New Dishes & Menu Changes at Space 220 Restaurant
Space 220 Restaurant is Epcot’s newest restaurant, and one of the highlights of Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary celebration. Despite being less than 6 months old, the out-of-this-world eatery is already adding interstellar new dishes to their menu, with new appetizers, entrees, and desserts, plus other changes.
Before we get going, it’s worth noting that we’ve already done the lounge, lunch, and dinner at Space 220 Restaurant. We’re big fans of the cuisine and experience, and highly recommend Space 220 to most Walt Disney World visitors. If you’re curious about theme and atmosphere, check out our Photos & Video: Inside Space 220 Restaurant at Epcot. That tour offers an exhaustive look around.
If you’re more concerned about cuisine, see our Space 220 Restaurant Lunch Review or Space 220 Restaurant Dinner Review. That trio of posts covers a range of different topics, from whether dinner is worth the premium pricing to space dogs to reservation timing and much more. Since Space 220 is already the hottest Advance Dining Reservation at Walt Disney World, you may not have much of a choice between lunch and dinner, but they’re still worth reading…
As for the new and updated menus at Space 220 Restaurant, beginning today, new items include…
Short Cake – Matcha Air Cake, Mascarpone Mousse and Strawberries. Available as a Supernova Sweets (dessert) option for three-course prix fixe dinner, or $14 add-on to two-course prix fixe lunch. (Pictured above.)
Shrimp Cocktail – U 10 Shrimp and Classic Horseradish Cocktail Sauce. Available on the Flight Bites lounge menu.
Steak Salad – Marinated Filet Tips, Iceberg Wedges, Cucumber, Cherry Tomatoes, Chives, Blue Cheese Crumble and Horseradish Dressing. Available as a Star Course (Entrée) option for lunch only. (Pictured above.)
Quinoa Burger – Quinoa-Vegetable Burger, Baby Arugula, Tomato, Yellow Beet Citrus and Mayonnaise. Available as a Star Course (Entrée) option for lunch only. (Pictured below.)
Out of all of these items, only the Short Cake catches my curiosity–it sounds really intriguing, inventive, and potentially delicious. I guess the shrimp cocktail could also be good, but I seldom order those at Walt Disney World. (There wasn’t much that I loved about living in Indianapolis, but St. Elmo Steak House has pretty much ruined all other shrimp cocktails for me.)
As for the Steak Salad and Quinoa Burger, those strike me as low-value entrees, and when a restaurant has a prix fixe menu, I simply will not order those–not even “for the sake of research.” (Even as a consummate carnivore, I still haven’t ordered the Centauri Burger due to the value proposition. I’d certainly get that before some Quinoa Burger.)
In addition to brand new items, some existing dishes at Space 220 Restaurants have been given upgrades, with new flavors and ingredients:
- Space Glazed Duck Breast – Fried Jasmine Rice, Asparagus, Pineapple and Orange Hoisin Sauce. Available as a Star Course (Entrée) option for dinner only.
- Florida Red Snapper – Pan Seared Red Snapper, Fennel Barigoule and Potato Stew. Available as a Star Course (Entrée) option for dinner only.
- Space Greens – Dressing made with Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Cointreau, Thyme Simple Syrup, Strawberry and Fresh Lemon Juice. Available as a Lift-Off (appetizer) option for lunch and dinner.
- Supreme Chicken Breast – Seared Chicken Breast, Polenta Parmesan Cake, Petite Balsamic Lentils and Basil Oil. Available as a Star Course (Entrée) option for lunch and dinner.
Here’s how those items compare to their counterparts that were previously on the dinner menu:
I won’t pretend to have thorough knowledge of bulk food pricing or how ingredients complement one another to say whether these are truly “upgrades” (as Patina Group claims) or if they’re ways to make the dishes less expensive to prepare.
My guess is that it’s a mix of both. Some cost-cutting or tweaks as inflation drives prices of particular ingredients higher, and some improvements made as the culinary team has experimented with the dishes and received guest feedback. That’s just a guess, though.
My only concern lies with the Space Glazed Duck Breast, which was previously the X2 Duck (Roasted and Confit Crescent Duck, Butternut Squash Flan, Brussels Sprouts, Orange Glaze).
Previously, the duck confit was the highlight of this dish; it was fall off the bone tender, and incredibly flavorful. The roasted duck was also delicious, but it was a tad tough. The orange glaze was good, arguably enhancing it further, but I thought the natural flavor of the meat and its preparation spoke for itself.
Ultimately, there’s not really much else to say about the menu changes at Space 220 Restaurant. I do like that Patina Group is making changes and additions, which is something I hope we start to see more of throughout Walt Disney World after many menus have been reduced or essentially frozen in time for nearly 2 years. Hopefully, these particular changes at Space 220 are a net positive.
