EPCOT is full of AMAZING food like decadent ice cream sandwiches and delicious fish and chips.

While we love visiting EPCOT’s (mostly year-round) festival booths to eat around the world, sometimes we need a more substantial meal! The quick service locations are great if you don’t want to have a long, leisurely meal, but the table service restaurants are SO worth a couple hours of your time! One of our favorites is Le Cellier Steakhouse in good ol’ Canada, and we recently stopped in to see if it still met our expectations!

Le Cellier is the signature dining location in the Canada pavilion, which means it’s a bit pricey! Be prepared to drop some cash on a meal here. It opened with EPCOT in 1982, but back then, it was more of a cafeteria style restaurant. Now, it’s an upscale steakhouse that is super popular, with reservations usually going quick! We’ve had great meals here before, but let’s see if Le Cellier still lives up to the hype!

Atmosphere

Le Cellier is located through the gardens of the Canada pavilion (where you can often see some rabbits!). The exit for Canada Far and Wide in Circle-Vision 360 also comes out right where the restaurant is located.

The inside feels like you’re walking through a cellar, which makes sense, since Le Cellier means “the cellar” in French!

The dining area is a small room that’s very cozy and kind of dark (if we had a list of “restaurants that are SUPER hard ot get good pictures in,” this would top the charts!).

The stone arches in the dining room really gives you that “I’m in a fancy basement somewhere in Canada” feeling!

The intimate setting is perfect to escape the park crowds or great for a romantic date night!

Eats

The menu for Le Cellier can be found hanging up outside so you can figure out what you want before going in.

But once inside, there’s a QR code you can scan to look at the menu on your phone.

There are several appetizers to choose from to kick off your meal, like Tuna Tartare for $19 and the famous Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup for $13.

Canada is known for their poutine (AKA french fries drowned in gravy and cheese curds. AKA perfection!), so of course there’s some on the menu! You can get their Signature Poutine, which resembles the traditional version of poutine but also has TRUFFLE, for $14. (For a hot minute, this was an exclusive Passholder poutine before making it to the full menu!). There’s also the Le Cellier Beef Bourguignon Poutine for $15, which has Gruyere cheese and garlic aioli (oh yeah — and more truffle!).

The main event here is steak, so you can choose from a Ribeye Steak for $57, Filet Mignon for $59, and New York Strip Steak for $52. There’s also Sustainable Fish for $45 and Steamed Asian Impossible Dumplings for $34 on the menu for those who want to forgo the meat!

Le Cellier offers “enhancements” for your meal, AKA extra fancy additional sides, like Maple Whiskey-glazed Brussels Sprouts for $10 and Loaded Boursin Mashed Potatoes for $10.

If you have kids dining with you, they can get their own appetizers! They have a choice between the Cheddar Soup for $3 or the House Salad for $3. For entrees, kids can chow down on things like the Grilled Strip Steak with Gravy for $15 or the Seared Salmon for $18.

Each kids entree comes with two sides. They can choose between Carrots, Mushroom Risotto, or even an Ice Cream Sundae (oh, to be a kid again!). Kids can also get the Specialty Character Drink just for them, which is Minute Maid Light Lemonade in a souvenir Character Cup with a glowing Character Clip-on Light for $8. (If you’re an adult dying to have a glowy lemonade though, your server will likely happily oblige!)

There are several Canada-themed dessert options, like the Maple Creme Brûlée for $13 or the Maple Leaf Cheesecake for $12.

Of course, a great steakhouse has to have a wine list, and we were given a paper menu to view Le Cellier’s selection. The list also includes the restaurant’s specialty craft cocktails like the Ottawa Apple for $13.

Alright, let’s get down to business (to defeat…THE HUNS! Sorry, happens every time!). We started with two of the newer drinks on the menu: the Le Cellier Bloody Caesar for $15 and the Victorian Raspberry for $15.

The Bloody Caesar featured Canadian Vodka, Clamato Juice, Bitterman’s Hellfire Bitters, and a blend of seasonings. Caesars are incredibly popular in many part of Canada. This twist on a Bloody Mary uses Clamato (tomato juice with clam juice added) instead of just tomato juice. We were a bit skeptical about the Clamato juice, but it wasn’t overwhelmingly fishy! It adds a bit of saltiness and a savory flavor to the tomato.

If you don’t like spicy drinks, we’d advise you to avoid this one, because it packed a punch! If you’d like to try this but prefer less spice, be sure to let your server know!

Next, we tried the Victorian Raspberry, which had Canadian Iceberg Vodka with Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice and Raspberry Puree. This tasted just like a SweeTart! It was pretty sweet, but not in an artificial way. We got a strong raspberry flavor and the lime cuts through the sweetness. 

We could definitely taste the vodka, too! Overall, this drink was really good, and a great choice if you love fresh berry flavors!

Le Cellier also has one of our favorite things you can get at a restaurant: FREE BREAD! We know, we know, the price is probably factored into the other items, but just let us have this one! Why? Cause their bread is REALLY GOOD.

