OK...what food doesn't suck at SeaWorld?

[gregf71]

Let me premise this by stating outright that we live in San Diego and are SeaWorld San Diego annual passholders. We know firsthand, outside of Dine with Shamu, how disappointing in general the food is in the park. The wondrous vapors of BBQ awesomeness fill the air here in SWSD, but the dining it is linked to leaves us wanting...and don't get me started on their fish & chips. Admittedly, there are moments of goodness, but mainly during special events (e.g. Lunar New Year, Seven Seas Food Festival, etc.). But I digress...

We will be in Orlando in June and will be spending a day in SeaWorld. Breakfast will be at our resort and dinner in planned for Morimoto Asia that night. So, what about lunch in the park? Dine with Shamu is all booked up for lunch apparently; and I am not thinking that we want to drop a ton of money at Sharks Underwater Grill. Since I am thinking that we are talking about the best of the least...what food doesn't suck?

Thank you!

 

[Dolphinrescuegirls]

I have the same problems as you. They have a chicken salad sandwich they serve at mango joes. I get this every single time now. It helps that I love ckn salad sandwichs and get them at a lot of different restaurants anyway.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We find the food really good at SeaWorld....far better than Disney's counter service options, and equal to (or better than) many of those at Universal. Maybe we are just not as fussy or have ordered well?

We tend to return each trip to Spice Mill (for burgers and pulled pork sandwiches), but have also eaten at Mango Joes, Seafire Grille, Voyagers Smokehouse, Seaport Pizza, and the Expedition Cafe. So far, the only "BAD" entree has been the fried chicken and mashed potatoes from the Expedition Cafe.....but the other entrees from there were more than acceptable.

 

[kirstenb1]

Agree with Gina. We have season passes, and have found many great c/s options beyond the usual burgers/pizza/fries. I can't help you with table service, unfortunately; we tend to eat c/s.

 

[gregf71]

Agree with Gina. We have season passes, and have found many great c/s options beyond the usual burgers/pizza/fries. I can't help you with table service, unfortunately; we tend to eat c/s.

Happy to take any counter service recommendations you might have, kirstenb1. Thanks!

 

[gregf71]

An update...my family and I visited Sea World San Diego this weekend and were very pleasantly surprised at the food quality. While my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed many of the Seven Seas Food Festival items, our daughter was less adventurous and chose to get lunch at a counter service. The Alfredo pasta with chicken strips she chose was actually very tasty (she gave us a few bites). Add to that some freshly sliced watermelon and a Jello parfait (also shared between the three of us), and it was a meal that we would return to. Now, the Seven Seas options were out of this world! It would be amazing if they could take some of these items and integrate them into their year-round offerings!

 

[kirstenb1]

We've tried Expedition Cafe, Spice Mill, Seafire Grill, and have found them to have several entrees beyond the usual all-American type food. Lots of veggies/meat/salad type entrees. One thing that can be tricky for us, is we have picky kids (who are picky in totally opposite directions). So sometimes we settle for the all-American type stuff, like the BBQ or pizza place, just so we're not spending a lot of time eating at different places. Still both those places have been fine. We tend to grab our food and go.

 

[Mom2SamandJames]

We find the food really good at SeaWorld....far better than Disney's counter service options, and equal to (or better than) many of those at Universal. Maybe we are just not as fussy or have ordered well?

We tend to return each trip to Spice Mill (for burgers and pulled pork sandwiches), but have also eaten at Mango Joes, Seafire Grille, Voyagers Smokehouse, Seaport Pizza, and the Expedition Cafe. So far, the only "BAD" entree has been the fried chicken and mashed potatoes from the Expedition Cafe.....but the other entrees from there were more than acceptable.

We have found the food to be great also. My boys prefer Sea World food to Disney food.

 

[keishashadow]

Sea World does BBQ very well and the price is right for the huge portions.

We tend to not eat much during park days in the Florida heat/humdity or we feel sluggish. Typically skip breakfast and do an light (or shared) early lunch.

