It Takes Two, Baby; a 2017 Flower and Garden dining report *NEW dining report!*

Haaaaa! I give Homecoming a slight advantage to the Friendly's crispy chicken salad due to the orange tomatoes hiding in that pile of iceburg lettuce lol. Friendly's honey mustard is still the best I've ever tasted.

I wasn't in love with my mac and cheese from Homecoming either. It wasn't as dry as yours, but it didn't have a ton of flavor.
 
I've fallen behind on my Dis-duties!! I'm sorry! I'm getting there...

We did manage to get there by about 7:45 and they'd started letting everyone in! We rode RnRC, TOTx2, then went to TSMM which had a 45 minute wait posted but we were on in 11.

Yay! Glad to hear you got in your DHS favorites...especially your ToT fix :)

I have to say, even if you aren't a fan the March of the First Order is quite impressive. The noise, the intensity, it's really very cool.

I agree! I'm not much of a SW fan, but it's still pretty neat to experience.

Steve got the Lamb Chop: served with Quinoa Salad and Blackberry Gastrique:

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This looks so good!

Soft, warm, and fluffy like a kitty but more acceptable to eat.

Um...bahaha

Good to know you're up on your social protocol about kitty-consumption.

OMG I can't even say if the macaron is still my favorite dessert from the festival because this was heavenly!! Warm Wild Berry Buckle: served with Pepper Berry Gelato
It looks like a cobbler and that's what it tasted like but it was the best cobbler-type dessert I'd ever had.

Yum!! This looks and sounds so delicious!!

There are a number of things I don't like about the new, improved Downtown Disney, but I do like the area around Homecomin'.

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Agree 100% about both parts of that statement.

Sorry to hear about your lousy Homecomin' experience! I've been feeling bad about not ever finding time to get there, but now I don't feel so concerned about it.
 
I'm sorry your meal at Homecoming was less than stellar. It does get lots of love here.
That's a shame about the Mac and Cheese it did look dry :crazy2:
So is the Edison a new restaurant?
 
How disappointing! I'm now re-thinking our dinner plans for Feb. Thanks for the honest review.
 


Wow, that's not what I expected from the Homecomin' Mac & Cheese. I don't know much about southern cooking, but I personally am a fan of my homemade mac & cheese and I make a very creamy sauce, almost to the point of it being a mac & cheese stew! That picture of yours doesn't look the best. I would probably give Homecomin' a try though. As for fried chicken, I don't eat a whole lot of it, but I enjoy it when I do.
 
I have to agree with you on Homecomin' and we actually DID try the fried chicken. We'd been so looking forward to it as DH loves his fried chicken, but he makes it better at home when he takes the time to make it. I did try the mac & cheese and I don't remember it being quite so dry, but it was bland.
 
Whoops, I fell behind! All caught back up now. Your F&G choices looked yummy! Too bad on your experience at Homecoming. I doubt we'll ever eat there since the menu doesn't appeal to me, though I am planning to get a drink (or two) from the walk-up bar in September :-)
 


One day it'll be you and me :goodvibes

Yes, because surely we can end up there at the same time eventually!! or the magical, mystical 'DISLadies' trip that has been mentioned on at least 4 or 5 of our TRs at this point.

They look like scruffy, possibly drunk, not to be trusted park goers

Exactly! Drunk and scruffies who bought some kiddie swords at the gift shop!

Disney F&G artists take a trip to ACMoore!

Ooh, what is AC Moore?? Is it a New York/eastern US crafty type store?? Here we are stuck with Hobby Lobby (which is painful for me because I disagree with them politically and would LOVE to not shop there). We have a JoAnn Fabric, but it is small and doesn't have a good selection. In Missouri we had a Michaels, which I loved.

but after reading so many awesome reviews of Homecomin' I talked myself into trying that instead.

Hooray!! But also boo, because I feel like this is foreshadowing

These were delicious. I wasn't sure about the ham because I've never had ham on my fried green tomatoes before but it went perfectly. Added a nice bit of saltiness to them instead of having to add salt myself, and the breading was light rather than heavy. So far so good!

