Steakhouse 71 — Restaurant in Bay Lake

Steakhouse 71 is located on the first floor of The Contemporary Resort. This restaurant used to be The Wave and was redesigned and reimagined into Steakhouse 71, named after 1971 which is the year Magic Kingdom opened. Forewarning....I'm going to be brutal. I'm going with 1 Star and that's only because our service was lovely. I'd have rather gone to a chain restaurant such as Outback or Longhorn; it would have saved us money and we would have had a better experience. Our server was Gonzalo and we also encountered Janessa who sat us and Ariel who delivered our food; all were delightful! The décor very much screams 70s...well, at least I think so. I wasn't alive to know! The ceilings are quite low and I had this feeling of being in a basement, but not cozy like Le Cellier. Suppressing in a way. It's all brown and white and a bit sterile. We had neither wine nor mixed drinks; there was no wine or drink menu on the table nor were we brought one, simply our dinner menu. I found that to be a bit odd since many Steakhouses like to suggest wine pairings but water was perfectly fine with me. The hot, humid, summer days of July will make one exceptionally thirsty! The appetizer menu offers a soup or salad for $11 each or sharable items such as brioche bread, crab cakes, and onion rings raging from $9-$16. Hubs chose the onion rings. They were easily the worst onion rings I've ever had - seems a bit extreme, I know! The onions themselves had no taste, the batter lacked any hint of seasoning, and the batter didn't even stay on the rings. I suppose I was expecting a flavor like we get at Mojo's or anything close to what Texas Roadhouse, Outback, or Longhorn serve. Entrees for lunch differ than dinner; lunch is focused more on sandwiches which are all about $20 an entrée. Dinner is, well, steak! Sirloin, Filet Mignon, New York Strip, and Prime Rib as well as a bone-in rib chop. I opted for the Filet Mignon and Tom, the Prime Rib. Steaks are each served with 1 side item and 1 sauce. Yes, a sauce. Tangent: I was raised that a good steak shouldn't need sauce. No A1, no Heinz 57, nothing to hide the flavor. The cut, the seasoning, and the cooking technique should be sufficient. So, sauce with my steak, and one being suggested by the restaurant, is alien to me. I also worked at a Steakhouse for almost 10 years so, I do know a little something about steaks. My Filet was unevenly cooked; it was ordered Medium Rare yet I recall a part that was closer to Medium Well. It WAS a steak that does require sauce. It is cooked on a chargrill, or open flame, and not a flat top. Tom enjoyed his Prime Rib and Prime Rib is usually my go-to if it's available; I love the slow cooking and delicious taste. This was the worst I've had. Flavorless as well and a bit tough/chewy in parts. A slow cooked Prime Rib should be effortless to cut and not difficult to chew. If you cannot decide on a sauce, then you can opt for the sauce flight ($6) which comes with all 6 options. My top 3:

1. Red Wine
2. Steakhouse 71
3. Wild Mushroom The Steakhouse 71 features over 20 ingredients which includes fig. The sauce tasted like a mix between apple butter and Christmas. What does Christmas taste like? I'm not sure, but I think fig would be involved. I thoroughly expected to like the Horseradish Cream because I LOVE horseradish however, there was no horseradish flavor. I mentioned it to our server who asked my favorites and he was in agreeance; said the first time he had it he was surprised also for lack of flavor. Though, I shouldn't have been since lack of flavor was the theme of the meal. Again, just one lowly 1 Star. The quality of steak was lacking as was the flavor for all items. I have had clients who dined here in the fall and raved about it, but then I've heard through the Disney community it has seemed to go downhill quite rapidly after opening....and I will agree. After our discount (I believe they accept the Chase Credit Card discount, in addition to DVC and AP), tax, and tip...

We have eaten here before, but this time we decided to try the “lounge” We came around 4-4:30pm ish and the bar was almost empty so we sat there (although there are couches to sit on with low tables as well). There is a lounge specific menu, but has a majority of the items on it. We ordered beer and wine and the French onion soup, which is always fantastic. We shared the stackburger, which we had heard good things about. But honestly it was just okay, it was nothing special. The burger at raglan road and wilderness lodge are way better. We got a side of the mac and cheese though and that was amazing. One bartender helped us out a little bit, but tended to ignore us the rest of the time. The other bartender helped us more and was friendly and helpful, but also took his time with us and we would have liked a little faster service, especially since we were some of the only people at the bar. Overall we like steakhouse 71 for the French onion soup, and also the steaks are good too and a decent price point for what you get as well. Try out the open seating lounge if you don’t have a reservation.

