Is Disney Food Actually Good? ($3 vs. $500)

Disney food doesn't have the best reputation. Some people think it's boring and uninspiring, others think it's overpriced, and some just think that the food is mediocre. So I went to Disney World to finally answer the question once and for all, is Disney food actually good? We'll be going to restaurants in space, trying some of the cheapest meals in the parks, and even going to Disney's only Michelin-starred restaurant that costs $500 per person, and we're starting by going back in time to the 1950s. This is 50s Primetime Cafe in Hollywood Studios, and it really feels like it's from the 50s. They got some good old-fashioned southern food, fried chicken, pork chops, cornbread, things that I just happen to like as well. So hopefully it's going to be delicious, but we're really here to see how fun it can get and hopefully, obviously, have some amazing food. So let's go check it out. We are running a little bit behind with our reservation. We have to wait a little bit, but the decor here is so cute. This is one of the cutest restaurants that I've ever been to. I'm standing in like a 1950s-esque kitchen, and it just looks old school. This is really cool. I'm already peeking into like the dining areas, and I can see it really does look like a 1950s cafe. There's all these little nooks and crannies that you can sit in. I don't know if the food will be good, but we're in for a fun time, that's for sure. The concept is that you're in mama's kitchen, so you have to have good table manners and the staff is really interactive. We started with a cornbread skillet for $10.99. We just got our cornbread, and I'm not going to lie, this is a beautiful looking cornbread. When it arrives in a skillet, you already know it's going to be good, but then you cut into it, and it just looks visually great. You slice it in half, put some of that honey butter in so it melts as well. Time to try it. That's actually really good cornbread. It's moist. It's got a little bit of that crust on the outside from the skillet. Really, really delicious. And the honey butter, oh, chef's kiss. How good is it? One of the better cornbreads I've had in my life. I know this is not our Cheap Eats tier, but that was $10. It's a huge piece of cornbread for 10 bucks. Then we got to the main event, Aunt Liz's golden fried chicken for $27 and mom's old-fashioned pot roast for $28. Not the cheapest for sure, but how did they actually taste? I'm a huge fried chicken aficionado, in case you didn't know, so I think I am a little bit qualified to judge fried chicken here. Oh my gosh. Just look at how juicy that looks from the inside. The outside is crispy, which is what you want, but the inside, I mean, it literally was leaking down my mouth. That's how juicy this bird is. This place is fire. Who knows? It might be the best place we try, period. I mean, I know we're going to Michelin star dining in a little bit, but can't beat good fried chicken. And then pot roast. I actually don't know really what pot roast is. This is not what I thought it was going to be, but it looks like really tender pull-apart beef, which it is, so hopefully it lives up in taste. It's so soft and tender, pulls apart easily, has a lot of flavor from that sauce. Yo, this place, 50's Primetime Cafe, hits hard. I mean, this is so good. If we're a single place to debunk all the myths that we are kind of seeing, overpriced, not very good food, not very inspiring, this place is kind of the opposite of all of those things. I think it's pretty reasonably priced for what you get. And then also the food is just delicious. Like it's just so good. I'm kind of mind blown right now because I was not expecting to have food this good in a Disney park. This is a sign of good things to come, I think. So the total bill for two came out to be $80, which for an experience like this, isn't actually that bad. And the food was actually really good. But the next restaurant we visited started with a journey into space at Space 220. We're at another themed dining experience here at Disney. This one is in EFCOT. The entrance was pretty cool. We got a little boarding pass and then we had to go up into space on a rocket and then arrive at the restaurant, which overlooks Earth. And it's beautiful. It's a pretty cool concept. I mean, after going to 50's Primetime Cafe and coming here, you can tell that Disney really commits to their concept. The menu here is $79 for a three-course menu. So definitely not the cheapest, but we'll have a lot of cheap places coming up soon. We started with their Blue Moon Cauliflower. That looked really beautiful. And we're hit with a little bit of fanciness with their Bluefin Tuna Tartare. The first course has arrived and definitely gets bonus points for being fancy. I mean, they got some technique with the sauce plating. They got the little swoosh. They got the little pipe dots with the panipuri. It's looking pretty tasty. A little bit of cauliflower. I think that's probably like one of the first things that we've had at Disney that's had a kick to it. There's actually a bit