Best Counter Service Breakfast at Disney World
We’ve had some great breakfasts at Walt Disney World recently. This comes after years of doing grocery delivery and eating quick morning meals in the hotel room because dining options were uninspired and overpriced–especially in food courts and counter service restaurants.
While we’ve always loved Trail’s End, last year we “discovered” new favorites in Ale & Compass Restaurant and Grand Floridian Cafe. There was also Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast, which was a way better than expected princess meal.
Then Disney’s Riviera Resort debuted with the best character breakfast at Walt Disney World in Topolino Terrace’s Breakfast a la Art. With that hotel, another excellent eatery also debuted to far less fanfare, even though it’s similarly a top-tier dining option at Walt Disney World…
Note: this review features food that is not on the currently on the menu. As part of Walt Disney World’s phased reopening, menus everywhere have been scaled back for ease and simplicity. Although some modifications are inevitable, the full menus are expected to be restored as Walt Disney World resumes normalcy in 2021.
Given that many of you are now in the midst of planning your vacations for the coming year, we’re switching gears and doing the same, with the expectation that these resources will be relevant by and beyond Spring 2021. If you’re visiting between now and then, menu items that are currently available/unavailable are noted below…
The excellent under-the-radar restaurant at Disney’s Riviera Resort is Primo Piatto. You might recall from our review that effusively praised their dinner menu. While there’s always concern that quality will suffer after the “grand opening honeymoon,” we found Primo Piatto’s menu to be ambitious when we dined there in late February or early March. The food has remained excellent since reopening, albeit with more limited options.
Fortunately, there are still multiple meals that are good to great at Primo Piatto. While there are a variety of counter service restaurants at Walt Disney World that do an item or two well–like the Tonga Toast at Captain Cook’s or the Banana’s Foster French Toast at Roaring Fork–few options are as solid top to bottom as Primo Piatto. The only one that comes immediately to mind is Sanaa, but that’s not really a fair comparison since it’s a table service restaurant doing a quasi-counter service meal.
We’ve done breakfast at Primo Piatto several times, both pre-closure and post-reopening of Walt Disney World. Although this review was actually planned months ago, before this cursed year had other ideas, we’ve added a bunch of new photos from our recent meals at Primo Piatto.
The difference should be fairly easy to spot, as the normal food photos are all on nice plates whereas the newer ones are on cardboard “platforms” from our Mobile Orders. Even though we already have plenty of properly-plated photos of these dishes, we went the extra mile of reconstructing the boring brown boxes into something more photogenic just for you!
Let’s start with the breakfast items that are currently available at Primo Piatto. My favorite of these is the Croque Madame:
Classic French Ham and Swiss with a Fried Egg served with choice of side.
All three times I’ve ordered this, it’s been perfect. Runny egg, thick toast, and covered with cheese. There’s nothing revolutionary or novel about this Croque Madame–it’s just a delicious version of a classic dish. The components meld perfectly and execution is always on point. What I love about it is that it’s a filling and non-sugary way to start the day–most of Walt Disney World’s unique and delicious breakfast entrees are sweet, not savory.
Sarah is a huge fan of the Blueberry-Lemon Pancakes: Three, Fluffy House-made Pancakes filled with fresh Blueberries topped with Mascarpone Cream and Lemon Zest served with choice of side.
Here’s your go-to sweet dish on the Primo Piatto breakfast menu. As the description indicates, these are fluffy-but-thick, and the fresh fruit paired with the cream and lemon zest makes for a delightful contrast of flavors. It’s a really high quality dish and far more filling than you’d expect given the size.
Consider splitting the Blueberry-Lemon Pancakes and the Croque Madame for the ultimate sweet and savory combo.
I feel like we’re underselling these two dishes a bit, but they are the reasons we’ve done Primo Piatto multiple times for breakfast. That’s fairly rare for us with counter service restaurants at Walt Disney World–usually we try a dish and move on to other menu items.
Whatever you order, we strongly recommend the Italian Sausage as your side. This is presumably house-made, or if not, it’s at least a hearty and tasty portion.
Other options include bacon (standard issue rubber bacon cut with a paper slicer), eggs (standard issue reconstituted variety), sausage (fine but boring), and Plant-Based Italian Sausage (second-best pick).
