Yak & Yeti Restaurant Review
Yak and Yeti Restaurant is a table service dining spot in Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World serving Pan-Asian cuisine. This review covers the lunch and dinner menu, food photos, a tour of the highly-themed interior, and our thoughts on whether you should eat here during your vacation.
Here’s some standard background info about Yak & Yeti: it participates in the Disney Dining Plan as a one credit table service meal, but does not accept the Tables in Wonderland card for a 20% discount. Yak & Yeti does, however, offer a 10% Annual Passholder discount. If you’re on the Disney Dining Plan, it is a moderate pick in terms of value if you’re looking to maximize your bang for buck on the Dining Plan. It also participates in Landry’s Select Club. If you don’t know what that is, good for you.
When is “I didn’t hate it” praise rather than a thinly-veiled insult? Well, here it is praise. I fully expected to dislike Yak & Yeti, or at least expect it to not live up to my low expectations for it. This is because Yak & Yeti is part of the dreaded Landry’s restaurant group. Not that every restaurant in the Landry’s portfolio is awful (far from it), but it seems Landry’s has a habit of buying out successful independent restaurants, and…to keep this succinct…let’s just describe it as reducing their quality. Suffice to say, I’m not a fan of Landry’s…
“That restaurant got a lot better after Landry’s took over” is one of those ‘said no one ever’ type of quotes. Some Landry’s restaurants, like Rainforest Cafe, succeed with their interesting premise, but often fail when it comes to cuisine. Other Landry’s restaurants are former fine dining locales that still offer good food, but have dumbed down their menus to offer something less sophisticated or of lower quality than it was previously.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with Yak & Yeti, but I wasn’t expecting much. My expectations were exceeded as soon as a I walked inside to find an incredibly detailed restaurant…
The restaurant is a bit eclectic in terms of design, and is filled with gorgeous artifacts and ornate fixtures. It’s one of the most stunning and visually engaging restaurants in all of Walt Disney World.
In keeping true to Animal Kingdom, there’s an unnecessarily elaborate backstory to explain all of this.
The exact backstory is found on the back of the menu, but essentially it can be boiled down to the restaurant actually being a boutique hotel that the once-wealthy proprietor opened as a stop for the rich on their way up the Himalayans.
Finds from his travels are displayed throughout the hotel, which is also his residence, which is also a restaurant.
The restaurant is stunning, and this is the type of hodgepodge restaurant you might actually stumble into in a quaint area of Asia (albeit without quite this nice of stuff), so the backstory isn’t really necessary.
In fairness, it’s not like this backstory is ridiculous like the ones over in Dinorama, it’s just slightly excessive. Nevertheless, it’s beautiful and works really well.
There are two levels to the restaurant with multiple areas on each story, each of which has its own richness and unique character. I was really impressed with the quality of everything.
From the craftsmanship of the figures to the texture of just about everything, this restaurant is a treasure trove of detail. Just look at the right side of the photo above!
We were seated on the second level of the restaurant, which featured a number of little rooms to explore, each with their own styles and bric-a-brac.
I’d recommend wandering around a bit after you order, or perhaps before leaving. As with the rest of Animal Kingdom, Yak & Yeti is just begging to be explored.
Despite so many of the details being ornate and lavish, they whole thing comes together in a way that feels quaint and intimate. It doesn’t feel over the top or self-indulgent, it feels like a nice little mom and pop establishment.
Make no mistake about it, Yak & Yeti is one of the best themed restaurants at Walt Disney World. The details are great and the ambiance is perfect. Even before we get to the food, this is a restaurant I would recommend based solely on the atmosphere.
In terms of cuisine, Yak & Yeti really impressed.
I found it to have taken more cues from the higher end Landry’s restaurants than it does from a “restaurant” like Rainforest Cafe.
We started out with the Pork Pot Stickers. This wasn’t my choice, and I’d honestly never order pot stickers at a table service restaurant.
I like pot stickers, but I think there’s very little deviation in their quality no matter where you go. (Perhaps I’ve been having them at the wrong places?) In any case, these pot stickers were a good, safe choice–exactly what I expected of pot stickers–but nothing that I’d go out of my way to order.
We also got the Seared Ahi Tuna. This appetizer was excellent, with the tuna being perfectly seared, fresh, and flavorful.
