Every few months the Quick Service locations in The Magic Kingdom like to shake things up. This typically means entrees and desserts are changed depending on what’s been selling well and what the chefs would like to try. This early spring had a few notable changes, we stopped by the kingdom to check them out.
Columbia Harbor House
Shrimp Wedge Salad drizzled with a Zinfandel Vinaigrette Dressing – $10.99
Ten chilled shrimp joined a wedge of romaine lettuce, bacon, diced tomato, melon, onions, cucumbers, and half of a hard boiled egg. Wedge salads seem to be a ‘hip’ thing once again, but we couldn’t help feel that the wedge was a lazy way out of making an actual salad. The problem with the wedge salad is that dressing doesn’t get to every piece of lettuce evenly. The top of the wedge was excellent, but the bottom was just lettuce. The arrangement of diced vegetables and melon on top added a fresh kick to the salad, making up for a rather unfortunate egg. Overall it’s a good option on the Harbor House menu that isn’t deep fried. We wouldn’t seek it out particularly, but it’s very different than most other Magic Kingdom quick service offerings.
Seasonal Peach Cobbler drizzled with Vanilla Sauce – $4.29
There’s real chunks of peaces below the crust of the cobbler. The fruit isn’t overly sweet and has a nice crispness to each bite, making for some varied textures between the topping and the filling. The vanilla sauce on top didn’t detract from the dish but rather enhanced the overall sweetness.
Pinocchio Village Haus
In addition to the items below, Village Haus also added a Baked Ziti ($9.49) for dinner starting after 4pm.
Small Side Antipasto Salad tossed with Balsamic Vinaigrette – $3.49
There’s also a full-size portion of this antipasto salad available as an entree for $9.99. We didn’t expect much from this salad, and quite honestly we feel it’s an item that will show its face during the upcoming dinner buffet at Village Haus. It’s not made to order, so the balsamic vinaigrette has plenty of time to make the lettuce limp and moist. Tomatoes, onions, and the other vegetables didn’t have an opportunity to save the singular ‘it’s a salad’ flavor profile across the entire dish. There’s a few chunks of meat and cheese on top. The cheese was virtually indistinguishable from the other salad elements due to the dressing, and the meat had a weird spiciness to it. It’s really just not good. We hope they get the kinks worked out of this item because we see potential.
Italian Cream Cake – Decadent layers of Pecan Cake Crumbles and Butter Cream Icing – $4.79
They’re not kidding when they say ‘pecan crumbles’ because the entire cake falls apart when you try to take a bite. We felt the butter cream icing tasted more like an immature cheese. The top layer of the cake was hard as a rock and difficult to break into. The pecan cake is good with the butter cream icing midway down the dish, and there’s a few actual pecans scattered throughout.
Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe
BBQ Pulled Pork Platter served with Coleslaw, French Fries and Cornbread – $12.99
Here’s a few unattractive pictures of the BBQ platter. We received a rather large serving of pulled pork, a bunch of french fries, coleslaw, and the famous Cosmic Ray’s Cornbread Cafe’s cornbread. Well, it’s not famous, and it’s barely passable as cornbread. Trying to remove a small bite made the entire piece of cornbread crumble. We got a few good bites, but overall it’s just okay. If you’re really looking for good cornbread we suggest heading to Fort Wilderness and eating at Trails End. As for the rest of this dish, the pork was slathered in a tangy BBQ sauce. Fries were done perfectly, and the coleslaw was crisp. It’s a solid replacement, albeit a LOT more food, than the previous pulled pork sandwich that Cosmic Ray’s offered.
Sonny Eclipse Dessert – Cookies and Cream Cheesecake – $5.99
I feel like I have asked for this item to exist for the last 15 years and I never understood why no sort of treat existed for “the biggest little star in the galaxy”. Well now it does. Sadly, it is not “sure to put a smile on your funny little earthling lips”.
At first, I though they were being ingenious by making a “space” devil’s food cake (since Sonny has his Space Angels for backup singers). It’s not.
What it is in actuality is a rock-hard oreo cheesecake. It was about 10 degrees away from being frozen, but was still cold enough that it had almost no flavor. It wasn’t the worst counter service dessert I’ve ever had, but I wouldn’t order it again either.
How dare they insult Sonny Eclipse with this abomination of a dessert. I give it zero “bright little” stars. If we want a real Sonny Eclipse dessert, I guess we’ll just have to go to Yew Nork City on the Planet Zork. I’ve heard they have some good ones at the Tavern for the Green.
Typical MK fare sadly. For being the flagship of the four parks, it is the worst place to eat on property.
The only item that I would order, based upon your photos and words, would be the pulled pork platter, so thank you for your review.
Did you get to check out the Mint Julep Lemonade slush at Casey’s? It sounds really good to me, would love to hear about it for my trip in July!
Topher, Go check out the new sandwiches at Gaston’s Tavern and report back please!