Hello friends and welcome to another week of Muting and The Mouse! I hope you enjoyed our Fab Five roller coasters in last week’s post. Disney offers so much more than just the thrill of loops, dips, and dives you experience on the rides. The one thing you cannot escape is food while walking around the resort. This week we are going to introduce a new category of posts, that will be restaurant reviews. Disney has so many options for food as we mentioned in previous posts. Whether you are looking for food on the run, a sit down character dinner, or an elegant night out, Disney has you covered. The variety of foods are endless. They have food options for everyone, even those picky eaters. You can find yourself at a dinner leaving full but walk past the churro stand and the next thing you know, you have a churro you are dipping in chocolate sauce and you are not sure how that happened. Each park has a plethora of sit down, quick service, carts, and stands for all of your food needs. The restaurants have great themes and can really make the experience of dining special. Disney dining does not end there, you have so many options at the resorts as well. This week, we will be heading over to Disney Springs for our first Disney restaurant review. Disney Springs has a ton of very unique and one of a kind restaurants. For our first restaurant we will be heading to Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’.
Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ is located in The Landing section of Disney Springs. As you walk past Planet Hollywood into The Landing, it will be on your right hand side of the walkway. The dining is described by Disney as a restaurant where you can “Enjoy the welcoming vibe at this down-home kitchen and shine bar! From starters to main plates, the eatery’s cuisine is inspired by Florida agriculture and the recipes of Chef Art’s family table.” The food is some good comforting home cooking. This restaurant is open for brunch, lunch, and dinner and you will need a reservation to enjoy this dining experience. The easiest way to get the reservation for the restaurant is through the My Disney Experience App. I have eaten here twice and each time has been extremely good. The only thing is, on a hot Orlando day, be prepared to be stuffed and walking through a hot humid park. I know, that does not make it seem like an attractive place to eat, but trust me, it is well worth it and not as bad as you think. The food is delicious and well worth the trip, which had me going back a second time. We had it for lunch the first time and then dinner the second time. I really recommend eating there later in the day, but either way it was very enjoyable. Without further ado, let’s get into the restaurant.
As you enter Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ you instantly enter a down to earth, farmhouse atmosphere. The wood and the metal throughout the restaurant really have you feeling like you are about to eat a farm fresh, home cooked, and comforting meal. I really like this kind of atmosphere as it takes you to a simple family fun meal.
Now to the first part of the meal, drinks. If you are 21 and older there are so many options to choose from. If you are not 21, they carry all the classic pop and lemonade options you can normally get at restaurants. They also have a great iced and sweet tea, so I highly recommend that. I mean who does not like some sweet tea while sitting down for a nice farm to table meal. We tried two drinks while dining. I had the Orange Crush American Wheat beer and Abby had the Sweet Tea Shine.
The Orange Crush Wheat beer did not disappoint. It was a very good beer that had an orange taste right off the bat and a nice honey flavor that breaks through the wheat flavor of the beer. I would get it again and highly recommend it if you like wheat beers.
The Sweet Tea Shine was a nice refreshing drink. It consisted of sweet tea, lemonade, and moonshine. The ultimate summer drink if you ask me. The combination is one that is smooth and refreshing, you almost forget there is booze in it. A nice drink to enjoy with your meal.
Moving on to the appetizer, the appetizer we ordered was the The Jasper Board. We after the fact then ordered The Punch of Puppies as well. The board was filled with smoked fish dip, pimento cheese, shaved country ham, bread and butter pickles, candied pecans, and buttermilk crackers. This was a nice way to get into their version of the charcuterie board. The dips were good and it had a nice variety of foods to try. My favorite on the board was the pimento cheese and the candied pecans. It was a nice appetizer for a group and it has things everyone will enjoy. The hush puppies were very good as well and came with the delicious pimento cheese spread and a very sweet and spicy red jalapeno jelly. They added a nice sweet heat and cheesy goodness to the hush puppies. I would order both appetizers again.
As we moved onto the entrees we each ordered something different and tried each other’s choices. We decided to order some of the classics that are highly recommended and we soon found out why.
I ordered the Chopped Pork Barbecue Plate and that came with the mac and cheese, southern slaw, and the cheddar drop biscuit. This was a huge portion and everything tasted amazing. The pork was tender and the sauces added a nice flavor to elevate the dish. The mac and cheese was super cheesy and creamy with the nice bubbled cheese on top. The dish could have ended there but the slaw and the biscuit added even more and each component was delicious.
Abby ordered the Art’s Famous Fried Chicken. This is a dish that Oprah had served at her events and is a crowd favorite. The chicken is some of the best fried chicken I have ever eaten. It was super juicy and not at all dried out. The breading was crisp and had a nice homestyle flavor. It was accompanied by mashed potatoes that were very delicate and delicious, which was Abby’s favorite. Then it also had that nice cheddar drop biscuit. This dish I think was one that lived up to the hype and really stood out as one of the better meals to eat at Disney.
From there we had to try some dessert. The desserts were also very difficult to pick, so we chose two. We decided to get the Hummingbird Cake and the Hamilton County Chocolate Pecan Pie. First up, is the Hummingbird Cake. This is a pineapple-banana cake with cream cheese frosting with a scoop of ice cream and a fruit gastrique. The cake was super moist and the cream cheese frosting went very well. In my opinion it did not need the ice cream but it was a nice way to break up the rich flavor of the cake.
Next, is the pecan pie. This was one that I was very excited for. It was a very delicious pecan pie with an added bonus. It had chocolate and chocolate chips throughout! This was a really nice addition to the classic pecan pie and made it my favorite of the two desserts. The buttery crust and pecans went nicely with the decadent chocolate and each bite was heavenly. The vanilla bean ice cream added a nice cool, creamy touch to each bite and I highly recommend eating the two together on each bite!
That does it for our trip to Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’. Needless to say, we were pretty full and had some walking around to do to burn off some energy. The food was amazing, the drinks were good, the atmosphere and the servers were outstanding. All of that adds to the perfect experience. The restaurant is well worth the wait and let me tell you, reservations seemed to fill up quickly! If you have the chance, definitely check it out and dine with the famous, award-winning, celebrity chef! Be sure to let us know if you have been to Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ and what you enjoyed. I know we will be going back and trying more of the delicious food they offer! Until next time Disney fans, continue to enter into the magic, no matter how far!
Muting & The Mouse 