Tacos at SeaWorld
SeaWorld's Lakeside Grill Cantina has been open a good long while now, but for some reason — it's always been closed on the days that I'm visiting the park. My best guess is, that it's only open on "peak" days or times, when there's enough people in the park to justify staffing it.A couple of weeks ago, we were walking around the SevenSeas Food Festival and shockingly — Lakeside Grill Cantina was open! Even though we really didn't need more food, I thought I'd pop in and finally taste a little of what the new (to me) menu was offering.
Sadly, before I even got to post my review — SeaWorld has announced that the Lakeside Grill Cantina is reverting back to it's old name — which is "just" Lakeside Grill (no Cantina) — dumping the Mexican(ish) menu (and everything we ate here) — and it will now be offering a "Classic American" menu. We'll see how long this new concept last — but I don't have any greater hope of finding this location open than I did before (unless of course they're getting ready to close some other dining location for refurbishment).
So… all of what I'm about to write about the Street Tacos is basically for the archives. We do try and keep a history of what the various locations have offered in the past and Lakeside Grill has a sorted history.
Back when we first started the Mealtrip.com site, this location was called the "Spice Mill" and one of our favorite items was the Homemade Low Fat Vegetable Chili in a Bread Bowl. It's interesting to note that the main items on the menu were a Bacon Cheeseburger, a Chicken Sandwich with a Pineapple Slice, and a Beer Battered Fish Sandwich.
Way back when... this location used to be called the Spice Mill, and they offered this great Homemade Vegetable Chili in a Bread Bowl... and it was really good! Oh those were the days. (2016)
The location then changed it's name to "Lakeside Grill" and served Greek and Mediterranean food … which sadly, was not as good as Greek and Mediterranean food that you could get outside the park at a restaurant that would specialize in those cuisines (not by a long shot actually).
After that, SeaWorld added "Cantina" to the Lakeside Grill sign — dumped the Mediterranean menu and went Mex-Tex (which is a little more Mexican than Texan)… and served items like the Street Tacos I'll review in a minute.
Now, they've knocked the "Cantina" off the sign and reverted back to the name "Lakeside Grill". What's most interesting to me though — is that the menu has basically reverted all the way back to what the Spice Mill was offering — a Bacon Cheeseburger, a Chicken Sandwich with Pineapple, and a Beer Battered Fish Sandwich.
Rather than build a whole new listing — I'll probably just reactivate the Mediterranean Lakeside Grill listing and make note about the menu change on that page — before retiring this "Cantina" page. I just wanted to give our poor Street Tacos a chance to exist on Google... so here we go!
3 Street Tacos
Three soft-shell Carne Asada tacos served with Spanish Rice and Refried Beans
price at time of review : $18.99 (+$0.95 SeaWorld Surcharge)
item score : 6/10
The price would suggest that these are going to be as good as what you might pick up at a Chipotle or Applebee's or something — and they're just not. At the same time, these weren't "bad" — they just weren't memorable and didn't have much of a "wow" factor, when taking the nearly $20 cost into account.
The taco-boat that the Street Tacos are served in does a nice job of holding the tacos open while you visit the toppings bar.
At Lakeside Grill Cantina, you basically walk down a "food" line, picking up what you want, placing it on your tray, and paying for it all at the end of the line. In the case of the tacos (and other entrée items) – a cast member from behind the food line will ask you what you want to order. The tacos are available with Carne Asada (seasoned beef), Pollo Asado (seasoned chicken), or a plant-based chorizo.
Not all the signage at the Lakeside Grill has been updated with the "Cantina" moniker. The "here's the line" and etched glass still reads "Lakeside Grill" only. Prior to becoming a "Cantina", the Lakeside Grill served Greek themed food items.
Once I selected Carne Asada as my protein, a culinary cast member put three soft taco shells in the plate and then added a carefully measured amount of the beef in each taco along with a small amount of shredded cheese. That's basically it — everything else topping-wise is do-it-yourself over at the toppings bar.
The 3 Street Taco entrée is served with a small cup of Spanish Rice (which is probably just rice cooked in a little chicken broth and very little additional seasoning).
