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Planning a trip to Disney World and looking for the best restaurants for your trip? ‘Ohana should be at the top of your list. It is the best family friendly restaurant at Disney World.
It is, hands down, my favorite restaurant on Disney World property. Read on to find out what’s so great about it.
‘Ohana serves breakfast and dinner. At breakfast, it is a character meal featuring Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Lilo, and Stitch. At dinner, the restaurant becomes an all-you-care-to-eat family-style eatery.
In full disclosure, we have only eaten dinner at ‘Ohana. So, I can’t comment on the food or experience at breakfast.
Theme/Decor
One reason why ‘Ohana is the best family friendly restaurant on property at Disney World is because it is built around the concept of family. In fact, the name means family in Hawaiian. Everything about this place revolves around family.
In this restaurant, like in many Polynesian cultures, everyone is family. To further this concept, the wait staff refer to everyone as “cousins.”
The vibe here is one of laid-back comfort. It’s not hard to imagine yourself walking in here for a good meal after spending a day on the beach in Hawaii.
There is a lot of wood throughout the restaurant with deep, comfy chairs to sit in at the tables.
All of the meat is cooked in a huge fire pit in the center of the restaurant. It gives the place an added sense of warmth and coziness.
The waiters wear Hawaiian shirts. The theme and decor of ‘Ohana screams “Relax, you’re on vacation.” This helps you to unwind and enjoy your trip.
Location
You will find ‘Ohana on the second floor of the Polynesian Resort’s Grand Ceremonial House. This location is great for a few reasons.
First, it is not inside of one of the parks which means it is not as crazy as some of those restaurants. It is very popular though and, at times, will have a line at check-in, but you won’t find as many people trying to walk up without reservations as you do in the parks.
A lot of people either don’t think about going to one of the hotels for dinner or they don’t want to go through the “hassle” of leaving the park for dinner.
The second reason why this location is great is that it gives you an excuse to take the monorail or a boat to dinner! This adds a little bit of fun to the dining experience for kids.
The best part of ‘Ohana’s location though is the view. You can’t beat the view!
One whole side of the restaurant has large picture windows overlooking Seven Seas Lagoon. You can see Cinderella Castle, Space Mountain, and the Walt Disney World Railroad train station beyond the water.
If you have one of the tables close to the window, you can spend your whole meal leisurely looking at these Magic Kingdom landmarks while filling your belly with yummy goodness! What can be better than that!
You can also spot the monorail and boats making their way to and from the Magic Kingdom.
Food
As I said above, meals at ‘Ohana are served family-style. Even the dessert is all-you-can-eat!
The food is delicious too! They start you out with warm Hawaiian bread as you are led to your table. It is warm and sweet with a hint of pineapple and coconut.
While it is tempting to fill up on the bread, you must pace yourself because the meal just gets better from there. For a look at the full menu, see allears.net.
Appetizers and Side Dishes
Soon after being seated, your drink order will be taken. Then comes all the food: salad, pork pot stickers, honey coriander chicken wings, stir fried veggies and udon noodles.
I could make a whole meal out of the pot stickers and wings! This is saying a lot coming from a person who generally is not a fan of pot stickers and wings.
The wings are sweet and sticky and just the right complement to the pot stickers. The udon noodles are one of the highlights of the meal for me. I could eat them by the plateful.
Meats
The waiters bring sweet and sour chicken, pork, sirloin steak, and grilled peel-and-eat shrimp to your table on large skewers. They give you several pieces at once. You can eat as much of each of them as you would like.
My husband loves the shrimp. I prefer the steak and chicken.
Dessert
The absolute best part of the meal is the dessert: bread pudding with a bananas foster caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream!
Although, you can have all you want, by the time you get to dessert, it is hard to find room to put much of it.
I have never had a better dessert in my life. There has been more than once when I seriously considered skipping the rest of the meal and just having dessert!
You will be cheating yourself out of a wonderful experience if you don’t save a little room for this dish!
If your kids are picky eaters, no problem! The servers are always happy to bring your little, or not so little, ones something more kid-friendly like a hot dog or chicken nuggets and fries.
For dessert, kids can request just ice cream or a brownie if they would rather have that over bread pudding.
Breakfast
Breakfast is also served family-style. It features pastries, scrambled eggs, pork, fried potatoes, fruit, and Mickey waffles.
Entertainment
There is almost always an entertainer walking around the restaurant during dinner.
The entertainer will lead the children in some games, such as coconut races, limbo, or hula dancing. This is always fun and gives the kids something to do while waiting for mom and dad to finish up eating.
It also gives your little ones a chance to get up and move around, which is a plus if you have an energetic kid who has a hard time sitting still for an hour. The kids usually end up getting leis at some point too.
The entertainment is my son’s favorite part of ‘Ohana.
During breakfast, the entertainment at ‘Ohana is the characters themselves.
Disney Dining Plan/Cost
‘Ohana is on the Disney Dining Plan. It is one table-service credit per person. In my opinion, it is a good value for your table service credits, given the amount of food that you get.
If you are paying out of pocket, you can expect to pay $30-39 per adult and $20-25 per child for breakfast.
Dinner will cost you $40-49 per adult and $25-29 per child.
‘Ohana is one of the few places at Disney World that I would be willing to pay these high prices out of pocket. It is just that good!
Conclusion
‘Ohana is an awesome restaurant located in the Polynesian Resort across the lagoon from the Magic Kingdom. It is the best place for families to eat at Disney World because it serves delicious food and focuses on the family.
This is a place where you can enjoy a great meal while your kids have fun with coconut races and limbo contests. The view is second to none.
Please know that, if you want to experience ‘Ohana, you will need a reservation ahead of time.
For other great places to eat with kids at Disney World, read the best restaurants without characters, Boma, and my complete list of character meals.
To plan your trip, visit Disney’s website. For planning help, see my step-by-step guide, best resources, and quick tips.
Happy travels!
I wish we had eaten there when we visited! I’ve heard you rave about their food many times! Yum!
I’m holding out hope that you will return one day to my happy place to correct that mistake!
The year we went to Disney with your family, we ate at Ohana’s the first night. Dad and I were part of the entertainment that night since we were celebrating “Our Anniversary”. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed the food! It was AWESOME. This place is one of the places I always tell my clients they have to eat at! This is a MUST DO on any Disney trip!
Donna (Mom)
I almost included a pic of you and dad in your grass skirts in this article!
You should add it!
You should add it
You should add it.
Mom