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Our family loves visiting Walt Disney World. The Magic Kingdom is one of our favorite theme parks, not just in Orlando but anywhere. So we’re always looking for great dining options convenient to the Magic Kingdom.
One such restaurant is the Contempo Cafe!
During our last Disney World vacation, we had dinner at Contempo Café. And on another recent Disney trip, we enjoyed lunch there as well.
Since the menu is the same for lunch and dinner, this allowed us to try out some of the different options. In this dining review, we share some of our experiences from both our lunch and our dinner. You’ll find out what other places are nearby and why the location is so convenient. We also go over how the ordering process worked for us (which included but was not limited to mobile ordering). And, of course, you’ll find out what we thought of the food!
Contempo Cafe Location
The Contempo Café is located in the Grand Canyon Concourse of Disney’s Contemporary Resort. This is the main hall of the Contemporary Resort. Chef Mickey’s, a restaurant with character dining, is located behind Contempo Cafe.
Because it’s located in the main building of the Contemporary Resort, Contempo Cafe is extremely convenient to guests staying at the Contemporary. But it’s also convenient to a number of other places.
Magic Kingdom
The first stop of the resort monorail, after it leaves the Magic Kingdom, is the Contemporary Resort. You can also walk from the Magic Kingdom to the Contemporary. This makes it very easy to leave the Magic Kingdom for a meal at Contempo Cafe.
Bay Lake Tower
Bay Lake Tower is located at the Contemporary Resort. It’s right next door to the main building and is connected by a covered walkway. So it’s also very easy to get to the Contempo Cafe. (We love staying at Bay Lake Tower; we go into more detail about it here.)
The Other Monorail Resorts
Three Disney hotels are on the monorail resort line. In addition to the Contemporary, you can access the monorail from Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. It’s an easy – and fun! – monorail trip from those hotels to the Contemporary Resort.
The Setting
As mentioned, Contempo Cafe is part of the Grand Canyon Concourse.
This offers a lot of great views during your meal, depending on where you are sitting.
You might be able to see the distinctive 90-foot mural that was designed by Mary Blair (the artist behind the design and color styling of It’s a Small World!).
Or, you can watch the monorails traveling through the Contemporary Resort.
You can also catch a glimpse of some of the characters that appear at Chef Mickey’s.
Ordering Food at Contempo Cafe
We used mobile ordering for the majority of our orders for both our lunch and dinner at Contempo Cafe.
The first time, it took about 20 minutes for it to be ready. We did choose to remove/add some items (like pickles and sauce) – we had the option to do this on the app as we made our order.
Later, when we had dinner at Contempo Cafe, we wanted to know about a substitution that was not available in the mobile app. Someone who is allergic to cow’s milk wanted to order the burger, which comes with cheddar or American cheese (both made with cow’s milk). We noticed another sandwich on the menu included feta cheese (which is made from sheep’s milk, or sometimes also goat’s milk). We asked if we could replace cheddar with feta for one burger and were told that could be done. At this point, the interaction with cast members had been really positive (more about that later).
So, for dinner, we ended up placing most of the order through the mobile app – and then one additional order was made in person. We were given a restaurant pager (or buzzer, or whatever you’d like to call it) that would go off when that order was ready.
Otherwise, we were notified via the app that our order was ready.
Contemporary Quick Service Food Review
So we’ve gone over how to get to Contempo Cafe and how you can order your food.
But I’m sure you really want to know what the meals were like, right?
Spicy Chicken Sandwich
The Spicy Chicken Sandwich consists of a grilled chicken breast on a brioche bun. It also comes with house-made chipotle rémoulade, pickles, leaf lettuce, tomato, and feta. When you use mobile ordering, you can choose to hold any of those toppings, as well as hold the bun. The sandwich you see in the picture, for example, does not have chipotle rémoulade or pickles. You can also change the cheese from feta to cheddar or American.
One side is included, with a choice of French fries, vegetable slaw, or house-made chips.
