We set sail on the Disney Wish, and we’re bringing you a taste of everything there is to do on board!

Disney Cruise Line’s newest ship, the Disney Wish, is full of unique experiences, activities, and shopping. But now, we want to take you into the ship’s adult-exclusive steakhouse that’s inspired by Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast!

Atmosphere

A restaurant inspired by an enchanted clock? We couldn’t wait to see what Palo Steakhouse would look like. We headed over to Deck 12 and were immediately met with a sleek entrance full of pops of gold. (Check out the “o” on the Palo sign — it’s designed to look like Cogsworth!)

The restaurant uses a palette of woods, shining metals, and clock-like details to immerse you in an environment that reminds you of an ornate clock…like Cogsworth.

But there are also obvious nods to Cogsworth and his pals, courtesy of the artwork on the walls.

We also saw many pops of red around the restaurant, which paired well with the gold placed throughout the area.

Oh, and if you’re stopping by Palo, don’t forget to look up! We found hidden mickeys above our heads…

…and in not-so-subtle spots.

We could go on and on about the enchanting, elegant theming in this restaurant, but it’s time for us to move on to the food!

Let’s take a look at the menu.

Menu

The menu brought both Italian fare and modern steakhouse dining to the table. Guests dining at Palo can choose from either a pre fixe menu or a la carte. The pre-fixe menu is $45 per guest, and includes 4 courses — antipasta (appetizer), insalata (salad), il secondo (entrée), and dolce (dessert).

The prix fixe menu allows you to choose from options like calamari, pan-seared salmon, beef tenderloin, and tiramisu. The a la carte menu has a wider selection available, like soft potato gnocchi, wagyu beef, various pizzas, veal, and more. 

They also had an impressive array of wines to choose from, with the option to order either a glass or a bottle. Some of the selections included sparkling wines, white wines, red wines, and apertivos. 

The dessert menu also had quite a selection to choose from, like souffles, cakes, and a variety of gelatos.

Let’s dig in!

Meal

Our meal started off with bread service. We liked it, but wished it had less salt and olive oil. 

For appetizers, we tried the Mushroom Amuse Bouche, which was a sweet potato puff on mushroom sauce. The mushroom sauce was rich and creamy, but the flavor wasn’t what we were expecting. The sweet potato puff was a parmesan-encrusted sweet potato gnocchi, which kind of tasted like a fancy tater tot.

We also got the Mushroom Risotto, however, it’s not usually an appetizer. We just ordered it as one, and it was $19! We’ve had this on other Disney Cruise voyages, and it’s always been a DFB favorite. It comes with Portabella, Morel, Crimini, and Porcini Mushrooms. While the mushroom flavor is there, it isn’t too overwhelming. It’s mostly just carbs, cream, butter, and salt (YUM).

We also gave the Fritto di Calamari e Gamberi a try! It costs $13 (also available in the pre fixe menu) and the shrimp was HUGE! It tasted just like you’d expect — crunchy coating on the outside, tender on the inside. As for the sauces, our reporters liked the lemon-garlic mayonnaise better than the marinara sauce.

The Sliced Herbed Yellowfin Tuna appetizer was also amazing! For $12, we got a seared tuna, along with a sprinkling of other bites, like Biscotti di Regina. The waitress told our reporter to get a bite of everything on the plate, and it was really good. Everything on the plate combined well, and the sauce provided a nice kick. 

Onto entrées! We tried the Prosciutto di Parma — Basil & Burrata Pizza for $16. To be honest, it felt a bit weird to eat with our hands in such an elegant restaurant, so we tried to eat it with a fork and knife instead (fancy). Regardless, we really enjoyed this pizza! The crust was thin, and we enjoyed the big glob of cheese. While this was a fancier variation of pizza, it still wouldn’t be out of anyone’s comfort zone, making it a great option for picky eaters.

The 8oz Prime Angus Beef Tenderloin Steak (also available on the pre-fixe menu) came with our own choice of sauce, so we chose salsa verde. We had it cooked medium rare, and it was delicious and juicy. As for the salsa verde, the sauce tasted fresh and delicious, and not overwhelmingly spicy. As for the cut…

…the knife glided right through the steak. We had no complaints about this dish!