of spice to that. Texture on the cauliflower, beautiful. So far, I feel like I've been impressed by a lot of places and it's because I probably come in with really low expectations. That is a pretty good cauliflower though, not gonna lie. It's good. This is a tuna tartare inside of a panipuri with those fancy plated sauces. Oh my god. Look at that beautiful inside. That's so fresh. I mean, it really is just like a tuna tartare inside of a panipuri. I don't know if it's like anything super special for tartare, but it's fresh. It's light. What more could you ask for? For the main dishes, we got a couple staples. Mangala Roasted Chicken with Indian Spice and Galactic Miso Salmon with Mushroom Tempura and a Blood Orange Beurre Blanc. We got these two mains in particular because these are two things that are seemingly simple. You see them on a lot of menus, but they're pretty hard to execute. Two things that I think are notorious for being dry, overcooked, those sorts of things. Salmon first. Like I suspected, salmon is a little bit dry. It's not egregious. It's not like anything where I'm like, okay, that's gonna be not good. But where it lacks in terms of cook quality, I think it makes up for in flavor because that miso flavor comes through really nicely. The sauce is beautiful as well. That's actually a pretty good miso salmon. It's not gonna blow your mind or anything, but it's not terrible. And you know, as a main course in an amusement park, it's acceptable. Next up, we have the chicken. The chicken, as soon as you cut into it, as soon as you kind of see it, it looks like it's gonna be a little bit dry. That's what I'm kind of predicting going in here. Almost identical comments as the salmon. A little bit overcooked, nothing egregious, a little bit dry. But again, where it lacks for cook quality, it makes up for it in sauce and flavor because that sauce is really good. I don't even know what the sauce is. And the space theme continued into desserts with the cosmic cheesecake and bode swirl. I will say, the desserts, when they come out, feel way more cosmic than the rest of the meal. I will admit, it's probably hard to make something like salmon feel from outer space. So it gets bonus points for being on theme. First up, the cheesecake. Nothing to write home about. I wish it was more of like the actual cheesecake. It feels more like a chocolate mousse with a hard outer coating. To be fair though, I am a little biased because I don't really like richer, chocolatier desserts. So maybe I'll like the other one more. That one's a lot nicer. Fruity, light, refreshing. This is something that I did expect, by the way. I think because I'm half Asian, I expect desserts to be half the sweetness. I don't like desserts that are super sweet. This is a pretty sweet dessert. But I mean, flavors are good. Not bad. Okay, would I recommend this place just based on the food? Probably not. However, if you are looking for a fun time, would I recommend this place? Yeah, it's super cool. You bring kids here, I think they'll be blown away by the space theme, the fact that you're like going to space. And even adults have a great time. Like other people around here, you can hear when they enter, they're like, whoa, this is so cool. Depends how much you value food versus experience. Right now we're testing whether or not places can be exciting and fun and interesting. And so far, absolutely. They've checked the boxes. You can do a lot worse than So is Disney food really boring and uninspiring? Well, not really. I mean, if there's one thing that Disney's good at, it's committing to a theme. And both restaurants we visited were a really fun experience. But our next test is to see whether Disney food can actually be affordable. And given that Space 220 probably wasn't the best representation of that, I wanted to make sure that the next place we went to was great. So I reached out to a literal Disney travel expert called Small World Vacations to see where an expert would go for some cheapies. By the way, if you want to see some of the most amazing food from around the world, definitely subscribe below. But for now, let's talk to Small World Vacations. Hey, Kerry. How's it going? Hi, Michael. How are you? We are good. We wanted to consult a Disney travel expert for the next place that we're going to. First question, what exactly does Small World Vacations do and what makes you travel experts? So Small World Vacations has been in business for 28 years. We're a group of a team of about 60 independent contractors across the country that have extensive experience visiting every Disney destination, not just once or twice, but constantly. And we're constantly updating our knowledge. Amazing. We're looking for a recommendation on dining in Disney World that is a little bit more on the affordable side that is high quality food that will fill you up. Well, one of the best places for food at Disney World is an Epcot at the World Showcase. It's full of all different countries representing their cuisine, their culture. And I think one of the spots that gets often overlooked is the