Review: Did We Find the Most Amazing Plate of Nachos in Disney’s Animal Kingdom? Yes. Yes We Did.

Although it might seem unassuming, we’ve always been fond of Yak and Yeti Restaurant at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Yak and Yeti

Yak and Yeti is located in the Asia section of the park in the village of Anandapur. And what really makes it stand out is the theming (something Disney knows a thing or two about). In the past, the food has been consistently pretty good. But it’s been a while since we’ve eaten here, so we had to pop in to see if that’s still the case.

Atmosphere

As previously mentioned, Yak and Yeti’s bright blue and coral stucco building immediately grabs your attention, especially with its beautiful carvings and arched windows.

Outside Yak and Yeti

And yes, this is Disney, so there’s a back story — the building sits at the base of the Himalayan Mountains and is owned by a former merchant named Arjun. He fell on hard times, so he converted his large home into a hotel for tired travelers. At the center of the hotel sits a restaurant (and where you find yourselves as guests!).

Check-in area

This restaurant is practically oozing with amazing artifacts and fun details to check out.

It feels authentic

The shape of the restaurant centers around the open central area and many smaller rooms shoot off of it. This makes it even more appealing to explore all the details. Each room has its own treasures. The layout also makes it feel relatively intimate wherever you’re seated. 

Decor

Seating is available both upstairs and downstairs.

Upstairs

But wherever you sit, don’t forget to look up. The light fixtures here are so incredible that we once dedicated a whole post to them. That’s how crazy cool and detailed this place is!

Always look up

Once you manage to pry yourself away from checking out all the cool stuff scattered around the building, it’s time to get to business. It’s time to EAT!

Eats

There are standard tables and chairs here, with paper napkins and silverware.

Table

A menu is available, but you can also access it via a QR code on your phone.

Scan for menu

First up, drinks! There is a pretty good selection of non-alcoholic beverages.

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And there are PLENTY of alcoholic options to choose from!

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And plenty of beer options for those who are looking for a cool frothy refreshing sip.

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And, of course, wine and sake for an Asian twist on drinks.

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The physical full drink menu is available upon request.

Drinks!

Now on with the food! This is a robust menu, with options for everyone! For appetizers, the menu features Small Plates, as well as Shareable Plates (meant for 2 people).

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You’ll find Soups and Salads are also available. And a wonderful selection of Noodles and Bowls.

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And, of course, house Specialties and items from the Wok.

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Yak & Yeti serves up all sorts of Grilled yumminess and a solid selection of Sides to go with any entree.

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And don’t forget the kiddos! There is plenty for them to choose from on the Kids’ Menu selection

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And again, a physical menu is available upon request.

The Eats!

To drinks, we decided on the Yak Attack for $12 which, aside from having a cool name, is made with Mango Daiquiri, Don Q Cristal, and Rum and Wildberry Flavors. It sounds like a taste of summer, doesn’t it? We’re going to say it’s a very berry-forward flavored drink, although you can still taste the rum.

Yak Attack

It’s not the most exciting frozen drink we’ve ever had, and if you don’t like super sweet drinks, it might be a little too cloying. The rum does balance it out some, but make a note if you don’t like your drinks sugary sweet. 

Yak Attack

We started with the Pork Egg Rolls. Yeah, these are just egg rolls, but they were nice and crunchy, the way good egg rolls should be. Sure there are more exciting appetizers, but sorry not sorry, but we do love a good eggroll. They have that perfect crisp from being freshly fried, but they weren’t greasy or heavy. Those wonton wrappers had the perfect crunch that eggroll dreams are made of.

Egg rolls!

They were also full of pork! You know how sometimes you order eggrolls and it’s mostly cabbage and other filler? Not here. These were pretty solid!

LOADS of meat!

They come with a Chili Plum Dipping Sauce, which we found very unique, and a nice change of pace from the usual Sweet and Sour dipping sauces you usually get with eggrolls. The sauce was similar to a sweet chili sauce you might find at many Chinese restaurants but with lots more flavor and sweetness. Not too spicy but it did have a little kick. We really enjoyed the sauce. The eggrolls are $11.29.

This sauce!

Next up was the Ahi Tuna Nachos for $18.79. You guys…these nachos knocked it out of the park. The Sushi Grade Tuna had the perfect amount of Wasabi Aioli and Sweet Soy Glaze. The Asian Slaw had a great crunch, and the combination of everything with the Crispy Fried Wontons was a sweet and spicy marriage made in heaven. Can we plz have all our nacho chips subbed out for crispety crunchy wonton chips? SO good.

NACHOS!

Most surprisingly, there was quite a bit of heat coming off this plate (so a little more than the usual Disney spicy, which may or may not be your thing). And look at that portion size! They did not skimp! All of the best parts of sushi, salad, and eggrolls came together to form a superpowered app called the Ahi Tuna Nachos. This superpowered app (or should we say meal cause LOOK at how much you get!) is the next level of food evolution and will save the world from the threat of boring and mundane meals. Each component is basically like the kids from Captain Planet and when they come together, BAM. Captain Planet appears and incredible things happen. That’s right folks, never fear, the Ahi Tuna Nachos are here! And yes, we compared nachos to Captain Planet. No regrets.

