Technically, this is a buffet, but it’s like no other buffet you’re likely to encounter. For one thing, the food is all wonderfully prepared. The food, which features a variety of meats, fish and vegetarian items based on African dishes, is adventurous in scope with brilliant flavors. And instead of steam tables most of the food is served on state-of-the-art (if all-you-can-eat technology can be called art) surfaces that allow the foods to be served in pots, pans and other vessels while still keeping them hot.

Stylized African cuisine to go with the Animal Kingdom Lodge locale. The food is excellent and the wine cellar boasts the largest collection of South African wines outside of Africa. Jiko is worthy of being listed among the top tier restaurants at Walt Disney World.

Other location at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. For a hint about the food, take a look at the slogan: A Wild Place To Shop and Eat. Notice that shopping gets top billing? The food is mediocre here at best. The Animal Kingdom Rainforest Cafe is similar to the Downtown Disney one, except AK’s is immense. No, it’s a little bigger than immense. It seats about 575 in what is essentially one large room, the ceiling of which is covered with fake limbs and leaves to make you think you’re in a real rain forest, albeit one made of silk. As if the fake plants overhead weren’t enough, each table has a fake orchid in a vase.

The menu is African with Indian influences, but not to the point of excluding beef or pork. Look for those touches in the spicing. The food may be a bit more exotic than most people are willing to try, but it’s almost all done expertly. And you can’t beat the atmosphere, with a ground-level view of the grazing area where you’re likely to see giraffes galloping by.

What does it say that two of the top sellers at Tiffins are Charred Octopus and Whole-fried Sustainable Fish? I saw several of each delivered by the serving staff to tables in our dining room. The whole fish is an impressive presentation, the body frozen in an undulating swim pose on the plate, head and tail intact. Such a sight would previously have sent most guests screaming to the nearest burger joint or steak and potatoes restaurant. (There’s a reason that Le Cellier, the Canada steakhouse at Epcot, is so popular.) Here, the sight of the fish at the next table seems to encourage others to choose it. And, by the way, it is well executed and quite delicious, especially with the fermented black bean sauce and green papaya slaw.

The only full-service, sit-down restaurant inside Animal Kingdom, this is a true disappointment on all levels. The food is subpar and the service does not meet Disney’s usual standards. The restaurant is operated, as is Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex, by Landry Restaurants.OK, there was one food item I liked. It was a plate of green beans that had been coated in batter (the beans, not the plate) and fried and served with a sweet dipping sauce. A nice way to eat vegetables. But $6.99 for a stack of green beans? Are they kidding?No, they’re serious, otherwise they wouldn’t have charged $12.99 for the eensy dim sum basket that had a few pork pot stickers, pork and shrimp dumplings and two stale, doughy steamed buns with what looked to be about a teaspoon of barbecue inside.My guest chose the Shaoxing steak and shrimp entrée, which featured shrimp on skewers coated with something the menu described as tempura batter. Actually, it more closely resembled the substance that insulates a common corn dog at your basic county fair. The meat half of the duo was good, skirt steak saturated with soy marinade. The thin steak was wrapped around a timbale of jasmine rice. The plate also included a rather soggy medley of vegetables – snow peas, bell peppers, some mushrooms – but the whole thing didn’t come close to being worth the $22.99 fee.The theme song here could be “Yakkity Yak, Don’t Eat That!”