ESPN Club is a table service restaurant at Disney’s Boardwalk Resort. While not necessarily anyone’s first round draft choice of where to have dinner, the restaurant has many redeeming qualities. There’s an extensive beer menu, great sandwiches, and a plethora of TVs that are EVERYWHERE. They are literally everywhere, even in the restrooms and stalls. We’ve long been fans of the ‘ESPN Dingers’ boneless wings, but recent menu changes flipped out the boneless wings for chicken tenders. We stopped by this week to play ball and check out the new entrees.
First off, let’s discuss the elephant in the room. It’s exceedingly rare to find beer by the pitcher at Walt Disney World, let alone at a Disney operated location. ESPN Club offers all of their drafts by the pint OR pitcher. Each pitcher has about 4 pints in it, making the value very apparent. We landed on a pitcher of the Cigar City Jai Alai IPA for $25 whereas a single pint would put you back $8.50. A pitcher is a perfect idea for a group that each wants a beer or sitting around and watching a game.
Chicken Philly Sandwich – Grilled Chicken, Bell Peppers, Onions, and Mushrooms with choice of provolone or Cheddar Cheese Sauce – $16.00
Ordered here with the cheddar cheese sauce. One of the very cool things about ESPN Club is their side menu items list. Not only do you have french fries and onion rings, but you have the ability for a side salad or soup. No other Disney operated location allows you to flip out the side for a soup or salad like this. We opted for the seasonal soup as a side; a corn chowder. Plenty of spice and great flavor all throughout. As for the sandwich, there’s large chunks of chicken assembled on a bun that resembles a chicken cheesesteak. It’s packed with mushrooms and peppers making each bite have a distinct crunch and wonderful flavor. Next time we would get the provolone instead of the cheese sauce. After a while everything became too slippery to stay inside the bun.
Crispy Chicken Strips – Boneless Chicken with your choice of Sauce – $11.00
Sauce choices include Medium, Hot, Flame, Southern-style Barbecue, or Buffalo Blue Cheese. We’re a glutton for punishment and ordered them with the flame sauce. ESPN Club delivered, not only on perfectly cooked tenders, but the sauce was truly spicy. While they may be good, the old boneless wings ‘Dingers’ were definitely better. We’ll miss them, but here’s hoping they make a return one day. To go along with the chicken we ordered a side of fries, recently changed from basic shoestring to the waffle fries that are also being served at Geyser Point. They’re pretty good, especially mopping-up the sauce left on the plate from the tenders.
Double Bone-in Pork Chop – Tamarind-Barbecue Sauce, Sour Cream-Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes, Seasonal Vegetables with Olive Oil and Sea Salt – $24.00
The kitchen wasn’t able to produce the mashed potatoes today, but that wasn’t an issue because we flipped them out for onion rings instead. They melted in your mouth and had a perfect coating. The seasonal vegetable mix is bright, vibrant, and uniquely tasty. Not something we expect from a sports bar, but a pleasant surprise. The real star here is the pork chop. It’s gigantic, cooked perfectly, tender beyond belief, and worthy of all praise. Our served said it was gigantic and we didn’t fully understand how large it was until the plate was delivered. The sauce had a great tang without overpowering the tender pork. Recommended.
S’mores Bread Pudding – Warm S’mores Bread Pudding topped with Marshmallow Ice Cream and Graham Cracker Crumble – $8.00
Believe the hype: this dessert lives-up to every expectation set forth in the description. For those who follow us on Twitter, we teased a review of this dessert on Tuesday afternoon. Not only is the bread pudding perfect, there’s ganache crumble sprinkled throughout the bread. The marshmallow ice cream on top adds a cold and creamy transition from the warm pudding. There’s two perfectly toasted marshmallows on top to add to the fun. Everything about this dessert screams summer and is a winner.