17 Best Restaurants in Walt Disney World Orlando, Florida

This massive restaurant offers a Beauty and the Beast theme; French flair; a prix-fixe menu for lunch and dinner; and a long list of wines, beers, and ciders. Seating is in one of three theme rooms—the Grand Ballroom, whose ceiling sports cherubs with the faces of Imagineers' children; the tattered West Wing, with a slashed painting that changes from prince to beast during faux storms; and the Castle Gallery. It's entirely likely that the Beast will stroll through the dining room between the soup and the main course. Decor is directly from the movie, and most people adore the creepy West Wing or dining in the ballroom where Beast and Belle first danced. Food is prepared from scratch on-site. The menu choices naturally include French onion soup, choice of filet mignon, haricots verts, chicken, trout amandine, or pan roasted zucchini. The signature kids' soft drink comes in a light-up castle cup, and desserts, while sweet, are made without refined sugar. Be sure to accept a dollop of "the grey stuff—it's delicious."  This is one of the hottest restaurants in Walt Disney World, so make sure to book well in advance.

Boma takes Western-style ingredients and prepares them with an African twist. You walk through an African marketplace–style dining room to help yourself at counters piled high with flavor from an upscale buffet like no other. The dozen or so serving stations have entrées such as roasted pork, Durban-style chicken, spice-crusted beef, and fish served with tamarind and other robust sauces; intriguing salads; and some of the best hummus this side of the Atlantic. Don't pass up the soups and salads. The zebra dome dessert is chocolate mousse covered with white chocolate and striped with dark chocolate. For a more relaxed breakfast experience, book a table for before 9:30 am; Boma gets crowded quickly. 

The view of the surrounding Disney parks from this 15th-floor restaurant is as stunning as the food, especially after dark, when you can watch the nightly Magic Kingdom fireworks from an outdoor viewing area. The space has stylish mid-century modern furnishings and chandeliers, and the exhibition kitchen is so well equipped that it has a cast-iron flat grill designed specifically for cooking fish. California Grill offers a three-course prix fixe menu, with dishes incorporating locally sourced foods where possible. Sushi and California stone fruit make up much of the appetizer list; entrées such as the Wagyu strip loin and fire-roasted venison are unlike anything you'll find elsewhere at Disney. A large tea selection can add depth to your dessert choice, whether it's a California cheese plate or one of the various tortes. Consider adding the wine pairing for a special night out.   If reservations aren't available, try the Grill's Lounge. The first-come-first-served space offers the same menu and views. 

A mere staircase away from EPCOT's busy World Showcase, Monsieur Paul is a subdued, sophisticated (and not very kid-friendly) French restaurant owned by chef Jerome Bocuse and named for his world-famous father, the late Culinary Institute of America's Chef of the Century, Paul Bocuse. Make a reservation here if you are looking for an expensive, polished, and delightful diversion from the theme park's bustle. The seasonal prix-fixe Gastronomic Meal of the French has six courses, including a cheese plate and dessert. Hors d'oeuvres of Maine lobster salad with passion-fruit vinaigrette, escargot cassolette, and saffron mussel soup precede a fish course featuring potato-scaled snapper or seared scallops served with maple pumpkin velouté, followed by an extravagant meat course (lamb, beef tenderloin, or chicken).

Hidden in the back of the Japan Pavilion, the impressive and intimate Takumi-Tei is split into five theme rooms inspired by water, wood, earth, stone, and washi paper. Though hours are limited, the dining experiences are of the highest caliber, with two omakase, multicourse options—an omnivorous meal ($250 per person) or a plant-based meal ($150 per person). Seasonal items include Japanese A5 Wagyu steak, lobster tempura, sashimi, vegetable tempura, and soba noodles. Children must be over the age of eight to participate, and there is no kids' menu.

This good-value restaurant offers all-buffet dining three meals a day, and a Donald's safari-theme character crew complements the African-esque decor and menu. In addition to standard kids fare, the menu has healthful dishes like curry chicken, marinated salmon, strip loin rubbed with berbere (an African spice mix), and saffron-infused root vegetables. Kids will be happy to see corn dog nuggets and mashed potatoes on the buffet, but this is a great chance to add something unusual to their palet. This restaurant has a large vegetarian selection.

A well-polished service team anticipates your every need, providing a truly sophisticated dining experience, one in which children under 10 aren't on the guest list. There's nothing quick about sitting down for a 7- to 10-course dinner in the main dining room, a 10-course dinner in the intimate Queen Victoria's Room, or the over-the-top Chef's Table dinner in the restaurant's kitchen. Ingredients are sourced daily from local and international purveyors and may include Australian Kobe-style beef, white truffles, Alaskan sablefish, or Galilee Osetra caviar from northern Israel. This is Orlando's only restaurant with a AAA 5-Diamond award and the only U.S. theme park–owned restaurant with a Michelin star; it's also one of the few Disney restaurants with a dress code, so pack accordingly!  The meal will easily run three hours or more, and the Chef's Table can cost more than $500 per person.

