The Polite Pig is a fairly new quick service location at Disney Springs. The restaurant was opened by the folks who run The Ravenous Pig in Winter Park, FL, who also own other gastropubs such as the MCO terminal location of Cask & Larder. Each are amazing in their own way, keeping the menu distinct and local while appealing to a crowd who demands value for the prices being paid. The restaurants do an amazing job with this balancing act and their work has paid-off with a cult following and some of the best restaurant reviews in Orlando. You may remember our review from last year where we said that the food quality is high, albeit not the tastiest at Springs. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with the smoked meats, but there’s also nothing that pulls us back… until now.
Staying with the ‘keep it local’ theme, The Polite Pig has brought Gideon’s Bakehouse cookies to the restaurant. This bakery is also located in Winter Park, FL, and is known for their 1/2 pound cookies that people sometimes wait upwards of an hour for. They’re an exceedingly popular bake shop, so being able to get one of their most popular treats without the trek up beyond Downtown Orlando seemed like a win.
It comes wrapped in a bag and then in plastic, confirming the freshness.
Here’s the chocolate chip cookie in all its glory. Unfortunately, this picture doesn’t do justice to just how large it is, easily enough to be shared. We expected a life changing cookie, a reaction that would warrant an hour long line outside their actual store. Unfortunately, it’s really just an under-baked cookie. You can see the salt on the outside in the picture above. What’s interesting is that typically chocolate and salt work well together, just not in this specific example. Cookie + salt + chocolate is just not good and rather unexpected. Biting-in is another weird moment because while the chocolate chips are relatively hard, the dough is soft to the point where it feels under-cooked and almost raw. There’s no special filling, just 8 ounces of a salty, bland chocolate, cookie dough experience that sets you back an almost unfathomable $8. Your dessert money is better spent elsewhere at Disney Springs.
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It’s important to note – these sell at $5 at the Gideon’s Bakeshop in Orlando. $3 difference for packaging and transportation, I’m sure.
$8 for a big cookie, keep it.
You’re not an official resident of Central Flordia until you’ve waited in the winding line at East End Market on a Saturday afternoon in an attempt to buy whatever Gideon’s hasn’t yet sold out of.
I get that the reviewer didn’t enjoy the cookie, but Gideon’s is a Central Florida gem and it’s awesome that tourists have a chance to try more of our awesome local stuff.
People travel to Disney and stay there for the whole trip, never once even realizing Orlando is one of the top maybe 6 foodie destinations in the entire country.