If you’re looking for a table-service restaurant while visiting Hollywood Studios, 50’s Prime Time Café might be for you. This themed eatery has comfort food and some solid retro theming.
A Walt Disney World Resort vacation in Orlando is a magical time. If you’ve made your way to Hollywood Studios, there’s a number of places that are often overlooked to eat at. If you’re a sit-down dining kind of person, the 50’s Prime Time Café might be exactly what you’re looking for. This location has not only some great over-the-top retro theming, it also has some awesome food.
About 50’s Prime Time Café
“It’s a blast from the past when you walk into this all-American eatery themed like Mom’s kitchen,” the restaurant’s webpage says. “Bring your appetite and your sense of humor, because Mom and the extended family aren’t above giving you lessons in table etiquette—and doling out punishment to misbehaving boys and girls.”
Part of the theming includes wait staff who will treat you like family, and that includes scolding and being told to clean your plate.
Walt Disney World boasts that you’ll find “Classic American comfort food,’50s kitsch and a good old-fashioned family gathering take you back to a bygone era” at the 50’s Prime Time Café.
The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner, and getting a reservation is highly recommended.
The menu
There’s a number of different American-style comfort foods that are served at the About 50’s Prime Time Café. While the menu may rotate and change from time to time with the seasons — like most WDW restaurants —- there are a few staples that they have: Dishes like fried chicken, pot roast, and meat loaf are solid go-to’s at the café.
Appetizers
- Cornbread Skillet – Served with Butter and Honey
- Shrimp Cocktail – Served with Kale Salad and Cocktail Sauce
- Beer-battered Onion Rings – with Horseradish Sauce
- Cousin Amy’s Romaine Wedge Salad – Marinated Tomatoes, Feta Crumbles, and Roasted Red Pepper Ranch Dressing
- Cousin Bob’s Seasonal Chowder – Fresh Corn Chowder with House-smoked Ham
Entrées
- Aunt Liz’s Golden Fried Chicken – Served with Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Chicken Gravy, Seasonal Vegetables
- A Sampling of Mom’s Favorite Recipes – Golden-fried Chicken, Fork Tender Pot Roast, and Traditional Meatloaf with Green Beans
- Caesar Salad – Romaine Lettuce tossed with Caesar Dressing and Grated Parmesan. With Chicken $18 or with Salmon $20.
- Cousin Harold’s Rigatoni Pasta – Mixed with Vegetables and Chickpeas (Plant-based)
- Grilled Salmon* – Grilled Fresh Salmon with Grain Mustard-Chardonnay Beurre Blanc, Fingerling Potatoes with Olive Oil, and Green Beans
- Grandpa Jean’s Chicken Pot Pie – A Traditional Pastry Crust Filled with Chicken, Potatoes, Carrots, Celery, Onions, Corn, and Peas
- Mom’s Old-fashioned Pot Roast – Slow-cooked ’til Fork-tender and served with Roasted Garlic-Mashed Potatoes, Brown Gravy, and garnished with Carrots, Celery, and Onions
- Cousin Megan’s Traditional Meatloaf – A blend of Beef and Pork served with Roasted Garlic-Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, and Tomato Glaze
- 50’s Prime Time Café Blue Plate Special – Seared Pork Chop served with Colcannon Mashed Potatoes and Cabernet Sauvignon-Onion Gravy
Desserts
- Dad’s Favorite Chocolate-Peanut Butter Layered Cake – Dad’s Favorite Chocolate-Peanut Butter Layered Cake À la Mode
- Traditional Warm Apple Crisp – (Plant-based)
- Traditional Warm Apple Crisp À la Mode
- Key Lime Bar – Tart Key Lime Filling over a Buttery Sugar Crust served with Raspberries and Raspberry Sauce
- Neapolitan Bar – Two layers of Mousse, Vanilla and Strawberry, layered over a Chocolate Cake Brownie served with Raspberry Sauce and Whipped Cream
Kids’ appetizers (à la carte)
- Garden Salad
- Vegetable Platter
- Corn Chowder
Kids’ Create-Your-Own Entrées (choose one)
- Goofy’s Salmon
- Sloppy Joe Sandwich
- Grandpa’s Grilled Chicken
- Aunt Betty’s Chicken Strips
These kids’ selections are served with choice of two (2) Selections and choice of Small Lowfat Milk, Small DASANI® Water, or Small Minute Maid® Apple Juice
Kids’ Create-Your-Own Selections sides (choose two)
- Green Beans & Carrots
- Stained Glass Dessert
- Whipped Pineapple fluff studded with cubes of strawberry, lime, and orange gelatin
- Grandma’s Macaroni & Cheese
- Corn
- Mashed Potatoes
- Fruit Salad
- Seasonal Cupcake
Drinks
There’s a full-service bar that offers a number of different signature cocktails as well as standard alcoholic beverages.
