So how's the food and atmosphere at Yak & Yeti you ask?

[Laugh O. Grams]

Meh...

We ate there Saturday for lunch and that's about all I can say...meh.

We walked in, party of 5, with no wait, around 12:30 pm. Y&Y appeared to be ready for a huge influx of guests, as there were tons of servers floating all over the restaurant. Nice because the service (for the most part) was spot on. However, there also were dozens upon dozens of empty tables, begging for guests to sit down and have a bite. It was a bit pitiful. We did have a bit of a strange situation where a waiter at the table next to us, when told by the family he was serving that one of the college aged girls in the party planned on entering the Disney College program this summer, went on and on and on and on about how the girl should not do it, that it's doesn't pay, that it's a waste of time, etc, etc, etc. I mean, aren't these people brainwashed not to rip Disney while at work? The girl seemed a bit put off and it really seemed to deflate her enthusiasm about the program. The guy was a real Debbie Downer...give the girl a break, already!

The room was OK, not as grand as it appears online. In fact, I thought for the size of the place, it was sparsely decorated and a bit underwhelming, especially seeing how well Disney does with so many of their other restaurants.

And now, the food. The food was, for lack of a better word, average. We ordered the potstickers, the Pho, the Shaoxing Steak & Shrimp, Stir-Fried Beef & Broccoli, and a steamed vegetable basket that isn't on the menu (for all you vegetarians). I'd rather not break them down one by one, as none of them really deserve the attention, but I'd like to point out an example of how "average" the meal was. The Pho: the broth was passable and it came with all of the accouterments they usually accompany a bowl of this traditional Vietnamese soups, but the shrimp was pathetically overcooked and rubbery. Instead of a few nice sized plump unpeeled shrimp (with all the flavor that they add), they threw in a bunch of tiny, pre-cooked, pre-peeled bay shrimp in it instead. I guess it could best be described as almost...but not quite.

Until I start hearing that the food getting better, we won't be trying it again.

[Belle5]

Uh-ho...not good. Might have to rethink the Yak!

College program--had the same thing happen. A girl was asking a male CM about the college program and he loudly (in front of my young children) was telling her how rampant sexually transmitted disease was in the college program, etc. He kept trying to convince her that it was not a good idea.

[rt2dz]

Thanks for the review, but remember all restaurants have ups and downs when they first open. Everyone is trying to figure out the pattern of how things run.

[tarheelmjfan]

When looking through posted pics, I could almost hear the eardrum bursting noise level. The combination of the chairs & the floor makes me think it will probably be too loud for our liking. Is it as loud in there as it appears?

[patsal]

I was under the impression that this was a Landry's location, not really a Disney restaurant, isn't it true it is owned by the same corp. as Rainforest and T-Rex?

[Laugh O. Grams]

When looking through posted pics, I could almost hear the eardrum bursting noise level. The combination of the chairs & the floor makes me think it will probably be too loud for our liking. Is it as loud in there as it appears?

I didn't notice the noise level which leads me to believe that it wasn't bad. However, seeing that there were so many empty tables, it probably wasn't a good measure of actual restaurant noise levels anyway...unless it's empty like that all the time, which couldn't be good for business...

I was under the impression that this was a Landry's location, not really a Disney restaurant, isn't it true it is owned by the same corp. as Rainforest and T-Rex?

Yes, it's a Landry's...

[Aimeedyan]

Maybe it will improve with time...

[raven69david]

I guess a restaurant with the word "Yak" in it should always be avoided.:scared1: Thanks for the review. It gives me 1 less restaurant to review for ADR's.

[MrsBanks]

we ate here on 11/15 - I believe it was the 2nd day it was open - I agree the food is blah, nothing special. The place was packed when we were there (lunchtime) and it was not loud at all. We were seated upstairs. Our server was very inexperienced and we spent over an hour and 45 mins in there, however we didn't complain since it was only day 2 of opening. Their system was set up to accept the DDP but the register receipt did not print out how many "meals" we had left, even a supervisor couldn't figure it out.

FYI I had appy of fried green beans (good), entree of crispy honey chicken with jasmine rice (so-so) and dessert of cream cheese wontons served with vanilla ice cream and berries (ok). DH had appy of wontons (bleh), entree of jasmine rice wrapped with skirt steak and tempura shrimp (ok) and trio of sorbets for dessert (ok, but he said the shredded coconut ruined it). Kiddos had chicken nuggets & mini-burger (which was hugh) and ice cream for dessert. Total bill $108 before tip. A little too much $$$ for a not so great meal IMO.

Here is the steak/tempura shrimp
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n7/MrsBanks1974/100_3051.jpg
and the crispy honey chicken
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n7/MrsBanks1974/100_3052.jpg

[MrsBanks]

sorbet trio
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n7/MrsBanks1974/100_3053.jpg
cream cheese wontons
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n7/MrsBanks1974/100_3054.jpg

[familyS]

Thanks for the review Laugh O. Grams and the pics MrsBanks!

[Belle5]

Thank you, too, Mrs. Banks! I think we are going to steer clear...

[LarryJ]

Laugh,

Thanks for the review and while we will try it for a lunch since our goal is to eat at every WDW restaurant at least once we will probably stick to one of Japan restaurants in EPCOT or at the AK resort for the Asian cuisine thing.

Larry

[La2kw]

I was under the impression that this was a Landry's location, not really a Disney restaurant, isn't it true it is owned by the same corp. as Rainforest and T-Rex?

Yep, it's Landry's- which is why we'll be staying away from the place. I can't stand RFC and I have no desire to try Landry's version of Asian food either.

[Harambe]

I guess a restaurant with the word "Yak" in it should always be avoided.:scared1:

:)

[my3disneygirls]

Well I'm going to avoid this place a hundred bucks for blah food no thanks. I was hoping to spend the whole day at AK and eat dinner there, so now I need a new plan.

