There are SO many dining options in EPCOT, it’s honestly challenging to keep track of them all.

You’ll find at least one dining spot in each of the World Showcase countries, many with authentic cuisine and unique snacks. Besides those, you’ve got places like the newly-opened Space 220 or Connections Eatery in the front of the park, which are great options for a stop between all those rides. Recently, one EPCOT spot got a bit of a menu update, and we stopped by to try it out and share our thoughts!

Over in The Land Pavilion at EPCOT, you’ll find one of our favorite restaurants here at DFB — Garden Grill! This character meal is one-of-a-kind for multiple reasons, and the entire vibe of the place still has a lot of that 80s EPCOT charm.

The restaurant is located on the upper floor of the pavilion (directly above Soarin’ and Living with the Land), right near the escalators. It’s pretty low-key from the outside, but the inside offers some really unique views that you won’t find elsewhere.

Atmosphere

What do we mean? Well, this restaurant ROTATES while you dine! Throughout your meal, you’ll move slowly through different scenes of Living with the Land (the dining area overlooks the attraction) while you munch on fresh eats from down below. That’s right — Garden Grill even uses some of the produce that’s grown in the Living with the Land greenhouses. How neat is that?!

The seating is a mix of tables and chairs with booths. Those sitting closer to the outside of the circular restaurant will definitely end up with a better view of the ride scenes, but the character interactions will be fair game for all tables.

And speaking of characters, you can meet some big Disney favorites here! This is the one character meal where you’ll currently find Chip and Dale, and one of the few places where you can get up close with them in the parks.

Pluto is here as well, ready to wag his tail and pose for the camera!

However, the real highlight of the meal is Farmer Mickey! Our best pal Mickey Mouse is dressed up in his overalls and plaid shirt, and it honestly couldn’t be cuter.

And since character operations have returned to normal, guests are welcome to get hugs, autographs, and selfies with all these friendly Disney icons!

Menu

Let’s talk about our favorite part of any meal — the FOOD! The menu at Garden Grill is served family-style, and the reason we stopped by recently is that there were some switch-ups with the entrees. Formerly, this meal came with All-Natural Sliced Turkey Breast with Turkey Gravy, but that has now been swapped with Barbecue-roasted Chicken. 

Alongside your chicken, you’ll be served a Harvest-Inspired Salad, Grilled Beef with Chimichurri, mashed potatoes, macaroni & cheese, seasonal vegetables, Southern-Style Spoon Bread, and Berry Short Cake.

The meal is $55 for adults and $36 for children ages 3-9. It comes with basic beverages, but there are some specialty drinks on the menu that you can purchase for an additional cost, like the EARidescent Sip-A-Bration or the Specialty Character Drink.

And for the grownups, Garden Grill has a selection of wine, beer, and other alcoholic beverages to choose from.

But does the menu taste as good as it sounds? Let’s dig in!

Eats

Like most family-style meals, we started out with a bread service! The bread option at Garden Grill is a white dinner roll served with whipped butter. Basic, simple, and generally a crowd-pleaser.

Even though most people would enjoy this option for bread, we do wish that there had been a bit more depth of flavor. Even having a flavored butter (with fruit or honey) would’ve enhanced this bread service. As it stands, it’s very similar to the basic dinner rolls you buy at the grocery store. Nothing particularly special.

Next up, we got the Harvest-Inspired Garden Salad. After walking in the Florida heat, this chilled salad was the absolute perfect start to our meal. It’s a spring mix of lettuce topped with a mixture of olives, cucumbers, and tomatoes, as well as a vinaigrette dressing. Our server even let us know that some of the ingredients were grown right here at EPCOT!

The spring mix was very crisp and not wilted, and the vinaigrette was a great balance of oil and vinegar, while still maintaining some acidity. It was all very fresh and if you’ve been living off of fried theme park food, this may be the veggie boost you need after a few days of vacation!

After the salad, we were served the hearty Farmer’s Skillet! Inside this hefty pan, you’ve got Grilled Beef with Chimichurri, macaroni and cheese, seasonal vegetables, mashed potatoes, Southern-Style Spoon Bread, and the NEW Barbecue-roasted Chicken with Sweet and Tangy Barbecue Sauce. Anyone else feel full just LOOKING at this thing?!

Let’s start with the new barbecue chicken! It’s pretty fatty and it’s served bone-in, so you have to go looking for the actual meat a little bit. However, it was cooked really well (very moist, not dry at all), and we enjoyed the flavor of the barbecue sauce on top. We do wish that there was more barbecue flavor throughout since the sauce is just sitting on top of the chicken.

