Deciding where to eat lunch in Disney World can be tricky!
With hundreds of restaurants in the parks, hotels, and Disney Springs, it’s pretty daunting to make the choice. Recently, we stopped by Kona Cafe at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort to try out some new eats on their lunch menu — should it make your must-try list for your next trip?
Background
Kona Cafe is located on the second floor of the Grand Ceremonial House at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. The entrance is right next to ‘Ohana, and marked with a giant arch, so it’s hard to miss!
This restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but lunch service is from 11:30AM-2PM daily. It’s not too hard to get a lunch reservation here!
Let’s check out lunch!
Atmosphere
For lunch here, the menu is mostly Asian-inspired, with items like sushi, Dashi Bowls, Poke’ Bowls, burgers, sandwiches, and various entrees. A few new menu items were added shortly before our visit, so we made sure to check those out.
The restaurant got some updates a few years ago and it has a tropical vibe for sure! There are lots of bright colors and wood accents, and you can even see into the kitchen a little bit.
The tables are set with bread plates, silverware, and menus when you arrive.
Now it’s time to dig in!
Food & Drinks
We made sure to order a variety of the items on the menu, including some newer offerings.
Starting off the meal, they brought a complimentary bread service to the table, which included Kona Cafe’s signature Pineapple Rolls. They were served with regular butter, but they were a bit on the chewy side.
The rolls also didn’t have as much pineapple flavor as we would’ve liked. In general, they tasted fine, but they weren’t anything exciting.
For our beverage of choice, we ordered the Keiki Lemonade for $9. This tropical drink is made with Odwalla Lemonade, pineapple, passion fruit, and citrus. It was incredibly fruity, and the pineapple and citrus flavors were the strongest. While it was pretty sweet, it wasn’t too sugary, and we would definitely order it again!
Plus, just look at that STUNNING color!
For the eats, we started by ordering the NEW Seasonal Soup for $9. During our visit, the option was Miso Soup, and it was pretty good! It was nice and savory with a good amount of tofu, seaweed, and green onion throughout.
There was a great blend of textures (especially with the tofu and seaweed adding some chew) and the onion gave a sharper flavor overall. Not bad for a starter!
Another new item we wanted to try was the Hawaiian Reuben for $20. It’s made with corned beef, pulled pork, kimchi, swiss cheese, marble rye, and spicy mayonnaise.
This was a really good Hawaiian take on a Reuben, with some of the traditional elements swapped out for tropical ones. The sandwich was savory with a little bit of crunch from the kimchi, and the spicy mayo left a little heat behind on our tongues.
Honestly, though, the fries might have been the best part of the dish! They were similar to regular quick service Disney fries (nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside) but seasoned SO MUCH BETTER. They were topped with seasoned salt, paprika, and a little bit of sugar. Incredible!
We couldn’t go to Kona Cafe without trying some sushi, so we got the Hamachi Tuna Roll, made with Hamachi, tuna, avocado, jalapeño, cilantro, and ponzu. It’s available for $21.
The tuna and avocado made this really light and fresh, and the cilantro on top added a green-ness to the overall flavor. The jalapeño wasn’t very spicy at all, but brought the tiniest hint of warmth when you took a bite.
And of course, we’ve got to round it out with dessert! To finish off the meal we ordered the Molten Chocolate Cake for $10. It’s made with Valrhona Espresso ganache, Kona Coffee ganache, and caramel latte anglaise.
It was incredibly soft and gooey inside — exactly what you’d want from a molten cake. But be warned, this thing is RICH. There’s a lot of deep chocolate flavor that can be overwhelming after a few bites, and it was fairly sweet. We loved it, but we suggest splitting it with a friend.
That’s a wrap on our meal, let’s tally the final thoughts!
Should You Go?
If you’re a fan of sushi, poke, or Asian food in general, I would probably recommend Kona Cafe for lunch! This restaurant is famous for its breakfast meal (hello, Tonga Toast), but the lunch eats definitely weren’t slacking.
We really enjoyed the Hawaiian Reuben and the sushi, and getting a reservation here during lunchtime isn’t too difficult. If you’re already planning to be near the Monorail loop, this would be a great spot to try out.
However, if you’re planning to be in the parks all day every day, we probably wouldn’t say that this is a restaurant you need to halt your park day for. Save it for a resort day or an arrival/departure day instead!
Stay tuned to AllEars for more reviews of restaurants around Disney World! We’ll keep you in the loop with the latest.
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Have you ever been to Kona Cafe for lunch? Let us know in the comments!