We’re about to travel back to a more simple time at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We’re off to one of my favorite restaurants for atmosphere (and food), Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre Restaurant!
This restaurant offers one of the most unique dining experiences in Walt Disney World. When you step into the restaurant you are taken down a hallway and enter into a moonlit drive-in featuring B-Movie trailers and commercials. You even dine in cars! Each car seats six, as you sit two by two in three rows. They do also have some cars with real tables to accommodate guests who need them.
The menu here has changed a bit over the last few months. They removed one of the vegan options (Tofu Lettuce Wraps) and replaced it with the Flying Saucer Burger. The Crabless Cakes have also changed names, and is now the Island Cakes.
One of the biggest issues I am currently noticing with the digital menus at all the restaurants is not all of the plant-based options are clearly labeled that way. Some say (plant-based) in the description, and others don’t mention it at all. The paper menus all had the little leaf logo which made it easy to scan and see what was vegan. If you are unsure when looking at one of the digital menus, ask your server what the plant-based options are, or ask for a paper menu where available.
We spoke with a chef while here and she was able to accommodate with a kids option for Finn, a kids Impossible Burger. We ordered the Island Cakes, Flying Saucer Burger and were planning on some vegan milk shakes for dessert.
The Island Cakes seemed to have changed a little bit since we last had them. Previously they were very heavy in hearts of palm, corn, and peppers, this time they seemed to be more of filler than the hearts of palm. The flavor wasn’t very strong, but the tangy remoulade made up for it. The cakes come with a slaw, which adds a nice crunch to the otherwise mushy food. The cakes are pretty small, but a nice item to share if you don’t split an entree.
For the vegan entree here they have the Flying Saucer Burger, which is an Impossible burger topped with a nut free pesto, garlic-tomato aioli, cashew mozzarella, portobello, lettuce and tomato. If you don’t care for Impossible, they can make an off menu pasta here as well.
The burger was cooked well, one of the better Impossible patties I’ve had. The portobello on it was good but also an odd topping choice. It did make biting into the burger a little harder, as sometimes they can be tough to bite through.
My burger was loaded with the pesto, which was a great flavor with the portobello and Impossible meat. Corey didn’t notice the pesto at all on his, so I think I was lucky with my dollop. I couldn’t really taste the cashew mozzarella at all, but it didn’t add or take away from the burger in terms of texture. Same with the garlic-tomato aioli, I wouldn’t have known it was there if I couldn’t see it on my cashew cheese. All I could taste on my burger was the pesto and mushroom, not that that is a bad thing.
The fries here are delicious, I love a thick cut fry. However we made the mistake of not asking for ketchup for them and our server never came back until we were done. With all the COVID measures, servers in general have been hard to find as they are spending less time at tables, which I totally get and understand. So if there is something you usually have with food (condiments, salt, etc) that were on tables before, be sure to ask for it with your food.
For Finn’s entree he was given a small kids Impossible Burger topped with Daiya mozzarella cheese and fries on the side. His meal comes with two sides, so the other was a scoop of vegan chocolate ice cream and chocolate syrup. I was happy that the chef here offered this as an option instead of just offering pasta as a vegan kids option.
For dessert there is an option on the menu that is vegan as is. The Cookie Shake features Enjoy Life cookies, vegan ice cream, and a coconut whip. The flavor and consistency of the shake is really good. They mix in the cookies with the shake so it makes it almost caramel flavored. The whip and cookie crumble on top are also very good, this is definitely a dessert!
I opted for an Oreo Shake, you can also get vanilla or chocolate made vegan. Since this isn’t a dessert shake it doesn’t come with all the fancy toppings, but this is always one of my favorite things here. It tastes very strongly of Oreo cookie, which I love. You can also get these to go if you want to enjoy your shake after your meal while walking around.
I am happy that Sci-Fi updated their menu as I wasn’t a fan of the tofu wraps at all. I will absolutely be back for this meal. I recommend getting a dining reservation as far out as possible, as this restaurant often books up quick.
Price $$$
Review from September 2020.
