From the Canadian Outback

I’ve had this recurring nightmare. I’m in Epcot and I’m walking toward the other side of World Showcase after several runs on Montezuma’s Revenge – the new mud flume built outside the Mexico pavilion. (I told you it was a nightmare). Anyway, me and my dream party – which in addition to myself, consists of my brother and his wife, the lady who played Julie on the original “The Love Boat” TV series and inexplicably, half of the 1984 Olympic figure skating team. Anyway, we’re all hungry and we head over to the Canada pavilion to eat – without a reservation. I approach the host stand at La Cellier – the Canadian steakhouse – and ask if there is room for any walk-ups. The Cast member joked “you don’t have a reservation?” I say “I didn’t think to call”… But the cast member breaks into laughter… calls her friends, tells them what happens in French.. they laugh… Soon, the entire staff of the restaurant and many of the patrons are standing in the little lobby of the restaurant, pointing and laughing, repeatedly yelling “non réservacion”. Then I look down and realize I forgot to wear pants that day…

Then I wake up in a sweat, back safe in my lighthouse in good ole Passamaquoddy. The moral of the dream “if you want to eat at La Cellier, get a reservation and get it early.”.. and also that “Lauren Tewes was cute in 1978 but her cutesy voice gets on your nerves pretty quick.”

Back to reality… after many, many visits I finally scored an ADR – an Advanced Dining Reservation – at La Cellier during the week of Mousefest. I filled out the reservation with some friends, including Bryan from the “All About the Mouse” podcast.

The ALL ABOUT THE MOOSE meet

Andy Jackson, Glenn, Amy and Bryan Ripper

It had been years since I was inside the restaurant and was quickly reminded that the scarcity of reservations may be associated with the small size of the dining space. We waited in the small lobby and attempted to answer their trivia question at the host stand… Which we got very wrong. (it asked us how many Canadian Provinces there were and to name them… Our group got involved and we even employed some other folk in a similar waiting predicament. And the best we could come up with was five out of 13 – and one of them was “maple syrup”. We were okay with that because I quickly realized that my group and all of the other people waiting to eat could easily whoop the three hosts.

We were seated and our server, Mere from British Columbia promptly gave us a visit. She was a pleasure and offered great service and attention throughout the meal.

Most of us weren’t very adventurous with our drinks, but one friend tried a traditional Canadian beer called “Trois Pistoles”. He wasn’t sure whether he liked the flavor but, he did ask a cast iron stove on a date afterwards.

The lunch menu is not very dangerous. Everything is identifiable. After all, it is a steakhouse. At our table we tried the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup ($5.49) and the Wasabi Shrimp Cocktail ($9.99) for an appetizer. Both offerings as well as the nice bread variety were delicious. Other appetizers ran in price up to a $12.99 Duck Confit.

For our meals we had a couple grilled steak burgers ($11.49) and a couple New York Strip steaks ($24.99). My friends’ burgers were rich and succulent and they smiled throughout their meal. The steaks themselves were tasty, but I found the cut a bit fatty – a risk you take in any restaurant. Other sandwiches and entrees fall between our meals in price and include chicken dishes, prime rib, trout and squash ravioli.

Desserts ranged from $4.99 for S’Mores or Chocolate Moose up to a $7.00 Chocolate Whiskey Cake.

In closing, I’m constantly reminding myself that the foods and restaurants around Walt Disney World are inside of high traffic theme parks. With that in mind, I’m amazed at the quality of food – usually in line with upper midline restaurants outside of the parks. And with Disney involved, the servers are usually many steps above their real world counterparts.

Enjoy La Cellier.. but be sure to get that ADR! 407-WDW-DINE.

Be sure to check out Bryan’s website and podcast.

Other Passamaquoddy Dining reviews can be found by searching for “Dining” in the search engine on the upper right.