Raglan Road was once my favorite restaurant at Downtown Disney. Our family frequently dined at Raglan Road during our 20+ Disney World trips between 2000 – 2015. But then in 2015 Downtown Disney was greatly expanded and became known as Disney Springs. With this expansion came many more table service restaurants. Currently there are 22 listed on its website, and that doesn’t include the 45 quick service restaurants, specialty food shops, and food kiosks and trucks. So as a Disney food blogger I of course felt the need to expand my “restaurant” horizons at Disney Springs. But then in September 2024 my husband and I toured Ireland and I remembered how much I enjoyed the Irish music and dancers that perform every evening at Raglan Road, and also during their Saturday and Sunday brunch. Having not dined at Raglan Road since Fall 2017, I decided it was time for another visit.
On the day of our dinner reservation my husband told me that he had seen on Facebook that a UK friend was also at Disney World and today was her birthday. Jo and I originally met around 2012 when we were both members of the DISboards Discussion Forums and frequented the Disney Dining & Restaurants section. Then we met in person a few years later when I was traveling solo and Jo graciously invited me to have a few meals with her and her family. Soon after I was able to introduce them to my husband while we were all at Disney World and we became Facebook friends. However it had been many years since I’d seen Jo in person, so I was excited about the possibility of us getting together. When we sent her a FB message asking if she might be available to join us for a meal or drink sometime, we were very pleased to find out that she could join us that evening for dinner at Raglan Road. As an added bonus, we had the privilege to celebrate Jo’s birthday with her.
So our plan was to arrive a little early for our dinner reservation and ask if we could change the party size from 2 to 3. Unfortunately though the Florida weather had other ideas and a rainstorm actually caused us to be a little bit late. But it worked out just fine and we were able to secure a table for the 3 of us with just a short wait. And we had a good view of the stage where a band was performing…
Ok, that’s all of the background info, now on to our meal. First here is the menu we were presented…
While looking at the menu I noticed that their Irish Soda Bread (which used to be complimentary) was now listed as a side dish, which you now had to pay for. Boo!
But anyway, our server then took our drink orders. My husband got a Guinness for $10.75 (no pic), something he had enjoyed many times during our Ireland trip, but I can’t remember what Jo had.
As for me, I was happy to spot something on their cocktail menu that I had enjoyed here probably 10 years ago…
Baileys Shake – Vanilla Ice Cream milkshake, Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur, Coffee Liqueur and Chocolate Sauce – $16.00
This was as good as I remembered it. However, to be honest, this is more of a dessert than a cocktail and quite filling. But it was delicious and worthy of my perfect rating of 5.
Though I wanted to get the Fish & Chips (as I have done before at Raglan Road), I decided for the sake of my blog I should try something new…
Bangers + Mash = YUM – Cheshire Heritage Pork Irish Bangers (Sausages) and Mashed Potatoes topped with a Traditional Red Wine Jus and Crispy Fried Onions – $27.50
Now I had had Bangers & Mash a few times at Epcot’s Rose & Crown restaurant and really enjoyed them so thought this would be a safe bet here. But I was wrong. While the sausages were okay, the mashed potatoes were not good. They were somewhat cold and tasted like old, reheated mashed potatoes (and not heated long enough) that not even the red wine sauce could help. Now granted I was probably full from the boozy milkshake when I was trying to eat this but I was still very disappointed with this entree. Consequently I gave it a rating of only 2 1/2.
And I suffered from a bit of Food Envy when I saw Jo’s entree…
Fish & Chips – Our Premium North Atlantic Cod Filet, Beer Battered & served with Chips (aka French Fries) and fresh Tartar Sauce – $28.50
I didn’t ask Jo to rate her Fish & Chips but she did say that she enjoyed them.
And that just leaves Don’s entree choice…
Shepherds Pie to Try – Braised and Pulled Beef & Lamb with Root Vegetables in a Rich Red Wine Jus with Irish Peat Smoked Mashed Potatoes – $28.00
Note: He was asked if he would like Dubliner cheese added to this for an additional $2.00 and he accepted the offer.
We didn’t talk about his meal at the time he was eating it because we were busy catching up with Jo. Later when I remembered to ask him about it he really couldn’t recall any details but gave his Shepherds Pie a rating of 4 1/2 so he must have liked it.
When our server noticed that Jo was wearing a Disney Birthday pin, he brought her a complimentary birthday dessert…
And it wasn’t just any ‘ol dessert. It was their famous…
Ger’s Bread & Butter Pudding served with Creme Anglaise, Caramel Sauce and Whipped Cream – (normally $13.00)
Jo was kind enough to share her birthday dessert with us and it was as delicious as I remembered. I mean how can you go wrong with flaky, buttery, sweet bread with raisins and a dash of cinnamon topped with Creme Anglaise (a sweet, vanilla bean flavored heavy cream sauce) and/or Caramel Sauce (I like to add both). I rated this just slightly below my Baileys Milkshake, with a rating of 4 1/2. By the way, I read that the original owners of Raglan Road used their grandmother’s recipe for this dessert. Way to go Grandma!
That was it for our eating but we continued to enjoy the live entertainment for a little while after…
The live music and dancing a highlight of our meal, second only to seeing Jo again and getting to celebrate her birthday with her.
I’ll end this review by quoting the Irish Proverb that was printed at the bottom of our Raglan Road receipt, “May Today be Better than Yesterday but not as Good as Tomorrow.”
This day, our first full day at Disney World, was even better than the day before. But would tomorrow be even better? Stay tuned to find out.
Taste of Disney 