Animal Kingdom’s Flame Tree Barbecue
I have a quick trivia question for you: What’s the best restaurant in Disney’s Animal Kingdom? You might be inclined to say the Rainforest Cafe. Heck, its the only place in the entire park where you can actually sit down for service. Well, you would be wrong. When Disney designed the park, they decided to put only one table service facility in the park and its average to boot. Yet, Disney made up for that bad decision by creating two of the best counter service places in any of their theme parks. Although the Tusker House is good, for my money, the Flame Tree Barbeque is the best counter service food stop that Disney has to offer.
Like many of the over-the-counter places in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the Flame Tree BBQ does not have your typical hot dog and cheeseburger park fare. As the name implies, barbeque is the cuisine and it does a nice job at it. The ribs and smoked chicken are both good options but I prefer the pulled pork sandwich myself. To round out the menu, there is a cold smoked turkey sandwich and barbeque chicken over a salad. As with many of these types of places, you get beans and cole slaw on the side and both are good. My only “beef” is when the place first opened they had an unbelievably good onion relish which is no longer to be found.
Perhaps the best feature of the Flame Tree BBQ is the setting. Behind the counter, there are wooded trails leading to little clusters of tables. From there, you can find more trails leading to more little clusters of tables. Some seating areas are covered and others are adjacent to a little pool reminiscent of a chinese garden. Its the best setting for a counter service restaurant I have seen. No matter how many people are present, its a quiet, relaxed place to enjoy your food.
So when its lunch time, head over towards Discovery Island near the entrance to Dinoland. As you get close, you will begin to notice the aroma of barbeque. Turn right in. You won’t regret it. I just miss the onion relish.
Today’s restaurant review is courtesy of Mike, contributing writer to Mouse Extra
Staff ratings
Brooke= E-ticket
Dave= D-ticket
Mike= D-ticket