but better than most tots I’ve had), and the toppings were all really tasty.

Our next stop was “Classic Crocks and Casseroles” for the Chana Masala with grilled garlic naan ($6.50 if paying out of pocket).

Of all the things we tried at the food booths, this was the most average. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t special in any way, and not super flavourful like the Indian food I’m used to. The naan was standard, and worked great for scooping up the chickpeas.

Our third and final stop of the day was at “Blissfully Braised” for the Braised Pork Belly Adobo – with garlic fried rice ($7.50 if paying out of pocket).

Of the three items we tried on this day, this was the clear winner. That garlic rice was fantastic (and we might have ate some with the chana masala – a great combo), and the pork belly was tender and fatty and delicious. I really wish this was on a permanent menu somewhere at Disneyland, I would order this all the time.

We were starting to get full, and we had a dining reservation coming up soon, so we decided to call it quits for the day at the food booths. We were doing really well with getting our value out of the Sip and Savor pass so far – the three items we tried had a total cost of $20.75, leaving us with 5 tabs and $24.25 to break even.

For our first meal on our trip, we decided to try something new and made a reservation at Tony’s Town Square. It was December 30th, and we figured the park would be really busy, so we really wanted to make sure we had an ADR. We made it for quite late, just to give ourselves wiggle room in case our flight was delayed (which turned out to be a good call – we were never in danger of missing our reservation, but our flight was over an hour late).

We checked in, and had a bit of a wait before being called. We were eventually led to a 4-top table in the back corner, and handed our menus.

We were brought a plate of bread with some oil while we read over the menu. We were both really hungry after a day of traveling, and we crushed the bread fairly quickly and then said yes to a second plate haha. I really enjoyed the spices/seasoning that was mixed in with the oil (although I’m fairly certain it was just basic Italian seasoning).

We decided that since it was the first night of our wedding trip, we would do something we’ve never done at a restaurant before – order a bottle of wine! #treatyoself Keep in mind, I’m fussy with wine, and the only way I’d agree to drinking any of this was if it was a really sweet wine – so Luke, being the great husband he is (although he was still technically just my fiancé at this point), agreed to split a bottle of Moscato with me.

Coppo Moncalvina Moscato d’Asti, Piedmont – refreshing aromas and flavours of tropical fruit and sugar cane with a touch of acidity on the finish – $39/bottle

This was really good Moscato! It was nice and sweet, just the way I like my wine, without being sickly sweet over the course of a bottle. I don’t understand the language they use to describe wine, I can never taste the difference between different kinds of fruits used – obviously I’m not a wine connoisseur seeing as I only drink Moscato haha. We had no issues finishing this bottle off (Luke drank way more than I did, I’m such a lightweight haha), and it wasn’t too expensive at all for restaurant prices!

For food, we skipped appetizers (as we almost always do), and went straight for entrees. Luke went for the Chicken Parmigana – lightly breaded chicken breast with melted mozzarella and Tony’s Marinara Sauce over spaghetti $26.

The spaghetti was nothing special, the sauce was basic but the chicken was cooked well.

My eyes were larger than my belly, and I ordered the Italian Trio – three classic favourites on one dish. Chciken Parmigiana, baked rigatoni and fettucine alfredo $32.

I’m not a huge fan of alfredo sauce typically, but this was really good! The chicken parm was standard, but tasty and the baked rigatoni was surpisingly one of the stars of this entire plate. I expected the bowl of baked rigatoni to be fairly basic, but it was so good!

There’s really nothing special about the food at this restaurant, but overall it was tasty and hit the spot. We had been led to believe that this restaurant wasn’t very good, so we went in with very low expectations – and we ended up being pleased with it! There’s no mistaking this place for fine dining, and there’s definitely better options on property, but I’m glad we went there and tried it – and we wouldn’t mind going back again..

The restaurant itself is really cute, with lots of Lady & the Tramp references (as seen on the menu above). The walls were decorated in artwork from the movie, and there was a giant fountain in the restaurant which was adorable.

