Kouzzina by Cat Cora

[hailbug]

Has anyone eaten here? I am looking into Breakfast and Dinner. How is the food, service, atmosphere? Is it kid-friendly? Any info on this restaurant would be great!

 

[amyy]

We really like it but it seems to get mixed reviews. Love their fresh fruit at breakfast. For a supper treat you can do the Chef's Table. Granted I don't know how young or many kids so you might not want that. The atmosphere is kind of open and noisy in my opinion.

 

[Sweet Melissa]

We love breakfast and dinner there. Their breakfast menu is our favorite anywhere in Disney World. The French toast and the stacked breakfast are both outstanding, as are the bloody Marys.

For dinner, its food is near signature restaurant quality. The only 1TS dinner that I would rank higher is Sanaa. It does get loud at dinnertime, though. The kitchen and the dining room have a very open layout and the staff are fond of shouting "Opa!" seemingly whenever the din gets below a certain decibel level. It's a very lively and celebratory atmosphere. I can't speak to kid-friendliness because we don't have children and I just never mentally frame restaurants in that way. We do see lots of families in there when we go, though.

 

[LindaBabe]

Been there both with and without kids - the family members have unanimously loved it. (Kids 4 & 5 at the time, and they're happily adventurous).

 

[minniebeth]

I have to say overall I'm a huge Kouzzina fan. We've had breakfast and dinner there several times and the service and food has always been wonderful. DD and I ate breakfast there a few weeks ago (our most anticipated breakfast of our trip!) and I have to say it was a miss, we were really disappointed. I love the stacked breakfast and they seemed to have changed the chicken sausage which I really loved. It definitely was not the same. Our food was luke warm at best and overall much smaller portions than I remembered. Our service was horrible. But...I'm really hoping it was just an off day because every other time we have gone, it's been very good! Still a fan~

 

[bangzoom6877]

We loved Kouzzina for dinner back in 2010, and we are looking forward to having dinner there on our arrival night this July. We stay at BWV so it is also very convenient for us. When we went there, I was a bit skeptical because of the mixed reviews. But I knew that I had to decide for myself...DH and I both love Mediterranean food, so we figured we would try it. We both fell in love with this place! The service was fantastic...food was delicious, excellent quality, not too salty but very flavorful. DH had lamb shank which he loved, and I had the sampler because I couldn't decide! Everything was delicious. We shared spanakopita for an appetizer and it was great, and we had a delicious baklava for dessert (DH loves baklava). Our boys were 3 and 5 at the time and they enjoyed the kids' menu. The restaurant was not nearly as noisy as a character meal of course, but more low-key. However, it was very child-friendly. We can't wait to go back!

I have found that sometimes even though a place gets some very negative reviews, we enjoy it very much. It really depends on the person. If Kouzzina looks appealing to you, go ahead and try it.

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

We went to Kouzzina for the first time last May, and we really enjoyed it. We're looking forward to eating there in TWO DAYS!

 

[fly girl]

Don't want to be the "Debbie Downer" but I was disappointed with my dinner at Kouzzina. I was really excited to be dining at an Iron Chef's restaurant too, so maybe I set unrealistic expectations? idk. We just found the food to be greasy and lacking flavor. To be fair though, this was in September 2010 only a few weeks after opening so maybe the chefs weren't in sync yet. With Flying Fish next door I just don't have it in me to go back to Kouzzina for another try.

Our server was very nice, yet very slow. And it is loud, but it's lively -- that aspect didn't bother us. It is kid friendly so don't let that deter you either.

 

[TigerKat]

We've been for dinner twice in the past year and I have to say we are definitely fans of the place. In fact it is our favorite restaurant, excluding the signature restaurants!

 

[rhodymom]

We wnt within a month of opening and loved it. My husband is great and I would give an A+ to some of the greek dishes. It was great and family friendly!

 

[AWish]

Had breakfast here in December 2010 right after the renovation was completed. It was our last meal in Disney and definitely the best breakfast we had in the week we were there. My husband still talks about the French toast.

