Signature Dining at Citricos

This review reflects our experience from January 2016.

Some of the best dining in Disney can be done in the resorts and not in the parks. One that always stands out to us is Citricos in the Grand Floridian. We have eaten here several times but seem to keep forgetting to let you all know how great it is! Previously we were treated to an excellent meal from Chef Phil, but as of our trip in January, Chef Phil has moved over to Golden Oaks and has been replaced.

Citricos is a Signature Dining restaurant located in the main building of the Grand Floridian. Signature Dining often means two different things, it’s expensive (two table credits if you’re on the dining plan) and if it’s not in the parks it usually has some sort of dress code. They aren’t too strict here with the dress code, but it’s fun to get fancy for one evening while on vacation.

We were greeted by our server and we told him we were vegan. We asked about Chef Phil only to be told he had moved resorts. Our server went to get the new chef for us to meet and talk about our meal. He came out and told us that the bread served before dinner is vegan and offered to give us some sort of tomato dipping sauce with the bread. He also told us that the one of the soups could be made vegan (although looking at the menu now it doesn’t seem to be on there anymore) and that the Heirloom Salad could be vegan as well. We already knew that the Seared Tofu Ratatouille was vegan as is so we all ordered that.

The bread we were given was a multigrain and an olive loaf. Both were delicious and warm. The tomato sauce the chef prepared for us was unique and really tasty. We think it may have been the same sauce used for the main dish, but it was still a nice treat with our bread instead of just oil.

The Seared Tofu Ratatouille was a bit different this time than it had been in the past. None of our dishes looked the same, some of us had a ton of tofu or zucchini and some did not.  We don’t know if it was because of the new chef or not but we were very unimpressed with the visual of each others dishes.

As a whole we had enjoyed this dish more previously. The sauce was a bit spicier than in the past and the vegetables didn’t have that light and fresh taste to them. The dish features tomatoes, zucchini noodles, fresh peas, lentils, eggplant, mushrooms and tofu. It may have been an off day for a new chef so we weren’t trying to be too critical. We all agreed that if this was our first time having this dish we probably wouldn’t go back.

We ended up ordering some chocolate Tofutti ice cream for dessert. This was nothing special, just scoops in a bowl but the ice cream was creamy and delicious. They also have vanilla available here if you’re looking for a dessert after dinner.

Would we go back?
Yes, although this experience wasn’t up to what it had been previously, we would be willing to give the new chef another shot. This was one of our favorite dishes in the past so I’d hate to give up on it completely.

Price?
$$$$

Corey & Melissa