McLarenblog

Hollywood and Vine Restaurant (Buffet) located in Disney World, Florida (4-11-07).

We had reservations for ten. We had to wait a bit. Long seating was offered on a raised patio that ran along the front of the building. We ate around 4:30 PM; a bit early so there were lots of seats outside for our group. With a large party, mostly children, the time quickly passed until we were called to our tables. The decor is 50’s era inside and out. A lot of the seating is cushioned booth like benches on one side of the table and metal chairs on the opposite side of the table while tables in the center of some spaces used all metal chairs around the table. Typically with the Disney restaurants, there are two buffet lines. Also there is typically no provision for menu meals. You eat what is on the buffet line. The offerings are a lot more extensive than reading our reviews. I am putting on weight during this trip and I will not sample every dish for you, just what I think appears the most interesting and thus allures me.

Here is the food review:

Baked chicken thighs pinot noir had an enticing name but a flavor that fell far short. I was hoping for a spectacular sauce but it was so lame to almost be non-existent.
Garlic mashed potatoes were ok, nothing special here.
Sun dried tomato polenta, a triangle shaped food item with a good flavor.
Creamed corn spoon bread was outstanding, almost a desert quality in its apparent sweetness. I highly recommend that you try this.
Herbed crusted salmon, I thought was fantastic. The sauce really enhanced the fish flavor I thought but JE did not care for it.
Prime rib was moist good color but no flavor.
Bean cassoulet was good.
Meatball in BBQ sauce was good but what can you say about meatballs. Well, ok, the meat had a good texture, and seemed to have a good flavor but it was the sauce that made this dish.

The desert review:

Mascarpone snicker cheesecake, I found to be mild but wonderfully enjoyable if eaten slowly. This is a small tart size desert.
Chocolate mousse was very good, maybe perfect. It had a good balance between chocolate cradle crust, a sort of hard chocolate, and a creamy soft mixture for the mousse filling that had a more muted flavor; nice contrast.
Three-berry cobbler, spoon out of a large dish, had a great berry flavor that popped out when you first taste it but that quickly dissipates. The berry flavor still lingers through out and then one picks up the fact that it tastes sweet. It was almost like reviewing wine.

There were more deserts but we did not sample them.

Conclusions: This place was noisy, to the point that one had to lean forward toward the person talking. It was acceptable in total but not outstanding in any way except for the deserts. It is rather nice that Disney does offer some different selections at each buffet. I think the plus for this buffet are the deserts.