EPCOT is home to some of our favorite restaurants, but that doesn’t mean they’re all created equally.

While we love quick-service spots like Sunshine Seasons and table-service restaurants like Garden Grill (just to name two of our favorites), there’s one restaurant in EPCOT that’s been hated on for YEARS. But is it really bad as we remember and as everyone makes it sound? We’re heading back to find out — come with us to find out if Coral Reef is the worst restaurant in EPCOT.

Atmosphere

Coral Reef Restaurant is located in World Nature, right near The Seas with Nemo and Friends.

The inside is heavily decorated to fit an under-the-sea theme — the lights look like jellyfish, there are coral and rock formations crawling up some of the walls, and the iconic blue-green shade of the ocean can be seen nearly everywhere you look.

However, the best part, and the restaurant’s main draw, is that you can see into the aquarium right next door at Sea Base! These near floor-to-ceiling windows are placed all around the restaurant, allowing a full look at the aquarium no matter what level of the dining room you’re seated in.

We do want to advise you that the restaurant is a little dark, as you can see from our table below, so if that’s not your thing, this may already not be the restaurant for you! (Or, just be prepared to use your phone flashlight.)

On the menu, you’ll find a selection of appetizers…

…followed by the Entrees (which are seasonal!)…

…and you’ll also find a selection of alcoholic beverages.

There are some exciting non-alcoholic drinks as well!

But enough of the looks, let’s get to the food!

Food

The meal started out with a complimentary bread service, which was delicious! It had a hint of coconut flavor, which we really enjoyed.

We tried some of the most popular dishes on the menu, both seafood and not, to get a feel of what this restaurant is really like. We dove into the Coconut Fried Shrimp first, which we actually really loved! It was super crunchy, but not oily, and the coconut was slightly sweet but not overpowering.

However, the mango chutney it’s served with was only okay — the mango wasn’t super fresh and we found the main flavor to be the red onion. Our companion said she could taste a lot of the sweet mango, but that made us wonder just how consistent this chutney will be. Overall, it was a good dish, but we wouldn’t necessarily order it again.

We decided to try the Grilled Chicken Wings next, which were just okay. The chicken wasn’t overcooked, so it was still pretty juicy and not dry, and the sauce reminded us of a sweet teriyaki sauce. That meant there were no Jamaican spice flavors, as promised in the description. Overall, they were fine but not overly exciting or worth ordering again.

As awkward as it is to eat seafood in front of fish, we did also get the Seafood Boil since it IS a seafood restaurant. We found a lot of irony in the fact that this restaurant’s worst food was the seafood.

The shrimp were slightly chewy, and the taste reminded us of frozen shrimp, while the mussels and clams were too salty and chewy. However, the corn and potatoes were pretty good, and the stand out was the andouille sausage — it was super flavorful and well-cooked with a bit of bounce in the bite. Unfortunately, though, it wasn’t enough to save this dish.

Our last main course was the Surf and Turf, which we really loved! The filet was cooked perfectly with a great sear and warm pink center. The shrimp wasn’t overcooked and wasn’t chewy at all (a major win).

The mashed potatoes were smooth and had a great garlic flavor, but the key lime chimichurri was easily the best part. It wasn’t too overpowering, and the cilantro was finely chopped, which we loved. It had a great acidity as well and was slightly sweet, which balanced the heavy dish so well. The sweet baby bell peppers in the dish were so crunchy and well cooked, adding a great textural element. Overall, a big win here!

We couldn’t forget dessert! We grabbed two — the first was the Key West Sunset, which was very tasty! The crust was super moist but still held firm, and the filling was tart and sweet and had a great bright flavor. The Chantilly reminded us of just a Reddi-wip situation but that didn’t throw us off too much. The raspberries were super sweet too! Overall, while the quality was great, it was nothing to write home about.

Our second dessert was the Bread Pudding, which is made out of the same bread as the bread service you get at the beginning of the meal. However, this really works in its favor! The coconut is perfectly sweet and matches the ice cream and caramel well. The caramel is slightly salty, which was great, and the shaved coconut has a great crunch. We were also impressed that the ice cream portion was the perfect amount with the bread!

Again, though, it was good, but there was nothing that really shocked us or blew us out of the water (sorry, we’ll stop with the puns now).

Overall

Overall, if you’re a seafood fan or are looking for something that will really wow you, this is NOT the restaurant for you. Was any of our food downright terrible? No, not at all, but we don’t necessarily recommend it. While we did enjoy our other dining choices, spending an hour or more of your park day dining at this restaurant doesn’t really seem like a good way to spend your EPCOT park day, in our eyes.

If someone in your dining party chooses this for your meal, it’s likely you’ll be able to find something on the menu that you like, however we are a little weary with how inconsistent this restaurant is. We saw in just the dishes we got that sometimes our shrimp was good, and other times it was a lower quality, and it came from the same kitchen!

So, do we necessarily recommend Coral Reef Restaurant? No, and we can see why it’s one of the most disliked spots in EPCOT. There are certainly tons of other better options to spend your time and money at, however if you or someone in your party would LOVE the windows into the aquarium, it may be a one and done type of meal. We do think it’s a better idea to spend your time at Sea Base itself, which has tons of windows to see the different sea creatures, and that doesn’t cost anything extra! Grab something from a quick-service spot and have a walking lunch around the aquarium if you’d like!

So there you have it! Now it’s up to you to make your own personal decision about if you’d like to experience this restaurant, and we know you’ll make the choice that’s best for your group! Be sure to stay tuned to DFB for all the latest Disney parks news and reviews!

Here’s why we have NO regrets leaving Magic Kingdom for this deluxe hotel restaurant!

What do you think of Coral Reef? Tell us in the comments!

The post REVIEW: Does This EPCOT Restaurant Really Deserve Its Poor Reputation? We Found Out! first appeared on the disney food blog.