Do you hear the thump thumping of big prehistoric feet and smell some incredible food grilling?

That’s right! We’re traveling back to the Mesozoic era in Animal Kingdom‘s Dinoland, U.S.A. to feast on some carnivorous and omnivorous eats at Restaurantosaurus‘s new dinner experience!

While we’ve talked about how much we love the dino-themed quick-service location in our previous reviews, we were super excited to find out that they would be implementing a whole new dinner experience starting TONIGHT!

For a set price of $22.99 without tax per adult and $14.99 without tax per child aged 3-9 or a Disney Dining Plan quick-service credit, guests can select an entrée from a variety of burgers, a side dish, a token for a build-your-own-sundae bar, and a non-alcoholic drink. They had us at ice cream, tbh.

When we entered the restaurant, we checked in at a podium on the left side of room where we were greeted with a warm smile from the Cast Members. This is a podium dedicated only to the Burgers and Sundaes experience guests.

Note that Restaurantosaurus will continue to serve regular counter service options to other guests during this dining experience, but that Burgers and Sundaes folks will be seated in a special dining room.

They handed us a small chalkboard with our name and table number and menus to glance through before placing our orders.

There was even an allergy-friendly menu to accommodate guests further!

Now there were many “magical moments” for us during the evening, but here’s the first: the burgers featured during the Restaurantosaurus dinner were developed by the same chef team who created D-Luxe Burgers at Disney Springs! YUM!! The burger blend is 7 ounces of seriously delicious brisket, short rib, and chuck.

We settled on the Chili-Cheese (obviously we gotta have cheese) Corn Chips Burger and the Sunny-Side Up Burger. After placing our order with the Cast Member furthest to the left, we were given our ice cream tokens and our seater met with us to take us to our table. (How cute is this token?!?)

Along the way, she explained to us that there were unique dipping sauces we were welcome to help ourselves to (UM YES PLS ALL THE SAUCES)…

… cold and hot beverage cups were available by the drink station…

…and that we could use the ice cream tokens to build our own dig site at the sundae bar after our meal! Adorbs.

After we sat down at our table and our chalkboard was taken from us…

…we were encouraged to doodle (and even write love notes to each other) with the white butcher paper and buckets filled with markers, crayons, and stencils.

After all, the paleontologists who created the restaurant encourage guests to have a dino-mite time!

We were also told by our food runner that there wasn’t any outdoor seating for this experience at Restaurantosaurus. Instead, they stressed the benefit of AC and a fun meal without it being actual table service. We definitely didn’t mind staying out of the humidity, especially since it rained during our meal!

Now let’s just talk about the cast members for a minute because THEY WERE AMAZING. So fun, so dedicated to making sure everyone had a great time, and 100% making the experience all that it could be.

While we waited for our orders to arrive, cast members and managers kept walking around to check on tables and tell jokes to guests. “What’s a smart dinosaur called? A Thesaurus!”

We hopped up over to check out the dipping sauces at the station. They had Buffalo, BBQ Mustard, Mayo Ketchup, and Horseradish sauces, all created by the same team who worked on the D-Luxe menu sauces!

Okay, so we have to admit that Mayo Ketchup with its slightly sweet and slightly tangy taste and the BBQ Mustard with its smoky hints were our favorites, even though the Buffalo and Horseradish were still delicious.

Moments after getting back to our table, we were surprised to have our food brought out so quickly (score a million for the chefs and food runners!!).

We started with the Chili-Cheese Corn Chip Burger… And, boy, did it taste like a grown-up sloppy joe!

The chili was seasoned beautifully and mixed with a hearty amount of sauce, meat, and more, but it never felt too heavy.

That bun was sturdy, you guys! No sloppiness here!

The Fritos on top added a satisfying crunch to every bite without getting soggy.

The fries were basically steak fries — salty, thick, and ready to be dipped in as much sauce or chili as you like.

