Need a Relaxing Dining Experience at WDW? Try Olivia's

For those of you not familiar with Olivia's, it's a quaint little restaurant located inside of the Hospitality House at Disney's Old Key West Resort in Orlando, FL.  My husband, Steve, & I had the pleasure of staying there in October 2006 during our 5 day/4 night trip at WDW.  Here's Steve standing in front of Olivia's:

We arrived at OKW on a Monday morning and tried to check into our room, but there wasn't one available yet (check in is usually 4 p.m., but we tried anyway).  We checked in all of our stuff for them to hold on to and decided that since we didn't have breakfast yet, we'd stop in at Olivia's, the resort's restaurant.  Looking around, we immediately knew we would like it here - the decor is very down-to-earth and sets an easy-going, laid back atmosphere.  Here's one of the photos I took of the interior of the restaurant, taking special notice of the unique ceiling fans:

We were seated by a window that overlooked their harbor and were handed some breakfast menus.  Here's a copy of their menu they had available when we were there:

I'm a big fan of pancakes, so I had the Buttermilk Pancakes with bacon  ($7.99) and to drink a refreshing Frozen Cappuccino ($4.29).  The pancakes were light and fluffy and the bacon was cooked the way I like it - crispy.  I needed a little pick-me-up in the form of caffeine and didn't want to drink something hot, like coffee, or carbonated, like soda; so, that's why I chose the Frozen Cappuccino.  An excellent choice, I might add...very tasty!  Okay, this is where I insert a warning for your eyes, and maybe stomach.  WARNING: THE PICTURES I AM ABOUT TO POST BELOW MIGHT CAUSE ONE'S MOUTH TO DROOL AND TO HAVE STRANGE NOISES RUMBLING FROM WITHIN YOUR BODY!! Okay, don't say I didn't tell you ahead of time.

Here's my Buttermilk Pancakes with Bacon...

...and my Frozen Cappuccino, topped off with whipped cream!

My husband has always been a Biscuits & Gravy man, so what else would he order?  Olivia's Breakfast for $7.99 (2 eggs, breakfast potatoes, buttermilk biscuits with sausage)...with a side order of Biscuits & Gravy ($3.99).  He really liked his breakfast and ate every last bit of it - he is a growing man, after all.  I'll apologize to you right now - I don't have a picture of Olivia's Breakfast (I don't know why, perhaps a mental cramp), but I do have one of the Biscuits & Gravy:

Well, after filling our bellies and rolling out the door, we headed off to EPCOT until later on when we could check in.  After spending the day eating lunch at Le Cellier and picking up Asian food to go from Sunshine Seasons, we came back to the resort around 8 p.m. and finally checked into our room.  If you haven't done so yet, please check out my review of the resort here.

During our stay, we attended MNSSHP (Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party) on 2 evenings - Tuesday, October 24th & Thursday, October 26th, so we didn't get a chance to eat there for dinner on either of those days.  We spent Wednesday relaxing at the resort and I took the boat to Downtown Disney and did some shopping, so we thought we'd plan on having dinner at Olivia's that evening, which we did.  This is how the entrance to Olivia's looks at night:

Here's Steve while we were waiting to order (I know, he looks thrilled)...

This is what the dinner menu looked like:

Since we were on the Disney Dining Plan, we were able to get appetizers,  entrees, drinks and dessert...and we took advantage of that, too!   For starters, I ordered the Crab Cakes served with Tossed Greens and Key Lime Mustard Sauce ($10.49), shown here, along with a closer view of them. Let me tell you, those cakes were tender on the inside and lightly sweetened from the crab meat, surrounded by a perfect crunchy coating on the outside.  The slight tanginess of the sauce balanced out the other flavors to make it just right.

Steve had the Ancho Bourbon Chicken Wings for $7.99.  I was curious to see how he would like the wings since he's not too much of a fan of spicy foods and noticing the word "ancho", I immediately thought of ancho=chiles=hot, spicy.  He loved them and finished all of them.  He said they had the perfect blend of sweet and spicy.  The curled fried potato crisps helped the flavor out, too.

Looking over the entrees, I decided on the Pork Chop "glazed with Myer's Dark Rum and served with Mashed Sweet Potatoes" and green beans ($18.99).

In thinking back, I believe the crispy wafer decorating the sweet potatoes was a fried sweet potato chip dusted with cinnamon and sugar (although I'm not 100% positive - it was yummy whatever it was!).  Choosing pork chops at a restaurant is a 50/50 toss, you might get it cooked just right so its moist & tender, or you could wind up with something that resembles petrified wood - dry and tough.  Lucky for me, I wound up on the winning side of that coin toss and had a chop that was both moist and tender and topped with a delicious glaze made with dark rum.   The sweet potatoes were flavored just right - not too sickingly sweet, and the beans were cooked but still had a slight snap to them.

Steve chose the Grilled 10-oz. Top Sirloin Steak with Olivia's Potatoes ($19.99), but he opted to substitute Macaroni & Cheese for the potatoes - I thought he was crazy for doing that, but it wasn't my dinner.

Like I said earlier, we ate at Le Cellier in EPCOT on Monday and both of us ordered steak there and were really impressed with the flavor and tenderness.  So, he was curious to see how their steak compared to what's served in Canada.  To him, he thought it was better.  He really liked the sauce with the mushrooms that was served over the steak and it was tender enough that you could practically cut through it with your fork.  Mac & cheese is mac & cheese - he's familiar with it and it tasted how he expected it to, nothing outstanding.  The crispy onion strips were a nice garnish and helped mix up the textures on the plate.

By now, our bellies were getting full but we knew we still had dessert coming to us, so we forged ahead without any remorse (well, we already knew that we would be taking our desserts back to our room to place in the refrigerator to save for later).  Their dessert choices are limited, offering only 4 different items: Key Lime Tart, Chocolate Cake, Individual Apple Pie or Cheesecake.  I love the flavor of Key Lime, so that's what I ordered.  Steve loves cheesecake, so that's what he decided to have - although he said the chocolate cake sounded pretty good to him, too!  I wanted our desserts brought out on a plate so I could see the desserts in all their full glory (and so I could have nice photos of them!) before they were shoved into a styrofoam to-go container.

Here's the Key Lime Tart with Raspberry Sauce ($5.49):

This is the Cheesecake with Seasonal Berries ($5.49):

Both of us thought our desserts were delicious, once we finally got around to eating them for an afternoon snack the next day.  Dining is a big part of your Disney vacation and your trip becomes even more memorable when you can experience good food along the way as well.  Olivia's reminds me of your neighborhood diner and is a friendly place where the servers treat you as one of the "regulars".  Since it is a DVC (Disney Vacation Club) resort, it's understandable that a lot of the guests that do eat there are "regulars".  It's just a nice feeling to have when you're included in that group as well.  I don't know if it was our timing, but most of the time when we stopped by there to eat the place wasn't busy.  That factor alone made this restaurant a great find - the noise level was always subdued and it just added to your relaxation.  We did find that breakfast time was busier, but there was never a problem in getting a place to sit and even though it was more active then, the noise was never enough to be bothersome.

All in all, Olivia's is a wonderful spot to find good food served with a side of friendliness.  It definitely deserves to have a "four thumbs up" rating from the two of us!  Stop by there next time and let me know what you think.