Nine Dragons Restaurant

Nine Dragons Restaurant is the sit down restaurant in EPCOT’s China Pavilion. It has a large dining room decorated with ornate features, expensive looking wood trim and fabrics that make you feel as if you are in a fine dining room.

The food is based on dishes from 4 regions of China. Disney has added some special touches. Plates look beautiful.

Photo by IceNineJon

Nine Dragons is another of Disney’s restaurants that gets very mixed reviews. Most reviews are complimentary of the service, but there are several that say service is rushed.

For years, the food here was not very adventurous. It was a lot like what you could get in most local Chinese restaurants (unlike neighboring Norway and Mexico) but portions were very large. The new menu is features cuisine from several regions of China, with a whimsical Disney twist. Unfortunately It seems that not only are the portions smaller, but the execution of the whimsy aren’t very good.

Lunch Menu

See the most up-to-date menu from Disney here.

Appetizers

• Spicy Beef – beef sliced thin and tossed with a cilantro-chili dressing
• Pot Stickers – pork and vegetable dumplings served with cilantro soy dipping souse
• Shrimp and Tabo Lollipops (Yes, I said Shrimp Lollipops) – a untraditional dim sum favorite

Entrees

• Honey Sesame Chicken
• Fragrant Five-Spiced Fish (Disney’s good at alliteration)
• Chinese Chicken Salad
• Canton Pepper Beef

Special Lunches

• The Lunch Box Set – Choose from two entrees. Served with Sesame bread, beef soup and Chinese cole slaw.
• Treasure of the Dragon – a 3 course meal that includes soup, entree and dessert

*** ***

Dinner Menu

The Dinner Menu is much the same as the lunch menu with some additions (and some higher prices). Dinner entrees are around $2.00 more than the lunch portion.

Appetizers

• Shrimp Summer Rolls

Entrees

• Shanghai Beef and Tofu
• Zha Jiang Noodles Sampler

Dinner also adds a family option where each guest gets a soup, an entree and a dessert.

See the most up-to-date menu from Disney here.

Dessert Menu

There are 3 desserts and 2 kinds of ice cream available. The dessert portions are large and meant to be shared.

Desserts

• Banana Cheesecake Egg Roll – served with carmel sauce and your choice of ice cream
• Coconut Rice Pudding
• Chinese Ginger Cake

Ice Cream

• Strawberry-Red Bean
• Carmel Ginger

Disney Restaurant odds and ends

You can make Advanced Dining Reservation 180 days prior to your arrival. This restaurant reservations are required most of the year. These can be made online at Disney’s Dining Reservations or by calling 407-WDW-DINE.

This restaurant is part of the Disney Dining Plan. Click on the link for more information about how the plan works.

All Disney Restaurants are non-smoking.

Dad’s Bottom Line

Some people absolutely love this restaurant. But, you can usually walk in to this restaurant without a reservation.

You might want to skip this one.