10 Best Restaurants in Disney World Florida

Victoria & Albert's is located inside Walt Disney World Resort, at the luxurious Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. This fine-dining restaurant isn’t exactly the kind of place you can just rock up to any time of day in your shorts and T-shirt. Reservations are required with a smart dress code, meaning guys need to wear a jacket. On the 6-course tasting menu, you’ll find the likes of Masago-crusted Maine scallop, quail with cardamom and sunchokes, veal with black truffles and Sauce Périgord, and onion ash-crusted Niman Ranch lamb. Prices start from $150 per head, though that final bill at the end will be a lot higher once you add on drinks and service charge.

The Hilton’s signature La Luce serves a refined Italian menu of thin-crust pizzas, delectable pastas and an excellent Trattoria-style wine program. Only open for dinner, the restaurant's candlelit tables and lulling music make for a romantic setting, though the generously-sized potions and lively service make this good for the whole family. If you’re not into your wines, La Luce's creative Mediterranean-inspired cocktail list is well worth checking out, too.

For a chance to sample some of celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck’s signature creations in an informal setting, try heading to this modest and fast-paced restaurant at Disney Springs Marketplace. As an all-day restaurant, you can treat yourself to a gourmet breakfast, fancy (but still affordable) lunch or come for one of the dinner specials. Wolfgang Puck Express's menu of contemporary American and international dishes changes regularly.

Fresh seafood (obviously) and prime cuts of steak are some of Flying Fish Café's specialities. This highly-rated spot on Disney’s Broadwalk is actually more of a restaurant than a café. High ceilings, funky light installations and high-energy service all make the dining experience complete at the Flying Fish Café, although do expect prices to be a little inflated.

California Grill benefits from an elevated position at Disney’s Contemporary Resort (near the Magic Kingdom), offering some superb views over the park – especially good if you're dining when the firework display over Cinderella’s Castle takes place. The menu presents an eclectic mix of dishes from around the world, with sushi plates, Italian-style pasta and salads, as well as plenty of meat such as the bison striploin, oak-fired filet of beef, Bell & Evans chicken, and pork belly rillettes. Most of these mains come in at around the $50 mark, meaning an evening spent here with the whole family will be an expensive one – but one you won’t forget in a long time.

Jiko - The Cooking Place is right in the heart of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Everything, from the vibrant décor, carved wooden seating and flavoursome dishes, takes inspiration from Africa. The impressive wine list which is exclusively imported from South Africa. They serve up the likes of Nigerian-spiced pork shank, garam masala-spiced sea scallops, maize-crusted grouper and Botswana-style Seswaa beef short rib. Most mains come in at around $30-50 while appetisers and desserts are around $10-20. This is definitely a family-friendly place, with a small and affordable selection of kids’ dishes available.

For a unique dining experience, and one the kids will never forget, Cinderella’s Royal Table lets you dine with Disney Princesses in a grand banquet hall at the top of the building. After following the winding staircase, you’ll be greeted by a scene looking like something out of the movies, complete with colourful stained-glassed windows, towering stone archways overhead and medieval-style flags draped throughout. 

Food – which takes second place to all the grandeur that surrounds – is modern American cuisine, with plenty of choices to suit all tastes. The banquet hall is open for breakfast and lunch, although the true magic is best experienced during dinner. Don’t forget to dress up and plan for around $60 per head excluding drinks and service charge.

ESPN Wide World of Sports Grill at Disney World provides exactly what it says on the label: live sports streams and a meat-centric menu that’s cooked to order on the grill. The spacious diner has a genuine sports bar feel to it – almost as if you’ve left Micky Mouse and friends behind and headed into Downtown Orlando. 

The main room is spacious and bright, with sports memorabilia plastered on the walls in between the flat-screen TVs. Food is much more wallet-friendly here, too. Generously-sized hot and cold sandwiches, as well as sports-bar classics like nachos, hot dogs, pizzas, chicken nuggets and wings, come in at around $10.

Bull & Bear Steakhouse at Waldorf Astoria is one of Orlando’s finest steakhouses. Overlooking the 5-star hotel’s namesake golf club – right on the border of the sprawling Walt Disney World – views out of the floor-to-ceiling windows are superb. The meticulous service and refined décor are similarly impressive, keeping things smart and sophisticated without ever feeling too stuffy. The pièce de résistance here has to be the 32-day dry-aged Tomahawk ribeye, big enough for 2 people to share.