Disney World’s hotels are known for having some pretty fantastic dining options. In fact, many members of our team (myself included) find that dining at the hotels often has restaurants with better quality or options than the restaurants in the parks!
While Disney’s cheapest resorts, their Value resorts, often only have one dining option in the form of a food court, Disney’s Moderate and Deluxe Resorts usually have more options and are typically higher in quality. We’ve found this to usually be true, so imagine our surprise when we saw a HARSH review come through for a restaurant we’ve previously had a great experience at — is something going on with Boatwright’s Dining Hall?
Boatwright’s Dining Hall is located at Port Orleans Riverside, a moderate resort at Disney World. This is the table service restaurant at the resort, so advance dining reservations are highly encouraged.
This restaurant specializes in family-friendly American fare inspired by Southern Louisiana cooking (or, the bayou, as many call it). True to its name, the ambiance of the whole restaurant is themed to boats and shipbuilding. You’ll find a skeletal hull of a lugger fishing boat hanging from the ceiling, as well as C-clamps, saw blades, axes, and more on the walls.
One of the most popular options at this spot is the Taste of the Bayou All-You-Care-To-Enjoy Platter, which includes hickory-smoked ribs, crispy Cajun chicken, smoked sausage, and beef brisket with corn, mashed potatoes, green beans, and mac and cheese. We’ve had this before ourselves and enjoyed it, but we’ll admit, it’s been a hot second since we’ve been there, and based on this most recent review left on our website, we’re thinking something may be going on with this spot.
Back in late June, an Anonymous reviewer left the following review on our website about their experience at Boatwright’s Dining Hall:
“My wife and I had Dinner on 6/26/25. I had the All you can eat Sampler platter; my wife had the Salad with grilled chicken and French onion soup. Let me start by saying we are Annual Passholder and live in Florida. My Sampler platter was HORRIBLE. Consisted of 2 THINLY sliced Brisket which was inedible. Dry Tough and full of fat. The ribs and sausage were fair at best The chicken was dry and everything was barely warm. The best thing on the plate were the fresh string beans. My wife’s salad was GOOD but its hard to screw up a salad.
French onion soup was fair.
The only reason I didn’t give this a lower rating was because our server Kerri and the Manager Mandy were wonderful. They offered to bring me another platter but one was MORE THAN ENOUGH. Bottom line DON”T WASTE YOUR MONEY.“
Well, that’s quite the review! The last time we went to this restaurant to do a FULL review was when Quincy and Emma went in June of 2024, and based on the reviews they’d seen, they weren’t expecting to enjoy the meal too much. However, Quincy had the Taste of the Bayou All-You-Care-To-Enjoy Platter and was impressed by what she had! The mac and cheese and mashed potatoes were huge standouts, but the ribs and brisket were very tender in our experience. While they didn’t totally stand out as incredible, we didn’t dislike them!
However, that review was from over a year ago, so it’s entirely possible that things have changed, and from reading this review, it sounds like we need to go back and see if the quality has decreased at this spot over the past year.
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Have you ever dined at this restaurant? Tell us in the comments!
This is sad. This particular dining hall gives me the feeling that Disney Management simply didn’t bother finishing the theme project after getting rid of the Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Bear theme at Riverside. Worse still, the food and theme we have now completely misses out on the obvious New Orleans, crawfish bayou and Pirate possibilities. Also, the food is simply not that great. If Disney management was smart they would put an upscale New Orleans restaurant and on site catering and activity hall for weddings and fine dining. As a part time citizen of New Orleans I can simply say they are missing out on the fun.
That review may have been an isolated incident. We have had good experiences the few times we have eaten there. In fact, we went to Boatwrights in early April 2025 during our visit for the F & G Festival. The food was very good as was the service. They were pretty much full during our dinner time frame, 6:00 – 7:00PM. Admittedly, it is not the easiest place to get to, but we took a bit more time, had a leisurely stroll and had a drink at the River Roost before dinner. If you have the time, it can be a nice experience.