REVIEW: We Just Discovered the BEST Breakfast Upgrade in Disney World. No Lie.

If you’re searching for the Disney World equivalent of a continental breakfast, we found it!

As Disney World dining experts we’ve covered a lot of breakfast options in and outside of the parks to know what’s the absolute best bangs for your buck. Our searching has lead us back around to breakfast at one of our favorite resorts, which we admit has been a while since we last visited. We’ve got lots of thoughts surrounding Ale & Compass Restaurant at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort and now we’re bringing you our FULL breakfast review!

Background

The Ale & Compass Restaurant has a gastropub ambience serving up New England-inspired comfort food, and is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Inside you’ll find the that decor is inspired by the cozy warmth of a lighthouse, offering a comforting respite from the outside world. Sounds relaxing, huh?

We opted to check out the restaurant’s breakfast here for this review in hopes we could compare it to some of the other Disney World hotels nearby. Here’s what you need to know about dining at this restaurant.

Atmosphere

Your dining experience starts outside of the restaurant where you’ll approach the host stand to check in for your reservation unless you’ve opted to complete checking in through the My Disney Experience app.

As you’re waiting, you’ll probably take note of the nautical vibe and gentle gold and navy tones you’ll find start outside and continue throughout the restaurant. There’s even a pin board nearby for passing pin traders to trade with the Cast Members working at the restaurant’s entrance.

Once you’ve been notified that your table is ready, a Cast Member will escort you through the restaurant and to your table, likely taking you right by the breakfast bar filled with tasty foods to try soon!

To the right of the bar, begins the open dining area filled with stand alone tables and chairs built for smaller and larger parties…

…as well as booth style seating if you have a preference.

The large cut out ovals in the walls serve as viewing windows out of the restaurant and allow for the sun’s natural light to radiate throughout the dining room and fill it with warmth.

The walls are decorated with nautical themed paintings while several chandelier light fixtures hang from the ceiling flanked by candle sconces are also found throughout the rooms.

As you continue to make your way through the restaurant, you’ll also find a separate room, almost cordoned off built for a more intimate dining experience. It’s filled with several tables built medium to smaller dining parties to fill.

But enough about that, what are we eating?!

Food & Drinks

As your server greets you, they’ll come around with the menu for your meal. While we already had an idea of what we planned to order for this meal, it’s always a great idea to talk over your choices with your server and see if they can make any further recommendations tailored to your taste preferences. The front side is where you’ll learn about the entrees, enhancements, and cocktails.

Beverages can be found on the backside of the menu.

To start our meal, we grabbed the Peru Alto Mayo Protected Forest Coffee Roasted by Joffrey’s Coffee for $9.75 which serves two. When it’s brought to the table, you’re presented with a pressed coffee pot, along with the accompanying creamer and a set of coffee cups with saucers.

This is a fancier option for coffee over just a single cup. The coffee was still brewing in the pressed pot, so when the server brought it to our table, we were instructed to, let it continue to brew for another 3 to 4 more minutes before we pressed the stopper down on the pot.

We thought this coffee was an excellent enhancement to our meal and it was very fresh and smooth. If you’re not big on coffee you might not get as much value out of this deal but for a coffee connoisseur this is the way to go! Even with having a few cups each between the two of us, we still had plenty of coffee left over for another cup or so and it wasn’t super expensive.

It’s worth noting there is also an option that serves one person in case you’re joined by someone who’s not a coffee drinker or dining solo so you can also experience this pressed coffee option this way too. It was a nice treat under $10 that elevated our experience right off the bat.

Originally, we had picked out two entrees to enjoy from the menu, however, after talking things over with our server, we found that opting for the Continental Enhancement for each of our meals was the way to go. It comes with the full breakfast bar that’s made of the breakfast buffet AND also includes a coffee, tea, juice or soft drink, along with your entree of choice. This entire meal per adult will cost you $28. There is also a kids option for the same meal making it a great value for families to enjoy all the restaurant has to offer for breakfast.

The best “deals” where we see the highest value from this enhancement is when you order the more expensive entrees on the menu but you can get any of them you choose. Before we dive into the entrees, let’s walk through what’s offered on the breakfast buffet. As we mentioned before this entire buffet is made of hot options like biscuits, gravy…

…cold selections like yogurt and overnight oats…

…assorted pastries…

…even more and some accompaniments…

…and fresh fruit!