American Pavilion. And they actually have a spot, a quick service restaurant called the Regal Eagle that is fantastic. We love it. And it's barbecue. And you get to taste barbecue from across the different areas in the United States. So we were off to America, which we technically were already in, but colonial America, I guess. This restaurant has awards, no clue if they're real, is situated next to the worst attraction in Epcot and has a giant barbecue pit outside. We arrived at the Regal Eagle Smokehouse because nothing is more American than eagles and barbecue. And they claim to have some of the best barbecue that's also pretty affordable at the same time. We kept it simple with the Memphis dry rub pork ribs and a side of barbecue fries that cost $16.49 combined. So how did they taste? First up we have the ribs. A little bit messy, but that falls right off the bone. The sauce is nice, a little bit peppery, really tender meat, actually. I'm surprised. I thought it was just going to be like dry as a rock. That's not bad. That's something that I'd eat that again. Next, we have their barbecue fries, which seems like they're just kind of seasoned. They have a little bit of barbecue sauce on them as well. And some coleslaw, almost like their version of animal style fries. That one is good. Coleslaw and fries, I was not expecting to go together well, but that really works. USA does it again. Regal Eagle Smokehouse for 17 bucks. I mean, that's not a bad deal. The meat's pretty good. The fries are pretty good. You can do a lot worse with 17 bucks. So all in all, not a bad deal. Now I put out a survey asking all of you for your favorite cheap eats anywhere in the Disney parks. And the overwhelming favorite was this place also in Epcot called Les Halles Boulangerie. Very French. And the thing to get here apparently is just a half baguette for $2.95. You genuinely won't find anything cheaper than this. Oh, and because we were in France, I had to get a little Remy as well. There are lots and lots of beautiful pastries and different savory items as well. But what you all requested I get is a baguette or a half baguette. And apparently it's great for just walking around the park and munching on it. They actually have people there that are making them fresh. As we learned from Ratatouille, a good baguette is not the taste, not the smell, but the sound. You all know that I'm a sucker for bread. It's not the best bread I've ever had for sure, but that's a lot more of a solid baguette than I thought it was going to be. It's got a really nice chew to it. Like, it's quite moist, but it also has that crust on the outside. So, crunchy, chewy, really good. I mean, honestly, I might just be walking around the park snacking on this because that is a great little just like carbo-load snack. Next up, we headed to Magic Kingdom because a lot of you were raving about this giant warm cinnamon roll from Gaston's Tavern. It costs $6.99, which seems like a lot, but the roll itself is massive. That is really, really sweet. I can see kids loving it though. Like, that will give you one of the hardest sugar crashes of your life. It is a little bit on the drier side. I tend to like my cinnamon rolls medium rare, like undercooked, so it's really nice and moist and juicy. It's going to be a little bit overcooked, but overall, it's not a bad cinnamon roll. By how sweet it is and how big it is, I don't know. From a caloric intake standpoint, this might be the best value thing in any of the parks. Let's just say that definitely is a key thing. And while that was disappointing, I had high hopes about our next spot, Sleepy Hollow in Liberty Square, which is a place I've always just passed through to get to more rides, but they have a sweet and spicy maple chicken for $12.29. Chicken first. It's not bad. I wish that the outside was a bit crispier, but the sweetness is good. A little bit of spice. So far, nothing's been super spicy, so I think that this is a good enough of a kick, I guess. I wish it was more spicy. I don't know if I'd honestly come here again, but you can't expect that much at Disney, right? And then waffle. It's not the best thing we've eaten so far. This one might be a little bit of a miss. It's not bad. I mean, if you come here and get something, it's not too pricey. $13 for what is probably a filling lunch for one person, but there are probably better things in the park, so let's keep exploring. So with two sort of underwhelming cheap spots, I wanted our last cheap meal to be really worth the price, because after this, we're spending $500 on a single meal. There is a website called Disney Food Blog, and I kid you not, it's an entire website dedicated just to Disney food. Every single place in all of the parks is here, and they recommend for cheap eats a place in Hollywood Studios called Woody's Lunchbox. So we headed over to Toy Story Land, which is the cutest area of any of the parks, to try out the food. But the catch here is that we're getting a grilled cheese combo off the kids menu, because for just $6.99, you get half a grilled cheese, tater tots, a