Spoodles, Day 4, and final thoughts

After retiring to OKW for a few hours of sun and rest, it was time to get ready for our dinner ADR at Spoodles. We hopped on the bus and headed off to DTD to catch a bus to the Boardwalk. As usual, the hour we allotted to reach Boardwalk did not prove to be enough time. We arrived at Spoodles five minutes late for our ADR, but that was not a problem. The restaurant was not crowded, probably 2/3 full. We waited for a table for about 10 minutes and were then seated.

Spoodles has a nice atmosphere. It feels light and open, as opposed to dark and crowded (which both Kona and Le Cellier felt like to me) and has a definite Mediterranean vibe. Our waiter was fine, a little slow and forgetful, but otherwise fine. He did tell us there were no specials because the menu was so new. Yet all through dinner we kept hearing the chefs yelling out “Special up” and during dessert we heard them yell “86 the special” (restaurant talk for stop selling it/we’re out of it) so we weren’t too happy about that.

Drinks were just standard sodas, we asked what was available for a beverage on the DDP, but were not told any cool non-alcoholic specialty drinks or anything. We were served bread with dipping oil. The bread was similar in texture to foccacia and the olive oil had herbs and spices in it, but not real strong. It was good, not amazing or anything.

Appetizers were as follows:

Me: Lamb kebabs. I like lamb and this was about 4 decent size chunks of lamb meat on a skewer with harissa sauce and a little salad of chick peas tossed with herbs and spices. The lamb was cooked medium, tender and didn’t have any fat/gristle. This was very good, except I wished I had asked for the harissa sauce on the side, it was a bit overpowering. The harissa was not spicy hot, just very strong on the flavors of cumin, sweet red pepper (could have been sweet paprika), and coriander. The chick pea salad that the lamb rested on was very refreshing. It had a light olive oil/lemon juice and fresh herb flavor. Overall, the lamb was a nice change of pace and fit well with the theme of Spoodles.

DM: Margherita Flatbread with vine-ripened tomatoes, basil, fresh mozzarella cheese. This was very good, tasted like a gourmet pizza or like bruschetta. She liked it; it is definitely big enough for sharing if you want a light appetizer.

DS21: Four Cheese Flatbread with roasted garlic puree. She liked it, but only ate 2 pieces. It is very rich and filling. When I tasted it I was not prepared for the garlic kick! Wow, this is garlicky! I figured it would be cheesier, but it tasted more like a flatbread version of cheesy garlic bread.

DS27: Mediterranean Dips with toasted pita, marinated olives and almonds. This was the winner of the appetizers. It has beautiful presentation and a nice variety of dips with fresh pita bread. The best dips were the tzatziki, the feta dip, and the hummus. The feta dip is a feta cheese lovers dream! We all agreed that we would order this again, and really it would have been enough for the four of us to share as an appetizer.

Entrees were not really exciting. By this point we were actually getting a little burnt out on eating. I never thought that would happen!

Me: Red Snapper. This was very good. This fish was firm and well cooked and seasoned. The couscous that went with it was very good too and I was happy it was served in a tomato based broth. The “greens” was just a sprinkling of spring greens, not really wilted and not a substantial amount. I managed to finish the whole piece of fish, though I was getting stuffed.

DM: Pork chop. She was a little thrown off when our server asked how she would like it cooked. She got it medium-well and it was excellent, very tender and flavorful. She didn’t really comment much on the accompaniments.

DS21 and DS27: shrimp linguini with preserved lemons. They both liked this and really enjoyed the shrimp. There were probably about 6 large shrimp in a large bowl of pasta. The lemons are pretty strong and both of them ended up picking them out. Honestly, they only at the shrimp and just a bit of the pasta. By this point in the meal, they were too full to make any kind of dent in the pasta.

Desserts were hit or miss.

