REVIEW: If This Restaurant Isn’t on Your Disney World Itinerary, Add It NOW

We know deciding where to eat on your Disney World trip can be overwhelming, to say the least — that’s why we’re here! We try all restaurants so you can decide what dining options work best for your family.

For dinner, we went under the sea to Sebastian’s Bistro at Caribbean Beach Resort to see if you should add this stop to your next vacation. We’re bringing you a FULL review, so grab your notebook, we’ll grab our forks, and let’s dive in.

Background

Located in the EPCOT Resort Area, Sebastian’s Bistro serves family-style, Latin-inspired meals. We love to grab a huge platter and share it with the table. We ate dinner here, which runs from 4:30 PM to 9:30 PM, and you can make a reservation on the Disney World website or app.

Not staying at Caribbean Beach Resort but want to try Sebastian’s out? We recommend adding a reservation at the end of your EPCOT park day so you can take the Skyliner and not worry about parking, but keep in mind it’s still a bit of a walk over. This is an AllEars favorite for good reason — we love the price point mixed with the incredible environment, and while it’s a sit-down restaurant, it’s not a particularly long dinner without feeling rushed.

Atmosphere

As soon as you walk in, you’ll be surrounded by dark teals and colorful accents, reminding us of a beach day. The restaurant is located by the water and brings calm and relaxing vibes into the dining hall. The whole space feels very open as light comes in from all the windows. The light-colored wood takes us to a beach house, and after a long day in the parks, we love to have a calming environment to relax and recover.

We even love listening to the music! There were a lot of nods to The Little Mermaid without being direct Disney movie songs. We saw lots of families and couples enjoying meals, and while it can get a little loud at times, we found it was quieter than most large dining locations.

Now that we’re ready for “island time,” let’s dive in!

Food & Drinks

Served family-style, we ordered the Taste of the Caribbean Menu for $39 per adult and $21 per child. This meal includes bread, salad, a full entree platter, sides, and a special dessert.

We started with the Buttery House-baked Pull-apart Rolls with guava butter and caramelized onion jam. This is a fan-favorite right here! They pull apart easily and are tender and oh so buttery. Both the guava butter and caramelized onion jam are on the sweeter side, which might not be everyone’s ideal way to start off a meal, but we thought the sweetness with the butter was balanced well. It also comes with a Mickey Mouse cheese bread or cracker. The cheddar flavor was shaped and had a crispier texture, and the only downside we saw was that we only got one of the crackers! We would have loved more to make it easier to share.

Next, we had The Spice Necklace Salad, which is mixed greens with spiced candied pumpkin seeds, tropical fruit, and radish with a key lime dressing. While this is a simpler salad, this dressing is our favorite, making this salad one of the best on the property, and no, we’re not being dramatic. The dressing has a bit of a bite from the citrus but sweetness on the back. Canned pineapple on top added a different texture with more sweetness, and even the pumpkin seeds are incredible in this. All the flavors balance together to create a great bite, and we enjoy how light the salad is to get ready for the bigger part of our dinner.

When our Taste of the Caribbean entree came to our table, we realized we were in for a treat. This platter was filled with oven-roasted chicken with tamarind barbeque, slow-cooked mojo pork with mango sambal, chili-rubbed beef with roasted red pepper chimichurri, and baked fish with citrus butter.

The baked fish is a white fish that is flaky, fresh, and not fishy at all. It’s a great introductory fish for those who want to try a bit more seafood without diving right in. The citrus butter was balanced well and orange-forward, and while this wasn’t the most exciting part of the patter, the fish is a solid option and a nice lighter choice.

Then we had the shredded, slow-cooked pork with the mango sambal, which is like a salsa. The pork was rich from the fattier pork, and the mango sambal just tasted like mango. While we do love mango, we wish there were a bit more of a flavor to it for another dimension.

The oven-roasted chicken had the crispiest skin on top that makes us seriously want to go back into the kitchen to see how they do it (how come our oven-roasted chicken never has this crispy skin??). It was perfectly juicy and not dry in the slightest, and we got a thigh and a leg.

It also came with a spicy sauce, even for Disney’s standards. The sauce was tangy and bold, and those who aren’t too sure about spice will want to dip their fork in before pouring the whole bowl on, but we loved the different flavors it brought.

For the beef, the cut reminded us of a flank steak that was a bit fatty on the edges but not in the middle. We asked for medium, and the chef delivered it just as we like it. It was cut against the grain to make it tender and easy to cut on our plates, and we think this is a true crowd pleaser.

The chimicuri is cilantro-based, so if you love cilantro, it’s now your time to shine, but for those who don’t, you might want to try the other sauces on the platter. The steak was covered in a dry rub with plenty of seasoning, so we don’t think it was even necessary to have a sauce!

For our platter of sides, we were served cilantro rice and beans, roasted seasonal vegetables, and candied plantains. The white rice was coated in a cilantro sauce, and the red beans were mixed together. They were delicious and went well with the entrees. The plantains were sweet and complemented the platter’s savory flavor, and the vegetable medley had a lovely char from the oven. The vegetables were previously stewed but are now oven-roasted, which we think appeals to a larger audience and more folks at your table.

We weren’t leaving without dessert, and our meal comes with Our Celebrated House-made Coconut-Pineapple Bread Pudding with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. We have deemed ourselves bread pudding experts, and we think this is the superior version at Disney! It comes as a slice for the party, and you can even ask for more! The caramel sauce tastes homemade and is so buttery and rich, and it pushed this bread pudding to the top. It’s served warm, and the ice cream melts on top to create a sauce, and the caramel just rounds it all off to be perfect.

There are no crusty edges on the cake, and it is soft, just how we like it. It’s moist, and the pineapple flavor is at the top and bottom, with the coconut being in the middle. This is one of our favorite desserts that we look forward to every time. If there’s one thing you try during this meal, let it be this bread pudding, and then come back and tell us how much you loved it.

And yes, you get ALL of that for $39. It’s even all you care to enjoy, so you can ask for more of your favorites!

Magic or Tragic?

You need to go to Sebastian’s Bistro if…

• • You want a filling, family-style dinner
  • You are looking for an affordable dining option outside of the parks with a calming experience
  • You need our favorite bread pudding of all time (and we promise you do)

You might want to skip this spot if…

• • You don’t enjoy your food served in a platter or touching all together
  • You want a more convenient location
  • You are looking for a fancier or date night dinner

Overall, we come to Sebastian’s Bistro time and time again, and we don’t leave disappointed, and this is one of the best bangs for your buck you can get at Disney. You’ll get a whole three-course meal with the choice to get more for $39, which is incredible to feed a family (especially those teenagers who could eat the entire restaurant). If you aren’t parking at the resort, it can be a bit difficult to get to the bistro, but if you’re staying at the hotel, you won’t want to miss it.

We’re going to keep trying all the restaurants we can so we can bring the details back to you for your best trip ever. Keep following AllEars for more food reviews!

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Have you ever dined at Sebastian’s Bistro? Tell us about your experience in the comments.

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