Where to make one ADR in Epcot?

[Bellabully]

After reading previous posts, just wanted to mention Garden Grill. Food is not unique and it is a character meal, but it rotates and my DD thinks that is pretty cool. I would also recommend San Angel Inn, food is decent, drinks are delicious and atmosphere is really cool. I was going to skip it next trip because of F&W, but DD begged to go. Hopefully your phone has flashlight, it is hard to read menu in the dim lights.

 

[samsteele]

On your short list, I'd opt for either Marrakesh or Tokyo Dining. Marrakesh's theming is much better. I usually go for lunch rather than dinner because similar menu but less $. However, you may miss out on the belly dancing and music if you opt for an early lunch. I have always enjoyed the food (I get the lamb meshoui, sometimes the chicken kebabs). Tokyo Dining's decor is a bit boring, but the window view is incredible. Ask for a window table and be prepared to wait for a few mins until one opens up. It isn't just sushi and they have incredible tempura shrimp, chicken & scallops. I understand the emphasis on wanting to do something unique to you at Epcot. Good luck!

 

[Anal Annie]

We're not fans of Biergarten (food is unappealing to us) or Marrakesh (the entertainment at Marrakesh was really good but the food was pretty meh - although we love the little Tangierene Cafe in Morocco). We prefer La Hacienda de San Angel over San Angel Inn for Mexican food. And if you go later in the evening you can see Illuminations from inside the restaurant. We have not tried Spice Road yet as we have an 18 almost 19 year old DS and since it's "small plates" he would bankrupt us to try to get him full. DH and I are going alone in Sept. for a quickie F&W trip so I'm thinking that would be a good time for the 2 of us to try it. OP has already ruled out some of our other favs (Via Napoli - although it's NOT JUST PIZZA & Teppan Edo). We enjoyed Les Chefs but not sure if it's what I would call overly themed...

(We are trying Garden Grill and Rose & Crown for the first time on our next trip so cannot speak to either of those....)

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

You're gonna get a mixed bag of offers, as EPCOT is so diverse.

Having done F&W, I wouldn't recommend making an ADR. We had an ADR last year and were so full by the end of the night we had to cancel. If you think you can pull it off, though...

I'm partial to Teppan Edo. Is it just like a Benihana? Yes, but it's a fun restaurant and IMO one of the better table service spots at EPCOT. Tokyo Dining is in the same space, it's just more of a restaurant atmosphere and less entertaining.

We liked Biergarten, but we also have a lot of German restaurants by us. We enjoy it, but it's not something we'd do every year. Definitely a cool spot, though.

I love Rose & Crown. I actually prefer it over Raglan Road. The food is outstanding and the view is great if you're seated outside.

Not a fan of Coral Reef. It's gone downhill over the years and the only draw is the tank. Frankly, unless you're seated right next to it, it's not the best view.

Never dined at San Angel. I've heard less-than-stellar reviews about the food, but there's no doubting it's an awesome atmosphere and would be a cool experience.

I live in NY, so I've never dined at Via Napoli. Although, fellow NY Disney lovers that we know have dined there and rave about the pizza. I don't know - with all the food EPCOT has to offer, I'm not gonna go to Disney and eat something I can run down the corner at home and get. People seem to love it, though, and it's a solid value OOP (something like $30 bucks for a huge pie that serves 3-5.)

**Again, keep in mind that restaurant reviews are subjective. You can't REALLY go wrong with any of the restaurants. I'd only stay away from a place if it's across the board poor reviews or the cleanliness is called into question.

 

[Anal Annie]

You're gonna get a mixed bag of offers, as EPCOT is so diverse.

Having done F&W, I wouldn't recommend making an ADR. We had an ADR last year and were so full by the end of the night we had to cancel. If you think you can pull it off, though...

I live in NY, so I've never dined at Via Napoli. Although, fellow NY Disney lovers that we know have dined there and rave about the pizza. I don't know - with all the food EPCOT has to offer, I'm not gonna go to Disney and eat something I can run down the corner at home and get. People seem to love it, though, and it's a solid value OOP (something like $30 bucks for a huge pie that serves 3-5.)

**Again, keep in mind that restaurant reviews are subjective. You can't REALLY go wrong with any of the restaurants. I'd only stay away from a place if it's across the board poor reviews or the cleanliness is called into question.

I know New Yorkers LOVE their pizza and will argue it's not really pizza if it's not from New York! We however found the pizza at Via Napoli to actually be very, very similar to the pizza that we had in Sorrento, Italy when we were there a few years ago. So, while it's debatable if it's the BEST pizza ever it is pretty authentic to what we found in Italy....

