We recently got the family together at Disney World over the Christmas holiday and stopped in at Tutto Italia for dinner our first night. The restaurant is located within the Italy pavilion at World Showcase in EPCOT Center, and replaced the previous sit down restaurant a few years ago. Tutto Italia has a charming and soothing atmosphere when you walk in, with tables nicely spaced and positioned to provide a sense of
The main dining area
privacy during your meal. The menu has classic Italian dishes and may be the first one I have ever read where I can say I would order absolutely everything printed on it. Another noticeable element of the restaurant was the abundance of wait staff, and that presented itself throughout our meal.
We settled in and ordered a bottle of the 2010 Banfi Chianti Classico Riserva, which had nice tart cherry flavors and good body. The wine is young and the tannins are noticeable but not severe. It complimented our appetizers well. This was pretty classic Sangiovese. Those appetizers included a cold salad of squid, octopus, shrimp, potatoes, red onion, capers and garlic, a wedge Cesar salad and fried calamari. I had the cold seafood salad, or the Insalata di Mare, and it was excellent. The others enjoyed their appetizers as well, and I can personally attest to the calamari being quite good. We were off to a good start.
Wine 1 – the Chianti Classico Riserva
For entrees we ordered a second bottle of wine, this time a 2010 Tre Brancaia Super Tuscan which brought a wild
Wine 2 – the Super Tuscan
berry nose and palate with the Cabernet in the blend taking center stage. It is young and long, with an approachable tannic structure that promises a long life ahead. This held up well to the dishes which were the Bistecca, the polenta with meatballs and short ribs, the shrimp risotto and sole with white asparagus. All the dishes were enjoyed. I do have to say that the steak was originally brought rare after being ordered medium, but they immediately fired another one and it was perfectly cooked.
Dessert included chocolate gelato, double espressos and limoncello, all decadent and delicious.
I should make mention of the excellent focaccia bread and fresh green olives that started the meal. The olives were huge and Cheri called them sexy. She didn’t seem to be able to stop eating them.
Insalata di Mare – half gone as this was HUGE
The Shrimp Risotto
Overall this was an excellent meal and a wonderful way to start our trip. Tutto Italia is a relaxing environment with excellent service and quality food. We spent the better part of two hours there and never felt rushed, unheard of at a Disney park restaurant. Our credit card is out and ready for use there should we return to EPCOT Center in the future. We heartily recommend it.
As a spoiler they have a sister wine bar attached to the building and it too is excellent. We’ll review that separately.
A votre sante!
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