Disney Food Review: The Brown Derby Lounge

I have a new obsession in my life. I like to call this obsession, cheese. More specifically, brie.  I've spent a long time of my life without brie, so I'm trying to make up the time spent apart.  So imagine my surprise and excitement when I found out that the Brown Derby Lounge at Disney's Hollywood Studios has a fried cheese appetizer.  I sense your confusion - most fried cheese appetizers come in the from of fried mozzarella sticks.  On no. Not here, not at the Brown Derby.  Their fried cheese appetizer is a trio of cheeses featuring blue cheese, a Parmesan-goat cheese and fried brie.

So after a long day at Hollywood Studios, we headed over to the outdoor lounge to get this appetizer and a drink.  The Lounge is on the outside of the Brown Derby and it has a few small tables and a bar area.  The bar area is where you can order a drink to go or wait for your table.  You'll more than likely have a wait as the small area can get kind of busy! While we waited, we browsed the menu, even though we knew what we were there for.

Menu for the Brown Derby Lounge.

After we put our name down for a table, we ordered some drinks.  I ordered the Grapefruit Cake Martini - named and flavored after the famous Grapefruit Cake dessert available at the Brown Derby.  My snack companions ordered the Champagne Cocktail.  I wanted to like my drink, heck, I wanted to love my drink as I'm known for loving citrus flavored items. But sadly this is was a miss for me.  The drink didn't know if it wanted to be sweet or tart, and on the hot day I visited, the almost-but-not-quite creamy consistency was not refreshing enough for me.  I think if the drink was thinner and much, much colder it would have been great.  I kept adding ice to it and that helped.

My girlfriends won in the drink selection with their Champagne Cocktails. It was light and refreshing - perfect for a day at the parks!

The pink is the Grapefruit Martini. The other two are the Champagne cocktail.

Now the snack we came for - the Crispy Bites! There are three types of crispy bites served with this appetizer. The first are Parmesan-Goat cheese risotto sticks. The second (and the one I was most looking forward to) Brie cheese that was fried.  The last offering was Bleu Affinee-Mushroom Arancini.  I'm not a fan or goat cheese or bleu cheese so I was literally just here for the brie. 

The sticks are the Parmasean-Goat cheese, the balls are the bleu cheese and hidden down under all of that was the brie.

Unfortunately the brie wasn't there for me. It had literally melted out of the breading and we were left with just bread.  My girlfriends who do like bleu and goat cheese said that the other two appetizers were amazing and made up for the lack of brie.

Now I apologize, my pictures are lacking of the crispy bites outside of their serving container (we got excited and ate them all before I remembered I was supposed to take pictures).

Since I only came for the fried brie, it was a disappointing experience. But getting a seat in the theme park, while having a drink and some snacks with my friends while getting to people watch - this was amazing.  I'll go back to the outdoor lounge area of the Brown Derby but next time I'll be getting something different. Like the lobster bisque, sliders or the famous Hollywood Brown Derby Cobb salad.  Have you visited the Brown Derby Lounge? What were your thoughts?

Disney Restaurant Review - Tokyo Dining

One of my favorite things about World Showcase in Epcot is all of the different types of food you can find there.  In one theme park there is just about any cuisine you may be caving including Mexican, Chinese, French, Italian (both pasta and pizza), German, Japanese (hibachi and sushi) and more!

World Showcase in Epcot.

This review is for one of those amazing Epcot restaurants – Tokyo Dining.  This World Showcase restaurant is located in the Japan Pavilion above Mitsukoshi Department Store.  You will first check-in to this restaurant right outside the store at a desk - be sure you're entire party is ready to go or else you'll have to wait until everyone is there to check-in!  This one desk serves as the check-in location for both Tokyo Dining and Teppan Edo.

The Tokyo Dining and Teppan Edo check-in desk.

