Tangierine Cafe Flavors of Medina Review & Menu

Tangierine Cafe: Flavors of Medina is a restaurant in World Showcase during the various events throughout the year at Walt Disney World, including the 2022 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival. In this booth review, we’ll look at the menu prices, share food photos, and offer thoughts on what is—and is not—worth your money.

For those who are unfamiliar with it, Tangierine Cafe was a counter service restaurant in World Showcase’s Morocco pavilion. When the parks reopened, the location was open for a few days before closing as its operator faced financial woes. After a relatively brief saga, Walt Disney World took over ownership of the pavilion, its retail and restaurants.

Since then, Walt Disney World has overhauled the menu of Spice Road Table, the relatively new table service restaurant on the waterfront. More noticeably, Imagineering has gone through Morocco, making a variety of aesthetic and design changes. While some fans initially feared the “cartoonification” of this beloved pavilion, that has largely not been the case…

To be sure, there has been a degree of Disneyification to Morocco, and there’s a bit more Aladdin than before. However, the changes have largely been positive, with richer details added to some of the pavilion’s newer elements, along with some overdue attention to the grounds and features of Morocco.

These improvements now extend to Tangierine Cafe: Flavors of Medina…

While its direct predecessor was an excellent counter service restaurant, prices had gone up over the years and some menu additions were questionable. Nevertheless, Tangierine Cafe was great. We still miss it and hope that someday it’ll be a counter service restaurant again (near term, that seems unlikely given some of its modifications).

Another apt comparison is its indirect predecessor: the Morocco booth at Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival (and other events). There’s a night and day difference between the old Tangierine Cafe and those booths, though.

The Morocco booths had been a train wreck for the last few years, annually among the worst at every Epcot event. The operating participant had raised prices while cutting quality and portion sizes at the Morocco booth, with the Spicy Hummus Fries being a prime example of this.

This might be a surprise twist that no one saw coming, but this Morocco booth is better and cheaper under Walt Disney World management than under the prior third party operator…

Here’s the food menu for Tangierine Cafe – Flavors of Medina:

• Grilled Chermoula Chicken or Moroccan-spiced Lamb Kebabs with carrot-chickpea salad and garlic aïoli
• Fried Falafel Pita with tahini sauce (Plant-based)
• Stone-baked Moroccan Bread with hummus, chermoula, and Zhoug dips
• Pistachio Cake with cinnamon pastry cream and candied walnuts

Tangierine Cafe Flavors of Medina Beverages:

• 3 Daughters Brewing Fig Hard Cider
• Bold Rock Ginger Turmeric Hard Cider
• Stem Ciders Hibiscus Session Hard Apple Cider (New)
• Fig Cocktail with white cranberry juice and fig vodka
• Cider Flight

Now our photos and reviews of each item from the Tangierine Cafe: Flavors of Medina Global Marketplace at the 2022 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. (Note: these have not yet been updated with fresh reviews of the new items at the 2022 Epcot Food & Wine Festival. Stay tuned for that!)

Chicken Kebab ($5.75) – There are three grilled kebabs, each of which are served with couscous, tomato-onion salad and garlic aoli.

The chicken is a winner from a taste and quality perspective, as it’s tender and nicely seasoned. Portion size was a bit disappointing, but that could’ve just been poor luck. Given the rest of the menu, we’d consider this skippable.

Lamb Grilled Kebab ($5.75) – Again, same idea here with the sides, just swapping out the meat for lamb.

Without question, this is the best of the bunch. I’m always partial to lamb, but even setting that aside, this is definitely the best of the trio. Tender, juicy, flavorful–exactly what you’d expect. Highly recommended.

Mediterranean Flatbread ($5.75) – We watched these flatbreads being cooked in Morocco’s oven, and were really optimistic given that and the attention to detail. However, ours simply was not any good.

The flatbread is topped with za’atar, artichokes, olives, mozzarella, and feta cheese–a seemingly good mix. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough toppings and they don’t have full coverage of the crust. In addition to that, nothing tasted particularly fresh or high quality. Perhaps you’ll have better luck, as the preparation process is solid and the size is solid for the price. We don’t recommend this, but it’s potentially worth the gamble.

Vanilla, Rose Water, and Pistachio Panna Cotta ($8) – This dessert is also nothing special, but the difference here is that we’ve had this before at other events and it’s expensive.

This is basically fodder for Instagram, with a pretty presentation and trendy (is rose water still trendy?) flavors. It’s not bad, but there are at least a half-dozen other better, cheaper desserts at the festival.

Next, items from the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, which is the next event starting in July 2022 (it remains to be seen whether these items will return for 2022).

Harissa-marinated Beef Tenderloin Tips Grilled Kebab ($5.75) – Same thing, but with beef.

The portion size here was larger, and it’s a more interesting dish with better texture, but the quality seemed slightly lower with the meat being a tad tough. Were this at just about any other booth, we’d probably be singing its praises, but the Tangierine Cafe menu is stacked.

Fried Falafel Pita with Tahini Sauce ($5.25) – This is the plant-based option at Tangierine Cafe: Flavors of Medina, and it’s a good one.

The Morocco booth always does a pita, and in the last several years, it’s price jumped to $8-9. This offers a price reset back to a more reasonable level. The falafel here is absolutely fantastic, with an exterior crunch giving way to a warm and soft center. Flavors are nuanced, with the perfect amount of seasoning. The only minor quibble is that the pita itself seems low quality as compared to the fantastic falafel. Still highly recommended.

Stone-baked Moroccan Bread with Hummus, Zaalouk and Zhoug Dips ($5) – One of our favorite off-property restaurants near Walt Disney World is Bosphorous Turkish Restaurant. They do something similar to this that is literally one of the best breads we’ve ever eaten.

This is not quite on that level, but it’s shockingly good. The bread is airy but doughy, and easily tearable. It’d be good enough to enjoy on its own, but the accompaniments enhance it even further. Speaking of which, the hummus, zaalouk, and zhoug dips are all relatively ordinary–each one of them is mild–but they’re “good enough” that this is still something we highly recommend.

Pistachio Cake with Cinnamon Pastry Cream and Candied Walnuts ($4.75) – Imagine the best possible version of a cake with the aforementioned description/ingredients, and that’s what this is.

The pistachio cake has a delicious core flavor that’s taken to the next level with the distinctly cinnamon cream. The moist and light cake works really well with the light spice of the cinnamon and candied walnuts. Refreshing, delicious, and once again highly recommended.

Overall, Tangierine Cafe: Flavors of Medina is a huge winner and it’s nice to see the one-time best counter service restaurant in Walt Disney World return to Morocco in some capacity, even if it’s just for the various Epcot International Festivals. While I’m a bit disappointed that the location seems intended for food booth use beyond just this event, it’s tough to argue with the menu quality and value for money here.

Check out our Global Marketplace Booth Menus & Photos for the 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 2022 Epcot 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

Are you disappointed that Tangierine Cafe is returning as a food booth instead of a restaurant, or just happy it’s back at all? If you’ve tried any of the cuisine at Tangierine Cafe: Flavors of Medina, what did you think? Portion-size or quality-wise, did you have better or worse luck than us with what you ordered? Have you tried any of the drinks at this Global Marketplace? What was or was not worth the money? Do you agree or disagree with our food reviews? 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!