Best Disney World Restaurants According to Zagat

Zagat released its inaugural 2013 Orlando Survey

recognizing Orlando as a true food-lover’s haven!

ZAGAT: Orlando City Guide

Covering 360 restaurants, 75 nightspots, shops, and more, the Zagat results are based on the opinions of 5,614 local consumers.

And, not surprisingly, several Walt Disney World venues made the top lists in many of the categories, from Top 10 Restaurants in Orlando to Best Decor to Winning Nightspot!

Let’s take a look at where Disney’s recommended in the new Zagat guide…

Top 10 Restaurants

Clocking in at an impressive second place in the Top 10 Restaurants in Orlando category, Victoria & Albert’s at the Grand Floridian takes the honors.

This elegant restaurant is also voted as best romantic venue.

Victoria and Albert's Seating

And Jiko at the Animal Kingdom Lodge receives accolades placing 8th in the Top 10 Category!

Seating by the Window at Jiko

These restaurants are also highlighted in the “Best Food” and “Best Wine List” categories!

Top Rated Restaurants by Cuisine

For New American cuisine, Chef Scott Hunnel at Victoria & Albert’s gets top marks once again!

Sake-Soy-marinated Long Island Duck with Bok Choy and Soy Beans at Victoria & Albert's

Best Eclectic/New World Restaurants

One of our favorite Downtown Disney restaurants, Paradiso 37, made the list in this category!

Paradiso Chocolate Stack Dessert

Best Japanese Restaurants

Looking for Japanese cuisine? Head to Epcot’s [Read more…]

First Look and Food Review: Splitsville Menu in Downtown Disney

By AJ 16 Comments

It’s finally time to bring you a sneak preview of Walt Disney World’s newest entertainment complex — Splitsville Luxury Lanes! Located at Downtown Disney and opening officially on December 19th, the bowling chain has created its biggest and best location, yet…

Splitsville -- Outside View

Located in the old Virgin Megastore across from Wolfgang Puck Cafe, the brand new space is a welcome addition to Downtown Disney’s WestSide. And with the promise of upscale bowling alley food — sliders, pizza, and sushi taking center stage — we were anxious to finally get a peek behind those construction walls.

Atmosphere

OK, so basically…this place is massive. Boasting two floors of bowling, dancing, and dining, you’ll be blown away by how much space there is here.

And both inside and outside of Splitsville, the vibe is completely retro chic. Owners wanted to bring back the golden age of bowling, so you’ll see a lot of mid-century modern touches throughout the space.

Locker Decor

Even the shoes make a statement.

Bowling Shoes

Cool “nuclear” chrome light fixtures mix with bold red, black, and white color schemes to make a decor statement. And speaking of red, black, and white, plan on seeing a lot of that in the merchandise here, too.

You can even purchase your very own [Read more…]

Disney Food Post Round-Up: December 9, 2012

By AJ Leave a Comment

I had a great time reporting live from Walt Disney World this past week. Are you ready to dig into all the new treats in New Fantasyland?

New Fantasyland

Disney Dining News

Here’s some of the tempting Disney Dining news this week…

New Fantasyland is now open in Disney World’s Magic Kingdom! Check out some of the fun eats and treats you can find this weekend!
Starbucks will debut in Disneyland Park in 2013 at the Market House on Main Street USA.
Splitsville will open in Orlando’s Downtown Disney on December 19th. Stay tuned for a review of the food this week!
Raglan Road in Disney World’s Downtown Disney announces a new Celtic Brunch, holiday meals, and more!
Tables in Wonderland, the Disney World dining discount program, has increased its price in 2012.

We’ve got additional food news, including Tables in Wonderland December Event at The Wave, and LOTS more, on our Disney Food News Pin Board! Head over and check it out!

DFB Reader Finds

If you find a fun new food in or from Disney, share a photo with us so we can add it to our DFB Reader Finds each Sunday!

On a recent trip to the Disneyland Resort, Disney Dad Bernie Edwards saw these gorgeous candy canes at Trolley Treats in Disney California Adventure. While they’re likely not THE candy canes, they’re still a fabulous holiday treat!

Trolley Treats Candy Canes

Venessa/neomi_buttons exclaims “Making A.J. proud during Food and Wine Festival!!” with a tray for “teeny foods”.

