REVIEW: You’re Skipping This Underrated Disney World Hotel Restaurant — But You Shouldn’t Be

Quincy is on a mission to eat at EVERY SINGLE Disney World restaurant on property, and the whole team is determined to make sure she accomplishes her goal.

However, no one is more determined than Emma herself, and next on the list was to head over to Disney’s Yacht Club Resort to have a fancy dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse. But is this restaurant worth taking you out of EPCOT AND paying up to $60 per adult? We found out!

Background

Yachtsman Steakhouse opened with Disney’s Yacht Club Resort in 1990 and has been delighting guests with signature dining ever since. The restaurant boasts giving guests a “slice of New England” with the dining rooms “knotty-pine beams and nautical touches.” It’s the only restaurant on property that has an on-stage butcher’s room, and all of their steaks are aged in house!

This is fancier dining, so guests are expected to dress in “Theme Park Casual,” which essentially means no swimsuits or flip flops and must be clean and neat. Advance Dining Reservations are highly recommended for this spot, so be sure to hop on 60 days in advance of your trip to snag your reservation. If you aren’t able to grab one however, keep checking back, as it’s possible one could open up closer to your trip.

Atmosphere

The feel of this restaurant is that of a cozy, upscale style. While many other Disney World signature restaurants feel flashy, this one feels like you’re hanging with your grandad. 

It was classic and old-fashioned, and certainly a different feeling than what you’ll get at other Disney World steakhouses, like Steakhouse 71 or Narcoossee’s. This restaurant also has dimmer lighting than what some people would prefer, so keep that in mind when planning your reservations if you’re sensitive to a lack of light while eating.

But what did this laid-back atmosphere match the food? Without further ado, here are our thoughts!

Food & Drinks

Like the atmosphere, this restaurant specializes in New England-style dining options, and of course, steak!

A complimentary bread service comes with every single meal, and let us just say — this is one of our favorite complimentary bread services we’ve had in Disney World, which is really curious since it’s not very flashy.

These are regular yeast rolls and flaky onion rolls, which pull apart like Pillsbury biscuits, and we loved that (the onion rolls were our preferred rolls of the two). They’re served with salted butter and a fantastic garlic confit. Not only did the garlic confit taste delicious, but it also didn’t leave us with garlic-y breath, which was extremely impressive and shows just how high of quality it really is.

We also grabbed the Lobster Bisque, which was heavenly — so much so that it’s our reporter’s favorite soup they’ve ever had in Disney World! It was incredibly creamy and buttery with just the right amount of lobster flavor without tasting too fishy. However, our server warned us that eating a whole bowl would be too rich and we wouldn’t want to eat dinner, so we split it. It was certainly the right call — we do agree that this is VERY rich…but we still would have eaten the whole bowl because it was fantastic.

Our first entree was the 7-oz Filet Mignon which came with mashed potatoes and Bordelaise Sauce (which is how it comes if you order it as is). We really loved the steak and ate it at a speed that was probably a little embarrassing. It was perfectly cooked at medium rare, the way we ordered it, and it was a wonderful cut.

The mashed potatoes it came with were so creamy and tasted like they added extra cream or sour cream to achieve that goal — it really impressed us!

We also decided to order the Sauce Flight to try all the different sauces this restaurant offers. It consists of:

• House Steak Sauce
• Béarnaise
• Peppercorn
• Blue Cheese
• Bordelaise

Quincy’s favorite was the Béarnaise while Emma’s was the Peppercorn. The Bordelaise had a great tangy flavor, but we’re sad to say that the House Steak Sauce and the Blue Cheese were both really lacking in flavor — so much so that even though Emma doesn’t like blue cheese normally due to the flavor, she didn’t mind the sauce. If you have more than one steak at the table, we say it’s worth the price so you can try all the different pairings, but if you’ve only got one steak like we did, we don’t think it’s worth it.

We also grabbed two of the steakhouse sides — the Truffle Mac & Cheese and the Hot Honey-Bourbon Brussels Sprouts — which you can also get as your steak side included in the base price. The Truffle Mac & Cheese was creamy, delicious, and had just the right amount of truffle flavor not to be overwhelming, which we’ve encountered at other restaurants. We also loved the noodle shape because we felt it carried the cheese without getting any weird pockets.

The Hot Honey-Bourbon Brussels Sprouts however were just okay. There are much better brussel sprouts elsewhere in Disney World, such as at The Polite Pig in Disney Springs, but while these were well-cooked and seasoned well, they just didn’t stand out to us. We did enjoy the additional crunch from the walnuts, but again, we don’t necessarily think you’ll be wowed by these.

Our second entree was the Chilean Sea Bass which we unfortunately were not impressed by. It’s our reporter’s favorite thing to get when they go on Disney Cruises, but this one just did not hit the mark. It was cooked well and had that meatier texture that you expect from this dish — the texture, in fact, was perfect, but it was very oversalted and we noticed it the more and more we ate it. 

Additionally, the sides the sea bass came with were nothing to write home about — the rice, while it had a nice tomato flavor, was forgettable, and the best thing on the plate was the crab meat…which was just high quality crab meat. If you’re heading to this steakhouse, stay true to the name and get a steak!

Magic or Tragic?

So overall, do we recommend this meal to you? Well, that depends. If you’re looking for the following, it may be a great fit for you if:

• Want a great steak in Disney World
• You’re staying at Yacht Club or close by
• You want a nice, quality meal without all the pomp and circumstance

However, we would not recommend this restaurant to you if:

• You’re looking to save money — while this isn’t the most expensive table service meal out there, it certainly isn’t cheap
• You want signature dining that really FEELS signature 
• You’re using the Disney Dining Plan — this meal counts as two table service credits and we really don’t think it’s worth that

Overall, we don’t think that it’s necessarily worth swinging by the Yacht Club for, as there are many better restaurants in the EPCOT area, but if you’re staying at the hotel and are looking for an upscale experience without it being TOO over the top, it may be right for you!

As always, be sure to stay tuned to AllEars for all the latest Disney World news and reviews!

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What do you think of Yachtsman Steakhouse? Tell us in the comments!

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