cutie, and a drink. I'm not expecting it to be mind-blowing or magical in any way, but where are you gonna find a meal like this for less than $7 anywhere in the U.S., honestly, let alone Disney? The grilled cheese, they know how to do a cheese pull. The cheese pull on this was pretty insane. Here we go. There's not much that you expect from a grilled cheese, but it hits all those notes. Has a nice cheese pull, got a nice cheese flavor, and then the bread is toasted, a little bit crunchy. Tater tots, when I was growing up, these were my go-to in high school. There would always be a huge line for tater tots, and I'd always get two orders. Crunch on the outside, soft on the inside. Easy. And lastly, a cutie, because if you're a kid, I guess you need to get your fruit intake in, and kids at Disney go crazy for these. Like, we've literally seen little kids begging their parents to get cuties, which I think is adorable. I'm the same way, to be fair. In my previous jobs, I was known as the guy who ate all the cuties, so they just always hit and never miss. But seriously, this is the single best deal in any of the Disney parks, and if we're trying to answer the question of, are there affordable dining options in Disney, this is probably the pinnacle of affordable dining options. Before we left Hollywood Studios, we made a quick pit stop at one of the most overpriced but delicious drinks in the park in Star Wars Land. By the way, my favorite characters in the park, the Stormtroopers. They're so badass. Technically, this is not part of the video, and I've gotten this before, but I freaking love the blue milk here in Star Wars Land. I also don't know if there's a difference between blue milk and green milk, but I like blue milk better. So can Disney food actually be cheap? Well, yes. For under $20, sometimes under $10, and even sometimes under $5, you can find some pretty good food. Yeah, of course, there's going to be a few misses, but if you find the right spots, you could be eating pretty good for pretty cheap. But our final destination was anything but affordable. We are here to test if Disney food can truly be world-class, and there's no better place to do it than Victoria and Albert's. It is the only Michelin-starred restaurant at Disney, has had a AAA Five Diamond Award since 2000, and the price of a meal here is over $500. It's in the Grand Floridian, which is Disney's luxury hotel, and the restaurant itself is just oozing with little details that feel opulent. Oh, and there's literally a harpist. That's sick. But when the first few bites arrived, we knew we were off to a good start. Most fine dining tasting menus start with little bites called amuse-bouche to set the tone for the dinner, and here we had quite a few that were intricate, delicate, and delicious. But when you come to a fine dining restaurant, you have certain expectations, and one of those expectations is that you'll be served caviar, which we definitely were. I think the difference between sort of normal restaurants and then tasting menu Michelin-starred refined places like this is subtlety. That balance of flavors is a bit more finely tuned. In other restaurants, it might be a bit simpler, more one-note, but here you get a little bit of smoothness, a little bit of crunch, a little bit of creaminess. That caviar brings a little bit of brininess to it. It's all of these different flavors melded into one without anything feeling too overpowered. This was followed up by a dish that looks beautiful and features one of my favorite ingredients, king crab. Whoa. Back of the throat, you get a little bit of that yuzukosho, a little bit of that sweetness on the tip of your tongue, followed by that nuttiness. I mean, that is just every single flavor profile in one dish. I was not expecting it to be that explosive in flavor. So far, I mean, this is on par, if not better, than a lot of Michelin-starred restaurants that I've tried. I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, but it's up there with the two and three stars. This is really, really impressive to start and just really delicious as well. The next two seafood courses had a pretty interesting contrast, with the first one, this Glacier 51 Toothfish, being more soft and subtle with a delicate poaching, and this Diver Scallop being super rich and punchy and decadent with the Iberico Lardo that's paired with. Quick little shout-out to the drinks here. I was not expecting to get a fun little float that you also get a spoon, because there is a little bit of sorbet in there as well. It's fruity, it's light, it's refreshing. It's a white tablecloth, suit and tie kind of place, but still get a little bit of fun with drinks like this. And at a place like this, of course, you're going to be served some incredible bread. At this point, you already know that I love bread. We already had bread at that bakery in Epcot. Here, we have a focaccia that looks really just bouncy and moist. I mean, I can't resist any longer. I think we're just going to dive into this. It's so chewy, the dough is almost like mochi, and it's oozing oil. That