If your ideal meal consists of hot dogs, mac and cheese, and a milkshake Disney World has the PERFECT restaurant to meet your needs.

We’ve dined at this cozy quick-service restaurant found in Disney’s Hollywood Studios before, but it warranted an updated visit. So, we decided it was time to stroll by the lake, sit down for a spell, and see if this restaurant’s food had changed much since we last dined here.

When you’re breezing by Echo Lake and feel that rumbling, hungry feeling coming on, weigh anchor at the Dockside Diner. This restaurant is built on the inside of the rustic “S.S. Down the Hatch” ship located on the lake and serves up a small menu of eats and drinks.

However, since it’s a smaller restaurant it has been known to operate under limited hours or close early on days when less crowds are anticipated, so if you’re looking to stop by for some grub here, you’ll want to check its operating hours in the My Disney Experience app just to be certain.

Atmosphere

This restaurant is made to look like it’s built into the side of a ship and cut down the center to expose its counter. It’s quite inventive to put the restaurant so close to Echo Lake and with such a whimsical feel but since it’s set up this way, there’s not much it’s able to offer its diners beyond that.

When you approach the restaurant there are a few posted menus and a Cast Member to take your order if you’ve not placed a mobile order in advance…

…the utensils here are plastic and they’re offered with the condiments at a self-service station.

And surrounding the restaurant there are communal seating tables, most of which are covered by large canvas umbrellas to offer a little bit of shade.

Menu

As we mentioned before, you do have the option to place a mobile order in advance that you can pick up from the restaurant or place your order with a Cast Member when you step up in the ordering line. The menu will be posted near where the line starts…

…and just above the service counter where your food will be served (although this will be a bit more extensive than the previously mentioned menu). The entrees here are mostly hot dogs, mac & cheese, a combination of the two…

…a few seasonal options for desserts and will offer a few non-alcoholic beverages like water and soda, along with a few beer and cocktail drink options.

If you have questions about the menu offerings, don’t be afraid to ask the Cast Member taking orders about dietary modifications for allergies and restrictions.

Drinks

We kicked this review off with the Blue Sea Margarita. This drink is made of Patrón Silver Tequila, Bols Blue Curacao, and sweet-and-sour which we picked up for $18.

We found this drink to be a crystal blue color (thanks to that lovely curacao Disney World likes to use so much), and we also thought it was a decent strength for how long it sat while taking a few pictures and videos of it. As far as the taste though, it’s basically all tequila and the blue curacao and that’s the main flavor combo!

Don’t get us wrong, it was stronger than most Disney margaritas but beyond that, there just wasn’t much flavor to back it up. The sweet and sour syrup hangs around the top but ours didn’t have a lot so we ended up noting more of that tequila flavor than anything in this drink. If you’re ordering this one you might want to swirl it around a little bit to mesh the flavors again before sipping on it.

Eats

Along with our drink, we also decided to try the Pretzel Hot Dog and Bacon Mac & Cheese.

We’ll talk about the Pretzel Hot Dog first. This entree is made of an all-beef quarter-pound hot dog topped with apple-braised sauerkraut and onions, drizzled with mustard aïoli on a pretzel bread bun, and served with house-made chips. We picked this one up for $12.79.

This was…interesting. The pretzel bun on the hot dog had a tougher exterior but did soften up a bit on the inside. Admittedly, ours sat in the heat for a bit longer than someone else’s probably would have but that allowed the sauerkraut and sweet onion juices to seep into the bun and make it a bit soggier against the beef hot dog. They didn’t help in terms of flavor much more than cutting down some of the sharper tones in the mustard aïoli. Probably not our favorite hot dog we’ve had at Disney World, but it served its purpose.

Disney World must really be pushing the option of the house-made chips because we’ve seen them popping up everywhere as a side. If you’ve never had them before they reminded us of baked chips that are a little thicker than a fried potato chip would be. They’re certainly not as salty and ours had a light barbecue seasoning to it.

They’re nothing special to write home about but they do give a nice snap when you bite into them as opposed to an expected crunch.

Then it was time to try out the Bacon Mac & Cheese. As you probably guessed this is made of house-made macaroni and beer cheese, bacon, and topped with bread crumbs. You can pick this up for $10.49.

We should have expected the texture of the mac & cheese to be a bit thicker but try telling that to your taste buds when you’ve seen so many creamy versions of Disney World mac & cheese. It had a faint yellow color to it but the beer cheese when cooled was clumpy and thickened.

Even at its freshest, the entire thing tasted like a box of Kraft mac & cheese that had sat out for a while and it really could have used more cheese to doctor it up quite a bit. The bacon bits were chewy and made out of thicker cuts of bacon instead of crunchier bites and we think it really could have used more of the bread crumbs on top to help strengthen that bit of texture they were trying to achieve on this.

Overall

Overall we’d say this restaurant is good in a pinch and only if you’re not looking to stay put for very long. The menu here isn’t terribly extensive and what foods they do have to offer aren’t terribly memorable in all the best ways.

While we did enjoy parts of our meal, it wasn’t anything life-changing that we just couldn’t get anywhere so that’s why it falls in the middle of the road for us. Reliable enough to fill our bellies, but certainly not our first choice.

Nosh or Not?

Step right up and place an order at Dockside Diner if…

• You need something quick! This restaurant can get busy but we’ve seen the Cast Members here weather a rush on many occasions. If you’re starving and want food as soon as possible, this is a great option.
• You want to relax and people-watch for a bit. The seating here is entirely outdoors and situated in a spot where you can literally watch people pass by from multiple angles. If you like to sit around and enjoy people-watching for a few minutes, this is an excellent spot!
• You’re a social butterfly! If you like meeting new people and conversing about your experiences while on vacation this spot could be right up your alley. The seating is in close proximity to other tables so you’re potentially an icebreaker away from making some new friends while on vacation.

We’d recommend trying out another spot if…

• You need quality food and flavor. While nothing we tasted here was horrible, it was just middle of the road for us, and if you’re someone who wants to walk away from a Disney World meal feeling impressed this might not be the best restaurant for you.
• It’s extremely hot and humid. This restaurant is entirely outdoors including its seating. While there are a few umbrellas at the tables to provide shade, there’s not much to help you further about keeping the heat off of you.
• You need back support enjoying your meal. The seating here is set up on mostly picnic-style tables. This offers basically no back support and if that’s something that will matter to you, you might find yourself taking your food a little further away from the restaurant with you to enjoy it.

We’ve eaten literally everywhere at Disney World and we’re updating our reviews at restaurants constantly! Click the links below to check out a few of our most recent reviews, and stay tuned with us at Disney Food Blog for even more to come!

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Which restaurant do you typically stop by when spending your day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios? Leave your top pick in the comments below!