Magellan's — Restaurant in Urayasu

Long story short, yes, it's the best food I ever had at Disney, but the price, amount of food, and hoops and hurdles you have to go through to get to experience this may not be worth the admission.

I've heard/read this is the best that Disney had to offer in terms of fine dining/table service in any park or property in the world, so I wanted to try it. This place is impossible to book and you have to reserve months in advance or keep trying on the website to see if any slots open up.

Magellan's at Disney Sea is quite the experience. The staff was friendly and attentive but are not fluent in English, speaking Japanese will be helpful in case you have special needs. The menu is available in English and they did ask if I had any dietary restrictions or allergies. Not sure how this would effect the menu as I proceeded to order the food as is. Since this was likely a once in a lifetime occasion, I went all in and got the most expensive "Chef's Imagination Special Course with Wine Pairing" at ¥16,500. The other options were the Magellan Course and Pacific Course at ¥8,000 and ¥6,000 respectively.

The dining area is gorgeous. It has an old timely fancy galleon feel to it. However, depending on where you sit, it can feel either really open or cramped. So unless you get sat underneath the big globe, it's going to feel a little small. Also, for being a fine dining restaurant and Disney knowingly using "smells" in areas to set moods, Magellan's was surprisingly neutral. Lighting is also quite "intimate", ended up frying my eyeballs after exiting the building due to light intensity difference.

The Special Course starts off swinging with a beautiful Snow crab and Scallop Gateau Salad. This looks as good as it tastes. The crab was subtly sweet and seasoned. Not sure where the scallop was but if it was mixed in it was probably contributing to the sweetness. Caviar was present as well and added some saltiness and richness. The fresh greens cut through all that with some crisp textures and balances it all out. This also comes with a dressing that they tell you to mix and turns into a purple sweet and tart....almost glaze. This was definitely a top tier spring/summer salad.

Second course was Conger Mille-feuille style with White Asparagus Puree. This wasn't as good as the first dish. It supposedly has eel in it but it had the texture of eggplant but with a fishy/seafoody taste. It was also plated form over function as yes it looks nice but you have to drag all the ingredients together as it was spaced out all over the plate. Not bad, but not one to remember.

Third was the main course, Beef Fillet. To me this was standard issue fine dining fillet. Again, not bad, but not outstanding either. Basically meat and potatoes (and veg) but fancy. The menu mentioned this being Japanese Beef but it ain't no Wagyu, it's lean AF. Akin to the highest grade American Beef if that is a thing. It was tender but with a chew, would have gladly taken a lower grade Wagyu over this.

Lastly was dessert. I'm glad to say at least the meal closed out with a stand out. While not quite a banger, the dessert is quite a surprise for me considering the way Japanese do desserts. Typical Japanese desserts are usually less sweet, subtle even. I don't like that, I like desserts borderline too sweet. This one was almost the way I like it. The menu mentions mixed berries but it tastes almost exclusively of raspberries. It's tart yet sweet without being overly luscious (the sorbet was like this as well). The same goes with all the chocolate adornments. This dessert rides the line of being "too much" while providing "more than enough". It's so hard for me to find good desserts in Japan but this one was made it into the books. You also get a Magellan's Chocolate and a Macaron with tea or coffee at the end.

You may have noticed I completely omitted mentioning any wine here, that was on purpose. The wine was.....let's just say overpriced. It did not, at all, enhance this eating experience. Can...

I had not expected to find such a great restaurant in an amusement park! The price of JPY 10,000 wasn't unreasonable for a 4-course meal given the plate with several tasty starters, the excellent fish course, and the fabulous steak - grilled to perfection. The dessert was OK but on the ordinary side (and I didn't understand why some guests got a different dessert platter that seemed to be more diverse and more dramatic in presentation).

My vegetarian friend was less lucky - he was only offered corn soup and bread rolls. The soup and the walnut bread were both very tasty and the price of JPY very fair but for such a large place catering to a diverse international crowd, we would have hoped for a proper vegetarian option. Note to other vegetarians: you may want to get the kid's meal that besides the corn soup also has an omelette with a side and dessert. The omelette comes with a pile of beef and some shrimp - if they don't agree on leaving it aside or swapping it into a second omelette, your best bet may be to receive the meat but leave it on the table. Note to management: Why not create a vegetarian menu by taking the kid's menu as a base, adding the vegetable of the fish course (which is excellent!) with some fried tofu as an additional course, and swapping beef and shrimp for the vegetable and couscous of the normal...

This was my big dinner of Tokyo Disney. We planned this out months ahead of time, and got this miracle reservation on the app even though we messed up time zones and showed up a day late to the drop. So we were very grateful, and were ready to chow down.

Ambiance was beautiful. Massive archways and murals and exploration-inspired art covers every corner of the restaurant, and the centerpiece was this beyond massive globe that I just could not believe. There's nothing like it back in WDW.

Service was top notch. Everyone in this country is always so polite and courteous, and it translates into their service. Everyone was very kind, and we wanted for nothing during our entire meal.

As for the food, we went with the 40th anniversary tasting menu they offered at the time. Everything was super delicious from the king crab to the cute little seafood boil in a bag to the wagyu main event, it was all really nice. Huge fan.

If you're planning to come to DisneySea, and if you want a quality dinner,...