First impressions of Disney’s Space 220 restaurant
Thinking about trying to get a reservation at Space 220, Epcot’s newest restaurant? Eh, don’t bother. Nothing to see here. Go to Le Cellier. If you’ve already got reservations, drop them.
So I can swoop in and book ALL OF THEM MYSELF. Mwahahaha!
Space 220 is currently the hardest reservation to get in Walt Disney World. I should know: I was up at 5:30 a.m. the first day reservations were available and was shut out. But I was lucky enough to score a table for dinner this week, and as far as I’m concerned, the hype is well-deserved.
This is not so much a restaurant as it is a dining experience. Your experience begins when you board the elevator that will take you 220 miles above Florida. Videos like this are everywhere, but I can’t get enough of this view. Spoiler alert: Don’t watch if you want to be surprised by the trip.
As you arrive at the station, you pass by a hydroponics bay where produce is grown for the restaurant. (Not really, but go with it.)
And then you enter the dining room, with its sweeping view of the earth from 220 miles up, roughly the altitude of the International Space Station. Because the station is, well, stationary, the earth doesn’t rotate below you, but there is plenty of action outside the window. As we dined, we watched night fall across the United States, with each time zone lighting up as darkness fell.
Around the space station, shuttles arrived and departed as people in space suits cavorted outside, one playing with a toy X-Wing fighter from the Star Wars universe, another doing a sort of spaceboarding around the station. They flit quickly in and out of view, so we often found ourselves saying to our friends, “Look! Oh, shoot, it’s gone.”
But you don’t go to a restaurant for the view. You go for the food —and the food here is worth a visit.
Lunch and dinner are both prix fixe menus. At lunch, adults pay $55 for an appetizer and entree. At dinner, the menu is heartier, and so is the price. For $79, adults get a generous three-course meal, with an appetizer, entree and dessert. The kids’ menu is $29 for either meal.
If the prix fixe menu is too much, you can try your luck at getting a seat in the lounge, where you can choose a la carte from the lounge menu of small plates or the prix fixe menu.
I’m not a food critic, so consider this the assessment of someone who just really enjoys eating out. We dined with two friends, so we had the opportunity to sample three of the appetizers, four entrees and three desserts.
Among us we tried three appetizers, four entrees and three desserts. And at the end of dinner, we all could have been inducted into the clean plate club.
The appetizers were uniformly good: Starry Calimari was cooked just right and served with two tasty sauces (sorry, leg fans, this calimari is served without those body parts); and the generous portion of Neptuna Tartare had a nice, bright flavor. The star of the show, though, was the Blue Moon Cauliflower, tempura fried cauliflower chunks served buffalo-style, with a zingy housemade hot sauce and blue cheese dust. We loved the sauce, and the cauliflower was fried to a nice al dente. Our table would have been happy with just two appetizers, but that didn’t mean we left anything on the plates.
For his entree, my committed carnivore husband decided to try the vegan Terra-Bolognese, which is made with corn linguine, tempeh ragu and macadamia nut “ricotta.” He raved about the tastes. I tried it too, and as a cheese superfan, I can say the macadamia nut ricotta is excellent. I had the Slow Rotation Short Rib, which is served with cheddar grits and haricot vert. I enjoyed the flavors, but found the short rib a bit dry. The highlight in terms of presentation was the Bluehouse Salmon, which is presented under a glass dome filled with smoke. The salmon retains a nice smoky flavor.
We capped the meal with three terrific desserts: sticky toffee pudding cake, lemon mousse, and chocolate cheesecake. The chocolate cheesecake is surprisingly fluffy. The best presentation goes to the lemon mousse, which was presented surrounded by thin chocolate and blueberry rings.
With very good food and an unmatched experience, Space 220 is now one of our favorite restaurants. So please let me know if you’re dropping that reservation, so I can jump in and grab it!
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