Food and Wine Tray

DFB Guide to the Walt Disney World® Holidays 2012 e-Book

Don’t forget to grab your DFB Guide to the Walt Disney World® Holidays 2012 e-Book before heading to Disney World this holiday season!

The DFB Guide to the Walt Disney World Holidays 2012 e-Book features 230 pages of information, including NEW events and holiday happenings; over 200 photos; and an informative FAQ section. It includes:

Detailed descriptions and photos of all holiday events and activities happening at the parks and resorts this year!
A fully comprehensive holiday dining section with listings of holiday snacks, treats, meals, and menu items offered this year.
A clickable 3-Month Schedule of Holiday Events so you can see at-a-glance what looks interesting to you.
Our recommendations on ways to SAVE while you’re in Disney World this holiday season.
And more!

As always, we’ve made this guide instantly downloadable for your convenience. It’s easily installed on your mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

We want to celebrate the holidays with a bargain – get $3 off the purchase price for the e-Book TODAY! Order your copy now for only $11.95 (regularly $14.95). To secure the discount, use code HOLIDAY at the check-out. Click here to get your copy.

And if you want another GREAT deal, snap up our DFB Holiday Bundle! This includes the DFB Guide to the Walt Disney World Holidays AND our original DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining 2012! With a 100% 30-day, money-back guarantee on all of our guides, you have nothing to lose! 🙂

On to the Round-Up

Walt Disney World for GrownUps

takes date night to Disney’s Yacht Club resort.

Daveland shares vintage and modern food photos from Disneyland, including Walt with a tuna boat salad.

Main Street Gazette samples gourmet caramels in Disney World.

Disney by Mark takes my advice and dines at Yak ‘n Yeti with a window view of the Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade.

AllEars.Net stops by Raglan Road at Downtown Disney Orlando.

Disney Parks Blog shares a video of Dancing With The Stars pros waltzing inside Be Our Guest. Of course, Belle and the Beast join in!

Dining in Disneyland: Holiday Treats in Disneyland and DCA

By Heather 11 Comments

With a few weeks left of the Disney Holiday Season, you still have plenty of time to head on over to the Disneyland Resort to taste some of the special holiday offerings. Read about some of the fun eats and events happening this year on our 2012 Disneyland Holiday page, and check out even more below…

And even if you aren’t a candy cane or egg nog fan, it’s worth a trip just to see the decor. I mean come on, look at this:

Sleeping Beauty's Winter Castle

I recently visited Disney’s California Adventure to get a sampling of all the yumminess the resort has to offer this season — and let me tell you, there are some pretty tasty treats.

A sampling of this year's holiday goodies.

Both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure are carrying a line of holiday caramel apples. Choose from a festive Mickey or Minnie, or go for the cute snowman complete with chocolate Mickey ears and a sour belt scarf!

Festive Mickey & Minnie Caramel Apples

Snowman Caramel Apples

Both parks are also carrying a variety of Christmas Cupcakes, including this chocolate peppermint one! The frosting is whipped and infused with peppermint flavor.

It was by far my most favorite part of the cupcake. Warning though: with that bright green and red frosting, your tongue stands no chance against staining…

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcake

Traditional chocolate cake cupcakes with red & white vanilla frosting topped [Read more…]

Starbucks Coming to Disneyland’s Market House in 2013

By AJ 15 Comments

The Starbucks location for Disneyland Park has now been announced! The popular coffee and pastries will be sold at a renovated Market House on Main Street USA in Disneyland starting in late 2013.

Market House on Main Street in Disneyland will Serve Starbucks Products in 2013

Disney has not stated how much of the current Market House will remain in tact, but, as we’ve noted before here on DFB, their main goal is to insert Starbucks products as innocuously as possible into existing locations. Themeing will still strongly reflect the decor and feel of Main Street USA.

Inside Market House in Disneyland

You can take a look at Disneyland Resort’s current Starbucks Location — Fiddler, Fifer, and Practical Cafe — in this recent review.

We Hope They Keep the Antique Phone...and Corresponding Conversation!

