Any good restaurants at Swan or Dolphin?

[Choogie]

Hi there,

We're staying at BWV in April and am curious to know about any good places for dinner at either the Swan or Dolphin? Thought it might be a nice walk and a way to explore other dining options.

Any input would be appreciated! Thanks

 

[perla75]

Blue Zoo, Shula, & Il Mulino are all supposed to be wonderful! (& pricey...)

 

[IndyClown]

Yes but they are more expensive than most.

Shulas I know is good. I have heard that Bluezoo is very good too.

 

[oybolshoi]

Blue Zoo at the Dolphin is extremely good - expensive, but worth it.

Kimonos at the Swan is also very good if you like sushi.

 

[Mickey_Man]

Depends on what you are looking for. I think I have at eaten at all of them except Kimono's, so here's my run-down.

Dolphin:

bluezoo - quite possibly my favorite restaurant on property, this is a great place for seafood and other high quality fine dining options. The service is great, the food outstanding, the atmosphere vibrant yet cool. Can't go wrong (unless you are looking for a quick, inexpensive eat)

Shula's - If you are familiar with any of the high end steak chains, you know what to expect here.

The Fountain - think "Beaches and Cream" without the excessive wait and with nicer service.

Fresh - interesting concept of sitdown and buffet. Food is pretty good, but feel free to ask your server exactly how it works so you don't get confused. I think it is self explanatory, but when we recommended it to my in-laws, they were perplexed.

Picabu - It is a quick service, catch all with pretty solid options. Don't expect gourmet and you'll like it here.

Swan
Il Mulino - I think it is the best Italian on property, and the bar is great for a flatbread and drink. A bit fancy and pricey - more Tutto than Mama Melrose.

Kimonos - I have never been here, but I hear good sushi and Karaoke after 9pm.

Garden Grove - Proud location of my absolute worst meal on disney property EVER. It is a character buffet and they change the theme nightly (barbeque night, old south night, fish night, italian night, etc). We went on BBQ night and it was downright repulsive.


There might be a few other snack places or lounges, but those are the restaurants that I remember.

 

[webray]

Tons of good places to eat at Swan/Dolphin. Since that is where we always stay (many, many times per year) we are familiar with almost every restaurant in the place.


Blue Zoo at Dolphin is fantastic, high quality, no rushing delicious meal. Have eaten here many times, always excellent.

Picabo at Dolphin...cafeteria style walk through, choose your meal. Breakfast is nothing special, burgers/fries are excellent. IN the evening the homemade dinner options like pot roast are almost as good as my homemade. Have eaten here many times..always pretty good.

Fountain ...in the Dolphin is ok. Burgers aren't as good as they are in Picabo. Great service, nice atmosphere. Will try it another time for a sandwich and see how that goes. Eaten here only once, it was ok.

the Pool Bar...at Dolphin also serves a nice menu and great drinks. Very good service, great place to watch football games during the season.

Fresh...at Dolphin is just that, breakfast and lunch buffets with all fresh ingredients. Starbucks coffee. Used to have breakfast quite often, but service and cleanliness seemed to go down so have stayed away for a bit. Never had the chance to try lunch..but it looks and smells wonderful.

Shula's...at Dolphin. Well, this was a huge disappointment for us, although I should have known better as the reviews are not very good for any of the Shulas restaurants no matter what city they are in. The steaks were horrible, they even redid mine. Service was fine.
Extremely expensive for the quality of food serviced. Nice wine list though.

IL Mulino..at the Swan is very very good. WE have eaten here many, many times. Great wine list, wonderful homemade pastas, great service.

Garden Grove/Gullivers...at Swan. We usually eat here for breakfast quite often. It is buffet style, characters (chip, dale, pluto) only on the weekends. Haven't ever tried it for lunch/dinner.
The eggs are made to order, everything is fresh and hot, good price/value.

Kimonos...at Swan. Consistantly rated one of the best sushi places in Orlando. As much as we love sushi, we have never tried it. Plenty of our friends have though and they say it is fantastic.

 

[Robert P]

In our order of preference:
Il Mulino
BlueZoo
Fresh (breakfast)
Shula's (steak)
The Fountain (burgers)
Garden Grove (breakfast)

 

[BriarRosie]

I definitely liked Todd English's bluezoo™ enough to return there. Probably one of the most expensive meals I've had outside of Victoria and Albert's, but still worth it.