For quite a while now, Fairfax Fare at Disney’s Hollywood Studios has been home to barbecue dishes (and more recently sharing that menu with loaded baked potatoes). Well, just this week, the main barbecue dish from this establishment picked up and moved over to the ABC Commissary, but was replaced with a number of “tex-mex” options.
New Fairfax Fare Menu at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
The new menu features three tex-mex options, while keeping the Loaded Baked Potato, Fairfax Salad, and the Chili-Cheese Foot-Long Hot Dog.
The photos on the menu are reminiscent of those that appear at Pecos Bill’s at the Magic Kingdom with their similar menu items. Keep this in mind for when you actually see the food below.
El Pastor Pulled Pork Sandwich ($11.49)
The El Pastor Pulled Pork sandwich is a step up from many similar style sandwiches around Walt Disney World. The pork here has a nice spicy kick and the bun is soft and flaky. The sweet plantains are surprisingly good, but the dish would probably be better off without the roasted corn medley as a side. I would certainly pick this over the pulled pork sandwich at Flame Tree Barbecue at Animal Kingdom.
Empanadas Platter ($12.49)
The empanadas platter is solid, especially considering the inclusion of 3 sides. I wish that the empanada shells were a little crispier, but in fairness they seemed to have been sitting out at the restaurant for a while before we ordered them. They could also use some more beef inside, as you can see below. While I’m not a fan of the roasted corn medley, the rice and black beans were solid. Overall, not a bad dish, but not something I would order again.
Fajita Combo Platter ($12.99)
This is a sad, sad, sad imitation of the fajita platter at Pecos Bill’s Tall Tale Inn and Cafe at the Magic Kingdom. There is no stacked condiment/toppings bar here and the advertised inclusion of sour cream didn’t materialize. When I went back to the counter to ask if I could have some sour cream, I was greeted with a dumbfounded look. I had to point to the menu and that it stated that there would be sour cream. The cast member then informed me that they don’t have any sour cream…
As far as the actual food, it was good. The pork is the same as the sandwich and the chicken was fine. Altogether in a tortillas, it comes together nicely, although it was missing something… perhaps some sort of cream-based condiment…
Besides that, the meal came with just two tortillas… that’s insane. How on earth can you put all of that into two tortillas? Also, I’ve never been to a restaurant where I didn’t at least receive three tortillas with a dish of this style, Disney-owned or otherwise. When I went back to the counter to ask if this was correct, they said that they indeed only provide two. I then asked if I could have more and again was stared at as if I was a complete psychopath. They did reluctantly hand me another pack of two tortillas. Mind you, when I have asked for additional tortillas at Pecos Bill’s, they have always been more than happy to oblige.
Overall
I would return again for the pulled pork sandwich, but otherwise I would skip Fairfax Fare in its current state. The baked potatoes are alright, but otherwise I wasn’t wowed with the new empanadas nor the fajita platter, at least not without some sort of viable condiment station for such dishes. It just feels like they are still not ready for this menu, even though it has now been there for a few days.
If you really just hate the other counter service locations at Hollywood Studios and absolutely need tex-mex in your life, this is where you will have to go, but don’t expect much from anything but that pulled pork sandwich.
WTH!?!?!?!
Disney is messing up food services at parks really hard. And then they can’t figure out why attendance is going down.
That sour cream issue is perplexing. The menu shows that the Empanadas come with sour cream. Your photo of the Empanadas has a sour cream drizzle on them. Couldn’t they just put some of *that* sour cream into a little cup, and serve it to you with your Fajita platter?
Gross in your photos. Charge guests more, serve them the equivalent to dog food. I cannot think of a fast food restaurant who would be caught dead serving that even. WDW really needs to turn these parks over to 3rd party. They are totally out of touch. Disney Springs is now their best ‘attraction’ because Disney has such limited control over it. Thanks for reporting it though!
Everyone with a trash picker (AKA Disney Managers) needs to be round up, with their WDW executives and burned alive in a cage. The only way WDW will get back on track. I get corporate greed and cost cutting, but come on. Glad you’re reporting this stuff accurately. The rest of media is scared to death to report on Disney. They can’t think of anything nice to say, so they just don’t say anything here locally in Orlando.
Every new menu item I’ve seen lately is just obvious frozen food service slop. I can’t believe they expect people to eat this crap. I used to defend Disney to haters and claim it was a fun foodie (to an extent) destination, but I can’t do that in good conscience anymore. It’s pretty depressing and I hope it’s temporary and they can get out of whatever contract they’re stuck in with whoever produces this abysmal food.
I wish it were so simple. Disney’s middle management who runs the theme parks is really terrible talent. There’s so much politics and bean counting, they’ve lost their way. Sucks being a Disney fan to visit what Disney themselves is doing to their parks.
That’s exactly what it looks like. A bunch of ignorant new upper management trying to earn money where there’s none and telling the talented middle management and regular employees trying to to fix things to do what they say because they know better.
Whatever was left from the creative Disney days is dying before our eyes.
Why are they changing every food service menu to resemble Chipotle????? My family loved the barbecue options at both Fairfax Fare and Peco Bill’s. We HATE the new menu changes. WTH is going on?
Cuz they’ve gotten cheap. Chipotle would be a step up! Heck, left overs from Ponderosa would be upgrade. Meanwhile, many sheep on these boards say people who want more than dog food for $13 and a half hour in line are being “negative”.
The barbecue ribs are now at ABC commissary, so you now get to eat them with aircon!
My favorite is that the fajita picture shows 3 tortillas. And steak. Literally false advertising.