16 Best Restaurants in Epcot, Walt Disney World Orlando

One of Disney World's finest restaurants—a high-ticket night out that's worth the price—has a menu heavy on seasonal seafood as well as steaks. Options include filet mignon, oak-grilled salmon, and swordfish, as well as exotic fare like Verlasso salmon. Those looking for an extravagant meal can try the shrimp pearl pasta with shrimp, lobster, scallops, clams and mussels. Special chef's table menus are available by reservation. The sparkling dining room is decorated with schools of glass fish flying overhead and gold highlights everywhere. Free self-parking is available; inform the entry booth that you are dining.

Strange but good brews—Rocket Red Ale, Southern Flyer Light Lager, Steamboat Pale Ale, Gadzooks Pilsner—abound at this microbrewery, where you can sip your suds inside amid giant stainless-steel tanks or outside on a lake-view patio. The menu emphasizes meat and fish, with baby back ribs dry-rubbed and topped with honey chipotle barbecue sauce, elaborate hamburgers, or blackened fish tacos. Wine and cocktails are available for the nonbeer-drinking crowd.

With the feel of a New England seafood house—the type your grandma might enjoy—this bustling spot in the Beach Club Resort features popular buffet meals. For breakfast, Minnie and other cast classics visit tables while families help themselves to American classics from waffles to sausage links from the buffet. In the evening, seafood is the star of the show. Instead of characters, diners dote on a turf platter of slow-roasted strip loin or a seafood boil with mussels, clams, shrimp, and a catch of the day.

This plush, bustling brasserie remains true to the spirit and the vision of Paul Bocuse, Gaston Lenôtre, and Roger Vergé, three of France's most famous chefs (Bocuse's son, Jerome, continues to run the restaurant). Classic escargots, a good starter, are prepared in a casserole with garlic butter; you might follow up with salmon marinated in white wine and lemon and served in a champagne sauce or grilled beef tenderloin with green peppercorn sauce; naturally, ratatouille is available, as is the occasional three-course, prix-fixe meal. Finish with a chocolate tart with white mousse.

Family-style dinner fare is served here as the restaurant revolves, giving you an ever-changing backstage view of the Living with the Land boat ride. Offering quantity over quality, the restaurant serves all-you-can-eat meals with visits from Chip ’n’ Dale, Pluto, and occasionally Mickey. Typical choices include beef, turkey, and a sustainable fish with trimmings, beer and wine selections, plus kiddie favorites like mac and cheese and oven-roasted chicken drumsticks.  Except for the princess meals in Norway, this is the only EPCOT restaurant that has Disney character meet and greets during meals.

With stunning views of the 5.7-million-gallon aquarium, dining at Coral Reef is as entertaining as it is delicious. As you watch marine life—and sometimes scuba divers—swim by, enjoy dishes from a seasonal menu that's heavy on seafood offerings. Options might include shrimp and grits or seared mahi-mahi in a coconut and cilantro-lime sauce. This is a great option for those wanting to try upscale dining with younger kids, as they'll be able to either test new items such as lobster bisque or play it safe with grilled chicken. Plus, the aquarium is a great distraction while waiting for the food to arrive!

With twinkling lights draped on its oversize, 25-foot, signature tree, this restaurant, designed to evoke New York's Central Park, specializes in character meals. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night, guests dine on classic American fare like prime rib while Goofy and his buddies make their rounds. Seafood buffets are featured Thursday through Sunday evening. Weekend mornings, Pluto leads the fray as families fuel up on day starters from raisin bread French toast to a create-your-own omelet station. The restaurant is open for lunch but without characters.

Knife-wielding chefs prepare world-class sushi and sashimi, as well as other Japanese treats like soups and salads, at this sleek sushi bar, where bamboo-style floor tiles and dark teakwood furnishings set the scene. Popular items include the Dragon Roll (giant shrimp and tuna), Banzai Roll (spicy tuna, avocado, and eel), and Bagel Roll (smoked salmon, cream cheese, and cucumber). Cocktails are a draw, too, along with entertainment in the form of nightly karaoke.

The hardwood floors, dark-wood paneling, and pictures of former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula make this restaurant resemble an annex of the NFL Hall of Fame. Among the best selections are the porterhouse and prime rib. If you're not a carnivore, go for the daily market fish or the huge (up to 4 pounds) Maine lobster.

At what is, literally, an out-of-this-world restaurant, you board a special elevator to travel 220 miles above the planet to a dining room with panoramas of Earth through viewports that use real-time, above-the-clouds imagery. The prix-fixe menu ($55 at lunch and $79 for dinner) includes a lift-off (read: appetizer) and a star (main) course. Lift-off selections include starry calamari, blue moon cauliflower, and space greens; the star course menu features dishes like X2 Duck with butternut squash flan and slow-rotation short rib with cheddar grits. There are also more than 1,000 different bottles of wine and craft beer.

This market-style restaurant is great for a substantial meal or just a quick, healthy bite. Made using food sourced primarily on site, dishes might include stir-fried chicken or shrimp, vegetable korma, or oak-grilled salmon. Fruit and cheese plates plus assorted fruits and vegetables grown in the Living with the Land attraction are also available. 

If you're looking for a break from greasy vacation food, stop by The Land Cart for a fruit and cheese tray or a veggie and hummus tray. It's a short walk to benches where you can eat overlooking the upside-down water fountain by Journey in Imagination.

Celebrity chef Todd English designed the menu for this upscale seafood eatery, known perhaps more for style than substance. It resembles a sleek, modern, underwater dining hall, with blue walls and carpeting, aluminum fish along the wall behind the bar, and bubblelike lighting fixtures. The menu is pricey, with entrées like lobster bucatini at $42, and there's a surprising number of steak dishes. 

Featuring fantastic views of the resort and EPCOT, this pricey restaurant on the 10th floor of the Riviera Resort is one the best on Disney property. In the evening, try rigatoni, linguine, and other handcrafted pastas or the traditional bouillabaisse or tomahawk veal chop; at breakfast, enjoy a family-style character meal. While you indulge in sour cream waffles, spiced sausage hash, or wood-fired butcher's steak, Mickey and friends come right to your table. 

This restaurant melds old and new, with the cozy decor of a traditional Italian home and a menu of Italian-American dishes refreshed for today's tastes. Share a pizza topped with prosciutto, salami, sausage, and capicola, or indulge in wood-fired swordfish salmoriglio. Other entrées include veal osso buco, chicken parmigiana, and truffle gnocchi. All the wines are from Italy, and you can finish your meal with a grappa, a limoncello, or some tiramisu.

The chefs at this New England–themed steak house are proud of their high-quality, aged beef, which is hand-cut on site and can be seen mellowing in a glass-enclosed butcher shop near the entryway. Although not easy on the wallet, dishes such as the 12-ounce New York strip with peppercorn-brandy sauce and truffle mac and cheese are quite tasty. Other options include porterhouse, prime rib, and filet mignon, as well as seafood dishes like lobster bisque or golden tilefish. Nice selections of dessert wines and scotches round out the menu.