Flying Fish Cafe

October 2015 Trip Review

My dinner at Flying Fish Cafe was made a bit more interesting by the surprise reappearance of a character who had played a major role in a previous Flying Fish review. Some of you may recall that about two years ago I had dinner at Flying Fish Cafe along with three other DIS friends (emmysmommy, smile4stamps, and Couchy) plus two of their husbands. This dinner was the most bizarre dining experience I’ve ever had at WDW…actually, probably anywhere. The strangeness began with an innocent question to our server by one of my dining companions as to whether they had changed their bread recipe. Our server reacted very defensively, as if she had personally insulted him. From this point on, our server’s attitude progressively worsened until ultimately the manager got involved. Not only did he provide us with a new server who was excellent (which for me would have been a satisfactory remedy to the problem), but he completely comped our meal. A meal for 6 that included appetizers, entrees, desserts, wine, and cocktails. :eek: This came as a huge surprise to me and to this day I still have no idea how or why this happened. :confused3I mean, how could a complimentary basket of bread have evolved into this? Which is why I titled this bread and resulting experience in my dining review as “Much Ado About Nothing.”

So now that I have set the stage, let’s fast forward to this dinner at…

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Reservation Details:

Flying Fish Cafe Dinner
Disney’s BoardWalk
Date: Tuesday, 11/03/2015
Time: 7:55 PM – Dinner
Party Size: 1

After viewing the Osborne Lights at DHS for the first time of this trip, I headed back to the Boardwalk for my dinner at Flying Fish. They were quite busy that night so after checking in I had about a 15 minute wait. When I was seated, it was at a table in the same area of the restaurant as my dinner here two years ago. I was flooded with memories of that strange dining experience, so I was rather lost in these thoughts as I looked over the menu…

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I was brought back to the current moment though by the voice of my server greeting me. And when I looked up from my menu, there he was. The same server from our “Much Ado About Nothing” experience! :eek: Needless to say, I nearly fell off my chair from the surprise. :faint: But if he noticed the stunned look on my face, thankfully he didn’t let on…as I had no desire to relive our previous meeting. ;) I somehow managed a quick recovery (or I hope I did anyway) and placed my drink order. Then I tried to concentrate on the menu and making my choices before he returned with my drink and a basket of that “Much Ado About Nothing” bread… :laughing:

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(Note to self: Eat the bread. Do not mention anything about it to your server…even if it tastes like dirt. ;))

But the bread did not taste bad at all. It might have been because I was very hungry (having not eaten anything in the last 9+ hours), but the bread actually tasted pretty good this time. :thumbsup2

Now back to my ordering dilemma. I have some long-time favorites at Flying Fish, so it would have been very easy to order those once again. I succumbed to this temptation when ordering my appetizer, as this is actually one of my favorite WDW appetizers.

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Flying Fish Cafe Signature Crab Cakes served with Vegetable Slaw, Red Pepper Coulis, Ancho Chile Remoulade

From another angle…

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Previously this appetizer consisted of one large crab cake but now is two smaller ones, which is nice because it makes it easier for two people to share. But luckily I didn’t have to share, because I love these and ate every last bite. :thumbsup2

As for my entree, I really like their signature Potato-wrapped Red Snapper and have ordered this every time I have dined at Flying Fish, except for the first. But I was determined to expand my Flying Fish horizons and try something different. Many of the other entrees sounded good, but ultimately I decided to go with this one…

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Grilled Hokkaido Scallops served with Pumpkin, Butternut Squash, Pecorino, and Mascarpone-laced Risotto di Carnaroli and Crispy Prosuitto

 

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I swear this entree did not have a bad side…it was gorgeous from all angles! :thumbsup2 And not only did it look wonderful, but it tasted as great as it looked. Soooo good! And this coming from someone who has never been all that crazy about scallops. On the shellfish hierarchy, scallops fall somewhere in the middle between shrimp, lobster, and clams (which I love) and mussels and oysters (which I absolutely don’t love ;)). So ordering scallops was a bit of a surprise choice for me, but when looking at the menu it seemed to call out my name…and I’m so glad that I answered the call. While I still would give the red snapper a slight edge here, I can honestly say that this dish gave my favorite a good run for its money. ::yes::

I rarely have room for both an appetizer and dessert in addition to an entree, so I usually end up choosing one or the other. But despite the fact that I had devoured my crab cakes and ate most of the entree, I still felt hungry enough to consider ordering dessert. Here are the desserts that I had to choose from…

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I’d pretty much decided on the Berry-licious Sundae Deluxe but before my server came to take my dessert order, he delivered this dessert to the table next to mine…

 

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Our Signature Flying Fish Cafe Caramelized Banana Napoleon with Crisp Phyllo, Banana Mousse, Creme Caramel, Exotic Fruit Coulis, and Bitter Chocolate
And no, I didn’t reach over and steal a photo of my neighbor’s dessert. ;)
Oh, and you may be wondering about the service. Well, I’m happy to say that I saw nothing of the bad attitude which this server had had during our previous experience. He was nice this time and provided me with good service throughout my meal. Although not quite at the top-notch level of service that I received at Yachtsman Steakhouse, I left Flying Fish that night feeling quite satisfied…both with the food and the service.Want to know what I did next on this trip or just want to share a comment on this review? Click here to go to this trip’s blog post!