Overview:
Downtown Disney offers plenty of dining options and features a wide array of cuisines, but when I am looking for a quick meal without having a long wait the Wolfgang Puck Express is one of my favorite places to eat. Tucked back between Disney’s Days of Christmas and Mickey’s Pantry, Wolfgang Puck Express can sometimes be overlooked, but it offers a dining experience worthy of its illustrious namesake. Presenting a more casual take on some of the signature dishes that made chef Wolfgang Puck famous, this restaurant offers a great alternative to the large crowds found in Downtown Disney’s various sit down locations. The restaurant is what I consider to be an “enhanced” counter service location; you place your order at the counter as you enter, find a table to sit at while your food is being prepared, and then have your meals delivered directly to your table. The result is that you get the feel of a sit down restaurant but with much quicker service.
Atmosphere:
The Wolfgang Puck Express is not the largest dining venue, but it does offer plenty of seating both indoors and outdoors. While the restaurant’s decor has no specific theme, the overall design is very minimalist and simple, giving it a casual and laid back atmosphere. One thing I really like about the restaurant is its sense of openness, with its high vaulted ceilings and numerous windows which allow for plenty of light and give the dining room a sense of being larger than it actually is.
The outdoor seating is mostly covered and those tables not under the covering do have umbrellas. There are also several fans located above the tables in the outdoor dining area which provide some relief from the Florida heat. What is nice about the restaurant’s location is that it is tucked back out of the way, so if you are eating outside there are not a lot of people walking and there is very little noise.
Back inside, the only real visual elements in the main dining area are black and white photographs on the walls of Wolfgang Puck, various foods, and a couple of Disney World, one featuring Spaceship Earth and the other the Tree of Life. I think that more black and white photographs of different theme park locations would have helped to give the décor more cohesion, because the way they appeared next to photographs of Wolfgang Puck seemed a little random.
My personal favorite element of the restaurant’s atmosphere was the area just after the counter where you place your order. As you make your way into the main dining area you pass through a room that makes you feel as though you are walking through the kitchen. Not only are there pots and pans hanging from racks on the ceiling, but you are able to see right into the area where the chefs are preparing the food as well as the large over used for making the pizzas. This part of the restaurant presents a bit of a contrast from the main seating area, a more classic style as opposed to the modern feel of the dining room.
The Menu:
One of the first things I noticed about the menu was that it had changed since the last time I visited. It was disappointing to find that the menu had been scaled back and several items I usually look forward to getting were removed. Among the items missing were the Barbecue Chicken and Roast Beef & Cheddar sandwiches, the Barbecue Chicken Quesadilla, and the Chicken Tortilla, Rotisserie BBQ Beef, and Mediterranean Vegetable Focaccia Melts. The selection of pizzas was also cut back, no longer featuring the Italian Sausage & Roasted Red Pepper or the Spicy Chicken. One area of the menu that was expanded was the “Large Plates” section, which in addition to several pasta dishes now also includes an Oven Roasted Salmon and a Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf.
Despite all the changes to the menu, there are still plenty of selections to choose from among soups, salads, pizzas, and pastas. Some of the more exotic menu items are actually salads, including a Curried Chicken salad with apples, avocados, and toasted pecans or a Greek salad featuring feta, tomatoes, cucumbers, and a creamy yogurt dressing. For the less adventurous, there is a Hearts of Romaine salad served with Caesar dressing and the option of adding grilled chicken. The sandwich selections include a Rotisserie Turkey Club, Pesto Chicken Salad, and Warm Turkey Melt. Among the different types of pizza to be found on the menu were the Margherita, Barbecue Chicken, Roasted Vegetable, Four Cheese Pesto, and Meatball & Peppers. The menu also featured several traditional pasta dishes such as Pennette Chicken Alfredo, Macaroni and Cheese, and Spaghetti and Meatballs. The dessert selections are simple and straightforward, with the choice of Creme Brule, Cookies, Brownies, or Frozen Yogurt.
For my meal I selected the Butternut Squash Soup as well as the Barbeque Chicken Pizza. First, I must say that the portion sizes are very good and after having the soup I was only able to finish just a couple of slices of the pizza. The Butternut Squash Soup was absolutely delicious. Smooth and creamy, it was just the right consistency and I liked the fact that there were no real big chunks of squash in the soup. The soup came garnished with a roasted pepper swirl and chives, which proved to be the perfect compliment to the squash. The soup itself was somewhat sweet, but not overwhelmingly so, and the red pepper and chives actually helped to enhance the flavor and added some depth and complexity to the taste. The soup was rich and filling and also came with a small slice of bread which was perfect for dipping.
The Barbeque Chicken Pizza was also extremely good. The barbeque sauce itself had a bit of a kick, but it did not overpower all the other ingredients. In fact, I would not have minded if there was a little more barbeque sauce on the pizza. There was a good amount of chicken on the pizza, but I would have liked to have had a little more red onion because it paired very well with the chicken and added more flavor to the pizza. I was worried that the cilantro would be too strong, but there was just the right amount to compliment the other flavors and not overpower everything else. The pizza itself had a very thin crust, nice and crispy along the edges and softer toward the center. The dough was nice and light and it was cooked to perfection. I do not normally like my food burnt (especially when it comes to pizza crust), but the edges of the pizza was burned just enough that it added to the other flavors.
Service:
At a counter service restaurant one of the things you expect is fast service. The two workers taking orders were very efficient and the one who waited on me was also very observant. She was quick to tell me that I could receive a cast member discount, before I even had the opportunity to ask, because she had seen me just starting to pull out my Disney ID. Because of the way the restaurant works, you place your order at the counter and then have your food delivered to you. While the food was brought out in a timely manner and the waiter asked me if I needed anything when he served me, I was surprised that he never returned at any point while I was eating to check to make sure that everything was okay. It seemed that the waiters were most concerned with getting the tables turned over once guests had finished eating, which is important in a quick service restaurant, but it seemed to come at the expense of their interaction and attention to the guests.
Dining on a Budget:
The Wolfgang Puck Express itself is a good option for dining on a budget, especially if you want an experience similar to the Wolfgang Puck Café (also found at Downtown Disney). While the menu selections are fewer and simpler than the Café, the quality and taste are just as good. In addition, the portion sizes are big enough that sharing a dish between two people becomes an easy way to save some money. I would recommend each person getting a soup or a salad and then splitting a sandwich or a pizza. If you are still hungry you could get a dessert as well, which are all reasonably priced. When dining at Wolfgang Puck Express, I recommend getting either a soup, salad, sandwich, or pizza. While the pasta dishes all look very good, they are a bit pricey for a counter service restaurant.
The Overall Experience:
At this point I should note that while I went to the Wolfgang Puck Express located in the Downtown Disney Marketplace, there is also one in Downtown Disney West Side as well. The West Side location is smaller and its menu options are more limited, featuring just soups, salads, sandwiches, and pizzas. Surprisingly, there are actually a couple of items on the West Side menu that are not found on the Marketplace menu, but overall they are basically the same. The West Side location has a counter to sit at indoors, but the only tables are located outside. I prefer the location of the Marketplace’s outdoor seating better because on the West Side there are a lot more people walking by and it is far noisier.
Even though I was a little disappointed that the menu had been scaled back, I still left completely satisfied with my meal. The Wolfgang Puck Express is a great place to grab a quick bite to eat and I highly recommend it to anyone shopping at Downtown Disney who does not feel like waiting for a table at one of the sit down restaurants. In my opinion, it is one of the better counter service restaurants to be found in all of Disney World and that is why I will definitely be returning there in the future.
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