After being closed for several months, the Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory recently reopened at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter. Besides undergoing a massive overhaul in design, the menu has also seen several changes over the time of the closure.
More props are scheduled to arrive and be hung from the ceiling of the restaurant, but until then, the interior is fairly plain.
One of the columns that separates the ordering area from the seating area was removed in favor of additional register space. It is a little strange to see a spot where a column clearly belongs but is simply devoid of it.
The remodeled condiment and drink station features a first for a Walt Disney World Resort counter service: a permanent installation of a Coke Freestyle machine.
For now, it kind of just looks like a neutered version of its former self.
The tile-work near the drink station was the one part of the remodel that I liked. The rest… well…
Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory Menu
Well, enough talking about it, let’s eat it…
Crawfish Mac and Cheese Burger ($13.49)
The Crawfish Mac and Cheese burger was heavily publicized and seemed to garner the most interest from you, the reader, so I went ahead and ordered it. I don’t know where the crawfish flavor was, but I couldn’t find it. It was basically a mac and cheese hamburger, which is fine, but it really didn’t taste like anything unique or different. The fries were great, but otherwise I was fairly unimpressed with the dish.
For my second side, I chose the macaroni salad, which was surprisingly good for being at a counter service restaurant.
Crispy Fried Chicken on a Biscuit ($10.99)
Once I saw that this chicken sandwich had Voodoo sauce, I became insanely excited about it. In the one vacation in my life that wasn’t to a theme park, I visited New Orleans and fell in love with the cuisine there, especially anything with Voodoo sauce, which can be on the spicy side. This sandwich was good, but the sauce had little heat and just not enough flavor. The biscuit also crumbled once we tried to pick this thing up.
The coleslaw was good enough, but nothing crazy.
Mardi Gras King Cake ($4.49)
I did thoroughly enjoy the king cake and the pastry was of a good enough size that more than one guest could share it after a meal. Again, it isn’t going to be of the quality (or even style) you would find in real New Orleans, but it is good enough that I would order the doughy treat again.
Overall
In review, I wasn’t really blown away with much that we ate here, and beyond that the time we waited for food to be prepared and then to checkout on this particular visit was absurd (20-25 minutes). Honestly, I would just take a short trip down the road to Riverside Mill at Port Orleans Riverside if you are looking for an often exceptional counter service dining experience in this area. Three new hamburgers offered over there (which I will have a review of really soon) are among the best I have had anywhere at Disney World and truly blow away the sandwiches we had at the Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory.
