We had the pleasure of eating dinner on a Friday night in June 2008, just a few weeks after The Wave opened. To sum it up quickly, The Wave is a good place to eat, don’t miss it! The Wave is a perfect addition to the Contemporary Resort. While the Concourse Steakhouse will be missed, this new restaurant is a great fit at the Contemporary Resort. Prior to The Wave, your only choices for eating at the Contemporary were a lively, active Character Buffet (Chef Mickey’s), a signature dinner only restaurant (California Grill), a steakhouse (Concourse Grill), or fast food. Now with The Wave, you have a moderately priced (by Disney standards), casual family restaurant with a varied menu, open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The restaurant has a large seating capacity, so this would also make a great choice to escape from the Magic Kingdom for a break to have a nice sit down meal in air condintoned comfort, followed by shopping in the new gift shop, Fantasia, on the fourth floor.

The Wave is located on the first floor in the lobby. It is located where the Food and Fun Center used to be. You go down a long corridor to the check in desk to get a table. The lounge is located directly behind the desk, separated by an artsy glass wall. The restaurant is to the left where the arcade used to be. The wall that separates the restaurant and lounge appears to be in the same place that separated the Food and Fun Center.

We made a Disney Dining Reservation for 6:50 PM. We arrived about five minutes early as is always suggested by Disney. We were greeted very nicely by the host. Since we were early, we chose to wait in the lounge. We sat at the bar and ordered the Long Island Iced Tea and the Organic Three Beer Flight, a sample of three locally brewed organic beers; Blonde Ale, Pale Ale, and Blackwater Dry Porter. All three were very good, but the darkest, Blackwater Porter, was a great surprise. It ended up being our favorite. As a side note, all the draft beers are available “to go” in plastic cups. After just a couple minutes, one of the hostesses came over to let us know that our table was ready, but cheerfully told us to stay and enjoy our drinks and let her know when we were ready to sit down.

After sitting down at our table, our server introduced herself and another server who was getting familiar with the restaurant. Our server told us everyone had come over from the Concourse Steakhouse. Kim went over the daily specials and other recommendations from the menu and took our drink orders. While we looked over the menu, we were served fresh warm bread and butter sprinkled with Pink Hawaiian sea salt. We started out with appetizers. The Seasonal Soup with Chef’s Accompaniment, which was Potato Leek with mini cheese sandwiches, and a Seasonal Mixed Greens with Spaghetti Squash, Edamame, Flax Seed, Baby Mozzarella, and Red Wine Vinaigrette. The soup was very good, served very hot, and lots of flavor. The mini cheese sandwiches were also hot and not greasy. The salad was tossed nicely, with the perfect amount of dressing, and nice fresh ingredients.

Soon after, our entrees arrived. Today’s Sustainable Fish with Corn and Edamame Stew served with Cilantro Chutney, which was Alaskan Cod. And Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Pineapple Rice, Wilted Greens, and Black Bean Sauce. The cod was fantastic, very flaky and cooked perfectly. The Cilantro chutney was a great companion to the cod. The Pork too was grilled perfectly, with great flavor and great sides.

The entire dinner was perfectly attended to by our servers; never rushed, but always attentive. Unfortunately, after all this good food and drink, there was no room left for dessert. Next time we will have to try dessert, as the menu is quite extensive, and consists of a presentation with three differerent selections. You can choose those selections off the pre-determined menu, or choose any combination you like.

Again, to sum up, The Wave is an excellent addition to the Contemporary Resort. A nicely varied menu makes it easy for anyone to enjoy a great meal with terrific service.

Editor's Note: I would like to thank Dina and Craig Bendele for volunteering to do this PS Spotlight. They run a wonderful website which features the Contemporary Resort at cdbendele.com.