MickeyBlog Restaurant Review: Yak & Yeti
Every Disney fan has a favorite restaurant at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
After all, this theme park caters to foodies. Several of its eateries serve multicultural cuisine that broadens horizons while pleasing palates.
Photo: Disney
Recently, my party of five had a chance to dine at our preferred spot at Animal Kingdom.
Here’s a review of Yak & Yeti Restaurant, a place that never disappoints.
About Yak & Yeti
Amusingly, the best of the Landry’s, Inc. restaurants at Walt Disney World is also the least known.
This third-party restaurateur also owns and operates two Rainforest Cafes, one of which resides at Animal Kingdom.
Also, Disney Springs fans are intimately familiar with T-REX Restaurant, the place with the Audio-animatronic dinosaurs.
While I quite like T-Rex and (grudgingly) eat at Rainforest Café at times, neither of them compares to Yak & Yeti.
Photo: Facebook/T-Rex
This restaurant located in the Asia-themed land serves in stark contrast to the others. They focus on family-friendly flavors that will satisfy the masses.
Yak & Yeti works as a place where the most knowledgeable Disney fans go to eat one of the best meals during their vacation.
To reach this place, all you need to do is head straight when you enter Animal Kingdom. You’ll walk through Discovery Island to Asia.
On the path, you’ll act as if your destination is Kali River Rapids. However, you’ll stop almost as soon as you cross the Discovery River bridge.
Photo: Disney
Yak & Yeti’s twin restaurants face you on this path. One of them, Yak & Yeti Local Food Cafes (yes, it’s plural for some reason), serves Quick Service meals.
Sometimes, the menus overlap, which will save you money. The Quick Service side always sells food cheaper, albeit with smaller portions.
You’re looking for the Table Service restaurant when you want a full meal, though. Fortunately, it’s the place you’ll notice first. You can’t miss it!
Check-In Process
Here’s where I sell you on membership in the Landry’s Select Club, which you should have joined long ago.
For a one-time cost of $25, you’ll join this loyalty program. Now, you may wonder why you would pay $25 for that.
Well, with your membership card, you’ll receive a $25 account credit. So, as long as you plan to eat here, it’s effectively free anyway.
You’ll pay your $25 now and then eat a meal later that’s “free” at the time. You paid in advance. That’s not the best part, though.
Every year during your birthday month, Landry’s will credit you $25, thereby incentivizing you to dine there again.
Image Credit: Disney/Landry’s
You can pick any Landry’s restaurant, including the many Rainforest Cafes and Bubba Gump Shrimp franchises.
Also, for every $250 you spend, you’ll get another $25 bonus credit.
That part of the deal only helps if you live near Walt Disney World or another Landry’s restaurant, though.
Finally, you receive a hidden benefit. When you enter a Landry’s restaurant like Yak & Yeti and pull out your Landry’s Select card, they’ll treat you like royalty.
The membership program guarantees that you’ll receive priority seating at the restaurant, something even more valuable during the pandemic.
Many eateries remain short-staffed. Those that aren’t still offer fewer tables due to capacity limits in place.
You’ll guarantee that you receive preferential treatment by joining.
I mention this because it’s precisely what happened to us. When we entered Yak & Yeti on a relatively low-traffic park day, the place had a wait.
The exhausted server was quoting 60+ minutes to people. Fortunately, we already had a dining reservation and also whipped out our Landry’s Select card.
She seated us within ten minutes…which did NOT go over well with other guests. You WANT this card, my friends!
Starters
We usually go nuts when we dine here. Have you watched those online videos of bodybuilders on their cheat days?
We’re like that, only we won’t burn the carbs later. It’s an exercise in gluttony instead.
Photo: Facebook/Yak & Yeti
However, we weren’t on the Disney Dining Plan this time, which includes an appetizer and dessert as part of the meal.
So, we didn’t go crazy with our orders as we have in the past. Instead, the five of us shared “only” two appetizers. They were both no-brainers, though.
Photo: Facebook/Yak & Yeti
At Yak & Yeti, you need the Pork Pot Stickers. They’re magic in your mouth. And this batch did not disappoint.
In fact, our table had some playful utensil-fighting over the last few bites.
Photo: Facebook/Yak & Yeti
We also ordered the Pork Egg Rolls, which come with a decadent Chili plum dipping sauce. The sweetness meshes perfectly with the egg rolls.
We usually choose the Ahi Tuna Nachos as well, but we skipped this time. I still highly recommend them, though.
Honestly, the next bad bite I have at Yak & Yeti will be the first.
Entrees
For entrees, our party sampled off each other’s plates a lot. However, our orders were Honey Chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala, BBQ Ribs, and a Kobe Beef Burger.
We actually had two orders of the Tikka Masala, one with chicken and the other a vegetarian version without it. You must order the non-meat one special.
I’m not enough of a cook to understand the difference between Honey and Orange Chicken. All I know is that I saw an empty plate at the end.
Photo: Facebook/Yak & Yeti
Similarly, the Tikka Masala dish here is better than any other you’ll find at Walt Disney World. I say this knowing that several places serve it at Disney Springs.
The Kobe Beef Burger tasted like a generic burger to me, but I’ve had a problem with beef during the pandemic.
As a super-taster, I can somehow tell when the ingredients are lacking. Unfortunately, this wasn’t authentic Wagyu beef from Hyōgo Prefecture, just a knockoff incorrectly using the name.
Don’t get me wrong. As far as burgers go, it was solid. By Yak & Yeti standards, it disappointed, though.
Photo: Facebook/Yak & Yeti
The ribs were all for me, and I’m here to tell you that I made a mess.
I think I went through a carton of napkins even though I licked my fingers after every bite.
Folks, when the Kobe Beef Burger is the “worst” entrée on the table, you’ve had an incredible meal. We weren’t done, though…
Desserts and Final Thoughts
Pro Tip: Always order dessert at Yak & Yeti.
Sadly, the restaurant isn’t serving Pineapple Upside-Down Cake currently. If you ever see that on the menu, order it! And I’m saying that as someone who doesn’t like pineapples as a rule!
Photo: Facebook/Yak & Yeti
Instead, we went with three desserts that we shared. Our choices were Fried Wontons, Chocolate Pudding Cake, and Mango Pie.
The best of the bunch were the wontons, which included a honey-vanilla drizzle that was life-changing.
Photo: Facebook/Yak & Yeti
With the Chocolate Pudding Cake, you also receive a raspberry sauce that may almost cause you to forget about the cake. It was decadent.
The Mango Pie wasn’t quite as memorable, but I will say that the crust was as flaky and light as any that I’ve ever had.
Photo: Facebook/Yak & Yeti
Here’s the most remarkable part: I’ve eaten a better batch of desserts at Yak & Yeti before! These were all at least 8 out of 10, and the wontons were a 10 out of 10!
Even so, I’m telling you that some of the dessert options you’ll find surpass these. Yak & Yeti currently faces the same supply issue as other places.
Photo: @tammy_the_disneymom
Once that’s over, you’ll discover even better dessert flavors!
Folks, I cannot stress this enough. Whenever you visit Animal Kingdom, you owe it to yourself to eat at Yak & Yeti.
Photo: Facebook/Yak & Yeti
The only place at the park that even approaches it is Satu’li Canteen.