Me: White chocolate orange cake. I didn’t like this; the orange glaze on top was completely overwhelming. The texture of the cake was good, but even after I scraped off the glaze it was just too “orangey” tasting for me. Luckily, my DM really likes orange so she traded desserts with me.

DM: gelato. This was vanilla gelato with some chopped almonds in it served with a sweet cherry sauce and a piece of almond brittle. The menu says bark, but when I see bark I think chocolate, and this was more like a very thin piece of brittle (almonds, butter, sugar baked until crisp). It was very good gelato.

DS21: Chocolate Apricot Pistachio Cake. This was very delicious; it had a rich chocolate flavor from the cake and the ganache like frosting. It is dense and filling. The apricot/pistachio filling is not overwhelming in taste, just adds a nice hint of citrus and nut flavors to the dessert.

DS27: Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee with biscotti. This was the best dessert in my opinion. The crème brulee was light and sweet and just delicious, the baked sugar on top melted in your mouth. I was very jealous that I didn’t order this.

Overall, I would give Spoodles a solid A-, I wasn’t blown away by it, but it was a nice change of pace from the other TS restaurants. It has a very nice atmosphere (though it can be a little loud) and the setting of the Boardwalk is cool. I really appreciate the different menu choices that Spoodles offers.

Alas, when return in the fall we will not be dining at Spoodles or Le Cellier. We are anxious to try different TS restaurants and really the only one that I could see returning to with my family for a repeat visit so soon is Kona. Kona has a lot to offer for both adventurous and non-adventurous eaters and the setting is good for families.

Our last day went by in a blur, even though our flight wasn’t until 5pm that night. We woke up later then we wanted to, and check out was at 11. So again, breakfast in the room and then lunch at DTD before catching the ME.

We used up the rest of our snack credits at Goofy’s, grabbing make your own rice krispie treats, bunches of Mickey head suckers, etc. It was really nice to be able to use SC to get souvenirs. Saved us even more money!!

Lunch was EofS for some of us and WGPE for others. I had the ham sandwich from WGPE served with homemade chips , unsweetened mango ice tea, and a triple chocolate cookie for dessert. The sandwich and chips were great! Unfortunately, they were out of crème brulee, so I had to settle for the cookie which I ate later at the airport. It was good, just ordinary though.

Overall, DTD is a great place to go to get food on the last day. EofS wraps the sandwiches and WGPE will make your food “to go”, so these are both good stops to grab lunch for the car ride or plane ride home.

Concluding thoughts:

I was concerned that the DDP might not be enough food since you don’t get 3 meals a day. It’s definitely enough food. We really didn’t feel hungry much at all. Sometimes it was hard to get motivated to eat more, go to dinner, and order everything at the TS restaurants. It was a great experience though, I’m so glad we tried it. We were able to order new things, order what we wanted without worrying about price, and not have to worry about tip, carrying cash, etc.

We did not having charging privileges on our cards to avoid any mistakes. We also kept close track of our credits and did not have any problems.

Sharing CS meals is a good plan. Many of the CS meals are big enough to share and it makes it easier to try a lot of things and not waste a lot of food.

After the first day we didn’t bother with bringing home leftovers. Even though we had a fridge, it was pretty full of leftovers after the first few meals and no one was really hungry enough to eat them. We ended up throwing out quite a few things on our last day.

OKW has coffee pots in the room and they provide you with some coffee and little creamers. Knowing this we brought a small can of coffee so we didn’t have to request more. Be prepared that cans of tea/coffee/cocoa must be sealed to go on the plane in a carry-on bag and they will be checked by security. The gift shop at OKW has cartons of half and half for $1.65 or so. This made the trip so much better for me and DM as we like to drink coffee a couple of times through the day and don’t care for powdered creamers or non-dairy creamer.

If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them. I will be back at the end of September with reviews of: Yacht Club Galley, ‘Ohana Character Breakfast, ‘Ohana’s dinner, and Whispering Canyon Café.

Thanks for reading!!