SNACKS ADDED!!! I eat with my eyes first, and Pandora food is just too . . .

[Westcoastwild]

Hm. I reserve judgement on the buns. I would probably try the frozen drink but the green beer is just a turn off. I think they should have gone with normal beer in weird alien mugs or something.

What were the pineapple things like? Sickening sweet or more real pineapple fruit?

 

[Westcoastwild]

In my older ages (and with nephews who can't eat them), I've become more turned off to bright colors, since they normally imply artificial coloring. If Disney used natural products to get those vibrant colors (like beets, blackberries, etc), I'd find them more appetizing, but for now, they just remind me of how processed those foods probably are...

I'm hoping I'm wrong b/c Avatar, in the movie, is a world of pure naturalness, so I'm hoping they used that emphasis in the food...

It would be a totally cool concept and it would probably improve the taste. Of course it's complicated by supply (they'd have to change menu according to season) but it would have been nice if they tried.

Unfortunately, I'm getting the sense that they did not try. That smoothie does not resemble "real" fruit colors...and then there's the beer...and then, of course the cheesecake. Not to mention the steam buns. It's like they went out of their way to find a perfectly awesome snack that no one needed Americanizing...and then Americanized it. Seriously even my very picky friends like steam buns. It's pretty much the only kind of Asian food they like. The cheeseburger thing was totally unnecessary.

Well, at least the bowls look like a nice change....

 

[Westcoastwild]

colorful? Not sure what it is, but I don't like the look of some of it. Like that cheesecake is just too blue, and those steamed buns look too, well, steamed! Doughy?? And all those little pearly things scattered about - ????

As we always say here on the DIS, to each his own, and I am sure there are lots of folks who are looking forward to the eats in Pandora, but besides the grain bowls (which look very tasty), everything else looks unappetizing to me. Am I alone on this?

By pearly things- do you mean the (what I am assuming) to be the tapioca beads in the smoothy? Or something else? I'm just curious. (Editing to say that I see what you mean- the whitish things on the food- and yeah...I don't get it either. Wonder what they taste like).

Nope, I agree with you. Probably for different reasons- but I'm kind of bummed; nothing looks awesome so far.

 

[brertoad]

We ate there for dinner, we don't really eat steamed buns, so we skipped that. We ordered a couple chicken bowls with rice. The choices of protein were chicken, beef, tofu, or fish. The food was good, I tried the chimichurri sauce, my husband got the black bean. We thought it was pretty good for quick service, seemed relatively healthy. The small bubble balls tasted sweet, they are just like the one you get in bubble tea. Both of us just stirred up everything together and ate it mixed up. I saw people with the colorful desserts, they do look odd - particularly the blue one, but I'm sure they wanted to make it look more alien.

My husband tried the green beer, he said it was good for a light lager.

I'm glad they didn't have typical fried food. Plus they had tofu, I didn't order tofu today but I might try it in the future, and it is nice to see Disney offering it at more places. The protein bowl kind of reminded me of something you could order at a Chipotle or Qdoba. I'd go back again if we were eating QS at AK.
The place itself was nice, and the fountain drinks are refillable without an RFID which is nice.

 

[JZCubed]

colorful? Not sure what it is, but I don't like the look of some of it. Like that cheesecake is just too blue, and those steamed buns look too, well, steamed! Doughy?? And all those little pearly things scattered about - ????

As we always say here on the DIS, to each his own, and I am sure there are lots of folks who are looking forward to the eats in Pandora, but besides the grain bowls (which look very tasty), everything else looks unappetizing to me. Am I alone on this?

A billion Chinese people eat those type of 'buns' (pods) the way Americans eat hot sandwiches on otherwise squishy bread loaded with preservatives.

A peanut butter & jelly sandwich on something like Wonderbread is unappetizing, and yet, Americans eat more than their fair share.

And you can even buy (at Disney) a pre-made PB&J that will spoil in it's wrapper sometime next decade.

Wanna' know what else is unappetizing - people gnawing on turkey legs.

 

[Planogirl]

Peanut butter and jelly on Wonder bread is amazing!

That said, I'm interested in the steamed buns and bowls. Does anyone know what kind of meat is available in the bowls?

 

[Lesverts]

We ate there for dinner, we don't really eat steamed buns, so we skipped that. We ordered a couple chicken bowls with rice. The food was good, I tried the chimichurri sauce, my husband got the black bean. We thought it was pretty good for quick service, seemed relatively healthy. The small bubble balls tasted sweet, they are just like the one you get in bubble tea. Both of us just stirred up everything together and ate it mixed up. I saw people with the colorful desserts, they do look odd - particularly the blue one, but I'm sure they wanted to make it look more alien.

My husband tried the green beer, he said it was good for a light lager. He looked it up and it's made in Australia.

I'm glad they didn't have typical fried food. Plus they had tofu, I didn't order tofu today but I might try it in the future, and it is nice to see Disney offering it at more places. The protein bowl kind of reminded me of something you could order at a Chipotle or Qdoba. I'd go back again if we were eating QS at AK.
The place itself was nice, and the fountain drinks are refillable without an RFID which is nice.

The beers are from a Georgia company. http://terrapinbeer.com/

My eyes lit up when I heard that the specialty beers were brewed by Terrapin out of Georgia. This is the $9.50 “Hawkes’ Grog Ale – 22 oz. Golden Ale Draft with a brilliant green color and flavors of Wheat and Citrus followed by a creamy finish.” I thought it was pretty mediocre – not a lot of flavor with just a bland sweetness up front and some generic corn flavor to back that up. It finishes with an unnatural creaminess and the incredibly high carbonation makes it difficult to drink. This is otherwise just Terrapin’s Golden Ale with green food coloring. Disappointing.

