Steakhouse 71 opened on October 1, 2021, replacing The Wave restaurant on the 1st floor (just off the lobby) of the Contemporary Resort. Since we were staying at the Contemporary for the first part of our trip, I thought it would be fun to try out this new restaurant plus it was super convenient. Therefore I made a dinner reservation for Monday, October 25, 2021, just a little more than 3 weeks after this restaurant opened.
We checked in for our 5:30 reservation just a few minutes late, mostly because I had to stop and look at a few of the many pictures along the long hallway. These were taken on opening day of the Magic Kingdom and the Contemporary Resort, Oct. 1, 1971.
After a few minutes, Andrew grew impatient and told me to hurry up because he was hungry, lol.
During our visit to the lounge on our arrival day I took a photo of the restaurant when the dining room was empty (in between their lunch and dinner service).
On this night though, at 5:30 (or 1/2 hour after the restaurant started serving dinner) this dining room was packed. No surprise there, since it had only been open for less than a month and reservations were in high demand.
Unfortunately though we were seated at a 2-top table back in the corner of the room…
With our table butting up to the Emergency Exit…
I thought about asking to be moved but didn’t see any empty 2-top tables so “Exit Door Dining” it was! Haha.
Let’s begin now with the restaurant’s opening day menu…
Andrew is a big fan of the bread service at restaurants but unfortunately there is no complimentary bread service here. So for his appetizer he chose to order the…
Note: The “71” imprint on the butter was edible since it was made from vegetable ash (charred vegetables that are burned down into a thin, fine powder) but had no flavor.
I thought these rolls were rather dry, flavorless and not really worth their $12 price ($6 each). I rated them only a 2. Andrew liked them a bit more than me so gave them a 3.
Being a steakhouse I figured that they would have a good French Onion Soup, so I was looking forward to trying it…
This was fine. It was topped by a generous amount of tasty cheese but the broth underneath was a bit lacking. I will say though that it was better than the French Onion soup I’ve had at Yachtsman Steakhouse, Chefs de France, and Be our Guest. But not as good as the soup at the Grand Floridian Café or the one offered briefly at Le Cellier (which was really good but couldn’t compete with their signature Cheddar soup). However, my favorite French Onion soup at Disney World is still the one at Shula’s Steakhouse. I will say though that the soup at Shula’s is $15 compared to $10 at Steakhouse 71. So anyway, my rating for the Steakhouse 71 soup was a middle of the road 3.
We both chose the same entrée, but with a different side. Andrew’s choice was the…
I also wanted the filet but thought I should try a different side dish. So here was my choice…
We both ordered our filets to be cooked to medium temperature. Andrew’s filet was larger (in width) but not as thick as mine. So his filet was cooked to the medium temperature that he requested. He said it was very flavorful and tender and he really enjoyed it, so much so that he rated his entrée a perfect 5.
Because of the thicker cut of my filet, it was not cooked to the requested medium temperature. Instead, I would say it was medium rare. It was tender though and I liked it better than the filet I had the night before at Be our Guest. Also the au gratin potatoes were very good, so overall I rated my entrée a 4.
Note: While the price of the bread and soup are still (as of Feb. 2024) the same price, the 6 oz. filet has seen a price increase of $2. It was $36 but now is $38.
We also ordered the Sauce Flight for our steaks for $6.00…
Here were the 7 included sauces…
Our favorites were the Wild Mushroom, Red Wine, and Béarnaise. Neither of us like horseradish so we didn’t care for the Whipped Horseradish Cream. The Chimichurri was a bit too herby tasting, the Au Poive was too peppery and the Signature 71 tasted like A1 (so nothing special). I thought having the variety of sauces was worth paying the extra $6. Also the price of the Sauce Flight has remained the same, as it is still $6 on the current (Feb. 2024) menu.
And so that just leaves dessert. Though we were pretty full at this point, when we saw that Crème brûlée was an option on their Dessert menu we had to get it to share…
The bottom layer had a chocolate pudding/mousse-like texture. This was topped by vanilla crème brûlée with a custard-like texture. This made for a perfect combination of flavors and textures. Also the berries (strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries) tasted fresh and sweet. This was another 5 star winner for us!
The Crème brûlée was priced at $10 (in Oct. 2021) and is still $10 (per their Feb. 2024 menu). So to my surprise the items we tried, with the exception of the steaks (6 oz. filet had a price increase of just $2), have not increased in price in the more than 2 years since the restaurant opened. So in conclusion, for a steakhouse located within the Disney bubble, the prices here are reasonable in my opinion. Also of note, as a Disney Visa cardholder (paying with that card) I received a 10% discount off our entire meal. I believe this same 10% discount is also available to Annual Passholders.
So with our first 5 star rating of this trip (actually there were two given here for Andrew’s filet and our crème brûlée) and only one dud (the brioche), I would say our first time at this newly opened restaurant was quite successful. For our upcoming trip I’ve scheduled lunch here with my husband on our first day. Although we won’t be able to have steak for our lunch, there are several options on the Lunch menu that sound interesting and aren’t available at dinner. I have read a few reviews lately that have suggested that the quality of the food at Steakhouse 71 has deteriorated since the restaurant first opened in October 2021 (when we visited). So I’m looking forward to returning to Steakhouse 71 next month to test out that theory for myself.
Taste of Disney 