Where to Find The Best Place To Eat at Disney World

Finding a "great place" to eat — is going to mean something a little different to everyone that visits Disney. While the value and service ratings are important — those are two of the most consistent categories throughout the Disney system.

The food is expensive, from a bottle of water all the way up to a filet mignon with lobster — you're going to pay more for those things inside the Disney bubble, than you will for the same things outside of the Disney bubble. The service at the parks and resorts is also (usually) quite good. Because Disney meals cost more, the guests that do tip — tip more and then everyone at the restaurant makes more... which is why Disney tends to retain good hosting, event, and waitstaff.

The two ratings that will probably make the biggest impact on your meal are the culinary and environment categories. A very, very large percentage of the food at Disney is really good food... so finding a dining format and quality level that you're comfortable with when dining out is really important.

The environment is what's going to make dining at Disney special. You probably already know where to get a great burger in your home town — but getting a burger 15 stories up and 3,000 feet away from Cinderella's Castle is a view that's hard to forget... and something you can't get anywhere else in the world, other than right here in Orlando Florida.



Oddly, I haven't always found the "best" food, at what Disney considers their high-end signature dining environments — and conversely, I have found great food items at the most pedestrian looking walk-up windows and counter service locations. About the only thing when considering food and environments that does stay consistent — is the probability of finding culinary effort and skill, broken down by dining formats.

For example, are you more likely to find food that took culinary skill and higher quality ingredients to prepare at a character buffet or a stay-in-your seat family style platter type of location? Is it possible (and probable) that a counter service meal (where you walk up to a counter, fast food style) could be better than prix-fixe table service meal with a waiter? I have found most of these dining format breakdowns to be consistent over many years of Disney dining.

But First — What Is Great Food?

Defining what constitutes "great food" is one of the biggest problems when reading about and planning where to eat when you're in the Disney bubble. I've tried watching a couple of those YouTube v-log videos — but since I'm not a fan of watching other people eat — my research time has been quite short. The problem is, since we don't know much about what or where the "video people" eat on a daily basis, we really have no starting point that can be used for comparisons when thinking about what each of us is hopping to get out of a meal.

Some people are looking for scented foam, rich sauces, rare ingredients and unique flavor combinations... while others are just looking for something craveable. I probably fall into that latter category more than the fist. Oh, I've eaten rare ingredients and dishes that take days to prepare, by some of the finest chefs out there, and that's great fun — but it's those beer battered onion rings or that perfect cinnamon bun that becomes part of your vacation memory. Even the staunchest foodies know that a perfect cheeseburger — is a perfect cheeseburger — period.  When you try something and could say to yourself "I would come back here just to get another one of those" — that's great food, no matter what culinary level it's attached to.

Regardless of what you know about me and my food background, I can provide a list of the dining formats that Disney breaks the restaurants down into, by order of where I think you're more likely to find great food. If you have never been to a Disney dining location before — you'll be able say something like "well, it only gets better from here", or "it only gets worse from here", depending on where you start on the list and what kind of personally you have.

Prices and a Caveat

One little caveat to get out of the way first... Victoria and Albert's at the Grand Floridian is an outlier. There's only one of this type of restaurant in the Disney system. For some, it's a "must do" — for others, it's a "never do". Without knowing anything about you — I'd say skip it. (If you were wondering why I'm never invited to those freebie media events — it's mostly because I write stuff like this.)

Disney food and dining experiences are, across the board — 25-35% more expensive than similar offerings outside the Disney bubble. If you decide to dine at Victoria and Albert's — you will be eating at the most acclaimed restaurant in the Disney system — but when comparing Victoria and Albert's to other fine dining locations outside the Disney system — it's just going to seem really expensive, for what it is.



Another quick thing to keep in mind is that this is a broad, general list — there always seem to be a couple of dining locations that buck the classifications listed here and serve up great food no matter what dining style the location falls into. I will try and list a couple of dining location examples in each of the categories below, but I'm not going to call out the best places or the lowest scoring places.

That's what our scoring system here at Mealtrip is for. I have a very large "Score Detail List" (click here) that includes ALL the dining locations in our database. When you click on the "F" button located near the top of the list — it will re-sort the list and show the "Food" scores, from highest to lowest. Click the "E" button and it will re-sort the list showing the "Environment" scores from highest to lowest. etc.

01 - Signature Dining - A la Carte Menu

There's two different reasons a restaurant in the Disney system would get a "Signature Dining" designation. One reason might be for the food, but it could also be that Disney feels the dining area or the experience is so unique — that it can only be found at this one location.