 

[rndmr2]

We went here in May 2011 and really enjoyed our meal there, there were 6 of us (the 7th one left before dinner, long story , in TR if you are interested, it's actually a pretty small TR only a few pages) I don't remember all the names of the dishes but here are some pics of what some of us had, sorry if some of them are blurry:


Spanikopita (I think that's how you spell it) a spinach turnover, my Dad got this, it had some kind of relish under it

Greek Salad

Saganaki (YUMMY! a must do if you like cheese! ) basically a slab of fried cheese and they give you some toast to spread it on.

I think this was called the Kouzzina sampler or trio, I think it was a lamb burger, a greek lasagna (in the little dish) and chicken with orzo pasta, my MIL had this and enjoyed it

this was a pork dish, was very good, a little rare for me but we later figured I probably got mine switched with my BIL, he wanted medium and I wanted well, I dodn't want to bother anyone and hold things up so I didn't say anything, we were pressed for time that night.

DH and my Dad got this, NY Strip

Custard dessert, MIL got this

Baklava, very nutty, not much pastry or honey as I like it, It was ok.

 

[tink1972]

Looks good! have ressie there on feb 7th! Can't wait

 

[hailbug]

Thank you rndmr2 for the pics! Looks great! Thanks to everyone else for your opinions

 

[RobinHoodGirl]

Oh I'm happy to hear people enjoyed dinner here!

My DBF is a Food Network and Iron Chef fan so this was one restaurant he really wanted to try, and since it's his first trip to WDW I want to accommodate him when he has imput (I don't wanna plan EVERYTHING without him giving his 2 cents). I've not heard much good or bad about Kouzzina so I wasn't too worried but it's always reassuring to hear good reviews!

 

[Sweet Melissa]

Oh I'm happy to hear people enjoyed dinner here!

My DBF is a Food Network and Iron Chef fan so this was one restaurant he really wanted to try, and since it's his first trip to WDW I want to accommodate him when he has imput (I don't wanna plan EVERYTHING without him giving his 2 cents). I've not heard much good or bad about Kouzzina so I wasn't too worried but it's always reassuring to hear good reviews!

The restaurant is still somewhat new and not without its growing pains, but I think that recent reviews have been largely positive. It's important to remember that all Disney restaurants are largely well-liked. The detractors are always* a vocal minority.

*The only exception I can think of to this rule is Shutters at the Caribbean Beach resort. In all my years on Disney World review sites and message boards, I've encountered a variety of reviews ranging only from indifferent to completely negative.

 

[2girlsmom]

We have been for breakfast and dinner, the one thing I will say about dinner is that it definitely gets loud, so if you are looking for a quiet meal, this will not be it. I have kids who, while mostly wellbehaved, are sometimes louder than I like, so the sound level didn't really bother me.
We went for breakfast a couple times now, we love the waffle with whipped honey mascarpone, delish! My picky 13 year old adores the challah french toast. Their oatmeal is also wonderful. And they have a morning white sangria that is fabulous!

We went December 2010 for dinner, and would give almost everything rave reviews. I had that trio as did the picky kid. She found the lamb too spicy, but absolutely ADORED the Pastitsio (greek lasagna) and also very much liked the chicken and orzo. I think she actually ate all my pastitsio as well, which is saying something, she normally eats like a bird. She had the grape leaf stuffed with goat cheese appetizer, she didn't love that, but I thought it was good. I know we had the saganaki as well, and my 11 year old had the dip assortment, she loved this, as she likes hummus, etc. For her meal she had the chicken with orzo, which she thought was good, but not as much as the appetizer.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

We had breakfast there on Jan 7 right after we checked in at BWI and it was one of the best meals we had. We didn't have a reservation, but were seated right away, this was about 8-8:30am.

I had the French Toast Baklava and it was out of this world wonderful. DH had the American Breakfast and he said it was really good. Our waiter was really exceptionally friendly and made for a great atmosphere. There weren't many people in there at that time, so it was very pleasant, by the time we left there were quite a few people checking in and waiting to be seated.