Kona Cafe Review

Kona Cafe is a table-service restaurant at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. This review provides an overview of our experience dining at the restaurant. The cafe serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but for this review, we’re focused on dinner. As far as food goes, you’ll find a mix of Asian and American cuisines along with a selection of sushi.

Kona Cafe is on the 2nd floor of the resort’s Great Ceremonial House. If you arrive at the Polynesian via the resort monorail, the restaurant is immediately on the left. When you enter the building, you’ll see a sign pointing guests to Kona Cafe (left) or the ‘Ohana check-in desk (right).

Since Kona Cafe is a table service restaurant, reservations are recommended. That said, even though the restaurant is fairly busy, it has a relatively large capacity. So you might be able to get a walk-up if you don’t mind waiting. However, it’s best practice to secure reservations. This location also takes to-go orders via the My Disney Experience app. If you’re staying at the resort, you might enjoy placing an order in the app and then picking it up at the restaurant.

Kona Cafe was completely updated a few years ago. The entire front of the restaurant is open to the upper level, but it doesn’t really add to or detract from the casual dining experience. Of course, the restaurant’s casualness is one of the reasons we enjoy dining here fairly often. They also have really good coffee.

I don’t think that this is the type of restaurant where you say, “Oooh, we have dinner reservations at Kona Cafe this evening.” For us, it’s the kind of place where you score a last-minute dining reservation, enjoy your meal, have a coffee, and say, “That was a pleasant meal and a much-needed break. We need to come back here again.” That’s how I always feel when I dine here.

For this visit, we were in the middle of a park hop between Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. We’d had a fairly busy afternoon and were planning on staying late at Magic Kingdom and getting in line to ride Tron before the park closed at 11:00 p.m. This meal turned out to be the perfect buffer between the parks.

As soon as we were seated, our server delivered a round of ice waters and a platter of Hawaiian sweet rolls to our table. They are divine, and the butter is incredibly soft, making it super spreadable. Don’t worry if you devour them. They will bring extras.

Since my sister and I both enjoy sushi and similar preparations, we immediately both went in that direction. However, I want to note that the restaurant offers a variety of regular food like chicken, steaks, and hamburgers. Kona is a place where everyone in your party should be able to find something they enjoy.

For this meal, we went with poke bowls and sushi as entrees. I usually start with their seafood curry when it’s the seasonal soup. Unfortunately, it wasn’t available on this visit. My sister ordered the Rainbow Poke Bowl, which is described as Tuna, Salmon, Shrimp, Hamachi, Fresno Chili Peppers, Lotus Root, and Spicy Ponzu.

This was quite a bit larger than it looks in photos. It was also fresh and tasty, with the chili peppers and ponzu adding just the right kick. This is something we would both order again on a return visit.

I ordered the Shrimp Firecracker Roll, which comes with Tempura Shrimp, Crab, Tuna, Avocado, Cucumber, and Chili Sauce. This is one of my go-to sushi rolls at Kona Cafe. Not only is the roll a filling dish, but it’s also absolutely delicious.

If you’re interested in trying sushi, but not sure you’ll like the raw tuna, you can always take the tuna off the top. Additionally, Kona has several rolls that are prepared with fully cooked protein. Your server can point you in the right direction.

My nephew ordered a kids’ meal. He went with the cheesburger, fries, and a side of fruit. It was a good quality burger, and he ended up finishing nearly everything on the plate. Then, he went back for more rolls, or should I say more butter with a little bread?

Since we were staying out late, my sister and I ordered cappuccinos. If you enjoy coffee, Kona Cafe is the place to order it at Disney World. They have a stand called Kona Island that sits adjacent to the restaurant. So you can walk up and order it or enjoy it at the restaurant. The coffee here is a freshly brewed Hawaiian Kona Blend by Joffrey’s. They have all the usual options like a mocha, a latte, and an espresso. If you want to go all out, you might consider ordering a press pot, which serves two. (If you have breakfast here, I would highly recommend going with the press pot. It’s such a treat.)

Our cappuccinos were freshly prepared and tasty. It was also the perfect wake-up call to continue our evening at Magic Kingdom. I think we must have started something, because not long after ours were delivered, a couple of the tables near us ordered them as well.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this was another good meal at Kona Cafe with no complaints. Again, I don’t really think that the restaurant is a knock-your-socks-off kind of place, and that’s okay. A part of me would like to call it a hidden gem, but considering its size and that it’s located at the Polynesian, I don’t quite think it falls under that category either. If I had to define it, I would say it was a reliable place to eat. With one minor exception, many years ago, I’ve never had a bad experience here.

For more on dining at this resort, you might enjoy our Disney’s Polynesian Restaurant Guide. For more reviews, I file them all under our list of Disney World Restaurant Reviews.

In the Comments

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