The basket included 3 different kinds of bread that all represent things in Canada, how cool! The pretzel bread represents the second largest Oktoberfest outside Munich, which is held in Ontario.

The multigrain is due to the 3 Canadian provinces that grow 50% of the grain in all of North America (wow!).

And the sourdough represents the sourdough festival held in the Yukon in the spring to celebrate winter being over!

The bread basket is served with maple sea salt butter, which is a great compliment to all three loaves!

For appetizers, we got the Artisan Cheese and Charcuterie Plate for $21. Have you ever known us to turn down a charcuterie board??

It also came with a piece of paper explaining everything on the plate, which was VERY helpful!

First of all, we have to talk about the BEEF FAT CANDLE. That’s right, it’s an entire candle made of slow rendered beef fat flavored with garlic and rosemary.

Seriously. Le Cellier wants you to eat a candle. The candle is 100% edible and tastes SO GOOD spread on the bread and crackers! SOUNDS weird but — you guys — SO tasty. It’s creamy, salty and savory. The flame warmed the fat so it spread nicely.

This candle was such a fun and really unique part of the appetizer!

Click here to see more about the beef fat candle!

Moving on to the meats, we loved the duck ham, which was super smokey, but in a GOOD way.

The mortadella had a really nice crunch from the pistachios.

And the short rib pastrami was complimented really well by the mustard seeds on top!

As for the cheeses, the Canadian Triple Cream Goat Brie was our favorite. It was super creamy and buttery, and went great with the sweet and salty popcorn on top!

Here’s a better look at the brie!

The Murcia al Vino, or “drunken goat” in English, was full of red wine flavor!

And the Point Reyes Blue Cheese was pretty pungent, but not the strongest blue cheese we’ve tried. The honey balanced out the flavor well!

If you love meat and cheese boards, this is a great one! It may even be better than the one at BaseLine Tap House… but it is more expensive at over twice the price!

Moving on to the main course, we ordered the Ribeye Steak which came with Lemon-scented Fingerling Potatoes with Caramelized Onions and Roasted Shallot-Whiskey Butter for $57.

We asked for our steak to be cooked medium rare, and Le Cellier did a great job! There was a nice char on the outside of the steak and the shallot butter on top was amazingggg. The steak was juicy and flavorful, and not overwhelmingly chewy, which can happen sometimes with ribeyes.

The lemon potatoes were delicious! The brightness of the lemon was a great contrast to the rich meat and they were tender as could be.

We also ordered the Five Cheese Mac & Cheese Enhancement for $11, which included asiago, cheddar, goat, fontina, and parmesan cheeses. 

The flavors were awesome in this mac! We could really taste that good quality cheeses were used and it was super duper creamy.

However, we do think the mac & cheese could use a little bit of a smokey flavor to balance it out! If you’re not a fan of the tang of goat cheese, heads up that the flavor does show up pretty prominently.

For dessert, we got the Chocolate Caramel Bar for $13 which was Dark Chocolate Mousse, Caramel Cookie Pieces, Milk Chocolate Shell and Chocolate Shortbread Cookie.

This was INCREDIBLE! The caramel with the rich chocolate was a perfect combination and it had a great blend of creamy and crunchy textures.

However, some of the shortbread cookies did lose their crunch due to the chocolate mousse. This was the least Canada-y dessert compared to the other desserts that are much more in your face “hey, we’re Canada, eh!”

If you love rich, chocolatey desserts, this is for you!

Nosh or Not

Head Down to the Cellar if:

• You are a total steak lover. This is probably your best bet for quality steak in EPCOT.
• You love fine dining and make meals a main event. This spot feels more upscale than many other sit-down meals in EPCOT.
• You’re celebrating something special. This spot is dark and romantic — perfect for a date night.

Search for a Different Spot if:

• You’re on a budget, this place is not cheap!
• You’re vegetarian. There are, of course, options here for vegans and vegetarians, but the name of the game is red meat.
• You want more Disney in your meal while you’re at the Most Magical Place on Earth. This is definitely one of the less in-your-face DISNEY places to eat.

Overview

If you’re a meat lover and want one of the best steaks you can get in Disney World, this place is a must try! It’s reliable for a great meal and how can you not think that beef candle is awesome?! Go JUST for the beef candle if you must! Think of the stories: “I ate a candle when I went on vacation to Disney World.” Epic.

However, if you’re trying to be really efficient with your day in EPCOT, are on a budget, or don’t want a heavy meal to weigh you down before you go on a ride like Test Track, maybe find one of the other great options around the World Showcase!

We loved our experience here and the cozy, cool setting is a great escape from the crowds and heat of EPCOT. Le Cellier does a great job of changing up their menu periodically to keep everything fresh and new, so they keep us coming back to try new inventive things! We know, Le Cellier is an expensive meal. But it’s a great place to treat yourself, celebrate a big moment in your life, or splurge for a nice date night!

Click here to see which EPCOT restaurant just increased their prices!

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What’s your favorite item at Le Cellier? Let us know in the comments!

The post REVIEW: We Ate a Candle in EPCOT. On Purpose. We’ll Explain. first appeared on the disney food blog.