Akershus Royal Banquet Hall is located in the Norway pavilion of EPCOT’s world showcase, and features an assortment of Norwegian dishes, and Disney Princesses. Prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic, this meal was served as a buffet, but it is now currently(as of April 2023) served family style. The food is still all you can eat, but the server will bring a platter to the table instead of walking up to the buffet. Reservations can sometimes be difficult to obtain, so I would recommend booking this as close to the sixty day pre-arrival window as possible. The host(ess) station was located just outside the restaurant, and there are a few benches to wait on. My party of two waited probably about twenty minutes before we were welcomed inside to our table.
Starters
Included in the price is a salad, full meal, desserts, and a soft beverage. The salad consists of field greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, and is topped with a lingonberry vinaigrette. If you have never had lingonberries, you will enjoy them if you like cranberries, as they have a similar flavor. Served with the salad are fresh lefse with cinnamon butter. Lefse is a traditional Norwegian flat bread that can be rolled, and is usually made with potatoes. The server informed us on how she typically ate lefse at home, and instructed us to unroll it and spread the cinnamon butter, then roll it back up. The lefse were light, sweet, and refreshing.
Main Course
The main course was served on a large platter, and consisted of meats, vegetables, stew and kids options. For vegetables there were green beans, red cabbage, and mashed potatoes with gravy. The meats served were pan seared salmon, and meatballs topped with lingonberry dressing. A chicken and dumpling stew was served, and the kids options were corn dog nuggets and mac and cheese.
Starting with the stew, I thought that the stew was filling and full of flavor. The dumplings were very delicious, and melded with the taste of the chicken. Herbs and vegetables helped prevent the stew from forming a complete layer of film over the top, and brought color to the dish. The vegetables were top notch, especially the red cabbage. I was very surprised by the red cabbage, it isn’t a vegetable we eat a lot of in America, but it was much bigger when I was in Germany. I did not enjoy red cabbage cooked in Germany, only raw, but the way it was cooked at Akershus was delightful. This red cabbage dish was tangy, and had a sweet and sour taste that was irresistible. The green beans were good as expected, as were the mashed potatoes. My tip for the potatoes is to add some lingonberry dressing in with the gravy and potatoes, which enhances the flavor.
The potatoes, gravy, meatballs, and lingonberry are served on top of each other, and it is a great blend of flavors that made it hard to put my fork down. My fiancé is not a fan of meatballs, but she thoroughly enjoyed this course enough that we asked our server for seconds. Pan seared salmon is one of my favorite dishes, and it was tender and flavorful. Notes of citrus and herbs were on this salmon, which paired nicely with the other dishes on my plate. While not traditional Norwegian options, the corn dog nuggets and the Mac and cheese were tasty options. There were no children at my table, but they still serve the kids options on the platter, which is fine with me as I like both of them.
Dessert
Dessert consisted of a traditional rice cream with strawberry sauce, and a chocolate roulade with lingonberry cream. The roulade was topped with an edible Norwegian flag, which was made from white chocolate. Both of these deserts were very tasty, and I struggled to finish them because I was already so full. Nevertheless I chose mind over matter, and conquered the plate that was set before me. When I think about my vacation memories I typically look through my food pictures. I decided that it would be unfair to my future self to not fully indulge on these sumptuous deserts, so I ate every last bite. The rice cream stole the show, it was creamy and sweet. This rice pudding was much thicker and not nearly as runny as most rice puddings, which allowed it to hold a firm shape. This shape was perfect to hold as much strawberry topping as needed, and when combined the two flavors formed a masterpiece.
The roulade was less traditional than the rice cream(according to my server), but it was still quite tasty. Lingonberries are very versatile, and the chefs at Akershus used them to their best ability in all three courses. On top of this dessert was some powdered sugar, and a white chocolate Norwegian flag. These desserts were good to their last bite, and left me very full.
Princesses
This restaurant has more than just good food, it also has princesses. While the princesses are not always the same, during this meal we were greeted by Aurora, Snow White, Ariel, Jasmine, and Belle. My traveling party consisted just of my fiancé and I, who are both in our twenties. It goes without saying that the princesses are not a make or break component of a Disney trip, like a small child, but it was still nice to see them. Each princess was friendly, cordial, signed our autograph books, and took pictures. There were other adults dining in the restaurant without children, so we weren’t the only Disney adults enjoying the banquet hall. If there is one thing to note in a negative matter, it is that the princesses weren’t accompanied by a cast member to take pictures. It would not be fair to leave out that this restaurant had recently reopened after more than a two year closure, and Disney is still short on staff in some areas.
Final Thoughts
Akershus Royal Banquet Hall is a delightful restaurant, that has great food and princesses. The restaurant was recently reopened and still adjusting to the post COVID-19 adjustments, so I did cut them some slack. This restaurant is a bit cheaper than some of the other princess dining options like Cinderella’s Royal Table, and has better food. Additionally, it is much easier to secure a reservation here than some of the other highly sought after character dinings across the resort. The food options were not as vast as they once were, but I am sure that they will be more numerous if it changes back to a full buffet style. The service team was very good, and my server talked to me a lot about her life back in Norway. After the meal the restaurant had slowed down, and she was very glad to share her stories of her home country with my table. She gave me some inspiration to someday visit Norway, which would be something I would love to do. I have been to Akershus a few times over my fifteen years of going to Disney World, so I will definitely be back, and hopefully so will the buffet.
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