We liked their fried green tomatoes, but did not love them. The weakest part of our meal. They weren't bad, just not amazing, and definitely not like my grandmothers. Yours looked great...and now I want some!!

or Homecoming if you can't handle the dropped "g"

Me. :wave:

I would assume it's the same recipe as the rest of the fried chicken they serve?

Hmm...it looks like different chicken. Like from anywhere. You're right, that salad doesn't look like anything special.

As for the sandwich.............he felt it was "eh"

Yeah, it looks boring. This is definitely a far cry from the food we had there

It was bone dry:

Yuck!!

Otherwise, this is probably a one and done for us; sorry!

I understand your position based on your experience there, but it makes me sad for you. Homecoming was amazing for us, and cemented itself as a family must do. I've been trying to figure out where I can fit it in for October, because I want to go back so badly (Matt will be so jealousssss if I do)
If we do ever end up in WDW at the same time, maybe we can eat there together and see if our combined awesomeness ramps up the quality or something.


I'm curious to see what it says when we're there next month!

Opening with Star Wars Land!

I think the Edison looks really cool, too!
 
Next came the app I was super dying to try: Bee Haven Bay Fried Green Tomatoes: Shaved Ham, Remoulade Sauce, and dressed local greens:

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Yummmmm! Those look so good. I think they'd be even better with bacon though!

Steve got something a little more exciting than a salad but still not their signature fried chicken meal; he ordered the Fried Chicken Sandwich with BBQ Chips: Buttermilk marinated and double-battered served with hot sauce aioli:

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My sister still raves about his sandwich. Sorry Steve wasn't impressed with it.

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Now I might make some of you mad with what I'm about to say and I also might be wrong so feel free to correct me; I'm certainly not a mac and cheese expert. I think this is more of a southern food? So at first I thought maybe in the south, people make and eat their mac and cheese dry, and the reviews I'd read were written by southerners. We thought this was the worst M&C we'd ever had; Kraft is better. NO cheese whatsoever except the barely melted cheese near the top. All we ate was what's missing in the above picture,and when our server asked if we liked it we told her absolutely not and told her it was 100% dry. She just said "ok" and walked away. I can't remember her name but she was a cute young girl with black pigtails and she was from Ga.
I've read a couple more reviews of the mac and cheese since our visit and they were written by folks who live in the south (or at least more south than NY lol) and they said how awesome and creamy their serving was, so there goes my theory of dry southern M&C!! I guess maybe we got a crappy batch. REAL crappy.
Yead I'd say you got a bad batch. All of the pictures I've seen of it look extremely cheesy. It also stinks that your waitress didn't offer to bring you a new one.

We loved Homecomin' but I can definitely see how you don't feel the need to go back.
 
There are a number of things I don't like about the new, improved Downtown Disney, but I do like the area around Homecomin'.
Yeah... I'm wondering how I'll like the changes. I haven't been since the big updates, but typically don't spend much time here anyway. I do think this area is very pretty, as you said!

Bee Haven Bay Fried Green Tomatoes:
YUM!!! I love Fried Green Tomatoes!!!

I guess maybe we got a crappy batch. REAL crappy.
Yikes, sounds like an otherwise crappy meal, indeed. I haven't been myself, but after this, I'm not anxious to try the mac and cheese!
 
That mac and cheese looks dry, like they forgot the cheese or something and had breadcrumbs mixed it. I've never been to this restaurant before, the menu hasn't really appealed to me. Sorry you didn't have a good meal there.
 
Ooo I really want to try those but I've never had fried green tomatoes before.
You should try them, they're very good! After I saw the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" years ago I was super curious. They aren't on menus around here (and I'm sure not by you either) so one year my friend gave us some gorgeous green tomatoes from her garden and Steve made some for me. LOVED them!

Btw my dad used to get that salad at Friendlys every single time we went as kids.
Friendly's is my all time favorite restaurant :rotfl2:seriously! And they've all closed down by me so the closest one is about 45 minutes away. You should see me if we're somewhere and we see a sign for Friendly's, I'm like a dog when you say, "wanna go for a walk?"

