For the past weeks we’ve been getting some amazing reports, reviews, and photos from dozens of DFB readers who have been to Pandora during cast previews, eaten multiple menu items, and sent us their thoughts!
While we here at DFB haven’t been to Pandora, yet, we’ve compiled the reviews of our readers into an Eat This Not That guide for the World of Avatar in Disney’s Animal Kingdom that I hope will help out those of us who are headed to Pandora later this month! We always love when the DFB community can help each other out, and we think this is a great example of one of those times!
For those who aren’t sure what we’re talking about, Pandora — The World of Avatar, is a new land opening later this month in Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Floating mountains in Pandora!
Cast member previews are running right now, and we’re super excited to see the menu items from Satu’li Canteen (the land’s new quick-service location) as they’re served (and not a la Disney promotional pics). Let’s take a look! And stay tuned at the bottom of this post for our Eat This, Not That Recommendation List!
Satu’li Canteen Eats
You’ll find that Satu’li Canteen eats are designed to be a bit healthier-for-you than stereotypical theme park fare. (Here’s the Satu’li Full Menu.) A big section of the menu is devoted to “bowls.” Here’s what our contributor says about these: “You choose three things: your protein, your base, and your sauce. Protein choices are thinly sliced roast beef, chicken, chili spice crispy tofu, or sustainable fish.”
“Currently the fish is always mahi-mahi. There are four base options, they are: Romaine kale salad, quinoa with vegetables salad, rice grain blend and red and sweet potato hash. The sauce options are a creamy herb dressing, blackened onion chimichurri, or black bean vinaigrette.”
Screenshot from Walt Disney World website
“The entrée options are really good. The bowls are delicious and a much healthier option than normal, which is nice. The tofu is good, but a little bland. The fish is good, but there have been a few times that it has either been really dry or fishy tasting.”
The Sustainable Fish over Quinoa with Vegetables with a Creamy Herb Dressing. “The creamy herb dressing is so far my favorite, but I have not tried the black bean vinaigrette yet.”
Sustainable Fish with Quinoa and Vegetable Salad and Creamy Herb Dressing
Here’s another Sustainable Fish option with a base of Red and Sweet Potato Hash served with Creamy Herb Dressing. “The red and sweet potato hash is delicious. I was worried that it would be too sweet, but the two potato types really balance each other out.”
Sustainable Fish option with a base of Red and Sweet Potato Hash served with Creamy Herb Dressing
This bowl has Beef over Kale and Romaine salad with Charred Onion Chimichurri Dressing. Our contributor said: “The Romaine kale salad has some quinoa mixed in, but was overall somewhat disappointing.”
Beef over Kale and Romaine salad with Charred Onion Chimichurri Dressing
Our friend Zachary Metzger tried the Chopped Wood Grilled Chicken Bowl at Satu’li Canteen.
Chopped Wood-Grilled Chicken Bowl
Zach says the Chicken Bowl with Potato Hash and Creamy Herb Dressing was “really yummy and flavorful” and adds “the potatoes gave an earthy taste, good contrast to the tangy slaw.” The chicken also had a nice char on it and was well spiced.
Chicken bowl at Satu’li Canteen
About the white boba on top of the dish Zach says: “The white bursting balls on top were like yogurt balls, almost like a vinaigrette inside. They were so yummy! I thought they’d be weird, but I really liked them.”
Those boba balls are filled with a vinaigrette!
Next on the entree list are some “pods.” Here you can choose from the Vegetable Steamed Curry Pod, or these — The Cheeseburger Steam Pods, which are probably one of the most anticipated eats on the menu. These are stuffed with ground beef, mustard, ketchup, pickle, and cheddar cheese.
Our contributor said: “The cheeseburger steam pod is absolutely delicious. I have not tried the vegetable curry one as I have heard nothing but really bad reviews of it.”
Cheeseburger Pods
Desserts are definitely Avatar-themed. Neytiri’s Chocolate Cake has a crunchy cookie layer and banana topping. Our contributor said: “They did not disappoint with the desserts. The blueberry cheesecake is very good, but my absolute favorite is the chocolate cake, which is actually more of a dark chocolate mousse and has a delicious banana cream on top.”
Chocolate Cake
The Na’vi Cheesecake is blueberry flavored with a passion fruit curd.
Na’vi Cheesecake
There’s a full menu of drink options as well — both alcoholic and non. Here’s what our contributor said about these: “I like that there are so many unique drink choices. The [non-alcoholic] Pandoran Sunrise, which is described as a mix of melon Powerade with tropical fruit juices, is awful.”
Pandoran Sunrise
“There are two unique beer choices: the Hawkes Grogg Ale and a Mo’ara High Country Ale. I love that the Hawkes Grogg Ale is green! The Mo’ara High Country Ale is pictured as green on the menu board, but disappointingly is actually brown.”
The Hawkes Grog Ale (a new name from when the menu was first published) is a green-colored draft beer with fruity apricot an peach flavors. And the Dreamwalker Sangria is a white sangria colored blue with a little Blue Curacao.
