Episode 32: Dinner at Boatwright’s Dining Hall at Port Orleans Riverside – Walt Disney World

After a nice relaxing afternoon around the resort, and a quick but powerful thunderstorm, we head to Boatwright’s Dining Hall at Port Orleans Riverside for dinner.  We were excited to eat here after we saw the menu… all good Louisiana cuisine!  Boatwright’s is the table service restaurant at POR and is located between the River Roost Lounge and the food court.  You really can’t miss it as there is a huge boat frame hanging from the ceiling in the center around the entry.  While we are on décor… everything has a rustic last century feel to it.  Everything is wood and metals. The walls are covered with old shipbuilding tools and pictures of shipyards of days long past.  It was actually very interesting to see these primitive tools and to see this huge hull and know that this is how ships and boats were made for hundreds of years!

Now on to the food!  

First of all, one must order sweet tea when dining in a Southern-style restaurant, which we did (well 4 out of 5 of us).  It was just as good as we make at home!  The cornbread…  Ethan tried to hoard the entire basket for himself it was so good!  Ok, so picture the best cornbread you have ever had…  It was warm and slightly sweet and flaky but didn’t fall apart… Then you put the butter on it, well enough said.  Needless to say, we ate it all!  

We all tried something different from the menu.  Some of us sticking to our favorites and some branching out and trying something new.  Jason had The Big Easy which is a 10oz NY Strip with peppercorn cream and a side of crawfish mac & cheese.  I (Alisa) had the Deep South Shrimp & Grits – traditional style.  Ethan was on a mission to try multiple versions of chicken & waffles on this trip so ordered the Voodoo Chicken which was just that.  Cameron was also on a mission, but for ribs, so he ordered the Sassagoula Short Ribs.  Colby decided he wanted ‘Louisiana on a plate’ as he described it and ordered the Boatwright’s Jambalaya.  Let me just say here that we are from Louisiana and know what real Louisiana food is supposed to taste like…  This was spot on!  Everything was so good!  This was definitely the best meal of the trip.  Who would have thought there would be such good Cajun food in Central Florida…

Dessert anyone?

After this huge meal, no one was really hungry for dessert, but when you’re on the Disney Dining Plan and dessert is included in your meal, well you at least have to try it, right?  Me being the sweet lover I am can never pass up dessert!  I had the Strawberry Bread Pudding, which was like nothing I had ever had before.  They soaked the bread in strawberry juice and baked it in, then it was topped with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with strawberry sauce… YUM!  Jason had the Bourbon Street Pecan Pie, which was not a slice, but an individual size pit, also topped with vanilla ice cream, also very good.  Ethan vowed he could not eat another bite (where has my bottomless pit gone???) and was the only one to pass on dessert.  Colby had the Crème Brulee and Cameron the Banana Pudding.  All of these were amazing and we were sad that our tummies were too full to devour them whole… but we tried our best!

Relaxing after dinner

The sky after a thunderstorm is beautiful and the rain cooled everything down dramatically were it was very nice just to sit outside and relax.  Jason & I grabbed two rocking chairs (that didn’t actually rock) on the back porch of the main building and just watched the horse and buggy trot by and the boats coming to and from Disney Springs and the clouds moving through the sky and more lightning off in the distance.  It was very nice.  It was a perfect ending to a day in Disney World!

Want to see the story come to life?  Here is the video: YouTube EECC Travels – WDW Episode 32

Want to see more from this trip?  Here is the full WDW September 2016 playlist.