I agree that that having done F&W before they may find that there's really not "room" for an entire TS meal. That's another reason why I'm thinking our F&W trip will be a good time to try out Spice Road - not TOOOOO much food. I personally could really just eat every meal at F&W because there's SOOOO much new stuff to try....

 

[Linleedo]

Via Napoli is great pizza. But, it's very loud and bustling in there. Teppan Edo was ok. Not great. Just like Benhana.
Coral Reef is not as good as it used to be. We were very annoyed by people not watching their kids who actually pushed on my legs to squeeze in to see the aquarium next to our table repeatedly during our anniversary meal. Not the child's fault. But , we seem to attract unruly kids when we eat! Food quality was average. Service poor. We love just enjoying the Food and Wine Festival and not doing a sit down meal. We have eaten at the Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club Resort. It's very good food( especially if your family loves crab legs). The Yachtsman Steakhouse is excellent at the Yacht Club. But, it's pricey. Chefs de France has decent food. But, we ate here for lunch. There are lot of options. Here is a link to the menus.I hope this link helps you make a choice. There are many options. Best wishes. Enjoy.http://allears.net/dining/menu

 

[rinnythepooh]

Thanks so much for the replies - lots of different opinions, as usual. Since our priority is eating somewhere with a neat atmosphere/experience, there are a few I can eliminate just because we have similar things at home:
Teppan Edo - been to plenty of this type of place
Via Napoli - we live in a city with a very competitive pizza market; it is actually known as the toughest place in the country to open a pizza place and thus a great test market, so we have great pizza everywhere, including places where the kids can watch the cooks make it and toss the dough
Coral Reef - we used to live in Denver and ate at the Aquarium there many times (same set up as Coral Reef - may even be owned by the same company - landry's?)

So as far as a unique atmosphere/experience, I guess that leaves us with Biergarten (although we do have great German places here too), San Angel Inn, and Marrakesh. I will look into Spice Road Table and Tokyo Dining too. Any other places that are highly recommended? Rose and Crown looks ok although not overly interesting, unless we go for the illuminations view? I would go for SAI right away if I wasn't concerned about bad food (our boys really want to go there)....hmmmm

My vote is for Tokyo Dining or Les Chef de France. Food is excellent with a very authentic atmosphere at Tokyo Dining. Love pix three and sitting by the window at Les Chef. You might want to look at lunch instead for TS. The cost is better (pix three at Les Chefs is great value) and you will not be stuffed from the FW booths.

 

[LovesTimone]

Spice Road table might be a great option for you. We have been several times, and for us its seems more of a paced meal. Great food and service, and you could do some of the shareable plates which might work great with F&W.

Cape May might also as a PP's stated be a great option, just head out the back gate, between England and France and its a short walk from there.

 

[COscrapper]

Thanks everyone! Took a look at Spice Road and Tokyo Dining and the menus there really appeal to us, though I guess we would lose the "cool atmosphere" thing of Biergarten/San Angel Inn. All 4 of us love sushi and/or Asian food, although again we have plenty of that at home. I might show my older son the menus of each one and let him decide, since he's the particular one - he's not a big fan of Mexican food, but he's dying to eat at SAI after seeing the pics...

Question: would we be able to walk in and take a peek at the interior of SAI and Biergarten without eating there? Just to see the inside?

 

[jodywgirl]

San Angl inn you can see at the Mexico pavilion and boat ride. Don't know about Biergarten

 

[aprincessatlast]

Since our priority is eating somewhere with a neat atmosphere/experience,
So as far as a unique atmosphere/experience, I guess that leaves us with Biergarten (although we do have great German places here too), San Angel Inn, and Marrakesh. I will look into Spice Road Table and Tokyo Dining too. Any other places that are highly recommended? Rose and Crown looks ok although not overly interesting, unless we go for the illuminations view? I would go for SAI right away if I wasn't concerned about bad food (our boys really want to go there)....hmmmm

The food at Disney is very meh so I would say making your priority based of experience is a wise choice! Biergarten is fun but you do sit with other families and it is at bench like tables. The entertainment is cute. Not a personal favorite but it is of many on here. Mexico is very cool in the atmosphere department but you can see all of it when you go into the pavilion, so not necessary to dine there, but would be a good choice.

