We are back!
Specifically, we are back from spending the last two weeks at Walt Disney World!!
If you follow us on Instagram (which I hope you do), then you’ve already gotten a small glimpse into what we have been up to. Since we’ve been to WDW many times, we try to come up with some fun activity to keep things new and fresh. Last year it was the Character Meet Challenge (where we met 31 characters across four parks in one day). This year, it was the WDW Barbecue Blowout!!
The goal was to sample the meats at several of WDW’s most popular BBQ joints and report back on which we thought were the best. While there are many restaurants that have one or two BBQ-style menu items, we specifically focused on places that specialize in BBQ… meaning they had some combination of the chicken, pulled pork, brisket, and ribs prepared in the traditional BBQ style (low and slow). In addition, they also needed to have some number of traditional BBQ sides: mac and cheese, baked beans, slaw, etc.
Based upon this criteria, we narrowed it down to the following five restaurants:
- Flame Tree Barbecue (Animal Kingdom)
- Polite Pig (Disney Springs)
- Regal Eagle Smokehouse (EPCOT)
- Roundup Rodeo BBQ (Hollywood Studios)
- Whispering Canyon Cafe (Wilderness Lodge)
We definitely had the “meat sweats” after sampling the food at all five, but it was all in the name of research!
Which did we like the best? Which would we skip? Read on to find out!
Flame Tree Barbecue
Flame Tree is located at Animal Kingdom in the Discovery Island hub area along the pathway that heads towards Dinoland USA. If you can’t find it, just follow your nose as the scent of smoked meets permeates the air.
We ordered the Ribs, Chicken, and Pulled Pork Sampler ($18.99) so we could try a bit of everything. The sampler also included their baked beans and slaw, so it was a really good deal. We also wanted to try their mac and cheese, so we got an order of the Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Pulled Pork ($12,49). You used to be able to order the mac and cheese without pulled pork, but it looks like they pulled (no pun intended) that from the menu. However, you can still get it from the Eight Spoons Cafe quick service cart.
Overall, we thought that Flame Tree was really great. As a theme park restaurant that is mass producing food to a captive audience, they could have just mailed it in. However, you could tell that care was taken in the preparation of the BBQ. The chicken was super juicy and flavorful. There was just enough smoke without being overpowering. The ribs were equally well prepared… fall off the bone good. But the pulled pork was the real standout. Great smokey flavor. No wonder they put it on the mac and cheese (PS: you can also get fries topped with the pork).
They did provide some pre-packaged Ken’s BBQ sauce, but none was needed. The meat’s flavor stood on its own.
Speaking of mac and cheese, the version here was super creamy and flavorful, but the addition of the pork and crispy onions takes it to the next level! The slaw and baked beans were good as well. Honestly, everything we ate here was above average. Considering the price and the location, it was a good deal.
There is plenty of seating attached to the restaurant. However, we recommend taking the walking path down to the pavilion near the water. Many people just grab the first available table, so very few guests make it down here. With the fans and the breeze off the water, it is a great place to take a break.
Polite Pig
The Polite Pig is located in Disney Springs just as you enter from the Lime Garage. As with Flame Tree, just follow your nose and you can’t miss it.
The Polite Pig is a hybrid quick service restaurant, in that you order at the counter and then find a seat. A server will then bring you your order when it is ready. They also have a well-stocked bar for your drinking pleasure. That said, it can get a little crowded in there, especially at peak times.
We decided to order Butcher Board, which includes smoked pork, smoked chicken, brisket, BBQ sausage, slaw, corn bread, pickles, and two sides of your choice ($44). For our sides, we got the mac and cheese and brussel sprouts. We also added an order to ribs ($7 additional with the Butcher Board) as well as an extra order of mac and cheese ($6) for Little Banshee.
There is a reason why the Polite Pig is “recommended” by the Michelin Guide. Everything was outstanding. Great flavor, moist, juicy, well prepared. As with Flame Tree, no BBQ sauce was needed to add flavor to the meats. The sides we got were also excellent. The sprouts in particular were amazing, which is a strange thing to say. They are soaked in a whiskey caramel sauce and then cooked over a flame. But I guess anything covered in that sweet sauce is going to taste good!
While you cannot mobile order in the My Disney Experience app, you can order your food “to go” by placing your order through their web site. This is a great hack if you are craving some BBQ but don’t want to dine-in.
Regal Eagle Smokehouse
Regal Eagle is the quick service location the America pavilion at EPCOT. It is themed around Sam the Eagle from the Muppets and features several Muppet touches throughout the space. If you are fan of those crazy Muppets, it is definitely worthwhile to spend some time exploring.
Unfortunately, the food was highly inconsistent, which was disappointing.
We got a sampling of everything: Memphis Dry Rub Pork Ribs ($16.49), Kansas City-smoked Half Chicken ($14.79), Sliced Texas Beef Brisket Sandwich ($14.29), and the North Carolina Chopped Pork Butt Platter ($13.49). As each entree came with a side, we got the mac, baked beans, slaw, and onion rings. Entrees also came with corn bread, so we got to sample that as well.
The chicken was definitely the standout. It was very well prepared with a great smokey taste (although Little Buster thought it was too smokey). The meat was pink, which as BBQ enthusiasts know, is what you want to see. We also liked the brisket. Again, good flavor and juicy without being too fatty. However, Banshee was disappointed that you had to get it as a sandwich rather than on its own.