Hawkes Grog Ale and Dreamwalker Sangria
Eat This, Not That
Based on the experiences of our readers and contributors, here’s our recommendation list for Pandora:
EAT THIS:
When choosing your bowl, go with the Beef, Chicken, or Sustainable Fish, and choose the Red and Sweet Potato Hash.
Either dessert seems like a good option.
Cheeseburger Pods are a YES.
NOT THAT:
Avoid the Kale base in the bowls.
Vegetable Curry Pods are getting bad reviews.
Pandoran Sunrise is a NO.
Thanks again to our friend for sending these along! It’s so much fun to get another sneak peek into the restaurants in Pandora. We’re looking forward to reporting live next weekend with even more Eat This, Not That for ya! Stay tuned!
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What are you hoping to try in Pandora? Let us know in the comments below!
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I’m not putting anything on my “don’t eat list” as of yet, seems like this particular diner isn’t a fan of the healthiest options 😉 I love Kale, Quinoa and Curry and I can’t see myself running to eat a cheeseburger substitute.
This article definitely lacks details about how good or bad these foods taste.
If you want to know how they taste and why they are good/bad go read Josh’s review on easywdw
Thanks Peter! DFB has been seriously lacking in review details and item descriptions lately. I’m tired of reading “it was good!”
This was not a review:
“How much do I love DFB readers? SOOOOO much. Today I got a message from a DFB reader who has eaten nearly everything at Pandora so far during cast member previews, and sent us a ton of really great shots as well as her thoughts on what’s great and what to miss.”
The bloggers label their reviews as such. This was simply a helpful insight to some of the offerings that was contributed by a reader.
I have always loved this blog. Keep it up guys!
John — That’s great! Let us know what you think when you get to Pandora. Incidentally, the reviewer did say that she was glad that Satu’li offered healthier options than most Disney restaurants, and she is a fan of Kale. But this particular version just didn’t delight.
Andrew — Thanks for the feedback! We’re always glad to hear from our readers how we can provide better information for them.
Peter — Thanks for reading! Josh is a really good guy 😀
Dee — Thank you so much! Yep; this is a perspective from one of our readers. Our Eat This Not That is based on the combined feedback from many of our readers who have dined at Satu’li. Hopefully it helps some folks to make decisions.
What in the world are the opaque little balls on all the food??
Is the mustard strong in the cheeseburger pods? I’m not a mustard fan but want to try them. I tried the cheeseburger egg rolls when they were in adventureland and the mustard was strong for me in those and didn’t like them even though I wanted to.
Amanda — It’s boba 😀
Jess — I’m wondering the same thing. I’m not a mustard fan either. I’ll have them this coming weekend and let you know!
Those Na’vi cheesecakes look an awful lot like Donald Duck to me, probably not what their creator intended.
I absolutely loved my chicken bowl (red and sweet potato hash with chimichurri sauce.) Even though I usually dislike popping boba in drinks and at yogurt places (love the chewy kind), I found this to be a very nice accompaniment to the savory bowl. The cheeseburger steamed pod tasted just like a McDonald’s cheeseburger inside of a bun, the likeness in flavor was uncanny. As for the Pandora Sunrise, I wouldn’t order it again (I usually only drink water), but I didn’t hate it; it tasted just like a CapriSun.
I really enjoyed this article. We’ll be going in August, and I can’t wait to try the Mahi-Mahi with the sweet potato hash and her dressing. I may have to try a cheeseburger pod too!
Just got back from Pandora and it was beautiful and so was the food. The pods were my least favorite. Me and my daughter had the sliced steak with black bean sauce the onion chimmuri is what was recommend but I tried some of a friends and it was awful. The black bean sauce has a nice vinaigrette taste that added to the meat and the rice mix that we got. The menu here is misleading the way the service works is you pick a protein so it will be Sliced Steak, Chicken, Fish , and whatever the vegetable was (sorry) and then it is pick your side so it will be Rice , Kale, or potatoes. Then you choose your dressing which was the black bean, the onion Chimmuri, or the ranch. So you literally have lots of options and can mix it up every time. The slicked steak is medium rare, it had a very fresh taste as did the Rice, the black bean vinaigrette was smooth and was not heavy on the vinegar. I had both desserts and even if you don’t like cheesecake I recommend trying the blue orb. The chocolate is great only if you like dark chocolate and a lot of it.
The pods are a sweet bun like bread (my daughter loved the outside) but the inside is more of like a sloppy joe and I couldn’t taste the cheese. I probably wouldn’t order it again.
Don’t get the sangria, It really sucked. Not sure who made it and who was the taste teaser for that drink. Had 5 people with me and we all hated it
I totally disagree! I just ate at the canteen last week and loved it! I had fish with rice and chimichurri sauce and it was delicious! I also had the Pandora’s sunrise drink and thought it was great. I almost did not get it because I am not a melon fan but I found it to be really refreshing!
The cheeseburger pods tasted exactly like mcdonalds and they suck! If you want a pod, just get a bao from your local chinese restaurant. The use of boba pearls would be clever if they were designed for salad. Boba, despite their fun optics and bursting flavor are not meant to be a topping. The pearls in the Pongu are great for the first few sips, then you need water to dilute the sugar a little more.