Restaurants all over Disney World have been reopening during the past few years.

One special spot that began welcoming guests again in August 2021 is Yachtsman Steakhouse at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort. We already shared a first look at this reopened spot with its delicious-looking steak, but now it’s time to do a deep dive and give you our FULL review. Is Yachtsman a place you should visit during your Disney World trips? It’s time to find out.

Atmosphere

We’ll start with a look at the general atmosphere of this spot. As we mentioned above, Yachtsman is located at the Yacht Club. It is an upscale steakhouse, but isn’t a spot that feels overly formal or stuffy.

You’ll head to the boat-shaped spot to check-in (or you can check-in online through the My Disney Experience app).

Once it’s your turn to head inside, you’ll go up the steps and into the dining room.

In terms of tables here, you’ll find standard tables and chairs as well as a few booths.

The space itself is composed of one large room with smaller sections divided by half walls and pillars.

In one central area, you can look up at the high ceilings above and the unique chandelier.

On the tables here you’ll find a cloth napkin and traditional silverware.

One big thing to note is that this restaurant is connected to The Crew’s Cup Lounge. Crew’s Cup used to have some items that were unique to that spot, but right now you can get the same menu served at Yachtsman over at Crew’s Cup Lounge. So, if you’re looking to try some of the items from Yachtsman, but don’t want the full restaurant experience or can’t grab a reservation there, you can get a few eats and drinks next door.

Okay, back to Yachtsman. Another thing we want to note about this location is how different it can feel earlier in the day versus later at night. At night, it’s lovely to sit in this restaurant and look out at the pool with the lights on, while everything is calm. But, if you eat here earlier in the day, you’ll look out at the pool and see a completely different scene. Instead of a calm scene, you’ll be looking out at people running around and swimming, all while chomping down on your fine, fancy steak.

If that doesn’t bother you, then there’s no issue. But if you want that upscale feel to really be consistent throughout every aspect of the meal, you may want to dine here a bit later in the day. Just something to keep in mind!

Eats

Alright, onto the food! The food here has long been a favorite of many guests, us included. We’ve long found the steaks here to be some of the best on property. The sides are typically delicious and the steaks are usually cooked very well. So, how does the reopened restaurant deliver?

First, let’s take a look at what eats you can get. When we were there, a paper menu was provided to us.

The menu has a variety of options. There are first course items like French Onion Soup, a Steakhouse Wedge Salad, and more. There are also butcher cuts of meats, signature offerings, land and sea entrees, and sides.

And you can’t forget about dessert — there are a variety of sweet treats available here.

There are also kids’ options…

…including various entrees and side items for them to pick from.

You’ll also find a variety of beers, cocktails…

…wines…

…dessert wines, port and fortified wines, scotches, cognacs, coffee drinks, and after-dinner flights on the menu.

Each meal starts with one very important thing…bread!

The complimentary bread basket here includes a Dark Cherry Multigrain Sourdough and Onion Pull-Apart Rolls.

The onion pull-apart rolls are killer! You could seriously come for the bread along with a side or two (and dessert) and be content.

These are served with roasted garlic and butter sprinkled with Hawaiian sea salt.

The roasted garlic is a unique accompaniment, but is wonderful and goes great with the bread served here.

Next, it’s time for appetizers. For our meal, we got 2 — the Beef Carpaccio for $16 and the Lobster Bisque for $16.

The Beef Carpaccio features Truffle Aioli, Parmesan, Fried Capers, Grilled Artichokes, and Smoked Sea Salt. It was garnished with a small radish, halved on either side. And while it wasn’t included in the menu description, our Beef Carpaccio also had pine nuts and edamame seeds.

This dish was SO good! It was salty but incredibly delicious. We really loved the grilled artichokes. They added to the saltiness (which you may enjoy or find to be too salty, depending on your tastes), but we still thought they were fantastic.

