Welcome back Julie B. with a review of an insider-favorite restaurant tucked away in the Old Key West Resort — Olivia’s Cafe!
Tucked away in the Downtown Disney Resort area sits Old Key West, a Disney Vacation Club resort. A hidden treasure and tropical oasis lies within — Olivia’s Café.
Atmosphere
From the moment we drove through the gate, I could feel myself relax into the Key West atmosphere. Even the security guard letting us into the resort said “Oh Olivia’s, the best kept secret in Disney World!”
Everything about Old Key West just makes you want to take a deep breath and imagine you’re along the coast with a cool ocean breeze.
Olivia's Cafe Entrance.
When you enter the restaurant, you’ll see walls adorned with tackle and boating items, but also covered with family photos of Disney Vacation Club (DVC) members.
Olivia's Dining Room.
This really sets up the restaurant with the vibe of a local, “towny” place that’s perfect for families. Even though we weren’t regulars, I still felt so welcomed and at home at Olivia’s.
Family Album at Olivia's Cafe.
Decor at Olivia's.
We dined on a flawless weather day, so we opted for a table on the patio. Our table had a perfect view of the flag pole, water, and lobby walkway area.
Patio at Olivia's.
View from the patio.
With a warm breeze and abundant sunshine, I can’t imagine a more fitting restaurant theme to be dining in. Even the little details were a perfect balance of the Keys and Disney (I see you there Hidden Mickey fence)!
Check out the Hidden Mickeys in the white fence!
Eats
The menu features some really fun twists on classic dishes. It also has your traditional options like pancakes, eggs, and combo platters.
But the more unique options definitely highlight the Key West theme: Breakfast Cuban Sandwich or Banana Bread French Toast with Banana-Rum Butter Sauce and Coconut Cream.
We started with a breakfast appetizer of strawberries and cream. It was a lovely bowl of cut strawberries with a mound of fluffy whipped cream, all sprinkled with some Sugar in the Raw. I really enjoyed this light start to the meal. It wasn’t overly sweet but gave us enough sugar to balance the savory entrees.
Strawberries and Cream.
For my entrée I tried the Eggs Florentine. It was hard to choose between so many amazing options, but they had me at poached eggs and key lime hollandaise.
Eggs Florentine.
The eggs were perfectly poached and I enjoyed having spinach and tomato to cut the richness of this dish.
Close-Up of Poached Eggs.
A great tip is to ask for the hollandaise on the side. Poached egg yolks essentially create their own rich, buttery sauce, so I enjoyed being able to control how much hollandaise I needed. But it’s definitely the best hollandaise I’ve ever had! The key lime flavor came through just enough to add a fun zing to the thick sauce.
My dining partner ordered the Sombrero Beach Omelet— an omelet with ham, green pepper, onion, and cheddar cheese, all topped with sour cream and pico de gallo. Our waitress described it as Olivia’s version of a Western Omelet. This omelet was fluffy and huge with wonderful flavor.
Sombrero Beach Omelet.
The biggest star of both of our plates was a big scoop of breakfast potatoes. This perfect side was a mash-up between the seasoning of traditional breakfast potatoes and the cheesy perfection of potatoes au gratin.
If breakfast potatoes were made like this everywhere, I’d order them more often!
Breakfast Potatoes.
Overall
Olivia’s lived up to everything that I have ever been told about this restaurant: a hidden gem, delicious food, a relaxed atmosphere, and a friendly group of Cast Members.
I could really feel myself unwinding in this little oasis. If you’re looking for a calm spot away from the hustle and bustle of the parks, give Olivia’s a try!
Have you made your way to Olivia’s Cafe? Tell us about your experience at Olivia’s Cafe or another hidden gem at Walt Disney World!
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I have a reservation for Lunch in September this reveiw made me think Breakfast might be a good idea instead.
I LOVE this place for breakfast. And you are right the Breakfast potatoes are the Best anywhere.
I have a photo of my son and neice hanging there and it has been there for 15 years so it is really like coming home for us. Fun to see it there when we come back and to see how much they have changed. My son was 10 then and now he has a little one of his own who is 4, so cool to show her that picture.
When Port Orleans Riverside stopped serving their table service breakfast, we found Olivia’s a very nice substitute for Boatwrights’s. It’s not too far, especially if you have a car, and offers pretty good food and a great atmosphere. I just wish they would put the stuffed French toast that Boatwrights’s used to offer on their menu. However, their banana bread French toast isn’t a bad alternative.
We timeshare-exchanged into Old Key West last October and had arrival night dinner and departure day breakfast at Olivia’s. Both meals were delicious. I don’t care for eggs or bananas, so I went with the pancakes for breakfast, which were very good. For dinner we had the conch fritter appetizer (spectacular) and I had the catch of the day, which was grouper at the time. I’d never had grouper before so didn’t know what to expect, but everything about the dish was delicious. I will happily go back to Olivia’s if we ever find ourselves staying at OKW again, or maybe even if we don’t.
Yum! I need to learn not to read this blog when I am hungry… 😉 Olivia’s looks fantastic. It is going on my bucket list of restaurants to try this year. Thanks for sharing!
We’ve never gotten around to trying Olivia’s, but this looks charming and sounds delish! 🙂
We are new DVC members and plan on staying at OKW this January. Loving all the good stuff I keep hearing about Olivia’s!
I’ve seen that brown granulated sugar before, but never really knew what it was. Am I understanding correctly that this is sugar’s natural state and color, and that the commonly seen white sugar is only white due to processing? Thank you for any info that you can give on this.
The poached eggs love wonderful! I think that I would def choose them if I dined there in the future. I’ve never been to OKW, but would like to visit there sometime.
Sorry, that should have said that the poached eggs LOOK wonderful! I guess I was thinking about how much I would love eating them!
Essie, yes-sugar is naturally brown/tan and is white due to processing. Raw sugar is slightly better for you than processed white sugar, but in the end, sugar is still sugar.
Does anyone have the recipe for the breakfast potatoes??
Pan fry cubed potatoes and onions in a bit of olive oil and remember to add plenty of salt and pepper. Stir often to keep from sticking. Some of the potatoes will have a bit of a crust on them from the pan frying. Very yummy!
I got the recipe from Olivia’s by email one year I will see if I can find it. (was in like huge portion size) I know it has Cheese and quite a few steps more involved than just panfry with salt & pepper