Linda Mac's Orlando Adventures

The Tutto Italia Restaurant , (the former L'Originale Alfredo di Roma Ristorante), in Epcot's Italy reopened on Monday (9/17/07) after a few weeks of sprucing up. Disney Dining will begin accepting reservations on Sunday, September 23, the original date they were scheduled to open.

TIP: For folks trying to find a table service meal in the near future, the reservations will be wide open for booking on Sunday. Many restaurants are completely booked because of the Free Dining Plan promotion that is taking place this month. During this "soft opening," you can enjoy lunch and dinner at “Tutto Italia” on a first-come, first-served basis.

Today's weather was so wonderful (mid-80s) that I decided to head over to Epcot to check out Tutto Italia, as well as the progress on the work for the upcoming Food and Wine Festival. After waiting for the rope to drop at the International Gateway with about 15 other people, I slowly headed over to Italy, stopping to take a few photos along the way. I live for times that I am almost totally alone in any area of any theme park.

It is always exciting to me when I can arrive first at anything new or updated in Disney so I can get photos from many different angles and hopefully come up with a few good ones. It was about 11:15 a.m. by the time I made my way back to Italy. The only exterior change I noticed was the name painted over the entrance to the restaurant. Even the sign that hangs over the doorway is the same but with the new name and logo inserted into it. A gentleman at the reception desk was very accommodating when I asked if I could take a few pictures of the dining room before the official 11:30 opening. Today however, the opening was closer to 11:45 a.m. and that is to be expected during any soft opening.

This was the first time I can remember being in this building when the room was not full of guests. Initially, I didn’t notice the changes that had been made over the past few weeks. It just looked cleaner and more open to me. The cast member from the front desk, whose name I truly wish I could remember because of his great guest service, pointed out some of the changes, which included: removing tables in the main dining area so it would not be so crowded, new carpeting, the colors in the wall artwork have been touched up, handsome partitions have been added to areas where servers enter the kitchen, and removal of the wall between the first group of tables you see when entering the dining room and the small room that looks out on the patio area. The removal of this wall was my favorite change because on a past visit, when the establishment was managed by Alfredo's, I was seated at the first table facing the wall and server's station. It was a real turn off for several reasons and I will leave it at that.

Another interesting change is where the pasta making room was just off the lobby. While it is still open for guests to enjoy watching chefs at work, now it is used for making appetizers and desserts instead of pasta. I was told, though, that the pasta is still homemade. There are bottles of wine and shelves with platters of towering lemons across the window, which makes viewing a little more difficult.

As I waited to be seated for lunch, I was taking pictures of the new menus while in the lobby. A woman approached me and somewhat shyly asked if all the pictures of the menus were for scrapbooking. In my travels, I do get a lot of odd looks for some of the photos I take, especially menus. As we chatted about Disney and cameras, I quietly explained that I was taking the pictures for an AllEars® update. It turned out Danielle and her husband Scott who were traveling with their two young children, are avid AllEars® readers. I believe I speak for every AllEars® Team Member in saying that we always enjoy meeting AllEars® readers. You may remember the review I did last year at my first food and wine pairing, which coincidentally was in Alfredo's, and it was AllEars® readers whom I had never met before who helped me get through it and then some. You guys are the best!

Time for lunch! I was seated at a table for two in the main dining room and next to a window so that I could just about wave at Danielle and Scott. Actually, I was peeking at choices they made for lunch since they were on the Dining Plan and their daughter was ordering from the child's menu. Luckily for them there was a window between us or I may have asked to take a photo of some of their food.

As soon as I was seated, my server Marco, who hails from Roma, Italy, was immediately at my table for my drink order. He was just wonderful throughout my time at Tutto Italia. The service I received was friendly, very attentive and professional. Kudos to Marco!

Lunch review and more to follow in Part 2.......