Most food-based Signature Dining offers an "a la carte" menu, while location and experience based Signature Dining locations offer a "prix fixe" menu. An "A la Carte Menu" is like a normal menu, where you can pick whatever you want to eat from the various sections, and the prices are listed on the menu. A "Prix Fixe Menu" means the experience (and meal) is billed at a fixed price — items are not priced out individually on the menu. You get to select one appetizer, one main entree, and in most cases, one dessert — and no matter what you choose from each of those categories — your meal and experience is all the same price.

My top pick for "most likely category to find a great place to eat at Disney" is — "Signature Dining - A la Carte Menu" locations (where you get to pick and choose what you want from a menu). A couple of restaurants that fall into this category are Tiffins at Animal Kingdom, Citricos at Disney's Grand Floridian, and even Morimoto Asia at Disney Springs.

02 - Special Event Dining

The next category down is "Special Event Dining", but this is a tricky one to find consistently. There were more "Special Event Dining" options to choose from, leading up to around 2020, when the parks shut down for a time. One of the things that didn't really come back when they opened, was "Special Event Dining".

What I'm mostly referring to here are some of the dining events that had been part of Epcot's Food and Wine Festival (for example) — the Tequila Lunch Pairing at La Hacienda de San Angel was always a great one. These Special Dining Events were often chef planned, multi-course meals that were unique and offered at a fixed price that could be set as high as was needed to make the event great. The chefs and event planners were getting to do something special that would only be offered for a limited time (sometimes just one night)... so all the elements of the meal and experience were taken up a notch.

Every now and then there's a "Celebration at the Top - Savor, Sip, and Sparkle" event offered over at the Contemporary Resort's California Grill — that used to be offered two or three times a month — but is now only happening (seemingly) two or three times a year. If you happen to be in town when the event is being offered — it's a fun, small-plates style party that's worth looking into.

Events like the Parisian Breakfast at Chefs de France and Epcot's long running Party for the Senses also come to mind... neither of which are being offered any longer.

Dining series such as Harbor Nights at the Loews Portofino Bay is another good example, but that location is not in the Disney bubble (it's part of the Loews Resort/Universal system).

03 - Table Service - A la Carte Menu System

The next two classifications (number three and number four on this list) are actually a tie. "Table Service - A la Carte Menu System" has the largest group of locations, as most sit-down, waiter/waitress restaurants fall into this category.

It's important to point out, that you're probably not going to find too many "authentic" items at this level — the Polynesian food is going to be a very Americanized version of Asian-Pacific… the Bratwurst are almost definitely USDA approved and not from Germany… and curry dish you find will be taken down a notch heat-wise. But that's not necessarily a bad thing — it's American food that's been "inspired" by some region or theme... it's usually great food, that's geared toward the most guests... who might not have a ton of "foodie" dining experience, but still want to enjoy a fancy meal on their vacation.

Locations like the Rose & Crown at Epcot, Yak and Yeti at Animal Kingdom, Kona Cafe at the Polynesian Resort, Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Raglan Road in Disney Springs are just a couple of examples in this very large category.

04 - Buffet - Non-Character

Many people are surprised to see a buffet mentioned so high in the list (and tied with the number three listing). This is actually somewhat of a specific category as there's only a couple of restaurants that fit the "Buffet - Non-Character" description. Boma over at Animal Kingdom Lodge is really the location I'm thinking about here.

Inexplicably, it's managed to exist as a buffet, with no walk around characters. As fun as those character meals are, the extra "per patron" money that has to be set aside for the actors and support staff — can actually be spent on food. This translates into a really great buffet.



We're going to see the "Character Buffet" category pop up here before long. There's a caveat with all Disney buffets though — how you "do" them is an important aspect of how good they can be. Disney buffets aren't the "low cost fill-em-up" experience that's outside the Disney bubble. If you approach them that way, they probably won't be as good as they could be. More on that below, in the Character Buffet category.

05 - Signature Dining - Prix Fixe Menu System

There's a couple of locations, some with characters, some without — that Disney considers signature locations, that offer  a Prix Fixe menu. As I mentioned above, and with all other things being equal — the non-character location "should" be a little better than the character location — but not by a wide margin within this category.

A Prix Fixe menu means you get to select one appetizer, one main entree, and in most cases, one dessert — and no matter what you choose from each of those categories — your meal and experience is all the same price. So why does this category sit in the middle of the list? The food can actually be quite good — if you choose the right path and if you want all the courses that you have to pay for. The main issue here though seems to be that these locations don't always offer a large number of items to choose from.

