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Topolino’s Terrace Has a Terrific View and Great Food Too

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Know Before You Go

Topolino’s Terrace is located on the 10th floor of Disney’s Riviera Resort. Appetizers range from $9-18, entrees from $32 to $54, and desserts are mostly $14. A full three-course meal will run you about $75-85, not including drinks or gratuities.

The eponymous Terrace is a lovely space outside the restaurant with a view that spans two of the four theme parks. If you’re dining with small kids some time on the terrace is an easy diversion to prevent table-fidgets while waiting for food to arrive.

Reservations are accepted, and usually need to be made at the opening of your 60-day reservation window. Although the atmosphere is fine dining the dress code is Disney casual; feel free to appear in whatever you’ve got on from your day in the parks.

Preludes

Bread Service

Bread service

The bread service was a toasty baguette with butter and a vintage olive oil. The bread was crusty with just the right amount of chew – not too soft. Even if you don’t normally dip bread in oil, put at least a bite of yours into this one. It does sound strange to say that you can taste the “green” of growing things in an oil, but that’s exactly was this one was: green with an olive-y, slightly woody undertone.

Mocktails

Strawberry-Cucumber Spritzer – $5.49
Strawberry, Cucumber, Lime, Agave and Soda Water

Pêche Repose – $5.49
Peach, Mint, Lemon, Soda Water

Garden Mint Soda – $13.00
SeedLip Garden 108 Herbal Distilled Non-Alcoholic Spirit, Lime, Agave, Mint

Topolino's Mocktails
Left: Peche Repose, Middle: Garden-mint Soda, Right: Strawberry-cucumber Spritzer

This trio of zero-proof cocktails were all fruit-forward and sweet enough to be well-received by adults and kids alike. The strawberry was the strongest and sweetest by a good bit. Both the mint and peach flavors were prominent in the Peche Repose; it had the same “summer refresher” feel to it that a good glass of ice-cold lemonade does. The mint was also featured in the Garden Mint soda – not a surprise given the name – and this was the one that felt most sophisticated, if only because it was difficult to really put a finger on what the herbal spirit tasted like (other than that it was yummy).

Appetizers

Antipasti

Ricotta – $14.00
Tomato, Aged Balsamic, Cracked Pepper, Basil, Epi

Gnocchi – $16.00
Duck Confit, Pesto Bianco, Garden Kale, Pine Nuts

Slow-roasted Octopus – $18.00
Soffritto, Crispy Panisse, Saffron Aioli, Roasted Garlic and Nepitella Mint

The ricotta was firm, with a slightly larger curd than you would find in a mass-produced grocery store container. The tomato was reduced to a jammy consistency with a tangy flavor similar to sun-dried tomatoes. The cheese and tomato paired well either together on the fork or smeared onto the bread.

I do not often like gnocchi, but I could eat this every day. The pasta was soft all the way through without the chewiness that often turns me off of gnocchi, and it really was the right choice for a sauce so rich and creamy that it would have been overwhelming if there was too much of it in a single bite. We ordered two of these for a group of five because we weren’t sure how big they would be and we finished both of them with no regrets.

Any lover of octopus knows that it is easy to make it chewy, but this dish was the beginning of our evening’s theme of perfectly cooked seafood. The octopus was tender with a flavor that had been concentrated by the choice of slow-roasting. The saffron aioli added another deep note to create a complex, layered flavor in the bite.

Starters

Organic Beet Salad – $16.00
Fennel, Burrata, Pickled Beets, Beet Purée, Chives

Hamachi Crudo – $16.00
Strawberry-hibiscus broth, kohlrabi, rhubarb, nasturtium leaves

Asparagus Soup – $14.00
Quail Egg, Carrot Tuile, Parmesan, Prosciutto Dust

If you were raised on borscht and have been cheering the recent renaissance of the beet, this is your dish. The pickle was not so strong that the beets couldn’t stand alone, but they were much better when taken in a single bite with the burrata so that the vinegar could be tamed by the creamy cheese.

The stunning color of the broth in the crudo didn’t make it through in the picture, but it was gorgeous. It tasted good too; the strawberry clearly present but balanced with other flavors to make a slightly astringent sauce that was as bright on your tongue as it was on the plate.

The best vegetable cream soups taste like the essence of the vegetable has been distilled into the soup. This was that, and the few bites that had the quail egg yolk in them simply punched the flavor up to 11.

Entrees

Hand-crafted Pastas

Rigatoni -$32.00
Braised Chicken Sugo, Broccolini, Pancetta, Wild Mushroom, Parmigiano-Reggiano

Topolino's Terrace Rigatoni
Rigatoni

In case you are wondering what chicken sugo is, sugo is just a slow-cooked tomato sauce. With the addition of the braised chicken and the umami from the mushrooms and pancetta, tomato isn’t the forward flavor here. Instead this dish is a cousin to slow Italian braises with rich sauces such as marsala or cacciatore. If that is the section of the menu that always draws you in at an Italian restaurant, then you will absolutely love this dish. And even if that’s not your favorite menu section, there’s a good possibility that you will love this dish: it was delish.

Lobster Linguine – $49.00
English Peas, Sauce Américaine, Pickled Onions, Squid Ink Tuile

Topolino's Terrace Lobster Linguine
Lobster Linguine

We were not expecting an entire lobster tail with this dish; I think we had all been envisioning that the lobster would be in smaller pieces and already combined with the pasta and sauce. This was a good choice though, allowing the diner to decide whether to enjoy the flavors of the lobster and pasta separately or combine them into a single bite. The pasta was al dente, and the rich sauce americaine coated it well. If I had one complaint, I might have wished for a tiny bit more sauce.

