REVIEW: This Disney World Hotel Restaurant Serves Bread The Size Of A Basketball

There are more than just attractions to ride and characters to meet at Disney World. There are also lots and lots of options for dining. You don’t even have to stick with a restaurant in a theme park when it comes to dining. You can find some of the best restaurants at the hotels across Disney World property.

Here at AllEars, we know all the ins and outs of Disney restaurants — including where you should definitely eat, where you should skip, and what restaurants are worth leaving the parks for. We recently stopped by Amare at the Walt Disney World Swan Reserve and are bringing you our FULL review!

Background

You will find Amare inside the Walt Disney World Swan Reserve. It is the signature dining location at the hotel. The restaurant is inspired by the “taste and cultures of the Mediterranean region” with the menu focusing on fresh, premium ingredients like seafood, citrus, olive oils, pasta, and pitas. Additionally, the restaurant features an extensive list of Mediterranean-based wines to complete the experience.

Inside you’ll be wow’d by the stunning tranquillity found throughout the restaurants theme and flow with neutral colors and dim lighting.

As we were led to our seat, we were left with a few menus to browse before ultimately selecting our meal for the evening.

Here’s what you need to know about dining at this restaurant.

Atmosphere

Amare serves three meals a day: breakfast from 7 AM until 11 AM, lunch from 11:30 AM until 2 PM, and dinner from 5 PM until 11 PM. Reservations are highly recommended for dinner. The restaurant itself feels light and airy as you walk in with an open kitchen and lots of wood accents and blue tones.

But enough about that, what are we eating?!

Food & Drinks

We started off with the Journey through Greece Wine Flight for $23. This flight features some of Greece’s signature varietals. It features a 3oz tasting of each: Zoe, Roditis, Peloponnese, 2020, Croix de Peyrassol, Mediterranee, 2020, Boutari Kretikos, Crete, 2019.

We really appreciated the ability to try different tastes to wine in this flight. It could also be a great way to expand your wine tasting experience without committing to a full glass of something. The White Blend Peloponnese is served chilled. It was on the sweeter side, but not like Moscato sweet. It was very fruity tasting and didn’t taste super acidic. It kind of had a flatness to it. It veered on the lighter side and very easy to drink.

The Rose Peloponnese was also served chilled. This was probably the sweetest of all the three in the flight. This one had notes of cherry or strawberry to our reporter. It was light and refreshing, and very easy to sip on.

And last of the flight for us was the Red Blend Peloponnese. This one was actually our favorite of the trio.  We felt like this one had the most complex flavor. It started very fruity, lots of cherry flavor, and finished with a kind of leathery flavor. And it left a good aftertaste of kind of a cocoa flavor.

For an appetizer, we decided on Amare’s Signature Ishkabubble Bread for $19. It comes with house-made pita served with red pepper muhammara dip, garlic yogurt dip, and jalapeno shatta.

The chef actually came out and talked to us about this dish. The name “Ishkabubble” is actually made up, and they created this dish in-house. While it is reminiscent of Eastern Mediterranean cuisine, it’s not something you will authentically find there. They crafted the dough so it could get blown up to the size of a basketball, and it comes served with three dips.

This bread was huge! It is hollow in the middle, but it is still a lot of bread, and it definitely makes a statement when it comes out. It is seasoned with a variety of spices on top, and it is soft and fluffy. It was a bit messy to eat with the spices on top, but don’t let that deter you. It was delicious and addictive! The spices were great along with the salt, sesame seeds you’ll also find on it. We’ll be dreaming about this bread for a long time after this meal.

As for the sauces, we started off with the Red Pepper Muhammara Dip, first.

This dip was by far our favorite. It had great flavor with some sweetness to it that was balanced out really well with the acidity. It was creamy and full of spice (but it wasn’t hot). You could definitely taste the red pepper in it.

The Garlic Yogurt Dip was a bit more plain than the other two, but it was a great addition overall. It was like a slightly thinned-out Greek yogurt with some garlic flavor to it. The garlic flavor was there, but it wasn’t overpowering. Highly recommend mixing and matching the sauces, thought. On their own they’re good, but mixed together they taste even better!

And finally, the Jalapeno Shatta. This was another we really enjoyed. It had a lot of herby flavor to it, with the most prominent flavor being parsley. The chef said the seeds were taken out of the jalapenos, so it wasn’t super spicy, but it still had a slight kick to it, but not bad at all. It had a bit more of a gritty/chunky texture though along with a hint of a nutty flavor to it, like walnuts.

For our entree, we grabbed the Grilled Souvlaki with Angus Beef Skewers for $37. This dish comes with your choice of two grilled tender chicken thighs or Angus beef skewers, with crispy potatoes, tabbouleh, mint pesto, cucumber salad, garlic yogurt sauce, harissa spiced hummus, and warm pita bread.

The skewers were cooked to medium rare (our server asks what temperature you want them cooked to, and medium rare is the default temperature unless you want a different one), and then they are served with a mint pesto and crispy potatoes on top. The meat was a bit on the chewy side, but it had great flavor, and we loved the smokiness in it. The mint pesto added a great pop of acidity and freshness to the meat. And, the crispy potatoes were great. They were super skinny and crispy, and added a great crunchy texture.

The Grilled Pita was so good it has us considering grilling our own pita form here on out. The slight char on the pita was delicious, and the pita was soft and fluffy. You can dip it in the hummus that comes on the plate or your server will leave dips from previous dishes, so we used those for our pita too!

The Tabbouleh was also very yummy! It was full of herby flavor, and the grain was soft while still having a bit of texture to it. Some diced up tomatoes and cucumbers in it added some freshness. while the Hummus and Cucumber Salad was creamy and flavorful.

You could taste a bit of the harissa in it, but it was a light flavor. The cucumber salad was fresh and crispy, with a bit of tang to it. There was lots of dill flavor and it was a refreshing addition to the plate.

Magic or Tragic?

This Disney World restaurant is a must-visit if…

• You’re looking for an adventurous eat. This food is very heavily Greek-influenced and has a lot to offer in terms of flavor and aroma.
• Service is key for you. Hands down this experience had some of the best service across Disney World’s hotels and parks and that can make all the difference in your meal.
• You’re all about a good dip variety. There were lots of flavors to try for sauces and dips here. If that’s up your alley, then you’ve come to the right place.

You should skip this Disney World spot if…

• You’re not about a quiet, low key atmosphere. If you prefer to dine somewhere a bit more lively, this probably won’t suit you.
• You’re not easily swayed to Greek food. Again, heavy Greek influence in the food and flavors found here. If that’s not for you, you likely won’t enjoy this much.
• This might feel too out of the way for someone who isn’t set on leaving the “Disney bubble.” While this is a restaurant found within Disney World property at one of the nearby hotels, it’s a little out of the way for some to reach it by boat or by car or rideshare.

Overall this was a great meal with a service experience to match. We loved getting to explore so many spices using all of our senses and sampling a bit of the Greek influence found within this restaurant.

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.