A Land Remembered — Restaurant in Oak Ridge

A Land Remembered, Rosen Shingle Creek's signature restaurant, places great importance on values. The value of quality on every level is top priority. The chefs and staff go extra steps to ensure complete culinary perfection. One big step is the Harris Ranch beef, which brings them quality meats, far superior to the typical provisioner provided fare. Attention to detail reigns supreme, down to details such as the alligator shaped pats of butter.

My lovely lady, otherwise known as Fab Fiancée, and I have grown to love all things Rosen! Take the time to read my heart-felt review of Rosen Shingle Creek Resort. That will give you some insight into how our passion has grown over just a few years. Whenever we stay at the resort, we look forward to at least one memorable night at A Land Remembered.

Our most recent visit, mid-July, was a celebratory weekend. The celebration of Fab One's birthday! How intriguing she'd ask to stay here for her birthday.....I'm smiling and soooo thankful, too! I immediately put in our reservations for Saturday night dinner at ALR!

As we exited the waning Florida heat, we entered into an ambiance of excellence. The hostess somehow knew (Wink! Wink!) and wished Fab One a very 'Happy Birthday!' We were delighted at her choice of table in a far and romantic corner near a window. As if that was not enough, we were thrilled when we saw Jorge approach our table. Jorge has served us before, and we absolutely love him! This wonderful gentleman would be our escort through the pages of this novel journey tonight. Hello Jorge!

Chapter one began with a captivating cup of Lobster Bisque. An ocean of flavor cresting with a splash of Sherry, this is a 'must-have' for us. Delectably delicious...Oh so good!

Our main course selection was an incredibly easy decision to make. We've had it before and we were ready for it now.....Drum-roll please....

Chateaubriand for Two! I love the look of excitement on her face, the look of anticipation. (I know that look!) The sweet aroma of grilled magnificence infuses the air. Our heads follow our olfactory commands to see Jorge wheeling up tableside with a cart of visual grandeur. We are witness to finesse in a 20 ounce Center Cut Filet surrounded by the accompanying food accoutrements!

It was pure magic watching as Jorge carves each savory slice, then arranges and plates these with equal portions of Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Grilled Asparagus and Organic Wild Mushrooms. Our taste buds are dancing as he drizzles the Béarnaise Sauce ever so deftly.

The next 30 minutes are a bit of a haze. I think we entered A Land Slightly Blurred as we were carried away into food oblivion! Rational thought riding on the edge of a knife with only our senses razor sharp!

IF only I could write scents into my sentences, then I could truly share the aromatic array that so appealed to us.

Enter the Fine Dining Manager, Thiago. This young well-spoken gent introduced himself along with a newest member to the Rosen resort family. We eagerly engaged them in a conversation of epic proportions, as I saw it. Laughs Out Loud! Thiago wanted to be totally sure our celebration was all that we expected and more. To which we gave a resounding positive affirmation!

Much to our surprise and her delight, to finish the night with a bang, Thiago and Jorge presented us with a decadently huge slice of Chocolate Mousse Cake! Imagine a flourless Chocolate Cake layered with a Pecan Nougatine and a Milk Chocolate Cream Filling, topped with Raspberry Ganache & Fresh Fruit!

To properly give this restaurant 5 stars I must fly into the Cosmos and hand pick 5 of the most exquisitely luminous spheres in the universe.

Fortunately for all of us, we must travel no further than Shingle Creek to enjoy this stellar presence.

Tell them...

Tried this based off reviews and maybe we just caught a bad time but extremely disappointed. Seemed like a great place for a birthday diner however...Had a reservation for 7:45 and didn't get sat until 8:30. When we did it was a thrown together table in the corner by the bar well. Fine if happens. First noticed one of the wine glasses had not been washed since it was rimmed with red wine and still had red tint throughout the glass. Took 20 minutes to be brought menus after that. Another 20 after that to put drinks in. At this point I felt the need to make the manager aware and hopefully he could keep an eye on the next steps of service. He told me he would make it happen for us since we were now an hour into service and yet to even receive our drinks. Moments later that same manager was bending the bar trying to help the bartender and knocked a wine glass over right at our tables feet. Again. This stuff happens and I can look past most things but they added up. First courses started to come and they were ok. Lobster bisque had to be sent back as it was barely room temperature and still came back sort of warm. After about 2 hours we finally got our meals. The only reason this didn't get a 1 star review is because the entree were good. One Prime Rib out of the 3 was over cooked. Asked for Rare and got a Medium Well at best. We completed our meals and then again sat and waited. No pre-busing until we prompted and now about 2.5 hours into my night we still didn't even receive the deserts. The table next to us was in the same boat as we'll because when we were openly talking about it they agreed. At this point I had to go find the waiter and ask him to just box up the deserts and deliver checks. I wasn't surprised nothing was comped off the check, but I was hoping they would have done something to show they acknowledged how our night went. $220 for 2 people and 3+ hours of my time. On the way out I spoke with the manager again who seemed like a nice enough guy who offered me some free apps and a round of drinks if we returned but I have no need to honestly. With so many amazing restaurants in Orlando this will be on the bottom of my list. Not only was the in restaurant experience bad but it also affected our plans after as we were held there for so long we had to abandon those plans. Very very disappointing birthday dinner. Would...

Magical Dining 2022 came around, and I got to work. I ranked every single available menu, and I settled on being able to go to my top three restaurants this year. A Land Remembered made the cut. Usually, these fancy places offer a boring roast chicken or a nice baked salmon, yawn. But this year, A Land really offered nice offerings.

Apps

Wagyu Beef Carpaccio (Pickled Mustard, Black Garlic Shoyu, Radish, Cured Yolk, Baby Greens, Grilled Bread). Banging. The beef was so flavorful, and then every little topping added a little of their own flavoring to it. Collect it all and place it on top of a hunk of bread charred to perfection. Nice.

Colorado Lamb Ribs (Za’atar Rub, Onion-Tomato Jam, Yogurt). As good as the carpaccio was, this was much, much better. These lamb ribs were unlike anything I've ever had. So soft and tender and lamb-like. To be dippable in that sweet tomato jam and that cooling yogurt. Just a great little dish. This is the dish that earned this place the five stars. Honestly.

Mains

Prime New York Strip (Mashed Potato, Frog Song Organics Carrot & Onion, Chimichurri). I had the steak. It was good. A smooth mash, and some nice carrots, but it was just lacking, and it was overcooked. I don't know. Just maybe get something else other than the steak.

HertaBerkSchwein Farms Pork Chop (Sweet Potato Mash, Stone Fruit Butter, Andouille Spoon Bread Dressing, Pan Drippings). Like this pork chop. Cooked Perfectly. Justtt well done. Very moist, very thick. I liked it a lot. Pork chop always go well with sweet, and the stone fruit butter and the sweet potato mash were the perfect pairing with this amazing pork.

Desserts

Caramel Banana Cheesecake (Vanilla Wafer Crust, Salted Caramel Sauce, Caramel Crispearls). I didn't think I would like this, because I hate bananas, but the banana flavor was tapered. And the caramel sauce was just so strong. It was quite nice, and the texture from the pearls was welcome.

Chocolate Gianduja Mousse Cake (Chocolate Crémeux, Pecan Nougatine, Chambord Ganache). This was fine. I desserts are not the strong suit here, but you'll enjoy whatever you order, I'm sure.

Overall, a four star experience from a very good restaurant. But I'm so glad that I found those ribs. They really left an...