Yummy AND spicy

We HIGHLY recommend these bomb nachos. Obviously, if you’re not a fan of raw fish this is gonna be a hard pass for you since it’s loaded with raw tuna. But if you like fresh fish, spice, and a LOT of food, order the Captain Planet Nachos. I mean, Ahi Tuna Nachos. 😉

We decided to squeeze some more veggies into our meal, so we also tried the Wok Fried Green Beans for $11.79. Hey — they might be fried, but they’re still GREEN BEANS, so yes, they count as a serving of veggies — we don’t make the rules. The Battered and Fried Green Beans were good and crunchy — they had a nice snap when we bit into them.

FRIED veggies are still healthy, right?

The Thai Chili Dipping Sauce was also good, although not as unique as the sauce we got with the eggrolls.

Dipping sauces FTW!

When it comes to entrees, guests have a choice of Noodles and Bowls, Specialties, Wok, and Grilled. We decided on Noodles and ordered the Lo Mein Combo, which is Lo Mein Noodles with Carrots, Cabbage, Green Onions, Bean Sprouts, Chicken, and Shrimp. Because two meats are always better than one, right?

We found the chicken and shrimp to both be very flavorful, so we, obviously, made the right decision. But for some reason, we really wanted to see some mushrooms in there, too! We thought having one more veggie or flavor in the mix would really elevate this.

Noods

The noodles were thick and cooked well, but we have to admit that for $21.99, this wasn’t anything very different from what you could get in any other Chinese restaurant outside of Disney. This will please a lot of people with its large portion and fresh flavors, but it’s not the most adventurous thing on the menu. TBH, we’re still dreaming of the killer Tuna Nachos… .

Lots of meat and veggies

A meal at Disney World cannot possibly end without dessert, and there are some pretty good choices available here. Now we’ve already talked about the Mango Pie at great length (we’ve basically written sonnets to the creamy yummy pie), so we decided to for something new this time around. We ordered the Fried Wontons. These are made with Cream Cheese Wontons and Fresh Pineapple — on skewers!

Dessert on skewers

And it’s served with Vanilla Ice Cream and a Honey-Vanilla Drizzle. PLUS strawberries!

Ice cream AND a honey-vanilla drizzle, say what?

And you guys…our mouths are just watering as we remember eating these because they were exquisite! The taste of the cream cheese wontons paired with the sweet glaze PLUS the ice cream had us wanting to beg for seconds. And the fresh pineapple just brought the whole dessert up a notch.

A win!

If you really love a good Crab Rangoon at your local Chinese joint, RUN to get these! It’s that sans crab in dessert form. So so good. That dessert was the BEST way to end this meal and we now have something else sweet to wax poetic about here other than the Mango Pie (or those Ahi Tuna Nachos — we’ll be dreaming about that for a while).

Nosh or Not?

Head on over to Yak and Yeti Restaurant if…

  • You love Asian fusion cuisine and like the occasional adventurous dining experience.
  • You want to dine in a place with an authentic Asian feel and loads to admire while you eat.
  • You need to get out of the Florida heat and want to enjoy a longer table service meal in Animal Kingdom. Table Service here is limited and this is one of the less pricey options compared to spots like Tiffins or Tusker House.

Skip Yak and Yeti Restaurant if…

  • You are looking for a meal with the Characters, this isn’t that spot — you’d need to head over to Tusker House.
  • You’re not looking to sit down for a chunk of your day in Animal Kingdom to eat. We’d recommend hitting up the neighboring Yak and Yeti Local Foods Cafes fast food option nearby for Asian eats fast and cheap.
  • You’re not a fan of Asian fare. They DO have a burger and a few other items on the menu, but we think you’ll appreciate the spot more if you like Asian food.

Overall

With table service restaurants like Tiffin’s and Tusker House getting so much attention at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, we can see how Yak and Yeti is often overlooked, which is a shame. The theming here is on point, and the food is, as we previously said, consistently good. And although our noodle dish didn’t wow us, everything else was not just delicious but was also a great value (especially when you consider the higher prices of those other table service restaurants).

Also note that this is a Landry’s-owned restaurant, which means that if you’re a member of Landry’s rewards program, you could get a discount on your meal here. Saving money at Disney World? Count us in!

Yak and Yeti will offer you up an adventure not just in its dining room, but also with its food. What’s better than dining within the shadow of Expedition Everest? And eating here could enlighten your spirit of adventure so much that it will have you ready and willing to take on the infamous Yeti after. Just…you know…give the food time to settle first. You don’t want to become REaquainted with those Ahi Tuna Nachos, no matter how tasty they were! 😂

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Have you ever eaten at Yak and Yeti Restaurant? Let us know what you thought in the comments!

The post Review: Did We Find the Most Amazing Plate of Nachos in Disney’s Animal Kingdom? Yes. Yes We Did. first appeared on the disney food blog.