Review with photos - Jiko

[EvilQueenRocks]

Our family stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge July 10-15. My husband and I were fortunate enough to have my mother sit for our girls so we could enjoy a dinner at Jiko. If you would like to see all of my photos from dinner please look here.





We were seated in the African sunset area where the lighting on the wall changes during your meal to represent an African sunset.

At the beginning...



After being seated, the hostess brought out hot towels with rose essence to freshen up with before you start. I thought this was a nice touch and they smelled lovely!

The server brought out a basket of flax seed and another bread that had cinnamon in it with saffron butter. The butter and the breads had a bit of sweetness and spice to them.



We started our meal with salads.

I had the Field Greens and Vegetable salad with a lemon dressing. Very light and refreshing. It even had edible flowers in it which added spicy notes at times.



My husband had the Cucumber, Toamto and Red Onion salad with watermelon vinaigrette. He enjoyed it. He said he had been worried that the watermelon would be overpowering but it was more of an aroma and didn't over sweeten the dressing.



I chose the Oak Grilled Filet Mignon. It was cooked perfectly medium rare and served with a white macaroni and cheese and red wine sauce. The macaroni and cheese was wonderful, my only complaint was that the red wine sauce wasn't very good with it but the sauce was all over the bottom of the plate. The sauce itself was good and complimented the steak nicely. I could have eaten a lot more of that mac and cheese!



My husband chose the Kenyan Coffee BBQ-Braised Beef Short Rib. He said the coffe flavor was extremely mild if present at all but he was good with that. Extremely tender and flavorful.



For desert I chose the House-Made Meyer Lemon Curd. It was served with pomegranate-blueberry compote, sour cream ice cream and white chocolate biscotti. This was the best tasting lemon flavored anything I have ever had. It had such a freshness to it! And the only other time I have had sour cream ice cream was at Narcoosees and loved it. It has a sweet and tangy flavor.




My husband chose the Pistachio Creme Brulee with chocolate bottom. Two of his favorite things in one bowl...creme brulee and pistachio..the chocolate was just a bonus.


And the sunset at the end of our meal.



As a meal as a whole it was a wonderful experience. Our server was very attentive but nothing out of the ordinary. I can't even remeber his name. But the staff as a whole seemed extremely well trained. I did notice a certain server at the next table who was doing everything he could for a couple with 2 small children. He was wonderful with them! The little boy was just fussy and tired. The mom actually apologized to us for him and we told her not to worry that he wasn't being as bad as she thought he was. We understood, we have a 3 and 7 year old. I was actually surprised by how many children were in there. But what I witnessed of the staff they treated them like adults which I think helps. Our server kept saying "sir" to a boy of about 10 at the next table and he was just eating it up!

Overall, a lovely dinner with good food, good service and good atmosphere. I would definitely eat here again.

[geoffa]

I can only endorse what you said above. Out of any dining experience I have ever had on Disney property this has to be THE best!
The flavours (so intense in the "Taste of Africa"), the wines,the amazing desserts, the atmosphere..........and we had a particularly good server who really knew his wines. Jiko has won many awards - all well deserved. It has one of the largest collection of wines in all of North America.
As Mary Poppins would say: "It's practically perfect in every way!"

[SummerInFL]

Great review EQR. Will have to add this to my list of "must tries".

[mikeland]

How yummy. Thanks for sharing!

[sealsm]

The food looks amazing. I've never been to Jiko, but will have to try it.