This option was exceptional and one of the best deals we’ve spotted around Disney World. If you’re looking for a quick buffet that won’t overwhelm you (and actually tastes good), you don’t need to look any further!

The Chicken & Waffles was one of the entrees we chose with the Continental Enhancement however, by itself, it will cost you $20.

Your eyes may deceive you on this one! One of the first things you’ll notice about this dish when it arrives to your table is its size — it’s HUGE! Our contained three small, round waffles and a huge piece of fried chicken, which at first glance may give the impression that it’s got a spicy flavor to it due to the red-orange color on the batter of the chicken, and the red sauce on the plate. However, you may find comfort to learn that the sauce is actually a berry sauce for the dish. It’s topped with cranberry and maple syrup over the well-seasoned chicken.

As for how it tastes, well, it’s your classic seasoned fried chicken. It’s coated in crispy batter, sprinkled with paprika and seasoning salt and likely some black pepper thrown in there. The chicken piece we received was a boneless thigh, which may come a bit of a disappointment if you’re expecting a chicken breast.

As we touched on before this is a large portion and the waffles to the dish are so savory which is reassuring because that’s how they’re listed on the menu. They definitely had some herbs in them, like thyme and perhaps a little bit of rosemary, but the rosemary was not as overpowering as it can be, in a dish like this one. The waffles had a very fluffy textured batter to them, too! The cranberry maple syrup drizzled on top of them is notably berry flavored and sweet but helped to balance out the savory in the dish pretty well.

Try as we might we simply couldn’t eat it all (even between the two of us), but adding in the breakfast buffet also didn’t help its chances. If you’re a huge chicken and waffles fan, you’ll probably appreciate this one the most, but with its size, don’t be surprised if you find you’re taking at least half of it back up to the room with you to finish later.

We also ordered the Steak and Eggs which on its own would cost you $21. This dish comes to you as a steak cooked to a temperature of your request and a poached sitting on top of it over breakfast potatoes.

When we broke open the egg, it was nice and runny just as expected over the steak and the photo bits below it and the hollandaise sauce that covered the poached egg did give a hint of a lemony zest to the dish.

The steak was fantastic and cooked to our liking, but the real talking point about this one is that it didn’t have a whole lot of fat to it. The steak was sitting on red hash, which was made of diced potatoes, onions, seasoning, and beets. While this was a different take on breakfast potatoes, it all worked together to give it good flavor and it was kind of nice to look at, so presentation wise, we didn’t really mind it.

Magic or Tragic?

This Disney World restaurant is a must-visit if…

• Budget conscious, take note! When we saw exactly what was covered in the entire meal we opted in for, it was harder to turn our nose up to the price.
• Great selections — it’s like an expanded version of a continental breakfast with fresh pastries, warm and cold offerings, that appeal to multiple pallets.
• Need a heftier meal to get your day going. This is certainly a meal where you can eat until you’re content, if you’re looking for a good, filling breakfast that feels more like a brunch, this is it!

You should skip this Disney World spot if…

• You won’t compromise your park time. We get it — Disney World tickets are expensive and if ever day of your vacation is planned to spend in the parks to see and do it all, this would be hard to fit into your plans.
• Breakfast isn’t the most important meal of your day. Not big on breakfast or brunch? Yeah, we could see why you’d want to skip this one in favor of more lunch and dinner plans.
• You’re a light eater. If a hefty meal early on isn’t exactly what you’re looking for to set the pace for the day, we may recommend you skip this one for a lighter option.

Cards on the table, this was a hidden gem of a meal and we were shocked to learn that more people don’t realize this option exists at Disney World. If you’re someone who’s really looking to get your money’s worth out of a meal or need a heftier, more filling option to last you through the morning until your next meal, this is a great breakfast to consider booking for your next trip!

In the meantime, we’ll be on the lookout for more restaurant updates from Disney World and beyond. Make sure you stay tuned to AllEars for the latest Disney news and more!

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Have you eaten at this Disney World restaurant before? Tell us in the comments.