Walt Disney World Restaurant Review – Kimonos

BY MIKE WARING – OCTOBER 2010

We tried Kimonos on our recent visit to Walt Disney World, because after a day hopping on and off airplanes, wheeling bags through airport terminals and watching episodes of Glee on our iPads, iPhones, and iPencils, we were ready for something light, fishy, and raw.

Kimonos is located in a moderately sized dark space of the Walt Disney World Swan Hotel. It’s bigger than a breadbox, smaller than Yankee stadium, and is really more a bar than a restaurant. One clue as to whether or not they slant towards a bar is that they have karaoke, which few fine dining establishments incorporate. I didn’t know they had karaoke before we went, otherwise wild horses driving jacked up giant diesel pick-up trucks couldn’t have dragged me in.

But since I was there, I decided to sample the fare. The offerings are all very standard, with very little that is unusual for a sushi place. Which is not a bad thing, actually. No breaded and deep fried tuna rolls or anything like that. It’s just the usual nigiri, sashimi, sushi rolls, and so on.

Non-sushi appetizers include tempura, gyoza, chicken satay and a couple of fish dishes like seared tuna. So if you have married or are dating the type of person who likes consuming raw seafood, even though it’s laced with loads of mercury which apparently deep frying dissolves or something, you can still go out to dinner with them and have something suitably immolated. Or a salad, if the “not eating raw things” isn’t like a religious-type prohibition. Like for instance, my personal religion doesn’t permit me to eat pickled beets – that kind of thing.

We liked pretty much everything we tried, though to be honest, there wasn’t anything that really stood out and caused us to jump up on the table and exclaim “dang, that’s good!” If I had to compare it, and I do since that’s what these reviews are all about, I would say it is a fair bit better than Teppan Edo in the World Showcase in Epcot. It’s a lot quieter for one thing (well, before the karaoke starts) and the sushi and tempura are of better quality.

Half the tables are pretty conventional squares. The other half really consist of two small cocktail tables pushed together. Those tables are really too small for any serious dining, but that’s what they have.

If you hate “entertainment” while eating dinner, make sure you finish by no later than 9:00 pm. Although the karaoke machine is turned on earlier, it appeared during our meal that no one had attained the requisite amount of intoxication to be interested in treating the other bar goers to their rendition of “Stand By Your Man.” For which I will be eternally grateful, as we got out, by the skin of our teeth, in the nick of time, and with only the clothing on our backs, before the aural apocalypse began. Yeesh, karaoke.

If you’ve got a hankering for some sashimi, Kimonos is a decent place to go. The atmosphere isn’t all that I would want, but it’ll do. Prices are reasonable, for a sushi restaurant at Disney World anyhow.

All prices subject to change of course.