When you are paged, you then go upstairs to a second desk to check-in again and where you will wait again for your table.  Up here there are plenty of benches for those waiting.  Guests visiting Teppan Edo tend to wait longer than those visiting Toyko Dining. While you're waiting you can see through the wall and watch the sushi chefs at work.

View of the sushi chefs preparing sushi from the waiting area. 

Once we were seated at our table - unfortunately no where near the windows like I had requested (unfortunately you can't make reservations for certain tables and requests to be seated in a certain location are just that - requests).  Our waitress was very friendly and prompt.  And soon it was time to figure out what we wanted. But first - lets take a moment to appreciate the beauty of this menu.

The front cover of the menu at Tokyo Dining - definitely more detailed than your traditional menu!

Tokyo Dining serves sushi along with other Japanese dishes. Here is their menu:

On the back of the menu is a little history of the Mitsukoshi Department store.

The history of Mitsukoshi.

My dinner companions and I came for the sushi.  But first we started with an appetizer, the tempura sampler.  It comes with one shrimp, a vegetable (a piece of carrot in our case) and a piece of chicken fried in tempura batter.  These were very good but on the very small side.  It made sharing a bit difficult since you only get one piece of each.  The ponzu sauce that this appetizer comes with was very delicious.

The tempura appetizer.

While we waited for our sushi it was fun to watch the sushi chefs hard at work making the sushi for the restaurant! 

Tokyo Dining's sushi chefs.

I ordered the Volcano Roll.  This was the table’s favorite and my favorite as well.  I loved the tempura crunch and the fish was high-quality, sushi grade fish that I was beyond pleased with.

The Volcano Roll.

I also ordered a side of the beef fried rice and I wasn't impressed with it.  The rice lacked in favor and I'm used to having fried rice with some vegetables, egg and some protein in it and this one was just rice.  This did make the baby very happy so not all was lost!

The beef fried rice.

My friend ordered the Dynamite Roll.  This roll was also very good and the wasabi mayonnaise under the roll packed quite a punch – it was made with very fresh wasabi.  This was theme of the sushi rolls we received – it was all very fresh!

The Dynamite Roll.

My other dinner guest ordered the Philadelphia Roll, the Spicy Roll and the Spicy Crunch Roll.  He enjoyed all of these and also noted how fresh the fish was.  

The Philadelphia Roll, the Spicy Roll and the Spicy Crunch Roll.

Unfortunately this visit we were way too full to order dessert, however, in the past the Green Tea Mousse Cake has always been a crowd favorite!

Another reason I love going to Tokyo Dining is for the amazing fireworks view.  Most of the restaurant tables doesn’t have a view of the fireworks.  However, if you leave your table during the fireworks and go out on to the restaurant balcony or go down the stairs – you’ll have one great view (and this is very common at most Walt Disney World restaurants - just let your server know!)!  Another bonus of watching the fireworks here is that Japan is rarely crowded for IllumiNations – and I’m not sure why because the view is fantastic!

View of IllumiNations from outside Mitsukoshi Department store in the Japan Pavilion. 

What do you think? Have you ever dined at Tokyo Dining at Epcot? What were your thoughts? Let me know!

21st Epcot International Food and Wine Festival Dates Announced!

Disney Parks Blog just announced the dates of the 21st Epcot International Food & Wine Festival!   The 2016 festival will start on September 14 and run through November 14!  Last years festival ran for 53 days, this years will run for 62 days!  The day increase reflects the popularity of this event as it is loved by many who travel to Walt Disney World.  And what is not to love from all the declines food, culinary events, celebrity chef, wine seminars, concerts, parties, and so much more!



Stay tuned as I'll be sure to share with you all the details as soon as they are released! In the meantime, it is never too late to start your Walt Disney World trip planning! Email me - lauren@magicaltravel.com - for a FREE vacation quote today! Or, if you'd like, fill out the Disney Vacation quote form found at the bottom of this page!

Source: Disney Parks Blog