Space 220 is one of the newer restaurants in Walt Disney World, and one of the most popular. Located in EPCOT, right next to Mission Space, this restaurant brings guests 220 miles in the sky to dine in space. Scoring an ADR at this location requires some commitment, but is it worth it? Read on to find out what we thought.
Speaking to how difficult it is to get an ADR here, we could only get a 12:50 lunch reservation on departure day of our 5 night stay. What does this actually mean? It means that guests with shorter stays are going to be hard pressed to secure a reservation at this location. If this is a must do for you and you’re staying less than 5 nights then plan to use an online reservation finder and/or stalk reservations. If you’re staying longer than 5 nights then pencil this one in for later in your trip to have the best chance of getting a reservation that matches your plans.
We arrived a few minutes early for our reservation and were directed into a room to await our turn to ride the space elevator up to the restaurant. We were provided a boarding pass granting us access and asked to line up on one side of the room.
After just about 5 minutes it was our turn to board the space elevator. Guests are invited to take pictures and videos of the trip through the window at the bottom of the elevator. The view as you speed away from EPCOT is pretty cool and feels like an attraction in and of itself. The trip only takes 15 seconds or so, speaking to the incredible technology employed by the space elevator!
Once the trip is over guests are ushered through a short hallway where you get a glimpse into some fo the vegatable growing operations that keep the food coming.
We gave a hostess our names and were immediately taken to our table. Our table was about as far away from the windows as you can get, but the view was still great. I’m sure sitting right next to the window is spetacular, but so was this panaramic view of our Spaceship Earth.
Our waiter quickly appeared and provided us a drink menu. We decided on the space version of the Margarita, called the “M4RG4R1TA” described as Espolon Blanco Tequila, Watermelon Lime Sour, Salted Lime Foam for $18. This was quite tasty and the foam finish elevated the drink above the usual Margarita. We also ordered the “Space Age Mule” described as Tito’s Vodka, Fresh Carrot Juice, Mango, Lime Juice, Ginger Beer, Tajin Rim for $17 (shown below.) This was aboslutely delicious. I’ve never had carrot juice in a cocktail before and was pleasantly surprised at how well this all worked. Highly recommend as a refreshing cocktail if you’re in the mood.
The menu at Space 220 is Prix Fixe offering guests their choice of an appetizer and entree. The price for lunch is $55 for Disney adults while dinner is $79. I’m not sure if dinner portions are larger, but can tell you that we walked away from lunch stuffed. I’d recommend doing lunch and planning that to be the big meal for the day.
For one of our appetizer we chose the Duck Confit with lentil salad, butternut squash, bacon crisp, and walnut citrus dressing. I was impressed by the amount of duck in this dish. It was effectively an entire duck thigh and drumstick. Beyond the substantial size of the dish, the dish was delicious. The duck was tender and juicy, but not too greasy. The accompaniments paired very well and the flavores work well together. If you like duck I would highly recommend this starter.
For the other appetizer we chose the Blue Moon Cauliflower, which is cauliflower tempura with buffalo sauce. This was another winner. Despite being fried the cauliflower was not overly greasy. The tempura batter was very good and did well to absorb the buffalo sauce underneath. My only complaint is that I wish there was more buffalo suace, but that’s personal preference. This was another good sized serving and a great choice for a vegetarian option.
For our first entree option we went with the Space Pad “Thai”. This was rice noodles, vegetables, crispy tofu, garlic chili crunchy, and soy chili sauce. We chose this because of a great experience with the tofu at Satuuli Canteen in Animal Kingdom. Tofu is one of those things that when done right kind of becomes one with the dish, absorbing all the flavors, and offering a nice textural component. When done wrong though, it can really ruin the dish. In our experience, Disney knows what they’re doing with tofu, so don’t worry if you see it as a component in a dish you’re interested in.
Getting back to this dish, it was very good and another substantial service size (the dish it was served is was quite large and kind of dwarfed the food in the picture below.) It wasn’t too spicy, and similarly to the cauliflower I would have appreciated more of the garlic chili crunch personally. Otherwise, the noodles were cooked well, not mushy, the vegetables still had texture, and as mentioned the tofu was good. Overall a solid dish that anyone who likes this kind of thing should enjoy.
Last but not least was the Slow Roasted Crystal Valley Chicken, 48-hour brined chicken, spanish chorizo plantain ragout with roasted garlic and heirloom tomato. First, I’m a sucker for anything with chorizo, though I prefer the mexian variety, I’ll eat either any chance I get. I actually found the chorizo flavor to be rather muted in the dish, but I think that was by design so as not to overpower the chicken. The ragout was almost a thick stew consistency and worked incredibly well with the chicken. Speaking of the chicken, all I can say is wow. This was one of the juiciest breasts of chicken I’ve ever had. As you’ll see in the picture below, this dish also came with a fried chicken drumstick. The flavor here was out of this world if you’re a fan of fried chicken skin, it tasted similar to a cripsy chicken wing and added a nice crunchy textural component to the dish. All in all, this was a well designed and executed dish. To me, ordering the chicken can sometimes feel like taking the boring route but this dish was anything but. Since it’s a prix fixe menu you’re getting better dollar value in several of the other options, but this felt like a fine value to me.
Throughout the meal the service was attentive, but not overbearing, and overall very professional. I have zero complaints about the service or any staff interaction we had.
I had to admit, I did not have high expecations for this restaurant from a culinary standpoint. I was going in expecting a unique dining experience that you could only find at Disney with the food playing a clear second fiddle to the location. While the restaurant theming was exceptional, the food ended up being the star for us. I had read some negative reviews of the food which may have have jaded my expectations, but either this place has figured it out or I just go lucky. I can’t imagine this was any fluke though, it seems like more likely that my experience is indicative of what they do now. I would highly recommend making this a must-do experience if you’re able to secure a reservation.
If you’re not able to get a reservation the location does accept walk ups for their lounge area. While we were checking in I overheard another party being quoted a 40 minute wait. The caveat is that you have to stay close, you can’t go tour the park while you wait. Honestly, I think it’s worth it if you don’t have anywhere to be. This is a unique restaurant experience that isn’t resting on it’s laurels when it comes to food quality. It feels more like the Disney dining of old where the you can trust that though you pay up a bit, you’re going have a full spectrum top notch experience.
