Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant Review
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant is an American-cuisine restaurant in Disney World’s Disney’s Hollywood Studios park. This review features food photos along with thoughts on the ambiance and cuisine at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant. First, some basic background info: Sci-Fi participates in the Disney Dining Plan and also accepts the Tables in Wonderland card for a 20% discount. We recommend paying out of pocket when dining here if you can, as this restaurant is not a good value on the Disney Dining Plan.
Sci-Fi is open for both lunch and dinner (during busier seasons, they also add breakfast–we did a Star Wars breakfast here a couple of years ago), and we find it to be a restaurant that has improved in recent years following a couple of menu changes. The restaurant serves burgers, sandwiches, ribs, seafood, pasta, steak and salads in addition to its legendary milk shakes. Note that it will remain open during Toy Story Land and Star Wars Land construction. (Woo hoo!)
We had nearly eaten here a couple of times in the past, but always changed our plans at the last minute as we’ve read a lot of unfavorable reviews of Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant. It’s actually probably one of the most divisive restaurants at Walt Disney World, with some praising its ambiance, burgers, and milkshakes and others condemning its over-priced menu and mediocre cuisine.
We strongly agree with one of those perspectives…
I’ll cut to the chase: we loved it.
I had eaten at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant as a kid, and I remember it being fun, but I didn’t remember the cuisine before we ate there recently. We were a little nervous going into the meal that it might be a glorified quick service meal with significantly higher prices.
It wasn’t a huge concern, as the ambiance looked so great that it was worth trying even once. These fears were quickly allayed by the ambiance.
The ambiance was actually that impressive. Intricately themed as a sound stage containing a 60s-era drive-in movie theater. While you wait in the lobby (and even with Advance Dining Reservations you’ll be waiting at least a few minutes), you can take a look at the details (including California labor law notices) establishing that this is actually a set. The B-movies that play on the screen at the front of the theater are actually movies within movies. Surreal.
Speaking of the B-movie trailers, they’re quite entertaining and incredibly zany. They’re all real films, and it’s somewhat mind-boggling that all of these films were actually made. If you’re a fan of Ed Wood, you’ll love Sci-Fi Dine-In. I’ll bet it would have been a hoot to be involved with the making of some of them!
In addition to the movies, guests are seated in fun classic cars throughout the theater, with guests in the front being the driver and others being passengers and hitch-hikers. The lighting and general mood of the restaurant is also impeccable, and it actually feels like you’re outdoors at a drive-in theater (unless you look up). It’s really a fun restaurant and worth visiting for the ambiance alone.
However, the fun at our meal didn’t end with the ambiance. We were there for lunch, so we skipped the appetizer and went straight to ordering our main courses. Of course, we started with milkshakes. That was the only logical way to proceed. I also added a Coke blended with cherry flavor. I am a sucker for Coke mixed with grenadine (so much better than actual Cherry Coke), so I felt compelled to order it.
Normally, we try to order different items (for the sake you you readers…and so we can sample a greater variety), but in this case, we both had to get the Oreo Cookie Ice Cream milkshake. It was excellent. creamy with the perfect texture of Oreo crumbles, it was definitely well worth the $4.69 it cost. In fact, if they had offered a “bottomless” Oreo milkshake, I’m pretty sure I would have stayed there all day drinking milkshakes and enjoying corn-ball Sci-Fi trailers. Sarah would’ve had to come back with a wheel-barrel at the end of the day to roll me out!
Since I had heard a lot of the other entrees should be avoided, I decided to give the Angus Chuck Burger a try…
If there was one thing on the menu besides the milk shakes about which I had heard positive things, it was the burger. Sure enough, my burger was excellent. Thick, juicy, and perfectly cooked, it was about all I could ask for in a burger. It was one of the best burgers I’ve had at Walt Disney World, right up there with the storied Beaches and Cream burger. Although, to be fair, I don’t order burgers at the nicer Walt Disney World restaurants. I’ve heard Le Cellier and others have some really good craft burgers.