Next, we turn to the items that are temporarily unavailable, but hopefully will return by Spring 2021.
Here the Cinnamon Crumble French Toast Bread Pudding with a Warm Vanilla-bean Custard and served with a choice of side is the second-place sweet dish. It’s an odd amalgamation of french toast and bread pudding that ends up inexplicably being denser than both. It’s still delicious, but not quite as good as the blueberry-lemon pancakes.
Pre-closure, Primo Piatto’s breakfast menu featured four different pizzas, none of which are currently being served. Above is the Spinach and Egg Pizza: Fresh Artisan Hearth-baked Pizza topped with Ricotta, Feta, Spinach, and a Soft-cooked Egg.
You can probably spot the issue with this just by looking at it–uneven toppings that don’t cover the entire crust. When this pizza delivers a bite with the dollops of fresh cheeses, runny egg yolk, and perfectly crisped crust, it’ll blow you away. Unfortunately, that’s only about half the pizza. When you’re just getting bites of crust or spinach, it’s obviously lacking. Inconsistent topping coverage is a persistent problem we’ve had with Disney’s “artisan” pizzas, so you might have better luck here…or not.
Finally, something from the plant-based menu: the Farm-Fresh Artisanal Pizza. This offers a fresh plant-based artisan hearth-baked pizza topped with carrot-top pesto, plant-based mozzarella, eggplant, red onion, roasted tomato, and a plant-based egg scramble.
This is pretty well executed and tasty. The hearth-baked crust hits the right balance between doughy and crisp, and is so much better than both the “Almost Pizza” options served at spots like PizzeRizzo and even the normal Walt Disney World flatbreads.
With that said, Sarah and I had different reactions to this pizza. She thought it was very good, with the fresh vegetables tasting great and the pesto being a nice enhancement. I thought this way way too light on cheese (and “meat”) but still good for what it is. The other breakfast pizza we tried was much better in my opinion, and the other lunch/dinner pizzas look exceptional. Still, a good option if you’re vegan or vegetarian.
Overall, Primo Piatto delivers yet another exceptional breakfast at Walt Disney World, and it’s a restaurant we highly recommend with or without the full menu. The Croque Madame is a solid savory breakfast entree (a rarity) and the Blueberry-Lemon Pancakes are next level, worthy of a table service restaurant. Other items are good, albeit with less consistent quality and not quite as delicious.
As with virtually every counter service dining spot at Walt Disney World, you should not go out of your way to eat at Primo Piatto. Taking a convoluted bus route or Uber is definitely not recommended–it’s very good, but not “destination dining.” With that said, everyone staying at Disney’s Riviera Resort, Caribbean Beach, Art of Animation, or Pop Century will be within walking distance or passing through this Skyliner station at some point during your stay. Start the morning of your EPCOT day here, as Primo Piatto is better than any quick breakfast options at those hotels or in the park!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you done breakfast at Primo Piatto? What did you order? Did you try the Croque Madame or Blueberry-Lemon Pancakes? Or did you dine here pre-closure when the menu was more expansive? What did you think of your food? What about the ambiance/theme/caliber of the dining experience? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Curious about concierge meals/snacks at Yacht Club and other WDW resorts. Any idea when they will start up?
I am here at Riviera now and I think I’ve just decided what to order for breakfast!!!! Thanks Tom.
I can’t find your review for Planey Hollywood though. Maybe you haven’t tried it yet. I have a few teenagers wanting to go there but I have no high expectations
We stayed at CBR second week in December and one morning ordered at primo piatto we went to get on the Skyliner to pick it up and the employees directing you at the Skyliner didn’t make it easy to get on to get our food. They said that’s not allowed right now and called another guy over to see what to do. They did let us on because I showed them I ordered and paid for my food already but stressed they won’t allow this in the future. This upset me because I could have easily have walked over and got my food however with two kids it just seem like a fun idea to ride the Skyliner over with them. Just an FYI for anyone attempting to do this. By the way breakfast was very good blueberry lemon pancakes amazing would eat them every morning if I could!
Probably would have been much easier to just have walked from Caribbean Beach. It’s not far at all and a sidewalk all the way.
This has been on my list to try for breakfast. We are planning on taking a red eye, since we are on the West Coast and it’s a 5-6 hour flight with a three hour time change. It seems a shame to pay to spend the night at a hotel when the majority of the time you were traveling. We will be arriving to POP very early, and I was debating mobile ordering breakfast at POP or jumping on the skyliner to get this breakfast, and I think your review just sold me!
