REVIEW: This Disney World Restaurant Is WORTH the Trek to Get There

It’s not every day that we have an opportunity to celebrate Women’s History Month at Disney World. So, when that coincides with food, you can color us intrigued.

Disney released a whole lineup of snacks, dishes, and treats created by female chefs around the Disney World parks, hotels, and Disney Springs restaurants. When we heard there were a few hiding in plain sight, it gave us an excuse to make a trip over to one of the hidden gems of the Disney World hotels.

We recently found an opportunity to drop by one of the best-hidden restaurants at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. While we love touring the large property, taking some time out to work on our golf game at the nearby course, and taking a quick stroll over to Disney Springs to enjoy the nightlife and dining options there, we didn’t mind staying close by to the hotel when we found ourselves getting a bit hungry.

It also didn’t hurt that we knew The Artist’s Palette had a few new exclusive menu items added to the menu for a limited time so naturally we were curious to try them out!

Background

This quick-service restaurant is meant to convey a very art deco-inspired atmosphere. The interior is decorated with colorful blown-glass art, vibrantly contrasted walls with high ceilings, light fixtures hanging from the ceiling, and exposed brick walls with large ornate mirrors.

If you’ve ever pictured the inside aesthetic of a modern artist’s space to entertain and have guests over for dinner, this restaurant could very easily fit the bill. This restaurant is known for its gourmet sandwiches, salads, and grab-n-go items.

Atmosphere

As you walk up to the front of the restaurant you’re greeted by its beautiful ornate doors…

…and as you walk in, you’ll find seating for the restaurant to your left and the shared space for souvenirs and gifts on your right. The amenities of the restaurant are centered between the main indoor dining room and kitchen. Here, you’ll find things like self-serve plastic utensils…

…and several condiments and a microwave for visitor use.

The Artist’s Palette is a quick-service restaurant that offers both indoor seating in tables and booth styles…

…and outdoor seating in heavy patio-style tables and chairs which overlook the hotel grounds and the neighboring main feature pool, High Rock Springs Pool.

If you walk towards the back of the restaurant and breeze past the self-service stations you’ll find yourself standing within an open concept for the kitchen preparation where you’ll find your food prepared at a few grab-and-go cooler stations…

…and refrigerators for additional food and drinks. To start your order, you’ll be offered a menu to review…

…and asked to place your order at the counter nearby or through the mobile order process on the My Disney Experience app.

From time to time, Disney will offer a few limited-time items in addition to the regular menu and these looked pretty interesting to us.

After we had a few minutes to browse the options, we had a pretty good idea of what we were looking to order. So we decided to walk up to the counter, place our order and were given a buzzing device for when our food was ready to be located at our chosen seats.

Food & Drinks

We were feeling pretty hungry for this meal so you’ll want to bear with us because there was A LOT that we ordered. Our entire meal consists of Beef Bourguignon, Cauliflower Bisque, Traditional Pound Cake, and Bears in Dirt. Since our first choice of drink wasn’t available this particular visit, we opted for the Cast Member’s recommendation at the register for the On The Rocks Premium Cocktails — The Margarita.

I think we should start off our review with what we tried first. Don’t be fooled by this bottle, it KNOWS how to pack a punch. This premixed lime-flavored margarita came ready to go and cost us $22. 

The Cast Member at the register offered a plastic cup to go along with such a large bottle to get ice out of the beverage machines (which we were happy to accept). The entire bottle could be deceiving but a great value because it easily held a little over four pours in the entire bottle making it convenient to share (responsibly).

And it tasted as smooth as its appearance. We had three different Cast Members come up to us when we were deciding on a replacement and all of them raved about how much they enjoyed this addition to the beverages here. And honestly, we had to agree with them.

For a pre-mixed drink, it was very flavorful and tasted like a truly just-mixed lime margarita at the bar. It wasn’t too strong but had enough girth to it to warrant its cost and size and we thought it was a great value to try.

