Background: With this being a longer than normal trip for us, I decided that we should spend a whole day at Downtown Disney...something we hadn't done for a couple of years. So in terms of food, a full day meant from breakfast to dinner. That's three meals or three new restaurants/food venues we could try. I was very excited just thinking about all the possibilities. But then about a week before our trip, I made the mistake of discussing my dining plans with my daughters. When told of my plans for our DTD day, their response was..."Couldn't we just skip breakfast and sleep-in an extra hour?" WHAT??? And give up the opportunity to finally try some of the breakfast foods at Wolfgang Puck Express??? No way!!!
So I had to do some quick thinking to avoid this potential mutiny.
In my most diplomatic voice, I proposed a deal to my rebellious offspring. If they joined me for breakfast at WPE, then they could each choose where we would have one of our other two meals of this day. They took the bait...I mean, they accepted my proposal.
So now I just needed to convince them that the new places that I wanted to try, were the ones that they wanted to try. DD2 was a pushover, she was all for combining our lunch with seeing a movie. One down, one to go. I then started working on DD1, suggesting that we could have dinner at Portobello since we all like Italian food. No, she didn't want to have Italian again so soon after our dinner at Il Mulino. Okay then, how about if we try the Cuban food at Bongo's? No, she didn't feel like Cuban food. What? How do you know that you won't feel like Cuban food a week from now???
Yes, I thought this, but what I said to her was, "How about Fulton's for seafood?" No, we will be having seafood the night before at bluezoo. At this point I knew where this was heading and that my plan to try all new places at Downtown Disney had been foiled. I resigned myself to the fact that we would be having...
Dinner at Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant
Now don't get me wrong, I really do like Raglan Road. It's just that it is the one table-service restaurant at Downtown Disney where we have eaten, and not just once but at least four times. So I just thought it might be nice to try something new, but I guess we are in fact creatures of habit...even at the ripe-old age of 22. Okay I'm done with the complaining, now on to our review...
We arrived at Raglan Road about a 1/2 hour before our 7:00 reservation, but this was not a problem. In fact, they seated us so quickly that my DDs barely got their feet into the door of the Raglan Road gift shop...thereby saving me a few dollars.
I asked that we be seated in the main dining area where all the action takes place and my request was granted. By all the action, I of course mean the entertainment, which includes the Raglan Road Irish Dancers and their house band, Creel.
I was so distracted by the wonderful entertainment (and taking pictures of them), that I completely forgot to take pictures of the menu. So here is a link to the dinner menu on the Raglan Road website.
http://www.raglanroad.com/stuff-yourself/dinner-menu
And speaking of their website, I learned many things about Raglan Road that I had not known before. For instance, I discovered that Raglan Road is indeed a
"TRUE" IRISH PUB. Its owners and chef (Kevin Dundon) are from Ireland, the band members and dancers are Irish-born, most of the furnishings were custom-made in Ireland, and even the four antique bars (which are each more than 130 years old) were imported from Ireland. In fact, according to the website, "the bleedin' building's from Ireland." "Built entirely in Ireland, shipped lock, stock & beer barrel to Downtown Disney." So I doubt that you could find a more authentic Irish pub outside of the country of Ireland.
Getting back to our dinner now...DD1 was having a difficult time deciding which of the many beers to order from the Drinks Menu. And then she spotted this in the Specialty Libations section of the menu...
Iced Irish - Irelands answer to Starbucks with alcohol added of course. Baileys Caramel Irish Cream, Butterscotch Schnapps, Bushmills whiskey & coffee topped off with fresh cream
She loved this and said that she was impressed by the generous amount of alcohol it contained.
Next came our basket of Irish Soda Bread, which I thought I took a picture of but can't seem to find it. So in lieu of a picture, here is a link to a video I found of Chef Kevin Dundon demonstrating how to make the Raglan Road Irish Soda Bread...
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2010/07/how-to-make-irish-soda-bread-at-downtown-disney/
I know some people don't like this bread, but I happen to really enjoy it. But only when it is dipped in the Guinness beer/brown sugar sauce that they serve with it. Yum!