 

[Juliet0778]

I, for one, can't wait to try blue cheesecake and green beer. I'm not fussed about food colorings, though...they're just the latest fad in food demonizing.

 

[disneyfan888]

View attachment 237526
Cream cheese and pineapple roll at snack stand.
View attachment 237527
Beer and non alcoholic frozen drink from same stand.
View attachment 237528
I am not an adventurous eater and I have never had steamed buns before. This is the cheeseburger one and I really enjoyed it. I would get it again when we go back.

View attachment 237529
Build your own bowl. This was my husbands and I tried it. It was very good but the beef looked a bit better. Chicken with vegetable greens and chimmichurri sauce.
View attachment 237530
They are actually grilling the meets here and you can watch through a window.

Thanks! Everything looks good so far. Yum!

 

[trvlgirlmq]

The food does not sound appetizing to us. Too many weird components and flavors and sauces. I'll stick to Flame Tree.

 

[Juliet0778]

The food does not sound appetizing to us. Too many weird components and flavors and sauces. I'll stick to Flame Tree.

I guess weird is relative. It sounds a lot like how my family eats at home, so it's not weird to us.

 

[jsmla]

I guess weird is relative. It sounds a lot like how my family eats at home, so it's not weird to us.

That's how I'm seeing it. I don't do burgers, fries, pizza or nuggets and all those salads get old after a while. Admittedly AK does have decent QS already. They need something like this at DHS!

 

[CraigInPA]

Natural blue colouring for food is technically impossible from a 'food source'. No such thing as a blue food. Cornflowers are one of the non-food sources for natural colouring. Most blue dyes are from minerals so not necessarily food grade.

I disagree. I have made an ale that was naturally colored by blueberry puree (made myself from fresh blueberries) in the second fermentation stage. The color of the beer was a vibrant blue, not purple like blueberries, as the yellow tinge of the light ale combined with the blueberries to form blue.

 

[brertoad]

The beers are from a Georgia company. http://terrapinbeer.com/

Thank you, I'll show that to him. Guess Google isn't right all the time!

 

[NYEmomma]

As a parent of a kid that can't have artificial coloring... no thank you. We've been dye-free for over a year now and I've gotten to the point where brightly colored food looks absolutely disgusting to me.

Granted, I could always be surprised... that Starbucks unicorn monstrosity had no artificial dyes in it...

 

[Harambe]

A billion Chinese people eat those type of 'buns' (pods) the way Americans eat hot sandwiches on otherwise squishy bread loaded with preservatives.

A peanut butter & jelly sandwich on something like Wonderbread is unappetizing, and yet, Americans eat more than their fair share.

And you can even buy (at Disney) a pre-made PB&J that will spoil in it's wrapper sometime next decade.

Wanna' know what else is unappetizing - people gnawing on turkey legs.

Now, now - I said to each his own! PB&J is one of my favorites, but NOT on that puffy white bread. I love good sturdy whole wheat!

But I hear you. I give Disney the nod for putting different foods out there for all of us to try (or to back away from . . . far, far away!).

 

[earfulofmagic]

I guess weird is relative. It sounds a lot like how my family eats at home, so it's not weird to us.

Same.

The boba in the bowls seems a bit odd to me, only because I don't think of them outside of dessert. I'm guessing it's a texture/novelty thing to add to the ~otherworldly~ feel of the bowls rather than being flavored (beyond tapioca, that is), because without them they look to be normal bowls.

The cheeseburger bao doesn't sound like fusion cuisine at its finest, but I'm willing to try it. The curry bao sounds delicious. The menu offerings don't really sound outlandish flavor-wise. The colors are definitely vibrant and noteworthy, but again, I guess some aspect needs to stand out to "make" the theme.

 

[jsmla]

Just realized I have zero idea what the theme (other than blue people) of Avatar is, guess I better watch the movie! Fantasy/sci-fi/action films really don't appeal to me, not even a little bit, but I did love the Harry Potter stuff at Universal and I've never really seen those movies either.

So, I'm guessing it's some sort of eco conservation thing and we are the bad guys?

 

[earfulofmagic]

Just realized I have zero idea what the theme (other than blue people) of Avatar is, guess I better watch the movie! Fantasy/sci-fi/action films really don't appeal to me, not even a little bit, but I did love the Harry Potter stuff at Universal and I've never really seen those movies either.

So, I'm guessing it's some sort of eco conservation thing and we are the bad guys?

From what I recall, the movie's message is about environmental conservation vs. industrial greed and colonization (generally). So, yes. I don't know if the intended guest experience is to feel we're the bad guys; it's probably more like natural world appreciation (in line with the rest of AK).

My take on the food/theme interaction here is that Avatar was praised in part for its vibrant colors and visual effects, all of which contributed to the world-making in the movie. I hear that Disney has been working hard to match those impressions with Pandora at AK, so in that sense it's a great opportunity to make the food colorful as well. Basically, I think guests might feel slighted to be in a completely immersive land and then see tame, average food options, at least in terms of presentation.

 

[wilkeliza]

I had the cheeseburger pods and foance had a chicken bowl. We got 1 of each dessert. The cheeseburger pods were surprisingly good. I love pork buns and was like heck yes when I saw the photos until I read they are cheeseburger. I was like ugh not right at all. That changed upong eating them. I will say my first one was superior to the 2nd (adult meal gets 2 kids gets 1). 1st one the meat was chocked well but the second one had some tougher chunks. Still tasted good. I can see how a lot of "middle America" guests will consider them too bready even though steam buns have the same bread to filling ratio.