The 2022 EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival kicked off in Disney World about a month ago with lots of exciting and delicious food and drink items to try.

Disney had previously shared that some of the festival booths would not be available at the start of the festival but would instead be opening at a later date. Well, that date has finally arrived and it’s time for us to try the remaining Food and Wine Festival booths! So buckle up because we’re heading to Coastal Eats!

Menu

This year’s Coastal Eats menu is a mix of mostly returning items with one new food item and one new drink.

There are two food items this year, both of them containing seafood, and four drink options. Let’s get into it!

Eats

First up is the brand new Oysters Rockefeller for $7.50. This is a traditionally rich dish overall, so we were interested to see how that would translate to festival food. We were pleasantly surprised! There was an excellent mix of textures in our portion, and the oysters themselves almost melted in our mouth — they weren’t chewy at all.

There was a strong earthy flavor courtesy of the spinach, so if you’re not a spinach fan you might want to skip these. We thought these were really great overall and had a buttery, rich, melt-in-your-mouth feel that was only interrupted by the welcome crunch of the toasted breadcrumbs on top.

The Oysters Rockefeller are also served with a charred lemon you can squeeze on top for some extra acidity if you’re feeling bogged down by the richness of the dish. Turns out, oysters from a festival booth aren’t half bad — in fact, we’d get them again!

There’s also the returning Baked Scampi Dip with shrimp, scallops, and baguette for $6. Stop what you’re doing and pull over because we need you to pay attention. To quote the classic Lizzie McGuire Movie, this scampi dip is absolutely “what dreams are made of.” We even think it might be a late contender for this year’s Best of the Fest list!

Of course, you have to really love seafood in order to get down with this dip, as it is quite the fishy dish — but in the absolute best way possible. There were large chunks of shrimp and scallops in our serving so it wasn’t like we had to hunt to get to the good stuff.

Speaking of the good stuff, this dip is CHEESY. Extremely cheesy. And that’s a good thing. It’s rich and buttery, but not too overpowering and the bitterness of the chopped spinach helps us trick ourselves into thinking we’re being healthy. Once again, the toasted breadcrumbs are really doing wonders for this dish and adding a welcome crunch. We may or may not have eaten the whole baguette and then immediately finished the scampi dip with our fork. 

This has been a mainstay of the booth since Coastal Eats was first introduced to the festival in 2017 and we’re happy to see it return this year.

Drinks

The new drink this year is the Bell’s Lager of the Lakes Bohemian Pilsner. You can get a 6 oz. pour for $5 or a 12 oz. pour for $9. This was a good beer, but overall nothing special. It tasted like your typical light, refreshing pilsner, and would be great if you’re looking for a refreshing beer. We’ve had better and more unique beers in other spots like at Brew-Wing!

Returning to the booth this year is Villa Wolf Sparkling Pinot Noir Rosé for $6, the Sean Minor Chardonnay for $5, and the Cape Codder which is Boyd & Blair Vodka with cranberry, pomegranate, and lime. This ain’t your grandma’s vodka-cran — but it’s not that much more exciting either.

We could definitely taste the pomegranate and the lime, so it wasn’t a totally basic beverage — but at the end of the day really just reminded us of your basic vodka cranberry as those flavors were the most prominent. If you’re looking for a classic cocktail that isn’t too sweet or too strong, this might do the trick!

The Cape Codder cocktail is $11.

Overall

If you’re someone who likes seafood, then you’ll probably find something to like a Coastal Eats. We truly LOVED everything we tried at this booth, and may have even found a new Best of the Fest contender! If you’re looking for a Food and Wine Festival booth that has a lot of options, this is probably not the one for you — it’s pretty much only seafood over here, so if that’s not your jam or you’ve got picky eaters on your hands, we’d probably suggest skipping this booth.

Eating and drinking isn’t the only thing there is to do at the Food and Wine Festival! You can watch live music performances at the Eat to the Beat Concert Series and search for hidden Remys around World Showcase with Remy’s Ratatouille Hide and Squeak.

And if you’re feeling particularly cheesy, then you can participate in Emile’s Fromage Montage, which is basically the Food and Wine Festival cheese crawl — buy any five items that are participating in the crawl and get the corresponding stamp in your festival passport and you’ll get a prize for completing it! We’ll be bringing you full reviews for the other Food and Wine Festival booths that opened today, so make sure to stay tuned to DFB for the latest.

Click here for our FULL reviews of every 2022 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival booth!

Which item are you most excited to try from Coastal Eats? Let us know in the comments!