The total cost of our meal was $100.11 – this included an 18% tip and a 20% discount thanks to Tables in Wonderland.

I purchased a Tables in Wonderland card for the first time ever (seeing as this was my first trip to WDW as an annual pass holder, it was the first time I was ever eligible for the card). The cost to purchase a TIW card is $150 (no tax), but it will allow you to save 20% on food and alcohol at many restaurants on property.  It does add an auto-gratuity to your check of 18%, but Luke and I tend to tip that much anyways. Also, parties of 6 or more have the 18% auto-gratuity added on even without a TIW card, and we knew almost every meal during the entire second week of our vacation would be with at least 6 people at a time.

I wanted to track the numbers and see how much we ended up saving by purchasing the card, so the numbers will be shared at the bottom of each review 🙂 Keep in mind I didn’t calculate the 18% gratuity in the cost to break even, since we would have been paying that anyways.

Tables in Wonderland Original Cost: $150                                              Break Even Point Before this Meal: $150                                                        Savings this Meal: $19.40                                                                                            Total until Breaking Even: $130.60

We also had done up a spreadsheet with estimated food costs per meal, and came on this trip planning to spend a little over $2600 on food (which is so much money, we were hoping to keep that lower, but at the same time not deny ourselves whatever we wanted since it was our wedding/honeymoon). I’ll be including those numbers at the bottom of each post as well so you can see how well we did with our estimations. Also – our estimated costs did NOT include tips, that was a separate calculation, and I will not be including tips in the actual cost listed here either.

Predicted food budget: $2631.67                                                                             Estimated Cost of this meal: $15(WestJet) + $37.87 (Pop Food Court) + $101.18 (Tony’s) = $154.05                                                                       Actual Cost: $19.48(WestJet) +$0 (Pop Food Court) + $82.65 (Tony’s) = $102.13                                                                                       Over/Under: Under by $51.92                                                                     Remaining: $2579.75

Next meal: Narcoossee’s Brunch

One of the places I wanted to go back to was Naples, so we made a reservation for supper there on our last night.

We checked in and were led to a table outside. We were handed the menu – which is a giant one-page thing with the food on one side and drinks on the other.

One thing on the drink menu caught Luke’s attention: Mule Flight – a flight of three unique, Italian-inspired mules, all topped with ginger liqueur and lime juice $18

From left to right, that’s the Venetian – Absolut vodka, prosecco, Sicilian – Skyy vodka, averna and Naples – Stoll vodka, blood orange juice. Mules have become one of Luke’s favourite drinks to order at restaurants, so he was excited to try some different kinds (and I might have sampled each of them as well…).

We both liked the Venetian and Naples, but the Sicilian just tasted like straight vodka.

I was boring and just wanted water, but I didn’t take a picture of that – just imagine a tall glass filled with a clear liquid.

They brought us some bread with olive oil/balsamic to start. I hate balsamic, so I very carefully dip my bread so I only soak up the oil – it’s a process I’ve pretty much mastered by now haha. Luke likes it all, so he just eats it like a normal person. This is a good crusty Italian bread – and I like just about every type of bread out there!

A big reason for wanting this reservation was because of the appetizer we’d had the last time we were here: Panzerotti – fried pizza dough filled with fresh mozzarella, artisan ricotta, parmesan, marinara, three for $10, five for $14.

These are delicious little puffy pockets of cheesey goodness, with a big bowl of marinara to dip them in. I could make an entire meal just out of these <3

We also ordered a regular sized pepperoni pizza $35 (they have individual, regular and large- which is massive!). I love the tiny little pepperonis they use, and the fresh mozzarella. Overall, a very tasty pizza 🙂

Our total bill came to $63.03 after saving $4.50 with my annual pass.

We were feeling a little hungry, and decided we wanted a snack around 11:30am, so we headed over to Flame Tree BBQ. We didn’t want anything big, so we ordered some fries to split.

It was also really cold out, so Luke ordered a coffee and I got a hot chocolate.

