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Forget the restaurants; eat at the bars of Disney World
As a couple without kids, we make an effort to avoid the most crowded, boisterous, family-oriented restaurants. You wouldn’t catch us at, say, ‘Ohana. But you might find us at the Tambu Lounge eating pulled pork nachos and drinking Mai Tais.
On a recent trip this is how we stumbled into two of our favorite meals: at the Territory Lounge and at Tutto Gusto in Epcot’s Italy pavilion.
We were a little burned out on Signature Dining and thought we deserved better than mediocre hamburgers, so we headed to the bars.
Some lobby bars offer the full menu at the nearby restaurant, but others don’t. The bartender at the Territory Lounge told us they had to stop offering the full menu because people were crowding the bar instead of the restaurant. I checked all the menus ahead of time on the My Disney Experience app, which includes detailed menus for bars and well as restaurants, but it doesn’t indicate if the full menu is available.I admit, this is a lot of talk of bars, but on the bright side, this is Disney, where no one looks at you cross-eyed if you order a Diet Coke.
Here are a few bars with menus we can vouch for, and where we enjoyed the atmosphere:
Resort bars
Territory Lounge at the Wilderness Lodge: The Territory Lounge is a warm, inviting annex to the Artist Point Restaurant. It doesn’t offer a full menu, but it does have a few terrific appetizers that can easily make a meal. We enjoyed the cheddar and beer fondue with sourdough bread, soft pretzel pieces, apples and figs, and the flatbread with figs, carmelized onions and goat cheese. Both were delicious, and this was more than enough for a meal for two. There’s a lot of coming-and-going here, with people waiting for their tables, but it’s still a cozy place to spend an evening. If you’re not staying at the Wilderness Lodge, you can take a boat ride from either the Magic Kingdom or the Contemporary.
The Wave Bar at the Contemporary: You can sit at the bar and watch sports or repair to the dimly lit side rooms with cozy banquettes if you want something a little more private. The Wave Bar offers the restaurant’s full menu. We ate dinner one night at the restaurant, where the food is very good. For bar food, it would be great. When we ate at the bar as part of a Monorail pub crawl, we ordered soft pretzels with a spicy-sweet cream cheese dip, which were a perfect start to the evening. Also worth trying: the lump crab-Florida rock shrimp cakes.
Top of the World Lounge at Bay Lake Tower: Any DVC member staying on points anywhere in Disney World can go to the top of Bay Lake Tower between 6 p.m. and midnight. (You need to check in at the front desk.) It’s a great place to watch the fireworks, and it is still relatively undiscovered — especially early in the week. And it’s not much of a schlep from the Magic Kingdom; it’s just a 7-minute walk. It has a limited menu, but those soft pretzels with dip are available here, as well as a respectable cheese plate.
Tambu Lounge at the Polynesian: This is a boisterous bar, and a great place to hang out. Once the dinner crowd clears out, there’s plenty of comfy furniture to settle in and watch a game or just sit and talk. This is one of the rare Disney restaurants that has a couple of specialty drinks you can’t find anywhere else, including the famous lapu lapu, served in a hollowed-out pineapple. You might think this is going to be punch with a rum bottle waved near it, but it’s not — it’s pretty darn strong. Our appetizer was a pulled-pork nacho dish, which was a bit dry. We overheard other patrons raving about the beef satay. The Polynesian also is a great spot to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks. After our nacho dinner, we went out to the beach to watch the fireworks over the castle in the distance. It was the perfect place to watch; if you arrive a little early, you can grab a swing or even a hammock.
This list is a little limited geographically; I’d encourage you to check out the bar where you’re staying to see what they offer.
Theme park bars
Tutto Gusto at the Italy Pavilion, Epcot: The wine bar and the restaurant next door, Tutto Italia, opened about a year ago. I would go back here again and again again. It has a secluded feel, especially if you can snag a cozy settee for two in the Fireplace Room. Have a generous plate of Italian cheeses or cured meats along with a flight of Italian wines and if you still have any room you can try a sampling of small desserts. You also can order from the restaurant’s full menu. Warning: You could easily spend as much as you would at a Signature Restaurant on meats, cheeses and wine, but it would be well worth it.
La Cava del Tequila at the Mexico Pavilion, Epcot: More famous than its younger Italian cousin, La Cava is much more about tequila than food. But you can get chips with salsa, guacamole and/or queso, or shrimp cocktail. So think of this as more of an appetizer stop on your munch-around-the-world. Or, you could consider your avocado margarita a salad course.
’50s Prime Time Cafe, Hollywood Studios: Maybe the best thing about this bar is that you can get all the comfort food from the Prime Time Cafe with none of the theatrics. Maybe being asked if you washed your hands or ordered to clean your plate is cute the first time, but I, for one, don’t need to go through that more than once. On the other hand: Pot roast … meatloaf … fried chicken … you get the idea. The seating here is primarily right at the bar, and don’t be surprised to find a kid bellied up to the bar for dinner. Oh: Feel free to ask for your drink in a to-go cup.
Yak and Yeti at Animal Kingdom: On a hot day in the Animal Kingdom, this restaurant bar tucked away in the wilds of Asia is a great respite, if you can find a seat. The full menu is available at the bar, including my favorite tempura fried green beans. The Yak and Yeti bar has one thing the Animal Kingdom’s other full-service bar, the Dawa Bar, doesn’t have: air conditioning.
