It’s not every day that you get an opportunity to go out for dinner in Disney World at one of the fanciest restaurants available. So when the occasion called for a trip to visit Todd English’s BlueZoo, we could hardly wait!
Disney’s Swan and Dolphin Resorts hold some of the best restaurants in Disney World. It’s also been a while since we visited a signature dining experience at Disney World and decided it was time to try out an old favorite to see if it was as good as we remember it.
We’ve visited Todd English’s BlueZoo before, but because it had been a while we really wanted to make sure the meal, the atmosphere, and the experience still measured up to how we last remembered it. What better way to get to know what it’s like than to book a reservation and try it out yourself? So, we took one for the team for us all here and decided to try out a MASSIVE list of food to review.
Background
Chef Todd English’s BlueZoo can be found at Disney World’s Dolphin Resort. It’s located just off of the main Disney World EPCOT resorts and within walking distance of EPCOT’s International Gateway and Skyliner station.
This restaurant is known for handmade classic cocktails, fine champagne, and specialty cordials. It aims to invoke a chic underwater setting around a blue, backlit bar. Here you’ll find unique tastes and the latest creations from the resort’s expert mixologist, and an exquisite menu of bright flavors.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere here is very upscale. You can walk in the front entrance and feel the tranquil vibes as soon as you walk up to the host stand to check-in. There are a lot of blue hues that create a calming essence through the dining area and bar.
Once we checked in for our reservation, we were almost immediately led to our seats in the main dining room. As we walked across the restaurant we passed booth seating…
… an expansive bar…
… and then were eventually led into a gigantic dining space that had incredibly tall ceilings, low lighting to create just the right elegant mood, and several styles of seating like smaller tables…
… and even set-ups for larger parties.
Eventually, we found our seats…
… and were greeted by our waiter, and handed our menus.
Food & Drinks
Speaking of menus, there are so many options to choose from here! They’ve got an extensive selection of starters…
… flatbreads, soups, and salads…
… entrees…
… enhancements…
… sides…
… and desserts.
But the fun is only beginning because that was just the adult food options! There are even kiddie cocktails and kids appetizers…
… kids entrees and desserts.
Then we’ve got a whole line of cocktails…
… hidden gems, suds to sip…
… and a wine selection your server can best advise you on.
It might seem like the options are endless, but we had a good idea of what we were looking to order already, asked questions about the dishes we intended to order, and then officially locked in those selections with our server.
Buckle up because this is going to be a massive review! For this meal, we opted for the Zooberry and DeeDee Stay Out Of My Laboratory drinks, Crab Nachos and the Seasonal Salad for appetizers, BlueZoo’s Simply Fish and the Marinated Brick Chicken for entrees with sides of Gulf Oyster Spoon Bread and Risotto “Tots”, and finished off entire meal with the Cherry Stone and Chocolate Mousse Trio.
Let’s start by talking about what was delivered to our table first — the drinks!
DeeDee Stay Out Of My Laboratory was the inspiration behind this whole review so let’s start there. This drink, which is inspired by the animated series Dexter’s Laboratory, was recently added to the menu! It’s made of Corazon single barrel reposado, muddled raspberries, rose liqueur, white grape, and agave which cost us $19.
This drink certainly has a presence about it and that’s made clear from the moment it’s brought out to the table. We love a drink that’s served with some ceremony, and this one fits the bill! Our server brought it to the table in a measuring flask like you might find in, well, a laboratory. Then the real science started — liquid nitrogen was poured on top and we were urged to stir it while vapor poured out of the top — otherwise, the drink would freeze solid.
With its pink color and raspberry garnish, we expected this to be a fruity drink, but it is more floral and light. The rose liqueur is prominent, with some sweetness from the raspberry and agave. If you are looking for something sweet like a margarita, this will not be what you’re looking for. But it wasn’t all about the show — this was a lightly sweet, sophisticated cocktail we would certainly order again.
Then it was time to try out the ZooBerry. This is BlueZoo’s namesake cocktail made with blueberry-infused vodka, fresh lemon juice, and rock candy syrup served up with a twist that cost us $17.