For an appetizer, I really wanted to order the Appetizer D'Lirrah for us all to share. This is a sampler platter of some of their most popular appetizers, the Dalkey duo, Scallop forrest, Heaven on Earth and Nom Nom Wings. However we decided that we weren't that hungry so instead DD1 and I shared this...
Heaven on Earth - Baby back ribs tossed in a Guinness glaze
I think these are appropriately named because they were tender and delicious, covered with the same Guinness dipping sauce as was served with the bread I believe.
DD1 and I also shared an entree. Here is where I must admit that I too am very much a creature of habit because every time (including this one) I've been to Raglan Road I have always had this for my entree.
Fish & Chips - Beer battered cod and thick-cut french fries
Our server told us that Raglan Road flies their fish in from Boston daily so it is always very fresh. I apologize for not taking a better picture of this, one where you could actually see the portion size. Although there was just one piece of fish, it was large enough for the two of us to share, plus there were a lot of french fries to eat. I've always really enjoyed the Fish & Chips here, so it would be really difficult for me to order anything else at Raglan Road.
However, I can always count on DD2 to try something different every time. This time she chose...
It's a Porker - Grilled pork chop with colcannon potatoes & a port cider jus with apple chutney
She said that this was good, but not nearly as good as the pork chop she had Le Cellier the day before.
Since DD1 and I had shared our appetizer and entree, we still had room for dessert. But not a lot of room, so again we shared this...
Ger's Bread & Butter Pudding with Butterscotch and Custard Sauces (served on the side in small pitchers)
This is another must-have during each and every visit to Raglan Road and it was again delicious. The only bad thing about it is that it is so big and filling that even the two of us couldn't finish it all.
Writing this review made me curious as to how difficult the Raglan Road Bread & Butter Pudding would be to make at home. In case you are interested, here is a link to the recipe I found:
http://allears.net/din/recipes/rec_bbpd.htm
While reading through the ingredients for this, I had to chuckle when I saw that the raisins were to be soaked in Irish mist. I was wondering if this might be on the same order as the Raspberry air that is part of Le Cellier's cheesecake dessert??? But then I found that Irish mist is actually an Irish Whiskey Liqueur. Ahhhh...that makes sense!!! After all, it seems that most of the food at Raglan Road has some form of alcohol involved...Guinness dipping sauce/marinade, beer-battered fish, port cider jus, etc. So why am I not surprised that their signature dessert has whiskey-soaked raisins.
As far as I know though, DD2's dessert did not contain any form of alchohol.
She spotted this raspberry dessert on the menu and she was sold.
Dundon's Delight - Raspberry pavlova with vanilla pod (bean) ice cream and raspberry sauce
Now when she ordered this, she had no idea what pavlova was but with the dessert having "raspberry" listed twice in the description she figured it had to be good. Well, I guess she figured wrong because she gave this only an "Okay" rating. It turns out that she is not a fan of pavlova, which (just in case you too are not familiar with) is a meringue dessert with a crisp and crunchy outer shell, and a soft, moist marshmallow-like center.
So our overall rating for this meal was: Very Good
The next time we visit Downtown Disney, perhaps we will try one of the other many table-service restaurants there. But then again, since we have always had very good meals at Raglan Road, maybe we will just stick with it. You know what they say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
NEXT UP: Breakfast at Sleepy Hollow
) but since Italy got the Ziti Sisters, they now only perform in the UK area. I think they usually do the King Arthur skit, but one time when we were walking by them on our last trip (in a hurry to get somewhere so didn't stop) they were doing something else. I think maybe it was Romeo & Edna. 
Although I must acknowledge that my experience with them is very limited (only one visit to each), the only one in which my first impression was good enough to make my current Top 5 Tier of Signature restaurants was bluezoo. And it just barely made it in at #5. For me, California Grill, YSH, Flying Fish, and Artist Point are all better, and Jiko is a very close #6. 
to the new readers and thanks for taking the time to comment. It's always encouraging to know that there are people out there reading my ramblings. 
That breakfast pocket looks great - how fortunate for you that both of your daughters hated mushroom! I don't love mushrooms on their own, but I can appreciate them in the right context (and that dish looks like the right context 
I've heard about teh infamous corn flake french toast but I have not seen photos... It may make it a tougher decision if I do! 
