Best table service restaurants for anniversary - not V&A

[Simba's Mom]

For our recent 40th anniversary, we faced this same question. We ended up at Jiko, and couldn't have been happier. Well-that is, unless Artist Point discontinued it's character meals and went back to regular dinners-that's where we celebrated our 30th. I'll admit that Jiko had a real tough act to follow! But everything was fantastic.

 

[focusondisney]

Why did you go there in the first place if you knew going in that there weren't going to be choices that you'd enjoy, and it wasn't your style? Seems like an expensive way to find out what you already knew.

Because we wanted to try something different after 30 years of WDW vacations. I had seen reviews & pictures of the courses & knew there was enough we’d eat. My DH doesn’t like seafood but I do so he was willing to go. As I anticipated, the server had no problem accommodating his dislike of seafood & offered him options for those 2 courses that he thought were delicious & he enjoyed. If they didn’t it wouldn’t have mattered, there was plenty of food besides those 2 courses. The only course I didn’t care for was the cheese course, but I’m not a big cheese person anyway. I went in knowing I probably wouldn’t eat much of that course but, again, there’s so much food, I wasn’t worried about not eating everything in every course. And I didn’t say it wasn’t our style. We do signature dining almost every day of our vacation including prix fixe multi course meals. My biggest concern was the seafood for DH & just as I thought, they offered options. The service was excellent & my seafood courses were absolutely delicious. We’re not sorry we went at all. I just don’t see the need to spend $500 again when we‘ll enjoy other restaurants for $200ish just as much.

And personally, I think if enough people let them know they’d like something other than seafood as their appetizer, the chef might start offering more variety.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Citracos, Narcoossee,
STK, Flying Fish,
Jinko. Toppolinos

They are all great!

Also depends on what you enjoy….

 

[Betsyp]

Honestly, casual isn't a deal-breaker whatsoever. We like everything form fancy food to pizza and burgers (one of our favorite restaurants is a pizza place in Fort Lauderdale, so no shame.) That restaurant looks gorgeous.

Oh, then I think you’ll love 3B. No reservations, but you could put your name on a waiting list

 

[gmi3804]

And personally, I think if enough people let them know they’d like something other than seafood as their appetizer, the chef might start offering more variety.

It’s probably unrealistic to expect that, especially when there are already “no thank you” options available. A huge variety isn’t the point of places like these, and these places are usually at their best when they first open before public demands have a chance to force them to sacrifice their vision. Not everyone has to like everything, that’s why there are many other places to try, no?

 

[focusondisney]

It’s probably unrealistic to expect that, especially when there are already “no thank you” options available. A huge variety isn’t the point of places like these, and these places are usually at their best when they first open before public demands have a chance to force them to sacrifice their vision. Not everyone has to like everything, that’s why there are many other places to try, no?

Or the place gets better because they expand their offerings. One non seafood option out of 2 courses isn’t a huge variety. And because everyone doesn’t like everything is a great reason to offer some variety.

 

[Marrila]

It’s probably unrealistic to expect that, especially when there are already “no thank you” options available. A huge variety isn’t the point of places like these, and these places are usually at their best when they first open before public demands have a chance to force them to sacrifice their vision. Not everyone has to like everything, that’s why there are many other places to try, no?

Not everyone has the same opinion either. There's no right or wrong in dining reviews.
They are fun for me to read and I usually appreciate the guest taking time to post their thoughts. So many places to dine at WDW, I always wish I had more time there.

 

[holden]

Narcoossee's or Shula's

 

[VeeBlancha]

Bull & Bear is at the top of my favorite restaurant experiences ever. The food was just delicious and the atmosphere was perfect for an anniversary dinner.

California Grill was also a really good meal but as others have mentioned it can get a little loud there. But overall it is such a wonderful view of magic kingdom and the service was really good.

 

[elvispursley]

Loved Jiko's, Enzo's Hideaway, Il Mulino

 

[RivShore]

Lots of great suggestions - my top 3 (reasonably priced) options for a special occasion - Topilinos, Enzo's Hideaway, and Toledo. Special shout out to Toledo, we had been to all the resorts except CS so we were pleasantly surprised by it. We went for our anniversary too and asked for a table with a view. View, service and food were all great!

 

[craigkerstiens]

Uh... is "food" a type of food?... We like just about anything. I could maybe pass on pub food, but everything else is fair game.

I was intrigued by Flying Fish. We're thinking of staying at BoardWalk, and I think I read somewhere that AbracadaBar is nearby there as well? We were magicians (in our youth) so it does seem like it'd be fun to have a pre-dinner cocktail there, that was a thought that crossed my mind.

Love flying fish, it's consistently among our top. Was going to come and say if you were tempted by V&A then Takumi Tei is a great experience. Can feel very quiet and private and amazing quality of food.

 

[SouthJersey]

Some context but I'll keep it brief - we live in Florida, and we're finally going to go "full tourist" and spend five days/four nights at Disney for our anniversary.

I am really struggling with where to go for an anniversary dinner. Googling it just immediately says "Victoria and Albert's" - and four years ago, that would have been my first choice. But since they've reopened, I've read a ton of reviews, and I am not at all happy with the changes. For that price point, it's either the original experience or not at all for me. Not up for debate.

So with that said - what other restaurants would you suggest for an awesome dinner in the Disney World Resort complex? It doesn't even have to fit a traditional "romantic anniversary dinner" atmosphere. A really delicious meal in a quirky place would be a better choice than "same ol' ribeye steak" at a "classically romantic ambience" type place. Just somewhere for delicious food, a good cocktail, and a tasty dessert. My only request is that it is a table service restaurant, otherwise, anything is fair game.

I've found many of the reviews to be fictitious reviews by non-diners and driven by the mainstream media coverage of the sticker shock associated with the new prices.

Anyway, V&A would be our #1, followed by:
Shula's
Citrico's
California Grill
Flying Fish
Narcoossee's
Yachtsman
^ in that order.
If you don't mind a little noisier of an environment, Le Cellier has provided a consistently better steak on all of our trips than every restaurant above except for Shula's.

 

[yaksack]

We celebrated our 25 anniversary in WDW (sort of) in 11/22. We had dinner at the Yachtsman's Steakhouse. The wife liked it and after 25 years if she liked it so did I.

 

[RLHornbeck]

Stand outs from our trip last month, no specific order.

Flying Fish: Our Favorite "on site" but the menu has been cut back
Bull and Bear: Great steak and best service we have had at Disney,
Capa: Interesting menu with really good food especially if you like trying things tapas style.
California Grill: The view and food is good

 

[BeachMouse1]

Sit at the pizza bar area at Jiko and walk the resort after. Savannah, the Victoria falls bar and the food at Jiko is fabulous

 

[drenalin'junkie]

We've eaten at most Disney TS and consistently find Sanaa on our list when we plan trips. We are adventurous, no allergies and price isn't an issue.
Sanaa is cozy, themed nicely, has beautiful pre and after dinner vistas and the food is amazing.

 

[TwoDoodles]

For our 25th anniversary trip in May 2022 we tried Flying Fish, Narcoossee‘s and Citrico’s - our favourite of those was Flying Fish, but I would go back to all of them.
Went to Il Mulino for Valentine’s Day this year as had previously had a good meal there many years ago, but we were disappointed this time.

 

[LoveDaisy]

Some of our favorites are Narcoossee’s, Flying Fish, and Bluezoo. Bluezoo was new to us on our last trip and by far the best meal we had that week.

 

[erinch]

Jiko is our favorite date night place