Disney World Dining Guide & Restaurant Reviews

ByTom Bricker
57 Comments

Our Walt Disney World dining guide and restaurant reviews help you book the best ADRs, choose where to eat and where to avoid, find underrated restaurants, steer clear of overrated/overhyped food, and more. These resources cover themed dining, discounts offered, recommended dishes, and more. (Updated March 5, 2023.)

With the ‘Free’ Disney Dining Card Discount at Walt Disney World, it’s a great time to plan how to put those dining cards to use on your 2023 Walt Disney World vacation. With the advice here, you can use the dining cards to reduce your budget, spending less out of pocket as a result while also having the best possible experience at restaurants, snack spots, and more.

We have extensive experience dining at Walt Disney World; the two of us have eaten in virtually every restaurant–some many times. We still regularly revisit restaurants to see what’s changed and offer insights on where to eat and avoid. If you want to be notified of our new and updated reviews, and all things going on at Walt Disney World, be sure to sign up here for our FREE Disney newsletter here.

Since there are literally hundreds of restaurants at Walt Disney World, the choices can be overwhelming. We’ve dined at every single Walt Disney World restaurant that’s in-park at Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. The handful of locations we’re “missing” at this point are all in the hotels or Disney Springs.

In the last several years, we’ve started adding a lot more Disney Springs restaurants as the dining scene has dramatically improved there in the last couple of years. In fact, we’d now recommend trying to do multiple meals at Disney Springs. Quite the change from a few years ago, when the only thing worth doing at Disney Springs was Raglan Road!

Our Walt Disney World restaurant reviews are based on cuisine, ambiance, and value for money. We particularly value themed design and atmosphere, as this is primarily where Disney excels over it’s real world counterparts. Obviously, food is also important, and we typically eat at a restaurant at least a couple of times before reviewing it. Nevertheless, quality can vary from one day to the next and menus change frequently.

To that point, inconsistency is one big issue with Walt Disney World restaurants. We may have a horrible meal at a restaurant one night and you may have a fantastic at the same restaurant the next night, or vice-a-versa. This is especially true of service, which is why we don’t factor that into our scores except in certain (noted) circumstances. Due to this inconsistency, we recommend reading a few reviews (not just ours!) of the same restaurant before making a decision on it.

Another note before we begin is that the Disney Dining Plan is still not back as of 2023. See When Will the Disney Dining Plan Return? for our predicted timing of its comeback, as well as our rationale. The Disney Dining Plan has long been polarizing for Walt Disney World fans. Some find it to be a good way to budget or save money–others think it forces them to overspend and/or overeat. Like anything, there’s good and bad to the Disney Dining Plan; both perspectives can be true, it all depends upon the party. All of that is irrelevant for now, as the Disney Dining Plan remains temporarily unavailable.

Another big thing to know right now is that restaurant capacity is limited due to staffing shortages, which has made reservations even more competitive. As such, we highly recommend consulting our Top 10 Tips for Booking Difficult Advance Dining Reservations before your trip. Now more than ever, it’s important to plan–and reserve–the restaurants that are most important to your family prior to your vacation.

With all of that out of the way, here’s our guide to dining at Walt Disney World, followed by reviews and food photos from various Walt Disney World restaurants…

Money-Saving Tips for Dining at Walt Disney World – Ways to cut the fat from your food budget at Walt Disney World without sacrificing on the quality of the experience. Easy ways to reduce unnecessary expenses and spend less while still having a ton of fun.

22 Best Restaurants at Walt Disney World – This focuses on the restaurants we recommend most often to friends and family, and also eat at ourselves for fun. It’s not an objective list of the absolute top-tier restaurants at Walt Disney World (that’s the next spot down), but offers more practical advice for most vacation planners.

Top 10 Table Service Restaurants at Walt Disney World – Our rankings of the very best restaurants at Walt Disney World. Most useful for couples or convention-goers. Those on their honeymoons or with expense accounts will appreciate this list of mostly fine dining. Everyone else should use the top 22 list above that.

Best Burgers at Walt Disney World – I really love burgers. This regularly-updated list is a bit of a passion project, and hopefully one appreciated by fellow carnivores!

Top 10 Best Value Table Service Restaurants at Walt Disney World – Excellent alternatives to the overrated and overhyped restaurants that are the most popular ADRs at Walt Disney World. You can still enjoy a stellar experience while spending a little less!

Overrated Restaurants at Walt Disney World – Some of Walt Disney World’s most popular restaurants aren’t so great. This list of overrated table service restaurants at Walt Disney World takes a look at ones that are worse than their reputation or hype might suggest.

Top 10 Themed Table Service Restaurants – While real world restaurants can beat most theme park dining options when it comes to cuisine. Where Walt Disney World really excels is thematically, so you might want to prioritize on the basis of atmosphere and immersiveness, and that’s where these restaurants shine!

