So, we finally took our long-anticipated trip to Shula's a couple of weekends ago. I'm sorry it took me so long to post this; I envisioned a vacation during which I'd have plenty of time to keep up with all of you, and that just didn't happen.
But anyway, as I previously told y'all, we had a gift certificate from Shula's that we needed to use up, so we finally made our reservations on Sunday, June 26, and headed over to the Swan and Dolphin for dinner. My mom graciously agreed to babysit, so DH and I could have a relaxing evening out.
We headed over for your 6:30 reservation, and parked in front of Fantasia Gardens mini-golf. It's a trick we learned as Cast Members, when we would use the S&D tennis courts. It's a little bit of a walk, but it was a beautiful night, so why not? It also gave us the opportunity to enjoy views of the Boardwalk. (I'm pretty sure that the S&D charge for parking, but not positive. Everyone kept asking if we needed our parking validated, though.)
We headed up to the lobby, and entered the restaurant. The decor was completely as expected: dark, paneled, large black and white pictures of football scenes, masculine, refined. The hostess and other staff greeted us warmly and showed us to our table. For some reason, this step also involved a football with Shula's signature on it. It might have been more impressively set before my husband, but it was interesting, anyway.
We were seated and our waitstaff introduced themselves. Two servers took care of us, and a steward never let us see the bottom of our waterglasses. Owing to the richness of the menu items, as well as the huge portions that we'd been warned about, we did the unthinkable. We decided - gasp! - to share.
I would have HAPPILY gone with Vettelover's recommendation of the filet, because if I'm eating steak, that's generally what I prefer. The Steak Mary Anne, 2 5 oz filet medallions, would have been my choice, and I still would have shared. However, since my DH is more of the "meat and potatoes" eater in our family, I let him choose. He went with the enormous 22 oz Cowboy Cut, a bone-in ribeye, cooked medium rare. To that, we added the stuffed baked potato and the crab mac and cheese.
The baked potato features an enormous potato, hollowed out, with the contents mashed with all manner of wicked ingredients (butter, sour cream), then returned to the jacket, and smothered in sharp white cheddar. The mac and cheese was fusilli pasta, mixed with the most heavenly concoction of Boursin cheese and crab meat. While the potato was delish, the mac and cheese was heaven on a plate. I could have been happy to eat it as my entree. Indeed, when the manager came to ask us how we were doing, he said that some guests actually have the mac and cheese as their dinner.
I also had a glass of wine. After consulting with my server over some of the options, I went with the Layercake Shiraz, from Australia. It was fantastic, complementing both the steak and the side dishes (and the dessert!) well.
We finished up with the molten chocolate cake, which was divine.
We were pleased with the meal - the food was delicious, all well-prepared, cooked perfectly, and the meal was timed well - but we were also very happy with the service. I hate to share food in an upscale restaurant. Even if you are perfectly justified because of portion size, I know that it's frowned upon, and I didn't want to encounter "attitude." But we didn't! I didn't get a good look at the bill, but I'm pretty sure that we weren't even charged a sharing fee.
Overall, I was very happy with our experience at Shula's. I'd like to go back and pick the filet the next time 
And silly girl that I am, it was dessert time before I remembered to snap a single pic! But here is a snap of the molten chocolate cake, half eaten
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