The pine nuts added a great crunch, and the parmesan and capers added a great layer of flavor (and more saltiness).

The beef was wonderfully tender. In all honesty, it didn’t need all of the toppings — the beef was great enough on its own. But, the toppings added to the overall flavor.

Overall, this was a dish our reporter said they’d get again and again! Our only complaints? We wish there were more, particularly more artichoke pieces so we could have one piece with each rollup of meat.

If you enjoy beef carpaccio or steak tartare, then we have a feeling you’ll really enjoy this! Just keep in mind that you’ll need to like capers and salty dishes to really like this one. If raw meat is not your thing though, then this might be a pass for you.

Next, we have the Lobster Bisque. This is served with Lobster biscuits, creme fraiche, and Espelette oil.

The bisque was creamy, rich, and had a fantastically smooth texture. The seafood flavor here was strong though. If you don’t like your bisque to be really fishy tasting, then this might not be a good choice for you.

The biscuits sort of reminded us of the cheddar biscuits you get at Red Lobster.

Overall, the lobster bisque wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything incredibly special either. If you’re in the mood for soup, the French Onion soup is one we might recommend itself of the bisque, unless you’re a huge lobster bisque fan.

Next, it was time for an entree. For our meal, we grabbed the 8oz Filet Mignon priced at $54.

The filet is served with a Cognac Truffle Butter Sauce. Yachtsman gives a sauce recommendation for each steak, but you are able to switch that out. We kept their recommendation with the Cognac Truffle Butter sauce and it was great.

We ordered our filet medium rare and it was cooked perfectly. Oh, and it was absolutely delicious! The steak was buttery and crispy on the outside, with perfectly grilled edges.

The truffle butter sauce was simple, but not in a bad way. It brought out the flavors of the steak. Note that the steak wasn’t drenched in the sauce. It almost seemed like the sauce was just brushed on the top. It was just the right amount for us.

We really didn’t have any complaints here! The steak was fantastic, and the sauce was great.

The steak is served with one accompaniment — your choice of Mashed Potatoes, Potato-Leek Gratin, House-made French Fries, Haricot Verts (a.k.a. green beans). For our side, we grabbed the Potato-Leek Gratin and we’re so glad we did!

It was our favorite of the side dishes we got during our meal (more on the other side we got in a second). The Potato-Leek Gratin was creamy and cheesy.

The combination of potato and leek was really nice, and they had a great texture — fork-tender while still having a bit of a bite to them.

We also loved the sweet oniony flavor the leeks added. If you love onions, this might be a great choice for you. And even if you don’t really love onions, we still think this side is so good you might want to give it a try. In our opinion, it’s a much better option than something more “traditional” like french fries or mashed potatoes.

For our second side dish, we grabbed the Steakhouse Side of Truffle Macaroni & Cheese for $12.50.

We’ve had the truffle mac and cheese here before, though the previous version appears to be different. This mac & cheese was very good and is the type of dish that we think could please just about anyone. It was creamy and full of cheesy goodness.

There was a sprinkling of bread crumbs on top and green onion, which added a nice layer of crunch and flavor to the dish.

It was very rich. It wasn’t over-the-top when it comes to the cheese though. Instead, it was more creamy. So, if you’re looking for that awesome cheese pull to share on your Instagram, you won’t get it here. (But it’s still tasty!)

We also want to note that we think both sides could be easily shared between two people, so keep that in mind when ordering.

Finally, it’s time for dessert! During our meal, we got the Yachtsman Chocolate Cakes, which is priced at $19. This says it serves 2, but really, we think it can serve 4!!

The dessert is made with a Dark Chocolate Mousse, Chocolate Decadence Cake, Mixed Berry Curd, Peanut Butter Crunch, and Peanut Butter Mousse. It is topped with fresh whipped cream, covered in a gorgeous chocolate shell, and features a candied peanut on top. It’s also served with chocolate sauce.

