Our dinner at the Wave was arguably the best meal we had on our 11-day dining plan trip. For sure, it won the most "gourmet" award. It also excelled in service and meal pacing.
When we arrived on time for our ADR, we were shown where to park our stroller and given a beeper and told to wait in the lounge. My boys loved walking around in there, because there were plush ottomans just their size. As a bonus, CNN or perhaps MSNBC (not ABC, which made us chuckle) was on so us grown-ups could get a real world fix. My boys were actually sad when it was time to go to our table.
Our server brought us some multi-grain bread along with butter topped with Hawaiin red sea salt. It was delicious. I failed to get a good picture of this. Actually, it was really difficult to take any photos here due to the lighting. There are no windows and the resturant atmosphere is warm, dark, and elegant. Not a place I felt comfortable using a flash. Actually, I felt really self-conscious even having my camera out at all, unlike pretty much all of the other places we dined.
I should mention that our children were some of the only children in the restaurant. We still felt quite welcome, but it was a far cry from, say, Chef Mickey's. I bet they get a lot of convention people in here. There were also a lot of couples.
As we sat down, our server informed us that the menu had just changed that very day! I confess that I was a tad disappointed because I had already mentally made my selection from the all-ears list. However, I found several appealing choices from the new menu.
We had some questions about the menu, and our server was happy to confer with the chef. After confirming that the Grilled beef tenderloin with planet carrots, Parsley Root puree, and pablano pepper rings was not a spicy dish, DH ordered it.
He loved the steak, which had some kind of herb butter (I thought perhaps it was capers?) slathered on top. The pablano rings were not spicy at all. He didn't care for them though (just not a pepper person), so I had one of them. I thought it was great.
Being a short rib fan, I chose the Cabernet-Tomato braised beef short ribs, even though I had short ribs only two days before at Chefs de France. They came with purple sweet potatoes, cider-braised brussels sprouts, and candied elephant garlic. It was a wonderful combination. I've had purple potatoes before but never sweet ones like this. They were roasted to a nice consistency. The garlic was not overpowering. A nice little morsel.
This dish was nothing short of excellent. I told our server that they made the chefs de France short ribs taste like Chef Boyardee in comparison. This pleased him very much, and he told us some of the kitchens have a friendly rivalry. He promised to let the chef know how we felt.
My son chose the cheese pizza, though he was disappointed that he didn't have an option to have pepperoni. I chose seasonal vegetables and brown sugar apples as his sides. The brown sugar apples are just that: apples with sugar on top. A little strange as I was expecting something cooked with butter.
He and the baby split this and seemed to enjoy it all. They didn't finish the veggies though...surprise, surprise.
My husband had the Omega smoothie as his drink and I had unsweetened iced tea. I had almost ordered myself a smoothie, but our server cautioned that it was quite sweet. When I changed to the tea, he brought out a little extra in a to-go cup so I could try it. He also offered to switch me from the tea to the smoothie later in the meal at no extra charge. How sweet and generous! However, the taste was plenty for me. I don't think my husband was able to finish his, though he liked it a lot.
The dessert menus changed as well. I am unable to fully identify each of these, but I'll try. We liked them!
DH's dessert: I think this was called "American favorites" and was a take on Boston creme pie, Mississippi mud pie, and lemon merange?
Mine: This may have been called creamy indulgence. It was come kind of creamy, cocoa covered chocolate (perhaps a panna cotta?) with edible gold on top, a coffee creme brulee with biscotti, and cheesecake (I think) with pineapple (?) chutney. You can also see a piece of the bread peeking out on top.
We would certainly go back to the Wave. It was a great value on the DDP (only 1 TS credit!) but we also thought the prices were fair for the quality of the food. I'm really surprised that this restaurant doesn't get more attention on the various Disney fan sites. It's a real gem!
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