This drink tastes like a blueberry vodka and you get a nice zest to it from the lemon peel garnish. The rock candy syrup was sufficiently sweet, and made this sooooo easy to drink.
Then our appetizers started to arrive! We received our Crab Nachos and Seasonal Salad.
Let’s talk about the beautiful Seasonal Salad, first. This one is made of organic mustard greens, caramelized Vidalia onion mascarpone cheese, charred sweet corn, hot house tomatoes, and orange saffron vinaigrette which cost us $16.
This salad is served deconstructed, which made for a beautiful plate. The bite of the mustard greens here is softened by the creamy mascarpone on the side. This salad is exceedingly unique, with our favorite touch being the caramelized onion “crisps” that accompany it.
Chef Todd English is committed to relationships with local farmers, and the freshness comes through in every bite — especially in the hot house tomatoes which are bursting with flavor.
Then we turned our attention to the Crab Nachos. These are made of crab, black beans, pico de gallo, chimichurri, and white cheddar and cost us $30.
HOLY COW– this plate was massive! It’s an easily sharable starter between 2-4 people. We’re pretty sure we could have eaten this dish for the rest of our lives and been content. It’s made of all the best things of nachos that you would expect like the pico de gallo, beans, and guac but the real bonus is the crab meat!
The crab was so juicy and buttery even after sitting on the plate for a bit while we took photos. The pico de gallo was fresh, and the guac had a good amount of lime to it, so it was thinner than what you get in other restaurants around Disney World. The black beans are more like refried beans and don’t have a lot of flair or salt to them but, they don’t need it when paired with the flavors from the other toppings.
Then our main entrees started to arrive. We opted to order BlueZoo’s Simply Fish with a Side of Gulf Oyster Spoon Bread and the Marinated Brick Chicken with Risotto “Tots”.
We’ll start by telling you about BlueZoo’s Simply Fish first. This entree allows you the option to select from BlueZoo’s nightly choice of fish: cobia, mahi mahi, salmon, corvina, or swordfish. It comes accompanied by creamy risotto and seasonal vegetables, served with your selection of sauce — warm crabmeat dijon, salsa verde, white wine sauce, or charred tomato sauce — for $42.
We chose the mahi mahi with the warm crabmeat dijon based on our server’s recommendation. There’s a lot more customization that can come with this dish like the ability to add on a sauce supplement or add a lobster claw for an additional $9.00.
We definitely made a solid choice by opting for the mahi mahi, and it was divine! The risotto was buttery and fluffy, and was delicious against the bright, colorful veggies. The fish was well cooked and had a light crisping around the outside to encase it.
We also got the warm crabmeat Dijon sauce, and it was almost like a garlic aioli which really helped kick its flavor up. All the salty butteriness in this dish was spot on.
Remember, we also opted for the additional Side of Gulf Oyster Spoon Bread for $15. It’s made of heritage sweet corn spoon bread, creole mayonnaise, and crispy gulf oysters.
The gulf oyster spoon bread tastes sweet and almost like a Tex-Mex cornbread without the spice — until you get the creole mayonnaise and that brings the spicy heat!
The oyster was very chewy but that’s managed and isn’t too noticeable due to the breaded coating on the outside.
Then we turned our attention to the Marinated Brick Chicken. This dish is made of honey mustard brined belle and Evans chicken breast, dark meat croquettes, lemon butter almond couscous, marinated tomato, crispy skin, white bean purée, and roasted chicken jus. It is priced at $34.
What we’ve experienced in the past when ordering chicken at a seafood restaurant is that the dish is served almost as an afterthought. These are typically simple dishes added to the menu to satisfy the “landlubbers” in the family. However, our experience with this visit surprised us in a good way.
This was a gorgeous plate, and it did not disappoint. The chicken was moist in the way only brining can make it. The roasted chicken jus comes off the side for you to pour over — we found it so silky and decadent we wanted to be sure we scraped up every drop.