After touring the parks, we like to freshen up and then dine leisurely, usually offsite somewhere.

 

[RabFlmom]

Attitude is always part of any meal......go in expecting it to suck and it probably will. Is it 5 star...of course not.....even at Sharks or lunch with Shamu. It is theme park fare but it has a flair. We have even just gone in to eat with family visiting from the North and then left the park. If all else fails lunch could be snack food like their delicious ice cream since you are eating breakfast and a large dinner elsewhere.

 

[gregf71]

Attitude is always part of any meal......go in expecting it to suck and it probably will. Is it 5 star...of course not.....even at Sharks or lunch with Shamu. It is theme park fare but it has a flair. We have even just gone in to eat with family visiting from the North and then left the park. If all else fails lunch could be snack food like their delicious ice cream since you are eating breakfast and a large dinner elsewhere.

Thanks RabFlmom, but I based that term on repeated personal experiences out here in San Diego and several posts on these very boards related to SWO. It wasn't until literally last weekend that I was impressed with food offerings here at SWSD. We have been passholders at SWSD for many years and the food always disappointed....always. The smells were wonderful, but the final products left A LOT to be desired. That changed last weekend and I can only hope that this marks a permanent shift out here AND what we will enjoy in Orlando. Crossing our fingers.

 

[isabelleB]

We went this week-end to Seaworld, for the opening of Mako , we are annual passholders and did mako and the penguin ride that we somehow never did in the past ( it is very disappointing in our opinion) . It was 12.30 PM and we were hungry , so we stopped next door by expedition café for some lunch.... OMG it was so bad, I do not even have words for it..... we had hot dogs, fries, chicken, and asian noodles with shrimps and chicken.
everything was disgusting, and we are not picky..... at all ! it was dry, tasteless, gross, oily and the asian meals were just plain awful, smell bad, awful taste
it came to $70 , we felt ripped off
food at disney and universal is way better , we went multiple times and even the quick service at disney is better .
we tried different options at sea world, and never liked it very much but was ok, but this time.....
this expedition restaurant was dirty, no forks and the employees couldn't care less about bringing some, we had to eat with spoons
waouh what an awful experience...... never but never again will I eat someting at sea world
macdonald for 1/3 the price is so much better! very sad

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

food at disney and universal is way better , we went multiple times and even the quick service at disney is better .

And yet.....in our experience, the only quick service theme park food we have ever thrown out has been at Disney. We'd rather eat counter service at SeaWorld any day over the Disney parks.

I am sorry to hear you had a bad experience at the Expedition Cafe, though. I hope you spoke to the counter staff to provide them with constructive feedback.

 

[gregf71]

Just to close this topic out...we ended up having lunch during our Seaworld day at the Spice Mill. Why? Because it was close to us when we got hungry and it has AC with indoor seating (yeah, it was REALLY hot that day). Simple as that. The food? Meh...it was ok. I had the buffalo chicken sandwich, my wife the club, and our daughter the chicken Caesar salad. My sandwich needed more sauce (which I assume I could have asked for, but chose not to). My wife's club sandwich was ok and our daughter ate most of her salad, which is praiseworthy. Grabbed some jello to share with my daughter...not as flavorful as I would have hoped.

We thought about one of the BBQ joints, but our dinner location that night had the potential to include some BBQ, so we chose not to consider it.

All in all, the best part of the lunch was the air-conditioning and the free ice water. Kind of what I expected. I know...negative nellie!

 

[Belle & Ariel]

We have had Sea World and Disney passes over the last 20+ years and SW parks have always had the worst food of all other than Six Flags. We like Disney counter serve food and though we have kitchen with DVC rooms we eat in the parks alot. Their table serve and counter serve do a great job for all they feed. SW feeds less but the food is hardly ever fresh. It really stinks to pay over $10 for a burger and fries and then throw them away because they have sat so long under the heat lamp.