Our fries tasted like fries, and our drinks were warm. It was everything we’d hoped for.

Cost: $7.57 after using my Tables in Wonderland card ($1.77 saved)

*See post for Tony’s to see explanation of the math below*

Tables in Wonderland Original Cost: $150                                              Break Even Point Before this Meal: $119.80                                                      Savings this Meal: $1.77                                                                                          Total until Breaking Even: $118.03

Predicted food budget: $2631.67                                                                            Estimated Cost of this meal: $0 (not planned)                                                   Actual Cost: $7.57                                                                                      Over/Under: Over by $7.57                                                                    Remaining: $2135.81

Next: Nomad Lounge

Each and every trip to Disney, we like to try out at least one new-to-us restaurant. During this trip, that happened to be Carnation Cafe (which is definitely not a new restaurant to the park!)

Located on Main Street USA, Carnation Cafe features some of Walt’s favourite recipes. It is not a huge place, and reservations are definitely recommended.

We checked in, and only had to wait a few minutes before our names were called and we were led to a two-top table in the outside section. The menu is not huge here, just a single page.

We ordered our drinks – a root beer for me and a cherry coke for Luke. They quickly arrived (and apparently I was so thirsty I drank a quarter of mine before taking a picture haha).

I loved the carnations in the design of the tabletop, I thought it was a cute way to tie in the name of the restaurant. It also gave it a vintage feel – I wonder how old these tables actually are?

There were also real carnations on every table. I’m not a huge flower person, but I’ve always likes the simplicity of carnations 🙂

While we were sitting there, waiting for our food, a server came over and asked if we would mind moving to a different table. They had a large group checking in, and they needed our two-top table to push up against a large 6-top. They ended up moving us to a 4-top table – so no complaints from us! It’s always nice to have a little more space for our food!

Luke decided to start with the Fried Pickles with Dipping Sauce – Dill pickle spears dipped in Parmesan and Panko, fried golden brown and served with a house sauce, $7.

I don’t like pickles, so I didn’t try these, but Luke seemed to really enjoy them! He described them as having a nice crispy/dense panko-style breading The sauce was like a cajun aioli, and tasted great with the pickles. He did recommend sharing it between two people, he found it to be a lot to eat all on his own.

I had scoped out the menu before we even made this dining reservation, so I knew exactly what I was going to order before I even sat down – the Chicken-Fried Chicken – buttermilk-fried chicken breast served with mashed potatoes, country gravy and seasonal vegetables, $18.

This was a huge piece of chicken! It was much larger than I expected it to be, and it was tasty! The batter on it was really good – flaky and crispy at the same time, and the chicken was nice and moist. The mashed potatoes were good, although I did ask for more of the country gravy so I could pour it on top of those as well. The seasonal vegetables were a little underwhelming, just a few pieces of cauliflower and broccoli, but I still ate them. The sourdough roll was nice, and I appreciated the huge dish of butter they provided to smear over everything (obviously, I didn’t put butter on my chicken haha).

I came close, but I wasn’t quite able to finish everything on my plate. I would definitely order this meal again!

Luke ordered the Homemade Meatloaf – our special blend of beef and pork served with ketchup glaze, mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy and seasonal vegetables, $15.  Since my meal was also served with mashed potatoes, we asked about switching his out for french fries, and that was no issue at all – we just wanted to try both 🙂

The outside of the meatloaf had a nice crunch to it, while the inside was juicy and flavourful. The ketchup glaze had a smokey taste and the mushroom gravy was just the right amount of savoury. The perfect umami complement to its tangy tomato counterpart. The shoestring fries were as you’d want them to be. Light, crisp and not too greasy. The ketchup was sublime. Or Heinz. Either way – 9/10. Would dip fries into again. The vegetables were pretty good to, if not necessary to get a little fibre involved with this whole thing. We’re not getting any younger – amiright?

After using my annual pass to save 15%, our total bill came to $43.94 after tax – not bad for such a good meal!