REVIEW: Brunch at City Works Eatery & Pour House

The regular culinary lineup is straight sports bar, but City Works Pour House and Eatery at Disney World brings a unique mix to the brunch menu. You’ll find Southern-tilted staples mixed with Tex-Mex, and a bit of what feels like West Coast inspiration here and there. Let’s dive into what we found on the West Side of Disney Springs – and what we thought about it!

The interior is vaguely industrial meets sports bar, with open ceilings and metallic finishes softened by wooden tabletops and other wood accents. For seating, there’s a mix of booths and tables, with plenty of outdoor seating if the weather is nice. A huge collection of televisions covers the wall behind the long bar. It’s a hipster hangout that’s welcoming to families, pleasant but not cozy.

Brunch mains are mostly in the $20 range, with a few items from the regular menu heading up into the mid $30s. Unless you really pack on the sides, you can expect to pay about $20-30 per person, not including drinks and tips. (View the menu here) If you’re using the Disney Dining Plan, it’s a single Table Service Credit.

Brunch is served from 10 am to 3 pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Reservations are usually available on very short notice, but larger parties should plan to reserve when their 60-day window opens.

Entrees

Stuffed French Toast – $19.45
Bailey’s Cream Cheese, Fried Vanilla Bean Ice Cream batter, Mixed Berry Compote, Maple Syrup, Powdered Sugar

This was the absolute winner of the meal, the craveable dish that we agreed we would all go back for. The multiple flavors were all singing in harmony, although it’s hard to say that you could pick out individual notes (outside of the berries). And the contrast between the crisp exterior and the spongy interior was perfect. Serving size: humongous, a great choice for sharing.

Let It BLTE – $20.45
Thick-cut Hardwood-smoked Bacon, Baby Arugula, Vine-Ripened Tomato, Sunny Side Up Eggs, Roasted Garlic Aioli, Texas Toast, Cheesy Potato Casserole

A dish that begs you to eat a complete bite in every forkful, with the baby arugula lightly wilting, a bit of acid from the tomato, a dash of umami from the bacon, and the creamy yolk tying the whole thing together. But that complete bite was hard to get. The bread was too thick to make it work well as a closed sandwich, and when we tackled it open-faced, it didn’t cut smoothly. We finished it all anyway and considered it worth the effort. The cheesy potato casserole that accompanies several dishes was tender and creamy, with a bit of southern spice in the generous helping of cheese sauce.

Hangover Bowl – $23.95
Smoked Cheddar Grits, Braised Pork Belly, breakfast Sausage Links, Sunny-Side-Up Eggs, smoked Tomato Charred Scallion Relish

It tastes exactly like the description, with smooth, creamy flavors from the grits and eggs that won’t jar a queasy stomach. If you aren’t working off a hangover, you might feel the grits and eggs alone are a bit bland, but you can round out your mouthful by scooping up a bit of the mildly piquant tomato relish, which truthfully felt a bit more like a salad than a condiment. And a complete bite with a bit of sausage or pork belly will put in a bit of salty contrast that’s delicious, but might be too much for those who truly are hung over.

Chilaquiles – $20.45
Smoked Chicken, Sunny-Side-Up Tajin Eggs, Salsa Roja, Cilantro Lime Cream, Jalapeno Salsa Verde, Avocado, Red Onion, Queso Fresco, Tortilla Chips, Cilantro

I know the chips are simmered in sauce and aren’t really crispy anymore, but I always think of chilaquiles as breakfast nachos. We ate these as an appetizer, and they were perfect, including the large serving that made them great for sharing. All the blended flavors you get from nachos with the chicken, cheese, and avocado, plus a nod to breakfast from the eggs, were there. The softened chips made it easy to get a bite of everything without it all falling off your fork. The Tajin on the eggs was nice and mixed well with additional heat in the salsa roja. And speaking of that additional heat, this was not going to faze anyone used to eating 5-spicies Indian or Szechuan dishes, but it’s got enough fire to give spice wimps a challenge.

Chicken Biscuit Sandwich – $20.95
Buttermilk-breaded Crispy Chicken, Chipotle Maple Glaze, Candied Black Pepper Bacon, Green Onion Cheddar Biscuit, Cheesy Potato Casserole | add Egg +2

The flavors were mostly a good balance in this biscuit sandwich. The candied bacon fit right in with the breaded chicken under the maple glaze. The biscuit was unexpectedly a bit sweet, given the green onion and cheddar description, but it was moist with a nice flavor. The challenge of this dish was texture. The coating on the chicken, combined with the glaze, was delicious, but it didn’t have much crisp left in it. Combined with the doughy biscuit, it left us wishing for a bit of crunch somewhere.

Wrapping Up

The brunch lineup at City Works is definitely more idiosyncratic than the regular lunch and dinner fare, but we felt that not all of it made the mark it was aiming at. Nonetheless, it was tasty and none of us regretted what we ordered. (Except maybe the chicken biscuit sandwich.) City Works Eatery and Pour House isn’t going to be a destination meal that you mark your calendar for. But if you’ve got a blank space marked brunch in your weekend, you can write in City House and head for a very enjoyable meal.

Have you stopped into City Works for Brunch? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!