Yak & Yeti has long been a favorite of ours when visiting Animal Kingdom. Whether just for appetizers and drinks or for a full meal, it has always been a pretty reliable choice for us. So our decision to have lunch here during our first day at Animal Kingdom was pretty much a no-brainer. Did we regret our decision? Read on to find out.
Paula, Hunter and I were seated at a 4-top table on the first floor, in the area to the side of the staircase…
The last time I dined at Yak & Yeti (Dec. 2016 with my kids), we were seated at the table shown in the photo, which sat between our current table and the staircase. My lunch then was very good so I hoped that this was a good omen for a repeat experience.
Here are some menu photos, which had expanded since my last visit…
It included photos of some new dishes…
I considered ordering each of these, as they all looked really good.
But before choosing my food, I needed to decide on a beverage. I usually always get one of their Specialty Drinks here, the Big Bamboo…
But today I was still suffering from my cold, so I decided to stick to hot tea from the Non-Alcoholic section of their beverage menu…
I chose the Earl Grey and it was served in this cool looking pot…
Next Paula & Hunter ordered two appetizers for us to share…
The first of these was…
Pork Pot Stickers served with Soy Lime Dipping Sauce
They give you a choice when ordering these to have them pan seared or steamed. We always choose pan seared and they are usually delicious. This time though they were disappointing. I thought maybe they weren’t seared long enough, as they weren’t as crispy on the outside as usual. But Paula and Hunter thought the pot stickers had other problems/issues. Paula said, “The pot stickers tasted freezer burned but they claim here that they never see a freezer.” Hunter said, “The pot stickers were gummy and stale.”
Our other favorite appetizer at Yak & Yeti is their…
Pork Egg Rolls served with Chili Plum Dipping Sauce
The egg rolls too tasted a bit off to us. Not bad, but not as good as usual. Usually these are my second favorite egg rolls, second only to the egg rolls served at a local Chinese restaurant. These though didn’t quite live up to their previous second place ranking.
Moving on to our entrée choices, with which we had mixed results. Paula & Hunter ordered two entrees to share. First was this…
Chicken Lo Mein – Lo Mein Noodles, Carrots, Cabbage, Green Onions, and Bean Sprouts
When looking at my photo (in preparation for this review) I assumed that this was just Vegetable Lo Mein that they had ordered, as there was no chicken in sight. However, I found out that this was actually Chicken Lo Mein. Paula said, “That’s why this was not good. It had only one little piece of chicken in the whole dish.” Also Hunter said, “The vegetables in the lo mein were still raw.”
Unfortunately they did not have much better luck with their other (usually tried and true) entrée…
Crispy Honey Chicken – Tempura Chicken with Honey Sauce, served with Sugar Snap Peas, Carrots and choice of Jasmine (their choice) or Brown Rice
They have had this many times before and loved it. I tried the Honey Chicken the last time here and it was a hit for me too. But sadly this time it was a miss. Paula commented, “The honey chicken was several chunks of chicken battered together so there was raw dough inside, in between the chunks of meat.” Hunter added, “Even the flour they used to dredge the honey chicken wasn’t cooked. And the rice tasted like it was day old rice heated in the microwave.”
Since I had really enjoyed the Honey Chicken last time, I nearly ordered it again. But thankfully I decided that for the sake of more variety for our review I should try something else…
Coconut Shrimp – Coconut Crusted Shrimp served with Jasmine Rice, Stir-Fried Vegetables, and Plum BBQ Sauce
And a closer view…
This was actually very good. I’m a big fan of coconut shrimp and this was a great version. There were at least 8 (maybe 9) large shrimp here. I could have easily shared this dish, especially on a day when I was not feeling well.
I also enjoyed the stir-fried veggies that were served with my shrimp…
There was a good mix of sugar snap peas, slices of red onion, carrots, zucchini, and even a few mushrooms.
I’m not really a fan of plain white rice so requested it be subbed for Chicken Fried Rice…
Not only did they bring me both the jasmine rice and the fried rice, but I just now noticed when looking at my check that they didn’t charge me for the fried rice. Hmmm…hopefully they didn’t add it to Paula & Hunter’s check.
But speaking of their check, much of what they ordered ended up being comped by the manager when she came to our table to inquire how our meal was. It seems that much of their kitchen staff was new that day and they weren’t quite yet in the swing of things…which probably explains why this meal wasn’t up to snuff.
As for me, I had no complaints regarding my tea or entrée so paid my bill in full (less a 10% WDW Annual Passholder discount on my entrée only, as Yak & Yeti doesn’t accept Tables in Wonderland).
Oh, and in case you were wondering, I didn’t order my usual dessert, the Fried Cream Cheese-filled Wontons, this time. I actually didn’t have room for any dessert but here is a photo showing their dessert offerings…
So that just leaves the ratings. While Yelp reviewers gave Yak & Yeti 4 stars, on Trip Advisor it received 4 1/2 stars. Normally we would agree with this assessment of 4 – 4 1/2 stars but this time there were several missteps so overall this meal would probably merit only about 3 stars. As for the rankings, Yak & Yeti ranks as #102 best of the nearly 3,000 Orlando area restaurants reviewed on Trip Advisor and #27 for the Disney World area restaurants.
Taste of Disney 