REVIEW: The Diamond Horseshoe Reopens With a Good, But Familiar, Menu at Magic Kingdom

Iain

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REVIEW: The Diamond Horseshoe Reopens With a Good, But Familiar, Menu at Magic Kingdom

More restaurants have been slowly reopening or returning to regular service thanks to the relaxing of certain COVID mandates and increasing capacity at the Walt Disney World Resort. With these changes in mind, another classic restaurant, located near the end of Liberty Square, has once again swung open its saloon doors: The Diamond Horseshoe.

Restaurant Overview

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To start, it’s really nice to be back in this space specifically to dine at The Diamond Horseshoe. At certain times since last summer, it’s been used as overflow seating for Liberty Tree Tavern.

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It has such a nostalgic old school Disney feeling, with the kitschy décor, painstaking attention to detail, and old-timey vibe.

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The player piano up on stage is still going strong, regaling guests with period music every so often throughout the day.

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Along with the traditional paper menu, servers leave a QR code for guests to see the menu via their phones.

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Don’t let your eyes deceive you! While the restaurant is called The Diamond Horseshoe, you are indeed eating from the Liberty Tree Tavern menu.

Starters

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Parker House Rolls

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The Parker house rolls are just as we expected, fresh and fluffy. Served with fresh cold butter, this is a great way to start a Disney meal.

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Tossed Salad

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The salad is mixed greens with cucumbers, grape tomatoes, radishes and a honey-shallot vinaigrette.

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The vegetables are all very fresh and crisp. The dressing, however, is a little on the mild side. While the flavor is good it just doesn’t bring enough to the salad.

Main Course

Saloon Feast

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Roasted Turkey Breast

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The turkey is juicy and works well with the gravy served on the side. Cranberry lovers will enjoy the side of cranberry sauce to complement the turkey as well.

Oven-roasted Pork with Mashed Potatoes

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The pork is a bit dry but the mushroom gravy adds both moistness and flavor to perk up the otherwise unremarkable meat.

Pot Roast

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The standout of the meats is the pot roast! It is tender and melts in your mouth. The gravy complements the roast well for a robust flavor.

All three meats are solid choices. The pork was our least favorite, but none are bad and what you might like best is likely more a matter of preference than quality.

Seasonal Vegetables (Green beans)

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The green beans are not to be overlooked. While most people would forget about the veggies in a meat and starch heavy meal like this, the beans are fresh and prepared al dente with butter and garlic. Simple but delicious.

Herb Stuffing

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The stuffing is a nice and moist, and works very well with the turkey and gravy also.

House-made Macaroni & Cheese

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The macaroni & cheese has a flavor of processed cheese (think Velveeta) as opposed to real cheese, but if that is your preference then you will enjoy this offering. Our party was split on it.

Mashed Potatoes

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The mashed potatoes are a great side. While they feel homemade with lumps of potato and are seasoned well enough to stand alone, they are even tastier with the turkey gravy on top.

Plant-based Impossible Meatloaf

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The plant based meatloaf was tasty, as we have come to expect from plant based offerings at Disney restaurants. It doesn’t taste like meatloaf, it really tastes like impossible burger meat, with spices that give it a sort of southwestern flavor. But it is tasty and pairs well with the mushroom gravy on top as well as the mashed potatoes.

As we were a party of two and ordered both the traditional and plant-based options, our Saloon Feast was served on a smaller plate. Parties with multiple guests eating the Saloon Feast will have it served on a larger platter as would be expected for family-style dining.

Dessert

Oooey Gooey Toffee Cake

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As with the Liberty Tree Tavern, the real star of the meal is the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake. Served warm and topped with vanilla ice cream, this is one of the best desserts in all of Walt Disney world.

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The cake has the density and flavor of a thick chocolate chip cookie, with chunks of chocolate in the cake, topped with caramel and chocolate sauce and toffee chunks. It’s always hard to save room for dessert at a family-style meal, but make sure you do on this one! This is what makes coming here truly worthwhile.

Johnny Appleseed’s Warm Apple Cake (Plant Based)

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The plant based dessert is Johnny Appleseed’s Warm Apple Cake, also served at Liberty Tree Tavern. As tends to be the case with plant based desserts at Disney, we really enjoyed this.

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The cake is fluffy and moist with chucks of apple throughout. The caramel sauce drizzled on top really pulls all the flavors together. The whipped topping is a bit too dense and almost oily tasting, but you can easily work around it if you don’t care for it.

Overall

The choice between The Diamond Horseshoe or Liberty Tree Tavern is one of preference for the atmosphere. Both are well themed, with unique elements that are true Americana. Horseshoe is a bit louder, and feels a little more casual, but the environment is classic Disney.

While we can recommend the Diamond Horseshoe, at the end of the day we wish it had a unique menu—something like barbecue would be a great fit in this space. As it is, it just feels like overflow seating for Liberty Tree, which is exactly what it was being used for prior to this official reopening.

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