Jiko is a table-service restaurant in Animal Kingdom Lodge. The restaurant serves African cuisine and is open for dinner. Jiko falls into Disney World’s signature dining category, costing 2 credits on the Disney Dining Plan while offering 10% off for annual passholders and Disney Visa cardholders. In this post, we’ll review dinner at Jiko including the restaurant’s atmosphere, cuisine and value.

Jiko resides on the bottom floor of Animal Kingdom Lodge – Jambo House, across from Boma, an excellent African-inspired buffet. As a whole, the food at the resort is very good with Boma, Sanaa and The Mara (counter-service) all offering unique settings and delicious food. We think highly of all of those places, but Jiko is the crown jewel of Animal Kingdom Lodge dining. I could take it a step farther, Jiko might be the best restaurant in all of Walt Disney World.

That’s a bold claim for a resort that has many excellent restaurants. Yes, WDW is built around theme parks but the fine dining scene is surprisingly full of options. Michelin stars have been earned by a few restaurants as well as many other plaudits. While these restaurants are expensive and might not be exactly what you’re looking for while traveling with young kids or big groups, we encourage everyone who has the means to try out a signature restaurant or two (or seven) while on a Disney World trip. This helps slow the pace down, not to mention having an excellent meal.

Jiko is one of our favorite restaurants partially because of the atmosphere and theme. I use the words immersive or transportive often on this site, probably too much! Jiko could be described by both words, all while not going over the top and keeping an air of class to the restaurant.

The idea is simple enough – Jiko mimics an African sunset. The walls of the restaurant slowly turn yellow, orange and red throughout the meal, giving off a beautiful light. Behind the open kitchen section of Jiko, tall grass is painted on the wall, abstract enough to look like a cool design but obvious enough to support the theme.

The most obvious bit of theming are the bird light fixtures flying below the darkly painted ceiling. I thought these were pretty charming, as they flew toward the sunsetting wall. To be fair, I do love weird light fixtures and birds are cool too. It’s a match made in heaven for me.

As you can see above, the restaurant also has a giant wall of windows facing out toward a nice water feature. This adds natural light into Jiko but also grounds the restaurant away from being a little over the top in design.

Near the front of the restaurant is a little lounge section that creatively showcases their wine selection along the wall. This spot is almost an entryway into the rest of Jiko but still has a nice view of the restaurant. I don’t know if they keep this area open for walk-up diners or not. I would recommend having a reservation if you want to dine here.

Jiko is my ideal atmosphere for a Walt Disney World restaurant. The restaurant is beautiful in its own right, with gorgeous wood tones mixed in with the red, orange and yellow. Mosaic pillars are throughout to add even more texture. Jiko’s idea is simple enough to be executed extremely well, not crossing the line to gimmicky or cheesy. It’s among my favorite dining rooms that we’ve ever eaten at.

Thankfully, the food lives up to the atmosphere. Here’s a look at the menu. Entree prices really vary, with some options in the low $40 range while others rise above $60. Signature restaurants, including Jiko, are never great values of the Disney Dining Plan, taking 2 credits away. The prices here are in line with most other fine dining at Disney World, if not a little cheaper.

The meal starts with this beautiful bread service – a Dutch offering that Jiko calls Giraffe Bread and is termed Tiger Bread elsewhere. The pattern on the top of the bread is where the name comes from. This was served with a black sea salt butter. It tasted like it came right out of the oven and had a fantastic crust.

This is the Seared Venison Loin consisting of Celeriac Purée, Coriander-roasted Celery Root, Cocoa and Black Garlic-crusted Venison and Cherry Gastrique. The Venison melted in our mouths and was cooked perfectly. We especially liked the crust on the meat, with just enough Cocoa to taste it and balance out the salt and garlic seasoning. The Purée underneath was smooth and buttery, pairing perfectly with the Venison. The portion size was fairly large, at least when it came to how much Venison was offered. At $51, we were really impressed by the entree and would get it again.

The star of the show, and what Jiko is best known for, is the ‘From the Oak Grill’ option. I chose the Braai New York Strip as my steak (the other option is a Bone Marrow-crusted Filet Mignon). The meat is paired with a Four Cheese Macaroni, Seasonal Vegetable and Chocolate-Red Wine Demi-glace. The New York Strip was again a perfect medium-rare, full of flavor. The Demi-glace added a touch of sweetness and the Oak Grill gave it a little smokiness. It’s among the best steaks I’ve had in Walt Disney World.

The Four Cheese Macaroni that accompanies the steak was delightfully creamy and delicious. It’s definitely a notch above most Mac & Cheeses out there, very rich and topped with bacon crumbles. There were also veggies on the plate, and I promise that I ate them, but they made less of an impression. This is a heavy option and I don’t think anyone’s coming away hungry after ordering this. At $62, this is the most expensive entree and certainly the way to go if you’re on the Disney Dining Plan.

My favorite dessert we tried was the Malva Pudding. The plating is incredible! This consists of Amarula-infused Malva Cake, Caramel-Sea Salt Gelato, Kataifi, Kanu Tuile and Cabernet Gelée. The Malva Cake had a similar texture to a bread pudding, gooey and warm. The Kataifa (which look like noodles) added a great crunch to the dish and the gelato tied it all together really nicely. The Malva Pudding is extraordinarily creative and delicious. The dessert is $14.

This is the Potjie Pie consisting of Chocolate Custard, Lemon-Olive Oil Cake, Whipped Caramel, Cocoa Nib Crunch and Cherries. The flavors here were more complex than the Malva Pudding. We really enjoyed this dessert, with the Lemon-Olive Oil Cake being a perfect base for the sweeter toppings and fillings. Again, the plating was a standout. This dessert was $16 and was another standout dish.

Frankly, everything we tried was a standout dish. The meal was exceptional, as was the service. Obviously, the prices are high but we thought that Jiko lived up to its reputation and then some. This was the best meal we’ve had at Walt Disney World in a long time, and possibly ever. There are other dishes throughout the resort that we’ve liked more but the experience at Jiko was so well rounded and thought out that we were blown away. At least for now, Jiko is our favorite restaurant in all of Walt Disney World!

Overall Rating – 10/10

Have you eaten at Jiko? Let us know your thoughts or any questions you might have in the comments below. Planning a trip to Walt Disney World? Check out our Disney World Trip Planning Guide to help you out. Looking for discount tickets? Check out this site! 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!