We are going after years and I am very excited about dining at Le chefs de France again. There is something about the atmosphere there at dusk, that is so Parisian. Yes I know it is not the real thing but it does take me back to my trips to Paris. Very fun! Really you can't go wrong unless you pick Askerhus...lol ok just joking..sort of.

As far as getting into Biergarten to look around, I am pretty sure that would be a no go due to the entertainment and there is someone at the entrance.

 

[mousefan73]

I also saw the disunplugged. I thought San Angel was good. But their review was really bad. We loved our meal. Can say though picky kids might have an issue ( check online). It was dark. And i did use ny phone to read but the atmosphere and boats are cool. Another idea, but not guaremteed is to try eitjer spice road or royal crowne?? ADR so you have a dinner view for illuninations.

 

[mousefan73]

One more comment . The review on San Angel. That guy has some issue with rice. being crumchy, old. I didnt get it. Mexican rice is not the fluffy steamed rice ala chinese???? Some rice dishes are " crumchy" more dry.

 

[jimmytammy]

I would avoid Marrakesh. The food is so so, and I feel like I am not very welcome there. The belly dancer is a plus but a little weird having a lady dance right at your table as you try to eat.

There are many great restaurants at WS, and you say you want something that is unique, you cant get back home, with great atmosphere and great food. Here are my top choices to fit the criteria...

San Angel Inn screams atmosphere. Its set in a dark outside courtyard, with a river flowing by, and a pyramid in the background. The food here is not your typical tex mex style. At lunch, you can get enchiladas, but thats about as close to tex mex as you will come. This has been a must do for every trip for us.
Biergarten is another great atmosphere place with great food to boot. It is pricey as you say, but if you go very hungry, you will feel you got the best you can get out of it. We tend to eat very lightly the day we know we are going here. Wonderful entertainment too.
Rose N Crown is set up like an English/Irish pub, but dont let that scare you away with little ones. This is more like an authentic english pub, its more like a eating/meeting place than bar. There is a very popular bar in the front part of the place, but is separated nicely from the eating area. The food is very tasty, we lean towards lunch most times. The staff are very friendly and tend to love the kids.

Honorable mentions...Via Napoli for its Piccante Pizza and Nine Dragons for its Honey Sesame Chicken. Neither of these places really screams atmosphere but the food is good

As with any of these, check out the menus, and check lunch and dinner as they may be slightly different

 

[COscrapper]

Just wanted to say thanks again - learned of a lot of Epcot restaurants here that I wouldn't have even checked into otherwise! I did let my son have final say - showed him the menus and lo and behold, he decided he didn't like the menu enough at SAI to go there just for atmosphere - plus, we can see it on the boat ride anyway. However, he LOVES sushi and Asian food, and got really excited about the view of illuminations at Tokyo Dining, so I think we're gonna shoot for that. I think that's a good choice after lunching around F&W too, as the ADR will be late for illuminations and if we are not very hungry, we can just order a few sushi rolls to share.

What I might do is make a lunch ADR at Biergarten for our last day (2nd Epcot day), as that will be a tad cheaper than dinner AND we will have seen F&W by then - if there are lots of F&W things we still want to try at that point, we could cancel Biergarten. At least that way we have the opportunity to see the theming there if we really want to...kinda hard knowing what we will want to do 6 months ahead of time, you know? Gotta build in some flexibility...

 

[Muppetfan3]

I'm having the same issue with my Epcot ADRs - trying to narrow them down. But....I do have to say that I'm a big fan of Marrakesh!! We celebrated our DD's birthday here one year and it was awesome!!! She (and some other kids that were in the restaurant at the time) got up and joined in the belly dancing - it was so much fun! The food was great! Our DD loved it and so did we! I would say if you like that type of food, then you will not be disappointed. The service was great and the entertainment was as well!

 

[need2travel]

Count me in as also recommending San Angel Inn, DH & I had wanted to eat there for years (love the atmosphere) & never did because of all the bad reviews. Last year we decided what the heck, it'll be bad but lets go anyway. We are soooo glad we did, the food was great! in fact that's the 1 restaurant my DH asked to go back to this July.

 

[L&Lfan]

Just wanna say, we NEVER book ADRs on our Food & Wine days.....just TOO FULL and besides, our goal is to try as many of the booths as possible. We usually devote two whole days (lunch and dinner) to the F&W festival. We LOVE it!

 

[Catvondita]

My vote is for either Beirgaten or Tokyo Dining

 

[declansdad]

Rose and Crown is always one of our stops at EPCOT. With a later ADR, you may be able to get a water-side table and watch Illuminations from there.