[tigger536]

My3disney girls - how about the new tusker house buffet?

[John's Mom]

Thanks for the reviews and pictures!

[SGMCO]

Thanks for the review.

We will be eating there on our next trip which is 10 months away
so I'm hoping that they get all the "Blah" out of the food by then.

We are also going to be eating at the
Tucker House Donalds Safari Breakfast.

I'm happy that AK finally has a interesting TS Restaurant.

Even then I think the restaurant looks like a neat place to eat.

[Minniespal]

Perhaps it will improve with time!

[Disney owl]

thanks for the review

[dzneelvr]

Great Reviews and Fab Pix:thumbsup2 it doesn't look like something DH would like so I think we'll pass. See you in June 08!:woohoo:

[Lexxiefern]

Thanks for the review.

[my3disneygirls]

My3disney girls - how about the new tusker house buffet?

I wanted to do the character breakfast, but now I'm thinking of sleeping in that day and doing the lunch or dinner there. The foods for lunch and dinner sound pretty good.

[hematite153]

I wanted to do the character breakfast, but now I'm thinking of sleeping in that day and doing the lunch or dinner there. The foods for lunch and dinner sound pretty good.

Okay, so, why not...

Character breakfast, spend the whole day at AK and then head to AKL for dinner at either BOMA or Jiko. (After all, AK closes much earlier than the other parks so it is easy to spend the whole day in the park but then go elsewhere for dinner.)

[my3disneygirls]

Okay, so, why not...

Character breakfast, spend the whole day at AK and then head to AKL for dinner at either BOMA or Jiko. (After all, AK closes much earlier than the other parks so it is easy to spend the whole day in the park but then go elsewhere for dinner.)

That's a good idea. I haven't tried Boma yet and I always wanted to give it a try.

[disneygirlinnj]

I think we might still try Yak and Yeti when we go next week. I've been scouring podcasts and other boards and there's like a 75% pro opinion vs. 25% con opinion of here. All I do know is NOT to get the Pho! haha :) I figured we'll give them a few weeks to get some of the kinks out. All of the negative reviews I've read were within the first like 3 days of opening and that's NEVER a great way to tell how a restaurant will turn out!

[Peter Pirate 2]

I hate to say I told you so but....:scared1:

Eating at McLandry's restaurants will never be mistaken for fine dining...It's just too darn bad Disney no longer feels they can do things (run restaurants, hotels and transportation, etc.) better than other people anymore. Outsource, outsource, outsource = medicority.:sad2:
pirate:

[disneygirlinnj]

So I had subscribed to this thread before our trip and now that we're back, I think I'll add my review to it.. :) I wrote a review of it with pics in my trip report but i'll just paste the text here. If you want to see pics... go here

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1646137&page=11

OK... so we headed over to Yak and Yeti for our early-ish dinner. I was excited to try the new place! And we weren't disappointed at all!

First of all, the detail that was put into this restaurant is amazing. I wish we had more time to look around but we had to quickly eat and head back to the hotel.

We started off with the Pork Pot Stickers - pan seared or steamed, soy lime dipping sauce. These were yummy! The soy lime dipping sauce had a nice flavor and the pot stickers weren't dry and were a perfect size....

We also had the Wok-Fried Green Beans - battered green beans, sweet Thai chili dipping sauce. OMG these were AWESOME! And yes, I know deep frying anything makes it better but I could have eaten these all night. The beans were still crispy, which I loved. The batter on them wasn't too heavy and had a nice flavor to it. And the dipping sauce was scrumptious! haha! I think we used it for the dumplings too towards the end. mmm... I'm getting hungry thinking about them!

The only thing that kind of annoyed me during the meal is that my mom ordered tea and the waiter came back and told us that it wasn't included on the meal plan as a drink. REALLY?! It was a tablespoon of tea leaves! It wasn't a problem paying extra for it but it was included everywhere else so I'm not sure if the waiter was mistaken or if it really wasn't included.

So back to the meal...lol...

My mom had the Tempura Shrimp - chili plum sauce, coconut-ginger rice, stir fried vegetables. She said she really liked it and ate most of it, which is a good sign for my mom!

I finally decided on the Baby Back Ribs - slow-roasted ribs, hoisin BBQ sauce, chicken fried rice, sweet chili slaw. These were YUMMY! The ribs had great flavor and were perfectly cooked, pretty much falling off the bone. I did ask for extra BBQ sauce since I love anything bbq. The sweet chili slaw was nice, but it was warm, which kind of threw me off. Not sure if I liked it hot? And the chicken fried rice had a nice flavor, but it was a little dry, like it's been sitting in the bowl on the counter for awhie.

Sarah had the sweet and sour chicken, which she enjoyed, but said that it was only slightly better than sweet and sour chicken that you can get at any chinese restaurant.

Next up was dessert...

We first tried the Fried Wontons - Skewers of fresh pineapple and cream cheese wontons, vanilla ice cream, honey vanilla drizzle. Sarah and I were a good team...I really enjoyed the fresh grilled pineapple and she really liked the cream cheese wontons. I found the wontons a little too sweet for me. It didn't interest mom so she didn't even bother trying it.

Our 2nd dessert we tried was the Chocolate Brownie Sundae - chunks of brownie, vanilla ice cream, chocolate and caramel sauces, fresh whipped cream. Pretty asian, right? haha! This thing was HUGE! But it was pretty yummy! The brownie was nice and warm and everything was just...good!

After we paid, I wanted to go upstairs and see the rest of the restaurant and even though the top half of the restaurant wasn't open yet, they let us go upstairs and wander a bit. Again...awesome detail!!