Fabulous Food Friday: ‘Ohana – too much food, too little of a stomach!

 

On our recent trip to Disney my family ate at ‘Ohana for dinner not once but twice. I think I might have still been full from our first visit on our second visit! This restaurant boasts a large oak-fired grill in the center. This is where all the meat is cooked. Dinner is a four-course experience. You start with a salad tossed with honey-lime vinaigrette and warm pineapple coconut bread. The bread is good but not as delicious as the salad. The honey-lime vinaigrette is light and flavorful – making it way too easy for me to fill-up on. Next came our appetizers: honey-coriander wings and potstickers. The wings are neither spicy nor sickly sweet – they were nice, flavorful wings with a crispy skin and juicy meat. Our batch of potstickers had some that were cooked just right – a light crunch to the wrapper but still moist. Some in our batch didn’t seem to fare quite so well – they were overcooked and harder to bite into. Don’t tell that to my son who ate almost all of our platter and requested a refill!

The main course was up next and you best have saved room! We were brought a tray of lo mein style noodles and a bowl of broccoli. Just to give everything a fair turn – I tried both. The noodles were ok, I was neither impressed not repulsed by them. They lacked any main defining taste or characteristic that would make me rave or pan them. The broccoli was delicious (keep in mind I love broccoli). It was cooked through but still crunchy. Okay – enough with the side dishes, onto the main course! The food here is served churrascaria (Brazilian steakhouse) style where the meats are roasted on swords and then brought to your table still on the sword to be served. Our server brought over swords filled with chicken, steak, pork, and shrimp. Word of caution – tell them how many pieces you want. They are overly generous with their portions, I had to make sure to tell them, “only one piece please”. Across the board, the chicken was delicious, flavorful and moist. The steak had a good flavor but some pieces were cooked further than others. I prefer my steak medium rare, so some of it was cooked more than I care for; but it was still tasty. The pork that my husband had was delicious but sadly mine was too fatty to enjoy. The beauty of ‘Ohana is that I just got a new piece when the pork came around again. That piece was much better but I was so full I could hardly finish it.  They even managed the ever elusive task of keeping grilled or roasted shrimp moist. The secret, apparently, is to keep the shells on the shrimp. While I appreciated the taste and texture of the shrimp – shelling shrimp for two (I had to shell my daughter’s as well as my own) quickly grew tiresome and I have up on my own shrimp. My daughter, however, ate them by the pound.

Finally we got our dessert, bread pudding. Let me start by saying, I have never been a fan of bread pudding. Our first trip to ‘Ohana several years ago I decided to try it since it a big family size serving of it was on the table. What did I discover? That I like bread pudding – but not just any bread pudding; I like ‘Ohana’s bread pudding. The visits on this trip were no different, I still like ‘Ohana’s bread pudding but I was too full to eat more than a couple bites.

‘Ohana gets two enthusiastic thumbs up from me. It is a popular restaurant that books up early, so make your reservations as far in advance as possible. They also accept the Disney dining plan; it is a one credit table service meal. Just be sure to bring your appetite!