Cape May Cafe Review

It’s hard to believe that I’m old enough for this next statement to be true:  The first time I ate at Cape May Café was 20 years ago!  A few things have changed in those 20 years, but overall it remains one of my favorite spots to dine in all of Walt Disney World.

Cape May Café is located at Disney’s Beach Club Resort, and serves breakfast and dinner.  Breakfast is an all you care to eat buffet—and a character meal!  Usually you can find Minnie Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck decked out in their finest beach attire.  Dinner is an all you care to eat New England style clambake.  Characters do not appear at dinner. 

While I’ve dined at Cape May Café numerous times for both meals, on this most recent trip we just did dinner there, and per usual, it did not disappoint.  I had made an advance reservation for our party of 2, but I do think that Cape May Café is one of the easier restaurants at Walt Disney World to walk up to and get a table.  We were staying at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort, and since we wanted to allow plenty of time for transportation to Downtown Disney and then on to the Beach Club, we ended up arriving about 30 minutes early.  We went ahead and checked in, were given a pager, and spent a few minutes perusing the Beach Club lobby, the gift shop, and what I think is one of the neatest places on property—the Solarium.  If you haven’t visited this lovely, quiet sun room at the Beach Club, you’re missing out.  Our pager went off after a short wait of only about 5 minutes.  We were seated and promptly had our drink orders taken, with a quick explanation of how Cape May Café works and the specials for the night. 

We headed straight to the buffet and found all 4 sides filled with everything you can think of.  One side consists of all types of salads, chilled peel-and-eat shrimp, fruit, cheeses, and breads with assorted dips.  The buffet usually features two soups—that night was New England Seafood Chowder and Minestrone.  My dining partner and I both had the New England Seafood Chowder and it was perfect.  Creamy, hot and full of clams, white fish, and vegetables.  Crab legs, roasted potatoes and corn on the cob can be found on two opposite sides of the buffet—one side is paired with clams and mussels in the shell and mashed potatoes; while on the other side you will find the nightly specials—a rotating pasta, paella, baked fish, etc.  We were lucky to be there on an evening with fried shrimp and fried clams, which were both delicious.  The 4th side of the buffet includes a carved meat, hot cornbread, a few desserts, and the kids selections, which are on a lower counter and included kid-friendly selections like mac and cheese and pizza.  An entirely separate counter of desserts rounds out the offerings here.  The desserts are bite sized so you can try several things and pick your favorite—don’t skip the flourless chocolate cake! 

As I said, some things have changed in the last 20 years at the Cape May Café—some of the nightly offerings have been updated and sadly, the Oreo Bon-Bon’s seem to be a thing of the past.  What hasn’t changed is the atmosphere—friendly, noisy, relaxed and filled with soft beachy colors.  The good memories and great food will keep me coming back here for the next 20 years! 

Jill