The accompanying fries were decent, but nothing special. At $14.99, it wasn’t that much more expensive than a Counter Service burger after our Tables in Wonderland discount, but it was so much better (and these days, even a lot of the Counter Service burgers are becoming pretty good!). Part of this was the way it was perfectly cooked to lock those delicious juices inside. Part of it was the quality of the meat. I’m convinced Disney is using better meat for its burgers as of late.
Sarah ordered the Smoked Turkey Sandwich. When I looked at the menu and saw that there was an item with avocado, I knew she’d be ordering that. Sarah’s sandwich was pretty good, but it seemed a little too healthy for me. Grain bread, avocado, turkey, etc. When I’m on vacation, I want decadent food that is high in “guilt” and deliciousness. After all, I’m walking so many miles per day that I basically need to eat slightly unhealthy…right?
Obviously this menu item was designed to be a bit more “reduced-guilt” in nature, and that much was clear from the description, so I can’t fault Disney for not being overwhelmed by this healthier item. If anything, praise is due for including a healthier option.
Overall, Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant is a nice Walt Disney World restaurant that offers exceptional ambiance. Seriously, amazing ambiance. If I haven’t stressed that enough, I’ll pause here and reiterate this once more. This restaurant has the absolute best ambiance in all of Walt Disney World. It also has at least a few items on the menu that are phenomenal, and if you stick to these items, you’re bound to have an amazing (and relatively inexpensive!) meal. When I began this review, I knew that I would rate Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant highly, but I had reservations about giving it a 9 or a 10 simply because of reports that there are some bad items on the menu. After giving it some thought for a couple of days, and receiving plenty of positive reinforcement from my followers on Twitter (yes, that is how we food critics review things nowadays…based upon the consensus of our social media friends), I’m convinced that Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant deserves the ultimate praise. To hold a restaurant back, despite some amazing food items, the best overall ambiance, and good prices on specific items, would be like panning Beaches and Cream (a ridiculously awesome ice cream and burger shop) because their Chicken Noodle Soup is no good. It just seems like an arbitrary reason to penalize an otherwise great restaurant. As such, my score for Disney’s Hollywood Studios Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater is quite high. Deservingly so, I think.
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Your Thoughts…
What do you think of Sci-Fi Dine-In? Do you enjoy the theme and ambiance? What about the food? Share your thoughts in the comments, especially if you’ve tried the newer menu at Sci-Fi!
Have eaten here many times. Food is good and love the atmosphere! Has a special place in my heart as my family owned drive-in theaters in the 50’s-80’s.
I love this blog! it is really useful for people (like me) that have never been there,
For Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, do you need a reservation?? if the answer is yes, how can I do it? Thanks =)
Are the movies scary? I can’t seem to find anything much about the movies shown and not sure if it will scare my children.
They’re cheesy, not scary.
My kids found some of the clips scary/wierd/awkward! We loved the atmosphere – it was so cool to sit in a car and be served! They do not want to return because of the movie clips though, they did find SOME of them disturbing.
I have a child with severe anxiety, so she was apprehensive on going here because of the movie clips. But we tried it and she loved it. Said they weren’t scary at all. This has become a ‘must do’ restaurant for her now. The only other restaurant that rates such high praise from her is Tusker House (and I agree on that one!)
We went there yesterday but couldn’t get on for 2 hrs so had to give it a miss. Was a bad day as a third of the park was closed for refurbishment and so everything that was open was packed.
If we had known we would not have paid to go in the park in the first place but there’s no signs outside warning people they will be disappointed.
A tad late in a reply but I stumbled onto this by accident.
They will never tell you things like that. Getting you in the park is their main concern so you will spend money as we all know that Disney is one giant retail establishment. Have not been for many years but at the ticketing areas of the respective parks back then, signs were usually posted as to what attractions were closed but I don’t believe Disney considers The Sci Fi Drive In as an attraction. Loved going into that restaurant. Cheesy but fun liked the Prime Time 50’s Café.