The dark meat croquettes were such a fun, crispy addition to the plate, adding another textural element along with the crispy skin. The hot house tomatoes (that we enjoyed so much on the salad) were back on this plate — and we weren’t mad about it.
The lemon butter almond couscous was lemony and made a good base for the chicken, but we could have done without the crunch of the almond in the grain. We also loved the creamy white bean puree at the bottom of the plate — our only complaint about it is that we wished there was more!
To accompany the Marinated Brick Chicken, we chose the Risotto “Tots”. We were really excited to try out these little “tots” and had high expectations for them! They’re made of Risotto, white truffle, and sassy romesco and cost us $13.
If you are a risotto fan, it’s going to be hard to resist these. The risotto is creamy and rich, with just the right audible crunch that crumbles as you bite into it.
And when you dipped them, the experience was almost out of body it was so good!
Alright if you’re still with us, we’re about to turn into the home stretch! Who saved room for dessert?
For this dinner, we opted to order the Cherry Stone and the Chocolate Mousse Trio.
After playing “eeny meeny miny moe” we decided we’ll show you the Cherry Stone first. This beauty is made of Cremont cheese mousse, Michigan cherry compote, fresh cherries, candied cherries, cherry pate de fruit, pistachio cake, and toasted pistachios and costs $15.
This was a gorgeous plate and another ‘dinner and a show’ item, as the server brought out the liquid nitrogen again to freeze goat cream and serve it on the plate with a spoon.
This deconstructed dessert had crumbled pistachio cake, fresh cherries, candied cherries, marinated cherries, AND toasted pistachios, as well as edible flowers decorating the plate. The centerpiece of the dessert was a Cremona cheese mousse dome. Overall, all of the elements of this dessert were tasty.
While the goat cream may sound like a questionable choice, its earthy taste did blend well with the sweeter cherries that dominated the plate. It was good but wasn’t something that really wowed us quite like the risotto tots and crab nachos did.
And to bring it all home, we concluded our meal with the Chocolate Mousse Trio (stay with us cause there’s a lot to unpack here)! This lovely dessert is made of dark chocolate mousse, candied orange, white chocolate mousse, lemon praline pecans, milk chocolate mousse, cherry jelly, and chocolate meringue which costs $15.
Let’s break this down by each mousse dessert. The white chocolate tastes like a lumpy cheesecake.
We could taste white chocolate in it but, the pecan crust at the bottom with nuts threw our taste buds off.
The center was a marshmallow cream with the edging burned a bit which added a nice flavor.
The chocolate macaron was so soft! It’s a very fresh macaron (as you would hope)…
… and the center is very rich chocolate.
While the dark chocolate mouse had a lemon flavor in the bottom layer.
The top has chocolate-coated pop rocks which was was very odd sensation but really brought on the nostalgia while we enjoyed it. We’re pretty sure your kids would love this one!
The milk chocolate mouse was decadent and creamy…
… and probably was the best part of this dessert!
So overall how was it as a combined dessert? While there were parts of this one we really enjoyed, it was just the middle of the road for us. It very well could have been the amount of food we’d had up to this point coupled with the fact that we had another dessert, too, but the highlights here really didn’t stand on their own high enough to warrant really wanting to order this one again.
Should You Go?
As we said at the top of this review, this restaurant is a signature dining restaurant at Disney World. It makes for an incredible venue for an exquisite night out or a special celebration. On the flip side of that, it probably wouldn’t be your first choice for an everyday casual meal.
There were dishes here that really left a lasting impression on us and for a restaurant known for their seafood selection, they were able to cook, prepare, and present entrees of meat very well! We were impressed with the overall atmosphere and exceptional service, and our server was very knowledgeable about the menu and was comfortable offering suggestions based on the preferences we discussed with him. The only place this meal fell flat for us was dessert. That being said, we don’t think you would be disappointed in choosing to dine here for your next special meal at Disney World.
We’ve eaten at EVERY restaurant in Disney World! Be sure to check out our reviews of some of your favorite places below and stay tuned with us for more.
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Have you ever visited Todd English’s BlueZoo? Tell us what you order here in the comments below!