Even more menu changes keep popping up around Disney World’s restaurants and they seem to be shaking up the norm!

We’ve been on a very lucky streak lately of new menu updates that have completely knocked it out of the park for us with flavors and variety including a few fun holiday items. So when we learned that a quiet change had been made to another Disney World restaurant’s menu we knew we needed to investigate! Would this be the restaurant to break our streak? Let’s find out!

You’ll find Terralina Crafted Italian within The Landing of Disney Springs. While it might have a newer name, you might know this restaurant best as its former version of Portobello Country Italian Trattoria. Since its multi-million-dollar refurbishment and new name, both Chef Tony Mantuano and Executive Chef Claudio Daggio returned to the restaurant to craft a dining experience and menu “reminiscent of an Italian home.”

The result of the refurbishment to the restaurant which was inspired by Italy’s Lake District, features several cozy dining rooms with homely decor, an open kitchen, and an outdoor veranda bar that’s ideal for those warm nights where you just want to sit and enjoy the atmosphere with a good meal.

Atmosphere

As we touched on earlier this entire restaurant is built to help you feel like you’re one of the family stepping into an Italian home for a hearty meal. As you make your way inside your eyes are immediately met by the host stand where you’re checked in for your reservation right by a roaring fireplace!

When your table is ready and you’ve peeled yourself away from the plush seating you’re guided to your table throughout the restaurant passing rooms with large table placements fit for big parties and gatherings…

…to booth style seats with dimmer lighting…

…an open bar with ample seating on multiple sides…

…and you could even make your way into the back of the restaurant where you can feast your eyes on towering chandeliers and exposed brick areas.

You might even spot a decorative wine cellar…

…or a few family portraits surrounding you, too!

But the real gem to this restaurant lies outside where you can take in the quiet waters…

…yet lively atmosphere that makes up Disney Springs!

Menu

The menu here is heavily Italian themed (as you probably could have guessed) with antipasti, pasta, from the garden and hearth selections, and pizza…

sandwiches, sides, and add-ons.

On the back you’ll find the cocktails and beer selections…

…as well as spritz, cocktails, seltzers and ciders.

There’s a separate kid’s menu…

…complete with their own array of dessert selections.

And an impressive line of beverages including wines by the glass and wine flights….

…along with Italian whites and reds.

The back of the wine list carries on the remaining options of sparkling, rosé, old world wines…

…and new world wines!

WHEW! That’s quite an extensive list of choices and rivals the likes of its neighboring Disney Springs restaurants.

Eats

We knew we were in for a big meal today so we decided to take things slow. As we were seated we were treated to complimentary water glasses and Focaccia bread service.

The focaccia was soft and fluffy yet had a tougher, baked exterior to the edges. It was nice, but nothing super impressive as this is an Italian staple for breads.

The first to arrive to the table was the Mozzarella-stuffed Rice Balls. These little slices of heaven will cost you $17 for the plate and are billed accordingly with their name. They’re truly gooey mozzarella stuffed into fried rice balls that are topped with thin shavings of parmesan and a side of tomato-basil sauce for dipping or drizzling.

While the premise of this starter dish sounds divine, it wasn’t the taste we took issue with but the practicality of the rice balls holding together. We found ours to be very delicate (even after sitting for a while for a full photo shoot). Cutting them open was one feat…

…but attempting to dip them into the sauce was another and they just instantly fell apart with half of our bite refusing to resurface from its dip.

The majority of the flavor on these came from the mozzarella stuffing and the contrast of the parmesan shavings on its own, but felt like a pretty standard yet less crispy mozzarella stick when dipped into the sauce which was mostly a bland tomato flavor.

Next on our list to try was one of the new dishes — the Terralina Penne Alfredo! 

This dish is made of penne alfredo pasta tossed with chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, and peas which will cost you $29. Admittedly we were a bit in sticker shock over the price and braced ourselves to expect a high quality dish that would completely “wow” us. What we discovered however, was not exactly that. While there were parts of the penne alfredo that were good like the toppings of the chicken, tomatoes, and peas, we really felt the pasta lacked in overall flavor.