If you were ever going to consider going to Disney again attempt trying out this app called Disney World. Before going inside of the park especially before it opens, It gives you wait times and reservations to help with choosing which rides to go on next and other necessities. For example, as mentioned to even enter the parks based by wait times and closure of certain rides.
My husband and I our planning our next trip to Disney World for November this year, and we have already been talking about where we want to eat and not eat (and I have to say your full list of reviews has been coming in handy). One place we both said “no way” to was the Sci-Fi theater though…on our last trip it was his first time eating their and we got a breakfast ADR. We were celebrating getting engaged a couple days earlier and when our waiter recommended we get bloody marys we thought that sounded fun. So we ordered a couple of bloody marys (I promise were not alcoholics) and the waiter actually scoffed at us and acted like we were kidding. He then proceeded to judge us through our whole breakfast, every time he brought out a new food item he would make a comment about our drinks or that the pastries just dont go with alcohol. Needless to say we will not be going back there anytime soon, and its a shame because that whole experience ruined that restaurant for my husband and he has no desire to ever go back. But thanks to your awesome list of other places we will be trying some new options for a fun breakfast!
I think you are being WAYYYYYY overly sensitive.
Some people are naturally more sensitive than others – nothing wrong with that! There are some CMs that are dicks (I’ve met my share) and maybe he was one of them.
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very long time. Thanks and good luck.
My dad took my family to eat here as a child and 25 years later I brought my son (just last week – 6/2016). The ambiance was great. My son was having a rough day with the heat and I had even considered leaving the park after eating (we had a late afternoon reservation)…but it was the perfect place to recharge and have a little fun. He is 6 and loved the film clips and decor. We got the chicken strip kids meal (came with a small sundae for dessert) and I got the turkey sandwich. Nothing amazing but were both yummy. Plus an Orange Blossom beer for me. Our tab was $35 for two. Plus Since my kid’s a nibbler I brought the nuggets he didn’t finish wrapped in a napkin for him to munch on later in line for Star Tours. Anyhow, I am SO glad I ignored the bad reviews and stuck to a great family memory – he was so recharged when we left that we ended up staying past the Star Wars fireworks show!
Just ate there this week June 2016….the steak was fantastic! Literally melt in your mouth! The caramel apple donut was a dessert worth having! Loved every bit of our experience!
We ate there several years ago and although we enjoyed the meal, we were disappointed that our group of 6 were seated at a regular table instead of getting to sit in the neat “car seats”. Otherwise, it was a neat experience.
Just ate here on April, 11 2016. I ordered the same thing and totally enjoyed my meal. I highly recommend it as well.
This place is problematic for me for two reasons:
1. I like to see what I’m eating when I’m paying Disney World prices.
2. It’s terrible if you are in a party with an odd number of people. You are forced to sit in pairs, all facing the same direction. Therefore one person will essentially dine alone. Even if you aren’t the third wheel in your “car” you’ll still be limited to dining with one other person instead of the entire group (if there are more than two in your party).
This is based on a single experience (which I won’t repeat until my wife and I are empty nesters.)
Excelente weblog aqui! Também local muito até muito rápido!
O host está o uso de? Pode recebo seu associado link
na sua anfitrião? I desejo meu local carregado tão rápido rapidamente como seu lol
We went to sci-fi oct. 2015, the food was good. I had a burger & it was perfect, the sweet potato fries were delicious (I don’t usually like sweet potato fries)! No one mentioned dessert, I had the sci-fi bar and it was scrumptious, not too sweet, very chocolatey with lots of layers. The theming was just plain fun & was one of my daughter’s (6yo) fave TS!
My only complaint is that it’s so dim in there even with the car light, could barely see my food!
Def would go again!
We tried the Sci Fi the last time we were in Disney (2014) and loved it. We did not have time to do it in our trip a few days ago but I absolutely loved the food and the black and white “scary” movies up on the screen. If you cannot seem to get a reservation, keep trying. People are constantly changing plans and you might get lucky. I was trying three times a day and finally was able to secure dinner reservations at “Be Our Guest” so it is possible, you just have to be diligent.