The chicken sandwich was really good. The bun wasn’t the best, but the chicken, feta, and tomato were so good. And the fries were soft and delicious. There was, though, a little too much lettuce included on the sandwich.
Contempo Burger
On this grilled 7 oz Angus burger, you can include bacon, lettuce, and tomato, all on a grilled brioche bun. It also comes with cheddar cheese. If you customize your burger in the app, you can change it to American cheese.
And as we discussed earlier, we made a request in person to change the cheese to feta (due to an allergy to cow’s milk).
You can also choose between fries, slaw, and chips for a side.
This burger was a big hit with our family. While unfortunately the bun was a huge miss (it was too hard), the rest of the burger was delicious and well cooked.
Contempo Caesar Salad with Chicken
In this salad, you’ll find hot grilled chicken, Romaine lettuce, shredded Parmesan, cheesy breadcrumbs, and house-made croutons. It also comes with Caesar dressing on the side.
The croutons were hard, and the breadcrumbs didn’t really add to the salad. But the chicken itself was delicious and freshly cooked. While it wasn’t exactly “hot” as the menu states, it wasn’t cold, either. And the dressing was good, too.
Hot Turkey Sandwich
If you order the Hot Turkey Sandwich, you’ll get roasted turkey on toasted multigrain bread. It also comes with arugula (which we held), tomato, smoked bacon, white cheddar, and cranberry aïoli (which we also held).
The sandwich also comes with the usual choice of sides (fries, slaw, or chips). You can see in the photo that we went with the house-made chips, which were delicious. I really enjoyed the saltiness of them.
The sandwich itself was probably the weakest out of everything we ordered. Now, it wasn’t a bad sandwich. The turkey itself was pretty good. But it was more like a few little things that hurt the overall enjoyment of the sandwich.
For starters, the bacon was just okay. It wasn’t bad, but the flavor wasn’t very strong. And it was chewier than I would have liked (though I know that is a matter of preference).
The bread wasn’t particularly tasty, either. And there was too much tomato, while the cheeses was sadly not very noticeable.
Desserts
There’s a pretty good selection of sweet treats on the dessert menu. Some of the options include:
- 50th Anniversary Peanut Butter-Banana Pie
- Flourless Chocolate Cake
- Monorail Cookies ‘n Cream Cupcake
- Worms in Dirt Cake
- Cinderella Cupcake
- Sugar Cookie
- Chocolate Chip Cookie
We decided to order a 50th Anniversary German Chocolate Cupcake. The chocolate cupcake has a German chocolate filling and is topped with buttercream. There’s also a special Contemporary Resort 50th Anniversary logo made of chocolate, as well as a white chocolate curl.
The cupcake was delicious. The cake part of the cupcake, in particular, had a really delicious taste.
A Negative Experience
I left this part for last, as most of our experiences having lunch and dinner at Contempo Cafe were very enjoyable.
So you know how we talked about the allergy substitution earlier?
Well, while we were waiting for our food to be prepared, someone came out from the kitchen and questioned the replacement of cheddar with feta (even though we had previously been told this was fine). While everyone else had been extremely nice and helpful, this particular woman was downright rude. Everything ultimately worked out – the burger was cooked with feta – but that interaction was rather upsetting.
Conclusion
Aside from the negative part regarding an allergy substitution at dinner, we overall had great experiences at lunch and dinner. The food is good, especially the burger and the grilled chicken sandwich. And the convenient location of the Contempo Cafe inside the Contemporary Resort makes it an excellent option for a lunch or dinner during a Disney World trip.
Other Places to Eat on a Magic Kingdom Trip
Here are some other great places to eat inside the Magic Kingdom:
And if you’d like to have a delicious breakfast, lunch or dinner inside a hotel near the Magic Kingdom (so that you can get there by monorail or boat), consider one of these:
- Captain Cook’s at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Geyser Point Bar and Grill at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Ohana at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Grand Floridian Cafe
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