Fine Dining at Walt Disney World

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Wolfgang Puck's Cafe in Downtown Disney, Orlando

Photo Credit: Wolfgang Puck's Cafe

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The Chef's Table dining experience at Victoria & Albert's, Orlando

Photo Credit: Victoria & Albert's

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The grill area at Todd English's bluezoo at Walt Disney World

Photo Credit: bluezoo

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The bar area at Todd English' bluezoo Restaurant

Photo Credit: bluezoo

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Chilled Maine lobster tail at Todd English's bluezoo, Orlando

Photo Credit: bluezoo

Believe it or not, Walt Disney World has several fine-dining options, including a jackets-required, Zagat National Top 10 restaurant.

Dining at Disney is more than what it's cracked up to be. If you're looking for an upscale experience, you will find it at the Magic Kingdom.


Todd English’s bluezoo

Todd English’s bluezoo is housed in The Swan & Dolphin at Walt Disney World. Before his Orlando debut, English built up his reputation in Charlestown, Mass.. There, his restaurant, Olives, consistently won international accolades and top Zagat dining guide ratings. English has also opened several Figs restaurants (more casual spots), which earned a Hot Concept award from Nation’s Restaurant News. Now, visitors can try English’s food in Orlando, too.

Dining at Disney is more than what it's cracked up to be. If you're looking for an upscale experience, you will find it at the Magic Kingdom.

From the décor to the food, bluezoo celebrates seafood. Chandeliers made of glass balls imitate bubbles in the water, and flowing designs on the walls and shades of blue light in the bar evoke the sea.

One of bluezoo’s signature dishes is the dancing fish, a spit-roasted whole fish (whatever is in season). It comes to the table on the spit, where it’s presented and then filleted by your server.

Families are equally represented at the tables throughout the restaurant—as we enter, I hear one mother letting her kids know they will be eating fish here because that’s what’s special. Of course, there is a kid-friendly section of the menu, which includes grilled chicken and pizza. (Pizza by masters, if you ask me. Lucky kids.) I go easy on my daughter and let her get one of the pizzas. We’re both happy.

Wolfgang Puck’s Cafe

Wolfgang Puck, entrepreneur extraordinaire and a great culinary innovator, entered the Orlando scene with Wolfgang Puck’s Café in Downtown Disney. While a more casual place than others listed here, it still offers sophisticated, signature dishes you could once only find at Puck’s place in Los Angeles.

There are two spaces under one roof here: the lively café space where you enter and the upstairs dining room, a quieter, slightly more formal space. Families are welcome at both.

For something called a “café,” the menu is extensive, offering favorites from Puck’s pizzas to pastas to hearty entrees. The dining room menu offers a California four-course tasting menu, an Austrian three-course tasting menu (a nod to Puck’s roots) and, of course, the kids’ menu (with filet mignon).

Victoria and Albert’s

One place that gets consistently high marks and invites guests 10 years old and up (still family friendly, but geared toward older kids) is Victoria and Albert’s at Disney’s Grand Floridian. Although it’s not a celebrity chef outpost, the restaurant has certainly earned a spot among Orlando’s finest dining (AAA awarded it a prestigious Five Diamond award, and it was named the #1 restaurant in Orlando and is listed in Zagat's America's Top Restaurants guide).

In addition to the age requirement, there is a strict, formal dress code; no one is stumbling into this restaurant after one-too-many rides on Space Mountain. Victoria and Albert’s offers a prix fixe meal ($125 per person for sevenx courses before tax, tip and wine) or the Chef’s Table ($200 before tax, tip and wine).

Plan ahead for a trip to Victoria and Albert’s – or plan to be flexible. People make reservations 180 days in advance for the Chef’s Table. If your schedule is open, you might take advantage of a cancellation opening for the Chef’s Table, so it’s worth a call.