Case in point, Cinderella's Royal Table at the Magic Kingdom. There's three desserts (which change a little bit over time), a little chocolate cake, a raspberry meringue, and a cheesecake with fruit. What if you don't like any of those things, or you just don't want dessert? Tough — it's $90 per person and it includes a dessert — take it or leave it.


I get why Disney feels these places have to offer Prix Fixe menus. Some guests would book the California Grill and just buy an appetizer — so they could watch the fireworks from that location. Disney needs each of those tables to be making the same amount to justify the restaurant's existence.

Personally, I'd rather see a "De Rigueur A la Carte" system — where everything is priced based on it's value, but guests must select one appetizer, one entree, and one dessert from the menu — or be charged for the least expensive item, in cases where nothing is chosen. Either that — or just charge a "cover" that gets you in the place with a single complimentary glass of water — what you do after that is normal A la Carte. Sadly — neither of those menu or dining systems exist in the Disney bubble.

06 - Counter Service - Level One

Counter Service dining locations at Disney (specifically) can offer really great food — but I've split them into Level One and Level Two categories. There's actually a pretty easy way to tell which locations are going to offer the best counter service food.

"Standard issue" counter service food includes variations of burgers, hot dogs, and pizza or flatbreads. If the menu consists mostly of "standard issue" fast food items — than it's a Level Two Counter Service location.

If the menu is 60% or more "unique offerings" (i.e. not just burgers and pizza), something that you couldn't find at any other counter service locations — then there's a pretty good chance those items are going to be good, and I would consider that a Level One Counter Service location.

A great example would be Sunshine Seasons Lunch and Dinner menus over at Epcot. They still have the ability to oak grill items — so there's usually a chicken or pork and one fish-based oak grilled entree on the menu. Flame Tree Barbecue over at Animal Kingdom, pretty much only offers BBQ — which is usually better than a standard issue burger at any other counter service location.

Locations like the Riverside Mill Food Court at Disney's Port Orleans Resort are kind of a toss-up — their menu is about 50/50 — but I'd still put them in this Level One category. The burgers and flatbreads that are on the menu, have special New Orleans flourishes — a unique topping, sauce, or cheese that's one notch above "standard issue".

07 - Table Service - Prix Fixe Menu System

I don't think we have any more locations that fit into this category. The Be Our Guest Breakfast period over at the Magic Kingdom used to be this way, but they've since stopped serving breakfast. A place like Crêperie de Paris over in the France Pavilion at Epcot does have a Prix Fixe item on the menu, but since you can also order everything A la Carte, it doesn't really matter much. I'll leave this category here — just in case an old or new location switch to this menu system.

08 - Buffet - Character

I really like Disney buffets and so it pains me to see them this low on the list. There is a tip here, which you can use to make the buffet experience and food better — but in general terms, it's in the right place on the list. There's also a big asterisk that should be attached to this Character Buffet category — and that is — they vary widely in quality, so it's difficult to write about them as a group.

The reason (I think) that Character Buffets are down here in the number eight spot — is because part of the money being collected from the customer — is going to pay for the characters you encounter and the support staff to watch over the characters — and not all to the food and ingredient quality.

If you make the experience of meeting those characters in a comfortable environment (where you have a chair, air conditioning, and aren't waiting in line) the main focus here, and think about finding good food as a happy happenstance — this category could easily move up the ranks a couple spots and tie with number six.

I'm not going to single out the good character buffets versus the not so great ones here, but there is a tip — that can make the buffet food that you get — better. Disney buffets are not the "load your plate up fast before the food runs out" kind of experiences. Unless your reservations are right at the end of the closing time for the restaurant — Disney buffet items are refreshed regularly. I've seen half-full dishes be replaced with full ones before, so rather than waiting until everything is nearly gone — I think the chefs are replacing and refreshing the buffet lines on a timed basis.

How can you use this information to your advantage? Let's say you really want to try the Oak Grilled Salmon, but there's only three fillets left in the big buffet plate, and they all look a little ragged. Don't take one of them. I can pretty much guarantee that they're not about to run out — in fact, if you go back to your chair and wait 5 minutes, there's a pretty good chance that there will be a new, hot, fresh big buffet plate of Oak Grilled Salmon ready to go. It's hard to do, I know… it feels like you're missing out on something with everyone else grabbing plates and walking around — but trust me – the food coming right out of the kitchen is really good. Sides, are sides — they're not affected as much — but with main protein items, wait for the fresh ones.