Seafood and Meats

Classic Sole Meunière – $50.00
Sea beans, Capers, Asparagus, English Peas, Toy Box Tomatoes, Petite Potatoes

Topolino's Terrace Sole Meuniere
Classic Sole Meuniere

I think this might have been the best of the mains. Sole is a very gently flavored fish, and it can be a challenge to add vegetables and complex flavors without punting the fish to the background. This dish succeeded, with the tomatoes adding a little acid and the capers contributing some umami but without taking over from the sole. Make sure to take at least a couple of bites of the fish with the amazing browned butter before “opening up” the dish and allowing the juices from the vegetables to meld with the sauce.

Sea Scallops – $50.00
Celery Root Risotto, Beurre Noisette, Baby Shiitakes, Truffle Jam

Topolino's Terrace Sea Scallops
Sea Scallops

As with all the seafood we ate, the scallops were perfectly cooked: tender without even a hint of chewiness. But the real star on this plate was the risotto. Not too cheesy, it was a terrific pairing with the scallops and the ring of beurre noisette around the edge.

Filet Mignon – $54.00
Potato pavé, Bordelaise sauce, asparagus, mushrooms, shallot vinaigrette

Topolino's Terrace Filet Mignon
Filet Mignon

This was a perfectly cooked piece of filet, of the quality and presentation that you might find in a high-end chain steakhouse such as Morton’s or the Capital Grille. The potato pave took all its wow-factor from the presentation; it was delicious but ultimately tasted like a really excellent roasted potato. If you have unadventurous eaters in your group, this is a dish that delivers exactly what it promises: simply delicious meat and potatoes.

Sides

Sautéed Shrimp – $14.00

Charred Broccolini – $10.00
Olive Butter, Candied Almonds

Tomato Provençale – $12.00
Piperade, Heirloom Tomato, Parmesan

The shrimp were large and cooked just right, and I think they may have been acidulated with lemon like the best shrimp cocktails are because they had that same bright flavor that really pops in your mouth. The sauce was light and refreshing with just a bit of tang, good enough to sop up with the bread service if you have any left over.

The broccolini were delicious, with the deep, unctuous flavor of a great sauteed vegetable and a noticeable char for contrast. Wilted but still just a bit crunchy – yum.

The tomato was our least favorite of the sides we tried, but it was still good. The tomato was soft and juicy, the piperade added sweetness to balance the acid from the tomato, and the breadcrumb topping helped marry it together.

Desserts

Vanilla and Citrus Crème Brûlée – $14.00
Morello Cherry Compote, Strawberry Foam, Sugared Beignets, Chocolate Meringues, 50th Anniversary Chocolate Stamp

Warm Chocolate Cake – $14.00
Caramel Center, Chantilly and Raspberries

Fruits of the Forest – $14.00
Black Currant Mousse, Blueberry Sorbet, Marinated Berries and Hibiscus Cake (Plant-based)

The creme brulee was on the firmer side, with the citrus clearly present. The beignets were nothing special but they were fine, and the cherry compote was intense and would have run over the light flavor of the creme brulee if there were more of it – but as it was it was perfect.

The salted caramel filling here in the chocolate cake was quite sweet, and as with the compote on the creme brulee if there had been more of it then it might have taken over the dish. Instead, it provided a nice balance for the deep chocolate flavor of the cake. The combination was excellent, but if you’re not in the mood for something sweet you would do well to make a different choice for dessert.

Each component of the Fruits of the Forest had a strong, fruity flavor and none of them were overly sweet. This was the lightest of the three desserts, a good pick if you’re feeling full by the time you’re choosing your last course.

Cheese Board – $18.00
International Selections, Honeycomb, Figs, Mushroom Conserva, Marcona Almonds

Topolino's Terrace Cheese Board
Cheese Board

With the exception of the bleu, all the cheeses here were relatively mild selections that were a nice finish to a full meal.

Wrapping Up

We tried over half the menu and there wasn’t a bad dish in the bunch. The flavors are inspired by the cuisines of Southern France and Italy, and will be familiar to many diners. But there’s no question that this is fine dining, with carefully layered flavors and textures on each plate.

Topolino’s Terrace is currently ranked #4 out of 97 restaurants based on survey data from TouringPlans users, with 95% of diners giving their experience a thumbs up. Although the meal comes with a hefty price tag, it’s not hard to see where these ratings are coming from since everything we ate was uniformly excellent.

Have you eaten at Topolino’s Terrace? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!

 

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Jennifer Heymont

Jennifer has a background in math and biology, so she ended up in Data Science where she gets to do both. She lives just north of Boston with her husband, kids, and assorted animal members of the family. Although it took three visits for the Disney bug to "take", she now really wishes she lived a lot closer to the Parks.

4 thoughts on “Topolino’s Terrace Has a Terrific View and Great Food Too

  • We had a lovely meal there in June this year – I was really lucky getting a reservation as I found it was really hard to get one. The food was fantastic and we watched the fireworks from Epcot from the terrace which was really nice. However, my husband was very disappointed that as an Italian restaurant they didn’t have any chianti.

    Reply
    • Hi Ruth – I agree, I have sometimes seen reservations available only a week out, but if you really want to eat here it’s best to be safe. We’re not big drinkers so we didn’t notice the lack of chianti, but that *is* interesting.

      Reply
  • Jennifer, nice review! Thank you for prominently nothing the cost of each dish and also the range of prices at the beginning. I really appreciate it.

    Reply
    • Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. 🙂

      Reply

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