Morimoto in Disney Springs - Reviews, thoughts, insights?

[DerekV914]

Hi all,

Have a trip coming up in September which will be my and the wife's belated honeymoon since we did not feel comfortable traveling over the past year-plus. I am familiar with most resort/park options, but I have never been to Disney Springs. I have eaten at other Morimoto restaurants and they are incredible, but I worry this restaurant isn't up to snuff since it may have been Disney-fied in regards to cuisine/quality. I know the word is that Chef was actually involved in this project instead of just licensing his name out, so I'm hopeful. The menu looks great, but has anyone eaten there who can give an honest review or opinion as to whether it's worth the price point?

Any and all opinions, positive or negative is appreciated. Thanks, everyone!

 

[NYCgrrl]

It hasn’t been “Disneyfied“ from a food POV. It was a regular weekend lunch spot for us pre pandemic and current reviews can also be found at Yelp.
Have fun when you get there!

ETA: make reservations for this and most Disney Springs eateries at opentable.
Easier to get an ADR and allows you more time to concentrate on the harder park and resort reservations.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I was treated like gold for my allergies and we had amazing food.

For our party of 6 (5 "adults"/ 1 "kid", but we all ate as adults), we got the plate of 6 ribs (these are so good - next time, I'd get 2 plates) as an app, and then each person in my party picked a personal ramen entree (most got duck, but my spouse got the spicy seasonal one). And since we like a lot of veg in our ramen, I asked the waiter what would be the best entree veg to order to share (so we could add to our ramens) and he steered us to the tofu medley, which was spectacular and a perfect complement (and comes with more varieties of veg than listed on allears, at least ours did, maybe b/c I said it was going in the ramens?).

The service made the night - we had our own room on the 2nd floor, had the manager stop in, and just had a great meal. I'd go here every trip.

PS - We love duck and duck flavor, and that duck ramen is all duck, so we loved it...but the star is the ribs...and we were originally gonna try more dishes, but then every kid I had wanted the duck ramen, so who was I to say no and try to convince them of a more "family" style experience, but I did get my way a little with family style ribs and veg, so I did get to try 3 things (my spouse's ramen had my allergy, so I couldn't try his)...
PPS - 2 of us had leftovers (my daughter and I - the light eaters). Everyone else felt good and didn't need dessert for a few hours...

EDIT TO ADD: I ate here in late May 2021...

 

[SeanWM48]

went there late January. it was our most expensive meal of the trip but also our best. paid a lot, got a lot.

started out at the bar having a whiskey since we showed up a little early for the res. if you're into whiskey/bourbon, they had their own barrel pick of Maker's. Very cool.

layout of the restaurant is really impressive in my opinion. Just the walk up the stairs to our table (sat outside on the deck they have) made me realize the place is really nice and well put together.
i had their version of fried rice, which included 3 or 4 different meats (duck, pork, chicken, shrimp). fantastic. we ordered a couple other small dishes that we split.

service was on point. whole experience was such a plus that we decided to hang out a little longer by ordering dessert, another high-end whiskey, and espresso. bill was probably at or near 200 bucks for two young adults. just know that going in. granted we went all-out and splurged.

nothing but good things to say about the whole experience

 

[trivan]

I've eaten there 2x most recently last week. I've also dined at the original in Philly. I would consider it a Morimoto with a menu catered to the Disney clientele. All the food is very good, a surprise is the ribs which are very good with an asian influenced taste, I don't think that is on the Philly menu.

I can't say if it's worth the price point for you, but for us having a nice Sushi dinner is worth it.

