After hearing so much about the Tonga Toast, I decided that we should go to the Kona Café one morning for breakfast. We made a priority seating for 9:30 AM but Mike wanted to go earlier to get to the Magic Kingdom earlier that day. We tried to get to the Kona Café for 8 AM without a priority seating, but traffic held us back and we were a little late. It was no problem, though; as there were few people and we were seated immediately. The restaurant used to be a counter service restaurant Ive heard, and its open to the lobby with a metal fencing around the side facing the lobby area to separate it. The fans on the ceiling are interesting: a metal pole was installed horizontal near the top of the ceiling with what looked like large hand fans attached, and it turned on the horizontal axis. Im not sure if they contributed much to moving air, but they were attractive.
We were seated in the middle of the restaurant, and our friendly server came by. Most of our servers tend to be extremely friendly, I find! I ordered the Kona press pot of coffee ($6.99) and a pineapple juice ($1.99), and Mike ordered his usual breakfast orange juice ($1.99). These were brought out within a few minutes, and our server let the coffee sit for another minute while she talked and pressed it herself. This part I didnt like as I actually like to press it myself. She had made sure that I liked strong coffee when I ordered it, and was this ever strong coffee! Much more so than the pressed pot at Bomas breakfast. It was very good, though, and worth the money for me. As Mike doesnt drink coffee, it left the whole pot for me it was a lot of coffee.
Based on advice from other people on message boards, we decided to order the Tonga Toast ($7.99) for one of us, and a savory dish for the other, and split. The Tonga Toast comes with your choice of meat, between ham, bacon, and sausage. We had also decided on the Calabash breakfast ($9.99), which included potatoes, ham, a cheese sauce, scallions, two eggs, and two biscuits. Since the Calabash breakfast included ham, Mike ordered the sausage with the Tonga Toast. We had a peaceful wait as the restaurant was quiet that early in the morning, and I started to take pictures of the restaurant. Our server noticed and came rushing over to ask if we wanted a picture taken of us. I said it wasnt necessary, that I was going around taking pictures of everywhere I ate. She suddenly became super-friendly, and started talking about the restaurant, and even pointed out the chocolate Lilo and Stitch, and where the desserts would be put on display later in the day. I was welcome to come back to take pictures of the desserts, as well, which I did.
Soon after, she brought over our breakfasts. The Tonga Toast is very wide, and thankfully it wasnt deep fried. It looks as if the bread is stuffed in advance (as the bananas inside were slightly brown), and in the morning is put on the griddle with a decent amount of butter, but no French toast batter. It was liberally sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. I found the inside to be light and while I dont usually like bananas, the inside was good but cold. I was glad to find that the half that I ate wasnt quite the sugar bomb that Id heard it to be. The sausages were thick and delicious, perfectly seasoned and cooked.
The Calabash breakfast was garnished with scallions, and for some reason it really tied the whole dish together and made it spectacular. The potatoes were roasted with diced ham and cheese sauce on top, and we had ordered scrambled eggs. The biscuits were small, perhaps an inch and a half in diameter. They were good, but nothing special. The scrambled eggs were slightly underdone, which I dont like as I usually like my scrambled eggs overdone. It was better when I mixed everything together, though. The ham and potatoes were great, and the cheese sauce was delicious if a little thin. All together, I really enjoyed the Calabash breakfast, even more so than the Tonga Toast. Mike loved them both, and wanted to return someday for breakfast.
A family had been seated while we were eating, and apparently had ordered Mickey pancakes ($4.79) for their daughter, which our server asked if we wanted to take a picture of. It was very cute, though looked a bit plain, which might be good for kids palettes.
We relaxed after we ate while I tried to finish my pot of coffee. I noticed another woman with a to-go cup, so I asked our server for one, which she promptly brought. I had a whole cup of coffee left to bring with me to the Magic Kingdom, even after drinking coffee for the whole breakfast.