For me — the key to really enjoying the food and eating better at a Disney buffet — is getting items that are hot and fresh — right as it's coming out of the kitchen. In so many respects, how long it sits on the buffet line is the only difference between a normal, table-service plated meal and a Disney buffet. Most of the food at a Disney buffet is high quality — but any food, that's allowed to sit around on a "keep-warm" buffet surface for more that a couple of minutes — is going to start losing it's luster, flavor quality, and texture.

I know, I know — if everyone did that, there would be huge lines at the buffet. But only a handful of people read anything on Mealtrip. Just don't tell anyone else — and enjoy a better Disney buffet experience.

09 - Lounge - Unique Menu

The cocktail beverages at Disney — are measured very carefully and tend to be a little formulaic when trying to compare beverages between different locations. This is probably because most of the ingredients are from the same maker or vendor — to save on costs, etc.

When it come to food though, the small plates at the Lounges can be a good way to find out what the food is like at the nearby restaurant (Disney lounges are almost always right next to restaurants).

Just like with the Counter Service menu system, there's two different levels here. If there's only four food items on the Lounge menu and three of them are Charcuterie Board, Chicken Wings, and Chips with Dip — then you're at a "Standard Menu" Lounge.

While the food is usually presented tapas style (small plates / single serving) or as a sharable — the small number of unique food items that are on the menu are "the" best items that the location can offer. The lounges are under no pressure to present one steak, one chicken, one fish, one pork, and one vegetarian dish (like most of the Disney restaurants are) — so the smaller, focused menu usually means the items that are on there, can be quite good.

The Unique Menu Lounges have 6 to 8 items that are culinarily themed to the location. Nomad Lounge at Animal Kingdom, Geyser Point Bar & Grill at Disney's Fort Wilderness, and Trader Sam's over at the Polynesian Resort are examples of Unique Menu Lounges. A couple of these locations deserve to be higher on this list, but when thinking about the whole group of lounges as a whole, and their slightly more transient environments, the only place they seemed to fit was down here in the number nine spot.

10 - Festival Kiosks

The food items that are served at Disney festivals (and mostly we're talking about Epcot here) is all top-notch… and a good sized step above any of the festival food served at other parks (i.e. SeaWorld, etc.). So why so low on the list? Consistency.

I've been trying food at those Epcot food booths on and off since the festivals began more than two decades ago… I can't tell you how many times I've gotten an item, with missing components. I'd say, probably one out of every four items I've purchased isn't quite what's described on the board. For example — I'll get a Bison Slider with Onions, Arugula and Blue Cheese, and you pay for it, and then you pick it up and start eating it — and it's great… but then you realize there's no Arugula on it.

It doesn't make the item taste bad, so either you just keep eating — or like me, you'll take it back and say "Isn't there supposed to be Arugula on this?" And the cast member will say something like "oh, we just ran out temporarily — would you like something else instead?" Sometimes there's been sunflower seeds on a Beet Salad rather than Walnuts (which is what's on the menu board), or taco without Cotija cheese, even though it's listed as an ingredient, etc.

Other times — the presentation of the food is totally different… so much so, that it effects the flavor and texture of the item. A Belgium Waffle item (for example) might have a quarter cup of sweet strawberry sauce poured over the top of it with a small blob of whipped cream. Then go back a few days later and get the same Belgium Waffle — and find that it only has a teaspoon of runny red sauce but a quarter cup of whip cream covering the whole waffle.

So is it a big deal? Probably not so much, because as I mentioned — the food is usually still really good — but if it's not consistent — you can't be sure you're really getting what the chef intended. For this reason alone, the Disney Festival Kiosk food is down in the number ten spot.



I've had items at the various Epcot festival kiosks that could — if they would make them the same way, time after time — easily raise this category to number five on the list. I've had a romesco sauce on a barramundi that was more perfect than I've had at any sit-down restaurant — but a week later I got the same dish from the same booth, and the sauce was more like squeezed tomato juice.

11 - Lounge - Standard Menu

The standard Menu Lounges have some pretty good food — even if it is mostly the same bbq-ish chicken wings, charcuterie board, and dips. Most offer the same basic four or five items — so there is very little variance at the different locations. A specific cheese or sauce, etc. might be different to slightly theme the food to the environment.