Within minutes our food arrived at the table and we were already drooling over the smells. If you caught on earlier, yes, we opted for the limited-time Women’s History Month offerings and immediately were intrigued by the Cauliflower Bisque. This bisque was made of creamy cauliflower bisque, harissa, with roasted pistachio gremalata and cost us $4.49.

It might not have looked like much at first (and we were most interested in the buttery layer forming at the top) but this one turned out to be quite the surprise!

Admittedly, we weren’t super big fans of cauliflower before tasting this bisque, but if we hadn’t known it was made of cauliflower, we’re not sure we could have narrowed it down on our own by taste alone! It was creamy, buttery, and served warm which would have been perfect on a cooler day with a nice breeze or enjoyed outside later in the evening.

For a veggie bisque, it was definitely impressive and won us over with just a few spoonfuls.

Then it was time to try the Beef Bourguignon. This dish is made of slow-braised beef and vegetables in a rich red wine jus served over creamy mashed potatoes and cost us $14.99.

Because of the smells alone emitted from this dish, we had HIGH expectations of it and we’re happy to report that it didn’t disappoint! It was still very warm when it was first served to us, and stayed warm for quite a while after we had ordered it. This dish was also served as a fairly large portion and was packaged to where you could pack it up easily for transport if you didn’t finish it in your initial sitting.

The juices from the red wine jus were delicious and what we could taste first. The meat was so tender it could be cut through with just a plastic utensil and it just split apart so easily when you bit down into it. For the added vegetables we could taste carrots, onions, and even mushrooms mixed into the jus sauce which sat on top of the mashed potatoes.

If you wanted mashed potatoes with a lot of the sauce,  you really needed to dig your spoon into the mix and dig a little deeper to get the most balanced bite of all the flavors.

Then we turned our attention to starting our desserts. Next up, we tried out the Traditional Pound Cake. This delectable goodie is a homemade vanilla pound cake slice and cost us $3.99. It’s served wrapped in plastic and has the cutest presence on its own.

The slice of cake slid out of the plastic easily and stayed together very well as it was handled. If you’ve ever had a pound cake made from scratch you can already imagine the taste but if not, it tastes every bit like you would imagine a light vanilla pound cake should.

The cake held its form as necessary but had no problem with a consistency that wasn’t overly moist or too dry to be enjoyed by all types of cake lovers. And as you would expect, it crumbled as soon as the bite hit our mouths.

We thought the portion size was a significant value for the prize. It was also a great option if you were looking to enjoy something light and portable that wouldn’t leave a heavy feeling in your tummy.

We rounded out our meal with the Bears In Dirt. This is a dessert cup made of chocolate pudding, chocolate cookie crumbs, and gummy candy bears which cost us $3.79.

Honestly, this one took us way back to being kids again in all the best ways. The chocolate pudding layers were pretty standard but they were a familiar taste that we thought would win over even the pickiest of kids. The chocolate cookie crumb layer was a bit more interesting though. Its consistency looks more like a cake and that totally could have been due to the close proximity of the moisture with the chocolate pudding directly underneath it.

The real stars of the show here, of course, were the gummy candy bears and we had so much fun “playing” with our food we almost forgot that we needed to eat our dessert and find a stopping point to playing. This would be a solid yet familiar choice for any child as a quick treat and could easily be packed up and enjoyed later if you didn’t finish it all within the first few bites (like we did).

Should You Go?

If you’ve ever found yourself on the fence about whether or not you should visit, we would lean more of the camp to ask you to try it out for yourself! The menu here is known to take on some limited-time and seasonal offerings and has a great selection of entrees and sides that seem to be able to satisfy almost any palette.

However, since this is a large property and a hotel it’s not easily accessible unless you’re staying there or already visiting for the day, we could totally see why you would spring for a closer option.

Stay tuned with us at All Ears as we bring you even more food, snack, and drink reviews, and be sure to check out a few more reviews below!

Have you ever dined at the Artist’s Palette? Leave us your thoughts on your experience below!

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