Nine Most Underrated Restaurants at Walt Disney World

The average Walt Disney World vacation lasts for five days, give or take a day. It’s up for debate.

Still, when you take a normal Disney vacation, you’ll eat at least a dozen meals and possibly 15+.

So, you want some new options, ones that don’t receive as much as attention from people like me.

We tend to talk about the biggest, the best, and the hottest seats in town. I’ll do something a bit different today, though.

Here are some of the most underrated restaurants at Walt Disney World.

Boatwright’s Dining Hall

Underrated versus overrated is always a fine line. It’s a subjective conversation based on one person’s perspective.

So, what I’ve tried to do instead is identify a group of nine restaurants that I haven’t recommended in at least two years.

These are the places that have fallen a bit beneath the radar in the Disney community as well as in my writing.

I’ll start with a place that is near and dear to my heart. It’s Boatwright’s Dining Hall at Disney’s Port Orleans – Riverside.

My wife and I favor Disney’s Port Orleans – French Quarter over all other Moderate and Value Tier resorts.

As such, we often ride the friendship boat to its neighboring hotel, Riverside, whose main building is home to Boatwright’s.

Here, you’ll find classic Louisiana cooking, the kind you’d find on the bayou…and yes! There is buttery cornbread!

What you really want to try are the Cajun dishes like Boatwright’s Jambalaya or the Taste of the Bayou platter.

Also, this is one place where you definitely should order dessert. 

Frontera Cocina

In 1978, a future celebrity chef hosted an excellent PBS series entitled Cooking Mexican.

At the time, he was far and away the most famous member of his family. And he was only 25 when he got his big break.

Later, his older brother unearthed a method of hacking the engagement industry by talking smack about the Dallas Cowboys and LeBron James.

The older brother is a calculated cynic named Skip Bayless, while the younger brother has won seven James Beard awards.

His name is Rick Bayless, and his Disney Springs restaurant is named Frontera Cocina.

This name plays on the name of Bayless’ iconic Chicago eatery, Frontera Grill, and his former brand, Frontera Foods.

Bayless sold Frontera Foods for $108.9 million in 2016. He’s pretty good, ya’ll. He’s also interesting.

And you can sample his cuisine at this Disney Springs restaurant, which makes it a no-brainer, especially if you love Mexican food.

Paddlefish

Here’s one of my favorite restaurants at Disney due to its history. You’ll find Paddlefish in the waters of Disney Springs.

This “restaurant” is an actual boat named the Empress Lilly, and it was formerly a popular eatery known as Fulton’s Crab House.

In 2017, Disney rebranded it as Paddlefish, a restaurant serving many seafood delicacies.

And yes! Despite the name change, you’ll still find several crab dishes on the menu.

When you dine here, you’re embracing a nifty bit of Disney history while enjoying a terrific meal.

The Polite Pig

I don’t need to tell Central Floridians how spectacular this place is.

The Ravenous Pig has delighted people in the area since 2007, and it has become one of several establishments from the same ownership group.

So, you can imagine what a big deal it was when Disney Springs announced it would add a similar BBQ place nearly a decade ago.

The Polite Pig proved promptly popular. And nothing has changed since then.

I’m not saying that it’s absolutely, positively the best BBQ in Orlando…but it’s definitely in that conversation.

Ravello

Here’s one of the true hidden gems of Disney dining…and for good reason.

You wouldn’t even know about this place unless you’d visited the Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World.

Yes, that’s the actual name of the hotel, as Four Seasons wants its guests to know they’ll be at Disney.

Right now, Disney hosts plenty of character meals. Still, I can say with confidence that you’ll discover the most obscure one here.

The Good Morning Breakfast with Goofy & His Pals differentiates real Disney fans from everybody else.

If you’ve eaten this meal, you’re one of the very, very, VERY few. But that’s not all to enjoy about Ravello.

This fine dining experience rivals anything you’ll find at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, save for Victoria & Albert’s.

Sebastian’s Bistro

There are two types of people in the world: those who love The Little Mermaid and those who are soulless automatons.

Presuming you’re not in the latter group – and if you were, you wouldn’t get hungry – you should want to eat at Sebastian’s Bistro.

Actually, I’ll level with you that despite the name, the tie-ins to The Little Mermaid are minimal. There are paintings and some other stuff.

Basically, you’re dining here for the seafood, but it’s dynamic…and fairly priced.

Since the restaurant resides at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, it has Moderate Tier pricing.

The all-you-care-to-enjoy buffet costs only $39 per adult and $21 per child. That’s $10 less than Cape May Café for a similar meal!

Spice Road Table

I am devout in the belief that if Spice Road Table were at Disney Springs, people would rave about it all the time.

The ONLY reason why this place slips through the cracks a bit is because it’s at the Morocco pavilion at the World Showcase.

 

While I think the Morocco pavilion is impressive, it’s one of the least trafficked parts of the World Showcase.

That’s a relative statement, but it’s accurate. So, people typically hop into Morocco, shop a bit, wonder why there’s no air-conditioning, and leave quickly.

This decision often causes them to miss the splendid, potent cuisine at Spice Road Table.

Here’s a place that does Mediterranean cuisine right. You need to try the Hummus Fries here! Trust me on this.

Splitsville

I’m not much of a bowler. I’ve got a Simpsons Arcade 1-Up that has Simpsons Bowling on it, but I doubt that counts.

So, I am NOT the target audience for Splitsville, a combination bowling alley and restaurant.

However, I love a roomful of giant HDTVs, and I’m a sucker for any bowling alley brave enough to serve sushi.

That sounds like the food gamble of a lifetime, but I swear to you that Splitsville serves better food than a fast-casual chain like Applebee’s.

Look, everything you can do at Walt Disney World is fun, but Splitsville is especially touristy…and I mean that in the best possible way.

T-REX

Speaking of touristy, this place most assuredly isn’t for everybody.

I met one of my former writers on my movie site here a few years ago. We’d never spoken in person and looked forward to catching up.

I think he heard four words I said that entire night. T-REX IS LOUD!!! I’m using all caps to accentuate the point.

This place tells the story of the asteroid hitting the planet and killing the dinosaurs. They recreate that atrocity every 20 minutes.

So, you shouldn’t go here on a first date or anything like it. You won’t be making any small talk.

Conversely, if you’re traveling with a child, this will be one of the greatest moments of their entire life.

The surprising part is that despite the fact that the same people own T-REX and Rainforest Café, T-REX’s menu is grrrrrrreat.

I order Mozzarella Sticks, the Mes-O-Bones (BBQ ribs), and a Cosmic Key Lime Pie. And I leave this place smiling.

Note that I never said you’d eat healthy here. You will have fun, though. Oh, and don’t miss the Build-A-Bear (well, dino) store in the building!

Do you agree with our most underrated restaurants at Walt Disney World? Let us know in the comments.

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Feature Photo: TREX