Everglades Restaurant

What a wonderful experience getting to preview magical dining a day early at the Everglades Restaurant! The theming inside is amazing and so bright and colorful! I got to sample all the foods on the magical dining menu and my favorite was the sea bass which is one of my favorite fish, the steak and the alligator chowder which I didn’t think I would like but it was better than I thought it would be! The chocolate martini was my favorite dessert and it looks so cool! It was fun celebrating 20 years of magical dining and trying the different dishes! Also it’s nice that they have the parking garage of the Rosen hotel for self parking that’s complimentary and you just walk past the convention center and the restaurant is on the right!

Let me preface this by saying perhaps it was just an off night. We arrived at 5:30 for dinner and were promptly seated next to a very clean and colorful aquarium — though oddly, it only had seven fish in it. Our server, whose name we believe was Victor, was a man of very few words. He said almost nothing to our table during the entire service and didn’t seem to care or even notice that most of our meals went untouched, as no one in our party of four enjoyed the food. We were first presented with an unusual basket of assorted breads, two alligator-shaped pieces of butter, and a strange green dip that had an odd olive-like flavor — we jokingly called it the “mystery dip.” Appetizers were equally disappointing and went uneaten. The main courses were another letdown. Three filets, ordered identically, came out completely inconsistent — differences in cook, plating, and even garnishes. Desserts followed suit and also went uneaten. What stood out most was the lack of care or attentiveness from our server. At nearly $400 for a dinner for four, we expected much better. We read the reviews and were genuinely excited to try this restaurant, but unfortunately, the experience was a major disappointment.

From the moment we walked into The Everglades at Rosen Centre on I-Drive, we were immersed in a really cool tribute to Florida’s iconic wetlands as the name implies. Gators, frogs, panthers, birds, and a fish tank decorate the restaurant adding a very nice touch that adds to the ambiance of the dining experience. The Everglades was the next restaurant on our Magical Dining tour and were really impressed. For appetizers, we started out with the Everglades Garden Greens (our salad). For entrées, the Grilled Angus Filet stole the show (definitely the highlight of our dinner). The Char Grilled Halibut was exceptionally good and flavorful. For dessert, we had the Tiramisu Martini and the Tropical Cheesecake. I'm not big on cheesecake, but the Pineapple and Mango-Passionfruit flavors really surprised me. The staff was very attentive and frequently checked in on us, which is always nice.