(Originally Published on August 2010, but is being re-published in honor of its 17th birthday. It remains one of the best restaurants in all of Florida)No cuisine adventure in the state of Florida will ever be complete without a couple of trips to Walt Disney World. Disney has a slew of popular and award-winning restaurants that’s full of flavor, diversity, and uniqueness. The point of this blog is to visit places that are beyond the norm. One of the more exceptional and extremely popular restaurants is the free-for-all Ohanas at the Polynesian Resort. For starters, the resort it is located inside is easily one of the better ones. The Polynesian Resort, open since the 70s, is a very relaxing resort with a perfect view of Cinderella’s castle. Containing a luau, a large beach-like area, multiple pools, three restaurants, a sushi bar, and a gorgeous art gallery, the Polynesian is a must-visit. But, the food is their specialty, and Ohanas is their tour-de-force.
Open since 1995, Ohanas is a restaurant located on the second floor of the Polynesian, right next to Kona Café. Ohanas is a family-style buffet, one of the few in Walt Disney World. In other words, it is indeed all-you-can-eat, but you never have to get up from your seat. The servers bring all the food and drinks to you, and as many times as you want them to. It is a multiple-course meal continuously being served to you until you surrender the white flag. This concept isn’t new or unique, but considering that this restaurant contains one of the largest open fire pits for cooking meats in the planet, Ohanas rises above your typical buffet. What also separates Ohanas from the typical all-you-can-eat joint is the sheer quality and freshness of the food. The cooks are at the pit continuously from 6:00 all the way up to past 10:00 without hesitation. Even on slower nights, the food will arrive at your table fresh, steaming, and prepared to be eaten.
The meal (as of now) is as follows: bread, fresh salad, chicken wings, pork dumplings, Hawaiian noodles, broccoli, big juicy pieces of pork, shrimp, chicken, and steak. Ohanas is also known for its multitude of changes, as they used to have different dipping sauces, as well as different appetizers (their Polynesian chips are some of the best snacks I’ve ever had—you can now order them in their quick-service restaurant downstairs). So, picture getting to eat all that food, as much of it as you want….and there’s still dessert at the very end.
We start with the bread, which is very sweet and very soft. Not much more to say there, except its great bread that doesn’t need any butter on side or anything like that. Then comes the salad, which remains the best salad I’ve ever had. Their salad is your usual greens, very fresh, with a few hints of carrot pieces, but this is all covered by an amazing honey-lime dressing. The dressing makes the salad, no question about it. I actually have the recipe on how to make it, and there are a lot of items and ingredients involved in making the dressing alone. I am better off letting the pros make it. I’d love for this dressing to be sold in Disney stores, because I can think of a dozen great uses for it.
My favorite item in Ohanas is the pork dumplings, which I always call pot stickers for some odd reason. These things are glazed with a sweet sauce on the outside, which consists of a flavorfully crispy shell. The inside is a mix of sweetness, richness, and your typical pork dumpling on endless steroids. These things are not filling, so you can chow down dozens of these with no problem. While everything on the menu is very good, it’s all about the dumplings here. I am addicted to these darn things.
The chicken wings are doused in bbq sauce and sesame seeds, and they are pretty good, although I am not a wings type of person. The Hawaiian noodles are the only sweet noodles I’ve ever had, but they are also fantastic. They are noodles doused in a light sweet soy sauce of some sort, with a hintage of butter. It’s like sweet light spaghetti, minus the accompanying sauce that usually follows the pasta. I am not a broccoli person, so I didn’t try it. All the meat coming up is served with three dipping sauces handed to you in the very beginning: peanut (don’t knock it until you try it), spicy mustard, and sweet and sour. While I really, really ,really miss the chimichurri sauce of the past (so, so good), three dips are very flavorful and rich.
In this dinner specifically, the shrimp was the outstanding part of the “skewer meats.” They cook the shrimp while it’s still on its shell, preserving more flavor. Once you finish the messy peeling process, you have a juicy, tasty, and soft shrimp that satisfies the soul immediately. The other skewer meats, the chicken, pork, and steak, were soft, meaty, juicy, and all-around spectacular. But once again, the standouts were the shrimp, and the pork dumplings.
But oh wait, there’s still dessert. After some extra portions of steak, the dessert arrives. Just picture a massive plate of bread pudding with ice cream on top, and banana cream on the side. The cream is just waiting to be thrown on top of the ice cream for good measure. The dessert has traces of banana and coconut, so if you are allergic to either, they give you whether ice cream of a cupcake as a replacement. I hope you aren’t allergic though, because the bread pudding is to die for. Anyplace with all-you-can-eat dessert can’t possibly fail, and Ohanas is no exception by treating you to some of the best dessert in all of Central Florida. The vanilla ice cream has small traces of vanilla bean sprinkled all over the rich and thick cream that supports the pudding like peanut butter supports jelly.
Your only gripe in all this (I have not even mentioned the entertainment and good view of the fireworks) is the pricing. The place is high up there, with 35 bucks an adult. But, save up well, and make reservations ahead of time, because this is an incredible experience that showcases the diversity of Florida/Disney World cuisine. The atmosphere, food, service makes up for the price tag, but it is a hefty price tag—you’ve been warned.
Bottom Line: Ohanas is one of the best restaurants I’ve ever been to. Ever since my first visit multiple years ago, I’ve become an addict, visiting around two times a year. While it is all-you-can-eat, the food itself isn’t the low quality of a Golden Corral or a Ponderosa, its 4-star food being served at you continuously. It’s a very family-friendly (or romantic-friendly restaurant, tee-hee) with spectacular food, great shows, quality atmosphere, and an overall aura of jolly-good happiness that you can rarely find outside of Walt Disney World. I recommend this place to the maximum for a great dining experience.
Ohana's
1600 Seven Seas Dr.
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
(407) 824-2000
I STILL need to try this place!
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