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!
We ate there a few nights ago and thought it was awful. The appetizers were actually ok. But the entrees were not good. I ordered the salmon while my wife tried the duck. The salmon was edible but the duck wasn’t. We also waited well over 30 minutes between appetizer and main course. The waitress came by 2-3 times promising it would be out “any minute”. After sitting there for while with our unfinished entrees, we gave up, skipped desert and got the check. Complaining to our waitress was no good – she “talked to her manager” who relayed to us that it’s “normal for our dinners to take sometimes well over an hour” and never addressed the poor quality of the food. I felt like we were told that we were wrong about our complaints. Not worth the experience – the novelty of the screens wore off quickly.
And to follow up – my wife has been violently ill all day today and we can pretty much trace it back to the duck.
We ate there on Saturday, the last night of our trip. When I originally booked ADRs, I got Space 220 lounge for dinner Saturday, which was the 9th day of our stay. I also got lunch on Wednesday (day 6), which I later cancelled. I found it much harder to get lounge reservations than full meal reservations. Also important to know is that the lounge tables seat a maximum of 4, so if you have a larger party you will have to split up and make separate ADRs. The restaurant side can seat larger parties – I don’t know how big.
When eating at the lounge, you can order off the lounge menu, and also the appetizers from the regular menu. We ended up getting 3 lounge appetizers and a salad from the dinner menu; we split everything between 3 adults and a pre-teen. (It was plenty after stuffing ourselves all week). We had the deviled eggs, chicken and waffles, short rib sliders, and caesar salad. I would say that everything was well prepared and tasty, but not really exceptional. The lounge table is really too small for this kind of sharing. We ended up each eating 1/4 of what was in front of us and then rotating plates.
Whether or not you think Space 220 is overpriced may be contextual based on where you’re coming from (I’m from Canada). The appetizer prices were not that much more than what the upscale chain restaurant down the street charges. Space 220 food was somewhat better, and the atmosphere was definitely better.
We would have liked the space floating things to stay on the screen longer so we could get a better look. And I agree with previous posters that they could do more to extend the theme through mission briefing videos or announcements.
We just ate there Friday. The server strongly recommended the shortcake so I went with that. It was excellent. The custard was smoother and creamier than a flan but not quite creme Brule consistency. The cake was perfect, very light and not dry. A+. Much better than the sticky toffee pudding I’d had for dessert on my first lunch. I wanted fish and the sever recommended the salmon over the snapper.
Going to be honest, I found the food at Space220 to be extremely disappointing. It all looked cool, but the taste just wasn’t there, especially considering it was the most expensive meal we had during our visit (and we did a lot of pricey meals). You can get much better tasting food at WDW for half the price. This meal didn’t even /compare/ to Sanaa, Jiko, Raglan Road, Le Cellier, Skipper Canteen, Yak & Yeti, or even Be Our Guest. All were cheaper and tastier, some vastly so. Imo they need to completely revamp the menu.
I should add, I’m generally willing to pay extra for good theming, but I just didn’t think this particular theming is worth it given it’s relatively understated and there’s no cast member acting involved. By contrast, Be Our Guest is overpriced for the food quality, but I’d pay that again because of the extremely detailed environment with multiple rooms etc. When it comes to theming or paying for the experience, Be Our Guest, 50’s Prime Time Cafe, and Oga’s Cantina are better examples imo.
We ate in the Lounge in December. We (adults) enjoyed the food but there were not many options our 7 & 9 year olds were interested in (which we knew going in). The Cast Member who was riding people up and down “into space” was the only person who was in character. He made it seem like we were going on a cool mission and was really into the role. The hostess and servers were not at all in theme. It could be a really neat experience if Disney would train the cast to be more into role playing the space theme, or maybe have you watch a 1 minute video about the “mission” or before you head up, like in Mission:Space. Or even some kind of look and find on the menu telling kids to watch for certain cool stuff floating by in the “windows.”
I’ve tried twice now to reserve, at 6 am 60 days out….. NO LUCK! Is there another trick?
It’s my understanding that you need to get on there at 5:45 now. Ridiculous. You may be better off trying to book whatever you can get for the last or second-last day you’re in WDW, since reservations can be made I believe up to ten days out.
fwiw, i not only got on at 5:45, but I checked the day ahead on one of those services that will help you find open bookings. All of Space 220 – restaurant and lounge – were already gone. I am staying on site at the very end of April and was trying to schedule for 5 days into my trip, so not the beginning.
*If you’re staying onsite.
We went for lunch in Nov 2021 and I got the burger and my daughter got the steak. The steak wasn’t flavorful at all and she didn’t like it, and she loves steak. And that burger was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. Sooooo worth trying! For something that was so hard to get, they could have easily filled in more space. Half the restaurant was empty. The atmosphere was lacking for the hype it got, and the servers were just standing around most of the time.
We won’t go back, but it’s good to try once!
We tried it once, won’t be going back. We were so excited about getting a table the during the ultra-crowded week of Thanksgiving, but in hindsight we shouldn’t have been. The atmosphere was just not that cool or distinctive, and certainly not for $340 for just three people. The food was forgettable, as was the service.
After the first few minutes, my wife, son, and I stopped looking at the “scenery” on the screens. Disney really needs to up the game there.
We’ll happily pay for a memorable, special experience – Disney VIP Tours, for example, are exactly that – but sadly Space 220 was only memorable for not being special.
We’ve gone twice, once for dinner and once for lunch. Both times, the food was FANTASTIC. Despite the price, I already can’t wait to get back to try the lounge. With that being said, the last time we went (right after the New Year), it was INSANELY slow. As in it took over 2 and a half hours and was about a 45 minute wait between finishing our appetizer and getting our entree. The table next to us was waiting just as long, so it wasn’t just us. It was so bad they gave us a big discount (on their own; we didn’t even complain, the manager just knew it was bad and came over and apologized and said they’d be giving us a discount for our wait). Luckily that was our final meal before driving home, so it just delayed our estimated time to get on the road, but I would have been furious if it had eaten up that much of our park days. I’m totally willing to go back though, in the hopes that that was just an off day. Unlike some of the other in-park themed restaurants, I haven’t found the food to be overrated at all!
Tom, I’m curious if you and Sarah have eaten at Space recently (sorry if I missed that info). I’ve heard from others who raved about Space when it initially opened that it has taken a major dive on food quality and now those same folks wouldn’t go back. Have you had that experience? We had an ADR for NYE but sadly cancelled our trip, but I’d still love to try Space if we ever get back to Florida!
I ate at Space220 in late September 2021 for my sister’s birthday, and again in early March 2022 to show it to a different friend. I had a few of the same dishes the second time that my sister had the first time, and can say there hasn’t been a significant change between the two.