Citricos at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort Dining Review
On a recent trip, we were able to do a dining experience at Citricos in Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort. There we tried some delicious food and oogle at the beautiful and detailed theming of the restaurant.
Let’s break down this experience together to see if it is right for your next Disney Vacation.
The Ambiance
When I say it was stunning in this restaurant I mean it was STUNNING! The decor is themed after the elegance of Mary Poppins from Mary Poppins Returns (Think Emily Blunt, not Julie Andrews). It’s all very subtle, but you can tel what everything was supposed to be.
The carpet represents the ‘blustery’ sky when she flies in. There are umbrella shaped light fixtures, and you will even find a coat rack in the tasting room that has her hat and carpet bag.
The seats are elegant and cushioned, so it all feels very luxurious. Even the table settings were beautiful!
I will say, this is currently one of the most beautifully decorated restaurants at Disney World.
The Service
Our server was amazing. He was very knowledgable about all of the dishes and was able to offer us great suggestions on what we might like based on our taste.
What was even cooler, was that he happened to be one of the opening day cast members when Citricos first opened. That kind of Disney Legacy is one of the many things we love about this Vacation Destination.
He was also very attentive to us and we never felt like we were waiting on him for anything. The closest service we’ve experienced was a Victoria and Albert’s. Which is really saying something! Overall, service was fantastic!
The Food
WOW! Let me tell you, if you are looking for some absolutely incredible fine dining, this is it!
We started out with a few cocktails. We had the Orange Blossom Martini and the 212 Manhattan. The Orange Blossom Martini was light and fruity and a great start to my meal! My husband had the 212 Manhattan and the chocolately notes made this cocktail rich and full of flavor. We LOVED the little details in the garnishes and how they continued the theming as well! We almost wanted to keep the toothpicks they were so cute!
They did give us a bread service that was excellent! The two kinds of bread were soft and warm and had a delicious flavor that was enhanced by the salted butter. (I always love me some salted butter)
For our Appetizers, we had the Strawberry Salad, which was light and the goat cheese gave this dish a wonderful sweet and savory contrast. This was a smaller portion (as most fancier dining usually is) but it was just the perfect amount to keep me from getting too full before our main dish.
The other appetizer we tried was the true star of our entire meal, and that was the Berkshire Pork Belly. This was perfectly tender and the rich smoky flavor is something that we still DREAM about months later. I could have had a little larger portion of this for my meal and been perfectly happy it was so good!
For our main courses, we tried the Oak-Grilled Filet Mignon and the Butter Poached Florida Cobia. Both were great, but I definitely feel like the Filet was better. It had a great smoky flavor and was cooked perfectly for how we prefer a medium rare filet.
The Cobia was good, but I honestly liked the flavor more than the texture. The fish was flaky, but there was something about it that didn’t quite wow me as much as the other items we had.
And finally we finished with Dessert! We had the Chocolate Torte. This was beautifully presented with a gorgeous leave pattern made on the plate with cocoa powder and the dessert itself was finished off with a shimmering chocolate 50th anniversary medallion. This was rich an chocolatey and we honestly couldn’t finish it because we were stuffed!
Overall
We were highly impressed with this restaurant and would eat here or recommend it in a heartbeat! It definitely is more upscale which means it’s pricey, so I would definitely suggest it if you are celebrating something or looking for a splurge meal. My only regret was that I didn’t try the guava short ribs instead of the fish, but I guess that just means we need to go back again!