They do have a takeout window!
:thumbsup2

Okay, so I keep thinking I need to try it because of all the reviews but there isn't a ton on the menu that piques my interest. I had this penciled in for our DS day for this June but I really want to try The Boathouse. So I guess we shall see.
Well if you remember I loved the Boathouse in Feb. so I think that's a great choice. Don't make a decision not to go to Homecomin' on my review but if you really aren't interested, I say try Boathouse.

Yeh...um no on the dry mac-n-cheese, and I'm from right there in GA! And I used to make a nice casserole tyoe mac-n-cheese with penne pasta, lots of miilk and butter and layered in cheese. Yum!
I really didn't think dry mac n cheese was the southern way lol! Yours sounds delish :goodvibes

Part of my issue is, I am southern and I have been raised around Southern food all my life and its good, don't get me wrong, but when I go out to eat, I like to have other types of food. So who knows where we end up. I'll have to have Chad help me decide.
That's understandable. I still say the Boathouse is a good suggestion but since Chad is SO DISNEY now, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to help you with the decision lol!!!

Ahh this makes me nervous about our reservation for December. Being from the south I hardly can't hardly eat anybody's fried chicken but my moms. The year we ate at 50's Prime Time I got the sampler platter and only had 2 bites of the fried chicken because it was horrible
Well if you're interested in trying it then I say keep it, or else you'll just keep wondering what it's like! Lots of southern folk like yourself like it just fine :laughing: so you might be surprised. But I can be like that with sauce (as in marinara, or spaghetti sauce). My moms/grandmothers is the best so I'm very picky about my sauce and even when I like a restaurants sauce it's not that often I LOVE it.

Ahh this makes me nervous about our reservation for December. Being from the south I hardly can't hardly eat anybody's fried chicken but my moms. The year we ate at 50's Prime Time I got the sampler platter and only had 2 bites of the fried chicken because it was horrible. I am hoping Homecomin has a better chicken than that.

I may be one of the most unsouthern-southern woman you ever meet because I don't drink sweet tea either.
LOL! I never understood sweet tea! But then of course I'm not from the south. I never heard of "sweet tea" until my parents moved to Ga. back in 1992 and when I asked for tea one morning when we went out to breakfast they brought me sweet tea. I wanted hot tea............which I don't put sugar or milk in so I was surprised in more way than one!

Mom did teach me how to make Mac and cheese "right". It is very soupy and not dry at all. Nick eats it so I guess it works. :rotfl2:
Yours sounds good too!

I Loooooved the fried green tomatoes at Homecomin' too.
It was kind of worth going just for them :)

Maybe the chef was on vacation and there was a lacky filling in for him/her...:tilt:
:rotfl: could have been!

Finally all caught up. Love the Coke bottle.
Hi there, thanks for doing all that back reading! I'm hoping they still have the coke bottles when we go next month.
 
You should try them, they're very good! After I saw the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" years ago I was super curious. They aren't on menus around here (and I'm sure not by you either) so one year my friend gave us some gorgeous green tomatoes from her garden and Steve made some for me. LOVED them!

I want to! No, we don't have them anywhere I've seen either; that's why I've never had any.

Friendly's is my all time favorite restaurant : Rotfl2:seriously! And they've all closed down by me so the closest one is about 45 minutes away. You should see me if we're somewhere and we see a sign for Friendly's, I'm like a dog when you say, "wanna go for a walk?"

My dad used to take us like every week when we were kids : Rotfl: our closest one is around 45 mins away too. I haven't been in years. I loved that crispy chicken wrap!
 
After I saw the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" years ago I was super curious.
One of my favorite movies!

I still say the Boathouse is a good suggestion but since Chad is SO DISNEY now, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to help you with the decision lol!!!
Yeh, even when I initially planned for a meal at DS for this past trip, I had Homecomin' then I decided to switch to Boathouse...but then decided against a TS. So I really think I will prefer Boathouse. And DH and I are both seafood fans, so I saw way more on that menu that interested me. Like you, it was the peer pressure that had me considering Homecomin' again.
 