This restaurant has character buffets at all three meals, with an array of Disney princesses, including Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Snow White, Aurora, Mary Poppins, and even an occasional cameo appearance by Cinderella. The breakfast menu is American, but lunch and dinner feature an ever-changing assortment of Norwegian specialties. Appetizers usually include herring, goat-milk cheese, lefse bread, and gravlax (cured salmon served with mustard sauce), or fiskepudding (a seafood mousse with herb dressing). For a main course, you might try traditional ground pork and beef kjottkake (dumplings), fillet of salmon, or seared pork tenderloin with apricot glaze. Children will be happy choosing among mac 'n' cheese, corn dog nuggets, or Norwegian meatballs. Aquavit, wine, and specialty drinks are offered. All meals are prix-fixe.

Oktoberfest runs 365 days a year at this restaurant, where cheerful crowds and an oompah band set the stage for a buffet of German specialties. The menu and level of frivolity are the same at lunch and dinner. Mountains of sauerbraten, bratwurst, chicken or pork schnitzel, sausages, spaetzle, apple strudel, Bavarian cheesecake, and Black Forest cake await at the all-you-can-eat buffet, overlooking a three-level dining room and entertainment stage. Patrons pound pitchers of all kinds of beer and wine on the long communal tables—even when the yodelers, singers, and dancers aren't egging them on. Prices change seasonally.  The massive buffets and raucous music make this a surprisingly fun place for kids.

With the feel of a New England seafood house—the type your grandma might enjoy—this bustling spot in the Beach Club Resort features popular buffet meals. For breakfast, Minnie and other cast classics visit tables while families help themselves to American classics from waffles to sausage links from the buffet. In the evening, seafood is the star of the show. Instead of characters, diners dote on a turf platter of slow-roasted strip loin or a seafood boil with mussels, clams, shrimp, and a catch of the day.

The fact that the Disney monorail zooms overhead right through the Contemporary Resort, and that Mickey, Minnie, or Goofy hangs around for breakfast and dinner, would be enough to make it popular, but the food here is surprisingly good. Chef Mickey's is shiny and bright, offering a breakfast and brunch that includes eggs and frittatas, a ham and beef brisket carving station, and, naturally, Mickey waffles. The family-style dinner doesn't disappoint either, with shrimp and grits, house-made macaroni and cheese, and a Mickey Mouse Dome for dessert. A large selection of specialty cocktails is available for the grown-ups, morning and evening.

Family-style meals are served here as the restaurant revolves, giving you an ever-changing backstage view of the Living with the Land boat ride. Offering quantity over quality, the restaurant serves all-you-can-eat meals with visits from Chip ’n’ Dale, Pluto, and occasionally Mickey. Typical choices include grilled beef, barbecue chicken, and seasonal veggies, plus kiddie favorites like mac and cheese. Beer and wine are available as well. Those who prefer a plant-based diet will appreciate a feast crafted just for them.  Except for the princess meals in Norway, this is the only EPCOT restaurant that has Disney character meet and greets during meals.

Cinderella and other Disney princesses appear at this eatery in the castle's old mead hall, offering prix-fixe Fairyland dining as only Disney can supply. The Fairytale Breakfast offers options such as beef tenderloin and eggs and caramel apple–stuffed French toast; the Fairytale Lunch or Dinner includes entrées like spiced-crusted pork tenderloin or Parisian gnocchi. When you arrive at the Cinderella Castle, a photographer snaps a shot of your group in the lobby.  Extremely advanced reservations are required.

A lovely Victorian setting is the perfect place for the old-fashioned and lovable Winnie the Pooh and friends to greet your kids via A Buffet with Character, offered here three meals a day. Upscale goodies are served for adults while a separate children's spread features foods more appealing to them. A pre-9 am breakfast reservation is available. Request a window table for the spot to watch the Magic Kingdom parades and fireworks.

Disney Channel stars come to life at this restaurant (a great choice for toddlers) through its Disney Junior Play n' Dine breakfasts. Vampirina, along with friends of Sofia the First and Doc McStuffins, are among the cheerful characters marching around the room, singing and dancing to the delight of energetic fans. During lunch and dinner Minnie takes over the dining room, offering seasonal events where she and her friends don various costumes. The buffet features entrees such as carved turkey breast or beef tenderloin, or macaroni and cheese with shrimp.

At what is, literally, an out-of-this-world restaurant, you board a special elevator to travel 220 miles above the planet to a dining room with panoramas of Earth through viewports that use real-time, above-the-clouds imagery. The prix-fixe menu ($55 at lunch and $79 for dinner, $29 for kids under 9) includes a liftoff (read: appetizer) and a star (main) course. Liftoff selections include starry calamari, blue moon cauliflower, and space greens; the star course menu features dishes like galactic miso salmon with glazed rainbow carrots and slow-rotation short rib with cheddar grits. 

This family-style restaurant deep inside the Wilderness Lodge offers character dining with Snow White, Grumpy, Dopey, and even the Evil Queen. The prix-fixe menu includes a shared appetizer, a single entrée per person, and then a shared dessert. There's a good northwestern U.S. wine list to choose from as well. The lobby of the hotel is its own entertainment, with giant totem poles and a huge stone fireplace that features rocks from every strata of the Grand Canyon.