Welcome Aboard at the Captain’s Grille at Disney World’s Yacht Club Resort!
While this restaurant flies mostly under the radar for most folks, it does offer decent food and — even better — an easy-to-get table even if you don’t have reservations. Most of the time you’ll be able to walk right into Captain’s Grille and be seated, but it always pays to make reservations just in case.
I had a bit of a surprising meal here… read on to find out why!
Atmosphere
Captain’s Grille is one of those “lost” mid-priced Disney resort restaurants, which makes it a relatively quiet and calm place to grab a bite!
Themed similarly to the Yacht Club Resort, Captain’s Grille features model sailboats and subdued nautical decor coupled with light wood furniture.
Dining Room Seating
The theme is nothing to write home about, and the restaurant is open to the lobby as well as the surrounding walkways through the hotel. You may hear a bit of noise from park-goers heading out to start their day or possibly coming back in for a nap, but overall this spot will be more relaxed and quiet than many other resort restaurants.
Captain's Grille Seating
This is one of my favored spots to visit for meetings with colleagues or friends during conferences, or as a last-minute choice when I need a table-service meal and don’t have an ADR.
Eats
Captain’s Grille serves a delicious breakfast buffet and a small, but satisfying, lunch menu. On this visit I was meeting a friend for lunch during prime lunch hours. We had no problem getting a table!
I started out my meal with the soup of the day — a Corn Chowder (yay!!). This was deeeeeelicioso. It wasn’t a thick chowder — more milk-based — but I usually like these better anyway. The corn was plump and sweet, and the broth was buttery. Loved this.
Soup of the Day -- Corn Chowder
Next up for me was the grilled chicken sandwich with prosciutto, aged Vermont cheddar, and arugula salad on a house-made Onion Roll. I got french fries as my side, but you can also choose Vegetable Orzo Salad.
This sandwich was, surprisingly, excellent! I was expecting mediocre, but I got delicious. The chicken was well-marinated and cooked perfectly. The portion of cheddar was massive, but I certainly wasn’t complaining. And the fries were crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. I was truly impressed!
Chicken Sandwich
My friend ordered the Signature Angus Chuck Burger, which ends up being quite fancy as it’s topped with Lump Crabmeat Salad and Choron Sauce. He very much enjoyed it! He was the healthy one and ended up ordering the Orzo Salad as his accompaniment.
Signature Sandwich
And the menu has several other tempting options to try — New England Style Lobster Sliders, a Knife and Fork Roast Beef Sandwich, Clam Linguini, and a Tomato and Mozzarella Sandwich sound like great entree options.
But it’s the Hand-cut Salt and Vinegar Fries with Roasted Shallot Mayonnaise that I need to go back for!!
Overall
While I was happy to be dining with a friend and chatting about mutually beloved subjects (Disney, Food, and Hawai’i!), I will say that I kept thinking about how good the food was! I had been a bit “down” on Captain’s Grille prior to this meal, thinking that it was more of a “convenience” restaurant and less of a “food” restaurant. But I take it all back!
I really enjoyed my meal, really enjoyed the quiet and relaxing feel to the restaurant even at peak lunch hours, and thought the service was fantastic.
By the way — later in the week I had a very good omelet here for breakfast, so the hits just keep on comin’. Hand-Cut Salt and Vinegar Fries, I’m comin’ for YOU!
Have you eaten at Captain’s Grille? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
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Recently had dinner here and was very disappointed. Silverware was dirty service was poor and food was just ok. Don’t think we will be dinning here again soon.
Yes we have! We stay here and we also go there for breakfast never lunch, we will have to try it out next time!
We did it back in 2009 when they had a cast member discount of 40 percent off for lunch (which usually just has sandwiches,) and what not and we both had a chicken open faced sandwich with some fries and it didn’t disappoint one bit. Pretty good stuff. =)
I think all establishments should get more then once chance. Everyone has off days in the service. I’ve been to Jikos and Cali Grill on good nights and other nights, not so good. If the silver ware is dirty, ask for another pair. Look at Earls of Sammich, it’s sometimes dirty in there but that will never deter me from going in there for some of the food. Especially that peanut butter cookie dessert hahaha.
We have eaten there for dinner several times and always love it! We’ve never had anything but great service, the food is always simple and super tasty (crab legs! Yum!), and the desserts are phenomenal. I love this little hidden gem 🙂
We ate there for dinner around Christmas. The prime rib, New York Strip and crab legs were excellent. We thought both the food and service were great! It turned out to be a really nice dinner. We have three kids, 7,9 & 13 (she had the prime rib!), and they loved it, too! (Dessert was also VERY good.)
Heidi — So sorry to hear that 🙁
Elizabeth — Can’t wait to hear what you think!
Venessa — So glad you had a good experience here! I agree on the multiple chances 😉 I’ve also been to some stellar restaurants on not-so-good nights.
Lenore — Great point that the food stays simple — I love it that way.
Cindy — Yum!! Sounds so decadent! What was dessert?
I have never been but I would be willing to try it. I have had some bad meals at places on property that people are crazy about but after 3 or 4 times of just not liking the food then I dont go back. Some places will surprise you!
I had my first table service meal at disney here…
This is a Disney throw back restaurant – I mean the way many WDW restaurants were twenty-five years ago. Nothing fancy, a sort of old fashioned decor and reasonably priced. I know we all like the WOW! of many of the themed places in the parks and DTD and the Boardwalk but I hope the few old timers stay around. The just need to serve good food.
We had dinner there last May and it was EXCELLENT! My steak rivaled Le Cellier. The chef (Darn, I forget his name), came out to speak with us several times, the first to talk with DD #2’s vegan boyfriend to find out what he can/would eat, the second to see how he liked it (he said the dish was amazing!) and lastly to serenade DH & myself when they brought our special anniversary dessert. I would go back in a heartbeat & if we ever decide to stay at another resort besides the Polynesian, this would be one of my choices.
We really like this place. The last time we had breakfast and as usual food was good. The only problem was the place was EMPTY………….there were only 3 parties seated for a late breakfast and they seated the next couple that came in RIGHT next to us. We shared a bench seat. We listened to them fight thru the whole meal.
We dined there a couple weeks ago for dinner and had fantastic service, great food, and it was clean and there were a lot of empty tables. I had steak and my mom had the crab legs. We were both impressed with our food. You really should have an Advance Dining Reservation though, as even though we saw many empty tables, we also heard them turning people away that walked up telling them they were fully booked. We would definitely return gladly for another meal here!
Speaking of the fries. We ate there at the end of January. I love hand-cut fries. Our server told us that there were only 2 places on property for hand-cut fries. Here (salt and vinegar) on the appetizer menu. Also the bar around the corner and next to the Yachtsman Steakhouse. The bar serves a truffle oil/parmesan version.
She also mentioned that the clam chowder in the appetizer section was different than the regular clam chowder. My wife ordered and it and I saw steamed clams with shells and a white/clear broth. She said it was very good.
I was disappointed to see that they have replaced the Lobster Roll on the lunch menu, with Lobster Sliders. That Lobster Roll looked amazing