Review: Dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe Is a Wild Ride

Whispering Canyon Cafe might draw your eye, tucked on the side of the Wilderness Lodge lobby. Its rustic vibe seems to fit right in, and on occasion it might seem like there’s some kind of ruckus going on. We recently stopped in for dinner during a stay at this resort, and I’m here to report on three of the four famous all-you-care-to-enjoy Signature skillets – including what we’d pick if we could only get one.

Like many restaurants at Disney World, Whispering Canyon is themed, and you’ll quickly notice the Western decor and uniforms. But Whispering Canyon is one of those spots that has a little something special, “performance theme”, if you will. You can expect a bit of sass from your server, guests may occasionally gallop around the dining room on hobby horses, and it you ask for ketchup, be prepared for an overflow. We find that the appetite for hijinks varies with the visit – sometimes it seems like nobody is in the mood – but if you just want to eat in peace, quietly let your server know.

The most expensive items on Whispering Canyon’s dinner menu are the All-You-Care-To-Enjoy Signature Skillets, at $43 each. Assuming you don’t tack on more than an appetizer or a dessert, your tab should come to $45-55 per head, not including drinks and tips. On the Disney Dining Plan, dinner is a single Table Service Credit.

Dinner is served from 5 to 10 pm, seven days a week, and reservations are easy to come by, even for groups of 8. Because the restaurant has some small square tables that can be pushed together, parties even larger than that may be able to sit together on short notice. Transportation from the Magic Kingdom by boat is straightforward, so monorail resorts have fairly easy access to Whispering Canyon.

Signature Skillets

Whispering Canyon does offer entrees other than their famed all-you-care-to-enjoy skillets o’ barbecue, and some day someone in my family might even order one. Someday, I’m going to order one of the all-you-care-to-enjoy shakes and a salad instead. But until that day, skillets are what we have to review. All the dinner Signature Skillets (descriptions below) are currently $43. Since there is quite a bit of overlap, I’ll comment after on the individual offerings and note which skillets they are in.

The Traditional
Oak-smoked Beef Brisket, Pork Ribs, Slow-smoked Pulled Pork, Citrus-Herb Chicken, Western-style Sausage, Smashed Potatoes, Baked Beans, Buttered Corn on the Cob, Sautéed Green Beans 

The Pig
Braised Pork Belly, Barbecued Pork Ribs, Slow-smoked Pulled Pork, “Piggy Wings,” Western-style Sausage, Smashed Potatoes, Buttered Corn, Sautéed Green Beans

The Land and Sea
House-smoked Salmon, Citrus-Herb Chicken, Spicy Plant-based Sausage, Charred Portobello, Barbecued Cauliflower, Roasted Potatoes, Roasted Carrots, Sautéed Green Beans 

There is also a plant-based option, which we did not try.
Plant-based
Maple-Chipotle Barbecued Jackfruit, Spicy “Sausage,” Mustard-glazed Beefless Tips, Herb-brushed Trick’n Chick’n, Roasted Potatoes, Oven-roasted Carrots, Sautéed Green Beans, Charred Peppers

All skillets (maybe even all meals?) come with cornbread and coleslaw. The cornbread is spot on, with a nice crumb that’s moist without being crumbly, and a sweet flavor that avoids being sugary. The coleslaw was creamy and tangy, also quite nice.

Worth knowing: The rule is “if you didn’t order a skillet, you can’t eat off of one”, but if you did order a skillet, nobody cares how much you eat off of your tablemate’s skillet. And once your skillet has appeared on the table, you can order refills of any individual component – no need to re-up the whole shebang.

There is a caveat here, which is that past and current experience has shown us a wide range of variability between visits and servings. Take the descriptions below (with one glaring exception) with this grain of salt: what you receive might be moister or drier – even between refills – and that can make a heckuva lot of difference in your meal.

⭐Oak-smoked Beef Brisket (Traditional) | One of the absolute highlights, this was well-flavored and tender, with plenty of moisture from the meltingly rendered fat. We had double refills of this.

⭐Pork Ribs (Traditional, Pig) | No, I do not know why this is listed as Pork Ribs on the Traditional and Barbecued Pork Ribs on the Pig, but it is the same item. On our first serving they were a bit dry, but the refill was much better. Very tasty, even if a bit of BBQ sauce was a big moisture helper on the first serving.

⭐Slow-smoked Pulled Pork (Traditional, Pig) | Tender and not over-seasoned (that’s tactful for “seemed mostly to have only been salted, but not over-salted”).

⭐Citrus-Herb Chicken (Traditional, Land and Sea) | Another highlight. Nicely cooked and juicy, with a brined-in citrusy flavor. You could taste the herbs too, for a bit of balance.

⭐Western-Style Sausage (Traditional, Pig) | It was sausage. Compared to another sausage that we shall discuss shortly, it was a gastronomic masterpiece. But on the regular sausage scale it was nice but nothing exceptional.

