Coastal Eats Review & Menu: 2022 Epcot Food & Wine Festival
Coast Eats is our next booth as we continue around the 2022 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival at Walt Disney World. In this Global Marketplace review, we’ll look at the menu prices, share food photos, and offer thoughts on what is–and is not–worth your money.
While not much is new for ’22 at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, Coastal Eats returns to Walt Disney World after a two-year hiatus, and is located between Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Test Track, behind the Giant Epcot Dirt Pit. Also in its general vicinity are the Mac & Eats, Fry Basket, and Flavors from Fire booths. Arguably only this and Flavors from Fire are worth your time.
Walt Disney World touts Coastal Eats as being a booth for savoring the ocean’s finest flavors along with wines grown near the Pacific coastline. (Personally, I think it’d be cool if Disney picked an actual coastal nation or even state for “the seafood booth.”) Per DisneyWorld.com’s Global Marketplace page describing the booth, “you can almost feel the sea breeze!”
Normally I give Disney’s marketing team a lot of leeway with the advertising puffery, but I’ve gotta firmly dispute that “feel the sea breeze” line. As I stood in line for roughly 20 minutes at Coastal Eats, all I could feel was the sunlight reflecting off the concrete. It felt more like a desert–with added humidity–and absolutely nothing like the coast. But I digress.
Here’s the food menu for Coastal Eats Marketplace:
- Baked Scampi Dip with shrimp, scallops, and baguette (New)
- Oysters Rockefeller (New)
Here are beverages with alcohol at the Coastal Eats booth:
- Bell’s Lager of the Lakes Bohemian Pilsner (New)
- Villa Wolf Sparkling Pinot Noir Rosé
- Sean Minor Chardonnay
- Cape Codder: Boyd & Blair Vodka with cranberry, pomegranate, and lime
Now for our reviews of the food items at the Coastal Eats Global Marketplace during the 2022 Epcot Food & Wine Festival…
Oysters Rockefeller ($7.50) – In case you missed it, our review of the Fry Basket booth was relatively critical. The fry flight at that booth is about as unambitious as possible, and poorly executed, to boot. What does that have to do with Coastal Eats, you might ask? Well, if Walt Disney World can’t even do french fries right at the booth next door, how on earth could they possibly do justice to oysters rockefeller?!
I don’t know the answer to that question, but yet, they somehow pulled it off!
These three large oysters are perfectly-prepared, hearty in size, and not the least bit rubbery or tasting as if they’ve slow-cooked under a heat lamp. To the contrary, they were something I’d be happy to receive at a table service restaurant. Garlic and spinach further elevate the flavor profile and breadcrumbs add texture–none of this gets in the way of the oyster flavor, which is still allowed to shine. Highly recommended, somehow.
Baked Shrimp and Scallop Scampi Dip with Baguette ($6) – We were excited for this dish to return, as it was one of our favorite items at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival in years past. We’ve remarked in the past that Epcot always tends to do scallops well, and that’s especially true this year as these scallops are hearty in size, semi-crisp on the exterior, and tender inside. The char and light smokiness are just perfect.
Unfortunately, this is no longer served with full-sized scallops atop the scampi dip. Instead, the shrimp and scallops are diced up and inside the dip, with a lot less seafood. It’s still a good, rich shrimp scampi dip–but a definite downgrade.
With that complaint out of the way, let’s focus on the positives. The scampi dip is oozing with butter, garlic, herbs, shrimp, and just general cheesy goodness. The baguette is actually an improvement as compared to prior years, and there’s more of it (but still not quite enough). Not as great of a dish as in the past, but still fantastic. Also highly recommended.
Overall, Coastal Eats again delivers one of the better booths at the 2022 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. It’s good to see this return, and bring more high-quality seafood dishes at fair (by Walt Disney World standards) prices. My only complaint is that there are only two items on the menu, as compared to the normal 4.
My hope is that in future years when staffing is better, the full menu is restored. Coastal Eats used to do a surprisingly good job with scallops, salmon, and even crab cakes. Given the number of unambitious options at the event, it would be nice to see one of the better booths have a deeper menu.
Check out our Epcot Food & Wine Festival Booth Menus post if you want to see and read more about every menu this year. You’ll also want to read our full Epcot’s International Food & Wine Festival Guide before you go to get an idea of what to do, strategy for the festival (yes, you will need a strategy), and much more!
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
What do you think of the Coastal Eats marketplace? Have you tried any of the three food items at this booth? Do you agree that the seafood here is generally top-notch? Questions we can help you answer? 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!
Shoutout to Short’s Brewing! Love seeing my hometown region represented at F & W. All the current marketing up here advertises Michigan as “the third coast”…
Yes! I second this…and Short’s is great and Mule Beer is one of their best. Light, easy to drink on a hot day! Glad to see Short’s representing Michigan down at Food and Wine!
Hi Tom, Thanks for taking the time to post. Much appreciated, especially since these are requiring more work for you this year. I’m curious to know your take on the frothy ramen.
Side note: The Best Uses of DDP credits at Food and Wine was a brilliant idea. A similar one with Best Choices if paying out of Pocket would be cool, too.
In general, it would be nice if more Disney-focused sites did posts on best value foods (particularly savory snacks) or for those paying out of pocket – value being good quality at reasonable price. So many sites give help in deciding whether the dining plan is right for your trip and best use of your dining credits. It’s much harder to find information on maximizing your dollar for those who decide the plan isn’t right for them. But, I digress.
Thanks again for all your time and effort bringing this information to us.
Does anyone know if you can get ingredients anywhere but at the booths? I hate to hold up the lines but I think I should be able to eat more items than they have advertised as Gluten Friendly. Like the Baked shrimp and scallop scampi dip could be gluten friendly if you took off the baguette. Then again it might not be. But at the Festival of the Arts by asking this same question I was able to eat the Deconstructed Reuben by taking off the Rye Curl. (We were there on a slow day and I didn’t hold up a line by asking.) I find that when you ask the cast members at the booths they have to call and it takes so long. I felt bad but I held up the line at the Appleseed Orchard for quite a long time asking about the ciders because no one was answering the phone on the other end! But it was worth it-the CiderBoys Lemon Cello Hard Cider was divine!
Thanks for the review. Looking forward to trying several items here based on your review. I second the comment to include prices in the review. I will be attending the Food and Wine Festival for the first time in October. I have one question. What time do the booths open in Future World?
I must have bad luck, because the Scampi Dip I had last weekend was pretty gross. It was very runny, with nothing solid to speak of other than two small scallops. I liked it previous years, so maybe I’ll try it again.
Glad to see these reviews–I’m taking a trip in October and was hoping to hear your thoughts on which Festival items are worth trying. Thanks for taking the time to post today!
Your are always so informative in your posts I am wondering why you don’t add prices of all items. This would be very helpful for me. Or did I miss something!
I’ve always enjoyed the architecture of the booths as much as the food (and it’s free). This booth and signage are winners.