This place is an underrated hidden gem. They have amazing food, the quality of a signature restaurant without signature prices. You can get a reservation for the main dining room, try to join the walk up wait list, or there is open seating at the bar top. We have come here 2 times for dinner now, and both times were great experiences. This is located at the bottom floor of the contemporary, just down the hall from the front desk. Therefore, if you are coming on the monorail (3rd floor) from magic kingdom or TTC, then you have to take the escalators down to the first floor. We got the crab cake appetizer (fine, but won’t get again), but the French onion soup is a MUST GET. So flavorful and cheesy and perfect. The prime rib here is the best we have ever tasted (and we are prime rib snobs). It is perfectly juicy and beefy, and cooked perfectly and it is tender. We have also gotten the filet mignon, which is also perfection. Cooked perfectly with amazing seasoning and tender and juicy and flavorful. Among the other places on Disney property where you can get filet mignon for a more expensive price, this one here at Steakhouse 71 is better and cheaper. We have also gotten the sustainable fish option which is quite tasty. The mac and cheese side is delicious as well. Overall this restaurant is a home run. It is most convenient for lunch or dinner for a park break from magic kingdom, or come at the end of your park day. If you are a prime rib, filet mignon, or French onion soup lover, make time to come to Steakhouse 71.

We shared a bottle of the Disney family of wines Riesling (which was the cheapest bottle of wine) and it was great! Our server was great about refilling our glass for us as well. Lets start with the best entrée. The prime rib. This was one of the best prime ribs that we have had anywhere, and we love ordering prime rib. It was a huge cut, it was cooked absolutely perfectly, and the meat was so tender and moist. The flavor was perfect and the presentation was beautiful. It was so perfect in fact that we were able to eat the whole thing and clean the plate because of how great the fat was rendered. This dish is absolutely the stand out star and such a hidden gem for what the cost is, considering this isn’t a signature restaurant. We also ordered the fresh fish of the day which was a grouper. It came in the wrapped paper and it was absolutely perfect. It was fresh, flavorful, soft, and moist. Even the veggies that came with were great! The only complaint was that the portion of fish was a little smaller than anticipated, but we enjoyed it none-the-less. We of course ordered the filet mignon. It was a decent sized filet, it was cooked perfectly, and was tender...

Ate here last night and I was borderline on giving a 4 or a 5. I went with a 5 because my negatives were fairly minor.

So that said...

The changes from the previous restaurant were dramatic, lots of white and very different feel from the previous restaurant but also from most steakhouses. Many nice steakhouses I have been to were very dark. Steakhouse 71 was very bright and inviting, they very much nailed the family friendly nice steakhouse vibe I feel they were aiming for, right down to the flatware as they had white pearl style handled steak knives instead of the often seen large wooden handled knives.

Our server Bill was great, you could tell everybody was still adjusting to the new location but he just embraced it and was honest and fun. If he didn't know something he would just say let me check and I really appreciate that. He was attentive and always around but it never felt like too much.

So compared to other nice steak houses I felt the prices were actually a touch lower and in line with what I would expect at a nicer sit down restaurant on Disney property. However note many nice steak houses also serve prime grade beef whereas here you are getting choice grade beef. Which is fine but also often accounts for the difference in price. A choice grade steak cooked perfectly is just fine by me I don't need prime grade beef if it's properly done.

So the food is where I am going to pick at a few details I didn't like and wrap up. The french onion soup was very good and very rich for a broth based soup. I personally liked it a lot. The onion rings were good but a little smaller than I would expect for something labeled steakhouse onion rings. For me steakhouse onion rings makes me think very large and impressive they were not tasted good but just not what I expected. Okay another minor detail the bread. So there is no bread service anymore (previous restaurant here had bread included) but you can buy the appetizer bread which seemed a bit high priced but we did it anyway to try. The rolls were a bit doughy even for the potato brioche bread style and the butter and tomato jam I was not a huge fan of it was strictly ok, with this one if you must have bread get it but at $12 next time I will pass.

I got the prime rib ( yeah I know it's not prime grade but they call it prime rib restaurant lingo) anyway it was good I don't often get prime rib because I am often disappointed in it but this did not disappoint me. The outer seasoning was a bit salty (note for most people it was likely fine but I'm very sensitive to salty foods) and the meat was done perfectly medium rare and the bearnaise sauce was spot on. My wife got the tenderloin medallions also perfectly cooked and tasty. I got the red wine mushrooms and my wife got the garlic mashed potatoes. I liked the mushroom but the potatoes seemed very sturdy like they still had to much starch on them when prepared. Again some people may like it this way I personally don't.

Dessert, my wife got the chocolate cake and I got the ambrosia. Hers was good the cake was a tad dry like it had been chilled a bit to long but still very good option if you want chocolate. I really like the take on ambrosia reimagined as more of a cake with toppings than the traditional dish. The cake was good as was all the different components and came together very nicely. Props to the chef that came up...