What really brings this Standard Menu Lounge Food category one spot higher than the next category (Family Style Plate) — is not just the food quality, but the price too. We're generally talking about items that can be in the $10-$20 range, per small plate... that's 40-60% less expensive than our next category.

12 - Family Style or All You Care to Enjoy Plate

Family Style dining can sometimes be the only menu a location offers (like the Liberty Tree Tavern's dinner menu), or there can be several all-you-care-to-enjoy platters to chose from, like over at the Whispering Canyon Cafe. There's even a couple of locations like Boatwright's Dining Hall at Disney's Port Orleans Resort that offer an all-you-care-to-enjoy platter right alongside some a la carte, entree items.

It wasn't so long ago that I used to really enjoy the Family Style platters — but the quality of the food has really dropped off over the last decade. Because there's not as many items on the "all you care to eat" platter as there might be on a buffet line — the items "should" be better.

But honestly, after the last couple I've been too — I can only say that one or two of the items on the platter are going to be great (or even good). Those may or may not be the items you were looking forward to trying — and I think there's a couple of food items on each of the platters — that they're actually trying to hide and keep you from eating.

For example, the last time we went to Whispering Canyon Cafe, we got two different platters — and both of them included beef brisket. The amount of brisket in the platter was only a tablespoon's worth, and it was tucked in under all the other meat, in a dark corner of the platter. What was there, was mostly fatty... and unpleasant to eat.

More and more often, I'm finding "missed food opportunities" that are part of each Family Style or All You Care to Enjoy Plate that I've tried. And that's what this category is four or five spots lower than it should be.

13 - Counter Service - Level Two

The Counter Service - Level Two locations offer mostly hamburgers and pizza — and really aren't tied into their themed surroundings, from a culinary standpoint. There aren't too many of these locations left — but unless you're really in a hurry, I'd suggest fining some other dining location.

Here again, it's not because any food at Disney is "bad" per say… this category boils down to cost -vs- quality more than anything else. For the price of what a Disney, standard issue hamburger costs — you would expect the beef patty to be of a higher quality than it is. When it comes to pizza and flatbreads — you could probably buy a whole pizza outside of the Disney bubble, for what they are charging for a single slice or personal sized flatbread.



In my mind, if you're going to spend the money, you should at least get something better, different, slightly themed, and more unique than something you could get at McDonalds — because — you're just going to end up saying to yourself  "I would have rather ate at McDonalds".

There's so many other great places to try — if you're looking for something in the same price category as these "Counter Service - Level Two" locations —  find a "Level One" Counter Service Location instead. They don't actually charge that much more, but the food is so much better, and there's going to be more items to choose from.

14 - Grab and Go

The Grab and Go options in the Disney bubble can also vary, depending on their location. Sometimes it really is just a couple of coolers with bottled drinks, but other times, there could be basket-based fruits and packaged snacks. At the higher-end of the grab and go scale — there might even be a fresh pastry display or even a microwave and bagel station.

As a last resort or for a quick snack — I guess these places serve a purpose. Let's say you're just checking in to your resort at 11:00pm because of a travel delay, nothing else is open, and you haven't had diner yet — then it makes sense to grab something.

The cost of the Grab and Go's tend to be on the high side for what you're getting (naturally) — so I use the same logic as I did above... if time and location allows — there's many other great places to try, and unless it's really late or really early — chances are you're not too far away from some place that serves better, made-to-order food.

Closing Thoughts

In closing — I really want to reiterate, that there aren't really any "bad" places to eat at Disney — the food here (generally speaking) is still a step above any other theme park... but they do charge a premium for it. If you're going to spend the money (aka in for a penny, in for a pound) — go nuts and eat at some place unique, memorable, and enjoy a good meal with the people in your group.

Me? I don't go to #13's and #14's unless I have to. But I'm still able to find some little culinary greatness at all of the other locations (even at #12's) — no matter the menu system, pricing level, or dining format.

The dining location lists here at Mealtrip offer a great way to see how a restaurant is doing, grouped by location. Just click on "Theme Park Dining" category from the main menu system and click "Epcot" for example. Once the list shows up, click the gray "Experience" button near the top of the list.  The page should re-arrange itself grouped into some of the same menu styles and dining formats listed here — with the highest scoring locations on top, and the lowest at the bottom of the list — within each of those groupings.

The Disney Dining bubble really does offer some of the most immersive environments and best food options when compared to other theme parks and resorts here in Central Florida. That's a pretty broad statement and naturally there's one or two restaurants that buck the trend — but when averaging all of the dining locations that a particular park or resort offers — it's a true statement.