It’s a perennial nighttime scene, affected by its location inside the pavilion. The dining area is set up next to the waterway, which transports people in boats on their way to the pavilion’s themed ride, Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros. All the elements work nicely together to produce a terrific atmosphere.I wish they’d spend a little effort on making the food better. The menu at least stays true to Mexican cuisine, rather than pandering to Americans’ concept of it, which has been muddled by Tex-Mex, Southwestern and even San Francisco-style burrito restaurants. Here you’ll find no fajitas, an American invention, or cheesy quesadillas. You will receive a conical basket filled with tortilla chips, accompanied by two salsas — an American tradition that even authentic Mexican restaurants must follow.That’s the last thing you’ll get for free. Everything else you’ll pay for, and you’ll pay way too much.

Shula’s is consistently one of the best steakhouses in Central Florida. The decor is high-toned and classy, with a wood-trimmed corporate boardroom mien. Large black and white photos of football action that adorn the walls are tasteful and appropriate. The only real bit of kitsch is the menu, which is printed on the side of an official NFL football (don’t even think of trying to walk out with it — you’ll be tackled so fast you won’t even see the hostess coming up behind you.)
The steaks here are first-rate and expertly cooked. It ain’t cheap, but quality this good is worth the price.

Space 220, an upscale dining experience with an expansive room and windows that look out into space and the Eastern Seaboard, 220 miles below (give or take a couple of hundred miles).

Spice Road Table is the newest restaurant to open at Epcot, part of the Morocco pavilion in the World Showcase. Not inside the pavilion, mind you, outside, in front of it, on the shore of the lagoon. It’s a setup much like what opened last year at the Mexico pavilion.
The menu isn’t exclusively Moroccan. By giving it a Spice Road theme, the developers were able to widen the scope, borrowing from the dishes and flavors of the countries along the legendary explorers’ route. And the various dishes are presented as Mediterranean Small Plates (thank you for not calling them tapas).
Oddly, given the name, most of the dishes have rather muted spicing. Ask for a side of harissa with whatever you order and you’ll be fine.

Opened in July, 2020, this elegant dinner-only occupies a previously under utilized space at the Japan pavilion in Epcot. As with the other restaurants at the pavilion, Takumi-tei is operated by Mitsukoshi, the Tokyo-based department store.

Teppan is short for teppanyaki, the Japanese steakhouse style meal where you sit around a large grill with a bunch of strangers while a cook makes a big show of chopping your vegetables and grilling them with a lot of banging and clattering. Fun. The food is good, but ultimately overpriced.

Renovated in 2008, the dining room of the Japan pavilion now offers a serene setting inside and a gorgeous view of the World Showcase outside. Sushi is a forte here, although there also are kitchen foods. Most of the sushi chefs at Tokyo dining are women, so while the restaurant attempts to give a taste of Japanese culinary traditions, it does so by breaking down gender barriers. Very nice.

Once the lobby and restroom area for the larger restaurant inside the Italy pavilion at Epcot, this new wine bar is small, and reservations are not accepted, but it offers some pretty good “small plates” and a robust list of wines to go with them.

The first thing that should be noted is that there is no fettuccine Alfredo on the menu. That’s noteworthy because the restaurant that occupied this space for so many years was Alfredo d’Originale di Roma, an offshoot of the restaurant that invented the dish. Maybe the Patina Group, which now operates the restaurant, wanted to keep their menu more authentic and didn’t want to add Alfredo, which is largely an Americanized dish.
But that didn’t stop them from delivering the bread basket with a dish of olive oil, which is largely an American practice.
I started my lunch with a bowl of pasta e fagioli, the beany soup with bits of pasta blended in. It was fairly bland, but I fixed that by spooning in some of the olive oil meant for the bread.
For my entrée I had the dish with the unfortunate name stinco di maiale, which is more aromatic than it sounds. It was a massive pork shank braised into tender submission. It was quite good, and the portion was ample. In fact there was too much to finish in one seating, and at $24 I hated to waste it. (Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have doggie bags waiting for you at the front gate like purchases from gift shops so you don’t have to lug them around?)
I had also shelled out $8 for the lunch contorno, which was a braised fennel. Actually, it had to be a joke the kitchen was playing. No serious chef would have sent out a hunk of raw fennel with some melted cheese on top.
Service, which, like most of the pavilion restaurants, is proffered by natives of the sponsoring country, was affable but not very attentive. The most authentic part of the dining experience!
The atmosphere of Tutto Italia is boisterous. The main dining room is a huge space that wants to look elegant but just can’t, not when it’s filled with ill-clothed tourists – not a fault of the restaurant.
 

Patina Restaurant Group, which runs this restaurant as well as Tutto Italia next door, imports the water it uses to mix with its imported flour to make the pizza dough. The flour is from Italy; the water is from Pennsylvania. But, the chef told me, the minerality most closely resembles that of the water in Naples, so they figure it’s worth it. I think the pizzas are better simply for the super-hot ovens (also from Italy) which give the pies a quick crisping. Besides pizza, the fritto misto is worth trying.