Did another Disney Springs meal disappoint us?

While we’ve had exceptional meals at Disney Springs and some that left us feeling it was a bit lacking, we knew there were more dining experiences to try. However, since we were interested in a BIG meal, we decided to hit up one of Disney World’s signature dining restaurants to see if it left a better impression on us than the last meal we ate here.

Our latest review around Disney Springs lead us out to a unique kind of restaurant you won’t find anywhere else in Disney World. Paddlefish is a signature dining experience onboard a “stem-to-stern transformation” of the steamboat. If it looks vaguely familiar to you (but has been about a decade) you might have known it by its former name, Fulton’s Crab House.

The menu here offers fresh seafood, chops, and steaks in a modern setting. Lots of visitors flock to this restaurant nightly to dine at its fine cuisine and take in the incredible views of Village Lake especially if they find themselves at the rooftop lounge.

Atmosphere

As you approach the restaurant, you’re immediately stopped in your tracks just outside of the restaurant’s entrance. Paddlefish is found within an esteemed riverboat docked on the water’s edge. It’s a multi-story restaurant built for dining indoor and outdoor based on your preference.

As you approach the check in host stand, there is a small outdoor seating area on plush patio furniture…

…but there’s also a smaller indoor waiting area if you prefer to sit inside and wait until your table is ready.

A host will escort you to your table and for this meal we were seated by the window overlooking the water as the sun began to set. It was a stunning view even though it just looked out over the water a bit and toward the neighboring Saratoga Springs Resort.

This wasn’t the only spot to dine, though. Other dining rooms exist inside with smaller booth seating…

…intimate tables and chairs built for smaller dining experiences…

…as well as larger tables fit for parties looking to dine altogether.

The walls are adorned with black and white photos reminiscent of a life by the sea.

Once we were comfortably seated, our server handed over the menus and explained the various options that lie ahead.

Menu

At the table you’ll be presented with a menu outlining the starters, soup and salads, chilled and raw seafood, seafood boils, and from the port options…

…as well as a few sides to share and options from the land.

On the back side of the menu is where you’ll find libations and rocks, hops and barley, American crafted beers, imported and domestics, sunset, and vines and earth…

… in addition to mocktails and bourbon flights.

If you’re looking for other alcoholic beverage options, a full wine list is also provided to the table…

…which is a few pages long.

And the last page will also contain your options for desserts!

There’s also a separate kid’s meal offerings, too! Starting with appetizers…

…entrees…

…and kid’s desserts.

We asked our server about dishes we were undecided about and then placed our order!

Eats

Almost as soon as we were seated, our server brought out the restaurant’s signature bread service.

This is complimentary with your meal and served with several bread rolls clumped together and a side of butter spread. The rolls are white bread, but just your standard rolls. We kind of wish they had some sort of a butter or sweet drizzle over top of them but they were good for just standard bread.

The butter was heavily salted, and we really enjoyed it with the bread.

Not too long after, our food started to arrive to the table. We started with a cup of New England Clam Chowder. You can order a cup for $8 or a bowl for $10 and since we knew we were ordering quite a bit to eat tonight, we decided the cup was the best route for this visit.

It’s made of bits of chewy bacon, cut potatoes and warm cream. This one came out to the table still steaming. There was also a pack of oyster crackers served with the cup. It was obviously warm, deliciously creamy and smooth, and the bits of potato and bacon were just right to complete the soup.

Since we’d put our entire order in all at once (including dessert, but more on that later) this cup was closely followed by the Crab Topped Fries. This dish is made of skin-on french fries, blue crab, and Louie dressing for $19.

Now, $19 is a hefty price tag for some fancy fries but honestly these were really good! The fries weren’t soggy and gross even after sitting for a while through pictures, with the Louie dressing on top and the blue crab tasted great and had just the right chewy consistency. If this is an indication of how the rest of the meal was to turn out, we were in for a favorable visit.

We were most excited to try what came out to our table next! We started things off with the smaller plate of the two — the Salmon. This dish consists of miso vinaigrette, vegetable stir fry, wasabi mash, and crimini bacon which will cost you $35.

