It had been a little while since I'd been at the resort early enough to be able to enjoy breakfast at Catal, so we took the opportunity of being there early on a Saturday morning to drop by for breakfast. Breakfast is served only in the downstairs Uva Bar, and since the inside seating was full, we decided to sit outside in the bar area rather than waiting for an inside table. I noticed that a few of the breakfast items had been slightly changed, but otherwise, it was pretty much the same menu as our last visit. The server took our orders, and we enjoyed the ambience of morning in Downtown Disney, mindful to stay protected from the already-present sun with the umbrella stand near the table.
We had both ordered orange juice, and when the runner brought our glasses, I was a bit surprised that he brought two glasses that were filled with ice cubes and some orange juice. I have rarely seen orange juice served with ice, and I don't prefer my orange juice diluted that much, but mostly, I was chagrined that not only was the glass fairly small (about half the size of a regular water glass), but that it looked like the glass had been completely filled with ice and then juice poured in to fill in what little space was left between the ice cubes. On my first visit to Catal's breakfast, orange juice did not include refills, but one order was a fairly large glass of juice. On my last visit, they had changed the policy so that you were given a smaller glass, but refills were included. The server wasn't around much this time, so we didn't have an opportunity right away to ask her about the present policy.
It ended up taking a little while for our food to arrive, longer than I remember in previous times. After the runner brought our food, the server came by a little later to check on us. My husband had already finished his juice, and I had taken a couple of sips of mine. I asked the server if refills on the juice were included, and she said no. I expressed my displeasure to her that for $2.75, all we got was a tiny bit of juice and mostly just a glass of ice. She said that we should talk to her manager, and she offered to send him over, and we agreed. In the meantime, we enjoyed our breakfast.
I had ordered the stack of blueberry pancakes with four slices of bacon. The bacon was very crisp and tasty, and the blueberry pancakes were very good. There were plenty of blueberries in the middle of the pancakes (there were three or four decent-sized pancakes in the stack), so I really enjoyed that. My husband had ordered the smoked ham and Swiss cheese omelet with potatoes and toast or English muffin, and he really enjoyed his breakfast as well. He noticed that the omelet was fairly thick with the egg mixture used to make the omelet. I thought both entrees were a very good deal for the prices charged.
During the course of our meal, the floor manager came by. I told him that I thought it was unreasonable that for the price of orange juice, we just got a small glass filled with ice and very little juice and no refills. I showed him my glass and mentioned that I had only taken a few small sips, and I asked if my drink could be replaced by a duplicate glass with no ice in it so that I'd at least get a full glass of juice for the price charged. He apologized and said that the server must have made a mistake, because refills were included, and he would certainly understand my concern at the size of the glass if refills were not included. I told him that if refills were actually included, then I was withdrawing my complaint, and he then graciously offered to bring us our refills, and I asked for mine without ice.
Later in the meal, the server came back to ask us what the resolution was, and we told her that the manager had said refills were included with the price. We were surprised that she had not gone to the manager herself to inquire about the outcome, and we were also surprised that the manager had not already approached her to correct her apparent incorrect knowledge of the refill policy. She seemed confused by what we told her, but she left it at that. After she left, my husband remembered that she had said that this is only the second time she's worked a breakfast shift, so we figured that perhaps she wasn't aware of the breakfast policy. If she normally worked the bar in the afternoon and evening, an orange juice order would not have included a refill, but she probably wouldn't know that the policy is different for breakfast. After we got our check, we noticed that our juice orders were listed on the itemized bill as "breakfast juice".
Other than the juice mishap, we had a lovely and tasty breakfast, and I would definitely recommend a visit, with the caveat to perhaps ask about the juice refill policy beforehand, from a manager, if necessary, and to ask for the juices without ice if that's a preference.
For other Catal Restaurant and Uva Bar reviews, please click here.
For the current uva bar and cafe breakfast menu offerings, please click here.
For the current uva bar and cafe lunch/dinner menu offerings, please click here.
For the current dinner menu offerings in the upstairs restaurant, please click here.
For Catal Restaurant and Uva Bar menu offerings from prior seasons, please click here.
To see Catal's specific webpage in the Patina Group website, please click here. (Note that the menus on the site are out-of-date, but there are some nice views of the restaurant and some background.)
Back to DLR Restaurant Reviews.
Back to home.