Landscape of Flavors is a quick service restaurant located at the Art of Animation Resort. This location was one of the first at Walt Disney World to show renewed interest in using real utensils and plates instead of everything disposable. Real plates and silverware allowed the chefs to create unique and amazing entrees. Recently Landscape of Flavors has had a menu overhaul with their Mongolian Grill section being revamped entirely. We stopped by the resort for a sketch break to check out some of the crazy-looking entrees.

 Odds & Ends

Landscape of Flavors is now serving gigantic pretzels, and only $6.00. Well worth the price or snack credit.

Canned Rum & Ginger Ale? Gin & Tonic? Bloody Mary? We’re not complaining, they’re easy to carry around and keep safe in your in-room fridge. The only downside is the low alcohol content, 7% on the Rum & Ginger, 6.2% on the Gin & Tonic, 10% on the Bloody Mary. You’re better off going to the actual bar to get something if you’re drinking in the moment.

And without further ado, it’s another venture into the Disney Italian culinary adventure (plus a fish entree).

Mongolian Grilled Fish – with Naan Bread, Seasonal Risotto, and Choice of Side – $12.99

This entire dish is green, and we chose the greenest side possible: Spinach and Paneer Cheese. First, let’s talk about portion control because, as you’ll see from the other entrees we got, Art of Animation has ZERO CLUE. The grilled fish is sitting on an endless pile of risotto. We tried to finish it, but it kept reappearing through some kind of inter-dimensional portal. At least it was tasty, unlike the grilled fish. Sometimes it’s difficult to smell the scents on Soarin’, the flowers while taking a nice morning stroll, or what the Rock is cooking. Sometimes is difficult to distinguish flavors, say for example the taste of breathing air versus a virtually tasteless fish. That’s the struggle with the Mongolian Grilled Fish: it tastes like nothing. At least the Paneer Cheese was pretty good, as was the warm Naan Bread.

Chicken Parmesan – Two Baked Chicken Breasts Nestled on a bed of Pasta with Marinara and Melted Provolone Cheese, served with a Breadstick – $11.49

Who makes Chicken Parmesan with GRILLED chicken, seriously? Part of the idea behind the cheesy, saucy, masterpiece is to have a breaded chicken breast sitting below the pile of Italian goodness. Either the Art of Animation chefs didn’t get the memo on the basics of Chicken Parmesan, or they tried something unique to the location and came up with this. Either way, it’s plain bad. The chicken is extremely difficult to cut on the (gigantic) bed of pasta below. Yup, another gigantic base to the dish, this time in the form of whole grain pasta. We can forgive a bad red sauce, but we can’t forgive the other ingredients making this dish not only forgettable, but regrettable.

Jumbo Stuffed Meatball – on bed of Marinara with Parmesan Herb Polenta and a Breadstick – $13.99

BEHOLD! True art! Well maybe not true art, but it’s as close as we’re going to get at Art of Animation. It’s literally the size of an orange, seriously.

This gigantic 50 pound meatball comes on another huge base, polenta in this case. The meatball comes stuffed with cheese that oozes out once you cut it open. Overall the taste is pretty similar to, well… a meatball. It’s exactly what you imagine a meatball tastes like (provided you’ve experienced the round meat delicacy before). Italian spices, breadcrumbs, and other seasonings combine with beef and pork to make one huge hunk of meat. While not particularly exciting, the entree is gigantic and will certainly fill anyone who’s up to the challenge. We described our overall impression of the dish to riding “it’s a small world”: I’m not going to Magic Kingdom specifically to ride, but if someone wants to I wouldn’t be opposed. Very similar to how we feel about this entree: We wouldn’t see it out again, but wouldn’t be opposed if presented with it.

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Topher Wallace