This is where our meal started to take a downturn for us. The salmon was beautifully cooked and we could cut it apart with a fork but that was where its charms stopped for us. It was very straight-forward and didn’t have enough seasoning.

The wasabi mash is wasabi mixed into mashed potatoes and while admittedly not huge wasabi fans, as such it tasted very strange to us. In fairness, our server did ask if we minded the wasabi mash or if we would rather have it switched out for regular mashed potatoes, so they are able to make that adjustment if you prefer. The crimini bacon and vegetable stir fry were the best part of this meal but what bothered us about it was that they were meant to be sides to the meal and highlight the main course instead of outshine it.

Then we moved on to our other seafood dish of the night — the Peel and Eat Key West Pink Shrimp. 

This is served steaming to your table in a seafood boil bag filled with sweet corn on the cob, red potatoes, and cornbread. There was even a cup of melted butter all for $39. This already looked like a much better value than the Salmon we had just tried, but we needed to see how it measured up in taste!

While the accompaniments to the shrimp were ok, they all felt middle of the road. The cornbread was drier than we had hoped…

…the corn on the cob was sweet but not memorable…

…and the red potatoes were soft with minimal flavor.

When we got our shrimp peeled, they also echoed the rest of the boil’s flavor as just existing and bland. Even when we dipped them in the melted butter, the salt within it wasn’t enough to make a difference. This dish really fell flat for us.

But, we still had one last course to get through — dessert! For our treat we ordered the Flan.

This little slice of heaven is made with rum infused caramel custard for $12 a slice. Once we cut through it, our mouths began to water a bit just looking at it!

Honestly, this was probably the best thing we ate all night. Typically, flan at Disney World can be gritty and too sweet, but not this one. No, you could tell it was made differently and mimicked all of the same sweet caramel goodness of one that was homemade. It paired really nicely with the tart raspberry and blackberry served with it. When we were finished we were left satisfied.

Overall

Overall, we’re sure there are other tastier options to choose when dining here; we just weren’t as impressed with the choices we made for this meal. Would we go back to this restaurant? Yes! On one condition: we’re gonna need some menu updates before we return. Maybe with a few new dishes, we could find some real winners to enjoy at this restaurant.

While we did enjoy several parts of our meal including the New England Clam Chowder and Flan, we felt the Salmon and Peel and Eat Key West Pink Shrimp lacked flavor and didn’t leave a lasting impression on us.

Nosh or Not?

Spend an evening at Paddlefish if…

• You’re a seafood lover! If you’ve really got a craving for seafood, this may be just the place to hit the spot!
• A meal with a view is your calling. Disney World’s signature dining restaurants offer some of the most stunning views and restaurant decor. If you’re looking for a place that will really “wow”, this restaurant makes our short list.
• It’s more about the experience for your evening. Who doesn’t like the sound of dining on a rooftop lounge aboard a turn-key steamboat? Something about envisioning that just gives fancy vibes.

We’d recommend another Disney World restaurant if…

• You’re getting acquainted with seafood. The seafood here didn’t provide us with the best experience — we found it lacking in flavor. If you’re branching out to eat more seafood, this might not be the place.
• You’re not looking to dress up for your meal. Disney World signature dining restaurants do carry a dress code. While it’s not a black tie affair at this restaurant, there will be a few restrictions to apply to dine here and sometimes that may require changing out of your theme park casual ‘fit.
• You’re big on seasoning. The seafood dishes we tried here weren’t seasoned to our liking for this visit. While that’s truly a personal choice, if your first instinct is to assume it’s smothered in cajun spices and creamy butter, you’ll want to be certain to talk over your choices and expectations of your meal’s flavor with your server before you order.

We’re constantly eating our way around Disney World! Be sure to read through a few of our most recent reviews below and stay tuned with us for even more to come.

REVIEW: We Ate A 4-Course Italian Meal At Disney World And We Were Shocked at What We Liked Best

What is your favorite dish to order at Paddlefish in Disney Springs? Leave it in the comments below!