REVIEW: New Tiffins Lunch Makes The Best Table Service Restaurant Affordable
Disney has been quite vocal about the addition of the Taste of Tiffins lunch options at Tiffins at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park as of late. The new table service offering has had a really hard time drawing people in, based on both the location and the depressing outcome of the nighttime offerings this summer at the park. These lunch offerings and the addition of the restaurant and its Nomad Lounge to Table in Wonderland discounts are a desperate plea by Disney to persuade guests to eat at the only signature dining experience at Animal Kingdom. Personally, I love Tiffins, and it is typically the reason I even go to the park as of late, so I was pretty ecstatic to try the new lunch menu.
Tiffins at Animal Kingdom – Lunch Menu
Taste of Tiffins is the star of the lunch menu, but some of the appetizers from the main menu get featured here as well. The full menu is available during lunch as well.
APPETIZERS
Complimentary bread at Tiffins
Complimentary Bread
One of the three breads that arrives with the $10 Bread Service is delivered to each table complimentary. The Pomegranate Olive Oil is a departure from the bread accompaniments elsewhere on property, and certainly an acquired taste you’ll want to sample before spreading.
Selection of Artisanal Cheeses
Selection of Artisanal Cheeses ($12)
The only new appetizer is a selection of cheeses which I found enjoyable. Certainly a better value than most offerings at the neighboring Nomad Lounge.
The Taste of Tiffins ($28.00)
Choose two from the list and includes a side of Jade Blend Rice. Two of us ordered this, so what you will see below are the 72-Hour Beef Shortrib, Chermoula-Rubbed Chicken, Crispy Yellow tail Snapper, and the Chilled Shrimp and Noodle Salad. For a review of the full-size entree version of these dishes, please refer to my first review of Tiffins.
Chermoula-Rubbed Chicken at Tiffins
72-Hour Beef Shortrib
The shortrib is still one of my favorite steak dishes anywhere, but the cut we had at Flying Fish was somehow better…
Side of Jade Blend Rice
The rice was a unique blend and I felt it is a nice choice no matter what two entrees you pick for your Taste of Tiffins meal.
Chilled Shrimp and Noodle Salad
Bean Thread Noodles, Vegetables, and Ponzu was an interesting ix, a nice chilled dish to battle the Florida heat with. The noodles did a good job absorbing the flavor from the rest of the dish.
Crispy Yellow tail Snapper
The portion sizes were good. Those two small plates plus the side of rice should be more than enough to fill-up anyone, and if not there is certainly an appetizer or dessert or two I might recommend you follow this up with.
Szechuan Green Beans ($5)
These were crunchy, flavorful, and plentiful. A really good value for $5, this might be my favorite vegetable side item at the Walt Disney World Resort.
OVERALL
In review, Tiffins is everything this park needed in a table service restaurant. The addition of a signature restaurant to the existing line-up was much needed (although I’m hoping for a lower-end table service addition to the park in Pandora next year). I appreciate that the theme and menu were not regurgitated from Jiko, and also that we truly have the first restaurant ever designed for designers. Who would have ever thought we would get a restaurant about Imagineers designing a theme park?
The menu has some really top notch offerings you really can’t find anywhere else (a few could use some work of course) and the drink menu might be the best from top to bottom of any location on property. Same as Skipper Canteen, I’m proud of Disney for letting the chefs create a menu like this for theme park consumption, and I feel like Tiffins will succeed where Skipper Canteen couldn’t being located in the Magic Kingdom.
As far as pricing, it is a signature restaurant, so the prices are as you expect. That being said, I felt like the prices here were slightly more reasonable than Brown Derby (which I would most closely equate as the only signature in a park of limited options). Of course, I always feel like Brown Derby is worth the price, but I think Tiffins boasts a stronger menu…
That was my review of Tiffins dinner, and lunch is no different. The Taste of Tiffins is a phenomenal, and more affordable way to try many of the main dishes offered here. The addition of the Tables in Wonderland 20% discount is another nice addition, overall I feel that it makes Tiffins an even better option than it already was for those looking for good food at Animal Kingdom. The portions for a $28 signature restaurant offering are great, and there isn’t much on the menu that I don’t think that you will enjoy.