Top 10 Counter Service Restaurants – Our favorite quick service restaurants in all of Walt Disney World, with something from every single park, plus convenient options in the hotels and at Disney Springs.

Top 10 Magic Kingdom Counter Service Restaurants – Rankings of all of the fast food options in Magic Kingdom. Sadly, Walt Disney World’s most popular park is its worst for restaurants.

Best Magic Kingdom Snacks & Desserts – On the plus side, Magic Kingdom has a lot of iconic snacks! 😉

Top Disney’s Hollywood Studios Counter Service Restaurants – Same idea, but for the restaurants at DHS. Lots of good options here, including a few under the radar picks.

Epcot Counter Service Restaurant Rankings – Thanks to options throughout World Showcase, Epcot has more dining than any other park at Walt Disney World.

Drinking Around Epcot’s World Showcase Tips – One of the most fun ways to spend an afternoon at Epcot is by drinking your way around World Showcase. This offers our suggestions from past “practice” doing that.

Snacking Around Epcot’s World Showcase Tips – Same idea, but with international snacks instead of suds.

Disney Springs Counter Service Restaurant Rankings – Lots of good quick service dining at Disney Springs, but we really recommend doing table service meals here.

Disney Springs Table Service Restaurant Rankings – As suggested above, Disney Springs has a formidable restaurant roster. Even by real world standards, Disney Springs has a stacked culinary lineup.

Disney Dining Plan Resources

Again, the Disney Dining Plan is temporarily unavailable as of 2023, so nothing below is relevant right now…

We’ll update this page regularly as we do more Walt Disney World dining reviews. It’s also a good idea to search the menus of different Disney restaurants to see which restaurants might appeal most to your family–given all of the choices, that can be a smart way to narrow things down.

WDW Resort Hotel Restaurant Reviews

Magic Kingdom

EPCOT

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Disney Springs

As mentioned at the start of the article, these are just a portion of the Walt Disney World restaurants we’ve tried. If you have questions about other restaurants, please leave them in the comments. We haven’t dined everywhere, but we’ll help with advice where we have!

Want more dining tips? Check out our 101 Delicious Walt Disney World Dining Tips. If you are planning a Walt Disney World trip, make sure to also read our comprehensive Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide to make the most of your experience! For updates on Walt Disney World, the latest news, discount information, and tips, sign up for our free monthly newsletter.

Your Thoughts

Which Walt Disney World restaurants are your favorites? Anywhere you don’t like? Other tips about dining at Walt Disney World? Do you agree or disagree with any of our reviews? Restaurants you’d like to see us review (or re-review)? Any 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!

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57 Comments

  1. We recently had dinner at Portobella in Disney Springs. Service was good but the food was very poor. The Calamari was like rubber. We reordered but the 2nd order was not much better. The Ravioli Gigantic was extremely bland – no taste. The white pizza was also bland, lacking any taste. We have since seen numerous bad reviews. We will not revisit this restaurant.

    We ate at Olovia’s at Old Key West the next night and the food was very good.

    Many thanks foe your blog – it is immensely helpful.

    Joe

    Reply

  2. I need to make reservations for a dinner for my husband and a 2 year old? I want something unique. Thoughts?

    Also we want to do the fireworks at magic kingdom. Where is the best place to watch those from? Keeping in mind we will have a 2 year old with us…but he has proven that he has no problem staying up late…hahaha

    Thank so much for all the info. I am on here every day now researching something.

    Reply

  3. I am loving all the information! Thank you! I didn’t see a review for the rain forest cafe in animal kingdom?

    Reply

    1. I never go to WDW without eating at the Rainforest Cafe in either the Animal Kingdom or Disney Springs. We LOVE that restaurant, and it’s one my granddaughter always wants to go to (as well as T-Rex in Disney Springs).

      The atmosphere is something that has to be seen when the rain forest animals come to life and you hear all the sounds the animals make.

      The food is good, too, although they got rid of fried shrimp, replacing it with coconut shrimp which I don’t care for. So that was a bummer. Be careful ordering appetizers because they’re HUGE! The “small serving” is big enough to be a complete meal!

    1. We just did that this month for the first time. The food was okay, nothing to write home about. It’s a buffet, but it’s really all about the characters. If you’re on the Dining Plan, it’s not so bad. If you’re paying out of pocket, expect to pay around $100 for 2 adults and 1 child (without tax). That makes for an expensive breakfast!

  6. Hello, I made a reservation for dinner at La Hacienda at 7:45pm in Dec 2014. We want to watch the “Illumination” from there. Do you know if they will let us stay there until the fireworks finished or did we reserve our dinner too early? That was just the only reason why we wanted to have dinner at that place…to watch the fireworks!

    Reply

    1. Just eat slowly. The servers will try to push you through quickly, but so long as you’re still eating, they won’t actually ask you to leave.

  7. We’ve got a trip scheduled in a few weeks and I reserved Teppan Edo at Epcot figuring if anybody does a good chef hibachi show, Disney does and the kids would love it. Is this the case? I’ve heard it is great and it is a run-of-the-mill hibachi experience. Be honest. It is what I love about your reviews. Thanks!

