California Grill — Restaurant in Bay Lake

So my girlfriend and I came here for our one year anniversary. We made the choice of this place before of the awesome reviews and because of the fireworks spectacular. We got here about an hour before our reservations and just chilled in the lounge so we could watch the fireworks out the window. The show itself was really good. All the lights dimmed, and they played the Wishes music through the speakers of the restaurant. The view was amazing. Excellent, excellent show.

We were provided complimentary bread. There were two types in the basket: a wheat sourdough on top, and a foccacia bread underneath. It was served with butter sprinkled with black, Himalayan sea salt. The butter was nice. I hate hard butter. The sea salt was also surprisingly needed. Usually, it's just there for looks, but I liked it here.

While we were sitting there, we enjoyed an appetizer of the Roasted Bone Marrow (Ropa Vieja, Asian Pear Compote, Herb Crostini). This was my first experience ever with bone marrow, and it was delicious! It was literally like a meat butter. So smooth and so umani, but not heavy at all like it looks. It would have been nice to have had more of the crostinis, so I could get more bites of the dish in combination with/without the compote, but overall, a great first experience for me.

After the fireworks spectacular, we were seated an hour before our reservations, which is always nice, and our table was garnished with little Mickey confetti for our special occasion. Super nice touch that you can only find at Disney. We then ordered our entrees. This is the part of the review where I must say that the menu online at Disney's website is not accurate in terms of what dishes the restaurant offers. I understand that it's a seasonal, fresh, ever-changing menu, and that is a plus, but I really wanted that ostrich filet.

Instead, I ordered the Slow-braised Boneless Bison Short Rib (Piquillo-Cheddar Grits, Autumn Root Vegetables, Gooseberries, Red Wine Jus). This menu item is not currently on their menu online, but it is live in the restaurant. They were really good. Nice and tender, and not too much sauce like you see sometimes. The meat really got to shine here, even though bison is a super lean meat. The grits were very gritty and cheesey and delicious. The root vegetables had a good bite to them; I actually kind of wish there had been more on the plate. I had never had a gooseberry before, but it was good! A strong, sweet/tart bite that was a stark contrast to the rest of the dish.

My girlfriend ordered the Seared Hokkaido Scallops (Zellwood Corn, Duck Confit, Artichokes, Verjus-Piquillo Emulsion). She had the superior dish. The corn was cooked from a dry corn state, so during the cooking, a few of the kernels had actually popped into popcorn! It was fun, and the taste was the single best thing I put in my mouth at that restaurant that night. The duck was good, nice and tender. I would go back just for this dish. The cook on the scallops was perfect, which is what you want at this price point.

When it came time for dessert, we learned that the peaches and cream creme brulee was also not there that night, which bummed us out. So we got the Chocolate Pudding Cake (Luscious Chocolate Cake with Nutella Filling, Meringue Kisses, and Chantilly Cream) at the behest of our server. It was very good. It was the size of a Snicker's bar and it was ooey and gooey with notes of the Nutella, but it was super duper rich; one of those desserts that I'm glad I had someone to share with and didn't have to tackle it by myself.

Overall, the atmosphere was beautiful, the service was typical Disney, mostly, the food was dynamite, and the value was there. I got what I paid for,...