 

[DerekV914]

went there late January. it was our most expensive meal of the trip but also our best. paid a lot, got a lot.

started out at the bar having a whiskey since we showed up a little early for the res. if you're into whiskey/bourbon, they had their own barrel pick of Maker's. Very cool.

layout of the restaurant is really impressive in my opinion. Just the walk up the stairs to our table (sat outside on the deck they have) made me realize the place is really nice and well put together.
i had their version of fried rice, which included 3 or 4 different meats (duck, pork, chicken, shrimp). fantastic. we ordered a couple other small dishes that we split.

service was on point. whole experience was such a plus that we decided to hang out a little longer by ordering dessert, another high-end whiskey, and espresso. bill was probably at or near 200 bucks for two young adults. just know that going in. granted we went all-out and splurged.

nothing but good things to say about the whole experience

$200 for a high-quality dinner with drinks isn't bad at all, in my opinion. Living in LA for three years may have skewed my perspective on pricing though. Thanks for the insight. Looking more and more like this is going to be a must-do this trip.

 

[DerekV914]

It hasn’t been “Disneyfied“ from a food POV. It was a regular weekend lunch spot for us pre pandemic and current reviews can also be found at Yelp.
Have fun when you get there!

ETA: make reservations for this and most Disney Springs eateries at opentable.
Easier to get an ADR and allows you more time to concentrate on the harder park and resort reservations.

Thanks! And random PSA from someone who works in restaurant tech, in case people aren't aware, using platforms like OpenTable actually hurts restaurants, (same with DoorDash, UberEats, etc.) as they and other companies like them don't share the customer data with the establishment, (not in the way you're thinking like FB and Google use data, more for analytics and the like) and also charge an arm and a leg for their software. For Morimoto, this more than likely doesn't apply, but for smaller local restaurants, call them. Don't use Resy or OpenTable. I promise you they appreciate it.

Rant over.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I've eaten there 2x most recently last week. I've also dined at the original in Philly. I would consider it a Morimoto with a menu catered to the Disney clientele. All the food is very good, a surprise is the ribs which are very good with an asian influenced taste, I don't think that is on the Philly menu.

I can't say if it's worth the price point for you, but for us having a nice Sushi dinner is worth it.

This I definitely agree with. When we first ate there it had more lesser known dishes like laksa but it’s now gone from the menu. I suspect it was less accepted. Still, all the remaining menu items are made with love.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Thanks! And random PSA from someone who works in restaurant tech, in case people aren't aware, using platforms like OpenTable actually hurts restaurants, (same with DoorDash, UberEats, etc.) as they and other companies like them don't share the customer data with the establishment, (not in the way you're thinking like FB and Google use data, more for analytics and the like) and also charge an arm and a leg for their software. For Morimoto, this more than likely doesn't apply, but for smaller local restaurants, call them. Don't use Resy or OpenTable. I promise you they appreciate it.

Rant over.

Didn’t realize that about the data not being shared. Did about the higher cost to restauranteurs though. Normally I sign up to eateries’ websites when I like them in particular yet your post makes sense.

 

[trivan]

Thanks! And random PSA from someone who works in restaurant tech, in case people aren't aware, using platforms like OpenTable actually hurts restaurants, (same with DoorDash, UberEats, etc.) as they and other companies like them don't share the customer data with the establishment, (not in the way you're thinking like FB and Google use data, more for analytics and the like) and also charge an arm and a leg for their software. For Morimoto, this more than likely doesn't apply, but for smaller local restaurants, call them. Don't use Resy or OpenTable. I promise you they appreciate it.

Rant over.

Off topic, but agree, there is a local Indian food place which during the height of Covid started with DoorDash/UberEats, etc... to get business. When we ordered direct and picked it up they were so grateful and let us know that these place charge them 20% to use the platform. So now we check to see if the restaurant offers there own delivery and call them direct. If not we'll sometime go pick it up ourselves.

 

[trivan]

started out at the bar having a whiskey since we showed up a little early for the res. if you're into whiskey/bourbon, they had their own barrel pick of Maker's. Very cool.

When at a Japanese restaurant next time try some of the the Japanese whiskey, you wont be disappointed.
They also have a very good selection of cold sake's

 

[wideeyedwonder]

I’ll offer a bit of a counter point; we were there two weeks ago, and although the service and atmosphere was great, we weren’t all “wowed” by the food. Actually, half of us really liked what we ordered, while the other half were of the opinion “this is good/adequate”.

