An honest review of Animal Kingdom’s Yak & Yeti
I don’t know about you but the concept of having a favorite something is elusive even with a place as popular as the Yak & Yeti Restaurant in Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Ask me to pick a favorite Beatles song and I might point to I am the Walrus one day and Strawberry Fields the next. It could be Let it Be or Hey Jude depending on my mood. Lately, I’ve been partial to Don’t Let Me Down or even I Want You (She’s so Heavy). I’ve been listening to the Beatles for the entirety of my life and I couldn’t make a definitive list of their best songs with a gun to my head.
It’s the same thing with Disney. Favorite ride? Favorite park? Favorite resort pool? Close your eyes and throw a dart and you’re bound to be close.
And it’s the same with favorite restaurant. Can I spend the day extolling the virtue of a ronto wrap or a cheeseburger pod of a cobb salad? Reader, I can do that. Ask me which restaurants I don’t much like and I can even oblige that.
But my favorite restaurant in Disney World? Reader, that’s an impossible task.
Still, I can offer some definitive response. I can be decisive and conclusive when I say the Yak & Yeti is absolutely one of my favorite Disney Dining spots.
IN THIS ARTICLE
What is the Yak & Yeti?
Located in the Asian section of Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park, the Yak and Yeti is an immaculately themed Pan-Asian table service restaurant with a quick service window. The menu combines Asian, Chinese and American flavors with seafood, beef, chicken, pork and veggie options.
It pairs nicely with Expedition Everest and other nearby attractions, feeling even more like one coherent piece than Pandora or the Dinosaur Island (RIP) ever did.
What’s on the menu at the Yak & Yeti?
The Yak & Yeti Menu is vast. It contains multitudes. It is a wonder and perfect for a family that might want to partake in a lot of different flavors.
We start slowly with the apps including pot stickers and egg rolls. The Wok-fried Green Beans are a personal favorite but the Firecracker Shrimp packs a bang as well. Currently the first three apps are $13,29 but the Shrimp will run you $15.49.
The Shareables – meant for two – include Lettuce cups – Wok-fried ground chicken, chopped vegetables, sweet soy glaze, crisp lettuce cups and delicious Korean Fried Chicken. There’s a Kimchi Calamari and nice Crab Rangoon Dip as well. Prices range from $16.99 up to $23.79.
The Yak & Yeti offers a variety of salads as well as noodles and bowls.
The Cantonese Pork Belly Bowl – Char Siu pork belly, stir-fried Yakisoba Noodles with carrots, shiitake mushrooms & scallions, grilled bok choy, crispy pork wontons, fried egg, chili crisp – is really good but the $37.99 price tag may have you seeking out one of the lower price options.
House Specialties include Chicken Tikka Masala, Coconut Shrimp and a roasted veggie bowl. The star, though, is the Bhaktapur Duck – Roasted half duckling, honey Five-Spice glaze, Jasmine rice, stir-fried vegetables – which is not included in the Disney Dining Plan.
Wok options include Korean Beef, Thai Basil Chicken and Sweet & Sour Chicken while you can get a burger, hibachi style steak and shrimp or St. Louis Pork ribs.
I haven’t gone through and counted, but the Yak & Yeti may also offer the widest variety of children’s menu items in the park as well.
What about the Yak and Yeti quick service?
First of all, the Yak & Yeti Local Food Cafes is open for breakfast where the more formal location is not. Though we should note the breakfast menu is pretty basic. There are other, better places to have breakfast in the park.
The lunch and dinner menu specializes in some easier to manage versions of the meals from the table service restaurant but is not nearly as deep. The Korean Fried Chicken Sandwich is a nice lunch options as is an order of chicken fried rice – a side – which makes for a nice, light lunch in the Florida heat that leaves you room for a heavier meal later in the day.
Is the Yak & Yeti worth it?
Absolutely. You are paying Disney Dining prices, but I’ve never had a bad meal at the Yak & Yeti, And, as I said before, it is one of my favorite places to eat on park. The variety is appreciated and the theming is great. If the goal of Disney dining is to get a great meal and experience something most of us can’t at home. The Yak and Yeti is the place to be.
