AKL Restaurants

[KimmLynn]

I was just wondering if anyone could tell me about the restaurants at the Animal Kingdom Lodge: Boma, Jiko, and Mara. Any thoughts are welcome.
Peace

 

[eeyoreiscool]

Mara is the food court for AKL. They usually have pizza, hamburgers, salads, etc that the food courts normally do. A sample menu for Mara can be found here: Breakfast: http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menu_mara.htm Lunch/Dinner: http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menu_marald.htm

Boma is a buffet that is very good. They have different "pods" where you can get meats, vegitables, desserts, soups, and salads. Everything has African seasonings and dishes. There are chefs that will explain the different items to you as well. A sample menu for Boma can be found here: Breakfast: http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menu_boma.htm Dinner: http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menu_bomadin.htm

Jiko is the more formal sit down restaurant. It is order off the menu and has an African flair as well. The menu for Jiko can be found here: http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menu_jiko.htm

 

[Perdie]

We just stayed at the AKL for 6 nights and ate at all 3 places.
Here's what I thought:

Mara: average, good for in the mornings on the way to the parks. Breakfast burrito NOT GOOD. The tortilla is usually hard and they always forget the cheese! But the Mickey waffles are yummy! I usually got a muffin or bagel...pizza is ok for lunch.

Boma:One of the BEST places to eat at. We had dinner there and LOVED it. The food was just really really good. Oh and try the bread pudding with vanilla sauce for dessert-yum!

Jiko: Mixed reviews here. My husband really enjoyed his dinner (Tamarind Braised Beef Short Ribs) and I really didn't like mine. (Wood-Grilled Pork Tenderloin) But I loved the appetizer the Maize and Sweet Potato Tamales and the atmosphere. I wanted the filet with mac and cheese but I had just had a filet in Canada so I chose the pork tenderloin and I think I just don't like pork very much-and the mushroom flavor was overwhelming (and I like mushrooms). I saw the filet and it looked much better. So I think this place is good, I just ordered wrong.

 

[camillatin]

Well, I'm afraid I can only comment on Mara (yeah, we're cheap), but here's my two cents:

Breakfast was a great idea - muffins were excellent, fresh fruit was also great. My father loved the breakfast platter - eggs, bacon, potatoes, and biscuit. He bought that almost every morning. The Breakfast sandwich (a bagel with scrambled eggs and bacon) was good, but small - smaller than what I think of as "typical" bagel size.

A word of warning, though, all cooked breakfast items are not available until after 7:00 a.m. I believe (it might have been 7:30, I can't remember). We were there too early one morning when we needed to be at the park early for a tour. Muffins, fruit, bagels, etc are available any time. Also, while it is blissfully empty in the 7:00-8:30 time frame, Mara can get quite crowded by about 9:00 a.m.

Dinner was a little less appetizing. I tried the pizza, which tasted exactly like Busch Gardens pizza - apparently it's generic "theme park pizza" - not that bad, not that great. Dad tried a Turkey Melt, which again, was just okay. They do have a great number of take out items, however, including Zebra Domes!!! Also, you can take the food (with a tray) back to your room so you can watch the animals on your balcony (if you have a savannah view), and then just leave the dishes for housekeeping, which is nice.

Hope this helps

 

[sheri236]

jiko is one of our favorite restaurants at wdw. we've eaten there twice and had two fabulous meals. boma is good too--lots of choices for everyone--great for families. jiko is great for a more intimate meal, much quieter than boma but we took our kids there and there was no problem.

 

[KimmLynn]

Thank you so much for the tips! What did you guys think of the prices? And what is a Zebra Dome?

 

[MerryPoppins]

I had a bad experience at Jiko. The food was good, but not great. We had reservations and we still waited three hours for a table! They finally decided they had lost our reservation and we got in. I guess it was one of those things that can happen. They were terribly busy. But we didn't even really get an "I'm sorry". Left a bad taste in my mouth.

DH wanted to try it again this trip, but we're trying Boma instead.

 

[LibertyLover]

We just got back from AKL a week ago and, like another poster, ate at all three restaurants. Jiko was fabulous. We had a flatbread to start, then salads. I had the fillet and my husband had the fish. The fillet was absolutely wonderful. We too had eaten at Le Cellier earlier in the trip, but the 2 restaurants were so different that it didn't phase me in the least to order fillet in both. At Jiko, the red wine reduction that is served with the fillet is out of this world. It made the dish. My DD3 wasn't eating her macaroni and cheese so I gave her some of my beef. Once she had a taste of the sauce, she wouldn't eat pieces without it. My husband said that he initially thought the fish was dry but then he dipped it in the sauce and was amazed at how favorful it was. He had the pistachio creme brulee for dessert and I had the flourless chocolate cake. Both were wonderful. It was our first time eatting at Jiko, even though we've stayed at AKL 4 times.

Mara is ok. We only used it this time for lunch. It's basic WDW food courty food. We actually did the grab and go most of the time. The salads were fine. I had a roast beef sandwich on multigrain bread one day that was ok. DH had a turkey chef salad roll up that he said was good. We did enjoy the cheese platter with the smoked cheddar and gouda slices. We got that a couple of times to take back to the room to eat in the afternoons as we drank wine and watched animals. I've eaten breakfast there on other trips. Again, pretty basic, but not bad.

Boma is both interesting and good. We've eaten breakfast and dinner there a number of times. At dinner the roast beef is good as are the African inspired salads like the kool slaw and curried potato salad. The soups are also very tasty, although for many Americans the spicing is different. Not hot different, just a different combination of flavors than we are normally used to. I've traveled in north Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, India and the Middle East and liked the spicing and find Boma's interpratation of it well done and enjoyable. Boma's dessert offerings are wide-ranging, from fresh fruit to cookies and banana bread pudding to tarts and cheese cake. Of course the main attraction is the zebra domes, but I have to confess that I don't care for mocha so they hold little attraction for me. On the other hand, I love Boma's passion fruit meringe tartlets with, well, a passion.

All in all, you should be able to eat very well at the AKL's restaurants.