Jiko - The Cooking Place — Attraction in Bay Lake

For any first-timers to Jiko, or even WDW in general, it is considered a "signature" dining establishment, meaning basically that it is a fancy sit-down restaurant. It's located in the Animal Kingdom Lodge, which is close to the Animal Kingdom theme park but pretty far from everything else. Aside from being an amazing resort itself, Animal Kingdom Lodge is home to arguably the best dining options in all of WDW, and Jiko is no exception.

Let's begin with the atmosphere, which continues to extend the theming of the Animal Kingdom Lodge's feel of an African savanna. Vibrant colors all around are very pleasing to the eye, with a view of the water features outside giving the impression of an exotic destination. The ceiling is decorated with lamps shaped like flying birds, again adding to the sensation of being in the wilderness, it has a very open and airy feeling. They also feature a couple of wood-burning ovens in the center of the restaurant, which glows with warm hues as if you're experiencing an African sunset.

The menu has a variety of dishes borrowing from African, Indian, and Mediterranean cuisine. At least for some, the options might seem too exotic. While it is true that they use a lot of vibrant ingredients, the food will have a certain familiarity to them, while at the same time introducing a delightfully enjoyable twist. For example, I had the oak-grilled fillet mignon, which was served with some African-style mac and cheese and a red wine sauce that was so good that I wanted to try and recreate it at home. We also ordered the lamb dish which had a very exciting presentation and big flavors. The Taste of Africa appetizer is the perfect vehicle to introduce first-timers to the flavors they would expect at Jiko without fully committing right away. For dessert we had the Kilimanjaro, which is a chocolate centric dish with an unsual pairing of pink peppercorns and pistachio financier, essentially pistachio cake crumbles. As exotic as it sounds, the pink peppercorns complimented the dessert very well and we found ourselves thinking about another serving before convincing ourselves that we still had to walk back to the car and watch Rivers of Light!

Wine fans will have a ball here, as they claim to have one of the largest collection of South African wines outside of South Africa! There's also a list of special cocktails to enjoy.

Service was impeccable! We have a one year old and from the start they were very accommodating, even giving our son a free Buzz Lightyear toy to keep him busy. Maybe because it wasn't packed yet during our reserved time at 5pm but they did not mind at all when I had to get up and walk him around when he got a bit fussy. They also have a kid's menu with familiar dishes that taste great and won't scare children off with exotic sounding choices. Overall, we felt very welcome and at home with the service and we owe that to the high standards of WDW.

As with most signature dining restaurants in WDW, the prices will be higher than your average meal. For a family of three, we spent upwards of $150 plus tip, which included an appetizer, two drinks, one cocktail, two entrees, and dessert. For those on a budget it might be a tight squeeze but it is definitely doable and is worth at least one visit.

Jiko is a perfect place for a romantic dinner for two or a night out with some friends, especially those who are adventurous foodies. We had a wonderful experience at Jiko and we look forward to our next visit!

PROTIP: Jiko is a very popular restaurant so make reservations as soon as possible, up to 180 days prior to your visit if you're going to stay on the resort. It isn't on the same level as Be Our Guest in terms of popularity, but in my opinion the experience is much more enjoyable here!

PROS: excellent service, food is delicious, feels like you're actually fine dining (safely) on an African savanna!

CONS: if we want to be picky, the location is far from the rest of WDW, although one may argue that it adds to the "exclusivity"...

My girlfriend brought me here for my birthday, and it was a very good time!

The atmosphere is super elegant and themed ever so well. There were light fixtures shaped like birds and there were these big giant ovens that were in view of the dining room. It was just very cool in there. I liked it.

For an appetizer, we decided on the Taste of Africa (African-inspired Dips, Pappadum, Sesame Fatir, House-made Flax Seed Naan). The breads were all different and very tasty. My favorite was the sesame fatir. It was a soft, buttery, fluffy round flatbread that went well with all of the sauces! The four sauces were a olivey hummus, a tzatziki-like sauce, a mango chutney, and a tomato jam-like sauce. Very good. Very good.