We’ve done the LAX-MCO Delta redeye many, many times. About one-third or more of the time, a room has been ready for us upon arrival. (We’re also very flexible and never have requests in that circumstance.) Your mileage may vary, but perhaps you’ll get lucky!
If not, taking the Skyliner to Riviera for breakfast is a great option!
We went to Primo Piatto in March 2020 right before the closure. The staff and Chef were beyond stellar and food amazing. They went above and beyond handling complex severe food allergies and even (at the the time) had a dedicated frier for French fries which is huge for those worried about cross-contamination. We ordered dinner from there to eat up in the room 3x and it was phenomenal. With 4 little kids it was a treat to have a grown up meal to enjoy for my husband and I. Truly magical experience there.
+ 1 for the Blueberry-Lemon pancakes. Any Breakfast fans eating out and staying at a Skyliner resort or Crescent Lake resort can easily alternate between counter service at Primo Piatto and table service at Ale & Compass during their stay. Great meals and a nice ride!
Agree with the Ale & Compass. Those chocolate waffles were the best breakfast I have had anywhere in quite some time. I’m already trying to plan a re-visit.
Now I am really interested in trying the Rivera breakfast. It is just a pain having to convince the security guards to let you in for the restaurants that you cannot get reservations at.
Pre-covid we did have a good time hanging out at Riviera though, the restaurants and bars there seem to be well thought out and executed.
I wish they would place the takeout orders on a piece of waxed paper before putting them in the cardboard box, even if the box does has a “waxed surface”. Or put it on a small plate in the cardboard box. Sometimes being “environmental” goes a bit too far for me.
I loved this breakfast too. That marscapone on the pancakes was incredible! One other covid-related thing we loved is there is plenty of outdoor seating near the restaurant.
I agree this meal is outstanding. I had the Croque Madame multiple times, which was delicious and I thought a great value. Picking up breakfast here and eating outside in either the little courtyard area or walking to the water were the best breakfast’s we had during our trip. We had breakfast here multiple times and it was consistently very good.
I felt like we were cheating or something by being able to walk over there and enjoy everything from CBR without being a Riviera guest.
We stayed at Boardwalk villa for a week early December and on three occasions drove to another resort to eat lunch at a counter service or to get some zebra domes from a gift shop and were let in by security on all three occasions after confirming on our magic bands that we were resort guests at Boardwalk. We had been unclear about what the actual restrictions were so we did this not knowing what the actual rule was. On one of these occasions, we told the security guard that we wanted to dine at Geyser Point and we were so happy that he allowed is in because I had the best salad for lunch. And it was wonderful to walk around Wilderness Lodge as it is our favourite/favorite. Not sure if we were allowed to do this because we were DVC guests?
What are the rules for being allowed to eat at a resort restaurant? Can you be at a park, take the Skyliner to Riviera Resort, and go eat at Primo Piatto? We are FL passholders and go to the parks often but I’ve never understood what is allowed if you are not a resort guest. Is anyone free to go eat anywhere?
Typically, you cannot drive to a resort and park without an Advance Dining Reservation (not possible at counter service restaurants) but sometimes they’ll allow it, particularly if you show a Mobile Order in My Disney Experience.
Everything else, including the Skyliner scenario you describe, is totally fine.
The scenario you describe would work–there are no restrictions on taking the skyliner/bus/walking to a resort to eat there.
You would currently not be allowed to drive to and park at a resort to eat at counter service like Primi Piatto, though that would be allowed if you have a table service restaurant reservation (eg Topolino’s Terrace).
We stayed at Boardwalk villa for a week early December and on three occasions drove to another resort to eat lunch at a counter service or to get some zebra domes from a gift shop and were let in by security on all three occasions after confirming on our magic bands that we were resort guests at Boardwalk. We had been unclear about what the actual restrictions were so we did this not knowing what the actual rule was. On one of these occasions, we told the security guard that we wanted to dine at Geyser Point and we were so happy that he allowed is in because I had the best salad for lunch. And it was wonderful to walk around Wilderness Lodge as it is our favourite/favorite. Not sure if we were allowed to do this because we were DVC guests?