Located at the Yacht Club Resort, Yachtsman Steakhouse is one of the many signature dining options located throughout Walt Disney World. In addition, it is one of only a couple restaurants at Disney where steak is the primary specialty. The decor of the dining room follows the rest of the resort, as gorgeous wood on the floors, walls, and furniture promotes the New England summer resort theme. As you enter the restaurant, the beef display and the open kitchen put your senses into full swing, and your stomach begins to lose its patience.
We arrived about a half hour ahead of our 8:55pm reservation, in hopes of being seated early. Given the popularity of this restaurant, I didn't place much hope in this desire, and it came as no surprise when we were seated right at our reservation time. The four of us were led to a great table in an area somewhat off to the side of the main dining rooms, where we were presented with menus that had been personalized for my friend's birthday.
For me, the process of ordering at steakhouses is rather simple. Manhattan. Shellfish. Filet. Potatoes. Chocolate. There really isn't much to it, but the fact is I'm a creature of habit in this regard. It can be a relief, however, as many times I'm presented with a menu filled with so many great sounding appetizers, that I opt for one of each, causing additional pain to both my stomach and wallet. But I digress...
The role of "shellfish" was played by the "Seared Maine Diver Scallops." This was a beautiful dish, which was paired with boniato blini and naval orange confit, and served atop a Vera Cruz emulsion. Boniato blini, as I soon would learn, are essentially mini-potato pancakes which exploded with flavor when paired with the naval orange. The scallops themselves paired nicely with the emulsion, but were a little underwhelming, as I found them to be much softer than I prefer, almost soggy in texture.
Next I moved on to the filet, which was an 8 ounce cut served with a red wine sauce, and paired with mashed potatoes. I was a little bummed to learn the truffle mashed which I had enjoyed on our last visit two years ago was no longer offered, but the potatoes were still quite good. As for the beef, it was perfectly cooked and could almost be cut without a knife. The red wine sauce was a good pairing, and didn't overpower the flavor of the meat, which can be the curse of many steak sauces.
Finally, it was time for dessert, and my craving for chocolate was in full swing. I opted for the "Velvet Chocolate Espresso Mousse," which was served with candied kumquats. This proved to be exactly what my taste buds had in mind, as the mousse was light and creamy, yet full of flavor. I must admit, I was a bit skeptical about the candied kumquats, but they were a wonderfully sweet offset to the chocolate.
The service throughout the entire evening was also excellent. I had read several recent reviews of Yachtsman where the service was less than stellar, and our previous visit here had been the same. Our experience however, was a great one, as our server wasn't just friendly, but engaged with us and our needs throughout the meal. Things got a little slow toward the end, but it was understandable given it was 11pm and the restaurant was winding down for the evening. I'm sure had we dined earlier, things would have wrapped up more quickly, as our table would have been in high demand.
Overall, we had a great experience at Yachtsman and we will be happy to return. They redeemed themselves from a previous poor experience, and I'm glad to have them back in our Disney dining rotation. My only wish is that they'd bring back the whole sliced pods of roasted garlic for the bread, as opposed to the little tins of already separated cloves. Then again, that was 1993...
Guess I should let that one go.
Enjoy Your Stay