We split two entrees, like we always do. We got a Oak-grilled Filet Mignon (Bobotie Macaroni and Cheese, Grilled Asparagus, Kachumbari, South African Red Wine Sauce). Cooked medium rare. Duh. This steak was very good. The char on it was picture perfect. It tasted like I charred it on my own grill. The inside ended up being cooked medium medium rare, but it was still good. The mac & cheese was awesome. It had chunks of ground meat in it, and it was slightly nutty, as if it was made with a nut milk. I liked it. The asparagus was grilled nicely, but I would have liked to have seen more than two sprigs on the plate. The mixed veggies added a great acidity to the dish, and the rich red wine sauce tied it all together. Solid, four star dish.

Now we get to the part of the meal that earned this place five stars. We got the Bo Kaap Malay Seafood Curry (Lobster, Calamari, Red Shrimp, Mussels, Coconut-Curry Sauce, Saffron Rice). The seafood was infused with the flavor of the star of the show, the coconut-curry sauce. It was a nice, slightly sweet curry that blended well with the aromatic saffron rice. But the thing that really caught my attention. I have never ordered a dish like this (seafood slathered in warm sauce with rice or pasta) that there wasn't at least one piece of the seafood that was overcooked. Until this dish. Everything was cooked well. Most surprisingly, the calamari was cooked well! It wasn't chewy, not one of the dozen or more pieces in the dish. I was amazed. I was very happy.

We were stuffed at this point, so we decided not to have dessert. Before we decided this, though, they brought me a surprise birthday little cup of a very firm chocolate mousse-like thing that was very delicious and very appreciated as a birthday token from Mickey.

Finally, before we left, our server brought us out two little chocolate cookies as a parting gift. Our guy was very nice. I got the vibe that he was in the mind set that we were kids who didn't deserve the most sucking up to possible, but that's probably just because we didn't have kids and/or weren't dressed all fancy like, but he still did a good job. I really enjoyed this mean, and if I ever get the chance,...

Initially, I was very excited to try Jiko. My fiancé and I decided to go as part of magical dining, so we would get 3 courses for 35$. We had 8:30 reservations, and got there about 8. We were told they were seating closer to reservations times so we made our way to the bar.

We had heard that Jiko was know for its African wines and we wanted to try things that we couldn't try elsewhere. But then we saw the beer menu. We started with the Moroccan beer. It was very close to a Stella, light but flavorful. Then we transitioned to wine. We selected a red called Old Bush Vines for 9$ a glass. It was amazing, and we were told the only place outside of Africa to try it was Jiko. This gave us a lot of hope for our meal.

We were finally sat about 8:45pm. We had chatted with some people are the bar who told us Jiko was out of one of the entrees on the magical dining menu which was super disappointing because it was the entree we wanted (short ribs). But we were also told that if you ask they will substitute with lamb. So when our server came over we asked and he said yes, that they would sub with lamb.

So we each order different apps, the same entree, and different desserts.

Jiko Salad: This was DELICIOUS. It has a variety of things we had never tried (and we're pretty adventurous eaters) and each bite had a new flavor. The cheese was strange texture, but not in a bad way. The dressing was fantastic. I would definitely order this again.

Tibs: I would also order this again. Very flavorful but the best part was the sauce.

Short ribs: this had to be subbed with lamb, and I think it would have been better with short ribs. The lamb was fall off the bone tender and delicious but it was a very heavy dish that may have been better served with short ribs.

Dessert: I wasn't a huge fan of either desserts but there were components of both that were delicious. It was that they were bad, but there were so many flavors going on in each that they didn't seem like cohesive plates.

Service: our server was very nice, but it took a very long time between courses.

Overall: I don't know if I'd go back. This was our first time doing magical dining and I like the concept because our bill otherwise would have been double the price. Next up, trying Morimoto on...