REVIEW: These Are The BEST Finds at the Swan and Dolphin Food & Wine Classic in Disney World!

It’s time for our second-favorite Disney World Food & Wine event of the year!

Yes, there are two! You’ve got the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival that just started in August, but coming soon, for two days only, you can experience the Swan and Dolphin Food & Wine Classic! For just one price, you can check out an unlimited number of bites to eat and drinks from booths that represent restaurants from all across the Swan and Dolphin hotels. We just got the chance to preview some of the items coming to the event this year, and we’re here to share our thoughts!

This year, the event takes place on Friday, November 14th, and Saturday, November 15th, 2025, from 5:00-9:00 PM, and tickets cost $205.00 per person ($224.01 with tax and service fees) for either Friday OR Saturday night, or you can pay $369.00 per person ($403.30 with tax and service fees) for a two-night ticket. If you attend both nights, you can save 10%!

We were invited to a media preview of some of this year’s offerings, and we got to try 11 different items that you’ll see on the menu during the event. Let’s dig in!

To start, we tried out the Slow Braised Wagyu Beef Short Rib from Bourbon Steak. It’s served with celery root espuma and shallot marmalade.

You guys? This is a MUST-get if you’re going to the Food and Wine Classic. The meat was tender and nearly fell apart under our fork, and the flavors are rich and buttery.

Next up was the Sabich, which comes from the Amare food table. This is vegan and it’s made with fried eggplant, Israeli salad, pickled watermelon radish, tahini garlic sauce, amba, micro parsley, and a mini pita.

This is a very fresh dish with a good mix of textures. The sauce added some creaminess to the heavier fried eggplant. The veggies throughout really brighten it up. Not a top dish of the day, but a great option for those who want something fresh.

Another one of our favorites was the Stir-Fried Rice made with Blue Crab, Florida Gulf Shrimp, and tempura shiitakes. It’s from the bluezoo booth.

This was surprisingly hearty and very filling with a strong salty-sweet soy flavor. The shrimp were plentiful and the crab was nice and tender. A great dish to get later in the evening, but don’t start out with it if you don’t want to fill up quickly!

For the pasta lovers, we had the Ricotta Cappelletti from Il Mulino. It’s hand-crafted pasta with house-made citrus ricotta filling, slow-cooked angus beef ragu, and crispy pancetta breadcrumbs.

This was rich, cheesy, and delicious! The meat was wonderfully savory and balanced well with the tender, soft pasta. A decent portion, too.

For something a little lighter, try the Chirashi Bowl. It’s made with cured salmon, seasoned sushi rice, shoyu egg, wakame, pickled radish, cucumber, edamame, and a sriracha aioli. It’s gluten-free and it comes from the Cabana food stall.

This was very bright and refreshing with cool flavors and fresh salmon. The sriracha aioli really rounded things out with some warmth on the back end.

One really unique item we tried was the Fried Apalachiocola Oyster Sliders. These are topped with black pepper and scallion coleslaw and key lime “mignonette” jam. You’ll find them in the Love of Florida-themed area.

These were TART, verging on sour. That key lime flavor is quite punchy! The oysters had some chew to them, but came out of the batter easily, so that by the end, we had a mostly batter sandwich.

The last of the savory eats was the Pan-Fried Shrimp & Pork Dumpling. This was topped with ginger & black vinegar dipping sauce, house-made chili oil, and Yu Chen’s Crispy Chili Oil. You can find these in the Chinatown-themed area.

These were the smallest portion of the items available, but they had some great textures with a dumpling that was soft on one side and crispy from frying on the other. The filling was juicy and had a little chew, but the chili oil flavor was fairly strong to overwhelm the other flavors.

We also got the chance to try four desserts. The first was the Sweet Corn Ice Cream Cone, featuring hot honey syrup, a Parmesan crisp, and caramel corn. This was incredibly unique, with a strong corn flavor and creamy ice cream. The Parmesan crisp added some crunchy, salty flavors.

The Green Tea Lime Mango Mousse Dome was a little tangy and very Florida in taste. It was filled with small fruit pieces on the inside and was wrapped in a white chocolate rim.

The Cherry was another favorite of ours, made with cherry mousse, chocolate cake, black cherry compote, and a dark chocolate disk. The flavors of chocolate and cherry worked tremendously together and the presentation was stunning.

Last but not least was the Chocolate Cassis Mousse, which was vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free. It was smooth and creamy with a sharp cassis filling hidden in the middle.

So if any of these things sound delicious to you, make sure to snag your tickets for this year’s Food and Wine Classic! We’ll be there to share more of the items available when it kicks off.

We can’t wait to try out more items at the actual event, so be sure to stay tuned to AllEars for all the latest Disney World reviews and news!

CONFIRMED: Full Menus Revealed For Disney World’s Swan & Dolphin Food and Wine Classic

What item are you most looking forward to trying this year? Tell us in the comments!

Disclosure: We were invited by Disney to attend the Swan and Dolphin Food & Wine Classic. This did not affect our reporting of the event — our opinions are our own.

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