Ahead of the final day of operation for Restaurantosaurus and the rest of DinoLand USA, we decided to “enjoy” one last meal at the highly themed quick-service restaurant. As you may know, the dining location isn’t technically going anywhere, but it will receive a facelift when it receives all-new theming for the 2027 opening of the Tropical Americas-themed land. We hope work starts with the menu and kitchen before the excavators arrive. Here’s our final review of Restaurantosaurus before it goes extinct!
Restaurantosaurus Review Before Extinction: It Can Only Get Better From Here
Oh, Restaurantosaurus, where to begin? This review is intended to be more of an exploration of the current menu, but you don’t necessarily visit this quick-service location for the food. In fact, at the risk of getting ahead of myself, the food is the worst part about it.
Instead, we’ll start with a quick tour of the space. My intention is to dust off my extra hard drives and do a proper deep-dive into Restaurantosaurus props via a lengthy photo tour in the future, but that’s outside of the scope of this article. Instead, we’ll offer an at-a-glance view of the theming before we place our order.
Restaurantosaurus Theming
As the story goes, Restaurantosaurus wasn’t always a restaurant. In fact, it was an old fishing lodge off the fictional Route 498. Once fossils were found in the nearby Boneyard dig area (RIP), paleontologists asked to use the fishing lodge as their makeshift headquarters before the Dino Institute was built. Traces of its early multi-functional use as a museum, living quarters, and, eventually, restaurant, are present throughout.
Inside, there are a few different dining areas. The restaurant has a capacity of more than 750 people, making it one of the largest quick-service locations in any Walt Disney World theme park – and a critical dining location for Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Once inside, guests are met with warm, wooden tones throughout the ordering area. Restaurantosaurus offers Mobile Order, which can be a popular option during busy times of year. There is also an interior switchback queue to handle crowds during the lunch and dinner rush.
If you were to walk to the left of the ordering area, you’d be met with the largest room at Restaurantosaurus. On one end of the room, the skeletal head of a Triceratops sits perched above a stone fireplace. The other end of the room contains a massive painting done by Disney Legend and former Imagineer Joe Rohde. The mural, Rohde says, is a tribute to the great Paleo artist Charles Knight.
Through the back of this lodge-themed room is the vehicle maintenance barn. This airline hanger-esque area has two offshoot rooms. One of the rooms is for the Restaurantosaurus Lounge, which first opened back in 2018. Another room is for more overflow seating.
Back in March 2024, Disney debuted some new entertainment in the Restaurantosaurus Lounge and surrounding areas. A Dino Institute intern walks around while on his break, showing off some guitar and songwriting skills as he works with guests to create some unique tunes.
Doubling back to the main entrance and the ordering area, we’re now going to turn right instead of left, and head toward the other half of the indoor seating area. It’s worth mentioning briefly that there is some outdoor seating too along the perimeter of Restaurantosaurus for those few days per year when it’s tolerable to eat outside.
Ok, the next interior room that we find has some lighter theming, such as some tools and reference materials for digging for fossils. Speaking of fossils, there is (what appears to be) a giant saltwater crocodile skull above the beverage station.
There are two more rooms to mention before we get to the food. First up is the Bunk Room. The Bunk Room served as the dorm, and while the bunks have been cleared out, the loft above the seating area is FILLED with details.
The final interior room is The Hip Joint. This was the recreation area, and it still has a badminton net running from one side of the room to the other. The far side of the room contains a camper that has been fastened to the side of the building. You can walk right in and enjoy a meal during the busier times of day when this side of the restaurant is open.
To underline the point here, Restaurantosaurus theming is wonderful. There is so much to look at, so many fun jokes and story threads to follow that you’re almost best served grabbing a drink from the Restaurantosaurus Lounge, skipping food altogether, and taking a stroll around the restaurant.
We’re fans of the theming, and we’ll be sad to see it go. We’ll take a look at what will replace Restaurantosaurus after we get through our final supper. Time for food.
Restaurantosaurus Food Review
As you may know, some of the food from Restaurantosaurus is moving to Harambe Market soon. Well, some of the menu items, at least. A significant amount of the justification for this review lies in the fact that Disney says that burgers and chicken strips are so popular with guests. With both burgers and chicken strips heading to Harambe Market soon to support the tourists’ appetite once Restaurantosaurus closed, we wanted to visit Restaurantosaurus one last time to compare what we have versus what we’re getting.