Wow, your Friendly' (see how I dropped the s there) dining experience certainly was not the same as ours. Now granted we didn't try too many things, but our mac n cheese was no where near dry and we loved the chicken on our biscuits. I'd like to say maybe you just hit it on a bad night, but who knows. Good news is I hear Friendly's makes a mean salad and usually has an ADR available :P
 
Um...bahaha

Good to know you're up on your social protocol about kitty-consumption.
Lol! I'm a major cat lover so I cringed a bit writing that, but it fit :D

So is the Edison a new restaurant?
Yes! But it's supposed to have so much more by way of entertainment going on while you eat.

How disappointing! I'm now re-thinking our dinner plans for Feb. Thanks for the honest review.
Ugh, I hate to make someone change their plans! You might like it! You're welcome though, I also don't necessarily like saying negative things about our meals in Disney because everyone is different but hey, if we don't like it we don't like it. Could have been what we ordered though and maybe if you get more of the popular, signature dishes you'll have better luck :)

I would probably give Homecomin' a try though. As for fried chicken, I don't eat a whole lot of it, but I enjoy it when I do.
Yeah I think you should if it interests you because really, there are many more positive reviews than negative. And while I did want to try it the menu wasn't screaming out to either of us before we went which might have had something to do with our less than enthusiastic feelings on the experience.

I have to agree with you on Homecomin' and we actually DID try the fried chicken.
Wow, yours is the first I've heard of someone not liking it!

I did try the mac & cheese and I don't remember it being quite so dry, but it was bland.
And we are definitely in the minority on the mac and cheese lol!

Whoops, I fell behind! All caught back up now.
Summer is hard, I find I have much less time for the Dis than I do while the kids are in school.........

Your F&G choices looked yummy!
We had a great trip as far as F&G goes; really 2 great trips with only a couple misses. I know it's not F&W but they really do a great job with the eats and drinks!

Too bad on your experience at Homecoming. I doubt we'll ever eat there since the menu doesn't appeal to me, though I am planning to get a drink (or two) from the walk-up bar in September :-)
Yeah like I mentioned above we may not have been so "eh" about it if we'd been more excited about the menu to begin with; it was more, "everyone's talking about it, let's do it" type of thing (except for my fried green tomatoes!). I am going to try the walk up bar next month though :thumbsup2

Yes, because surely we can end up there at the same time eventually!! or the magical, mystical 'DISLadies' trip that has been mentioned on at least 4 or 5 of our TRs at this point.
2019! I'm not going to let anyone forget about the DISLadies trip!

Exactly! Drunk and scruffies who bought some kiddie swords at the gift shop!
LOL the swords AND shields! I forgot about that part but I also thought the same thing the first time I saw them; that they were drunk and had either bought them or taken them from their kids :rotfl:

Ooh, what is AC Moore?? Is it a New York/eastern US crafty type store??
YES!! Very similar to Michaels

Here we are stuck with Hobby Lobby (which is painful for me because I disagree with them politically and would LOVE to not shop there)
::yes:: I'm right there with you. We have one Hobby Lobby which opened maybe 5 years ago. I was in AWE when I walked in; their stuff is beautiful. Then I heard all the political stuff so I try not to go there. The draw is strong though..........

We have a JoAnn Fabric, but it is small and doesn't have a good selection. In Missouri we had a Michaels, which I loved.
Our one JoAnn is very small also but we have Michaels. Tons of Michaels and tons of ACMoore's. Those are really my go-to's. I wasn't sure where they were located in the U.S. so when I used ACMoore in my reply to you I figured either one might or might not work lol

We liked their fried green tomatoes, but did not love them. The weakest part of our meal. They weren't bad, just not amazing, and definitely not like my grandmothers. Yours looked great...and now I want some!!
So now I need to try your key lime pie and your grandmothers fried green tomatoes :hyper:

If we do ever end up in WDW at the same time, maybe we can eat there together and see if our combined awesomeness ramps up the quality or something.
Our awesomeness would probably make Tony's the best food we've ever eaten :rotfl2:

I think the Edison looks really cool, too!
Doesn't it?? I wonder how hard it'll be to get reservations there. I'll definitely try it the first time we're there after it opens.

