Seven Disney Restaurants Rank in Orlando Sentinel’s Foodie Awards for Summer 2024

 by Beth Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

June 17, 2024

 

Disney World restaurants have been honored in four of the eleven categories during the recently released Summer Quarter of the “Orlando Sentinel’s Foodie Awards.”

 

The annual awards are typically given in more than 50 categories, but this year, they are being announced quarterly because there are over 300 restaurants as part of the review process.  In order to give each category their moment to shine, and to make the process more manageable, the Orlando Sentinel is now issuing their awards quarterly, with different categories in each quarter.

In the Best Splurge category, Victoria & Albert’s at the Grand Floridian earned a runners-up slot in the Reader’s Choice section.  But in the Best Theme Park Restaurant division, it was a Disney sweep - Disney took home all four slots.  The Critic’s Choice went to Skipper Canteen at Magic Kingdom, while the Reader’s Choice named The Hollywood Brown Derby in Hollywood Studios the winner, with Yak & Yeti Restaurant at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and San Angel Inn Restaurante at EPCOT as runners-up.

Best Wine Bar in the Orlando area?  The Readers named Wine Bar George in Disney Springs their choice.  Best Japanese?  The Disney adjacent Swan and Dolphin’s Kimonos garnered one of the Reader’s Choice runners-up spots.

 
The Summer Quarter Foodie Awards named winners and runners-up in the following groupings:  Best Chinese; Best Dessert; Best Hotel Restaurant; Best Indian; Best Japanese; Best Korean; Best Splurge; Best Thai; Best Theme Park Restaurant; Best Vietnamese and Best Wine Bar.  (You can check the previous “Winter Quarter” awards here, with fourteen other categories.)

 

Here's a look at the other restaurants that were cooking up the competition in the same categories as the Disney winners for the summer session:

 

• 2024 Orlando Sentinel Foodie Awards: Best Splurge

 

Critic’s Choice

Winner: 

Camille, 4962 New Broad St. in Orlando.

 

Readers’ Choice

Winner: Bull & Bear, 14200 Bonnet Creek Resort Lane in Orlando.

Runners-up: Victoria & Albert’s at Disney’s Grand Floridian, and Trabucco in Orlando.

 

• 2024 Orlando Sentinel Foodie Awards: Best Theme Park Restaurant

 

Critic’s Choice

Winner:  Jungle Navigation Co. LTD Skipper Canteen in Magic Kingdom.

 

Readers’ Choice

Winner: The Hollywood Brown Derby at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Runners-up: Yak & Yeti Restaurant at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and San Angel Inn Restaurante at EPCOT.

• 2024 Orlando Sentinel Foodie Awards: Best Wine Bar

 

Critic’s Choice

Winner: Golden Hour Wine, 1560 Lake Baldwin Lane in Orlando.

 

Readers’ Choice

Winner: Wine Bar George at Disney Springs.

Runners-up: VINIA Wine & Kitchen in Winter Park and The Wine Room in Winter Park.

• 2024 Orlando Sentinel Foodie Awards: Best Japanese

 

Critic’s Choice

Winner: Sushi Kichi, 5368 Central Florida Parkway in Orlando.

 

Readers’ Choice

Winner: Seito Sushi, 4898 New Broad St. in Orlando and 8031 Turkey Lake Road in Orlando.

Runners-up: Tori Tori in Orlando and Kimonos at the Swan and Dolphin at Disney.

__________

 

Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.

 

Get The Disney Planner: The TO DO List Solution by Ray Keating. More information at

https://raykeatingbooksandmore.com/shop/ols/products/disneyplanner.  A PDF version is available here.  And please listen to the Daily Dose of Disney with Ray Keating podcast. 

Disney Up for Honors in the 25th Annual Orlando Sentinel Foodie Awards

 by Beth Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

February 3, 2023

 

Some of us go to Disney for the rides.  However, my t-shirt would probably read, “I’m just here for the food.”  I could stroll the parks all day and never go on a single ride, but there are plenty of places on my dinner radar, especially if EPCOT is hosting a festival.

It was with some joy, then, that I discovered that a few of my favorites (Oh, Raglan Road how I love your OMG Burger and 12 hour braised beef, and the Saganaki on Fire at Wine Bar George is perfect!) had made it onto one of this year’s top Foodie lists.  In fact, in two categories, Disney restaurants are competing against each other!

 

The Orlando Sentinel is holding its “25th Annual Foodie Awards” for Central Florida, and Disney restaurants have been nominated in six of the 51 categories (the Sentinel talks about 50 categories, but we counted 51!).  The voting round is now open, and Sentinel readers can log in to the Orlando Sentinel website and vote for their favorites among the Reader's Choice finalists.

 

Nominations were narrowed down to the top three finalists in each the 2023 Orlando Sentinel Foodie Awards' Reader's Choice categories based on thousands of nominations submitted. (In the case of ties, there may be more than three nominees in a category.) 

Readers can vote once a day, every day, through 11:59 p.m. on February 16. Foodie Awards’ winners will be announced on February 24.

 

Disney restaurants are shown in bold in the categories below, and their competitors are also listed in each category.  Only the categories that Disney placed in are listed below.  (Head to the Orlando Sentinel’s website for the complete list of all 51 categories.)

 

In the category of Best African Restaurant:

 

• Boma – Flavors of Africa (Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge)

• Jiko – The Cooking Place (Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge)

• Nile Ethiopian (International Drive, Orlando)

 

In the category of German Restaurants:

 

• Biergarten Restaurant (EPCOT’s Germany pavilion)

• Hollerbach’s German Restaurant. (Sanford, FL)

• The Bavarian Haus (Mt. Dora, FL)

 

In the category of Irish Restaurants:

 

• Raglan Road Irish Pub (Disney Springs)

• Fiddlers Green Irish Pub & Eatery (Winter Park, FL)

• Claddagh Cottage Irish Pub (Orlando, FL)

 

In the category of Best Splurge:

 

• Victoria & Albert’s (Disney’s Grand Floridian)

• Bull & Bear (Orlando, FL)

• Capa (Orlando, FL)

• Christner’s Prime Steak & Lobster (Orlando, FL)

 

In the category of Best Theme Park Restaurant:

 

• Le Cellier (EPCOT’s Canada Pavilion)

• Tiffins Restaurant (Disney’s Animal Kingdom)

• Mythos Restaurant (Universal Orlando)

 

In the category of Best Wine Bar:

 

• Wine Bar George (Disney Springs)

• The Wine Room on Park Avenue (Winter Park, FL)

• VINIA Wine & Kitchen (Winter Park, FL)

 

_______________

 

Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.