On my most recent Disney World trip, I wanted to try a new restaurant at Epcot. This was really hard for me because I love so many restaurants at Epcot, and I would have loved to visit some again…Coral Reef, Via Napoli, La Hacienda. But, for the sake of research, I must visit somewhere new!
For this trip, I took my 12-year old son, my sister and my 7-year old niece. We were trying to work with everyone\’s tastes and experiences. My sister\’s husband is from Mexico, so authentic Mexican food is really any night in their house! We nixed San Angel. That left us with restaurants in the China and Japan pavilions and Monsieur Paul\’s in France. Since Monsieur Paul\’s is a signature and we were already eating at California Grill one night, we finally settled on Tokyo Dining.
I initially wasn\’t very excited about this option. Most of us who live in or near cities have a sushi place nearby, but after looking over the menu, I was intrigued.
We had a great view from our table. Even though we weren\’t going to be there for Illuminations, we had a nice view overlooking the lake.
Our server came around promptly and brought us drinks. While the kids had milk, my sister and I went for something more fun! I ordered a Japanese Mojito (rum, sake, syrup, limes, and mint) with Japanese Shiso (a Japanese mint). My sister went for Shochu Squeeze with grapefruit; this is cold Shochu (a hard liquor made from grains and vegetables) on the rocks with a splash of orange juice. Then you squeeze the grapefruit juice into your drink!
For an appetizer, we got edamame to share. Everyone at our table liked edamame, so that was a nice starter. It normally comes with spicy chili seasonings, but we just asked them to leave that off.
The kids both ordered from the kids menu–chicken tempura nuggets. My sister ordered a bowl of ramen with shrimp and sushi, a Dragon Monster Roll! This had avocado, cucumber, and cream cheese topped with eel, smelt roe, and Dynamite Sauce! I\’m not an adventurous sushi eater, so I went with the California Roll.
The kids\’ food surprised us all! It came out in a cute plastic box! When they opened it, it was a two layer container with a roll and tempura chicken in the top part, tempura sweet potato, cheese, and some fresh pineapple and strawberry in the bottom. It was a nice presentation, and my son, who typically hates sweet potatoes, happily ate this one.
The ramen and the sushi were fabulous! Nice presentations and delicious. I was very impressed. My son even got bold and tried a little sushi, too!
We were wrapping up our meal and had decided to forego dessert that night when three servers came and brought both my sister and me a slice of cake for our birthdays and sang to us! It was unexpected and such a nice touch! They brought one slice of ginger mousse cake and one of green tea mousse cake. Both were very good–nice light desserts–and it was a nice end to a meal that wasn\’t overly heavy.
As we were leaving, the Teppan Edo (hibachi grill) side was a madhouse! People were standing everywhere (perhaps a large group), and it looked like chaos versus our very quiet and serene dinner on the Tokyo Dining side!
Overall, a very pleasant experience at Tokyo Dining. Reservations are usually easy to get here even the day of, and the restaurant was quiet and calm.I would go again, and I wouldn\’t hesitate to recommend it to others.
Susan Burks is a military wife, and a homeschooling mom to a chess playing space-loving 12 year old! In addition to many Disney World trips, Susan has done eight Disney cruises and one Disneyland trip! She has her next Disney World trip planned and two upcoming Disney cruises!