Christmas in July is here! I held back my Thanksgiving Walt Disney World trip report due to time constraints, and I’m so excited to finally share it with you. Today we’re discussing our Thanksgiving meal itself, which we ate at Raglan Road. Click here for the setup, and read all the posts in this report here. Onward!
Selecting a Disney restaurant for a major holiday is a delicate process. The metrics by which you judge are personal, but they must be considered: does the food need to be thematically appropriate? Will you be in a park? Do you want to avoid the parks? Who’s coming with you?
As the resident Disney guru, it was up to me to guide my trip plan-ees through the Disney dining Rules of Acquisition (copyright Grand Nagus Gint). I put forth Raglan Road as my recommended option for Thanksgiving dinner on the strength of the following facts: 1) even sans a special menu, the food could be argued as sort of Thanksgiving-y, with plenty of meat and (obviously) potato options; 2) my planning party was (and continues to be) of Irish extraction; 3) I figured a medium-popular Disney Springs restaurant would be an easier holiday get than something in the parks.
While we did bag that coveted advanced dining reservation, availability was hardly plentiful; we had to be quick. If you’re eating at Disney on a holiday, don’t sleep on dining reservation day! Literally. Be ready at 6am. Trust me.
That brings us to the main thrust of this post: how was Thanksgiving at Raglan Road? Well…
AMBIENCE AT RAGLAN ROAD
If you would like a quiet meal with a focus on murmured conversation, Raglan Road is not the restaurant for you. Should you be in the market for entertainment alongside your meal and enjoy folk tradition, you will be very pleased with what Raglan Road has to offer.
Irish dancers and Irish folk musicians trade off throughout the night to keep the entertainment going with minimal downtime. Personally I did not find this made it difficult to converse; it was never loud. There are calls for attention to different stages and such at time, so maybe don’t book this one if you’re after intimate conversation. Or breaking up with someone, which is something people do in restaurants all the time if sitcoms are to be believed.
There are a couple auxiliary rooms away from the main stage that are probably quieter, although I saw Irish dancers performing in those rooms as well.
Various performers did mention that it was Thanksgiving, but as far as I’m aware there was no specific Thanksgiving-themed entertainment.
The decor across the board is dim and pub-y, as you might imagine, with dark wood and decor honoring Irish culture. For example, there is a corner for Bono. Well, technically U2, but Bono is the one with his portrait on the wall. Ask to be seated in the Bono shrine! Or don’t.
Bonus: if you’re a small party, the bar is huge. Dunno if there’s a spot for you on a major holiday, but I don’t know there isn’t, either! That’s something, right?
DRINKS
Follow along with the menu here!
Not to deal in stereotypes, but also I once watched my Irish husband drink 11 whiskeys and live to tell the tale (although he did not ultimately enjoy himself). So yeah: this is an Irish bar, and they have you covered on drinks.
Sticking to the theme, I asked our server to recommend me a whiskey. Raglan Road has a crazy robust whiskey menu, with offerings of Irish, American, and Scotch extraction. So I specified: I want to try something from Ireland, and I like Woodford Reserve, so something akin to that. The bartender sent me some (I THINK) Redbreast whiskey. I say THINK because while I swear I dutifully wrote down the label, I can’t find it anywhere in my notes. Darn. Pat thinks it was Redbreast too. Anyway, it tasted kind of like Woodford. Points for the fancy square smoked ice.
I also ordered an Irish coffee after dinner, because how can you not? The Irish coffee at Raglan is, as you would hope, legit. The menu gets granular: Lost Irish coffee, homemade demerara sugar syrup, coffee, cream. Oddly, no mention of the whiskey element. I don’t know if the homemade sugar syrup made an appreciable difference, but the cream was proper cream, not just whipped cream from a can. Love that!
APPETIZERS
Raglan Road still provides bread service… with a twist. Instead of your usual rolls and butter, you get Irish soda bread with a Guinness/sugar/olive oil reduction. To be honest, the reduction was a bit sweet for my taste; mind you, I’m a die-hard butter girl. Luckily the bread didn’t really need the reduction. It was robust enough of flavor on its own. I might argue it was a bit overbaked, but the taste didn’t suffer.
Pat and I also shared the Pull the Boxty appetizer: Irish style crispy boxty potato cake, pulled ham hock and caramelized red onions with a Dubliner cheese sauce. This was, in essence, a particularly fine-cut and crisp hash brown. It was perfectly fried and salted, but I could’ve used more cheese sauce. All the components were delightful, just a tad unbalanced. That ham hock is assertive.
ENTREES
I mentioned above that Raglan Road did not alter their standard entertainment offerings for Thanksgiving. There was, however, a special Thanksgiving menu if you were bound and determined to go traditional. You know, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes; the works. I did not order it, but Egon did and said it was pretty good if unremarkable.
For my entree, I walked outside the bounds of the holiday and selected the Nua Risotto: Wild mushroom risotto, sautéed spinach, confit tomato, parmesan. Risotto usually has peas, so I was thrilled to run across a dish I could eat. I HAAAAAATE peas.
Anyway, in addition to being pealess, it was delicious! The tough thing about risotto is nailing the texture. No one likes crunchy or gummy risotto. This was, in the grand fashion of Goldilocks, just right. The mushroom offered a meaty flavor, although you can add a protein for an upcharge. Highly recommended.
DESSERT
Pat and I shared Ger’s Bread and Butter pudding, which is (really; check the menu) described as “Like no other you have ever tried. Believe us.”
LIES.
I know these are lies because I am an acknowledged bread pudding fiend. I have eaten a lot of bread pudding. This is very good pudding. The caramel and creme anglaise sauces it comes with in particular are an elevating touch. Vanilla gets the slight edge for the best of the two.
It is, however, like any number of other standard issue vanilla bread puddings I’ve consumed in my time. Nothing wrong with that! Get it if you wisely enjoy bread pudding. And yet I must say the advertising proves false.
IS RAGLAN ROAD A GOOD CHOICE FOR HOLIDAYS?
It’s a great choice for a Walt Disney World holiday, if you’re asking me! (Which you are, because this is my blog.) While inevitably busy, it wasn’t a terrible crush, we didn’t have to wade through a crowded park, entertainment is built in, and the food and drinks are solid. If you’re searching for a less competitive get for holiday dining, give it a try!
Don’t forget, you can follow FRoA on Twitter @fairestrunofall and on Instagram @fairestrunofall. If you have any questions or thoughts, leave a comment or email fairestrunofall@gmail.com. See ya real soon!