Disney Springs in Orlando, Fl is becoming a foodies heaven as they continue to add more and more restaurants! They have amazing choices from every cuisine, for quick service to upscale dining and everything in between. Our top choice for anyone looking for a delicious meal is at Paddlefish! Opening in early 2017, Paddlefish has been named “Best Seafood Restaurant” by the 2018 Orlando Magazine Readers’ Choice Dining Awards and has become one of our favorite restaurants to visit every time we make a visit to the Magical World of Disney!
Paddlefish Restaurant
📍: Located at Disney Springs
1670 Buena Vista Drive
Lake Buena Vista, Fl
📞 407-934- 2628
🖥 https://paddlefishrestaurant.com/
💲💲💲
Hours: Sunday – Thursday 11:30AM – 11:00PM
Friday – Saturday 11:30AM – Midnight
🌟 Reservations are recommended but not required. We were able to get a table easily during lunch and had to wait about 10-15 minutes during a busy weekend night for dinner.
Although Paddlefish is shiny and new, the iconic riverboat building itself has had a long history at Disney! Opening in 1977 as Empress Lilly (named after Walt Disney’s wife Lillian) it was known for its fine dining and Louis XV style. And in 1996, it became the Fulton’s Crab House, a Louisiana style seafood boil.
Today, Paddlefish revamped into a luxe seafood restaurant with a modern sleek look, keeping up with Disney Spring’s contemporary style.
The restaurant has 3 levels and an outdoor patio, and offers some of the best waterfront views! Paddlefish is the only restaurant in Disney Springs to have a rooftop deck! Every Friday and Saturday from 9 pm-midnight, you can enjoy craft cocktails, beers, wines, and live music.🎶 Check out the “Happenings + Press” events page on their website for cooking classes and special wine tasting experiences!👩🏼🍳🍷 And if a glass of wine isn’t your thing they have happy hour specials, where you can get select draft beers for $5!
Happy Hour | 2-4PM & 3rd Deck | 9-11PM
Draft Beers $5.00 🍻
Bottles of Rose $20.00 🥂
They’ve also added Buzz Pop Cocktails for the nostalgic 90’s kid in all of us! These boozy, alcoholic push-pops have less than 100 calories each and 15% alcohol by volume, which is more than a glass of wine!🤪 With flavors like Moscow Mule or the Lemon Drop Martini Sorbet, how can you leave Disney Springs without trying one?! 🍋🍸😋
We were sat at one of their main dining areas that offers the best waterfront views! The atmosphere and design is industrial chic, a trend that we tend to find in newer restaurants. It has darker elements to give it a more intimate and elegant vibe.
From our table we were able to see the volcano eruption at the Rainforest Cafe and boaters on the Amphicars, a super cool vintage car boat. And across the water, is Disney’s Saratoga Springs, a colorful Resort & Spa themed after an upscale area of upstate New York.
Orlando isn’t near water and isn’t best known for their seafood but Paddlefish is the only restaurant in Disney Springs to offer King Crab and Snow Crab for anyone that has a craving! Nonetheless, they have a lot of variety for seafood lovers!🦀🦐🐟 Paddlefish pays homage to Fulton’s Crab House by keeping a popular menu item: lobster corn dogs on the menu for fans of the former restaurant! And for those that remember the Empress Lilly, take a look at their cocktail menu. 😉
To get the full experience, you have to order a few things off the menu right?! To start we ordered a few appetizers to share! We got the green salad ($9 side/$12 full) and some crab ceviche ($15) with avocado. bell peppers, jalapeño, cilantro, and lime served with a side of tortilla chips!😋
The green salad was fresh but next time, we’ll skip the salad! It isn’t anything special and we prefer salads with dark leafy greens. On the other hand, we loved the crab ceviche. The portion size is good for sharing! It comes with colorful tortilla chips, but the ceviche is flavorful by itself that we didn’t even need them! Just squeeze some extra lime juice and it’s perfection! YUM!
For our main course we ordered the lobster guacamole made tableside ($36), a must!, and the fish tacos ($17) with a papaya-mango salsa and sweet chili aioli. We enjoyed a culinary “show” with their tableside lobster guacamole! All the ingredients were fresh and beautifully displayed on a marble top table. And you can let them know exactly how you like your guac, chunky avocado and hold the tomatoes! 😛
The lobster guacamole was so good that we could eat it by the spoonful and it made a great side to our fish tacos. No surprise but we couldn’t help put a bit of guac on top of them!😋 The lobster pieces are smaller and aren’t overpowering at all. It serves 4 people but Paddlefish was able to accommodate us by offering us a serving for 2 instead.
The fish tacos have a generous amount of their market catch of the day and the papaya-mango salsa added just enough sweetness! Fish tacos are one of our favorite things to order (we’re pretty much taco experts😆) and these exceeded our standards, they were so good!
From those that are suspecting, Paddlefish is on the pricey side even for theme park standards. But you can’t beat freshness and Paddlefish claims to be fully committed to serving eco-friendly and sustainable seafood! It seems like construction and renovations have been taking over Disney Springs for the past few years, and as they continue to evolve and grow we’re excited to come back and explore more! And Paddlefish will remain to be on our top restaurant choices for Disney Springs!
