We recently noticed that Tony’s Town Square Restaurant had quietly undergone some menu changes, most notably removing the 50th anniversary items and pizza and adding a few dishes. We stopped by today to try out the new offerings.
We were given a QR code to access the menu digitally.
Antipasti
Tony’s Garlic Bread For The Table – $11
Toasted Ciabatta with Roasted Garlic-Butter and Parmesan Fonduta
Wow, was this heavy on the garlic.
It was practically garlic in bread form. Very salty. Definitely need to be a fan of garlic for this.
They poured the sauce over for you, but you could also dip it if you wanted.
There is a ton of garlic and herbs on this, too much for any of us. We don’t recommend it.
Toy Box Tomato Salad – $12
Marinated Tomatoes with Torn Burrata Cheese, Cucumbers, Focaccia, Pickled Onions, and Basil
The vegetables were neither fresh nor crunchy.
There is no flavor or seasoning; it’s just cheese and vegetables.
The mozzarella has the most flavor here. Skip this.
Secondi Piatti
Orecchiette With Spicy Italian Sausage – $27
House-made Sausage, Broccoli Rabe, Onion, Roasted Garlic, and Toasted Breadcrumbs
The sausage is bad, dry, and tastes microwaved. The pasta is okay, but chewy. The asparagus was undercooked.
The sauce and broth are so heavy on the salt with just a dash of Italian spice.
The portion size is decent, but it’s watery, salty, and spicy in all the wrong ways.
Oven-roasted Shrimp Scampi – $30
Shrimp with Lemon, Roasted Garlic-Butter, and White Wine served with Crispy Parmesan-Potatoes
The shrimp isn’t fishy, and the seasoning and herb butter sauce is decent.
The potatoes are a little mushy, and not seasoned as well as they could be, but the skin was slightly crispy. We didn’t detect any parmesan flavor on the potatoes, and there was a romesco sauce underneath.
This is a good portion with nine shrimp, and it’s decent in flavor. You can dip the bread in the sauce also.
This was a decent seafood option.
Butcher’s Steak – $36
Marinated Hanger Steak with Crispy Parmesan Potatoes, Arugula, Lemon, and Mild Calabrian Chili-Pesto
We got it medium rare as recommended, and it was well-cooked and easy to cut. A nice piece of meat, not chewy, and a good portion size.
The potatoes were the same as with the scampi.
We’d recommend this.
Penne With Chicken Al Forno – $26
Roasted Chicken, Caramelized Onions, and Mushrooms baked with Spicy Creamy Tomato Sauce and topped with Mozzarella
This was a solid dish.
The pasta is cooked well, and there are big pieces of chicken.
The chicken itself isn’t seasoned and has a slightly weird texture, but the sauce is seasoned enough.
Desserts
Tiramisù Cannoli – $9
House-made filling with hints of Espresso, Chocolate, and Mascarpone Cheese
This was the winner of the whole meal.
The dough was crunchy and buttery, and the inside was espresso mousse.
You have to like espresso for this one, but coffee lovers will like the mousse. It was strong. We are big fans of coffee, so we liked the mousse, but it may be a bit strong for others. The filling wasn’t too sweet either.
We recommend this.
Mandarincello Custard – $8
Chef’s House-made Mandarincello, Almond Biscotti
It’s very sweet, thick, and rich.
There are pieces of orange peel in it that are almost bitter.
It’s really too much for one person, and would be nice to share if you can muster it. It’s thick, dense, and heavy.
Each of us could only handle a few bites. It wasn’t bad, but we wouldn’t choose it again.
Tony’s Spumoni Tart – $9
Flourless Chocolate Cake, Pistachio Cream, and Dark Cherry Mousse
Flavor Lab, which is responsible for a number of new restaurants and updated menus at Walt Disney World, very often makes only two kinds of desserts: a circular-shaped mousse or something in a small circular pie crust. You’ll find similar offerings at Satu’li Canteen in Pandora but also at table service. This is another.
The top two layers are decent. The bottom pistachio mousse has the texture of putty.
The red dust tastes artificial, and the top mousse is fruity. The texture of the top mousse is just fine. The chocolate crust is also fine.
All together, it makes for an off-putting combination.
Overall
Three of four entrees were actually decent. The only thing we would not recommend is the orecchiette. The Butcher’s Steak was a group favorite. This is one of our better experiences with Tony’s. It is odd that pizza is gone from the menu.
The other changes show that someone looked at the menu and thought, “How can we make this better?” and the effort is appreciated. Tony’s is still not the restaurant we’re going to tell people to try, but it honestly may not be the place that we tell you to avoid at all costs anymore.
With some better appetizers and desserts, Tony’s could even become a place we would recommend.
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“It wasn’t awful” high praise indeed. We tried this restaurant and found Olive Garden to be better. Their spaghetti sauce was tasteless. We aren’t going back because it’s a gamble. You are betting a pile of money that the meal will be good. Disney needs to understand that concept.
So do you still get the free bread service or did that garlic bread replace it?
Free bread is upon request only now.