Service was great for the whole time we were there, friendly and quick, but not pushy. There was plenty of seating for the time of day, though Im not sure how bad it would be during a busy lunch or dinner time. We do mean to either eat dinner there some day or share a Kiddie Cone after dinner somewhere else. Id love to go back for either lunch or dinner, as the menus are interesting and varied. Breakfast was relatively inexpensive, and there were banana pecan pancakes that I just have to try sometime!
Photo gallery
We were seated in the middle of the restaurant, and our friendly server came by. Most of our servers tend to be extremely friendly, I find! I ordered the Kona press pot of coffee ($6.99) and a pineapple juice ($1.99), and Mike ordered his usual breakfast orange juice ($1.99). These were brought out within a few minutes, and our server let the coffee sit for another minute while she talked and pressed it herself. This part I didnt like as I actually like to press it myself. She had made sure that I liked strong coffee when I ordered it, and was this ever strong coffee! Much more so than the pressed pot at Bomas breakfast. It was very good, though, and worth the money for me. As Mike doesnt drink coffee, it left the whole pot for me it was a lot of coffee.
Based on advice from other people on message boards, we decided to order the Tonga Toast ($7.99) for one of us, and a savory dish for the other, and split. The Tonga Toast comes with your choice of meat, between ham, bacon, and sausage. We had also decided on the Calabash breakfast ($9.99), which included potatoes, ham, a cheese sauce, scallions, two eggs, and two biscuits. Since the Calabash breakfast included ham, Mike ordered the sausage with the Tonga Toast. We had a peaceful wait as the restaurant was quiet that early in the morning, and I started to take pictures of the restaurant. Our server noticed and came rushing over to ask if we wanted a picture taken of us. I said it wasnt necessary, that I was going around taking pictures of everywhere I ate. She suddenly became super-friendly, and started talking about the restaurant, and even pointed out the chocolate Lilo and Stitch, and where the desserts would be put on display later in the day. I was welcome to come back to take pictures of the desserts, as well, which I did.
Soon after, she brought over our breakfasts. The Tonga Toast is very wide, and thankfully it wasnt deep fried. It looks as if the bread is stuffed in advance (as the bananas inside were slightly brown), and in the morning is put on the griddle with a decent amount of butter, but no French toast batter. It was liberally sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. I found the inside to be light and while I dont usually like bananas, the inside was good but cold. I was glad to find that the half that I ate wasnt quite the sugar bomb that Id heard it to be. The sausages were thick and delicious, perfectly seasoned and cooked.
The Calabash breakfast was garnished with scallions, and for some reason it really tied the whole dish together and made it spectacular. The potatoes were roasted with diced ham and cheese sauce on top, and we had ordered scrambled eggs. The biscuits were small, perhaps an inch and a half in diameter. They were good, but nothing special. The scrambled eggs were slightly underdone, which I dont like as I usually like my scrambled eggs overdone. It was better when I mixed everything together, though. The ham and potatoes were great, and the cheese sauce was delicious if a little thin. All together, I really enjoyed the Calabash breakfast, even more so than the Tonga Toast. Mike loved them both, and wanted to return someday for breakfast.
A family had been seated while we were eating, and apparently had ordered Mickey pancakes ($4.79) for their daughter, which our server asked if we wanted to take a picture of. It was very cute, though looked a bit plain, which might be good for kids palettes.
We relaxed after we ate while I tried to finish my pot of coffee. I noticed another woman with a to-go cup, so I asked our server for one, which she promptly brought. I had a whole cup of coffee left to bring with me to the Magic Kingdom, even after drinking coffee for the whole breakfast.
Service was great for the whole time we were there, friendly and quick, but not pushy. There was plenty of seating for the time of day, though Im not sure how bad it would be during a busy lunch or dinner time. We do mean to either eat dinner there some day or share a Kiddie Cone after dinner somewhere else. Id love to go back for either lunch or dinner, as the menus are interesting and varied. Breakfast was relatively inexpensive, and there were banana pecan pancakes that I just have to try sometime!
Photo gallery
The Kona is one of our favorites too. 
Yet another difficult decision to make at WDW
