Any recent good experiences at Jiko?

[CarolinaBlue99]

We have dinner reservations at Jiko for our early October trip while we are staying at AKL. I had been looking forward to trying it after reading many people say it was their favorite restaurant in WDW. But I’ve started reading that recent experiences had not been as good as in the past (maybe because of the chef change?). Has anyone had a good meal there lately? I’m starting to second guess our reservation there ...

 

[OhThePain]

IMO, you are better off not listening to what others have to say. In a world of anonymity, there is no saying whose opinion you are listening to. YOU booked Jiko because YOU wanted it. Try it for yourself and make your own opinion. FWIW, we have eaten at Jiko a couple of times before and are looking forward to another dinner there in a couple of weeks.

 

[JKMastalski]

Jiko is in our top 3 restaurants and usually eat there twice every trip. It's fantastic!

 

[Holly]

I was there in April and Jiko was amazing.

 

[gwynne]

We have dinner reservations at Jiko for our early October trip while we are staying at AKL. I had been looking forward to trying it after reading many people say it was their favorite restaurant in WDW. But I’ve started reading that recent experiences had not been as good as in the past (maybe because of the chef change?). Has anyone had a good meal there lately? I’m starting to second guess our reservation there ...

Not sure what you've heard, I continue to read great things about Jiko. We love the food and the wine list is quite nice. I'm on a special events list for Jiko and they continue to do those.
We have a reservation in early Oct as well.

 

[MikeNamez]

Was there July 6th and had an AMAZING dinner. My new favorite restaurant on properly.

 

[CarolinaBlue99]

Thanks everyone! There had been a couple threads recently where people had lamented that Jiko was good in the past but they had bad meals recently and had taken it off their list. I wondered whether the praise I had read was out of date. We want to eat there and will be staying at AKL, so I'm going to keep the reservation and look forward to trying it -- OhThePain's advice is spot-on. I'm (mostly) vegetarian/pescatarian, and the vegetarian menu looks really tasty. The wine list doesn't hurt either!

 

[DisneyKoyote]

Been wondering about this too cuz I read the same things. Was debating if I should cancel my Jikos reservation for Tiffins...

 

[KenHutch]

My experience is last June but it was as perfect as always. I consider it to be the best restaurant in WDW.

 

[MomOTwins]

I'm one of the Jiko naysayers. The bread and dips appetizer was lovely, but the entrees we had were pretty bland, and the meat quality was not great. We also had the worst service of anywhere at WDW on that trip at Jiko (initial drinks brought well after appetizer was served, no water refills, no check in after meal so was unable to have incorrect cook temperature on the steak, and an interminable 45 minute wait for the check with repeated requests after dessert was served and eaten).

I recognize all restaurants have off nights and off servers, but at signature prices we won't repeat when we have a truly bad experience. We prefer Tiffins, which we've eaten at multiple times and never disappoints, and has a bread service that is every bit as good as Jiko's.

 

[CarolinaBlue99]

DisneyKoyote & MomOTwins, I had been debating trading my Jiko reservation for a Tiffins reservation. There's nothing available at Tiffins at the moment, so I may set up a reservation finder alert and just see what happens. I want to try Tiffins, too, but not sure whether we will feel like the (short) bus ride over to DAK on our arrival day ...

 

[DisneyKoyote]

DisneyKoyote & MomOTwins, I had been debating trading my Jiko reservation for a Tiffins reservation. There's nothing available at Tiffins at the moment, so I may set up a reservation finder alert and just see what happens. I want to try Tiffins, too, but not sure whether we will feel like the (short) bus ride over to DAK on our arrival day ...

I was able to find Tiffins reservations for my date, but reading other threads/googling it seems like a toss up between which is better. I took a closer look at both menus and guess I'll stick to Jiko for now as their menu is more unique (at least in my opinion)...but I still have months to change my mind hahaa.
Ohh, if it's on your arrival day, I would personally just want to take it easy and go with Jiko...

 

[RamblingMad]

I went last Thursday. It’s definitely overrated. I had the Lion King Prix, and my significant other had the wild boar and some enhancements.

The wild boar was good. It wasn’t great. My curry wasn’t good at all. It had no spice level at all, and the lobster wasn’t good. I had the same dish at the Grand Hyatt Kauai, and it was significantly better.

The deserts were pretty, but they weren’t exceptionally good.

If you’re going to pay up for Disney, I recommend Hoop De Doo at Fort Wilderness. The food is good, and the show is a good time. This is a far better value than Jiko. I went last weekend.

 

[TreAntDeu]

went a month ago, fantastic as usual.

 

[TeresaWen]

I love Jiko! Sad I missed it last trip. We had an adr on father’s day. They had a special menu and most of their usual dishes were not being offered. Thankfully they let us cancel with no penalty. I did enjoy wine in the lounge. Their wine list is excellent

 

[kiford]

We've been a couple of times in the last few months and had a good experience as always. It's one of our favourites. There are times when I prefer the menu selections to other times - which may be even based on what I do and don't feel like eating that day - but the food has always been good with good to great service usually depending on how busy it is.

 

[armerida]

We've been to Jiko at least 10 times, most recently a month ago. It is consistently in our top 2 favorites (along with California Grill). We've never had a bad meal there, and service has been impeccable every time except for our last visit.

They are now serving a "Lion King" prix fixe menu along with their regular dinner menu (sadly, they took a few of their best dishes off the menu temporarily because of this...the elk loin and short rib...). I would highly recommend their wild boar, filet mignon and lamb shank until they put the elk and short rib back on the menu. The Kilimanjaro dessert is not to be missed. And if you like bourbon, the African old fashioned is amazing (and strong!).

 

[angelmav]

To the OP's point, I have seen some middling reviews of late with Jiko, while everyone raves about Sanaa. But I think that is the case with just about any restaurant. You will drive yourself nuts trying to plan for whatever is the 'in' place at the moment.

 

[gharter]

We were there in May and it was just as good as ever. This was the first time we were in the small room by checkin. Wasn't sure I'd like it. Had different theming than the main room, but was quieter and very nice.

 

[DisOrBust]

So I jusrt posted a thread about Jiko's menu and I was stunned how small it is now and really couldn't believe it. I don't want the Lion king meal deal so I guess I'm going elsewhere.

We were there last summer to Jiko andit was meh. Did Tiffins this past June and also thought it when downhill since it opened.