Review: Nine Dragons Restaurant Has Solid Food But There’s No Fire

Nine Dragons Restaurant is the Table Service restaurant in China’s World Showcase Pavilion. The menu is a little more adventurous than your neighborhood Chinese takeout, but many dishes will look at least a little familiar. Appetizers range from $10-16, entrees from $25-35, and desserts from $12-14. A full three-course meal will run you $50-60, not including drinks and gratuities. If you’re paying with the Disney Dining Plan, Nine Dragons is a 1-credit meal.

The interior is sedate, with dark woods, pops of color, and Asian motifs. It’s clearly a Chinese restaurant, but it’s not kitschy. It wasn’t crowded when we visited, but wooden dividers and carpet would probably keep it from feeling busy and noisy even if it were full.

Nine Dragons is open for lunch and dinner, and serves the same menu for both. Reservations are accepted, but there’s rarely any need to book right at the start of your 60-day window. We have seen reservations for Nine Dragons unavailable a few days in advance of peak weeks, but they’re generally easy to come by. As an in-park restaurant, the dress code at Nine Dragons is casual. If it was OK to wear it to the park, you can wear it to your meal.

Appetizers

Smoked Duck Bao Buns – $16.00
Duck breast, scallion, hoisin sauce in steamed buns

My daughter loves bao, and we were excited to try these. They were tasty and we finished them. But they were also somehow nothing special. If pressed, I would have to say they were not very balanced. There was a bit of umami from the duck, but the forward note of both the bao and the hoisin was sweet.

Wontons in Chili Oil – $14.00
Steamed wontons filled with shrimp, crab, and chicken, Sichuan chili broth

I am a spice wimp, but I will eat almost any form of Asian dumpling in a spicy chili or hot and sour broth and consider it well worth the burn. These somehow miraculously had all the flavor of the chili oil, while barely being spicy at all. If, like me, you are accustomed to “paying” for the flavors of this dish, you may feel gypped. If you were looking forward to something spicy, then you definitely will. But if you just want a nice appetizer with Sichuan flavors, don’t be scared off by the chili oil in the name. It’s not spicy, and it has all the salty-sweet-umami balance that we missed in the bao.

Entrees

Sichuan Shui Zhu Beef – $35.00
Bistro beef, white mushroom, baby corn, wide glass noodle, Sichuan chili oil broth

The best dish of the night by far. Really nice Sichuan flavors in the broth, the slight chew of glass noodles, mushrooms and classic baby corns. It’s a bit sloppy to eat, with the noodles demanding some attention. But so worth it. And this dish also performed the magic chili oil trick. Unlike the wontons, this broth was just a bit spicy. But nowhere near as spicy as it seemed like it ought to be, and not really enough to be a problem for almost anyone. Barely even 1-star spicy, if that.

Glazed Prawns with Pistachios – $32.00
Lightly-fried glazed prawn, roasted pistachio, honey mustard sauce

These shrimp were perfectly cooked, with a very light crunch, and the pistachios brought both flavor contrast and a bit more texture. The slaw underneath was a very nice match with the sauce; think of the kind of mustard coleslaw that you find accompanying Southern BBQ and you’ll see where the slaw fits in. I wouldn’t peg this dish as being Asian if it were served in a different restaurant. The tangy honey-mustard sauce felt more American than anything else. But it was very nice, and I would get it again.

Smoked Duck Fried Rice – $35.00
Smoked ducked breast, egg fried rice, hoisin sauce

The duck was a bit dry, but the fried rice was high quality. You know how it is, when the grains somehow stick together and also separate easily at the same time. Not too salty, with a tiny bite from the scallions.

Honey Sesame Chicken – $25.00
Crispy chicken, sesame, house-made honey sauce

Of everything we ate, this classic was the one that felt most like it might have come from a neighborhood Chinese takeout anywhere in the US. The chicken had a nice, light fry underneath the sticky, sweet glaze, and the batter still had a bit of crunch. But if you think you know what this dish tastes like just from looking at it in the picture, you’ll be absolutely right.

Wrapping Up

There was noticeable preparation quality in almost everything we ate at Nine Dragons, and we enjoyed our meal. But the food is clearly adjusted for American palates that are only familiar with the most common Asian flavors. The technique was there. The flavors were fine. But that “fine” is kind of damning with faint praise, because there isn’t a more exciting word that’s really accurate. No dish – with the possible exception of the Sichuan Beef – managed to cross the line to being exceptional or memorable.

If quality Chinese food is a rarity where you come from, you’ll enjoy a visit to Nine Dragons. And if Nine Dragons were your local Chinese restaurant, you might eat there routinely and have a pleasant meal, albeit not one at the heights of Chinese culinary excellence. But if you’ve got regular access to decent Chinese food, there’s nothing special here. There’s surely some restaurant in EPCOT with more memorable food that you can only get at Disney World.

Have you eaten at Nine Dragons? What did you think of the food? Let us know in the comments!