It was served chilled, and sesame-crusted with wasabi aioli and sweet chili slaw. The garnishing and accompaniments went with the tuna really well, so it wasn’t just an ordinary plate of seared tuna.
For her main course, Sarah ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala. It may be difficult to tell from the photo, but the portion on this was huge. It was served with rice and naan, and it was quite possibly enough for two people to eat. The tikka masala sauce was rich and creamy, with a slight kick to it.
The naan was also really good and perfect for dipping in the tikka masala. I don’t know if there’s such a thing as Asian comfort food, but if so, this is pretty much it. Sarah could only finish half of this dish (it was a bit too creamy for her), so I generously offered to eat the rest. It was my favorite part of the meal.
I ordered the Malayasian Seafood Curry. Again, another large dish, and it was basically the ‘kitchen sink’ of seafood. It contained Mahi Mahi, scallops, little neck clams, mussels, shrimp, zucchini, roma tomatoes, red curry coconut broth, and jasmine rice, almost all of which was delicious. Normally, I think restaurants use dishes like this to dispose of their ‘lesser’ seafood, and while no individual piece of seafood was a particular standout, collectively, the dish was great.
Again, it was a dish with a slight kick, but nothing all that intense. The broth brought the dish together and gave it an interesting (good interesting) flavor. This curry was a close second to the Chicken Tikka Masala. I could see 3 people ordering these 2 dishes and and appetizer or 2, splitting it all, and having a great meal.
A friend who joined us ordered the Kobe Beef Burger. I about cringed when he ordered a burger at an Asian restaurant, but after tasting this, I really couldn’t blame him.
If you’ve got a really picky eater in your group, this is basically the safety net option. A sizable burger that was a great cut of meat, topped with some shiitake mushrooms. At nearly $20, this was a pricey burger, but considering that it was Kobe beef, it wasn’t too excessive. Easily one of the best (if not the best) burgers at Walt Disney World.
We were all stuffed by the time dessert rolled around, but our waitress highly recommended the Fried Wontons, so we got an order to split.
This is one of those desserts that looks interesting on paper, but often amounts to too much of a good thing. With pineapple, cream cheese wontons, vanilla ice cream, and honey vanilla drizzle this seemed like it could just end up being a mess. It absolutely was…one delicious, delicious decadent mess!
Overall, I was very surprised by Yak & Yeti. The presentation on every dish is great, but this isn’t exactly a fine dining restaurant about nuance or subtle flavors. It’s a go in hungry, go home happy type of place with large portions and rich flavors. That is absolutely in no way a knock at Yak & Yeti. I loved just about everything about the meal, and I was fully expecting disappointment.
I would call Yak & Yeti Restaurant a hidden gem, if it’s possible for at restaurant to hide in plain sight in one of the world’s most popular theme parks. At the very least, it’s underrated and under-hyped. As noted above, we’d recommend dining at Yak & Yeti on the basis of the themed design and decor alone. Yak & Yeti is truly a gem in more than one sense of the term!
Planning other aspects of a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Have you dined at Yak and Yeti Restaurant? Did you find it bad, meh, or great? What did you order? What about the ambiance? Do you agree or disagree with our review? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
My husband and I dined at yak and yeti last week. As a former CM I am always wary of park restaurants. Usually they are pumping out mediocre food and turning tables at lightening speed. How pleasantly surprised I was to find that at yak and yeti they were doing no such thing. The ambiance of the restaurant was indeed very cool. Everywhere you looked all sorts of interesting treasures seemingly brought back from adventures. It reminded me of the old adventurers club at pleasure island (rip). Our seater was fabulous. We chatted at length and he warned us of portion sizes. I was very grateful for that. In 100 degree heat leftovers do not survive. Due to his recommendations we only ordered two appetizers. We had the ahi tuna nachos and the egg rolls. The nachos were truly amazing. I will be dreaming about those fortnightly. They had wonton chips, sauces and ahi tuna. The tuna was soft and buttery. The chips were crunchy and not greasy. And the sauces and julienned veggies on top were sublime. The egg rolls were packed well and full of flavor. Our server was very nice, attentive but not intrusive. We also both enjoyed a beverage. My husband had a beer, some craft beer on tap, which he said he enjoyed. I had a canned cocktail from Japan called JPOP it was lychee flavored. This was amazingly delicious. It remined me of chu-hi, another canned cocktail from Japan.
