La Hacienda de San Angel, which is Epcot’s newest sit-down restaurant, is located right on the water in the Mexico Pavilion. After some heavy rain the crowd had thinned out in the park. By seven o’clock, tired and wet poncho-clad families were filing out of the World Showcase while Adam, Kathleen, Mike, and I made a beeline to Mexico. We were fresh and ready to get our taco on!
Since La Hacienda is not taking reservations during its soft opening, I was a little leery about how long the wait would be. Wait times at Via Napoli in the Italy Pavilion during a soft opening weeknight were around 45 minutes. Tonight, La Hacienda had us seated within a few minutes. First impressions of the restaurant were tall ceilings, beautiful lighting fixtures, and large windows looking out onto the World Showcase Lagoon. La Hacienda is definitely a prime fireworks viewing vantage point for the reservation-laden.
Now for the nitty-gritty: the menu items are flavorful but overpriced. Some of the appetizers, like the Botana, are two or three-bite-sized at best. We decided to share the Botana, Chiles toreados y chorizitos, and Queso Fundido. The Roasted sweet peppers with lime and sea salt, fried cheese, and marinated pork were delicious! We also ordered the shrimp tacos with red cabbage, which were also fabulous. I’m not partial to seafood tacos at all, but the shrimp in these tacos were too large and juicy not to like. There was a slight drizzle of chipotle-lime aioli on the tacos, but it didn’t really lend much flair or flavor to the dish.
One of the two real stars of the night was the Orange Mango Fire Margarita! Don’t let the chili powder rim scare you. The chili cuts the sweetness of the margarita with a spike of spicy goodness. Then, at close second were the red and green salsas that accompanied the chips. Made fresh at the restaurant, the green salsa had a nice overall tomatillo flavor with a tangy flair while the red salsa was rich and spicy. I also had the Lime Raspberry Margarita, which was all raspberry and hardly any lime. The hibiscus salt rim was a nice touch, though. Kathleen ordered the Mango Blueberry Basil Margarita, which had an interesting basil scent and hint of flavor to cut through the sweetness. Oh and the La Hacienda Tequila Flight gets an honorable mention. The tequila selections are delicious — I didn’t know tequila could be delicious! And the flight includes a neat tomato-based juice called Sangrita.
After enjoying some of what La Hacienda de San Angel has to offer, I believe eating here is a good experience to have at least once, but next time I may just settle for the counter service that serves twice the portions for half the price.
La Hacienda de San Angel • Yelp • Google Maps
T: (407) 939-3463
