Raglan Road at Downtown Disney - Restaurant Review ~ MyWDW: A Fan's Walt Disney World Blog

One of my favorite dining spots in all of Downtown Disney is Raglan Road. Besides being a sucker for Irish culture and music, the ambiance of this place is quite warm and inviting. Of course, all of that doesn't matter much if the food doesn't stack up. So how did my most recent visit go? Read on to find out!

So complimentary to their staff!

After a few moments wait at the check in table, we were escorted in to the restaurant, seated right next to the bar. I should take this moment, as I mention just the sheer Old World beauty of the place, to mention that parts of the restaurant, including the two enormously long bars, were brought over from Ireland. This is about as authentic as you get without hopping on a plane to Dublin.

The main dining area

The main dining area is quite large, with stained glass windows surrounding the area, giving the area a bit of a pinkish hue. As lovely as it was, it did make taking good food pictures a tad bit difficult, so be warned - though I did attempt a bit of photo magic, the images of the dishes may be a bit on the dark side. As I've said before, I'm pretty new at the whole photography thing, so if any of you lovely readers have any pointers, please send them along. Now, back to Raglan Road.

A small section of one of the two bars

As we perused the menu, we were brought some Guinness brown bread with a Guinness reduction for dipping on the side.

The bread itself is quite dense, with a deep flavor of oats and molasses with a small hint of the baking soda used to create it. The reduction is one of my favorite things ever: Guinness and sugar cooked down to make a sweet sauce, just a few shades more loose than a syrup.

We placed our orders, Ryan ordering two servings of the Heaven on Earth - baby back ribs tossed in a Guinness glaze - one for his meal, and one to share with the table (as the item is an appetizer); Mara, the "Not Bleedin' Chowder," consisting of seafood and potatoes in a white wine and cream broth; Tabby, the Banger & Booz, a banger sausage with Guinness onions (I'm sensing a pattern), mashed potatoes, and a bit of the beef stew; and for myself, the Braised Be. Beef, braised beef with horseradish mashed potatoes, parsnips and carrots. Our server headed off to the kitchen, and we began to wait - thankfully, there was entertainment provided.

On the evening we were dining, there was a troupe of Irish step dancers performing. Different evenings provide different entertainment, from folk singers to rock-type bands, but all with a distinctive Irish flair. Our food had not quite yet arrived by the time the dancers were finished, so Tabby occupied herself by making a sailboat out of the lemon from her drink.

Idle hands can be fairly creative sometimes

I don't want to provide the impression that service was slow. In fact, we were taken care of quite quickly, and our food didn't take very much time at all. We just like to goof around and be silly - and if you can't do that at an Irish pub in the middle of Walt Disney World, where can you do that? Not too long after Tabby's lemon set sail, dinner arrived.

Braised Be. Beef

My braised beef came served in its own little pot - wonderful presentation. The carrots and parsnips on the side were tasty, cooked nice and tender; the horseradish potatoes featured just enough of a bite to pair well with the fairly simple meaty flavor of the braised beef. The beef itself was wonderfully tender and flavorful. As I got to the middle of it, however, it was a little on the dry side - still tender, but not quite as moist. I feel that a little bit more of the liquid featured at the bottom of the pot would have made this dish a home run for me, but still quite good.

Heaven on Earth

Yes, I tried to edit that picture. Yes, it's awful. I took several, and this was the best of the bunch. Poor photography skills aside, the ribs in those bowls were beautifully fall-off-the-bone good with a nice sweetness provided by the Guinness glaze.

It's not bleedin' Chowder!

The non-chowder was quite a pretty dish - a good pile of various seafood items sitting in a creamy broth. It's definitely not quite the same as a chowder, as the liquid is used as more of a sauce instead of a suspension, covering tender pieces of scallops, fish, mussels, and other assorted aquatic goodies with a flavor that was on the frugal side of richness.

Banger 'n' Booz

Tabby's Banger 'n' Booz is the item that I ordered on my previous trip to Raglan Road. If you've never had a banger before, the inside has a bit finer of a texture than the sausages most Americans are used to - in fact, they can be almost creamy, not unlike a pate. This one certainly did not disappoint, with flavors of nutmeg coming through nicely, complimenting well the rich stew and caramelized onions that accompanied it.

Our culinary adventure completed for the day, a bit too full to indulge in any sort of dessert, we headed back to the bus that brought us here and headed out after what had been a long, interesting day at Walt Disney World. If you want a bit of a gourmet take on some Irish classic food, you can definitely find it at Raglan Road.