⭐Smashed Potatoes (Traditional, Pig) | No one in the kitchen skimped on the butter and salt. These were delicious, well-smashed and creamy with a few lumps of potato left to attest that they didn’t come out of a box.

⭐Baked Beans (Traditional) | In theory these only come on the Traditional, but as you can see on the photo of the Pig below, they at least sometimes come with that too. A slightly better than average baked bean, on the sweeter side. Unless you are a baked bean fanatic, you’re not going to eat a lot of these simply because there’s so much else on the table to eat.

⭐Buttered Corn on the Cob (Traditional, Pig) | Think cafeteria corn-on-the-cob, where they’ve got it in a big pot of hot water to keep it hot even though it was cooked hours ago. The great thing about corn is that it can withstand this treatment, and again, nobody skimped on the butter.

⭐Sautéed Green Beans (Traditional, Pig, Land and Sea) | A vegetable highlight of the meal. Still with a bit of crunch and lightly seasoned. I think they snuck some butter in there though, which you probably only care about if you ordered the Land and Sea to be “on the lighter side”. (More on that later.)

⭐Braised Pork Belly (Pig) | This is not (or at least, was not on our visit) the meltingly tender braised pork belly that you might find in appetizers of fine dining establishments. No luscious layers that dissolve on your tongue and make you forget that some of what you are eating is basically pure fat. The flavor and texture were OK; it was serviceable, but if I’m going to eat that many calories I want more from it.

⭐“Piggy Wings” (Pig) | These were dry as dust. Think mouthfuls of the Sahara. There might have been flavor, but there wasn’t enough moisture to carry it off the piggy wing and onto our tongues.

Before we get to the items that are unique to the Land and Sea, it’s worth noting that it is much smaller than the other two skillets. Given the all-you-can-eatness, that might seem a little silly. But we asked when ordering why there was plant-based sausage on the Land and Sea instead of regular sausage, and were told that this skillet is meant to be a lighter option, which explains the size.

⭐House-smoked Salmon (Land and Sea) | The smoke flavor was mild to non-existent, but this was a nicely cooked piece of salmon. And a great thing about salmon is that it doesn’t need a lot of dressing up to be wonderful.

⭐Spicy Plant-based Sausage (Land and Sea) | This is the closest I have been to spitting out food in a restaurant since I left childhood behind. For the love of God, do not eat this. After my bite, this became a “dare to try it” item in our group. Our server told us that our reaction is not atypical. When the manager came by and we remarked on it, he went to the kitchen and tried for himself, then came back to report that he fully understood our thoughts. Save yourself, and if possible just ask for your Land and Sea skillet to be delivered without the sausage. Tell them to give you extra vegetables or something.

⭐Charred Portobello (Land and Sea) | These were baby-sized, like a cremini, but somehow they packed in all the flavor of the adult portobello. Meaty, tender, and very delicious; these are the one thing I would miss off this skillet if nobody ordered it.

⭐Barbecued Cauliflower (Land and Sea) | I don’t know that I would immediately peg the flavor as “barbecue”. But the florets were nicely seasoned, adding variety to some of the less gussied-up vegetables in the skillet.

⭐Roasted Potatoes (Land and Sea) | A basic nicely roasted potato. With no seasoning blend to add a standout flavor, the cook on these needed to be just right – and it was.

⭐Roasted Carrots (Land and Sea) | Again, a very basic treatment, but one that fell a bit short. If I’m going to roast carrots, I want them to be at least a little browned and caramelized; these weren’t. It’s not that there was anything wrong with them – I ate them all – just that they could have been even better.

If you can only order one Whispering Canyon skillet …

The Traditional is my pick. It had both the brisket and the citrus-herb chicken, top items in my book. Neither of the unique Pig items (pork belly, piggy wings) were standouts. And unless you are truly looking to eat lighter, the smashed potatoes beat the roast potatoes rear. If you are looking for a lighter option, the Land and Sea actually delivered more high-quality components than every other skillet. Just please, please, don’t eat the plant-based sausage.

Wrapping Up

Whispering Canyon Cafe can be your right meal in the right place at the right time, and there’s no arguing that it can leave you satisfied if you’re very hungry. But the food is a bit up and down. Not everything on your skillet will be great, but some of it will be very nice, so be prepared to be picky and choosy when ordering your refills. The shenanigans may add a fun twist to your meal, but if the dining room isn’t busy when you’re eating – well, audience participation doesn’t land quite the same when the audience is on the small side. I’m sure we’ll eat at Whispering Canyon again. But unless you’re staying at Wilderness Lodge or stopping in on your way back from an activity at Fort Wilderness, I wouldn’t make a special trip for it.

Have you eaten at Whispering Canyon Cafe? Did you get something that wasn’t a skillet? Let us know in the comments!