Despite how yummy the Chili-Cheese Corn Chip Burger was, the Sunny-Side Up Burger was our favorite of the two (it was a hard decision to make!!).

Each part of the burger was layered beautifully, making our mouths water before even tasting it!

The mildly flavored cheese mixed well the the stronger tastes of the other ingredients.

An ya gotta love that egg ooze.

(Ugh, just look at all the peppered, eggy GOODNESS!!)

D-luxe Burger in Disney Springs is known (to us at DFB anyway) for being one of the only places that doesn’t automatically cook your counter service burger to oblivion, and we appreciated that here as well.

The chips placed on the bottom added some saltiness and texture to the soft burger.

The onion rings were nice and crispy, although they tasted like typical counter service and not anything really special.

During our meal, we were told by the manager that they would be tentatively adding two bartenders to the staff at Restaurantosaurus so there would be one cocktail server to work the dining room and the other for quick-service. The same drinks served at Restaurantosaurus Lounge would be available during the dinner experience for an extra fee.

After our dinner plates were cleared, we were ready for our favorite part of the meal: ICE CREAM!

We took our tokens and were on our merry way to have a Cast Member give us the 2 scoops our coupon allowed.

The hand-scooped Edy’s ice cream featured regular flavors like Chocolate…

… Vanilla…

… Strawberry…

… And a Raspberry Sorbet for guests with dietary restrictions and allergies.

But the real hero of the night: The SUNDAE TOPPING BAR! How much does my OCD brain love this map-o-toppings? SO. MUCH.

Hot Caramel and Hot Fudge were plentiful.

And then there was this sheer beauty. All the sauces, sprinkles, whipped cream, cherries, candy, and crunchies you could ever want — all there at the ready. These included chocolate chip cookies, whipped cream (x2), strawberry topping, pineapple topping, cherries, Mickey sprinkles, rainbow sprinkles, graham cracker crumbs, cake crumbs, fruity pebbles, M&Ms, chocolate cookie crumbles, chocolate rocks, waffle cone pieces, and (whew!) oreos.

You can double up on flavors with your two scoops, so we chose vanilla and strawberry.

And then aaaaaaaalmost used every topping in the haus.

I’m in love. Are you in love?

Yeah — this whole situation was completely adorable, the cast members were wonderful, and we’d have no trouble at all coming back again! <3

Nosh or Not

Restaurantosaurus’ new burgers and sundae bar experience will be great for you if:

• You’re in Animal Kingdom and are looking for a different take on counter service
• You love a good burger and are DONE with the “hockey puck special” you’ll get at most Disney counter service locations
• Your kiddo (or YOU) loves ice cream and can’t pass up a good sundae bar
• You want to take a little break in your touring, but don’t want to pay the prices for a table service restaurant

You can skip this mesozoic meal if:

• You’re not a burger fan
• $22 for a counter service meal sounds over-the-top for your budget
• You’d rather mobile order, eat, and get back to the rides

Overall

We. Had. A. Blast. It was a very fun evening, and you could tell the cast members were having a great time with it. The food was remarkable (we love a good D-Luxe Burger and these were a super fun set of new options), and while the setting was still a counter service restaurant, we’ve never kept it a secret that we think Restaurantosaurus is an incredibly fun imagineering concept.

But the thing that’s notable here is that this will be amazing for kids. The butcher paper and stencils, the sundae bar, the fun atmosphere — it’s perfect for your creative kiddo. And if mom and dad can have a great burger at the same time — SOLD.

We’re not sure how long this experience will go on. It may be limited time during the Galaxy’s Edge crowd influx, or it may last a while longer. We’ll keep you updated here at DFB — see the link below to join our newsletter.

Note that Pizzafari’s table-service dinner experience is still ongoing on the other side of Discovery Island, so it’s looking like Animal Kingdom continues to experiment with hybrid table service/counter service options for park guests. Let us know your thoughts on this!

Have you gone to dinner at Restaurantosaurus yet? Let us know in the comments below!