Tiffins is a restaurant in Disney’s Animal Kingdom and considered a signature restaurant by Disney World. The restaurant offers mostly Indian and African fare. Tiffins is located near the park entrance on Discovery Island and is right in front of the bridge that leads to Pandora – World of Avatar. Entrée prices go from as low as $30 to as high as $65 and this restaurant does participate in the Disney Dining Plan (as 2 credits) when applicable. Tiffins does offer an Annual Pass and DVC discount as well as participation in Tables in Wonderland. In this post, we’ll review Tiffins atmosphere, cuisine and value!

Most Disney fans have dreamt of becoming an Imagineer at some point. Imagineers are the minds behind designing Disney Parks and are quasi-celebrities in the fan community. So, while daydreaming about how much you’d like to have their jobs you should at least go eat in a restaurant inspired by them, right? Tiffins is that place. The idea behind the restaurant is to showcase some of the Imagineers favorite meals and places that they went while studying areas that inspired Animal Kingdom. For Disney nerds, or those interested in design of the parks in general, Tiffins is very interesting.

Because of the theme of Tiffins, it’s pretty difficult for the restaurants design to be understated. The walls are filled with different artwork, with nearly every space filled. There are two rooms in the restaurant, each having different displays. There are also photos from the imagineers adventures throughout the hallways of the restaurant. I found the whole idea for this restaurant to be incredibly interesting. There was no shortage of things to look at and this helped to make the atmosphere one to remember.

If you don’t identify as a Disney Parks nerd, I still think you’ll enjoy Tiffins atmosphere and decor. Some of the art pieces alone are beautiful and worth taking in even without context of how they inspired the parks. While it’s not subtle, Tiffins is plenty beautiful and the restaurant looks modern.

While great service should be expected at Disney, I felt the service here exceeded our expectations. Every time we’ve been to Tiffins the wait staff has been the best of anywhere else on property we go save Victoria & Albert’s. The waiters we’ve had are all talkative and eager to share what they know about the restaurant, food and park. On top of the service, guests also receive a print of some artwork done by Joe Rohde. Rohde is the visionary behind Animal Kingdom and is one the most famous Imagineer of the current century.

Moving on to the food, we’ve had multiple meals at Tiffins and have tried quite a few of the options. Here’s a look at the menu.

Tiffins starts guests with a delicious bread service consisting of Pomegranate Focaccia Bread with a mix of Pomegranate, Olive Oil and Molasses on the side. The bread is very fresh and it has a sweet & savory quality to it. It’s slightly more adventurous and less of the comfort food that most WDW restaurants offer, but that fits in with Tiffins M.O.

As far as appetizers go, we’ve tried the Charred Octopus.  Our waiter recommended this and said that it was one of Tiffins most popular dishes. The octopus was prepared wonderfully and had a great sear on it. We both thought that it could have used a little stronger marinade but I’m glad we tried it. This dish was on the small side and cost $16, so I don’t think I’d get it every time but it’s certainly fun to try.

As far as entrees go, they have changed quite a bit over the year. One that has remained consistent is the Tamarind-braised Short Rib. Served alongside Parsnip-Potato Purée, Cauliflower, Cipollini Onion, Medjool Date Vinaigrette, the Short Ribs are braised for 72 hours before being served. As you could guess, this makes them delightfully tender and juicy. 

A more recent addition to the menu is the Butter Chicken. This classic Indian dish is served with Chickpea-Rice Croquette, English Peas, Cauliflower, Pickled Onion. Like most items at Tiffins, this is a bit of a twist on a classic dish as it’s not served with rice and the sauce is lighter than a typical Butter Chicken. This lets the meat speak for itself, which works really well here as it’s seasoned perfectly. There’s just a touch of heat behind the dish and sauce is delightful. At $38, this is one of the cheaper entrée options and a good one.

As frightful as the Whole-fried Sustainable Fish might look, it’s equally delicious. Served with Fermented Black Bean Sauce, Thai Green Papaya Slaw, and Peanuts, the fish is juicy and tender. Yes, it does take a good amount of work to eat but the quality is unquestionable. I really loved the sauce and slaw served with the fish. Relative to dishes at other signature restaurants, this coming in at $42 isn’t the worst option as far as value goes.

We’ve tried two of the current desserts at Tiffins and found both to be delightful. The Lion King is made up of Caramel Mousse, Chocolate Brownie, and Strawberry-Mango Sauce. With a playful presentation, the dessert is delicious mostly thanks to the Caramel Mousse in my humble opinion. It’s a delicious option that the whole family will enjoy.

The South American Chocolate Ganache is far more nuanced but a delightful dessert. The Ganache is very rich and decadent, probably too strong for me to eat one all on my own. The Caramelized Bananas and strawberry sauce served with it did help balance out the dish but there was no doubting the quality. Both desserts are a little overpriced at $15 and $13, respectively. I’ve had better throughout WDW but they are strong options.

We were extremely impressed with Tiffins and there were only 2 questions we had when we left the restaurant – When are we going back and is this the best restaurant that’s in an actual theme park? The answer to the first question is soon. The second question is a bit tougher and something I’ve contemplated ever since. There are certainly some fancier restaurants in Epcot that could rival Tiffins but when you factor in the quality of the food, atmosphere and decent value then Tiffins is my pick for best theme park restaurant and best restaurant in Walt Disney World. The value isn’t quite as strong as it used to be at the restaurant but there are still plenty of interesting things to try with prices that aren’t astronomical. I’m hopeful that the restaurant will keep their fairly diverse and different menu over the years and will stay as authentic as it is now.

Overall Rating – 10/10

Have you tried Tiffins? Let us know your thoughts or any questions you have in the comments. Planning a trip to Walt Disney World? Check out our Disney World Trip Planning Guide to help you out. If you enjoy what you are reading here on Wandering in Disney please share this post with your friends, as well as like our social media pages. You can also subscribe to the blog via WordPress or email. All of those links are on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!