Raglan Road

After spending the entire day at Universal's Islands of Adventure, we went back to our hotel to rest briefly and then headed out to what was then Downtown Disney (and is now Disney Springs) for a (very) late dinner. Since it was so late, options were a bit more limited, but luckily the place we wanted to go, the Irish pub, Raglan Road, stayed open late. When we got there, it was filled with people eating, drinking, listening to music, and generally having a good time.

Since our visit was five years ago, we don't remember a ton about the food itself, but the experience has stuck with us. We started out with some drinks, a cider for me, and a beer for A, but we couldn't tell you anything more about what they were specifically. It was nice sitting at our table, relaxing, watching the entertainment, and having a drink after a long but fun day.

We started out with an appetizer called Calamari City, described as "salt and pepper calamari and mixed tempura vegetables with a spicy remoulade." This was a little more unique than most fried calamari dishes because of the inclusion of the vegetables. The vegetables were very welcome because, outside of onions, they were pretty much the only vegetables we had all night.

We got two main dishes for dinner, and at this point, I couldn't tell you whether we split them or ordered separately, and if we ordered separately, who ordered which one. The first was the beer-battered fish and chips served with tartar sauce.

We also got something called "bangers and booz," Guinness and onion bangers on mash, topped with caramelized onions and beef stew. Basically, a really heavy but tasty version of bangers and mash.

Raglan Road was fun and a great escape. We liked that they set out to provide a fun Irish experience, complete with entertainment and a building that itself was apparently shipped from Ireland. We wish we remembered more about the details of the food, but it has been over five years now so it has faded a bit. We do remember that we thought the food was solid, a bit heavy and filling, but good. Part of that was because of what we ordered - all fried food plus bangers and mash - which was just a continuation of a really unhealthy eating day that started at Universal with more fish and chips, chicken fingers, and Cornish pasties. After our more balanced and vegetable heavy meal the night before at Boma, we had spent the entire day for the most part eating fried food. That said, we would return to Raglan Road again and maybe just make some different (less heavy) choices.

We ate so much at dinner that we needed to take a stroll around Downtown Disney before returning to our hotel, where we took a really late night swim in the pool for further digestion and relaxation before sleeping. It was a pretty late night and we were exhausted from spending the entire day at the theme park, but it was a lot of fun. The next day would finally begin our adventure at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival which we've already completely written about (our favorites list is here and links to all the reviews are in this post), which means our recaps for this Florida trip are almost done!