Honestly, this thing is a SHOW STOPPER. It was huge and gorgeous, and the presentation was amazing. The chocolate shell looked like paper, it was just absolutely beautiful.

The whipped cream was wonderfully fresh and light. It was sweet without being too sweet. The peanut butter mousse and peanut butter crunch layers in the cake were ridiculously good. If Yachtsman would make a rich candy bar with that filling, we’d buy it right up!

The bottom layer is where you’ll find the decadence cake. It is very rich. Grabbing a bite of that cake with the peanut butter layers is truly a bite made in heaven. The other cake layers were good, but the Chocolate Decadence Cake layer itself was just on another level.

The berry layer was good but totally outshined by the other amazing flavors. Also, note that there were some chocolate crispy pearls on top of the berry curd before the whipped cream.

$19 for this dessert is a GREAT price considering its size and the phenomenal flavors packed inside. Seriously, this thing could feed a crowd, though you might not want to share because it’s THAT good.

We think this dessert is totally worth the price and really we wouldn’t change a thing about it. Of course, if you have a peanut allergy, this is something you’ll want to stay away from.

But, if you are a Chocolate Peanut Butter lover, do yourself a favor and just add this to your must-get Disney list!

Drinks

During our most recent visit, we decided to grab the Whiskey Breeze as our drink. The drink features Jim Beam Black Extra-aged Bourbon, Cointreau, and fresh lime juice, with flavors of Guava and Mango. It’s also garnished with a quartered orange sliced.

The drink VERY tart! In fact, the citrus flavors were so strong that we really couldn’t taste the whiskey at all. We were surprised that the mango and guava flavors didn’t really add a lot of sweetness. Instead, the lime juice is what really dominated the drink in terms of flavor.

Though the level of tartness in this drink was a shock at first, we did enjoy the drink overall.

If you like Whiskey Sours, then this will be right up your alley. But if you were wanting more of the fruity flavors described (that guava and mango) then you may not enjoy this drink.

It wasn’t what we were expecting, but it was good. You can grab the Whiskey Breeze for $14.

Nosh or Not

Make your way to Yachtsman Steakhouse if:

• You love steak, beef carpaccio, and/or chocolate and peanut-butter-filled desserts;
• You’re looking to have a nice relaxing dinner one night while on vacation;
• You’re celebrating a special occasion — this is a great dining location to do that!

Consider grabbing a meal somewhere else if:

• You’re traveling/dining with a bunch of kids — this is more of an upscale restaurant though kids are allowed and there are kids menu options, they just may not really enjoy the setting;
• You’re looking for something quick or cheap;
• You’re not staying anywhere near EPCOT or the Yacht Club Resort and the trip over here may be well out of your way — though we will say we think it’s worth coming to if you plan ahead for it.

Overall

Overall, we had a really great experience at the Yachtsman Steakhouse. The dessert really is a STAR, the steak was fantastic, and we really enjoyed the other items but especially the Beef Carpaccio and the Potato-Leek Gratin. Truly, the food here is top quality.

What’s also wonderful is that right now you can get the same menu items over at Crew’s Cup Lounge, next door, without a reservation.

Our server, Kim, was great. She was very helpful and happy to recommend dishes to us, but not pushy at all. This is really a place where you can sit back, relax, and stay awhile. The food was also timed perfectly. We asked to enjoy the appetizers and bread first, then order our entree afterward and our server was great about that. Though we will note service here in the past has been very slow at times, so that’s just something to keep in mind.

Yachtsman can often be overlooked (as can many of the restaurants at Disney World’s hotels), but it definitely shouldn’t be. If you’re looking for a fantastic steak, some awesome appetizers, tasty sides, and a phenomenal dessert all in a very upscale but still relaxed environment, this could be just the place for you!

Click here to see where we found not 1, but 2(!!) legit spicy foods in EPCOT!

Have you ever eaten at Yachtsman Steakhouse? Tell us in the comments!