The Themed Restaurant Known For Having Some Of The Best Food In Animal Kingdom
Every restaurant in Disney's Animal Kingdom is themed (it is, after all, a theme park), but some do it better than others. The flip side of that is restaurants where the atmosphere is immersive but the food leaves something to be desired. For the best of both worlds, theming and food-wise, one place at Animal Kingdom where you might try dining is Yak & Yeti Restaurant. Among the park's four table service restaurants (which can be reserved 60 days in advance, unlike counter service restaurants), this is arguably the one that's flying most under the radar.
The other three table service restaurants — Tiffins, Tusker House, and Rainforest Cafe — all have selling points that might give them a bit more name recognition for Disney vacation planners. Tiffins, which is themed to an adventure travelers' club, is your only option for "signature" or fine dining in Animal Kingdom. Tusker House, which is themed to an African marketplace, is your only option for Disney character dining. As for the Rainforest Cafe, it's a chain restaurant with a name that speaks for itself, but in this location, you can avoid crowds at a secret Animal Kingdom entrance.
In a very literal sense, each of these restaurants brings something different to the table. However, it's Yak & Yeti that Disney Food Blog named the best table service restaurant at Animal Kingdom. In a review, Disney Tourist Blog also called it "one of the most stunning and visually engaging restaurants in all of Walt Disney World."
Have a museum-like meal at Yaki and Yeti Restaurant
Yak & Yeti Restaurant is one of the first buildings you'll see when crossing the bridge from Discovery Island into the Asia section of Animal Kingdom. The restaurant serves Pan-Asian cuisine, but first, we'll talk about its theming. Since it's a brand of the Landry's restaurant group (which also owns Rainforest Cafe and the T-Rex Cafe in Disney Springs), Yak & Yeti has its own website detailing its fictional backstory.
As the story goes, the restaurant is owned by "a rich merchant, Arjun, who has fallen on hard times." He's converted his home into a boutique hotel with a restaurant catering to tourists who are wealthy (which, in this economy, is practically a prerequisite for planning a Disney trip). The site further explains that "the décor, as well as the furniture, at Yak & Yeti is an amalgamation of mismatched artifacts Arjun has collected through his years of travel in Southeast Asia." Walking around the restaurant, viewing exotic statues and other impressively detailed artifacts, you might start to feel like you're in a mock museum where people just so happened to be eating.
Geographically, Yak & Yeti is said to be "situated at the base of Mt. Everest in the small town of Anandapur." After your meal — or before, if you don't want to lose your lunch — you can ride backward down the mountain on the Nepal-inspired Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom. Who knows, you might even spot an actual Yeti, or at least the disco-lit animatronic likeness of one.
Raid the menu, but don't expect real Kobe beef
If you'll forgive the Jungle-Cruise-skipper-like pun, Yak & Yeti has food people from every wok of life can enjoy. That includes the more adventurous eaters in your group who are ready to chow down on sushi-grade ahi tuna nachos. One of the restaurant's specialties is chicken tikka masala with rice and naan, and the serving size is generous.
A staple dessert is the decadent fried wontons, drizzled in honey with vanilla ice cream and a pineapple/cream cheese filling. You can also share wontons with crab rangoon dip for an appetizer, or go with the server-recommended option of pork pot stickers, pan seared. Lo mein is on the menu, too, along with stir-fry favorites like sweet & sour chicken.
Yak & Yeti's definition of "Pan-Asian" is loose enough to include a Korean kimchi burger and a Kobe beef burger. While it might seem gauche to order a burger at an Asian restaurant, Disney Tourist Blog called the latter "one of the best (if not the best) burgers at Walt Disney World." It's worth noting, however, that the menu describes this as "American Kobe beef." At press time, Yak & Yeti was peddling its 10-ounce Kobe beef burger for $24.99, while another Landry's brand, Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse, in nearby Orlando, was selling a 6-ounce cut of certified Kobe beef for $240. If you want the real thing, you might need to head there, or visit the real Asia and Kobe, Japan, before hitting up the world's two best-rated Disney parks.