In comparison, both California grill (at the contemporary) and wine bar George (Disney springs) both got “two thumbs up” from the entire party (6 people).

 

[DerekV914]

Off topic, but agree, there is a local Indian food place which during the height of Covid started with DoorDash/UberEats, etc... to get business. When we ordered direct and picked it up they were so grateful and let us know that these place charge them 20% to use the platform. So now we check to see if the restaurant offers there own delivery and call them direct. If not we'll sometime go pick it up ourselves.

They are lucky at 20%. It's usually 28-35%.

 

[smcabee]

If you love sushi and Japanese food and dont mind splurging a lot of money the Omakase experience is divine. Not sure if they doing it yet again but it was amazing in late 2019.

 

[Lilsia]

I really like the food there. It is not as "Americanized" as many other places, which I appreciate. It is pricey but but I am willing to spend more on good food. Even my girls have loved everything that they have ordered there. And yes, Chef Morimoto is very involved in all of his restaurants. I was there when they opened and saw him watching the kitchen.

 

[Physics Guy]

We went there many years ago as we felt like it's a "must do" at least once. To be honest, we prefer the sushi we've had at Splitsville! Not that Morimoto wasn't good, but for the price and the variety, we were very pleasantly surprised with Splittsville's meal and like their options better (and the family bowling is always a fun plus).

 

[freshmanjs]

I really like the food there. It is not as "Americanized" as many other places, which I appreciate. It is pricey but but I am willing to spend more on good food. Even my girls have loved everything that they have ordered there. And yes, Chef Morimoto is very involved in all of his restaurants. I was there when they opened and saw him watching the kitchen.

It’s not “his” restaurant. It’s just a licensing deal that lets Patina Group use his name. They operate the restaurant along with a bunch of others at WDW (the Italy pavilion restaurants, Maria and Enzos, the Edison). Part of his contract with them is to show up for a certain number of days per year.

 

[NYCgrrl]

It’s not “his” restaurant. It’s just a licensing deal that lets Patina Group use his name. They operate the restaurant along with a bunch of others at WDW (the Italy pavilion restaurants, Maria and Enzos, the Edison). Part of his contract with them is to show up for a certain number of days per year.

I think it’s a bit more complicated than you state. Patina Group and Morimoto have a partnership as opposed to a licensing deal. They are considered a premier company that holds to the vision of their chefs; just look at their portfolio.
You don’t really think a chef with ownership in restaurants as far flung as Philly to Mumbai does it all on his own?

 

[freshmanjs]

I think it’s a bit more complicated than you state. Patina Group and Morimoto have a partnership as opposed to a licensing deal. They are considered a premier company that holds to the vision of their chefs; just look at their portfolio.
You don’t really think a chef with ownership in restaurants as far flung as Philly to Mumbai does it all on his own?

I'm very familiar with their licensing deals and their portfolio. The agreement is actually not complicated at all. It's a very standard industry licensing deal. I didn't say there was anything wrong with it, but it is not in any way similar to the rest of the Morimoto restaurants (in ownership, operating model, quality, price, or any other way). The only thing alike is the name and even that, he was careful to distinguish by using the very odd "Morimoto Asia" vs. his usual "Morimoto"

Celebrity chefs tend to operate in some mix of restaurants where they have an ownership stake and operating role and ones where they license out their name. There is often (but not always) a very clear difference in quality between the two models. For chefs that have operated in both models (e.g., Scott Conant), there is often a massive difference between the 2 that is very obvious. Morimoto is one where anyone who has been to both types can tell you there is a big difference.

I'm not sure why you are asking if I think he operates all the restaurants on his own, when I'm the one who said he doesn't operate this one???

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Morimoto's for us is a must-do most trips. We enjoy the food, the atmosphere, and the service has been top-notch most visits (it's never perfect every visit!). The food options have always made us feel the evening is one of the best values at DS. We've really missed this place since we had to cancel a couple trips with Covid. It will be one of the first reservations we make 60 days out from and upcoming December trip. Heck, we might do it twice!