    Reply

  9. Hi, Tom, have Sarah and you ever attended the Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party? If so, anything to know in advance of it? Any good photo ops? Thanks!

    Reply

    1. Sorry, we have not. I’ve photographed the fireworks from Tomorrowland Terrace, though, and it’s not a very good spot. Off-center view.

  10. Have you guys tried Boma for breakfast? We are planning a Dec trip and I was wondering if it would be worth it, and if so, if you think it would be doable to have brunch there after early entry at Animal Kingdom?

    Reply

  11. I wouldn’t recommend the dining plan. Only the sit down restaurants have decent food. Anything at the quick service restaurant and the ‘snacks’ were garbage. Beware of this food. See the attendees who willingly shovel it down and decide for yourself.

    Reply

  12. Hey, these reviews are great and have helped tremendously in planning my Disney vacation. My only request would be to put your ranking for each on this page as well so that at a quick glance, it would be easy to see your recommendations. I don’t think this would take away from page views either as I would’ve still read each review, but coming back to the page after a few days, having an easy way to remind myself of your ranking would be beneficial.

    Reply

  13. I see you did the Cape May Cafe character breakfast, but have you guys gotten a chance to do the dinner yet? I hear it’s good but wanted to know if it is worth the price.

    Reply

    1. We did the dinner and it was great! I think it was worth the price but everything at Disney is high anyhow!

  14. Heading down to WDW tomorrow and we’re going to eat at Il Mulino at the Swan on Saturday, the menu looks AMAZING! I have no clue how my group will be able to choose. I’ve never eaten at any of the Swan or Dolphin restaurants (I want to try Bluezoo as well) so I’m excited to see how this one goes!

    Thanks for this fantastic resource, I’m a huge fan of your site! I’ve directed many people here for tips! And real patriotism of course 😉

    Reply

  15. Hi,
    I’m going on my honeymoon in May. Any suggestions on can’t miss places to eat? Also do you know of any restaurants that do anything special for honeymoons?

    Thanks!

    Reply

    1. I’m sure you’re wanting a reply from Tom, but I HIGHLY recommend you doing Victoria and Albert’s for your honeymoon meal. We went for our honeymoon, and thought it was totally worth it. It’s expensive for sure, but if there is any occation worth celebrating there, it’s your marriage. We’ve been to Disney World many times, and I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d ever go to V&A because of price and dress code, but that was an evening I will never forget. Wonderful food and impeccable service. 3 and a half hours of culinary bliss.

    1. No dice on that one. We’ve been on the fence, but it seems pricey for what it is. Maybe that’s just us.

  17. After two consecutive years of (hectic) spring trips to Disneyland with grandchildren, we thought we would take a Disney break for a few years. Thanks to this post, we are off to Disney World (alone…yay!) The primary reason? To sample all these culinary spots you profiled that we’ve previously missed.
    End of February has us escaping Colorado snows, thanks to you. : )

    Reply

    1. Sounds like the perfect spring getaway! You’ll have to let us know what you think of the places you try.

  18. Hi Tom,

    What would you recommend for someone who has never eaten at the Poly but likes both breakfast and dinner? Is Kona better than O’Hana for dinner? Or would you go with a Kona breakfast and O’hana dinner?

    Thanks

    Reply

    1. It’s really a toss-up. I think most guests will probably prefer ‘Ohana, but we really like both. I’d definitely do dinner, either way you go.

  19. I knew that you had been busy, but WOW! Is that EVERY restaurant in EVERY park and resort in WDW…WITH photos of each? Thanks for this incredible resource! On my next trip to WDW, I’m stopping by here first. 🙂

    Reply

    1. No, this isn’t even close to every restaurant. If you take out minor snack spots, etc. (places that would be pointless to review), this is probably about 25% of the total restaurants at Walt Disney World. That’s just a guess, though.

  20. I know they haven’t even announced an official grand opening, but I am really curious about Spice Road Table in Epcot. I would love to hear your take on it if you get a chance to eat there in the upcoming year. I’m extremely curious about the small plates and whether or not they represent a good value or if the prices are high for the amount you actually get. Keep up the good work. My husband and I love the honesty in your dining reviews (and your food choices!).

    Reply

    1. I second this! Very curious about Spice Road Table. I thought I read somewhere that the soft opening is this week.

    2. I just ate there this weekend. I was not impressed. Obviously, the portions are small (that’s the idea), but to make a full meal of it, you have to spend a lot of money. It’s like a permanent restaurant of Food & Wine Festival portions…except the options aren’t as interesting, good, or varied.

    3. Prices are high for what you actually get. Service was GREAT and the restaurant was not even remotely busy (that’s what happens when you don’t accept Tables in Wonderland or the Dining Plan, I guess!), so that was nice…but the food and the prices were not.

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