Anyone ever dine at the Mara?

[Pluto777]

Is this the only QS at Jambo? The hours listed are basically all day, but is there any particular time for lunch vs dinner? Any comments on whether you liked/hated it appreciated!

 

[MrsHammer]

This is the quick service location for Jambo house, although you can get quick food items at the pool bar and at Victoria's Lounge off the main lobby. There are a few different menu items at dinner vs lunch. I'm not sure of the timing of the switch from lunch to dinner, but I would guess maybe around 5pm (the online menu specifies that one dinner entree is available after 5pm). My family has eaten several breakfasts at the Mara and lunch a couple of times and have been satisfied with our food and service. If you want to try some items with an African flair without shelling out big bucks for the sit-down restaurants, this is a good choice.

 

[monorailmom]

We love the Mara! We don't typically get breakfast, but have had many lunches and dinners here. Food may take a couple of minutes but that's because it's prepared fresh and not just sitting under a heat lamp. They have a small bakery case that has some excellent snack options in it! Other than one particularly rainy night where it seemed EVERYONE decided to stay in, we've never had trouble with lines or finding a table. We are back at Kidani in August and look forward to a few meals over there!

 

[Simba's Mom]

Love the Mara. DH and I drove over there for lunch one day, and he loved the carved turkey sandwich. They always have butternut squash soup, which they insist is from the same kitchen and pot as used for Boma, but to me it actually tastes better. I think that's because it's so much cheaper at Mara. Also, don't forget that you can get zebra domes there.

 

[Haley R]

We stayed at AKL last year and ate at the Mara a lot since the other on site restaurants are pretty pricey. We thought it was really good the first time, but after three days the food got pretty repetitive. We didn't feel like there were a lot of options to choose from. That may be because I'm picky so the only thing I really liked on their menu was the pepperoni pizza.

 

[gharter]

I think Mara is one of the better QS locations at a resort. It has a more unique menu compared to the other resorts. Depending on how adventurous you are, that may or may not be a good thing. Need to look at the menu to see if its your type of food.

 

[Happiest.Haunt_999]

 

[KidaniZen]

We love it and often walk over from Kidani in order to dine there.

 

[GPC0321]

Just ate lunch there on Wednesday and enjoyed it a lot. It's themed very nicely, the ordering and receiving of food was very efficient...you order then they give you a buzzer, you go pay and find a table, and then when the buzzer goes off you go back and pick up your food. Doesn't take long at all, and keeps the area where you order and pick up food much less crowded.

I had the crispy chicken BLT sandwich with fries and slaw, and it was all very tasty.

 

[KenHutch]

Love the place but we mainly eat breakfast there. We had to late dinners after disastrous meals at BoG and Rose & Crown (both places my girls left hungry) and even thou we got there late (close to closing) they really did their best to feed everyone. So really good food and great service.

 

[Anthony1971]

They have the normal Disney Fair and a few other items that are African inspired--try them or at least one person they are good. Everything is made to order and can be slow at busier times but worth the wait as even Disney burgers are far better when cooked fresh.

 

[BaseballMoM2007]

We stayed there in December and found the food to be great for a QS We were on the deluxe dining plan and wound up cancelling some table service meals and eating there instead. My recommendations are the breakfast flatbread, the braai chicken flat bread (huge and so good) and the Chicken BLT. All were very good and the portions were very large. We shared most of our meals from there becuase of the portion sizes.

 

[cgattis]

We enjoyed the flatbreads and the African stew. It seemed a little less nuts than some of the other resort QS, maybe because it's so tucked away.

 

[DisBuckMan]

It's one of my family's favorite QS restaurants.

The crispy chicken BLT is very good, and I really enjoy the African stew, as well as some of the "Boma" soups that you can get there....especially the chicken corn chowder.

 

[FosterLovesMickey]

I had some chicken corn chowder there, a couple years back and I STILL dream about that stuff. Last time I stayed there, they didn't offer it. I'm assuming it was a 'soup of the day' offering and I just didn't hit it right the last time. But, if you have an opportunity to order it - get it, it is delicious!

 

[fizzymint]

The Mara is awesome! We ate there multiple times when staying at AKL. They have really interesting things on the menu, some standard stuff, and nice desserts. AKL has such great food all-around and The Mara is no exception.

 

[Jetta8300]

We stayed at AKL in November and tried eating there one time, but the line was always way too long and it didn't move at all. We showed up for breakfast around 7am, and there were only 6 people in line ahead of us and it took over a half hour for them to get our food. We tried to come back around dinner later in the trip, and same deal. Line out the door and not moving an inch, We left after waiting 20 min and the line hadn't moved. I wonder if this is normal???

 

[AngiTN]

Do people ever dine at the Mara? The only QS at AKL Jambo house? Of course they do. Hundreds of thousands do. Where else would all the people on the Disney QS dining plan eat?
It's actually one of the best QS at WDW. There are only about 5, 6 that we will eat at. The Mara is one of them.
Now, we aren't going to go all the way to AKL just to eat there or anything but when staying at AKL we will go eat there.
I can't say that about many other Resort QS. Most of the others we avoid.

 

[rdaky]

So I'm going to sound like the odd one out, but we just stayed at AKL earlier this month and we went there, but after the 2nd meal there, we were over it. The menu is good (I tried the chicken sandwich and the pulled pork) and definitely better than your standard resort food court. But the menu is also fairly small. There aren't many entrees, there is ONE line to order your food which can be long if get there at the wrong time. And if you have a picky eater in your party, the menu is going to seem even smaller.

 

[FSU Girl]

I loved the Mara. In my dining report we ate there twice if you want to see pictures of the food.