Starbucks will be debuting at Walt Disney World in the Main Street Bakery in Magic Kingdom and Fountain View Cafe in Epcot in [Read more…]

New Fantasyland Grand Opening Eats and Treats

By AJ 11 Comments

If you’ve been following my twitter, instagram, and facebook streams, you’ve been inundated with photos and reports from this week’s New Fantasyland Grand Opening!

And, of course, I was busy trying all of the goodies you can now find in New Fantasyland! Let’s take a peek…

New Fantasyland Cupcakes

During this Grand Opening weekend, guests will be able to find lots of fun eats, treats, and memory-making merch to indulge in. A couple of my favorites? These New Fantasyland cupcakes!

These can be found at Big Top Treats and Main Street Confectionery.

Find these at Main Street Bakery!

Gaston’s Tavern

Over at Gaston’s Tavern, they’re open for business serving up Pork Shanks, Le Fou’s Brew, and cinnamon rolls among other eats.

LeFou's Brew

Gaston's Tavern Cinnamon Roll -- with extra icing

And commemorate your visit with one of these fun Gaston t-shirts! [Read more…]

New Celtic Brunch — and more! — at Raglan Road in Downtown Disney

By Kim LaPaglia 1 Comment

Downtown Disney’s Raglan Road has announced a new Sunday brunch, holiday eats at Christmas, New Year’s Eve fun, and more!

Learn About:Raglan Road Irish Pub

Disney Springs
Disney World Restaurants

New Raglan Road Celtic Brunch Menu and Hours

Raglan Road is now offering a swanky Celtic Sunday Brunch from 11am until 3pm!

It’s the perfect mix of breakfast and lunch tastes created by Master Chef Kevin Dundon. Brunch menu options will include traditional Full Irish breakfast, Eggs Benedict, Oatmeal, Smoked Salmon Omelet, and much more.

On Sunday afternoon, live entertainment from the Irish Dancers will be featured from Noon until 3:30pm.

Dancing Podium and Live Music Stage

Raglan Road Christmas Menu

For a memorable Christmas day, dine at Raglan Road! The holiday menu will feature a roast turkey dinner.

In addition to a delicious Bunratty Mead glazed turkey, trimmings will include [Read more…]

Guest Review: Wedding Tasting — Choosing the Food (and Cake!) for Your Disney Wedding

By AJ 20 Comments

Welcome to guest author James Armstrong with a unique review of a Disney Fairytale Weddings Tasting Session! Congratulations to the happy couple!

So I finally decided to make it official and ask my girlfriend Meghan to marry me. I asked her via Red Velvet Mini Desserts.

Red Velvet Indulgences

Then came the question of when and where to get married. We are both huge fans of Disney World, and with her parents living in Orlando and us living in Tampa that makes Disney World about halfway in between — how convenient! We decided on March 22, 2013, as the day.

We contacted Disney Fairytale Weddings and set up a time for a site visit. We took a tour of Franck’s Studio and the Wedding Pavilion, and we were hooked on the location.

Wedding Pavilion

After we signed some contracts and formalized the dates we setup a time to meet with our Disney Wedding Planner Christy along with Meghan’s mother and father.The planning session takes up an entire day (10am til about 6pm for us) but then the entire wedding is planned from start to finish.

Appetizer Tasting

Our itinerary started with a private tasting in the Grand Floridian’s Event Center Kitchen at a Chefs Table. We provided a list of things we wanted to try for our menu as we were told they can do any of the dishes from around Disney — or whatever we could think of they would try to replicate.

The tasting started with Spanakopita with Artichoke and Tomato Tapenade. It was wrapped in crispy phyllo. It looked so good I forgot to take a picture before I dug in. We are planning on having this as a cocktail hour offering along with an Antipasto display.

Spanakopita

For the reception we are doing a buffet style dinner. One of the nice things about Disney is that they do not even start to cook anything until around the cocktail hour, so we expect all the food to be very fresh and hot — and hopefully not your typical wedding buffet food. If anyone can do it, Disney can.

Our tasting for our reception food started with a Salad Caprese. It had Tomato, Buffalo Mozzarella, Balsamic Vinaigrette and Olive Oil, dressed with Arugula, Red Onion, and Cracked Black Pepper. It also came with a little edible flower as a garnish. It was fresh and brightly flavored and a good way to start the tasting.

