FULL REVIEW: Wailulu Bar & Grill Lunch in the New Island Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
The new Island Tower is now open at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort in Disney World! We’ve been to the grand opening celebration, the tower has been added to the map, and we’ve taken a tour of many of the rooms.
Island Tower
We’ve also checked out the new restaurant at the tower. We just ate breakfast, and now it’s time for lunch! Let’s go.
Wailulu Bar & Grill Lunch
Inside the Restaurant
We’ve already given you a full tour of the restaurant (which you can see right here), but here’s a quick refresher!
The restaurant really is gorgeous inside.
There’s a bunch of seating inside…
…and outside.
Here’s a look at the bar area!
For lunch, you must join the walk-up list at the front podium or in the My Disney Experience app. The walk-up list was full on the app, but we got in line for the podium and were called to be seated right away.
We were taken to our table in the outside area of the restaurant!
Once seated, you’ll be given water and a plate with wet naps for you to use before your meal.
Menu
Let’s take a look at the menu! Here’s the front…
…and the back!
Let’s take a closer look at everything. For starters, you can get things like the Musubi, Garlic Shrimp, or the Crispy Chicken Wings.
Photo: Disney
For mains, get things like the Short Rib Loco Moco, Teriyaki Chicken Sliders, or a Poke Bowl.
Photo: Disney
Desserts include the Vanilla Creme Brûlée, Dole Whip Sundae, and Chocolate Cake.
Photo: Disney
For the kids, they can choose between a couple of appetizers and some create-your-own entrees.
Photo: Disney
Here’s a look at the Kids’ Sides!
Photo: Disney
There are two non-alcoholic specialty drinks…
Photo: Disney
…as well as specialty cocktails and a zero-proof cocktail!
Photo: Disney
Here’s a look at the beer selection…
Photo: Disney
…and the wine selection!
Photo: Disney
Finally, here’s a look at the hot beverages.
Photo: Disney
Okay, let’s try some food and drinks!
Food & Drink
We started with some drinks! We got the Pandan Gin Gin Mule for $15.50, which is Pandan-infused Fords Gin, lime juice, and ginger beer.
This was a little sweet for a mule, but still tasty! You can definitely taste the lime, gin, and ginger beer all separately.
What makes this drink special is the gin infused with the pandan leaf, which is a tropical leaf used in many Southeast Asian cuisines. It’s also giving the drink that bright green color!
We also got the Hibiscus Iced Tea for $5.79, which is one of the non-alcoholic specialty beverages. It’s hibiscus flower-infused tea with lime and agave nectar.
This is sure to be one of the signature drinks to get here! It’s so pretty to look at.
We loved the flavors in this, too. It’s light and refreshing with a little bit of sweetness. The flower is also edible — it’s a really fun non-alcoholic drink option!
For appetizers, we got the Musubi, which is glazed spam, crispy rice pearls, furikake, and sriracha-honey for $12.
We know the idea of spam might freak some people out, but don’t be nervous — this was delicious! It reminded us a lot of a classic sushi roll.
There’s a slight sweetness in the spam from the sriracha honey and the crispy rice pearls add a really nice crunch to the entire dish.
The furikake has a good texture as well and the sauce is tasty! We would recommend this appetizer to everyone, especially if you want something to share.
Next, we got the Crispy Chicken Wings for $15, which are adobo-marinated with a soy glaze and a tomato-fresno pepper relish.
We were expecting these wings to be more sticky and crispy, but we didn’t find that here. The sauce was very liquidy and we wanted it to be a bit thicker.
This was really just like having wings with soy sauce instead of a glaze. They weren’t bad, they just weren’t what we expected!
For mains, we got the Wayfinder Burger. It’s two pressed patties, American cheese, onion jam, volcano sauce, and a sweet bun served with either mac salad or sweet potato fries for $23.
This burger was awesome! We could definitely tell that it was made on a grill.
There’s a nice kick from the volcano sauce and a pleasant sweetness from the onion jam.
The burger itself is delicious and juicy and the onions gave it a nice crunch! All the elements combined together to make it one of our favorite things we’ve tried here so far!
We also got both mac salad and sweet potato fries on the side so we could try them!
The mac salad is a big part of Hawaiian cuisine and consists of macaroni, sweet potato, carrots, onions, and mayo.
It’s very creamy and tasty! The salad is served cold so it’s also a refreshing side option. We also loved that the noodles weren’t overcooked at all!
The sweet potato fries are delicious as well! They’re just the right amount of sweet and salty and they edges are nice and crisp.
The other main we got was the Ahi Tuna Poke Bowl. It’s sushi-style rice, pickled cucumber, vegetables, spicy poke sauce, and macadamia nuts with ahi tuna for $26.
The rice tasted very fresh and flavorful! The spicy poke sauce was like a spicy mayonnaise, which was tasty, but we would’ve liked if they had different options for sauces so you could customize this a bit.
We also wish there had been a little bit more sauce on this to go with everything. The tuna tasted a bit fishy, and some more sauce would’ve helped combat that flavor!
But, everything else in the bowl tasted super fresh.
For dessert, we got the Dole Whip Sundae. It’s hibiscus meringue, macerated pineapple, and berries for $8.
This was light and refreshing! The fruit and sauce really enhanced the flavors in the sundae.
This was an excellent version of a Dole Whip sundae and it was one of our favorite things we tried! We’ll get this every time we come back — it was that good.
Overall, we thought Wailulu Bar & Grill’s lunch was a unique and delicious dining option and we would definitely come back! Also note that all of the lunch and dinner options are also available to go.
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