There are also a number of different handmade milkshakes that are offered, root beer floats, as well as flavored sodas and signature non-alcoholic drinks.
Our visit
During our latest trip to the Orlando area, we did spend a day in Hollywood Studios. For sit-down/advance dining reservation locations in Hollywood Studios, we’re suckers for the Brown Derby. That being said, on our latest trip we did want to try and mix things up, so we returned back to the café, which we hadn’t visited since probably 2011.
We had in tow our junior adventurer and thought he’d get a kick out of the theming.
The theming
Apparently, and we were not aware of this, if you’re looking for “high theming,” which, to be perfectly honest we’d have classified as a standard option, you actually need to ask for a server who will bring the authentic café attitude. We did not know that we had to specify this — which, what the heck, why should we have to — and so we ended up with a less-than-zealous server.
When we spoke to someone at the reception desk after our meal to ask if they changed how they handled theming, that’s what we were told — that we needed to request “high theming.” I don’t know if that was a cover for a less-than-enthusiastic server, but that’s what they told us.
I won’t say that having just a standard server broke the meal, but, eh, it kinda did. You don’t show up to themed restaurants and expect to have to request treatment that’s built into their marketing. Like I’m not going to head to Dick’s Last Resort and tell my waiter or waitress to make sure they treat me poorly, I’m going to expect that kind of treatment.
That’s a big ding on WDW in my humble opinion.
Our selections
We didn’t go over-the-top crazy with our food, but we weren’t shy either. Earlier that day we had some Ronto Wraps, a must for our youngest roommate, and they are actually fairly filling if you don’t have a BMI as big as your WDW bill. Our dining time was also right at 5 p.m. on the dot, so we weren’t coming in too late in the day.
Cornbread Skillet
We opted to get the cornbread skillet for the table. As true and devout carbavores, getting something like this was a no brainer.
As far as cornbread goes, this was a nice offering. It wasn’t too dry and the honey butter complimented the mealy bites.
A Sampling of Mom’s Favorite Recipes
I ended up ordering the sampling. It was difficult to choose, so getting Mom’s favorites made it easy to not have to choose.
The pot roast was not dried out and was a bit moist. By moist, there was a good balance of meat and fat. As far as that goes, it is on the drier side, so if you’re into fatty meat, you’re not going to get too much of it with this dish.
As far as meatloaf goes, this was fairly standard. The flavor was good but it wasn’t overly moist.
The fried chicken that was included in the sampler was great. I’m a fan of fried chicken but I don’t really get it all that often. This chicken really hit the spot.
Peanut Butter & Jelly Milk Shake
For poops and grins I treated myself to a PB and J milkshake. It was good, thick, and proper. The shake was so rich I didn’t even finish it. That wasn’t any function of it being offensive, it’s just a serious shake and be prepared for a commitment.
Grilled Salmon
The eldest of my roommates got the grilled salmon. She enjoyed it and said that it wasn’t dried out and good. I’m a salmon fan, but don’t order it out all that often, while she’s been snagging it more and more as we travel.
Aunt Betty’s Chicken Tenders
Our junior adventurer who’s known to order medium rare steaks went with Aunt Betty’s Chicken Tenders. They were chicken fingers, and that’s about as far as we have to go on explaining that. It came with mashed potatoes.
Overall experience
We’re obviously big Walt Disney World Resort fans and have our favorite spots. This was our second visit to 50’s Prime Time Café and we enjoyed it. As noted earlier, it would have been nice if our server was onboard with actually delivering the themed experience we thought we were going to get, but now we’re the wiser — I guess. The food was great and this is a spot we’ll keep on our revisit list.
