Deluxe Resorts at Walt Disney World are known for their unforgettable theming, luxurious pools, extra amenities, and many dining options. Our team recently had a stay at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, one of the original Disney World resorts along the monorail line and the closest to the Magic Kingdom. The Contemporary is also known for signature dining like California Grill and classic characters at Chef Mickey’s. Unfortunately, the resort’s quick-service restaurant, Contempo Cafe, has got to be the worst of the Disney Deluxe Resorts and maybe anywhere on property.
The atmosphere of Contempo Café while a little loud, offers iconic views of the monorail sweeping by and is nestled right beside the classic Mary Blair tile mural. Plus you can often spot Mickey and his pals right next door at Chef Mickey’s! The menu is pretty standard featuring sandwiches, burgers, and flatbreads but does feature seasonal dessert items that are picture perfect! Unfortunately, that’s where a lot of the good things about this restaurant end.
For lunch, Ryno selected the Spicy-Chicken Sandwich topped with pepper jack cheese, chipotle remoulade, arugula, seasoned tomato, dill pickles, and served on a brioche bun for $11.99. To put it lightly, Ryno thought a dollar menu McChicken would have been a better lunch. He described the chicken patty as both overcooked and mushy and the tomatoes did not taste fresh. The house-made chips were fine but nothing to write home about!
I went with the Buffalo Chicken Flatbread made with roasted chicken, shallots, granny smith apples, arugula, barbecue sauce, mozzarella, and parmesan for $13.29. This thing was a mess! There was way too much of the overly sweet barbecue sauce and the crust was soggy and more similar to a regular pizza than a flatbread. None of the flavors came together and the base reminded me of a frozen pizza.
Craig went with the Chicago-style Italian Beef Sub made with shaved Italian beef, mozzarella, Giardiniera, and seasoned au jus for $13.29. The only flavor came from the peppers in the sandwich and the au jus was incredibly bland. Craig chose coleslaw as his side and it was overly milky and watery at the same time.
We also had to try the Chili-Cheese Corn Dog Nuggets for $10.79. We know the internet loves Disney corn dog nuggets BUT these were foul in every way. The hotdog inside was grey, the chili was overly sweet, and it was immediately soggy. Do yourself a huge favor and do not get these.
After our pretty terrible lunch, we hoped dessert would save the day. And while it wasn’t perfect, there were some winners!
The biggest hit was the DOLE Whip Cupcake which is a yellow cupcake filled with DOLE Whip pineapple mousse and garnished with a cherry for $5.99. It tasted exactly like a DOLE Whip and did not have too much frosting.
We also like the Churro Sugar Cookie which is a cinnamon-sugar cookie with cinnamon buttercream and topped with cinnamon cereal for $4.49. This was soft and not too light on the cinnamon. This would have been a great afternoon treat with a cup of coffee!
Things started to take a turn with Kitchen Sink Cookie which is a chocolate chunk cookie with toffee, peanut butter chips, salted caramel, and flaky salt for $4.29. With an ingredient list like that, how could you go wrong? Unfortunately, the cookie tasted pre-packaged and ours was missing the peanut butter chips. So not terrible but there are SO many other Disney desserts we would rather have.
Another disappointing dessert was the Monorail S’mores Brownie which is a fudgy brownie with a graham-cracker crust topped with marshmallow crème and a white chocolate monorail for $5.79. While the execution of this dessert was awesome, the brownie was stale and didn’t taste much at all like a smore. In case you were wondering, the white chocolate monorail is hollow but that did make it easier to cut through.
Contempo Cafe was definitely a miss for our group! Even on a future Contemporary Resort stay, we would try really hard to avoid this quick-service. Watch our pretty comical video review here and let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
