The Best and Worst Restaurant at Every WDW Park

Are you a passionate foodie with strong opinions about Disney dining?

Or are you a casual tourist simply trying to figure out where you should eat on your next Disney vacation?

In either instance, the discussion ends the same.

You must choose the best and worst restaurants at every Walt Disney World theme park. Otherwise, you’ll have regrets.

So, here are one person’s opinions on the best and worst Disney dining options at the most popular theme park on the planet.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Let’s start by establishing the rules.

Most importantly, the place must be a restaurant, not a kiosk or shack.

Also, it must offer a full menu rather than a small handful of entrees.

So, we’ve already ruled out a staggering number of options.

The other thing I’ll mention is that at some parks, choosing the worst restaurant is easier since there are clear-cut “favorites.”

At other parks, deciding the best one is challenging due to the sheer volume of excellent options.

For those of you unfamiliar with Disney dining, it’s the gold standard in the theme park industry.

When you go hungry here, you have no one to blame but yourself.

For example, at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, you can experience a variety of international fine dining options, including flavors from Africa, Asia, and India.

I’m going to lean into that by suggesting Yak & Yeti Restaurant as the park’s finest option.

The Indian/Asian fusion dishes here will expand your palette almost against its will.

This restaurant offers one of the deepest, most robust menus on the Disney campus.

I can honestly say that after eating here many times with large parties, I’ve yet to hear anyone express anything other than complete satisfaction with the dish.

With regard to the worst restaurant at Animal Kingdom, I’ll mention the final rule.

As you probably know, several Disney restaurants are closing soon due to impending expansion.

So, while I might have said Restaurantosaurus six months ago, I’d be taking the easy way out now.

Instead… I’ll take the next easiest way out and say Pizzafari.

I’m not saying this is Disney’s answer to Sbarro, but it sure isn’t Giordano’s!

An average slice of pizza actually serves a purpose at most theme parks, but we can do a lot better at Disney.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Remember how I said some places are harder than others?

Well, my general advice for dining at Hollywood Studios is to take the Skyliner to Disney’s Riviera Resort or EPCOT.

That’s not as much of a joke as you may think.

I do fine at this park, but that’s because I have an extraordinarily bland palette.

For guests who aspire to more, this park comes with challenges.

I’m all about Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant myself, but that’s the minority opinion.

For most guests, I would suggest that the top two options are Roundup Rodeo BBQ and The Hollywood Brown Derby.

I realize that The Hollywood Brown Derby is a bit too expensive for some, but we really didn’t establish price points for this article.

We’re simply determining what’s the best.

Anyone with any familiarity with The Hollywood Brown Derby understands its greatness.

Disney restored this brand from extinction to recapture the glitz and glamour of Hollywood’s golden age.

Most importantly, the chefs here have gotten the Cobb Salad recipe right.

Conversely, I’m not someone who can easily name the worst restaurant here, because I generally like them.

Still, if I had to pick a “worst,” I’d say Backlot Express… but with several caveats.

The first is that when we remove kiosks and small menus from our options, we’re down to half a dozen restaurants anyway.

Remember that I can’t take the easy way out with PizzeRizzo or the remarkable blandness of Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano.

So, that leaves places like ABC Commissary and Backlot Express.

I’ve actually posted positive reviews of both on this site, but I’m confident ABC Commissary would win the popular vote.

So, by the process of elimination, Backlot Express and its relatively generic menu is the worst option at Hollywood Studios.

EPCOT

For me, the worst of EPCOT is one of the easiest conversations we’ll ever have.

Nine Dragons Restaurant is one of those places where you’ll definitely regret eating at Disney World.

Fans often leave here muttering, “How do you mess up Chinese food?” It’s a fair question.

This place has one of the lowest scores of any Disney restaurant listed on TripAdvisor, and if you remember Yelp, some of the reviews there are openly hostile.

The consensus opinion is, “I would recommend spending your money elsewhere.”

Coincidentally, that’s also the point of this article.

As for the best restaurant at EPCOT, that conversation is how you start a knife fight.

Honestly, there’s no wrong answer here unless you troll someone by saying Nine Dragons.

For my family, narrowing the list down to five is challenging enough on its own.

Still, if I had to pick a place that we love that I know also gets excellent reviews, I’d choose Tutto Italia Ristorante at the Italy Pavilion.

You can think of this as the polar opposite of Nine Dragons in that it does Italian cuisine perfectly.

The restaurant is beautiful and elegant, yet somehow understated, and the cuisine is a pasta lover’s dream come true.

In combination with the desserts and wine, this place delivers a consistently high quality dining experience.

I’d almost describe it as comfort food… if comfort food were created by Disney’s finest chefs.

Magic Kingdom

Again, this one’s easy, but I wish it weren’t.

Tony’s Town Square Restaurant is a disservice to its Lady and the Tramp theme.

I obviously quite like Italian food when done well, as demonstrated by my EPCOT recommendation.

However, you’ll notice that I have no problem slamming Mama Melrose’s or Tony’s Town Square.

My logic is the same as why Nine Dragons disappoints.

Some international flavors are borderline impossible to do poorly.

You’re being lazy if you know you’re serving dull Italian cuisine.

Tony’s Town Square has been doing that for as long as I can remember.

Frankly, for my family, the joy ends after we finish the bread service. It’s all downhill from there.

In terms of best restaurant, I realize this park offers plenty of exceptional options.

To wit, my brother would kill me if I didn’t mention Jungle Navigation Co. LTD Skipper Canteen as a possibility.

I know some other people at MickeyBlog are evangelists for Liberty Tree Tavern, and I get it.

Still, I’m going to employ Occam’s Razor here and pick the obvious place, Be Our Guest Restaurant.

When Disney first announced this place, online critics immediately stated that they’d riot if Disney got it wrong.

Nobody’s rioted yet, probably because they’re too busy savoring every bite of the Grey Stuff.

Like The Hollywood Brown Derby, Be Our Guest is a more expensive dining experience, but you definitely get your money’s worth.

Okay, so there are my selection of best and worst restaurants at Disney World parks. Please let us know your favorites as well.

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Feature Photo: Disney