It really needed more of the alfredo sauce to really set this dish apart and when we tasted the penne pasta, it was apparent the pasta was overcooked and overly flexible and tasted like it was just lifted out of the water it was cooking in and served.

It was time to turn our attention to the new Crafted Burger next.

Now this was a dish that commanded our devotion right out of the gate. It’s made of ground chuck and brisket cooked to your preferred temperature, arugula, tomato, pickled red onion, melted cheddar, and chili-sage aioli all on a toasted bun served with housemade truffle potato chips and garlic pickles for $23. If you want to trade out the sides you can substitute a baby greens Salad or Italian fries for an upcharge.

Honestly, this was the best thing we tasted all night here and you might not expect that at first glance from an Italian restaurant. The cheddar cheese seemed to melt and meld with the perfectly cooked beef and smokey brisket flavors while the fresh veggies lent a helping hand into crafting an artisanal burger experience.

The fries we were served with this dish didn’t scream housemade truffle potato chips…

….but they were served with a side of parmesan…

…good for sprinkling over the fries (or your burger to your liking), as well as some ketchup.

The garlic pickles were served on the side which was a bit odd, because we would have loved to have seen how they worked into the initial flavors of the burger, but they were just middle of the road for us with a good snap to them when you took a bite.

We hope you’ve saved room for dessert because we still have one last course to get through! We opted to try out the Espresso Crème Brûlée for this visit. It will set you back a cool $12.

It’s your standard crème brûlée with an espresso twist to it, that sounded like a good idea until we took a big ole bite of it. Needless to say the combination of the sweet dessert we know and love coupled with a start taste of espresso was just too much going on for our taste buds to make sense of and it turned out to be a total pass for us.

While were sure there’s an audience for this particular pairing in a dessert, we clearly were not prepared for how strong that espresso taste was make its way to the prominent flavor and had a tough time enjoying the remainder of the dessert after just a few bites in.

Overall

Overall we set out for a meal at a beautifully curated Italian restaurant and walked away with only a few of the dishes to our liking from the night. We found it incredibly strange that we would like the Crafted Burger over the heavily Italian meal courses, but in the end, that’s really what we gravitated most to.

If you’re really looking for the best Italian meal Disney World has to offer, this probably isn’t it. It’s a solid option to try in a pinch if you’re really craving Italian food, but we’re not convinced we’d spring for the newest menu items right away if we had to do it over again.

Nosh or Not?

We’d recommend stopping in for a meal at Terralina Crafted Italian if…

• You’re big on themed restaurants. This places is loaded to make you feel like you stepped through the doors into an Italian family’s kitchen and taken in as one of their own.
• You’re making your way around all Disney World has to offer for restaurants. This is certainly another notable restaurant to check off your dining list if you’re aiming to “do it all” over time.
• A scenic view is your ideal dining experience! Ask to be seated outside near the water for the best views in the house.

We’d recommend grabbing a meal elsewhere if…

• Great Italian food is what you’re really craving. Admittedly, our authentic Italian experienced was lacking so if you’re really wanting great Italian food that will have you gabbing about it for months or longer, you probably want to try out another Italian restaurant Disney World has to offer.
• An elevated dining experience is your ideal meal. This restaurant certainly carries a more relaxed yet cozy vibe, so if you’re looking for a sophisticated and elevated dining experience you might do better at one of Disney World’s signature dining restaurants.
• You’re not keen on leaving Disney World’s parks to go out of your way for dinner. This restaurant is a bit tucked away in the corner of Disney Springs but we could totally see someone opting not to leave their chosen park to make the venture out here for Italian food you could find at several different restaurants throughout Disney World (and probably just as good quality-wise if not better where you currently are).

We’re always on the hunt for the best meals around Disney World so you can make the best decisions on where to spend your vacation time and money, too! Be sure to click the links below to read some of our most recent reviews and stay tuned with us at Disney Food Blog to stay updated on all of our upcoming reviews.

REVIEW: You Should LEAVE Magic Kingdom To Visit Disney World’s NEWEST Restaurant

Have you eaten at Terralina Crafted Italian? Leave your review in the comments below!