All of the pictures I've seen of it look extremely cheesy. It also stinks that your waitress didn't offer to bring you a new one.

We loved Homecomin' but I can definitely see how you don't feel the need to go back.
I kind of wish she had but we were pretty much over our meal by then. And yes, I've seen tons of pictures of creamy ones :(

Yeah... I'm wondering how I'll like the changes. I haven't been since the big updates, but typically don't spend much time here anyway. I do think this area is very pretty, as you said!
It's very pretty and I love the evening entertainment they have now. And, the new restaurants and even QS places are great! It just feels less "Disney" to me which is what I don't like.

Yikes, sounds like an otherwise crappy meal, indeed. I haven't been myself, but after this, I'm not anxious to try the mac and cheese!
If you do I hope it's cheesy! Oh and I have to say, I don't think I knew you were in NY??? Cool!!! Now I have to see how far you are from me!!

That mac and cheese looks dry, like they forgot the cheese or something and had breadcrumbs mixed it. I've never been to this restaurant before, the menu hasn't really appealed to me. Sorry you didn't have a good meal there.
,
Thanks, hey, you win some you lose some, and we had an awesome day at F&G so at least we ate good earlier!

That looks soooooo good!
It was delicious!
 
One of my favorite movies!
I noticed you watched this recently :)


Wow, your Friendly' (see how I dropped the s there) dining experience certainly was not the same as ours. Now granted we didn't try too many things, but our mac n cheese was no where near dry and we loved the chicken on our biscuits
lol I remember reading your review of the mac and cheese and thinking man, they got a good one :mad:
 
I totally thought that was Darth Vader leading it until someone recently set me straight :duck:

Oh, no :sad2:

OMG I can't even say if the macaron is still my favorite dessert from the festival because this was heavenly!! Warm Wild Berry Buckle: served with Pepper Berry Gelato
It looks like a cobbler and that's what it tasted like but it was the best cobbler-type dessert I'd ever had. We sat on a wall across from the jumping water area for kids to play in between FW and WS and ate this, and then caught a bus back to Kidani. Another awesome visit to the Flower and Garden festival booths in the books! Come next year I know there's no way I'll be able to pass up visiting during the festival at least once.

That looks delicious!


There are a number of things I don't like about the new, improved Downtown Disney, but I do like the area around Homecomin'.


Can't wait to see it myself! That looks pretty :-)

Bee Haven Bay Fried Green Tomatoes: Shaved Ham, Remoulade Sauce, and dressed local greens:


This was fine. It had cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce. It was a salad with crispy chicken on it and ranch dressing. Everything was fresh and it was a good size, the chicken tasted good but I don't think it tasted any different than Friendly's fried chicken tender salad :duck: and I would assume it's the same recipe as the rest of the fried chicken they serve?
Steve got something a little more exciting than a salad but still not their signature fried chicken meal; he ordered the Fried Chicken Sandwich with BBQ Chips: Buttermilk marinated and double-battered served with hot sauce aioli:

As an afterthought but before our entrees came we put in an order for a side of their mac and cheese, something we don't normally order or eat but again, something I'd read was fabulous. I do like a mac and cheese with breadcrumbs on top so I thought that would be a plus. It came out about 2 minutes after our entrees and looked great!
Momma's Mac and Cheese:

It was bone dry:

I guess maybe we got a crappy batch. REAL crappy.

It all looks so good. I'm so disappointed to hear it wasn't amazing. We have an ADR here in November…I'll have to think about this more.

This is one place I'm totally excited for! It looks very interesting. When Cathy and I were here in Feb. the sign read "opening Spring 2017" which obviously didn't happen. I'm curious to see what it says when we're there next month!


I haven't heard about this…what is it?
 
Oh and I have to say, I don't think I knew you were in NY??? Cool!!! Now I have to see how far you are from me!!
Yep! I'm in Corning... we'll have to see how far we are from each other :rolleyes1 I think I just read you're close to Poughkeepsie, which would mean less than 4 hours ;)
 

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