While we were at Disney World last week, we dined at a number of new restaurants for us. Part of this was due to the inclusion of several restaurants at the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin with the Tables In Wonderland program (TIW). For those that aren’t familiar with the Tables in Wonderland, this is a discount card that is available to Florida residents for $100 and annual passholders for $75 for 13 months. TIW card holders can receive a discount of 20% on all food & beverage purchases. Holidays are blocked from the discount and not all restaurants or lounges are included, but this is a significant discount.
We decided to dine at Shula’s Steak House to celebrate our anniversary. Shula’s has received many awards for best categories in Orlando and Florida, as well as Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence.
Photo c. Shula’s Steak House
The walls in the restaurant were covered with memorabilia from games that Don Shula coached in the 1972 Miami Dolphins’ “Perfect Season”. When you are seated, you are presented with an official NFL game football on a tee with the menu hand painted on the ball.
There was an extensive wine list, cocktails, cognacs and scotch. We decided to skip the appetizers and just go for soup and salad, since the steak cuts were much larger than we were used to eating. I had the lobster bisque and my husband had the Caesar salad. The lobster bisque was very good and I was glad I started with this. Our server brought around a tray with samples of the steaks offered that night. For our main course, I had a 16oz New York Strip steak while my husband had the Steak Mary Anne, two 5oz filet medallions with a cognac sauce. For sides we ordered the lobster mashed potatoes and sauteed mushrooms. Our friends also let us try their crab mac & cheese. There were three desserts that you had to preorder – Molten Lava Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Souffle and Apple Cobbler. We ordered an Apple Cobbler to share. This turned out to be a mistake. Not because it wasn’t good, but because we were so full!
The steaks were incredibly tender and very good, but the cuts were much larger than we could handle. My husband finished his steak, but the rest of us had leftovers. The lobster mashed potatoes were a rich, creamy mashed potatoes topped with some lobster pieces and lobster bisque. The crab mac & cheese was to die for!
Our service team consisted of a water server (who also cleared the table) and two servers. Our servers were assigned a large table shortly after we arrived so there were times that we were waiting. I was hoping that the service in general would be more attentive and that it wasn’t due to us using a discount (one of our servers made a point of telling the other server we were using TIW and his reply was a little over the top with joy).
This was a very good dining experience but it is not cheap. We split the check per couple and used our Tables in Wonderland card. With this we received a 20% discount, but an 18% gratuity was added. The total for three drinks, salad, soup, two entrees, two sides and a dessert was just over $180. This won’t be a restaurant we go to every time we visit Disney World, but we certainly will go again.
We’ve eaten there once, anniversary dinner, and think it’s the best restaurant that we have eaten at Disney. I have to say our service was outstanding. That said we’ve have not eaten at Victoria & Albert’s yet. If you have the American Express Starwood Preferred card you will get double points there too and if you happen to be staying at either The Swan or The Dolphin charge it to your room and then it doubles again