Unfortunately, there were a couple of big misses. The ribs were seasoned to the point where they were nearly inedible. The seasoning overpowered everything. The mac and cheese was also a miss. While it looked inviting, it had way too much garlic. One bite would keep away even the strongest vampire!
Everything else was about average.. certainly not as good as Flame Tree or the Polite Pig. When you add up the prices, we probably paid as much here as we did at the Polite Pig for a much more inferior meal.
We’ve eaten here several times before in the past, and we remember liking it a lot more than we did on this trip. I don’t know if they changed the recipes or what, but the quality has definitely gone downhill!
Roundup Rodeo BBQ
This is the newest restaurant to come to Hollywood Studios. It is located within Toy Story Land and provides additional restaurant capacity to a park that definitely needs it.
The theming, of course, is Toy Story forward. According to the server, all of the guests are toys, and we are all gathered in Andy’s backyard to have a traditional BBQ picnic with our friends. The interior is decorated very similarly to the rest of Toy Story Land, which is to say that it feels like something a (very creative) child conjured up which playing with their toys. I mean that in the most positive way, as it was super cute. They also added some neat touches. During the meal, there are different “events” that take place that add to the experience. I won’t give anything away, but they were well received by most of the diners!
The meal is a prix fixe, all you can eat meal. For $45 per adult or $25 per child (9 and under), you get appetizers (watermelon salad, tomato salad, cheddar biscuits with pepper jelly), an entrees of unlimited meats (ribs, brisket, chicken, sausage), unlimited sides (baked beans, slaw, tatter tots, mac and cheese, corn on the cob), and selection of desserts. There are also plant-based options, as well as the option to add salmon at no additional cost. The food is served family style in a skillet, but you are free to ask for more of whatever items you want.
The two standouts for us were the biscuits and the salmon. The biscuits were warm, light, fluffy, with a hint of cheddar goodness. Paired with the sweet pepper jelly, you could make a meal out of them (and I think Little Banshee did). The salmon was moist and flakey and had a nice smoked flavor to it. We would definitely recommend adding it to your meal.
Unfortunately, everything else was average or worse.
The chicken was especially bad. They basically served chunks of pre-cut white meat, which caused it to dry out. Without adding some sort of BBQ sauce, it was inedible. The mac and cheese was also a big loser. It looked and tasted like the pre-made stuff you get from a box. They tried to jazz it up by covering it with ground up Goldfish crackers, but it wasn’t enough to hide the fact that it was not well prepared. Given how good the mac and cheese is at other WDW restaurants, it was super disappointing.
Everything else was just average. Not terrible but not memorable either.
The thing that made it even worse was the price. For a family of four over the age of nine, you are dropping over $200 when you factor in tax and tip. There is no way that this meal is worth that price, even with the Toy Story theming.
In order to fix this, either they need to reduce the price (or go to an a la carte menu) or do something to add more value. Perhaps a character walkthrough (similar to how Beast walks through the dining room) or even an actual character dining experience. Otherwise, it’s a one-and-done for our family.
Whispering Canyon Cafe
Whispering Canyon Cafe has been a staple at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge for decades. They serve hearty food with a heaping dose of fun! The Cafe is well known for its playful shenanigans. Don’t believe me? Try asking your server for ketchup and see what happens!
While this isn’t strictly a BBQ place, they do offer all-you-can eat skillets of smoked meats and sides, served family-style, similar to Roundup Rodeo BBQ. However, the lunch price ($26 per person) is a little more reasonable than Roundup Rodeo. In addition, you don’t have to get the skillet. You are free to order something a la carte from their regular menu if you aren’t into smoked meats.
For lunch, we got the Carnivore to share at the table. You get ribs, brisket, chicken, pulled pork corn bread, potatoes, and vegetables. You are free to ask your server for as many refills of whatever items you desire.
They also had a breakfast skillet (the Heritage) which consists of eggs, bacon, sausage, Mickey waffles, biscuits and gravy. The server said that diners who got one type of skillet could also sample items from the other skillets, so you weren’t locked into what you ordered. Therefore, we also got the Heritage and shared that among the table as well.
We did like the fact that you could order other items a la carte if you wished. Little Banshee was in a carb mood, so she got herself some Mickey Waffles with a berry compote which she devoured while we ate our skillets.
Overall, the food was decent… not memorable but not terrible either. Everything was well prepared and tasty, but nothing stood out as amazing. Clearly, the food is mass produced, but it was also decently done, given what it is. However, at a price point of $26/person, you didn’t feel like you were getting ripped off, especially with the fun and playful atmosphere.
Note that at dinner, the price of the skillets goes up to $40/person, which makes it not as good of a deal. I would definitely stick with a lunch reservation!
Overall Rankings
At this point, you probably have a good idea of how we ranked these five BBQ places. In terms of both food and value, Polite Pig and Flame Tree are the clear winners! We would not hesitate to recommend both of these places to our friends, and we would definitely go out of our way to eat at each of them again.
Whispering Canyon is in the next group. We might go there again if we happened to be in the area and were looking for a fun and entertaining lunch. However, we probably wouldn’t go out of our way to eat there.
Roundup Rodeo is definitely a “one and done” for us. I doubt we are going to eat there again. The experience just doesn’t justify the price.
Regal Eagle is a strange one. We’ve had good meals there in a past, but this year, they just weren’t on their game. I’d be willing to give them another chance at some point in the future. However, given the abundance of good eating options at EPCOT, especially during festivals, it might take awhile before Regal Eagle appears back in our rotation.
What do you think? Did we get our ranking right, or is there something that we missed? Let us know in the comments.
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