With that said, I’ll level with you–a big part of the reason I wrote this post is because I wanted to give Space 220 Restaurant another endorsement. (This wouldn’t exist without that pretense–how often do you see menu update posts on this blog?!) In response to our recent List of Overrated Table Service Restaurants at Walt Disney World, many readers named Space 220 Restaurant their “#1” most overrated pick. That’s fine if you think that. I’m not about to cast aspersions on anyone else’s sincerely-held opinions about Walt Disney World, especially as someone who likes a lot of unpopular things.
However, if you have not yet done Space 220 Restaurant, I would strongly encourage you to give it a try despite the mixed reviews. I suspect part of what’s driving a lot of negativity is sky-high hype and expectations after the restaurant was delayed by like 11 years. There have also been entirely valid frustrations about price, but those can be obviated to some degree by eating in the lounge, which has an a la carte menu and can be less expensive (it also offers the best views).
Space 220 Restaurant has drawn a lot of comparisons–we have called it Coral Reef: Space Edition. In this case, it reminds me a lot of Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, which recently made our List of Underrated Table Service Restaurants at Walt Disney World. I’m betting that if you asked 100 Walt Disney World fans, half would put it on that list and the other half would put it on the overrated list. Same idea here (except Space 220 is newer, so I doubt anyone would consider it “underrated” at this point). Space 220 Restaurant is bound to be a polarizing, love it or hate it kind of place for years to come. You should find out for yourself where you land in that spectrum.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you dined at Space 220 Restaurant in Epcot? If so, do you think it’s overrated, underrated, or somewhere in between? More to the point: would you go back or recommend it to others? If you’re planning on doing an ADR here, will you book lunch or dinner? Thoughts on the new and “upgraded” menu items debuting for Spring 2022? Does it look or sound like the cuisine is commensurate with the cost? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? 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!
I’m in the overrated camp. My husband and I went for lunch in October. I thought the ride in the “space” elevator was a good start, but that ended when I entered the restaurant. The space scene was disappointing to say the least. It was only a partial earth, only on one side of the restaurant, with a few space stations flying around. Boring. The menu selection was not great, but I am always up for a challenge. I had the Big Bang Burrata and it was very good. My husband had the Blue Moon Cauliflower, which he enjoyed. I chose the chicken and it was nothing “out of this world”. My husband makes a better dish. He had the burger, which he said was good, but certainly not worth the price. We skipped the dessert as it did not come with lunch and after the disappointing meal we felt we could do better at one of the Food and Wine Festival’s booths. We certainly will not be going again. One and done.
Can’t wait to try Space 220 this year, it might end up up being like Beauty and the Beast and Coral Reef, when they first opened the food was great but now it’s a limited basic menu and not that good quality food, trying to get guest in and out quick, but the atmosphere is worth it in all 3 places (once).
We ate at Space 220 for dinner back in October shortly after it opened. We loved it and considered it one of the best-quality meals of the trip. I’d go back on a future trip for sure. And the atmosphere is so fun.
All of the questions about getting reservations at Space 220 (and the answers from other readers, all of which are accurate) suggests to me that a “How to Score Hard-to-Book ADRs” post might be worth writing. Adding that to my ever-growing list…
Changing things just 6 months in – a good thing or bad thing? Why would they change their menu so quickly? Customer loyalty must at some point get impacted if they change it too often – right?
I’d expect this type of thing to happen with a new restaurant as kitchens test & adjust, while also receiving feedback from guests. That plus varying degrees of inflation on raw ingredients makes this pretty unsurprising.
Personally, I’m more concerned when ambitious restaurants ‘dumb down’ their menus because they’re too adventurous for average Walt Disney World guests. That’s not what’s happening here.
We got in line for the lounge walkup around 5 on a Tuesday night beginning of March. Waited about 45 minutes. Several couples in front of us left but dont know how long they waited. When we got up there there were 4 open seats at lounge that they did not fill for another 20 minutes even though there were people waiting in line. Got a drink and appetizers. For us its a one and done. Disney is pricing itself out of reach for a family vacation.
I think people often get frustrated when they’re waiting for a table and they see empty seats. It’s usually less about empty vs full seats versus lack of staff. It doesn’t matter how many tables or seats are unoccupied, if there aren’t the staff to serve them. If you’ve only got half the full number of servers, then you can only fill half the tables.
I suppose I am in the overrated camp. I ate there on two different trips. I love it for the ambiance, and the astronaut dog. Culinarily (?), I thought it was just okay (the duck on my first visit was unfortunately overcooked). There are many other things I put in my mouth at WDW that were tastier and more memorable. Probably a better way to phrase that, but there you are. I just now scrolled through the pictures I took of the things I ate and drank there and I don’t remember how half of them tasted. I dunno. Not for me, I guess. Now, that porterhouse “for two” at Yachtsman? I remember every bite.
That’s a fair point. My counter would be that Yachtsman is a Signature Restaurant, whereas this is a themed one.
Clearly many others disagree (and that’s fine), but I think the cuisine at Space 220 is surprisingly good for a themed WDW restaurant.
I agree, I hate a 2 hour meal but the Yachtsman steak house is one of the best anywhere! Always on the list every trip.
