Epcot Dining Advice!

[Patsydust]

Hello everyone!

Planning to be at Disney April 14-17th (SW Darkside Half Challenge! Woo!) and everyone is telling me to make dining reservations...like now! I've gotten a few suggestions (never eaten at Epcot before) but of those few suugestions they all conflict! So I thought I'd get a lot more advice here and I'd tally all the votes up and find a winner! Cause I have no clue what is good! Also it will be the Flower and Garden festival, is it as big as Wine and Dine food wise? I hear there are vendors etc, but could I count dining on those all day instead? Thanks everyone in advance! Happy Thursday! Wishing magical thoughts for everyone!

 

[Patsydust]

VOTES

Biergarten ll

Teppan Edo

Via Napoli lll

Nine Dragons

Spice Road

Brown Derby ll

Marakkesh

Rose and Crown ll

Le Cellier l

Tangerine Cafe ll

Coral Reef

Chefs de France

 

[BrianL]

I love Biergarten, though if you're running a half marathon, that might not be your kinda place. Honestly, Epcot has all the best food int he World Showcase. Via Napoli is well regarded, though I've never eaten there. The Mexico table service, San Angel Inn, is really good too and has great atmosphere. There are so many good places!

 

[Patsydust]

Thanks! And no worries, Epcot will be post running! Ha ha...so I'll be eating anything and EVERYTHING!

 

[tjmw2727]

You can find just about anything at Epcot, do you want buffet or menu, entertainment, fine dining or casual?

We are a family of 3 - myself and my 2 older teen daughter and our favorites are Teppan Edo in Japan, Via Napoli in Italy and and Nine Dragons in China.
I would check out the menus and reviews and see what would fit best for your family. allears.net has all of the menus online.

 

[msmama]

I would call the food at Flower and Garden, Food and Wine lite (granted, next week will be my first food and wine, but from what I understand). I'd say it's more than possible to snack on those for the day.

Dining Reservations can be made 180 days in advance. I usually don't plan trips that far in advance. I've eaten at CRT, BOG, Le Cellier, pretty much all the places that are/were hard to get reservations for. If you're not super picky about certain times and places, I'd say don't sweat it too terribly much.

 

[loves to dive]

Just about everything at the WS is good, my favorite is Spice Road at Morocco. Over at HS I love Brown Derby, the Cobb Salad is to die for.

F&G is smaller than F&W, they don't have the food/wine/mixology seminars at the Festival Center but there are gardening type seminars. Not as many booths and not as much wine but still very enjoyable. Like F&W, I make only 2 ADRs the entire 5 days I'm there, I do all my eating just going around the booths. My two ADRs are Brown Derby and Tea as the Grand Floridian.

I'm not one of those who makes ADRs that far out. If I'm not going for one of the Festivals and we are going to eat TS, we just go to GS at whatever park we are at early in the morning and see what is available for that day. Caveat - we are all adults so times don't matter and character meals don't matter. I have APs and my son gets PHs so the park doesn't matter either, we can just hop over.

 

[larryz]

Morocco! Tangierine Cafe for lunch, and the Marakkesh Restaurant for dinner.

 

[wdwfanva]

DW and I love Rose and Crown, great food and prices. Like Le Cellier , but prices have really gotten out of hand !!

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

DW loves Rose and Crown for fish and chips. DS13 likes the roasted chicken at Sunshine Seasons. I prefer the Grey Goose slush in France and the margaritas at La Cava. We will be there that weekend also...first time I have ever run in any kind of race in my life. I'm just hoping to finish the 5K!

 

[LJSquishy]

Tangierine Café is my favorite place to eat in all of Epcot -- it also happens to be a counter service restaurant so no reservations required. I love the food they serve.

As far as table service restaurants go, we had an amazing meal at San Angel Inn (inside the Mexico pavilion, where the pyramid is -- not to be confused with La Hacienda de San Angel which is entirely different) which was a big surprise to us. It was definitely one of our top 3 meals this trip for all of us. I'm not a huge fan of Coral Reef because service is always slow and it's priced a little high for what you actually get. Via Napoli is a favorite on The Dis, but I honestly was very underwhelmed. Part of my disappointment was the atmosphere which was one giant room like a cafeteria and had the kitchen exposed, and the other part was the pizza itself not being anything special. We have several local thin-crust artisan style pizza places in my city, and Via Napoli didn't stand out at all. I used to read complaints about lack of toppings on the pizzas but our pizzas had tons of toppings (especially the prosciutto e melone). It wasn't a bad meal, just not even 1/2 as wonderful as I was expecting it to be.

 

[Travis B]

Tangierine Café is my favorite place to eat in all of Epcot -- it also happens to be a counter service restaurant so no reservations required. I love the food they serve.

As far as table service restaurants go, we had an amazing meal at San Angel Inn (inside the Mexico pavilion, where the pyramid is -- not to be confused with La Hacienda de San Angel which is entirely different) which was a big surprise to us. It was definitely one of our top 3 meals this trip for all of us. I'm not a huge fan of Coral Reef because service is always slow and it's priced a little high for what you actually get. Via Napoli is a favorite on The Dis, but I honestly was very underwhelmed. Part of my disappointment was the atmosphere which was one giant room like a cafeteria and had the kitchen exposed, and the other part was the pizza itself not being anything special. We have several local thin-crust artisan style pizza places in my city, and Via Napoli didn't stand out at all. I used to read complaints about lack of toppings on the pizzas but our pizzas had tons of toppings (especially the prosciutto e melone). It wasn't a bad meal, just not even 1/2 as wonderful as I was expecting it to be.

Chiming in to agree on Via Napoli - I was so excited to walk in and get a table during EMH one night, but the pizza was not as good as I expected given the enthusiasm I've seen about the restaurant. The staff was super nice and it wasn't a bad experience, in fact I really loved my dessert (sort of an upscale orange cream float). It was like the ovens weren't hot enough or something - the pizza was a little thicker and much less crispy than I expected. I still ate most of it, it just wasn't great or even very good. Pretty mediocre.

 

[Nancyg56]

My family really likes Rose and Crown.

 

[lustergirl]

Morocco! Tangierine Cafe for lunch, and the Marakkesh Restaurant for dinner.

I am trying Marrakesh for dinner next trip, first time.

 

[Patsydust]

Thanks guys! Got the wheels churning for me! Guess I gotta choose now...ha ha! So many choices! Via Napoli is liked by many but it also has nearly as many people who don't fancy it. Sounds like it's hit or miss when you go!

 

[LinderInWonderland]

My personal favorite is Chefs de France, but I also enjoy Biergarten. We discovered Schofferhoffer (sp?), our now favorite Summer beer during F&G. They only served it outside Biergarten, but we were allowed to bring it inside.

On our next trip, I really want to try Taste Track (QS/CS). I am a total sucker for out-of-the-norm grilled cheese sandwiches.

 

[Patsydust]

My personal favorite is Chefs de France, but I also enjoy Biergarten. We discovered Schofferhoffer (sp?), our now favorite Summer beer during F&G. They only served it outside Biergarten, but we were allowed to bring it inside.

On our next trip, I really want to try Taste Track (QS/CS). I am a total sucker for out-of-the-norm grilled cheese sandwiches.

Oooh out of the norm grilled cheese? That sounds delightful! I'm a grill cheese addict. Might hafta do Taste Track!