You know that the Rose & Crown Pub and Dining Room is one of our favorite restaurants, and I’m excited to say there’s been another small menu change here! (Excited because that means I get to go eat there again!)

Atmosphere

Since we’ve reviewed Rose and Crown previously, you can find loads of atmosphere photos here! But I’ll add a few below just to give you a good feel for the place.

Rose and Crown is fashioned after a neighborhood pub in Britain, with long expanses of polished wood, dark interiors, rich tapestry fabrics, and leaded glass windows.

The pub and restaurant are separated by a low wooden wall with a swinging gate allowing restaurant patrons access to the restrooms that are through the pub area. There are separate entrances for both — if you’re headed to the pub, just walk in through the pub doors that face the World Showcase promenade.

If you’re checking in to the restaurant, you’ll need to go to the check-in booth to the left of the pub (located next to the outdoor walk-up beer location).

The restaurant has tables indoors and outside on a generous, stepped patio area that stretches along two sides of the restaurant. These patio tables are in high demand during the IllumiNations fireworks every evening, and guests who scored the coveted outdoor locations will stretch meals out for two hours or more in order to be sure to see the fireworks from these prime locations.

Take it from experience — it can get pretty cutthroat at the Rose and Crown check-in area around 7:30pm! Patio tables cannot be purchased, just requested. (Though I’m not sure why Disney hasn’t created the option to “buy” your way into a great IllumiNations view… they make the best views at the resorts cost more, so why not at the restaurants?)

Anyway, the atmosphere at the Rose and Crown Pub and Restaurant is one of the best in Walt Disney World. While the pub can get a bit crowded at night, rest assured it will always be fun!

Be sure to visit during the weekdays when my buddy Carl the Bartender is behind the massive, curving wooden bar up front. He’s been there for years and has stories that will knock your socks off!

Eats

I was excited to learn about the new menu. While I always order bangers and mash at Rose and Crown, I was interested in branching out a bit!! By the way, here are the bangers and mash just in case you wanted to see them… three delicious sausages; rich, creamy mashed potatoes; savory gravy…yum!

BUT, that’s not what I ended up getting, no sir! Check out the updated menu before we move on…

My husband started out with his new favorite drink line-up — the Imperial Sampler. You won’t find this on the dinner menu, but it is on the pub menu, which you should always request when dining at Rose and Crown! This grouping of beers includes a generous portion of Bass, Boddington’s, Guinness, Stronbow, and Harp.

Rose and Crown’s standard bread boules and butter balls came to the table (in “newsprint” of course), and we also ordered a couple of appetizers (of course).

I couldn’t wait to taste my very favorite Potato and Leek Soup! In the past, this lovely dish has been positively sinful — thick, creamy, smooth, and impossibly rich! The recipe and review can be found here.

But, sadly, this is not what we were served. The recipe has been changed slightly, so that this more closely resembles a standard potato soup. The starchiness of the potatoes is clearly a component of this mouth-feel, rather than the utterly smooth feel of the previous version. The flavor isn’t the same, either, and the soup has lost much of its richness.

This isn’t to say that the soup was bad, it’s just not the soup I dreamed about for years after first having it here.

We also got an order of Scotch Eggs, which can now be ordered a la carte instead of as part of the appetizer sampler (which is no longer available). These were just as good as ever! No recipe change here!

On to the entrees! Our server highly recommended the Pork Duo, and I always like to see how restaurants manage the pork dishes on their menus (it’s so hard to cook well!); so I took his advice!

This was a phenomenal dish! I loved both parts of the duo, but the brisket ended up being my absolute favorite. So much flavor, and surprisingly tender! The mushroom ragout was amazing (and I don’t even like mushrooms!).

The Braised pork was very good as well. It had a strong flavor that was more acidic than the pork brisket (which had a more savory, salty, and fatty flavor). We both enjoyed the brisket more, but our server was a big fan of the braised pork! To each his own!

Our other entree was the standard Sunday dinner. My husband never passes up a chance to get Yorkshire Pudding! Our only complaint here was the major lack of gravy!! What’s up with that?! Otherwise, all tasted wonderful on this platter.

For dessert, I was totally duped. I ordered a “new” dessert called “Irish Whiskey Caramel Custard,” again on the suggestion of our server.

Well, as you can see below, this is pretty much just creme brulee. Argh! I know people love that dessert, but pretty much every Disney restaurant has creme brulee of some sort, and, to be honest, I’d been getting tired of it. (I know, I know…first world problems, right?? :-D) I wanted to try something new and interesting, and, well, this wasn’t. I ate a few bites and that was enough.

Then I started attacking my husband’s Sticky Toffee Pudding, which, of course, is standard practice when one’s dessert is a disappointment!

Luckily, the sticky toffee pudding here at Rose and Crown is always great. I think I’ll go totally off my rocker and ask for a scoop of ice cream with it next time! Is that crazy?! Wouldn’t it taste amazing?!

Overall

So, even though we visited on one of the rainiest, coldest, windiest days of the trip…and sat outside on the patio of all places…our visit to Rose and Crown was once again a superior one. This restaurant went through a bit of a dip in quality in the mid-2000’s, but it has come back strong and remains one of our dark horse favorites!

I’m always glad to be able to highly recommend a restaurant for two years in a row, and I’ve been able to do that with Rose and Crown. Something’s going right in the kitchen (and the service is usually pretty good as well), so feel no fear in booking this cozy spot for your next lunch or dinner in Epcot!

Do you agree with my assessment of Rose and Crown? Let us know about your experiences in the comments below!