We’ll start with the burger, which should be making the trek to Africa in just a few days when Harambe Market soft opens on February 2nd.
1/3 lb Angus Cheeseburger | $13.29
Angus Burger topped with melted American Cheese, Lettuce and Tomato served with French Fries
Wow, was this bad. This could very well be the worst burger you can purchase at Walt Disney World. I’ve had a lot of burgers, but nothing has been worse than this…so far. The patty texture was nearly rubber, and the meat was incredibly dry. Just an incredibly bland offering, but that might just be exactly what tourists are looking for.
This burger will be heading over to Harambe Market soon, and while the descriptions are exactly the same, we hope that Disney has something up their sleeves to enhance this a bit. As is, it’s unbelievably boring and not worth your time.
Waffle Cone Chicken Strips | $12.99
Served with French Fries
Let’s be clear. While these are the only chicken strips on the standard entree menu at Restaurantosaurus, they are far from standard. These are one of 13 different types of new “sauced chicken strips” that rolled out across Walt Disney World property back in October 2025. They are currently not on the new Harambe Market menu. Instead, the Harambe Market menu seems to be only offering standard chicken strips. We’ll know more on February 2nd when we play this game all over again.
Back to the task at hand. I thought that the flavor profile of these chicken strips was actually quite good. My notes called them “dessert” chicken strips. While I found the batter too easily separated from the chicken when trying to tear at them, the dusting on top of the batter was delightful.
To me, the flavor was almost churro-like. There are undertones of syrup too, but there’s no stickiness here. I’m not going to be rushing back to Disney’s Animal Kingdom should these make a comeback after the closure of Restaurantosaurus, but I enjoyed them far more than the burger.
Hand-breaded Fried Chicken Sandwich | $13.19
with Chipotle Ranch and Pickles on a Brioche Bun served with French Fries
This is another item that isn’t going to make it over to Harambe Market, but it was my favorite entree from my visit to Restaurantosaurus. Looking at the new Harambe Market menu, I’ve got my eye on the Harissa Chicken Wrap, so I don’t think that not having the fried chicken sandwich will be a “loss” necessarily. I’m getting distracted.
Turning my attention back to the Hand-breaded Fried Chicken Sandwich, I thought that the breading was actually really well executed. The chicken was cooked perfectly and was juicy. The odd pickle here and there added some nice flavor. My only wish was for more of the Chipotle Ranch sauce. Although it leaned a bit too much in the “ranch” direction, the bites with it were better than the bites without.
Final Thoughts on Restaurantosaurus & What’s Next
I’ll close out here with a few thoughts on Restaurantosaurus, and what’s next for the space. Over the next year to 18 months (or so), guests will be able to find burgers and chicken strips over at Harambe Market. This location will try to do some of the heavy lifting that Restaurantosaurus did as one of the largest quick-service locations at Walt Disney World. I plan on visiting Harambe Market when it reopens and will offer some thoughts on the menu items, so keep an eye out for that review next week.
As for what’s next for Restaurantosaurus, it’s going to be rethemed as part of the Tropical Americas reimagining of DinoLand USA. Disney has previously described the retheme as “a large hacienda which will be one of the largest quick-service restaurants at Walt Disney World Resort”. Here’s a look at concept art that was released for the reimagined location.
Looking at the model, we can see that the restaurant will largely retain the same layout, just with some new theming at the entrance. In fact, we would be surprised by any substantial layout changes given how workable the space is now. Of course, all of the dinosaur theming will be removed, but we can still see the shape of the hangar area, the main courtyard, some outdoor seating, and even some covered seating, which all exist today.
While the theming will change, we think the greatest opportunity that Disney has here is to revamp the menu. Places like Satu’li Canteen, Regal Eagle, and Skipper Canteen (among others) show that you can get away with some unique dining offerings beyond burgers and chicken strips. Yes, burgers and chicken strips are a staple and very popular among tourists, but I’m very hopeful that a Tropical Americas-themed restaurant can deliver multiple culinary wins.
In short, while I’ll certainly miss the theming of Restaurantosaurus, I won’t miss the food. As the title says, it can only get better from here.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!