Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<For anyone who doesnt understand all the fuss......you need only try one when they FINALLY open ! amazing......the one at wdw is big, I hope this one will be too. We just came back from a four day DLR trip and were disappointed that they missed the august opening and still arent open yet. Now we have to wait until January. Hopefully.>> Have never seen such a glowing recommendation for a tampon. Never saw much use for them personally, but I'm not about to judge for the women among us. OH... you;'re talking about the sandwiches. Meh... I could have understood glowing references to tampons more easily. The sandwiches were OK... personally I'd take a Jimmie John's any day. Freaky Good, Freaky Fast!! ;-)
Originally Posted By tashajilek Nothing better than a box of tampons in one hand and a sandwich in the other! Anyways, Earls isnt that great in my opinion. Yea $599 is cheap, but they are kinda small. I also tried the one at Planet hollywood in Las Vegas and i will say go to NY NY hotel for a great sandwich. "People often talk about how good In-n-Out burgers are and I think they're very mediocre. I would not be surprise if I had the same reaction at the Earl of Sandwich." I was shocked at how crappy they were when i tried them. They are dirt cheap, but the burgers are paper thin. You get what you pay for.
Originally Posted By Yookeroo "For anyone who doesnt understand all the fuss." They could be the greatest sandwiches ever made and I still wouldn't understand the fuss. The sure look great on the website, but still, they're just sandwiches.
Originally Posted By tashajilek ">>Yea $599 is cheap<, If you lived in Canada i guess you too would find that cheap. It cost's my husband and i over $20 to eat Subway.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 I found Earl of Sandwich to be pretty darn good. Now, in the grand scheme of things, it's a sandwich shop. It has a following, and for a reason, but it's something you should take into consideration, it's not an attraction. It's certainly miles ahead of Subway. It's better than Quiznos too. It might be more like a Panera Bread, but not so much on the soups and baked goods that they have. For the DLR, it's a welcome addition, but I also don't quite get the construction updates and countdowns. It's going to be good, and probably have lines once it's open, but keep a realistic expectation about it.
Originally Posted By leemac <<For the DLR, it's a welcome addition, but I also don't quite get the construction updates and countdowns.>> Two words - Robert Earl. The guy is an excellent marketeer. Somehow he managed to survive the collapse of Planet Hollywood with the brand and part of the network intact - there is something like just 9 left now out of a network of 100 initially. Earl has preceded over: 1) Collapse of PH 2) Collapse of Official All Star Cafe 3) Collapse of AMC Theaters joint venture (Planet Movies?) 4) Collapse of Cool Planet ice cream venture 5) Collapse of Marvel Mania Restaurant concept The guy doesn't know when to stop expanding. He is the joint venture partner with John Montagu's family - let's hope he manages to expand the business at an appropriate clip this time.
Originally Posted By leemac <<1) Collapse of PH>> Not content with doing it once - I think PH has been through Chapter 11 twice. I'm betting Earl still have a lovely home in the Greater Orlando area though!
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 Marvel Mania didn't even get past one restaurant before collapsing. I kind of liked that place, but then I could see why it went bust. I'm just surprised that Rainforest Cafe has been able to stay relevant for all these years. I thought themed eateries were passe?
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan We ate at Earl of Sandwich when we visited WDW a few years ago. I don't remember much about it, other than it was one of the few places to get a relatively quick bite to eat. Downtown Disney can use more quick service restaurants like this, so I'd imagine it will do quite well there.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Marvel Mania didn't even get past one restaurant before collapsing.>> It collapsed at the same time as Planet Hollywood that was a key investor. I think it closed in September 1999 and then PH collapsed the following month. The interior was designed by David Rockwell's team who had also done PH. David has also done a lot of Disney stuff like Animator's Palette on the ships. I never really understood the idea of a themed restaurant inside a theme park - it is more a mall/RDE concept. People don't usually like to linger in themed restaurants inside parks. The exterior was hideous but it was a soundstage building so no surprise. The interior was certainly interesting enough.
Originally Posted By leemac ^^ I should have added that TRM Architects also worked on Marvel Mania - they created the Grand Luxe Cafe concept and also worked on numerous ESPN Zones (including the Vegas and Denver ones).
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>You couldn't pay me to eat in a Rainforest Cafe.<< I've been to the one in Anaheim, but before that the one in SF. In SF we were seated by the kitchen in a corner whose theme seems to be "stucco." The food was meh. Haven't been back (and if you choose Rainforest in SF with all the other wonderful places to eat, you're just not tryin'.) We gave it another go in Anaheim. More jungle-y there, but same blah food. I'm amazed some people love it, but that's why Baskin-Robbins has 31 flavors, as my grandpa used to say.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Downtown Disney can use more quick service restaurants like this, so I'd imagine it will do quite well there.>> Definitely. It also helps to reduce the over-reliance on Patina Group that control a lot of the F&B in DtD.
Originally Posted By leemac >>You couldn't pay me to eat in a Rainforest Cafe.<< The food can be very hit-and-miss. Breakfast at DAK is actually pretty good. It is at least a varied menu - so for veggies like me there are options. RC is lucky to have Landry's as its parent organization as they are big enough to protect brands now. I think RC wouldn't have survived as a standalone public company. One of theirs is Bubba Gump's and I'm always amazed people visit that concept - don't get the appeal at all. They also bought Morton's The Steakhouse and McCormick & Schmick's recently.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 "I never really understood the idea of a themed restaurant inside a theme park - it is more a mall/RDE concept. People don't usually like to linger in themed restaurants inside parks. The exterior was hideous but it was a soundstage building so no surprise. The interior was certainly interesting enough." Are you talking about Marvel Mania? It wasn't actually inside the theme park. It was accessible from the outside, so you didn't need to pay admission to the park to eat there. I was also not a sound stage. It was the former Victoria's Station restaurant. Since Marvel Mania's closure though, it has been used as haunted houses and various walk through prop displays from Universal's current movies over the years. But, it was always a restaurant before that. I think Marvel Mania took all of the charm out of Vicoria's Station though. I thought it was more interesting than any of the other themed restaurants of that era. Plus, it didn't hurt that there were cute guys in spandex walking around in there. As for Rainforest Cafe...no thanks. I've eaten there a few times with friends and it's too loud, the animatronics are cheesy, and the food is non-remarkable. I remember one I went to (can't remember which) had a very loud parrot right at the front entrance, and the hostess had a hard time talking over the bird to seat us. It was very distracting. We asked to be seated as far away from it as possible.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Are you talking about Marvel Mania? It wasn't actually inside the theme park. It was accessible from the outside, so you didn't need to pay admission to the park to eat there. I was also not a sound stage. It was the former Victoria's Station restaurant. Since Marvel Mania's closure though, it has been used as haunted houses and various walk through prop displays from Universal's current movies over the years. But, it was always a restaurant before that. I think Marvel Mania took all of the charm out of Vicoria's Station though.>> My brain must be scrambled as I thought it was in the upper lot and only accessible by park admission. I meant soundstage as in a Disney way - - i.e. just an anonymous box. I suspect this concept will come back in the near future - the possibility for a Marvel Cinematic Universe themed restaurant is very compelling at the moment.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<We ate at Earl of Sandwich when we visited WDW a few years ago. I don't remember much about it, other than it was one of the few places to get a relatively quick bite to eat.>> I always like the Wolfgang Puck Express for a quick bite to eat at Downtown Disney. I ate once at the Rainforest Cafe at the Mall of America. There is no way I would return to one again. It had NOTHING going for it. It was way too noisy, the food was not good and it was extremely over-priced.