It also came with a side of fries, but they were pretty lackluster. They were limp and sprinkled in an overpowering herb.

We also grabbed sides like the Cavatappi Mac and Cheese for $4…

…and the Broccolini for $4. They were nice, simple additions to our steak.

And speaking of steak, we also tried the 6oz Japanese A5 Wagyu Strip Loin for $45, and OMG. It was tender, buttery, and melt-in-your-mouth amazing. Best steak on the ship, there’s no question about it. It came in at $45, and it was definitely worth the price!

And while we enjoyed the wagyu, we also need to talk about how delicious the Agnolotti was! It was a butternut squash pasta with mozzarella, amaretti, sage brown butter, and basil. It was $12, and one of our favorites on the Disney Wish. Our server recommend not to put any parmesan or pepper on it, which we followed. It was definitely good enough without those additions. And our highlight of the dish was definitely the sage brown butter. *chefs kiss*

For dessert, we tried 5 different options, including the 2 souffles (both are $10) — the Chocolate Soufflé (Madagascan Vanilla Bean Gelato, Chocolate Sauce, Vanilla Anglaise)…

…and the Amaretto Soufflé (Hazelnut Gelato, Vanilla Anglaise). Both options were wonderful (the Chocolate Soufflé is available on the pre-fixe menu), and had great combinations of flavor. Both came as a warm pastry, pairing well with either cold ice cream or sauce. You simply can’t beat that duo. 

We also tried Palo’s Tiramisù Coffee-infused Ladyfingers (also available on the pre-fixe menu), which had layers of mascarpone cheese, and raspberry olive oil soil. Our favorite part about this dessert was how it looked an awful lot like Ursula. Other than that, it was overwhelming and forgettable when compared to the souffles. (Basically, when in doubt, choose a Soufflé.) We grabbed this for $10.  

We bit into the 14k chocolate bar as well, which was very chocolatey, so we definitely only recommend this one for chocolate-lovers. It also had a rich mousse on the inside, as well as bits of raspberry! This one was a bit more expensive than the others, coming in at $12.

The last dessert we tried was the Carrot Cake with lemon cream cheese. It was $10, and tasted pretty good, but not amazing. The cake was moist and the layers of cream cheese were plentiful, but the lemon-scented frosting was a bit…odd. The glaze on top was strange as well, and felt unnecessary. We hope they dial back to a more traditional carrot cake in the future. 

Nosh or Not

You’ll want to eat at Palo Steakhouse if…

• You’re looking for a dining experience away from the kiddos – This is an adult-exclusive location, so you won’t encounter any kiddos here, but that also means your little ones can’t tag along. (Great excuse for a date night.)
• You want elegant dining – While the restaurant boasts elegant décor, you’re also recommended to match the atmosphere, by wearing formal or semi-formal attire.
• You’re looking for fine dining on board – While some of the other locations have entertainment to pair with your meal, this restaurant focuses more on the dining. Accordingly, the food is more elevated at this location.

You may not love Palo Steakhouse if…

• You want to dine with the entire family – Again, kids aren’t allowed here, so you’ll have to pass if you need to bring the little ones.
• You’re looking for entertainment – We recommend another location, like Worlds of Marvel, if you’re looking for entertainment and a meal. You won’t get that at Palo Steakhouse.

Overall

Overall, we enjoyed this fine dining experience, and would definitely come back. All of the dishes we tried were great, and we had very little to critique. While other locations have much more excitement to pair with your meal (like Anna and Elsa and the Avengers), Palo Steakhouse was definitely a different, more relaxed experience.

With so much to do on board, we could see why some may pass up Palo Steakhouse to try Worlds of Marvel or Ardendelle: A Frozen Dining Adventure instead. However, we think adults will really like this experience too.

For more restaurants aboard the Disney Wish, take a look at our review of the World of Marvel dining experience. Or, take a look at our review of Arendelle: A Frozen Dining Adventure. And keep following DFB to see more from the Disney Wish!

Click Here to See Our Entire Experience on the Disney Wish — From Start to Finish!

 

Are you planning a trip aboard the Disney Wish? Tell us in the comments!

Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. We were invited by Disney Cruise Line to attend their media preview of the Disney Wish. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ

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