One of our absolute favorite restaurants at Walt Disney World is Biergarten. It’s been a restaurant I’ve been visiting since I was a kid, and while I’m sure my love for it is part nostalgia, it also delivers a unique Disney experience. In this review, we’ll cover what to expect from Biergarten, what we like, what might not work for you. Here’s our review of Biergarten at EPCOT!
Note: Pictures in this review are from multiple visits.
Basics of Biergarten
Biergarten is a buffet restaurant at EPCOT at Walt Disney World. It’s specifically located in the park’s Germany Pavilion, near the back of the park next to the Italy Pavilion.
For guests using a Disney Dining Plan, Biergarten requires one table service credit. It is frequently a part of the dining packages for EPCOT festivals (guaranteeing seating at the festival concert), and those packages also require one table service credit.
Biergarten reservations are available via the Disney World website and app 60 days in advance, or 60 days in advance of your check in to a Disney hotel (or select partner hotel) for the first 10 days of your visit.
Biergarten tends to have pretty good reservation availability, but it’s also a good idea to book as far in advance as possible. If you’re having trouble finding availability, we recommend using MouseDining.
If you don’t have a reservation when your visit finally arrives, check the app for both the walk-up list and any available same-day reservations.
Timing Your Biergarten Reservation
If at all possible, it’s maybe worth taking a bit of care to time your Biergarten reservation—though my reasons for this advice are admittedly a bit niche.
First, Biergarten famously offers liter beers.
A liter is about 2 pints or 3 cans of beer. If you’re going to drink a liter of beer, consider your plans for the day and whether you’d like to do that at lunch or dinner. I don’t drink very much—a liter beer is a fun themed treat for me, but not something I want in the middle of the day. So, we’ve only ever dined at Biergarten for dinner.
Second, Biergarten is host to a polka band that plays shows throughout the day. The Biergarten polka band schedule is always subject to change, but since I started taking photos of it in September 2021, it has always been: 1:15PM, 2:15PM, 3:15PM, 4:30PM, 5:40PM, 6:50PM, 8:00PM.
I usually try and book a dinner time that will allow us to see two shows, if those fit our schedule and the restaurant isn’t crowded. As the second show starts at the end of our meal, our server has almost always assured us we could stay for that show.
Biergarten Arrival and Check In
Biergarten is in basically the farthest corner of EPCOT. It’s a 15-minute walk from the main entrance, and in the afternoon Florida heat it can be rather unpleasant to have to rush there.
Try and plan for some buffer time at the nearby pavilions. As far as rides go, it’s not too far from Frozen Ever After or Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure if you can plan a timely Lightning Lane at either of those (we usually do one after dinner).
You can check in via the Disney World app once you’re close enough to the restaurant. There’s a covered area outside the restaurant where you can wait until your group is called.
Once called, you’ll be seated and told to wait for your server. Once your server comes over and takes your drink order, you’ll be let loose on the buffet.
One note on drink orders. Besides alcohol and standard non-alcoholic options, there are two German non-alcoholic specialties available. German Spezi is a mix of Coca-Cola and Fanta Orange. Apfelschorle is apple juice mixed with sparkling water (and available even if it isn’t listed on the menu).
Biergarten Seating and Theming
Biergarten is designed to mimic a nighttime outdoor, Bavarian beer garden. I do feel like the ambiance of Biergarten is a little more “big dark room” than “outdoor at night”, though the designs do a good job of transporting you.
Biergarten, decorated during the holiday season
Strangely, the outdoor focus makes it sort of a half-step removed from “Oktoberfest” theming, that Munich festival being focused (not entirely) on large indoor tents that probably would have been easier to theme, but I digress. (You can see some of the beautiful tents in Emily’s post on visiting real Oktoberfest with kids.)
View from the highest level at Biergarten
The seating is arranged on multiple levels on a semi-circle around the stage. We’re frequent Biergarten visitors and have sat in pretty much every spot.
While I definitely prefer seats in the middle to those at the end of the semi-circle, we’ve never been disappointed with the experience. Distance from the show doesn’t really impact our experience either.
View from one end of the semi-circle
Sharing tables used to be standard at Biergarten, but that is no longer the case. Sharing tables at least seems to be disfavored now, though every so often you see people mention it happening the various forums.
I’ve written recently about sharing tables in my Review of Beak and Barrel at Magic Kingdom, so if you want to read my thoughts on that practice, check there (short of it—I’m fairly anti-social and still don’t mind sharing tables). I would emphasize that seating in actual Bavarian beer halls, gardens, and tents is typically communal.
Biergarten Polka Band
Biergarten is home to a polka band, sometimes specified as a “oompah” band. As discussed above, the schedule I’ve seen consistently since 2021 is: 1:15PM, 2:15PM, 3:15PM, 4:30PM, 5:40PM, 6:50PM, 8:00PM.
The show is about 20 minutes long and features different performances. There’s a dance floor that’s opened for some numbers, and this space can also be used for up close viewing of some of the performances. The specifics of each set vary but will include a few band songs and a selection from alpine horns, bells, and the glockenspiel.
You can be sure you’ll get at least one round of “Ein Prosit” in, and no matter how loud you shout they’ll never be happy with your first attempt at “Zicke zacke, zicke zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi!” It’s a very lively space.
Food at Biergarten
Biergarten is a buffet restaurant serving German food. None of us has particularly strong feelings about German food, though Emily and I being from the midwest maybe means our palates are used to it.
As vegetarians we don’t take advantage of any meat options (there is a plant-based sausage available on request, and we usually do that). We tend to build ourselves big plates of salads, potato pancakes, spätzle, and desserts. Here’s a look at an incomplete selection of the options:
Is EPCOT’s Biergarten Good For Kids?
We think Biergarten is excellent for kids. It’s a buffet with a wide enough range of food options, including some specifically for kids. You shouldn’t have trouble filling a little one.
The show is very family-forward, with kids invited to dance and watch some of the instrumental parts. The options of Spezi and Apfelschorle allow them to partake in the drinking chants and glass-clinking, too.
While the liter beer is maybe its most famous offering, Biergarten is well short of the “drinking” atmosphere set by EPCOT during festival season. After 5PM during Food & Wine, I’d definitely take Biergarten as more kid-friendly than walking around the rest of the World Showcase.
I’ll also throw in that Munich’s Oktoberfest is also incredibly kid friendly. Besides the beer tents, it’s a giant carnival. We visited with Zoe at 5 years old over a long weekend (above link discusses our experience)—10/10 recommend.
Biergarten Conclusions
Biergarten is one of two restaurants at EPCOT that we keep in regular rotation, the other being Space 220. You can pretty readily discern from that pairing that we’re not huge foodies and we’re mostly looking for a fun, themed experience. Biergarten delivers on its promise of just that.
There are restaurants at Walt Disney World that we visit just for theme—namely Space 220 and Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater. There are restaurants where we’re all about the food, specifically Sanaa. Then there are the more balanced experiences, like Roundup Rodeo BBQ, Tusker House Restaurant, and Biergarten.
Nothing about the food at Biergarten blows us away, but it is incredibly reliable. We’ve never left hungry or unsatisfied. And nothing about the experience (or beer) disappoints in the slightest. It’s a lively atmosphere with a great performance.
We were regulars at Biergarten before Zoe was born and it’s been a staple of family trips throughout the years, too. Based on the relatively ease with which we get reservations, I’d call the restaurant a hidden gem at EPCOT. It’s one of our favorite dining experiences at Disney World, and we can’t wait for our next visit!
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