This is the Spanish Rice side item from Lakeside Grill Cantina. It is available for purchase as a side – but it's also served with most of the entrée plates.
You also get a small cup of Refried Beans topped with Cotija Cheese — which all just smells really bad. (I'm not a big fan of Refried Beans in the first place). These did taste better than they smelled however, and were an admirable side item.
Here's a photo of the Refried Beans side item from the Lakeside Grill Cantina. The beans are topped with Cotija Cheese. It's available as a side item and it's served with several of the main entrées.
Both of these "Sides" were included with the 3 Street Taco entrée – but are also available to purchase as Side Items — for $6.99 each. That's a pretty hefty mark-up for a cup of rice.
The real magic happens over at the toppings bar, after you pay for your food. There's seven or eight "topping" items in a small chiller unit that you can add to your tacos. A "normal / mild" Red Salsa and a Green Salsa Verde were available, along with a diced tomato and onion mix, shredded lettuce, sliced jalapeños, more shredded cheese and some sour cream.
Here's some diced tomatoes and cheese on top of a Carne Asada Street Taco from SeaWorld's Lakeside Grill Cantina.
The toppings chiller area was actually pretty clean and everything was chilled properly – all of the toppings that we sampled were very good.
The Carne Asada meat itself was very well seasoned – to the point where you couldn't really taste "beef" but you could tell you were eating some kind of meat. I would say the salinity was quite high, but honestly not out of line with most street carnival style food — where you're outside, sweating, and could probably use a little extra salt anyway. There really was no fat or grizzle to speak of in the Carne Asada and the portion size balanced out with any topping you might want to add, as long as you don't go overboard with the toppings.
Chocolate Cake
Three layer chocolate cake with chocolate icing
price at time of review : $8.99 (+$0.45 SeaWorld Surcharge)
item score : 6/10
As you're walking down the food line, you'll see all of the desserts that are available that day – and most of the dessert items at SeaWorld are pretty good — so we decided to try out this slice of Three Layer Chocolate Cake.
SeaWorld's Chocoalte Cake isn't bad actually – it's not a "super" dark, rich, fudge kind of chocolate – but there is a little chocolate flavor in there.
It's basically three layers of chocolate cake held together with chocolate icing. The cake has a medium-large crumb (similar to a cornbread, but not as dry as a cornbread), and a very, very light chocolate flavor. Most of the chocolate flavor is in the icing — but I was hoping for something that was a little more like fudge or dark chocolate. This was more like a milk-chocolate icing that was just as much "sugar" as it was chocolate, with very little of that saturated fat from real cocoa butter — which would have made this a really good cake.
Environment
It wasn't really busy when we visited and we manage got one of the few booth seats that are available. It was passably clean everywhere – although the interior itself seems to be getting a little run-down… nicks in the wall, a tear in the vinyl seat covering, that sort of thing. Not really sure much of that is going to change, as this location doesn't seem to be open every day.There is a cool see-though fish tank though... that's pretty neat!
There's a very large, see-through fish tank in the Lakeside Grill Cantina.
Conclusion and Value
Like most SeaWorld counter service food, this was expensive for what it was… and that mandatory 5% surcharge they add on to everything is annoying. I will say — the three taco entree is easier to share between three people than something like a burger… and you can stuff each taco with as much stuff from the toppings bar as you want. So if you were trying to get a little food into six people — a couple of street taco trays might be a savings over trying to get six items at another restaurant.Would I come here again for some Mex-Tex? Probably not. Now that it's reverted back to just "Lakeside Grill no Cantina", it's a little pointless to ponder.
I still think the Pulled Pork, Bacon Grilled Cheese Sandwich over at the Sesame Street Food Trucks is one of the best things to eat a SeaWorld. Dockside Pizza Company can also be pretty good, if you hit the timing right. Still though — I'd visit Lakeside Grill Cantina before going back to Waterway Grill or Panini Shore Cafe — so it's probably right in the middle of our listings.
We'll have to check out the new-old menu at the new-old "Lakeside Grill not Cantina" once it's been operating with that menu for a while — and if we go on a day when it's actually open.