is exactly what I expected fancy bread to taste like. Yeah. We got a baguette earlier in this video, and now we get a Michelin star baguette. They told us that it's really about the butter, though. It's this beautiful French butter that's been in production for like hundreds of years, or something like that. It is fun to see that we have a comparison from the $2.95 half baguette that we got in Epcot to this Michelin-starred bread here. Beautiful crunch. That butter is so good. It's just creamy, spreads nicely, salted perfectly. I don't know if this is bad to say, and I have to be a little bit honest. The actual baguette was pretty comparable, you know, at Epcot and that other place. It might even be just a little bit better. But obviously, with the butter, within the context of this whole meal, obviously, this is superior. But it just shows how good that baguette was in France, in Epcot. Then, as we got to the main courses, we got a series of dishes focused on meat, starting with duck. So this is rohan duck, a crossbreed of pecan and mallard duck, and we citrus cure it. But we also use some of those Vietnamese spices like star anise, a bit of cardamom, and coriander. We set it over some sautéed lion's mane and end of the wood. Serve it with kosho buki rice on the side there. It's slightly seared, glazed with the homemade ponzu, and topped with slightly pickled daikon radish. The second main was focused on lamb. The most tender pull-apart lamb has just been placed in front of us. Really beautiful presentation with all these kind of like little brassicas on top, done four different ways. Literally, you can just pull it apart. It's so soft, looks gorgeous. But how does it taste? It's not super gamey like lamb sometimes can be. I thought it was going to be like super heavy, but actually, it's not too bad. And actually, the last few courses that we've had have been on the richer side with that scallop, the duck. Nothing has made me really feel like I'm heavy, or I'm not able to kind of continue the meal. We still have courses to go, so things can change, but we're off to a great start. I'm already so full. It is a massive amount of food, and I thought they were bringing over dessert because it looked like cookies and cream or something like that. Turns out, it's the most decadent thing we've had so far. A5 Japanese Wagyu beef, ultra fatty. That cookies and cream looking thing was actually cabbage underneath a Comte cheese foam. I mean, it's Wagyu beef. It's fatty, rich, melts in your mouth, incredible. Get a little bit of that charred note with the cabbage. It's nice and soft and tender, but then cheesy, like really cheesy. That is good. I hope we're moving on to desserts because I don't know if my stomach can take much more of this. It is a ton of food already. As we headed into desserts, you might be thinking that this restaurant doesn't really feel like a Disney restaurant. Well, other than the fact that you feel like royalty when you dine here, there are a few touches that are quintessentially Disney. So yes, Victorian Alberts is a Disney restaurant technically. We have to have a little bit of Disney magic in this meal. So we have this Norwegian brown cheese, actually. It looks like a cake pop, but it's actually cheese, and it's dusted with what looks like gold, and it's Mickey, and I'm gonna eat Mickey. It's almost like really caramelly, and the saltiness of it is delicious. I know it's cheese, but it really does taste like a cake pop. And to finish off, we had not only a really light dessert featuring grapefruit, tangerine, and elderflower to finish, but also Queen Victoria's jewel box with little candies inside and the most elaborate tea preparation I've ever seen. They use this to make the liquid go up and fill the tea and steep it, and when they cut the fire, pressure's released, all of it comes into this beautiful cup, and then they just pour it into the teacup. I know that we've already been to some fun and interactive and themed restaurants, but that was probably one of the coolest interactive things that we've had on this entire trip. And if that wasn't enough, you also get a bunch of to-go snacks to enjoy the next morning. Final thoughts? I'm gonna keep this super brief. You see that sign right over there? That is fully, fully deserved. Incredible meal, absolutely worthy of a Michelin star. Honestly, a Michelin star kind of feels a little bit underselling the place. It probably should have two. At least for this third question, Disney can be world-class when it comes to food. We've tried a ton of places, so what's the verdict? Can Disney food actually be good? Yeah, I think it can. Obviously, you're gonna have some hits, you're gonna have some misses, but there are not only fun and interesting experiences, there are some places that are affordable that are also quite delicious. And then, as we just saw behind us, there are places that are truly, truly world-class. You wouldn't even think that it's Disney food at all. So yes, Disney food actually can be good. We've eaten a lot of food over the past few days to try to prove that.