A Review of Kona Cafe at Disney’s Polynesian Resort

Offering American fare with a Pan-Asian flair, Kona Café serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily at Disney’s Polynesian Resort near the Magic Kingdom. This café is most popular for its famous breakfast entrée, Tonga Toast. This decadent mouthful includes banana-stuffed French Toast rolled in sugar and served with a strawberry compote. However, while I’ve enjoyed this morning delicacy in the past (and it’s delicious), I recently visited the Café with my family to try their lunch/dinner menu.

From burgers to ramen to sushi rolls and poke bowls, Kona Café’s lunch menu certainly offers a wide variety.

Almost all of these dishes, however, include special touches and flavors that offer a unique twist. For example, sushi samplers are served with crispy chips made with fried nori and wasabi, and the Char Siu Duck Ramen is made with duck broth and features a duck egg.

Since there were five people in my party, we got to sample several dishes from the menu. We tried some of the sushi rolls, the duck ramen, stir-fry and poke bowl dishes. No one was particularly disappointed with their dishes, but some of the food did fail to deliver on the promised taste sensation. Specifically, the Rainbow Poke bowl (with tuna, salmon, and amberjack fish) was a well-prepared dish. However, the poke sauce was less flavorful than we expected. Additionally, the portion size was surprisingly small.

I chose the Char Siu Duck Ramen.

While the broth was delicious, the duck breast was overcooked. Multiple people in my party ordered the sushi. While the California rolls made with lump, as opposed to imitation crab, meat were a nice surprise, the fish didn’t have the vibrant color or fresh taste that I expect from a full service restaurant.

While we were all too full to partake in the dessert menu, we did get to take a look at the offerings. Kona Café offers “Dessert Glasses” for $5 each. Available options include Key Lime Pie, Cheesecake, Banana Trifle, S’more, Tiramisu, and Coconut Tapioca. With the size and price, it’s the perfect way to top off your meal (provided you have the room, of course).

Even though we weren’t completely enthralled with our entrees, we enjoyed our experience at Kona Café. It’s a fun atmosphere in a beautiful setting, and the menu certainly offers variety beyond the normal theme park fare. I give this dining option a 3/5.