La Hacienda de San Angel is a table-service restaurant in Epcot’s Mexico Pavilion.  It is on the dining plan (as one table-service credit).  The restaurant is located right along the World showcase Lagoon on the opposite side of the road from Mexico’s pyramid.  There are two table-service restaurants in the Mexico Pavilion, San Angel Inn being the other one.

La Hacienda has one of the best dining locations in all of World Showcase.  Because of the seating right along side the lagoon, this is a pretty good spot to watch Illuminations.  There are large windows that let guests overlook the water as they dine here.  On my last trip to the World we dined at this location, here’s my review from that experience.

My family and I had spent most of the day in Epcot with the latter half of it in World Showcase. We headed to La Hacienda as the sun was setting.  It was a beautiful night, with an orange Florida sky.

We were checked in and seated within a few minutes.  The restaurant was crowded with the Illuminations rush.  I requested a seat close to the window and we were accommodated fairly well.  Apparently my photography skills were really off (or they never existed) that night because my pictures of the lagoon from inside the restaurant were shaky and not very well done.  Here is the best one (or the least offensive to photographers).

As you can see, the restaurant gives a good view of the other side of World Showcase, as well.  The Swan and Dolphin also pop up in the distance past the International Gateway.

The architecture of La Hacienda has an understated Mexican theme to it.  The lighting is the most ‘stand-out’ feature.  The lights are all different shapes with several colors coming out of them.  The building has an old-fashioned style to it.  La Hacienda definitely takes advantage of being right by the water, making that the restaurants focal point.  There is no denying this restaurants beauty.  One negative about the design is that the tables are very close to each other.  There isn’t much room if guests are trying to enjoy a private night out.  It was also fairly loud when we ordered.

A restaurant can be as beautiful as possible, but it’s nothing without the food.  With that in mind, we got to ordering.  La Hacienda, and the Mexico Pavilion in general, are known for their drinks.  La Cava del Tequila is especially known for a nice margarita.  With that in mind, I ordered a Mango Blueberry Basil Margarita.  I’m definitely not a margarita expert, but this is my favorite one that I’ve ever tried.  It had a ton of flavor to it and the basil made it feel especially refreshing.  Some may want their margarita a little stronger, but I thought the flavor more than made up for it.  My sister had the classic margarita and that was definitely stronger.

As far as food, La Hacienda had several different options.  They have standard entrees that you could order for one or two different platters that two guests could share.  We decided to share the two different platters between the four of us.

The first platter was called Parrillada “La Hacienda”.  This had New York strip steak, chicken al pastor, and chorizo, as well as vegetables and tortillas.  The steak and chicken were both tender but not as flavorful as I’d like.  They also didn’t feel very authentic to me.  Now, of course, most foreign cuisine is Americanized at Disney (and most other places) but this seemed a little too safe for my taste.  The chorizo was in little links.  They had good spice and were my favorite part of the platter.  To be fair, I enjoy chorizo more than the normal human.

The other platter was called Parrillada Del Mar and consisted of seafood.  Grilled shrimp, fish and scallops were included with this platter, as well as vegetables.  The fish was my favorite part of it, as it was very flavorful and heavily seasoned.  The shrimp and scallops were a little more disappointing.  They were a little rubbery and didn’t have nearly as much flavor as the fish.  Another negative I had with it was that everything was seasoned similarly, so all the tastes ran together.

As a whole, the entrees were good but nothing special.  Both entrees came with rice and beans.  Still, there was more food to come as dessert was on the way.  I ordered the Empanada de Manzana which is a puff pastry filled with caramel apples.  It also had dulce de leche ice cream served with it.  The dessert was delicious and the best part of the meal.  There was a variety of flavors within the dish and even though it was pretty sweet, I had to finish it all.  I mean, it had apples so it was healthy, right?

As we ate dessert, Illuminations began outside the window.  While the view wasn’t perfect, we could still see a little bit of the show.  It was a bit of a metaphor for the meal; a great view, atmosphere and location, but we missed out on a wonderful experience because the food was a little bit off the mark.

One question that I see online quite a bit is whether to go San Angel Inn or La Hacienda de San Angel for Mexican food at Epcot.  I would choose San Angel Inn because I think the food is a little more unique and the experience and atmosphere is just as good as La Hacienda (both are incredible).  The only way I’d recommend La Hacienda over San Angel Inn is if you are a little apprehensive on trying more authentic Mexican food, which I think is fairly common.

Restaurant Rating – 7/10

Have you tried La Hacienda?  Tell us about your experience in the comments!

– Andrew