All in all I give Yak and Yeti a 10/10. Honestly, I cannot wait to go back. This restaurant has made DAK a must do for us from now on. I have never been this impressed with an in park restaurant. Even though it’s run by landrys (iykyk) they are doing it right.
I would love to see more posts like this in the future. Very informative and engaging. I will come back soon to read out more content on your site.
This was probably the second best meal we had a Disney this last trip. The server was fantastic. Accommodated one of my kids food allergies (which Disney is not doing as well as they used to in my experience) and gave the prefect amount of attention without intrusion. Bonus was my wife’s meal was awesome (some kind of seafood noodle meal and was a large portion) and I had the Kobe burger which was great! The kids meals were typical but they enjoyed them. Very pleased with yak and yeti for lunch.
I agree. We had an outstanding server. Very helpful, not intrusive. My Korean beef with jasmine rice was excellent. Lovely place that I’d definitely return to.
Ate here JUly 2018. I ordered seafood curry, my husband ordered chicken tikka masala. His entree was quite good. Mine was full of shell bits and grit. Service was fair. Dim sum appetizer was bland. Skipped dessert. Not too impressed
My inexperience with Yak and Yeti led me to allow my party on my last trip to eat two meals here in one day, lunch and dinner. I highly recommend people do NOT do this.
The portion sizes were immense and the food was decent and forgettable, but certainly not terrible. The service was okay. Nothing about this place said “I have to come back here”, though.
My husband and I along with 2 others ate at Yak and Yeti for dinner 4/28/17. We had a reservation and were seated on time. The hostess was not pleasant. She didn’t smile, rolled her eyes at a customer, acted as though she could care less. Ordered pot stickers and spring roll that were delicious. We waited about 45 mins for our dinner. Had sweet and sour chicken, Rice was cold and dry, asked for a new, hot order which server did not bring back for several minutes. That also came back cold and dry and chicken was then cold! Not sure if we will return to this restaurant. Very disappointed!
We also ate there on our last trip, it was just plain old bad. You’re not alone. We waited even with an ADR (which was fine but irritating since the restaurant was empty, we were there in September 2016). The food was average at best, I also got the tikka masala which was okay but nothing special, rice was cold. The sweet and sour chicken was disgusting and cold and congealed. The ribs they have there were actually quite good – highlight of the whole dinner. We ate the fried doughnut-esqe dessert at the recommendation of our waiter, it was ok. All and all, with so many better options (i.e. Sanaa or Boma or Jiko at AKL and Morimoto and the Chinese/Japanese pavillions in Epcot) we definitely won’t be back on our next trip.
Tom- If you had to choose two out of three of the following for lunch and dinner, which would you choose? Boma, Tusker House and Yak and Yeti. We have eaten at Boma and Tusker and are heading out for a trip next week and trying to decide on places to eat while visiting AK.
I ate there reventar i can vertido for anymore warning to know the Ribas were so diddilly scrumptious. The Server was very good with me and i totally enjoyed my sentirse meal there
My girlfriend and I had lunch at Yak and Yeti yesterday, and overall it really is as good as advertised. The design is beautiful, service is efficient despite the large crowds, and we only had to wait about 30 minutes to get in despite eating during peak lunch hours with no ADR. I was expecting far worse.
Our appetizer, the Dim Sum Basket for Two, was a bit of a mixed bag. It contained steamed pot stickers, pork siu mai, shrimp siu mai, and pork buns. None of it was bad, but other than the buns I don’t know that I’d order the basket again. My girlfriend’s Honey Chicken was tasty with a nice crunch, but was clearly on the menu as a safe choice for less adventurous eaters.
But that curry…holy s***. The portion on the curry is huge, and I’m a pretty big eater. It’s creamy, bursting with flavor, and doesn’t skimp on any of the seafood. While we haven’t had a chance to eat at any of the Disney resorts, we’ve had several nice meals inside the parks, and I can safely say that the curry blows all of it away. If you like seafood and/or curry, order it without hesitation and enjoy.