Salad Caprese

We also tried the Truffle Macaroni & Cheese with Lobster Meat Salad. I enjoyed the Mac & Cheese more than the others, but I love truffles.

It was a standard Mac & Cheese, but flavored with a hint of truffles. It was topped with some shredded lobster that was kind of like a relish, which I enjoyed.

Truffle Mac and Cheese with Lobster Meat Salad

Next came the Creamy Herb Mascarpone Risotto. This was definitely the group’s favorite. I am [Read more…]

Chef Interview: New Kids’ Menus Debut in Downtown Disney Orlando

By AJ 7 Comments

Can healthy kids’ menus also be fun and interesting?

Recently I had the opportunity to speak with Steve Richard, executive chef of Downtown Disney’s Portobello Trattoria in Walt Disney World. Portobello and its sister restaurants, Fulton’s Crab House and Wolfgang Puck Cafe, have debuted some brand new children’s menus that aim for healthy as well as fun.

Since healthier — and more grown-up — kids’ eats is a growing trend among Disney-area restaurants (for example, check out the kids’ menu at the new Be Our Guest Restaurant in Magic Kingdom), I was interested to hear all the new menus and the impetus behind them.

Portobello Trattoria

Portobello

continues to offer freshly-prepared rustic Italian fare, with an emphasis on slow cooking and local ingredients. And the family-friendly atmosphere provides a cozy-yet-refined alternative where families with children can relax.

Portobello

Though I’ve seen some negative reviews for Portobello, my experiences here have pretty positive. And the new kids’ menu focuses on freshness and whole foods, without sacrificing kid pleasers, like pizza.

It seems that choice really was the driving motivation for the recent updates to the menus at all three restaurants. “We wanted to offer choices,” said Chef Steve. “People are on vacation and they might be inclined to be indulgent. With all the menus, we feel it’s important to offer healthy choices as well.”

Portobello Dining Room Seating

The choices emphasize a balance between indulgence and smarter eating. “We think the best approach is to offer healthy meals for kids as well as something that mimics the adult dining experience,” he explained.

“We are trying to offer things that are indulgent, like the option to have an ice cream sundae made with locally-made gelato at Portobello. But then we also have grilled meats and fresh fruits, as opposed to things we normally see on children’s menus.”

Chef Steve and his team have also included fresher choices for beverages, like 100% juice options and low-fat milk.

Portobello Kids' Menu -- Click to Enlarge

Fulton’s Crab House

has retained many of their classic dishes, while offering a new flair featuring sustainably and responsibly harvested [Read more…]

‘Tis the Season for a Disney World Gingerbread Crawl!

By AJ 9 Comments

Recently, we released our latest e-Book — The DFB Guide to the Walt Disney World® Holidays 2012 — and today we’re going to share one of our favorite parts of it with you: our DFB Gingerbread Crawl!

If you’ve been with us for a while, you know that we love food “crawls”: entertaining adventures that are perfect for family and friends to tackle together! And if you’ve treated yourself to a solo getaway, crawls are a fun diversion to enjoy on your own as well.

Craving more crawls? We have three other holiday crawls through Walt Disney World in the guide, along with 230 pages of holiday tips and even more bonus items! Let’s get started…

Chocolate Iced Gingerbread Shingle

Start out your gingerbread adventure by taking the monorail to the Grand Floridian resort, where the aromatic, life-sized gingerbread house store can be found on the first floor of the grandiose lobby.

Go ahead and stop to take pictures. This holiday display is gorgeous! Line up at the kiosk to grab a seasonal classic — gingerbread shingles! Choose one that’s plain or covered in scrumptious chocolate. The gingerbread is made from an Austrian recipe.

GF gingerbread shingle

While here, take part in a gingerbread decorating demo or pose for a holiday photo in front of the life-size gingerbread house.

Gingerbread Cupcake

Proceed to the bus depot for your journey to Disney’s Hollywood Studios next. Your destination is none other than the Starring Rolls Cafe — well known for over-the-top cupcakes, including the seasonal gingerbread cupcake with cream cheese icing. This year’s version features a Santa Mickey hat!

Gingerbread Cupcake

Gingerbread Hot Cocoa

Next up, you’ll stay in Disney’s Hollywood Studios [Read more…]

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