Tusker House, Animal Kingdom, Orlando Florida.

The Tusker House, is located at Disney's Animal Kingdom park.  You'll find it just as you cross over the bridge when you walk into the "African land" part of the park.  As with most Disney restaurants, I HIGHLY recommend that you make reservations when you plan your trip.  Even with reservations,  some of the more popular places, you can expect to wait up to an hour to be seated.  One thing done to help occupy your wait is the offering of a character photo opportunity.

Our little family waiting to be seated

Despite waiting about 45 minutes, the Tusker House, in our opinion, was very much worth the wait.  The restaurant is in a buffet style that has a very large selection of hot and cold foods, plus a very nice dessert bar.  One of the more interesting parts of the restaurant is the "Wall of Fire", an 18 foot long rotisserie style grill that continually cooks the grilled meats that are served.  Some of these grilled selections included pork loin, roast beef, rotisserie chicken and much more.

The service was quite acceptable, our waiter was very friendly and promptly kept the drinks refilled and the empty plates off the table.  Which when it comes to buffet's is really all you can ask for.  In addition to the characters outside, the inside portion is also character dining.  Four Disney characters circulate around the room offering photo opportunities.  We were able to get our Pictures taken with Goofy, Micky, Daisy and Donald.  Having them walk around was a really big plus for us because of our little ones.  Also, they periodically have a miniature parade, and the little ones are given African noise makers and they can get up and walk around with Goofy and the other cast members

Little man with his Grandma during the parade

Price wise, it was a little steep, but you definitely get what you pay for.  All-in-all, this was a really fun dinning adventure, one that we would like to do again.

Scores:
Food: A (Outstanding selection, and really tasty)
Service: B (It's a buffet)
Portion size: N/A (Again, buffet)

Friendly's Royal Palm Beach, Fl

I'm starting to think that Friendly's, might just be one of the best kept secrets for going out on a Friday night.  We've been several times, and each time there is no wait, good service, pretty good food and best of all not that pricey!

As parents of 2 little ones, when we have a chance to go out as just a couple, we try to take it.  Most of the time, we don't have time to wait 45 minutes to an hour for an open table at a restaurant.  Being able to sit down right away, with out a reservation is awesome.

For starters, we split an appetizer combo, which we got with chicken quesadilla's, mozzarella sticks and loaded waffle fries.  This seriously could have been a meal all on its own, there was a pretty good portion of food on this plate. I had the roasted turkey dinner, which comes with stuffing, corn, mashed potato's & gravy and garlic bread.  Although it was a little salty, it was still quite tasty and they really don't skimp on the portion size.

The wifey had the fish and chips, which she described in exquisite detail as "yummy".  She also ordered from the "4 for More" section.  This allows you to add your drink and a 3 scoop-2 topping sundae for only $4 more.  Considering a drink is like $2+ and the sundae is about $3, it's not a bad deal.

The food overall isn't what you might call "gourmet", but it is tasty and filling and we like it.

The service was good, though it did start getting a little slower near the end of our meal.  Also, though I didn't have a first hand experience, the wifey said the bathrooms were really pretty and clean.  Though I think that might be a girl thing :D

All in all we would definitely go back, but it should be noted that this is a "Dry" establishment (no alcoholic drinks)

Scores
Food: A
Portion Size: A+
Service: B+

Cici's Pizza Greenacres, FL

The best way to describe this establishment is also exactly what it is... "Cheap pizza Buffet". If you're looking for a gourmet culinary experience you might want to just pass on by as this is not the place for you. On the other hand, if you want to consume large amounts of cheap, but filling pizza. While getting the opportunity to play some arcade games and watch TV for a ridiculously low price, then you might want to stop on by.

You'll be able to get a dine-in meal with drink for less than $8.00. Also at this location, they have several arcade machines and a big screen TV that they use to show cartoons.

The pizza choices are pretty good, and they continually put out new options.

If you've got kids who are around ages 4-14 (ish) then this is decent place to go out for a night. Also, teenagers tend to head here on the afternoons of Half-days at school.

Food quality wise, they won't win any awards, but it's still pretty passable and the garlic bread sticks were very good.

We would definitely go back again, even if price was the only consideration.

Oktoberfest Lake Worth, Florida

Took the family out tonight to the 38th Annual Oktoberfest here in town. For those who have never been before, the festival is like a miniature carnival. It's held the weekend of October 7th, 8th, and 9th & 14th, 15th and 16th. They have Rides, Arts and Crafts, Entertainment, Food, and most importantly DRINKS! Because, lets face it the main draw of Octoberfest is the beer. They have a good mix of German and American beers and several other "spirits" available.

Admission was $7 per adult, with kids free, but you can print out a $2 off coupon from the website. Also there is free parking, that has a little bit of a walk, or you can pay for preferred parking which is $10.

Once you enter the festival, you need to buy some tickets as the majority of the booths don't accept cash. Tickets are $1 a pop, and the way it works is like this. Beers are usually 4 tickets meals range from 3-10 tickets depending on what you order. You can also use the tickets for the rides.

We got in early opening day, and there wasn't a large crowd. We were able to walk all the way around the event and check things out with out bumping into to many people.

For dinner we both had the Half Rotisserie chicken with mashed potato's and gravy. The chicken was surprisingly good especially for something like a massed produced fair food. For dessert we had a typical fair funnel cake, and its hard to go wrong with fried dough covered in powdered sugar.

If you need something to do this weekend and you don't mind spending a little extra money then Oktoberfest should definitely be on your to-do list.