Today, we’re welcoming back Emma Snobbish with a review of the Captain’s Grille at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort. Her review highlights the breakfast buffet!

When you’re contemplating breakfast choices around Walt Disney World Resort, the Captain’s Grille may not be on your radar.

“Oh, yeah – that one at the Yacht Club?” you might say.

That’s what I said, but on my family’s trip this January we wanted to try something new — someplace where we would be able to get a walk-up reservation. We had also heard tell of the Captain’s breakfast buffet, so we decided to give it a try.

Atmosphere

The Captain’s Grille is just off the Yacht Club Resort’s lobby. You’ve passed it if you’ve ever taken the stroll from the Beach Club to the Yacht Club.

Behind its fresh, white French doors you’ll see soft nautical stripes, and model boats and paintings of seaside scenes hanging on the walls.

Once inside the restaurant, you’ll see a kid-sized waiting area complete with coloring sheets and crayons!

The themeing here is subtle but still charming. I loved the compass design on the center of the tables and the beach waves etched on the chairs.

Big arched openings at the edges of the restaurant look out over the hallway leading to the signature restaurant — Yachtsman Steakhouse — and Stormalong Bay, the giant pool and play area shared between the Yacht and Beach Club Resorts. Kinda fun for people watching during your meal, although if you’d rather something more quiet there are plenty of tables further in.

We were seated in an alcove just off of the main room, next to the entrance to the buffet. We weren’t bothered by traffic – the restaurant was bustling, but still quiet enough to be relaxing!

Eats

I had come in intending to try the buffet, but it was hard to keep to my resolution when I saw some of the a la carte selections — lemon ricotta hotcakes, or citrus-scented challah bread French toast, topped with lavender-infused strawberry compote and white chocolate ganache. Or the dark chocolate waffles with espresso mascarpone cream – I’d love to come back to try those someday!

In the end, we all decided to go with the buffet.

When you first approach the buffet (which is set off to the side in its own room), you are greeted by a lovely display of pastries– croissants, various kinds of Danish, banana bread, muffins, cinnamon buns, and a super delicious “chocolate swirl,” which was much like a chocolate croissant.

I probably could have made a meal just of all those delicious pastries, but as it was there were more selections to explore! The buffet branches off in two different directions, and both have entirely different dishes.

To one side were the breakfast meats – bacon, ham, country pork sausage, and grilled turkey sausage.

They also had oatmeal, biscuits and gravy and cereals, bagels, and bread for toasting with a variety of toppings.

Each little pat of butter was made in a Mickey Mouse mold. That alone practically made coming here for breakfast totally worth it. But then there was still more deliciousness waiting.

This was one of my favorite dishes – baked tomato gratin. I think the cheese on top may have been boursin – it was so creamy and tasty, and so unique!

I love it when you can eat dessert for breakfast – the bread pudding was delish.

If you’re an egg person, this is the breakfast buffet for you. There was the captain’s frittata, scrambled eggs, and two types of specialty egg dishes. They looked like little scrambled egg patties, but they were so flavorful and just melted in your mouth.

One was egg whites with spinach and tomatoes; the other was called a Breakfast Reuben – topped with cheese with bits of corned beef inside!

The buffet also offered fresh fruit, buttermilk pancakes, French toast, and the inimitable Mickey waffles.

Another touch I loved was the way they had little jugs out next to the syrup dispenser that you could fill up yourself – just cute!

There were potatoes as well, tossed with herb butter and caramelized onions. There are some potato connoisseurs in my family, and they absolutely loved these.

Overall

I was very impressed with the Captain’s Grille. The food was delicious, and the selection was really unique and gourmet – it managed to please both the picky and the adventurous eaters in our party. Our server was prompt and courteous as well.

There are plenty of tasty meals to fit into your schedule when you’re heading to Disney World, but I would certainly make room to go back to the Captain’s Grille. Definitely a Disney breakfast win!

Emma is a writer, photographer, Disney cupcake aficionado, and former Disney cast member. Check out her blogs over at A Pinch of Pixie Dust.

Has your family enjoyed the breakfast buffet at Captain’s Grille? What’s your favorite breakfast buffet at Disney World? Let us know in the comments below!