Ale & Compass is a table service restaurant located at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort. This location replaced the previous Captain’s Grille and opened November 2017, making the place relatively new among the ever-increasing array of restaurants at Walt Disney World. We’ve visited the location numerous times and it has yet to disappoint. This time we brought some folks along who haven’t been before to allow them to experience the lighthouse-themed restaurant in all its glory.
Appetizers
Oven-roasted Littlenecks with Potatoes and Bacon – $13.00
This is an extremely small portion for the price.. there’s a measly 8 clams in this dish. That’s over a dollar per clam. The actual meat inside of each shell is about the size of a dime. They’re good, but the butter sauce they’ve been roasted in is better. We soaked up the buttery garlic mixture with the provided bread which made up for the lack of clams.
Lobster and Corn Chowder – $10.00
The soup was very creamy and had real chunks of lobster, which is a huge plus. Price for portion makes this a great way to start your meal with a chowder that’s not overly salty, but has a great seafood flavor. And yes, those are homemade crackers on the side and they’re just as crispy and good as they look!
Oven-roasted Oysters with Spinach and Creamed Kale, White Cheddar, and Cornbread Crumbs – $12.00
These oysters are stuffed with a creamy kale and cheese mixture that’s sure to win anyone over. You get 5 oysters for the $12 price tag making this a stellar deal compared to the littleneck clams. They’re a pretty large oyster, but the chefs do a great job at combining the kale and white cheddar to ensure that nothing is slimy or textually unappealing.
Parker House Rolls and Spreads – Bacon Jam, Pub Cheese, Citrus Butter – $12.00
The bacon jam is in the middle. Although it looks pretty horrible, it tastes amazing. The pub cheese has a decent spice on the back of the tongue and the citrus butter isn’t overbearing, but just enough citrus to give a nice flavor. While there’s not enough bread for all of the dips, you need to try them all. Rip apart the bread to make it last.
Entrees
Pan-seared Trout, Broccolini and Cornbread Croutons – with Lemon-Caper Beurre Blanc Sauce – $24.00
While the fish portion isn’t huge, the fillet is cut and cooked perfectly. There’s a slight saltiness to the slightly-charred exterior skin that gives way to an insanely flaky fish below. The broccolini and lemon sauce bring the dish together to be one of the better fish dishes we’ve had in quite some time at Walt Disney World.
Fried Chicken and Waffle – with House-made Pickles and Orange-Chili Honey – $18.00
This is undoubtedly one of the best deals at any table service restaurant at Walt Disney World. Two gigantic pieces of bone-in chicken grace a full freshly-made waffle. Pictures don’t do justice to just how gigantic these pieces are, and you can easily split this among two people and both be happy. Served on the side is an orange-chili honey that was great to dip the crispy chicken into. This is recommended, although you may be questioning why you’re ordering chicken and waffles at a yacht and beach themed resort.
Seared Scrod – on Corn and Lobster Ragout with Grilled Fennel – $22.00
The Ragout that is mentioned in the entree’s title is really just 3oz of the lobster and corn chowder from the appetizer menu. The fish was flaky and the lobster bits were tender, however, unlike the appetizer we received earlier, this soup was a bit cold which affected the overall quality of the dish. There’s some real potential here and we recommend the dish if you enjoy a cod-type fish. It’s a large portion for the price.
16-oz T-Bone – with M aitre d’Hotel Butter, Truffle Fries, House-Steak Sauce and Watercress Salad – $36.00
The house-made steak sauce on the side is what dreams are made of, it’s like a tastier A1 sauce. This steak was served along with a basket of the famous truffle fries that were saved from Captain’s Grille. We asked for medium and it was cooked perfectly, and we assumed as much knowing that Yachtsman Steakhouse is right next door. It’s quite possibly one of the best regular table service steaks at Walt Disney World; tender and juicy with the perfect sides. Well worth the price tag.
Smoked Barbecue Pork Chop – with Sorghum, Swiss Chard, and House Bacon – $25.00
This pork chop is gigantic and very thick. The barbecue sauce has a nice kick and great smokey flavor given to it from the smoked pork. Temperature was not asked for cooking, which was perfectly fine because this was cooked expertly, giving the perfect amount of flavor and juiciness to each bite. The salad has chunks of the house bacon and quinoa mixed-in, but you can easily pick out the bacon and ignore the greenery.
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Wow, we’ve been going to WDW since 1979 and I have to say our dinner at A&C was our 2nd worst dinner ever.
Service was horrible,.. food was worse. I usually am willing to give places a second chance, but this place was so bad, and there are so many options, especially around Epcot/Studios/Epcot resorts, why even consider it??
BTW, any consideration to reviewing Flying Fish now that they’ve supposedly brought some of the old items back to the menu???
Why consider it? Because your one bad experience isn’t indicative of the usual reviews for the restaurant. I took a bite of a rotten apple once, but I don’t go around telling “why would anyone eat an apple?? I had a bad one once!!”
12 bucks seems high for the rolls.
We ordered this in April. There were 4 of us and the waiter kept bringing additional rolls (at no additional cost) until we had eaten all of the spreads. We probably had 3 or 4 rolls each, so it really was not too expensive.
great thanks