We may be ALL about the eats at Disney World, but sometimes we venture off-property, too!
J.W. Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort and Spa
Last year, the JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort & Spa opened up just minutes away from Disney World. But while the hotel has been up and runnin’ for almost a year, its rooftop bar, illume, has yet to make its big debut. That opens on May 27th — and we were able to stop by yesterday for a little preview!
Atmosphere
illume is located on the ninth floor (the rooftop!) of the JW Marriott.
illume
Starting May 27th, it will be open from Wednesdays-Sundays, from 6PM-12AM. Keep in mind that this spot is adults only starting at 9:30PM each day.
Hours
The eats are inspired by modern Japanese cuisine, and you’ll see that theme reflected in the decor here.
illume
Once inside, you’ll find indoor bar seating…
Bar Seating
…as well as outdoor patio seating. It’s more of a lounge set-up, rather than assigned tables, and seating here is first-come, first-serve.
Patio Seating
There’s also a fantastic view — when Disney World’s fireworks are taking place, you’d be able to see them from here.
Check out that view!
But of course, we came here to try the FOOD. So let’s get tasting!
Menu
illume has a pretty large menu — and again, you’ll see that Japanese inspiration reflected in the offerings.
Menu
You’ll find small tasting bites…
Menu
…shareable dishes…
Menu
…signature cocktails…
Menu
…and of course, wine and sake by the glass.
Menu
Three signature cocktails are highlighted at the bar: the Toki Highball, ILLUMination, and Firebird.
Signature Cocktails
It seems like there’s lots to enjoy here!
Food and Drinks
Inside, there were a variety of grab ‘n’ go tasting samples. Once the restaurant officially opens, these will be plated differently and served from the menu a la carte.
Tasting Samples
We started off with some edamame!
Edamame
Then we tried the Damani Poke, which has tuna, soya sauce, and sesame oil. The tuna tasted amazing.
Damani Poke
The Watermelon and Crab features compressed watermelon, grapefruit, pickled daikon, and lime-honey vinaigrette…
Watermelon and Crab
…while the Me So Earthy Salad was delicious! That comes with baby spinach, shiitake bacon, toasted hazelnut, mandarin, red radish, and miso-ginger dressing.
Me So Earthy Salad
The Fresh-Rolled Sushi comes with maguro, sake, hamachi, avocado, fried shallots, spicy mayo, and scallions…
Fresh-Rolled Sushi
…while the Sakana Fritters were so good that we went back for seconds. They’ve got breaded steam fish, capers, red pepper, mango slaw, and lemon aioli.
Sakana Fritters
For dessert, we tried some gelato! The Hibiscus Lemongrass Gelato is that cranberry color, while the Green Tea Gelato is — ya guessed it — green.
Gelato
Of course, we sampled some cocktails, too! We kicked things off with the Firebird, which has Suntory Haku Vodka, Tozai Saki, and cantaloupe. That housemade cantaloupe juice was so good, and we ended up getting 2 of these. Not to mention, the presentation is stunning. The glass is shaped like a bird!
Firebird
We also tried the Hibiki Suntory Whiskey (another standout sip)…
Hibiki Suntory Whiskey
…the Toki Highball…
Toki Highball
…and the ILLUMination! These were all pretty solid drinks.
ILLUMination
Again, all of the dishes we tried were tasting samples. Once the restaurant opens, they will be plated a bit differently, with various portion sizes.
Overall
Everything we tried was so delicious and fresh! The views were amazing, and the staff was incredibly kind. If you want to visit for yourself, illume opens on May 27th. Let us know what you think of it, and stay tuned to DFB for more Disney news!
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Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. Today, we were invited by Disney World to attend their media preview of illume. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ
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Illume is an elegant, upscale, so very trendy cocktail lounge with a full menu. Very pretty, but some comfort is sacrificed for the Japanese/mad-men cocktail scene. It doesn’t feel like it was originally intended to be a restaurant, more like a cocktail bar who’s menu kept getting expanded. The tables are small and the chairs are definitely more designed for lounging than dining.
Service was friendly and enthusiastic, but a little slow. They could use a few more waitstaff, but so could a lot of places right now as we come out of covid.
The food is well prepared and flavorful. Spicy is Florida spicy – aka American Mid-West medium to medium spicy. My SoCal native husband says its not spicy at all.
We started with two appetizers, Madai Picchi and Watermelon Crab. We enjoyed both appetizers – fresh and flavorful. The Watermelon Crab was a bit challenging to eat (size of “bite”) but a knife took quick care of the issue.
We then had the chef’s choice sashimi. The fish was fresh, with nice, clean flavors. Well sized so easy to eat with chopsticks (fork and knife are provided as well). My only nit to pick is that it was standard sashimi fare – not inventive. Very good and well made, just nothing new. It would be a great introduction for someone looking to try sushi.
We followed with a roll, Gyu No Kani. The review for the sashimi applies.
Next was the Bao Pei – the flavors were good but it was very saucy which proved challenging to eat in a lounge setting. We both would have like a spicier sauce. It was our least favorite dish.
We finished dinner with two skewers – the chicken with the peanut sauce and the teriyaki salmon with sweet & spicy sauce. The chicken was good but we should have gone with the peanut chilli sauce for some heat (the peanut sauce had basically none). The salmon was a surprise standout. Very flavorful, surprising depth of flavor with the teriyaki sauce.
For dessert we tried the green tea flan….It was good but if you don’t like match you won’t care for this flan. Poor DH does not like match.
Cocktails are fun but $$$. You are definitely paying for the presentation and the insta! Not that that’s a problem, as long as you know that the look is the reason for the cost. They are well made and tasty, but the emphasis is on the looks. Saki is a much better value (but not as exciting on social media).
We will go back to enjoy the fireworks from the rooftop with cute cocktails and tasty bites ….. sometime around November – March.
Rooftop looks like fun, but is full sun.