We of course had the 3-course meal here just as we been having throughout our stay, and just to name a few for reference and comparison - Space 220 at Epcot with the filet mignon, Be Our Guest, at Magic Kingdom, again with the filet mignon, and now we’ve decided to try California Grill at the Contemporary Resort, and my wife and I have to say that it is definitely lacking and disappointed here I’ll explain in a bit, we basically left with scrambling for MORE! Something was missing, but let’s put it into perspective. We have dined at Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen for their 3-course meal, and that culinary experience blows away all aforementioned dining experiences at Disney so far, I get it though, Hell’s Kitchen is Hell’s Kitchen and the California Grill is a fine dining restaurant at Disney - big discrepancy there, one is filled with professional chefs who learned Michelin style techniques, and the other (CA Grill) I’m unsure of what culinary techniques they bring to the table from their resume, but CA Grill at Contemporary Resort - endorses themselves as fine/signature dining, and that’s where I find the dining discrepancies because we did not taste that in the appetizer, entree and barely tasted an exquisite culinary experience in their desert. To be more specific, the surf turf sushi was ok - overall 7.2 /10 at best, the spicy sauce is always going to be a subjective opinion here, so let’s not factor that in for some forgiveness, so let’s set that aside for a moment. The texture, 8.3/10 taste 6/10. For raw sushi, it’s hard to incorporate flavors from different angles, when compared to baked sushi, but that’s the challenge here, high risk, high reward. Cast Iron-Grilled Pork Tenderloin. Main course / Entrees are always supposed to be a home run / winner. This is overall 8.2/10. Roasted pork belly had too much layer of fat - and the thing with a layer of fat is that it’s so easy to get away with taste because fat is extremely easy to manipulate with taste, layers of fat always has taste, this part wasn’t worked on. The actual meat under the layer of fat was lacking heavily here. The sauce served with the tenderloins needed a lot of work. Something in the realm of a side to mix the tenderloin to save it, similar to beef Wellington, but when executed by an experienced chef, beef Wellington on its own doesn’t need anything, no sauce, nothing. The tenderloin wasn’t that dry, but I’m sure with some inconsistencies or being in a rush it can be, and we got medium well, so less on the dryer side when cooked, but still felt dry. Caramel mouse and apple sliced cake - 9.0/10. This part of the 3-course meal should feel like a wow factor - by tying either the theme restaurant or tying the culinary skills here In a single bite. This experience was just not worth it. Let’s go over the cost. For over a $200 price point for party of 2 or couples, or date night or whatever the occasion is, this food-experience has to match to other fine culinary experiences that exist at this price point. This is why I compared this 3-course to another (Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen); apples to apples. Don’t come here and expect the culinary experience to be something that you have already tried in the past of other 3-course fine dining, come here for the ambiance and quick-guaranteed option for the fireworks at...

Our experience at the California Grill was a profound disappointment, from start to finish. I think I can safely say it was one of the worst dining experiences we have ever had at WDW, if not the worst.

We were sat 20 minutes late for our reservation, and not at the window which we requested in advance, which was (we were told) not available. We were told that if we wanted a table by the window, it would take at least another 30 to 40 minutes to get one.

When we opted against waiting further, we were sat at a booth, which was pretty tight for me at 6 feet 4 inches, and my son at 6 feet 2 inches. When we asked to be moved, we were then taken to a nearby table by the window, which had been sitting open the entire time. While we were glad to get a table window, it was not clear why we could not have been given one in the first place.

When I pulled my chair out to sit down, thankfully, I looked at the seat first before sitting. The candle for the table was sitting on the seat of my chair.

We ordered with our waitress. When I received my appetizer, the Kazan spicy sushi roll, I tried it first without the spicy mayonnaise sauce. The sushi tasted fishy, and not fresh.

When I mentioned the off taste the waitress, she apologized and offered to bring another appetizer. By then, my wife and son had finished theirs (the ravioli and the beet salad), and I declined, so that we could move onto our entrees together.

My son and I both had the filet mignon. While it was a good cut of meat, both of our steaks were lukewarm and not hot, unlike the potato side dish which was very hot. We asked if the steaks could be heated in a microwave (and we understand that can dry food out), we were told the restaurant did not have one. The waitress then said that the manager would stop by, as well as the chef.

The chef brought us two new entrees (by this time my wife had finished her scallops) which were warmer, but oddly, still not hot. I am at a loss to understand how the restaurant was unable to grill a steak, ordered medium, so that it is hot, as has always been the case at Le Cellier, or any other good steak restaurant in WDW or elsewhere, particularly given the name of the restaurant.

Our waitress next brought our dessert, and, clearly annoyed by the need to deal with the issues we were having with our dining experience, simply left the dessert plates and said nothing. Not one word. I ordered the cheese plate; she offered no explanation as to what the cheeses were, other than putting a written description of the cheese on the table. She also left a piece of cake, which we guessed was for our son’s college graduation, but we had no way to know for sure, given the complete lack of explanation or communication. We were astounded by the poor, if not rude, service. The desserts themselves were average.

By this point, I really wanted to talk to the manager, who had failed to appear within 30 minutes of our being told that he or she would do so, but my wife and son were so frustrated by the experience they simply wanted to leave. We paid the bill -- which was not cheap...