Space 220’s food was amazing. Not sure it’s worth the money though. If you cannot get reservations, the day you go to the park go straight to Space 220. There is a cast member there to put you on a wait list. Everyone in line for the wait list go a reservation. We had a group of 10 and not only got the reservation but we were able to sit together. Note: it is terribly expensive though.
We ate there in February, and it was one of the highlights of the trip. Was it expensive, absolutely. But did we think it was worth it for our family? Absolutely. My two boys were so amazed by the fact that we were in space, and seeing the space shuttles and astronauts outside. My only complain is that I did not get to see the space dog, and I kept looking for it too.
We have reservations here for our trip next month and we are so excited! We had to split up to get the reservation – four of us are in the restaurant, another one in the lounge a few mins later. Hoping that if I show up early and am nice we can sit together, even if it means squeezing the 5 of us into a four person booth, or at least all ride up together even though the times aren’t perfectly aligned.
We went over Thanksgiving 2021 and loved it! The atmosphere was so cool and the food was delicious. Family fun all around! I’d definitely go back and highly recommend it to others! Love seeing menu tweaks already and hope other restaurants aren’t far behind!
To answer several questions that I’ve seen…getting reservations for Space 220 is not terribly easy, but also not impossible. As someone else has said, it’s better to get it towards the end of your trip so that you’re booking at 60 days plus however long your stay is. I have also had more luck getting reservations for 4 than for 2 people. Since virtually every table in there seats four or more, it’s easy to see why Disney would rather have four paying guests than two (and thus allocate more reservation slots to larger parties). Even if you miss it though, you can walk up. I did it on a Saturday in early March at noon and they sat me right away…however, your mileage may vary. There was a line of people waiting for the lounge while I was there who had been waiting over an hour.
We ate there and really enjoyed it. The food was good and just, everything about it was creative and cool. We even loved that there is a well behaved and a not so well behaved space dog. The latter is the one walking his astronaut.
I had the duck and I share your concerns. Hope its still as good as it was.
I scored reservations last minute by checking the day before ( Disney let’s you cancel up to 24 hours before your reservation without penalty so many people will hold a reservation and then cancel last minute before the cut off ). I was super happy to try it! The check in and “arrival” to the space station was fun and exciting ! However , once arriving in the restaurant I felt the theme was only interesting at first and after about 5-10 minutes quickly became boring . You are basically looking at black “windows “ with not much happening . They could have made it more interesting by having a “captain” make announcements or a narrated “space tour” or truly having something interesting to see such as a nebula , different planets , different space ships , meteor shower , etcSOMETHING besides a tiny “space dog” and I think a tiny astronaut float by a few times like every 15 minutes , my kids also lost interest quickly ….food was
Good . Just felt theme could have been improved . It’s like they did a backdrop and then said – good enough . Probably won’t go out of my way to go bask but won’t avoid it either . Great idea , just lacks follow through . Worth trying if you are curious , but probably won’t go back personally.
I was told over the phone by Disney Guest Services a few weeks ago that Space 220 offers a walk-up waiting list. Is this true? If so, how early does the sign up start for that and what’s the likelihood of scoring a table? I’m only at Epcot for one day in early May and don’t want to sacrifice not doing attractions, but I’d also love to experience 220.
I’m really torn.
Most of the table service restaurants have a walk up list on the app. However these fill early so if you really want to try to get a spot check early and often.
They also have a lounge thay you can make a reservation for so you know you have it, it out doing a full meal. I am doing that just to get a drink and maybe an app. I don’t want to use too much time there w a meal.
Yes, how are folks landing reservations?
As someone who lives in the Indianapolis area, I totally agree with you about St. Elmo’s shrimp cocktail! Thanks for the great review. We have reservations in May.
We haven’t been able to get a reservation. I jumped on it the second our dining slot opened for the 5th day into our trip when we’d be at EPCOT – nothing still. Even paid for a service to alert us. Any advice on catching coveted reservations?
At 6am, on our 60 day eligibility date, we’ve been successful booking on the fourth + days of our stay. This has worked for us on our last 2 trips and for our next upcoming trip (we were able to get 2 dinner and 1 lunch reservations at Space 220 in early April).
I had the same bad luck, and being in the pacific time zone meant getting up very early. What I ended up doing was checking in right when they opened and they were able to give me a reservation in place of somebody who cancelled. Although I paid more for the dinner than the lounge, it was worth it for me to not have to wait in the lounge line for an unspecified amount of time.
We’ve eaten there several times, lunch and dinner. Food selection and quality was excellent. Service was professional but a bit rushed. Window views of space are a bit hokey and marred by the ceiling light reflections. A bit pricey but not too bad. Not as good as Topolino’s but comparable to California Grill in our opinion. Overall we like it and plan to return on our next WDW visit.
Two dinner reservation & one lunch reservation on one trip? Give someone else a chance!
Nice can’t wait to try. This place is by far on our top list currently. Well maybe slightly behind Yak and Yeti! But barely….