So how does it compare to the turkey that was served prior? Well, if we’re honest, we liked the turkey a bit better. If there were more meat on the bones and the barbecue flavor was prominent throughout, we’d rate this chicken higher, but until then, the turkey still reigns supreme.

Now, onto the sides! The potatoes were absolutely spectacular! They have a nice garlic flavor, and you can actually taste the real cream and butter in each spoonful. They’re thick, and they brought us back to memories of homemade Thanksgiving meals with the fam. Even with that garlic taste, we think these would be a hit with picky eaters and kiddos.

The seasonal vegetables included two separate components, the first of which was a mix of corn, peas, and roasted red peppers. It went really well with the mashed potatoes and the corn was nice and crisp, but we do wish the mix had come with a bit more seasoning. It reminded us a lot of a frozen veggie mix.

The second seasonal veggie is a serving of green beans. These were a significant step up from the veggie blend, seasoned with garlic and cooked in butter. They were incredibly fresh and literally glistening from all that butter — we would honestly be happy little campers with just a plate of these beans.

The other entree on the plate is the Grilled Beef with Chimichurri. It’s cooked medium-well and has a slight spice to it, but it’s not overwhelming. It’s so tender that we could cut it with our fork, and it practically had a melt-in-your-mouth texture. Definitely delicious!

The mac and cheese was pretty basic, especially when compared to other versions on property. It’ll make picky eaters happy, but it’s definitely not the star of the skillet.

And finally, we’ve got the spoon bread. It was light, airy, and SO GOOD with that honey sweetness. It’s pretty thick, but we really enjoyed the texture. Of the items in the skillet, this was probably our favorite!

Last but not least, let’s discuss dessert! The Berry Shortcake is made with a house-made shortcake, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries, all topped with whipped cream. It’s such a simple item, but it’s done incredibly well with fresh ingredients, the right amount of sugar, and a cake that soaked up the berry juices perfectly.

There was a great balance between the tart berries and the sweet cream, so it’s the dream dessert for someone who loves fruity flavors or a good strawberry shortcake. YUM!

Nosh or Not?

Stop by to say hello to Farmer Mickey if…

• You’re looking to visit a character meal with some crowd-pleasing food. The options here are simple and straightforward, likely to fit the palettes of most people in your party.
• You’re a big fan of Living with the Land. If you’re one of those die-hard Living with the Land stans, eating food grown inside the greenhouses while spinning through scenes of the attraction is probably a dream come true.
• You want a character meal for your EPCOT day. This is currently the only character meal that’s open in EPCOT (until Akershus reopens), so if you want to fill in some time with some special character experiences, this is a great option! Plus, Farmer Mickey…need we say more? Also, this spot doesn’t tend to be too crowded, so you may get more time with the characters depending on the day and time you book.

Skip this spot and snack around the World Showcase instead if…

• You don’t want to spend the big bucks on your meal. Since this is both a character meal and an all-you-care-to-eat option, the prices are higher than your average table service spot. You could eat elsewhere in EPCOT for cheaper.
• You want to enjoy the festival offerings instead! There are festivals happening in EPCOT nearly year-round at this point, and if you’re only visiting once during a given festival, you may want to skip this “basic” menu in favor of trying some eats from around the World Showcase.
• You want to try something new. Garden Grill is definitely a crowd-pleaser, with a menu that you could probably cook at home. If you’re hoping to try something that’s outside the box, there are several other table service restaurants in EPCOT that might fit that description a bit better.

Overall

So should you stop by Garden Grill? Well, let’s just say that this visit continued to cement Garden Grill’s spot on our list of DFB faves. We had some truly yummy and underrated eats during our meal, and the character interactions were precious and fun as always. We do miss the turkey and will be on the lookout for its potential return. But for now, the chicken will do just fine. It still had great flavor and was enjoyable. It just didn’t live up to the turkey that came before it!

We highly recommend stopping by if you’ve got the time and budget, but keep in mind that this is both a pricey and long experience. If you’re limited on time or budget during your EPCOT visit, Garden Grill might not be the restaurant for you.

However, if you want some comfort food, a unique view, and a chance to snag some autographs from your favorite Disney characters, then Garden Grill will be perfect. The berry shortcake and the spoon bread were truly the highlights of the meal.

Stay tuned to DFB for more restaurant reviews from around Disney World, and all the updates on menu changes and restaurant reopenings that you need to know. We’ve got you covered with the latest!

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Have you ever been to Garden Grill? Tell us in the comments!

The post Is Garden Grill in EPCOT the Same Without Its Signature Dish? We Found Out. first appeared on the disney food blog.